82 Ling Did Something Wrong
Xiao Jin glanced at her. “You’ve finally asked.”
Su Ying jumped into the carriage and sat down. “You’re not a fool, and you’re not that kind-hearted either. The person you’re saving is either related to you or someone you think is useful.”
“He’s a scholar of the Agriculture and Forestry Department.”
Su Ying frowned. “A farmer?”
“Mm-hmm. But just farming for the state.”
“A person can be sentenced to exile if he messed up the state’s farmland?”
Xiao Jin’s dark eyes narrowed as he said, “It’s connected to me.”
Su Ying raised her eyebrows. “Hmm?”
It turned out that Cheng Ming had been developing a new type of rice in the Agriculture and Forestry Department. It was said that this type of rice would give a higher yield than other rice types.
However, in the state’s public farmland, before the rice had fully matured on the experimental fields, someone discovered that the rice planted using the new type of rice seeds in Xiao Jin’s fiefdom had already been harvested.
Someone reported this matter to the Imperial Court, saying that someone had disloyal thoughts and secretly gave the seeds to Xiao Jin with the intention of letting a Prince of a fiefdom surpass the Imperial Court in influence.
When the Emperor learned of this, he was furious. Cheng Ming and his mother, who had no backers and did not hail from influential families, were offered up as scapegoats by the people from the Agriculture and Forestry Department. They were thus imprisoned.
“It seems that your enemies are always thinking of ways to overthrow you.”
A glint of darkness flashed across Xiao Jin’s eyes.
“But this also proves that you’re outstanding enough.”
Xiao Jin was surprised and looked at her in astonishment. Was she complimenting him?
Su Ying looked at him and said frankly, “It’s because you’re outstanding enough that people think you’re a threat. Now, the house is almost completed. I plan to start treatment on your legs in two days.”
Xiao Jin had long expected such a day to come, but now that the day had really arrived, he still couldn’t help feeling excited.
“Alright.”
After Aunt Jiang obtained the seeds, she showed them to Cheng Ming as if she had found a treasure.
“Ming’er, take a look. This is the seed of a leafy vegetable.”
Cheng Ming was helping Tian Mu. Upon hearing his mother’s words, he raised his head in surprise. When he confirmed that what Madam Jiang was holding were indeed seeds, his eyes widened in amazement.
“It is really leafy vegetable seeds. That’s great.”
Madam Jiang smiled and nodded. “That’s right. With these leafy vegetables, we won’t have to worry about not having vegetables to eat in the future.”
Leafy vegetables could grow for two seasons. One season was during the transition between spring and summer, and the other was during the end of autumn and early winter. As its name suggested, the stems and leaves of this kind of leafy vegetable were very big. It looked a bit like Napa cabbage and even resembled it in texture, but it was much bigger than cabbage.
If it couldn’t be eaten in time, it could be preserved into pickled vegetables, which could be kept for up to half a year without any problem.
“That’s true. After I’m done with my work these few days, I’ll go with Mother to the open space in the back and plant these vegetables. Looking at the current weather, it should be the most suitable time. After this period, we’ll have to wait until the next spring-summer transition.”
Aunt Jiang nodded. That was exactly what she was thinking.
“Alright. You can carry on building the house first. When I’m free, I’ll go and see which plot of land is more suitable for planting.”
“Alright.”
The three little fellows were squatting by the chicken pen and watching the chicken and ducks that Su Ying brought back.
One of the chicks was rather mischievous and immediately crawled out from a gap in the pen.
Although the younger toddler Ling liked to look at these furry things, she would still feel afraid when she saw them running toward her.
“Gosh! The little chick is going to escape.”
The older toddler Ji was also a little scared, but he still braced himself and said, “Ling, don’t be afraid. Big Brother will catch the little chick for you!”
Although he made the proclamation loudly, Ji did not take any action at all.
When they saw that the chick was about to run far away, the two little ones could not care less about their fear and ran after it on their tiny legs.
When Aunt Zhao saw that the two children were sweating from playing, she went off to get water for them, so she didn’t see them running away.
“Little chick, little chick, don’t run!”
“Ling, get out of the way. I’ll catch it!” The older toddler Ji gathered his courage and pounced on the chick like a tiger, grabbing it in an instant.
“Big Brother is so amazing! You caught the little chick!”
The older toddler Ji also happily carried the chick into his arms. “Hehe! It’s just catching a chick. It’s very simple.”
“Oh my! What a cute little chick.”
A coarse voice suddenly rang out from behind them. The two little ones turned around and their eyes met a face full of wrinkles.
The younger toddler Ling shrank back and subconsciously hid behind the older toddler Ji.
Ji looked at the old woman’s murky eyes and tightened his grip on the chick. “Who are you?”
The old woman chuckled heartily and said, “I’m the Grandma who lives over there. You two are really beautiful little children. Grandma has candy. Why don’t you come with Grandma to get some candy?”
The older toddler Ji frowned and shook his head. “I’m not going. Mother says I can’t simply eat food from other people.”
“That’s right. Mother has candy. We don’t want yours.”
Even though she was rejected, the old woman was not angry. “Okay, okay, okay. We won’t go then. Grandma just thinks that you two are rare and I really like you two. I was just thinking I have two little birds at my place. They’re really pretty. I don’t know if you two would like them.”
The younger toddler Ling was naive. When she heard the old woman had little birds, she became interested. “Do you have birds at home?”
“Oh yes. That bird even knows how to speak like a human. Come. Do you want to go with Grandma to take a look?”
Ling looked at the old woman’s outstretched hand and hesitated.
“Ling won’t go with you. We’re going back. Ling, let’s go quickly.” The older toddler Ji dragged Ling and turned to leave.
Ling also followed Ji obediently. To their surprise, just as the two of them were about to leave, they were pulled back by the old woman. “Don’t go. Grandma really has a lot of fun toys back home.”
“Ling, Ji! Why did you two run outside? Quick, come back with me.” Lin Sheng arrived in time and dragged the two little ones behind him.
“Who are you? What do you want to do to Ling and Ji?” Lin Sheng looked at the old woman warily, but before she could answer, he dragged the two kids with him and fled.
The old woman released her grip. Her face had become very wrinkled from smiling. “Oh, all three of them are beautiful little ones.”
Lin Sheng turned around and ran back to the open space, dragging the two little ones with him.
Lin Sheng took the chick from the older toddler Ji’s hands and put it back into the chicken pen.
“Ji, Ling, how can you run all over the place? Didn’t Aunt Zhao say that you’re not allowed to run around?”
When Ling was reprimanded by the older brother who usually doted on her, her big eyes instantly became red-rimmed.
“Brother Lin Sheng, the chick escaped. We went to catch it.” The older toddler Ji quickly explained when he saw that his younger sister was about to cry.
“If you want to catch the chick, you can call for help. You can’t go alone. It’s very dangerous outside.” Although Lin Sheng did not understand what the danger outside was, he felt that as long as they listened to the Mistress, they wouldn’t be wrong.
“Ling, Ji, did you do something wrong?” Su Ying walked over. When she saw the two children with their heads lowered, she couldn’t help asking.
“Mother, Ling has done something wrong. Boo hoo hoo…” The younger toddler Ling pursed her tiny mouth and threw herself into Su Ying’s arms.