Chapter 254: Chapter 236, Good Deed_1

Because of the time constraints, Daohua and her group didn’t stay long and soon prepared to head back home.

“When will these sunflower seeds be ready to harvest?” Xiao Yeyang suddenly asked before leaving.

Daohua was puzzled, “Why do you ask that?”

Xiao Yeyang: “…These sunflowers were your birthday gift to me, so of course, I should come to collect them.”

Daohua was taken aback.

Indeed, she had said before that this field of sunflowers was a gift to Xiao Yeyang. However, as the wealthy Little Prince, shouldn’t his attention be on the beauty of the field, rather than the sunflower seeds?

She had been planning to sell those seeds later!

Seeing her reaction, Xiao Yeyang immediately guessed her thoughts and said with displeasure, “What, you plan to give half of the gift and keep the other half for yourself?”

Daohua quickly shook her head in denial: “Not at all, as soon as the sunflowers mature, I will send someone to tell you.”

Hearing this, Xiao Yeyang finally showed a satisfied expression.

The gift given to him would naturally have to be entirely and completely taken back.

When leaving, Xiao Yeyang had Dafu pick several sunflower blossoms, saying he wanted to take them back for display in a vase.

Seeing this, Dong Yuanxuan and several others were also quite tempted. However, before they could speak up, Xiao Yeyang had already flatly refused them: “This is my birthday present, do you feel no shame in asking for it?”

A few plants per person—with more than ten people present, how many flowers would that destroy?

Dong Yuanxuan and the others: “…”

A hundred mu of sunflowers, they would have no qualms about asking for them!

Dong Yuanyao pouted and whispered to Su Shiyu, “I didn’t expect the Little Prince to be such a miser.”

Su Shiyu actually found this understandable: “If the Little Prince doesn’t want everyone picking the flowers, that can only mean he cares about the gift. Think about it, if you received a gift that matched your heart’s desire, would you be willing to share it with others?”

Dong Yuanyao immediately smiled and said, “I’d forget about sharing, but I’d still like to have a look.”

Soon after, the group began the journey back.

…

At the gates of Xingzhou City, except for Zhou Jingwan, everyone else still had to return to Wuhua Mountain.

Daohua received two delicate wooden boxes from Xiaoliu, who had returned to the Yan Residence a bit earlier. These were simplified makeup boxes modeled after modern ones.

“These are the gifts I’m giving as a first meeting to the two sisters.”

Dong Yuanyao, who had been thinking about lipstick, heard Daohua’s words, swiftly smiled, took the boxes, and opened them.

The makeup box was three-tiered, with the top layer containing various types of makeup brushes, the middle layer holding twelve colors of lipstick, and the bottom layer storing cream and face powder among other things.

“All this?”

Dong Yuanyao’s face brightened with joy; the box contained everything needed for daily makeup.

Zhou Jingwan stood by and craned her neck to look inside. Seeing that the contents were not as many as those Daohua had given her, her face instantly beamed with delight.

Indeed, she was Daohua’s best friend.

Su Shiyu, not having expected to receive a gift herself, smiled shyly and modestly accepted the makeup box from Daohua’s hand: “Thank you, Sister Yan!”

Daohua shook her head with a smile, “Don’t mention it, as long as the two sisters like it, that’s all that matters.”

“I do like it!” Dong Yuanyao promptly chimed in, then looked at Daohua somewhat sheepishly, “Thank you for this.”

At this moment, Yan Wenkai’s urging voice arrived: “Are we good to go? If we don’t leave now, it’ll be getting dark.”

Daohua immediately responded, “All set.” Then, looking towards Dong Yuanyao and Su Shiyu, “Take care, sisters. Next time you have the chance, be sure to come visit my house.”

Dong Yuanyao and Su Shiyu both nodded quickly, bidding each other farewell before heading towards Dong Yuanxuan and the others, carrying their makeup boxes.

After the two had left, Xiao Yeyang, who had been standing aside, huffed discontentedly and glanced at Daohua, “I thought you had only prepared a gift for me today.”

Daohua: “Indeed, it was only you. Those two makeup boxes had been prepared by me after our last horse ride; I wanted to give them to Sisters Dong and Su much earlier. It’s just that there hadn’t been a chance until now.”

Hearing that, Xiao Yeyang’s expression softened somewhat, but then he felt it beneath him as a grown man to quibble over such trivial matters, which left him feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

Daohua, unaware, hastened him, “Let’s go quickly, your side is still in the middle of a dinner party!”

Xiao Yeyang glanced at Daohua and was about to reach into his bosom to take out the handkerchief he had used to cover her eyes earlier to return it to her, but hesitated for a moment and then put his hand back. He coughed and said, “Alright then, we’re leaving.”

After a few steps, he turned back and added, “That… gift, I really liked it.” Having said that, he quickly left.

Watching Xiao Yeyang’s retreating back, as if he were fleeing, Daohua immediately burst into laughter, “This guy, with his awkwardness, is quite cute, huh?”

Hearing this, Zhou Jingwan frowned and looked over, then shook her head.

She certainly didn’t find the Little Prince cute!

Especially when he had a stern face, she was quite scared of him. She really didn’t understand how Daohua could find the Little Prince cute.

“Alright, let’s head back too!”

Once no one was in sight, Daohua and Zhou Jingwan then got on the carriage and returned to the city.

….

After entering June, the weather improved, with no more rain, and the watermelons and grapes on the manor started to mature one after another.

Daohua did not sell the harvested watermelons and grapes in the fruit and vegetable store, but instead borrowed a boat from the Zhou Family, transported them to the provincial capital, and wholesaled them directly to Uncle Li’s family.

It was the same with the produce from the Yan Family’s fields.

This was because, during this year’s spring ploughing, Yan Zhigao had distributed watermelon and grape seeds at the Prefectural Governor’s Office. Anyone within Xingzhou who held a household registration could receive about an acre’s worth of seeds from the Governor’s Office to try planting.

Since the seeds were distributed free of charge, many people took them up on the offer, and now watermelon fields and grape trellises could be seen all over Xingzhou.

To avoid competing with the locals in the market, and with the Yan Family also having the Li Family as a sales channel, they simply decided not to sell in Xingzhou City.

After mid-June, many merchants came to Xingzhou City to buy watermelons and grapes.

In the previous two years, the Li Family had been the first to sell watermelons and make a fortune in silver, then they opened a winery and made another fortune. Sensing the huge profit potential of watermelons and grapes, some business-minded traders started to pay attention.

Ever since finding out that Yan Zhigao planned to promote watermelons and grapes in Xingzhou City, the Li Family deliberately helped with the publicity, and thus the news of Xingzhou producing watermelons and grapes spread throughout Zhongzhou Province.

“This year there’s been a lot of rain; I was worried the watermelons wouldn’t be sweet, but it seems the watermelons here in Xingzhou haven’t been affected at all.”

“Indeed, the taste is even better than the ones I ate in the south a few years ago. I can buy more to sell in the north; the wealthy families there will surely love them.”

After visiting and assessing the situation on the ground, the merchants saw that Xingzhou’s watermelons and grapes were indeed good, and they all started to buy.

Thus, the locals who planted watermelons and grapes all made some silver, more or less.

Yan Residence.

The members of the Yan Family could clearly sense that Yan Zhigao had been in a very good mood lately.

On his rest day, as everyone gathered together, the matriarch of the Yan Family couldn’t hold back and asked, “Eldest, have you found some money these days?”

Yan Zhigao smiled and was about to say something when Yan Zhiyuan interjected, “Mother, you don’t know, Big Brother is even happier than if he had found money.”

The Yan Family matriarch became interested, “Oh, tell me, what good thing has happened?”

Yan Zhigao cleared his throat and said, “With the heavy rains this year, I was worried about the reduced grain yield in the fields and the difficulties this would pose for the people’s livelihood. But, as the Prefectural Governor’s Office promoted watermelons and grapes earlier, now that traders from all over have poured into Xingzhou, the people have an extra source of income. So, I can be a bit more at ease.”

Hearing this, the Yan Family matriarch also smiled, “Indeed, that is good news.”

Yan Zhiyuan continued the conversation with a smile, “This is Big Brother’s third year serving as the Prefectural Governor of Xingzhou, and with this achievement, he’s sure to be promoted again next year.”

Yan Zhigao quickly waved his hands to stop him, “Second brother, such talk must not be spread carelessly. Assigning officials is the Imperial Court’s business. I only need to do my duties. You mustn’t indulge in idle speculation in the future.”

Yan Zhiyuan immediately responded with a smile, “It was my loose tongue.”

Yan Zhigao didn’t harp on the issue and quickly glanced at his eldest daughter, thinking of the difficult situations faced by several Prefectural Governors of neighboring states, he suddenly sighed.

His eldest daughter really was his lucky star; if not for her idea to promote watermelons and grapes, he might be in a frantic state now.

With the excessive rain, a reduction in grain yield was a foregone conclusion, but now, with silver in the hands of the people of Xingzhou, they could make it through this year.

Just before noon, as the Yan Family was preparing to eat, Butler Sun hurried in.

Yan Zhigao put down his chopsticks, “What’s happened?”

Butler Sun said, “Master, Teacher Xiao has just sent a message saying that the levee in Jiguang Province to the north of Zhongzhou has breached, and you need to return to the Prefectural Governor’s Office immediately.”

Upon hearing this, Yan Zhigao immediately stood up, and without the opportunity to say anything else, he left with Butler Sun.