Chapter 312: A Toad Wanna Eat Swan Meat
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Gu Chang’an had already rolled up his sleeves. “Alright, let’s do it together.” Xiao Ran suppressed her heartache. This girl was indeed her Father’s daughter. No matter how hard her life was, she could still find joy.
The Xiao Family and the Ning Family were busy in the milk tea shop and did not notice the passage of time. Unknowingly, all the exams passed. During this period, everyone did not delay anything and even communicated with each other, becoming more and more familiar with each other.
While waiting for the rankings to be released, Xiaoxiao brought her parents to see the land she had conquered. She walked past the mountain she had bought and saw the fruit trees she had planted. She passed by the pond she had dug and urged others to dig. She could not help but sigh. “You’re quite busy?” Xiaoxiao scratched her head in embarrassment. “It’s alright.”
She told her parents about her business history, from the fresh fruit preserved wine to lotus seed and lotus root powder. Xiao Ran raised her hand and applauded. “Your Father and I don’t have the talent to do business. From the looks of it, you’re better than us.”
She thought that if she could work harder, at least her brothers in the border province would have a better life.
At this moment, Xiaoxiao asked with a smile, “Ahem, since I’m so strong, are you interested in cooperating with me?”
Cooperating?
Gu Chang’an wiped the flour off his face and looked at his daughter with his wife. “Please elaborate.”
Xiaoxiao ran into the house and brought over an ordinary-looking cloth bag. She pushed it in front of them. “This is it.”
The two of them untied the bag and were not surprised to see an entire bag of dehydrated vegetables lying inside.
Xiaoxiao said, “I made this before I entered the capital. It’s been more than a month since I put it there. It’s midsummer now, and food is the easiest to go bad, but they seem to be fine.”
In order to confirm this, they prepared boiling water and soaked the vegetables.
The originally crispy dried vegetables quickly unfolded under the boiling water. The green color was not lost at all. Instead, it seemed to have become even brighter. Even though they had seen it before, Gu Chang’an and Xiao Ran were still amazed. “You plan to do this business?”
Xiaoxiao nodded. “Actually, it’s not mainly to do business.”
“I heard that the weather at the border is strange. It’s extremely hot in summer and extremely cold in winter. The land there can’t grow food and vegetables, so both the soldiers and the commoners are living extremely hard. If we can send them over, I believe everyone will live a better life.”
“But I didn’t think of how to let the people at the border benefit without being used for personal gain. Father, Mother, why are you looking at me like that?” Xiao Ran and Gu Chang’an looked at each other and smiled. “It’s nothing. Continue.” They were just happy to have such a daughter.
If they could see the value of dehydrated vegetables, those who valued profits would definitely see it.
Xiaoxiao did not take out the dehydrated vegetables immediately back then because she was afraid that she would not be able to protect them.
It was a small matter if they lost the formula at that time, but it would not be worth it if she implicated her family. After all, in order to ensure their own interests, the person who obtained the formula might get rid of all the other people who knew. How could a farmer like them resist the pressure of power? It s different now. With General Xiao’s reputation, who would dare to covet this formula?”
“Father, let’s start today.”
The earlier they were mass-produced, the earlier they could be sent to the border.
With Xiaoxiao’s accumulated understanding of Gu Chang’an over the past few days, she thought that Father would immediately rush into the kitchen like her. Unexpectedly, when she turned around, she saw that his expression was complicated. “Xiaoxiao, you don’t seem to know Father very well.” “Have you heard of the Gu Family in the Imperial Capital?”
Xiaoxiao shook her head honestly. As a girl who grew up in a farming family, the original host naturally didn’t know anything. As for her, well… the Imperial Capital script hadn’t been updated yet.
Gu Chang’an sighed and pulled his daughter over to sit down. “If your grandfather finds out that you only know Dean Lu and don’t know him, he’ll probably be so angry that he’ll go to Bowen Academy to challenge him.” Everyone knew that Dean Lu, who had been personally conferred the title of the top scholar at the tender age of the crown decades ago, also knew that there were actually two top scholars that the late Emperor liked that year. The two of them were equally knowledgeable and had their own merits. The late Emperor and the officials in charge of grading the papers at that time found it difficult to choose. They almost wanted to make a unique move of “double top scholars”.
One of the two people who were equally favored was Dean Lu Chen, who was later conferred the title of Hanlin Academy’s Compiler by the late Emperor He was now indifferent to fame and fortune and came to Xijiang County to open an academy to be the Dean.
The other person was the current Left Premier, the head of the Gu Family, Gu Yuzhi. He was also Gu Chang’an’s father and Xiaoxiao’s grandfather.
Xiaoxiao asked curiously, “Then how did you decide on the title of the top scholar? Did you draw lots?”
Gu Chang’an gently knocked his daughter’s head. “How can you treat it like child’s play?” However, after saying that, he smiled. “It depends on their looks.” He coughed lightly. “Actually, the knowledge of the top three scholars in the Imperial Examination is not much different. According to tradition, the title of the first scholar belongs to the talented. However, the role of the third scholar has to be a good-looking person. Ahem, at that time, your grandfather was a handsome man who was famous in the Imperial Capital, so…”
Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but laugh. “No wonder Father and I are so good-looking.
So we look like Grandfather.”
In the past, Gu Chang’an hated it when others said that he was good-looking. For this reason, he even fabricated the nonsense that he was “big and burly” when he was young. However, when these words came out of his daughter’s mouth, they seemed to be quite cute.
Gu Chang’an looked at his daughter’s big black eyes and couldn’t help but reveal a “secret”. “Actually, it was your grandfather who took the initiative to take the number three position at that time. Because an envoy from another country was visiting at that time and the number one scholar was going to entertain guests, he couldn’t be bothered to quarrel with those rough people.” Xiaoxiao really wanted to applaud. So her grandfather had such a personality? “It’s best if the number one scorer is knowledgeable and good-looking. In that case, wouldn’t the second scorer back then be very ordinary?” It sounded a little tragic.
Of course. Back then, the weak glow of the number two scorer was completely suppressed by the top scorer and the number two scorer. The commoners did not hesitate to mention it after dinner.
Xiaoxiao asked curiously, “What happened to this top scorer?”
Gu Chang’an looked into the distance. “He’s the current Right Prime Minister, Yan Liandao.”
Oh, the Yan Family. Xiaoxiao asked, “Does our family not have a good relationship with the Yan Family?”
Gu Chang’an was surprised. “How did you know?”
Xiaoxiao pretended to be unfathomable. “I guessed.”
Xiao Ran had heard Rong Yan mention that Xiaoxiao was very smart many times. She also knew that Xiaoxiao was destined to be involved in the court intrigues in the future, so she said to Xiaoxiao with a serious expression, “My good daughter, you have to be careful when you meet the Yan Family in the future. As you said, not only does the Yan Family have a distant relationship with your father’s Gu Family, but they also have some rifts with our Xiao Family.”
After a moment of silence, she said directly, “When your maternal grandfather and the others were still alive, the Yan Family tried to rope them in, but your grandfather was an upright person and hated those power struggles the most. He did not accept the olive branch from the Yan Family.”
At this moment, Gu Chang’an, who had always had a good temper, snorted. “They’re toads wanting to eat swan meat. They actually proposed marriage to the Xiao Family..”
This chapt𝙚r is updated by fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com