Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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That day, Lu Huan returned from the government office and, as always, waited under the eaves for a long time. When the familiar wind wrapped around his fingertips, a gentle look appeared on his face, which had become much thinner recently. He said to the person beside him, “I want to discuss something with you.”
Su Xi tugged at his left sleeve, signaling him to speak freely. Could it be that he’d been thinking about this year’s birthday present for months? “He’s just a kid,” Su Xi thought.
But what the little one wanted to say was something even more important.
In the past few months, the cub had been expanding the farm’s business. After taking up the post of Assistant Minister of the Second Ministry of War, he started to receive a salary. He had also received a reward from the Emperor and a lot of silver from the old lady, so he was not short of money. The only problem was that the farm was short of manpower, which was why he was working so hard.
The farm gradually expanded to eight locations. In addition to the one in the capital, he also established one farm each in Ning County, Fengzhou, and Shandu.
Su Xi followed him to unlock all three places and even watched as the little one personally went to those three places to select and hire people to look after those farms.
At each farm, he utilized the convenience of greenhouses and sheds to enable workers to plow in spring and harvest in autumn. Now that it was late autumn, the grain yield had naturally far exceeded two thousand kilograms.
He ordered his workers to distribute this grain, which far exceeded the output of other farms and plantations, anonymously to the poor people throughout the Yan state.
Since the frost disaster last winter, many people in the Yan Kingdom had been displaced, unable to get a hot meal, and many had starved to death.
While this amount of grain was not enough to solve the plight of too many people, it was enough to help some of them get through this difficult time.
This could be considered as a good deed that had been done.
And because of this, rumors began to circulate that there was an “unknown, kind-hearted wealthy businessman,” and people were deeply grateful to this businessman who helped the people but never sought the limelight.
These words had not yet reached the Emperor’s ears, but most officials in the capital had heard of the matter. It was similar to the mysterious doctor who saved thousands of people at Yong’an Temple last winter, making it inevitable that people would connect the two events.
But the reason why the cub had been busy with these things these past few months was definitely not just this.
While grain prices soared throughout the Yan Kingdom, and yields were dismal across all farms, the farm he and Su Xi managed consistently produced high yields, even surpassing previous records for yield per mu (unit of land area).
This naturally attracted the attention of some people.
Wan Sanqian, Zhong Ganping, and other wealthy merchants in the capital tried every means to find out, and some even secretly sneaked into farms outside the city to try to figure out the working principle of frost protection sheds and greenhouses.
However, the blueprints were only available to Su Xi and Lu Huan. Even if these wealthy merchants found carpenters with exceptional skills, they would not be able to distinguish the kerosene lamps that had long since turned to powder, as well as the thickness of the parchment and the amount of wood used. They might end up making things worse by doing something unwise.
In other words, the frost-proof sheds and greenhouses, two advanced technologies predating the Yan Kingdom, brought tremendous convenience to crop cultivation. However, they were essentially patented technologies, possessed only by Su Xi and the cub.
However, if the farm was to be expanded to a larger scale and enter mass production, in order to feed more people, more manpower and external resources would be needed.
So, the cub decided to recruit an assistant.
Once he explained, Su Xi understood. He wanted to chain up the farm with greenhouses and frost protection sheds and find a partner who wouldn’t betray him.
The cub was considering Zhong Ganping as the candidate.
Zhong Ganping was a self-made man, and based on their initial encounter, he didn’t seem like a cunning or treacherous person. Moreover, after the Yong’an Temple incident, his youngest son was saved by the cub, who had saved his family’s lives; he would never repay kindness with ingratitude. Therefore, he was a trustworthy person.
Su Xi immediately tugged at the cub’s left sleeve, indicating that she wholeheartedly agreed.
The cub had an excellent eye for people and had never made a mistake in his decisions. Su Xi trusted him completely. In addition, Zhong Ganping in the “Make Friends with Heroes” section of the system had completely and sincerely submitted to the cub, which further proved that there would be no problems.
Actually, over the past year, the cub had grown up rapidly, and the more time went on, the less Su Xi, the one raising the cub, could help with.
The little one could handle all the problems on his own.
Nevertheless, whenever the cub had a problem, he would still pull her aside to discuss it, probably wanting to confirm that she was always by his side.
Thinking of this, Su Xi looked at the much thinner cub standing under the eaves, and a warm feeling washed over her. She couldn’t help but reach out and pinch the cub’s chubby cheeks again.
Su Xi felt resentful that his chubby face had become much thinner and wasn’t as bouncy as before.
The little one was stunned for a moment, and after realizing what had happened, he rubbed his face, his ears turning a little red.
But after a moment, as if he couldn’t hold back any longer, he spoke slowly and deliberately to the void, “I’m about to turn sixteen, I’m no longer a child, you—”
He seemed somewhat annoyed and helpless, gritted his teeth, and said, “Don’t treat me like a child.”
Seeing him say such things with his huge chubby face, Su Xi, watching from outside the screen, couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
But the little boy on the screen seemed to realize that she was amused by him, and he frowned and stared into the void without saying a word.
He pursed his lips, his dark eyes fixed on the flickering candlelight under the eaves, a complex, obscure, stubborn, and unspeakable meaning welling up within him.
….
Previously, the cub dodged the embroidered ball in the market and missed that side quest, but to Su Xi’s great surprise, Wan Sanqian took the initiative to come to her door after the autumn harvest.
Wan Sanqian was not quite what Su Xi had imagined; he was a rather thin and small person. However, despite his small stature, his expression was clearly shrewd.
He came to their door, naturally to discuss the matter of the frost protection shed and greenhouse.
Every time the cub went to the farm, he kept his whereabouts extremely secret. To this day, rumors were spreading throughout the capital and even the three states of Fengzhou. Everyone knew that there was a wealthy merchant who wanted to save the world and help people, but no one knew the true identity of that wealthy merchant.
After all, the little one was elusive, and the few things he later instructed his master Ding on were all in the form of notes.
However, since Wan Sanqian was able to become the richest man in Yan, he must have some skills. Although he had not yet found out the cub’s identity, he had found out the cub’s whereabouts.
So on this day, when the cub was in the outer city residence, Wan Sanqian came over in person.
To show his sincerity, Wan Sanqian didn’t bring many people with him, only a personal servant.
He wanted to buy the blueprints and technology for Su Xi and the cub’s cold-proof shed and greenhouse from a large sum of money. The price he offered was tens of thousands of taels of gold, which made Su Xi speechless. Her eyes immediately filled with greed!
No wonder he was the richest man in the world!
However, Su Xi knew that if he were given the blueprints and technology today, he would definitely use them to make more money, or even double the amount, and in the end, it would be the people of Yan or even other countries who would be fleeced.
This was the difference between him and Zhong Ganping. During the war, Zhong Ganping honestly earned some money and then helped the people, while Wan Sanqian took the opportunity to amass wealth during the war.
It was not that Wan Sanqian was bad; it was just that he was shrewd and a very ambitious businessman.
The cub naturally wouldn’t hand over the blueprints to him, but he still intended to cooperate with him.
With the combined strength of Zhong Ganping and the cub, it would be too weak and too slow to improve the current food shortage in the entire Yan state.
In the entire Yan Kingdom, only Wan Sanqian possessed such financial and material resources.
Moreover, the little one also needed the 30,000 shi of grain to support the war in the North.
So the cub negotiated with Wan Sanqian, requesting that Zhong Ganping’s side operate the frost-proof sheds and greenhouses, while Wan Sanqian would provide the capital for the farm, labor, crops, chickens, ducks, and raw materials. This model was equivalent to Wan Sanqian making the investment and then distributing profits according to the profit margin.
Wan Sanqian was currently in a passive position.
After hearing that Zhong Ganping had acquired the most advanced technology for a farm with output far exceeding that of other farms, wealthy merchants from the capital and even the entire Yan Kingdom flocked to it, wanting to invest and get a share of the profits. If Wan Sanqian didn’t take this job, the cub wouldn’t miss out on anything.
While doing her homework with the screen on, Su Xi couldn’t help but smile as she watched the constant pop-up messages about the cub’s profit negotiations with Wan Sanqian. She thought to herself that even in modern times, the cub would be a business whiz, with top-notch investment skills.
The cooperation was quickly reached. Although Wan Sanqian did not get what he wanted, he also understood the principle that greed was insatiable.
This person and Zhong Ganping’s techniques would soon bring about a revolutionary change in planting in all farms in the Yan Kingdom.
Even though this person’s true purpose seemed to be for the people of Yan, he foresaw that soon this person would become a rising star among the wealthy merchants of Yan.
At this moment, his involvement in this capital was absolutely beneficial and without any loss.
After Wan Sanqian left, a message popped up on Su Xi’s screen indicating that the task was completed.
[Congratulations on completing Task Two: Grain production reached 2000 kilograms, and you made the acquaintance of the richest man, Wan Sanqian.]
Congratulations on earning +8 points!
This task had been the one that had dragged on the longest, but planting and harvesting naturally took a year, so Su Xi felt that the progress was going very smoothly.
She looked at her current score of 62 and felt a little excited.
But soon, mission six would also be completed.
The sixth task was to manage the famine, which made him famous in the capital and earned him the title of “the unknown divine merchant,” initially attracting the emperor’s attention.
This task was parallel to Task 2.
For the past few months, the cub had been expanding the farm day and night. Although the goal was to raise food supplies for the Northern Army, it also happened to be on the main storyline.
As an entry point for investment and to take this gamble, the next day, Wan Sanqian, as requested by the cub, took the initiative to hire a security escort agency to transport the grain to the northern front.
The issue of supplies for General Zhenyuan and others, which had been causing them anxiety for months and remained unresolved for four months, was suddenly resolved. The next day, the matter caused an uproar in the Imperial Palace.
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