Chapter 168
Chapter 168
A servant brought a hoe, and Xiao Lan personally began digging up the potatoes.
Before he started, Jin Bao gave him a friendly warning.
“Uncle, be careful. Don’t break the potatoes. There are lots of them underneath, so start digging farther away.”
Jin Bao treasured every bit of food. She did not want even one potato damaged. A broken potato could still be washed and eaten, but it would not keep for long.
After her warning, Xiao Lan became even more careful.
His first swing of the hoe lifted a plump potato from beneath the soil.
Xiao Lan picked it up excitedly and turned it over and over in his hands, unable to stop smiling.
“How did that tiny lump we buried grow a potato this large? This one must weigh half a jin.”
The other members of the Xiao Family passed the potato from hand to hand, each eager for a closer look.
After that first discovery, Xiao Lan grew even more excited about what remained underground.
By the time he had dug up every potato, there were nearly twenty of various sizes.
He immediately ordered someone to weigh them.
A single fist-sized seed potato had produced more than ten jin.
The result caused an uproar throughout the Xiao Family. Almost everyone came to the garden to watch. This was a moment that could rewrite the history of the Northern Frontier.
Xiao Lan’s hands trembled with excitement as he held the heavy potatoes.
The Xiao Family controlled most of the Northern Frontier’s grain and had nearly formed a monopoly. Yet how many people had coveted the family’s wealth over the years?
Since separating from Xiao Che’s branch and losing its protection, the Xiao Family had spent a vast amount of silver cultivating useful connections.
With a crop this productive, the family would stand on far firmer ground.
Xiao Lan decided on the spot that every estate and tenant farmer under the Xiao Family would plant potatoes the following year.
Jin Bao’s little face blossomed into a smile at the good news.
With yields this high, even if the Xiao Family collected heavy rents, the tenant farmers would still have food to eat and could safely endure the long winter.
The adults then began discussing the seeds Xiao Che would provide to Baishui Town the following year.
Jin Bao could not participate in that part. She could not understand it anyway.
For the past two days, the Xiao Family had treated her like an empress. Every member of the clan showed her the utmost respect. Jin Bao did not stand on ceremony and had already explored all of Baishui Town.
When the adults discussed business, she grew bored and went to play with the Xiao Family’s other children.
Among the Xiao descendants were many girls Jin Bao’s age or slightly older.
Their elders had probably warned them never to show Jin Bao disrespect, so they always behaved somewhat cautiously while playing with her.
The Xiao Family also had many strict rules. Its girls had long since been pressed into the same mold, each with a similar disposition.
Their behavior and manners followed the family’s ancestral teachings to the letter.
Jin Bao found them terribly boring. She could not see any liveliness in those girls.
Among the children, she preferred playing with the youngest generation. They were only three or four years old and much livelier than the girls of seven or eight.
Whenever they became excited, they would scamper after Jin Bao calling her Little Auntie.
Today, Jin Bao planned to take this group of little nieces out shopping.
A crowd of servants trailed behind them, terrified that something might happen to their precious young charges.
The group of little sprouts, dressed like bright flower buds, chattered and laughed as they came through the Xiao Family’s main gate.
They had barely climbed over the high threshold when two carriages arrived outside, followed by two columns of guards.
Jin Bao was holding the hand of a little niece her own age. The child’s name was Suisui.
The two girls stood on the steps and watched the carriages curiously.
“Suisui, your family has guests. They look very important. Should we still go out?”
Jin Bao had seen plenty of impressive sights and knew much more than girls who had spent their whole lives confined to the rear courtyard.
With guards following behind the carriages, the new arrivals were clearly no ordinary guests.
Suisui tilted her little head and blinked her beautiful eyes. In a soft voice, she replied, “Little Auntie, Mommy says guests are grown-up business. They got nothing to do with us kids. Let’s still go out, okay? I brought silver beans today. I’ll buy Little Auntie some roast chicken!”
Suisui patted her new satchel with a bright smile.
She had pestered her mother into making it because Jin Bao had one. Now almost every girl in the Xiao Family carried a little satchel. Whenever they went out with Jin Bao, they were sure to wear one stuffed with handkerchiefs, scented balm, snacks, copper coins, and all sorts of other things.
The moment Jin Bao heard there would be roast chicken, her eyes lit up.
She felt her own bulging satchel. There were no silver beans inside, not even a single copper coin.
If someone treated her to food, she could not simply take advantage of them. She should give her little niece a present in return.
Unfortunately, Jin Bao’s purse was empty, so she could not buy anything that cost money.
“Suisui, is there anything you want?”
Jin Bao asked anyway.
Suisui blinked. “Yes! Suisui wants to grow up fast, so I can go out and play all by myself.”
Jin Bao sighed. Never mind. She could not grant that wish.
The two little girls were still chattering when an excited voice rang out.
“Star Maiden?”
Zhou Wanting lifted the carriage curtain and glanced at the Xiao Family’s gate. As her gaze lowered, she immediately spotted Jin Bao.
This truly was an encounter arranged by fate.
Zhou Wanting had come under the pretext of visiting Miss Xiao precisely so that she could meet Jin Bao. Yet she had encountered the girl the instant she stepped from the carriage. What else could that be but fate?
Jin Bao had met Zhou Wanting before and still vaguely remembered her.
“Auntie? Are you the guest visiting Suisui’s family?”
Jin Bao waved at Zhou Wanting.
Suisui stood beside her and stared curiously at the woman. She did not seem to know this auntie at all.
“Little Auntie, who is this auntie? Suisui dunno.”
Jin Bao scratched her head. She did not seem to know much either.
“Suisui, why don’t we go eat roast chicken instead?”
Jin Bao was still thinking about Suisui’s promised treat. The roast chicken she ate in the valley was not as delicious as the kind sold outside. When she returned, she wanted to bring one back for each member of her family.
Suisui bobbed her little head. “Okay. Are we going to the same place?”
It was obvious that this was not the girls’ first secret food expedition. They had already learned where to find the best dishes.
Watching the two little girls discuss food right in front of her, Zhou Wanting could not stop a gentle smile from curving her lips. Children their age naturally had hearty appetites. Still, the Xiao family head was remarkably bold to let such young children run outside.
A servant had already gone inside to announce the guests.
Xiao Qianqian soon came out with her attendants to welcome them.
Since Zhou Wanting had no chance to say more to the Star Maiden just then, she prepared to take Zhou Wanyi into the rear courtyard.
To her surprise, Zhou Wanyi announced that she wanted to look around outside. It would also give her a chance to learn more about the Star Maiden.
Zhou Wanting instinctively glanced toward the guards.
Only after Zhou Sheng nodded did she allow Zhou Wanyi to leave.
Holding hands, Jin Bao and Suisui arrived at a restaurant in town.
They had just stepped through the door when footsteps sounded behind them.
“Little girls, I heard you say you wanted roast chicken. How about this big sister treats you?”
Zhou Wanyi was determined to steal Zhou Wanting’s credit. If she could win the Star Maiden’s affection, her father would surely value her more. Then he would give her a more generous dowry when she married.
But Jin Bao did not seem to like this round-faced young woman very much. She wrinkled her little nose.
“Big Sister, Mommy says I can’t talk to strangers. Do we know each other?”
In truth, the director of the orphanage in Jin Bao’s previous life had taught her that.
But the advice applied in any era.
Zhou Wanyi had not expected the Star Maiden to be so wary. She could not even find an opportunity to ingratiate herself.
She tried to approach Jin Bao by explaining that she was Zhou Wanting’s younger sister.
But Jin Bao remained too guarded to warm to her.
Zhou Wanyi had no choice but to give up for the moment. Remembering that she had other business, she politely said goodbye.
Jin Bao was a well-mannered child. Even though she did not like Zhou Wanyi, she still nodded to her before pulling Suisui into the restaurant.
After leaving, Zhou Wanyi headed straight for the inn named on the note.
Someone stopped her the moment she entered.
“Fifth Miss, this servant knew you would come.”
One glance was enough for Zhou Wanyi to recognize the low-ranking maid who had swept her courtyard.
“Lead the way.”
The maid guided Zhou Wanyi to the inn’s finest room, then withdrew and stood guard outside.
Zhou Wanyi had come alone this time, without even a maid.
Upon entering the room, she caught a faint, pleasant fragrance. Thinking nothing of it, she paid it no attention.
Then she saw a handsome man dressed in magnificent brocade robes.
One glance was enough to set Zhou Wanyi’s heart pounding.
Never in the Northern Frontier had she seen such a handsome man.
Chen Shuhan inclined his head when he saw her and gestured toward a seat.
“Please sit, Miss Zhou. I know it was improper to invite you here so abruptly. Unfortunately, although I sent matchmakers to your home several times, your father refused to receive them. Yet I admire you deeply, so I could think of no other way. I hope you will forgive me.”
Zhou Wanyi stole glances at him, her fair cheeks already flushed crimson.
“You are too serious, Young Master Chen. But Father has never mentioned you to me. Could there have been some misunderstanding?”
With apparent sincerity, Chen Shuhan recounted how he had tried to engage matchmakers.
The longer Zhou Wanyi listened, the shyer she became.
“Why would you leave the noble ladies of the Capital unwed and travel all the way to the Northern Frontier?”
“There is something you do not know, Miss Zhou. I am the second legitimate son of a count’s household, and the Chen Family’s title has passed down through generations. As a second son, I naturally have no hope of inheriting it. Nor have I achieved anything through scholarship. Business, however, has always fascinated me, so I have traveled throughout the Northern Frontier for the past few years. I happened to glimpse your peerless beauty once and lost my heart to you.”
Chen Shuhan’s lavish flattery left Zhou Wanyi so dizzy that every trace of her suspicion vanished.
Then Chen Shuhan frowned slightly. “There is one more thing you do not know, Miss Zhou. I still have a chance to receive a hereditary title of my own. I need only find the Star Maiden and bring her before Prince Cheng. He would then grant me a title that my descendants could inherit. Unfortunately, I am a stranger in the Northern Frontier. How could I possibly find the Star Maiden?”
Zhou Wanyi blinked and blurted out, “I know where the Star Maiden is.”
At the same time, in a restaurant not far away, Jin Bao was happily gnawing on a roast chicken when she suddenly sneezed.
She raised her head in confusion, and an image abruptly appeared before her eyes.
Just like what she had seen at Qi Family Fort, people were taking off their clothes and fighting.
But why did the woman look so much like the big sister she had just met?
What had that big sister said? She was the younger sister of that auntie?
Even if Jin Bao did not like her, she could not simply watch the big sister be bullied.
Besides, the woman’s face was bright red and her expression looked painful, as if she were being beaten terribly.
Jin Bao immediately gripped the roast chicken in one hand and Suisui’s hand in the other.
“Suisui, come on! Little Auntie will take you to do something brave and help someone!”
Suisui had no idea what that meant, but she happily scampered along beside Jin Bao.