eurekapd Chapter 207 Wilderness
Chapter 207 Wilderness
With the enthusiastic introduction from the servants of the Nangong family and under Zhang Bo's coercion and enticement, the five baskets of mangosteens and ten baskets of coconuts quickly sold out.
But no matter what Uncle Zhang said, no one wanted to eat those twenty smelly durians. Uncle Zhang gritted his teeth and decided to let the guards of the Nangong family try them. Watching the guards go from frowning and looking miserable to looking satisfied,
Uncle Zhang couldn't resist picking up a small piece of durian and stuffing it into his mouth. Then, his eyes lit up, and he grabbed a durian and ran home.
At this moment, someone in the crowd asked, "Boss, can I try some?" Wen Yuxia smiled and said, "Sure, anyone who wants to try some can come and have a taste."
"Boss, do you still have mangosteens?" a middle-aged man shouted from outside the crowd.
"We don't have any right now. If you want mangosteens and coconuts, come back tomorrow morning," Wen Yuxia replied loudly.
That evening, Wen Yuxia instructed Nangong Wenrui to pick all the mangosteens, durians, and coconuts from the small world and bring them back to the Nangong family home to give to Uncle Zhang, telling him to have someone set up a fruit stall on the black market.
Then, carrying two baskets of mangosteens, five baskets of coconuts, and twenty durians, they left the black market and returned to the princess's mansion. The next morning...
The Emperor, Empress Dowager, Empress, Crown Prince, Crown Princess, Xia Yichen, and others all received mangosteens and coconuts delivered by Wen Yuxia's messengers, along with instructions on how to eat the two fruits.
Wen Yuxia was afraid they wouldn't be able to stand the smell of durian, so she didn't send them any durians.
Xia Yichen heard that Wen Yuxia had a fruit that emitted a strange smell, so he led Zhang Jinxuan and the others to the Princess's residence.
Upon learning their purpose, Wen Yuxia brought over two durians from Butler Tang. Inside the room, Xia Yichen took a deep breath and said, "It smells so good." Zhang Jinxuan pouted and said, "It stinks."
Wen Yuxia personally pried open the durian shell, took out the flesh and placed it in a fruit plate, smiled faintly and gestured for it to be served. Then she picked up a fruit plate, scooped a spoonful of flesh into her mouth, and said, "Durian smells pungent, but tastes delicious."
Xia Yichen and An Chiyu followed her example, holding a fruit platter in one hand and a spoon in the other, and began to savor the fruit earnestly. Zhang Jinxuan, Li Jiating, and Meng Xiaoyi, however, pinched their noses and retreated to the doorway of the room.
Ah, away from the stench, Li Jiating took a deep breath and said, "It stinks."
He could tolerate the stench of an unpeeled durian, but watching Wen Yuxia and the other two spoonfuls of the yellow, pungent flesh into their mouths, he simply couldn't resist.
Zhang Jinxuan glanced into the room and saw Xia Yichen and An Chiyu finish their portion, then reach for the fruit platter containing the fruit pulp.
"Is it really that delicious?" Zhang Jinxuan muttered to himself, then his feet seemed to walk uncontrollably into the room, reaching for the last plate of fruit.
After stuffing a spoonful of fruit into his mouth, he realized what he had done. Suppressing his nausea, he chewed twice and swallowed the fruit.
Then, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Mu Hua is right, it smells bad, but tastes delicious."
Wen Yuxia smiled at the two people outside the door and said, "Jia Ting, would you like to try some?" Li Jia Ting took a few steps back, expressing his reluctance with his actions.
Meng Xiaoyi hesitated for a moment, then said softly, "Just a little bit." Wen Yuxia scooped a small piece of fruit from An Chiyu's plate, took it outside the door, and handed it to Meng Xiaoyi.
Meng Xiaoyi gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, stuffed the fruit pulp from the spoon into his mouth, and swallowed it without even daring to bite it. "This tastes kind of nice," he said.
Except for Li Jiating, who absolutely refused to try, the others ate with great relish. Xia Yichen asked while eating, "Mu Hua, do you have any extra fruit trees?"
"Durian, coconut, and mangosteen are all tropical plants, and the climate in Beijing is not suitable for their growth. If you want to grow them, you have to go to the south..." Wen Yuxia explained in detail the growing conditions required for the three plants and told Xia Yichen that she could provide fruit tree seedlings.
Xia Yichen said loudly, "If it can be grown in the south, then send the fruit tree seedlings to the south so that the people there can plant them." He wanted the fruit tree seedlings to give to the people so that they could increase their income and expand the variety of fruits available in the Great Xia.
Wen Yuxia said calmly, "I will prepare the fruit trees as soon as possible and transport them to your designated location in three months."
There are many fruit trees in the small world. Only one of each type needs to be kept; the rest can be sent to the south for the people to plant. She can go there personally and teach the local people how to cultivate saplings.
Xia Yichen nodded slightly, indicating that he would go back and discuss with the emperor before informing Wen Yuxia where to send the fruit trees. He then took his leave with Zhang Jinxuan and the others.
Wen Yuxia then gathered Nan Yi and the others together and explained to them the steps for propagating mangosteen by cuttings, the steps for propagating durian by grafting, and that coconut trees require selecting old coconuts as seeds...
Mangosteen cuttings will bear fruit in six years, durian grafts will bear fruit in three to five years, and coconut trees will take about eight years to bear fruit.
Wen Yuxia recited the planting methods and fruiting timeline in one breath, feeling extremely fortunate. In her previous life, she loved eating these three fruits and had searched for planting methods online in her spare time, saving the information in a folder.
That evening, Nangong Wenrui returned home, and Wen Yuxia asked him to take her and Nan Yi and the others to the small world. The fruit trees in the small world could grow normally without high temperatures, sunlight, or rain.
Wen Yuxia was tasked with propagating mangosteen cuttings, grafting durians, and cultivating coconut seedlings in the small world. Three months passed in the blink of an eye, and Wen Yuxia, along with Nan Yi and the others, had cultivated several thousand fruit tree seedlings.
The planting location provided by Xia Yichen was a wild, undeveloped area, mostly mountainous and hilly, unsuitable for large-scale farming, with limited arable land. However, the climate and soil were ideal for growing durian, mangosteen, and coconut.
After learning that the planting location was a wild and untamed land, Wen Yuxia had Nangong Wenrui take her and Nan Yi's group to the wild and untamed land through the small world.
During her travels, she had been here and knew that this wild and untamed land was the Lingnan region she had spoken of in her previous life, roughly encompassing Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau, and Hainan.
The wealthiest cities in my previous life were among the poorest places in the Great Xia Dynasty. They didn't even have proper names and were collectively referred to as the Wilderness. There were very few ordinary people living there; most were military households and exiles.
Nangong Wenrui escorted Wen Yuxia and the others to the residence he had prepared in advance, and moved the fruit trees and saplings from the small world into the warehouse he had rented beforehand.
They accompanied Wen Yuxia to the Wilderness City and found the garrison commander, Gu Zhan. Gu Zhan had received a message from Yunyi Tower three months prior and had already arranged for people to cultivate a considerable amount of mountain land, ready to be planted as soon as the fruit tree saplings arrived.
Nan Yi and his men demonstrated planting fruit trees to the soldiers. Gu Zhan and the soldiers followed Nan Yi's steps, digging holes, planting trees, watering, and fertilizing.
A month later, all the fruit trees were planted. Looking at the fruit trees planted in the mountains, Wen Yuxia smiled and thought to herself, "In a few years, this place will be transformed from a barren land into a fruit-producing region."