He dodged the empty teacup from his wife's hand, but couldn't avoid the chores. Then again, for such minor matters, he could have just had his subordinates handle it, but she insisted on going herself!
Unable to argue or fight back, he could only resign himself to fate. He put down his teacup and said, "I'll go take a look right away!"
Grain has always been the source of human life. He understood this point very well. After all, if they didn't plant grain next season, it could very well lead to a rise in grain prices next year!
If they managed to avoid a drought but fell into a grain crisis, wouldn't that be a betrayal of the heavenly rain?
While he went out to survey the fields, Zhao Jiaqi was not idle either. She took her carriage to the wild vegetable workshop. The workshop had been closed for a while, and the produced wild vegetables hadn't been sold yet. She needed to carefully inspect the produced wild vegetables, hoping they were still edible!
Song Fei accompanied Fang Mingjiang as they randomly selected a can from the storeroom, opened it, and examined its contents.
Zhao Jiaqi crushed it with her finger, sniffed it, and took a shallow taste. She immediately frowned!
"Have these wild vegetables gone bad?" Fang Mingjiang's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked!
The deep processing of their wild vegetables, the sterilization, and the canning all followed the Princess's instructions, with no corners cut!
Zhao Jiaqi shook her head, "They aren't bad, they're just too salty. After one bite, it felt like I ate a thousand grains of salt, it was that overpowering!"
Upon hearing this, the tension that had been building in their chests immediately dissipated. They were so scared, they thought they had gone bad!
These wild vegetables had taken considerable time and effort to process. If they were ruined, all the tens of thousands of cans in the storeroom would be wasted!
"Pack these up. I'll take them back to the prince's manor later and use them to make dumplings with smoked meat tonight. Let's see what they taste like!"
Fang Mingjiang and Song Fei were dumbfounded!
They knew what smoked meat tasted like, and they had eaten wild vegetables before, but would these two combined taste good?
Would there be a strange flavor?
Despite their reservations, they diligently started packing the wild vegetables and eagerly anticipated the taste of the wild vegetable and smoked meat dumplings that night!
In the afternoon, after finishing his inspection, Fan Zehao returned home. After a bath and changing into clean clothes, he went to find his wife, intending to recount everything he had seen that day.
"The rain last night wasn't heavy. The fields were only moistened on the surface. Many farmers were plowing the land. I saw that the farmers were more anxious than you."
This was how it should be. Farmers depended on their land; who else could they depend on? Their concern showed that these common people were not lazy!
Zhao Jiaqi said, "The rain hasn't stopped yet. It might pour this evening, and the fields will be thoroughly watered tomorrow!"
He didn't refute his wife's words, but he didn't believe them at all. With this kind of rain, he'd bet his life that it wouldn't stop unless it rained for seven or eight days!
Looking at the dark clouds, he knew that the sun would not be visible for quite some time!
That evening, Zhao Jiaqi suddenly had a whim: she would make dumplings with wild vegetables and smoked meat, and then make dumplings with cured meat and wild vegetables, to see what they tasted like!
As a result, the dumplings they made tasted truly strange!
The ones with cured meat and wild vegetables were acceptable, but the ones with smoked meat were simply inedible.
At the dinner table, Yu Meng, to be polite, forced herself to swallow the dumplings, a look of disgust on her face, and she sighed!
Instead of tasting good meat, she ended up with a mouthful of smoky flavor! If it were anyone else, she might have complained bitterly!
Before they could finish their meal, a torrential downpour suddenly began outside. In a short period, a layer of water had accumulated on the ground!
Under the eaves, the rainwater fell like beads!
Everyone stood in the long corridor, watching the heavy rain, smiles appearing on their faces.
"Wife, is your mouth blessed? How is it so accurate!"
What she had said in the afternoon came true that evening. Even the most learned old Daoist priest in the temple, who could divine the future, wasn't as accurate as his wife!
However, it seemed his wife had gained another skill: fortune-telling. If they stopped being prince and princess, they could even make a living with this skill!
Fan Zehao stroked his chin, wondering if this was considered "winning without effort."
Compared to his optimism, Zhao Jiaqi couldn't help but worry again. If the rain continued to fall like this, it wouldn't be a drought issue, but a flood!
Alas!
Heavens! You bring rain, and you bring drought. You bring heavy rain, and you bring light rain. Can't you be normal?
Perhaps the heavens heard Zhao Jiaqi's complaints, because the next day, the sun rose early!
The common people in the farmlands, carrying their hoes, headed to the fields, their smiles so wide they seemed to reach their ears!
Zhao Jiaqi had thought it was because the fields were ready for cultivation that the people were so happy, but the reality was different!
Su Ya: "Madam, your maid inquired. In our inner city, the wells in the houses have water again. Does this mean the drought has passed?"
This... Zhao Jiaqi was truly unsure. She hadn't experienced what it was like after a drought. This was the first time in her life she had encountered such a situation!
"Perhaps. Regardless, it's a great thing that life can return to normal."
Su Ya also felt the same. Now she could finally take a nice, fragrant bath when she went back tonight, and dare to drink water freely, no longer fearing the panic of running out of water!
They say good deeds don't go beyond the door, while bad news travels a thousand miles.
Since the beginning of summer, the Yun Kingdom had been living in torment. Drought and locusts had plagued them. The common people had little grain stored, and with the drought, the harvest from the fields was meager. To make matters worse, the court had increased grain taxes, causing the populace to groan in suffering!
Seeing the rain in the inner city, but not a drop falling in their area. The dark clouds they had finally hoped for had disappeared by morning, leaving a clear sky.
Drinking water had become a problem. Not a single drop of water could be drawn from the wells. Some cities had even seen their citizens die of thirst!
The people still grumbled, believing that if the current emperor hadn't been so wicked, things wouldn't have reached this state.
Grain prices were outrageously high, there was no water to drink, and many people heard that the former Emperor Emeritus had warned the new Emperor of a possible drought, but the new Emperor had dismissed it, leading to their current suffering!
Amidst the crowd, someone, unable to bear it any longer, shouted: "This new emperor is wicked and has led the nation astray. I don't want to stay in Yun Kingdom anymore. I want to go to the inner city, I want to be a citizen of the inner city. They can avoid locusts there, and when there's a drought, even the heavens help them with rain. A person who is helped by the heavens must be a good emperor!"
"Well said! I recall when Fan Zehao was emperor, our lives were so comfortable. Now, look at this new emperor. In just a few months, he has pushed us to this point. If we stay any longer, we'll lose our lives. I'm going to the inner city too!"
Suddenly, many people voiced their desire to go to the inner city, echoing the sentiments of many of the populace!