The layout of the farmlands was planned by Ye Jiayao, but it was implemented by Manager Bai. She hasn’t seen the finished product yet so she was more than surprised when they got to the farmlands. It looked so different that she almost didn’t recognize it.
The nursery’s 20 acres were blooming with red roses, decorating the tender greens across the horizon as though the field was set ablaze.
Xiang Tao and the rest have yet to see such a magnificent view as this and were awe-struck. If not for the fear of being rude in front of their masters, they would have already pounced into the field of flowers.
Xia Chunyu clicked his tongue in amazement. “I have witnessed 10 lis of peach blossoms, a whole garden of plum blossoms becoming a sea of scented snow, but I never knew that roses can be this magnificent at this scale.”
Ye Jiayao smiled proudly. “I have temporarily allocated 20 acres of land for the roses. If the rose biscuits prove to be popular, I plan to expand it.”
“Rose biscuits?” Xia Chunyu looked at her questioningly. “It sounds delicious.”
“It is. I plan on making some today,” she replied.
Manager Bai pointed to the short trees far ahead and said, “That’s the orchard. There are apricot trees, pear trees, peach trees, and tangerine trees. The grapevine is on the other side but fruit trees do not grow so fast so I am afraid it would be hard to harvest grapes this year.”
“That’s not a problem. That’s a long term plan anyway,” Ye Jiayao said.
Manager Bai continued, “The farm is just behind the orchard, by the river. The terrain there is wide and open so if Heir-son Lord has intentions to rear a few horses, it would be ideal for it.”
Xia Chunyu nodded. “Yes, I do plan on doing that.”
Ye Jiayao glanced at the big, black horse prancing around leisurely at the back and asked, “What breed is Blackie? Is it expensive?”
“Of course!” he replied proudly. “Blackie’s a purebred wild stallion from the Tian Shan. He’s comparable to a Ferghana horse.”
She looked back at Blackie, an idea forming in her head. “We should make full use of such a fine breed. Manager Bai, after this, go to the market and buy a few good quality mares for Blackie to mate with so we can breed a few young colts. They’d be mixed breeds, but their quality will still be top-notch.”
Chunyu looked at his horse and noticed the furious look in the animal’s eyes. He laughed and said, “That’s a good idea but I reckon Helian Xuan would be able to bring back a few Ferghana horses from West Mongolia. We can wait until then.”
When they got to the courtyard, Manager Bai ushered them inside the small house.
“Heir-Son Lord and Second Young Mistress have come too suddenly and I didn’t have the time to prepare. I got Zhu Wang’s wife to tidy the place up a little bit at the last minute, so forgive us if we missed something. However, the kitchen’s been completed as per your request, Second Young Mistress,” Manager Bai said.
Zhu Wang’s wife came out a bit hesitantly. She was grateful that the Heir-son Lord and Second Young Mistress spared her, but she still felt guilty. Instead of punishing her, they gave her family a new life and even some money for her son’s treatment. She’d never be able to repay their kindness.
“Heir-son Lord, Second Young Mistress, the house has been tidied up. If there is anything else that you need, just let me know,” Zhu Wang’s wife said politely.
Ye Jiayao was more interested in the kitchen as that was her territory. She took Xiang Tao and the others to the kitchen, ordering them to check for supplies that they still need to buy.
Meanwhile, Manager Bai accompanied Xia Chunyu to take a look at the newly-dug fish pond.
By the time Xia Chunyu returned, Ye Jiayao has already gone to the nursery to pick some roses.
Xia Chunyu had nothing else to do so he asked Manager Bai for a fishing rod so that he can catch some fishes. He’d get Yaoyao to make him some sweet and sour fish for lunch.
Xiang Tao and the others were exceptionally excited to taste the rose biscuits that the Second Young Mistress would be making. They saw how she magically transformed those coconuts into delicious pastries and couldn’t wait what she’d do with these roses.
“Second Young Mistress, are these flowers ready to become filling for the biscuits after it is picked and steamed?” Xiang Tao asked curiously.
Ye Jiayao smiled. “It is not that simple. We still have to pluck the petals out and remove the heart of the flower. After that, we have to wash them clean and dry it under the sun for around two days. We then need to marinate it with sugar and honey to make it into a rose syrup.”
Xiang Tao lets out a disappointed sound. “That is so complicated! I thought we can try it tonight!”
“Well, get to work. The quicker we get this done, the sooner we get to eat them.”
In no time, the four of them were able to pick four huge baskets of flowers.
When they returned, Ye Jiayao handed the task of plucking the petals to Xiang Tao and the others.
Zhu Wang also sent a big basket of freshly picked vegetables. There were tender greens, sweet peppers, tomatoes, lettuces, bamboo shoots, and more. In addition, there was a chicken and a duck.
Zhu Wang’s wife rolled her sleeves up. “Second Young Mistress, let me kill the chicken and the duck.”
Ye Jiayao nodded. She then turned back and saw her husband fishing by the pond. It looked like he caught a fish with every rod he cast. He seemed to be in a good mood as he laughed around with Song Qi.
She smiled. She wanted this feeling of joy and calm to last forever.
She started to prepare for lunch. She stewed the chicken with fresh mushrooms and some young bamboo shoots.
Since the duck was greasy, she braised it. It’s a pity that there wasn’t beer, otherwise, she would’ve made some beer-braised duck.
Next, she stir-fried the greens with some shiitake mushrooms for a few minutes because she wanted to retain its color and crispness.
For the tomatoes, she cooked them in the most normal way – with eggs.
“Second Young Mistress, the Heir-son Lord caught some fish and he said he wants to have sweet and sour fish,” Song Qi said as he came in, carrying a few passable carps that looked around three to four catty each.
There was no way she’d be able to make sweet and sour fish with such small fishes!
“Tell him that if he wants to eat sweet and sour fish, he needs to catch a bigger fish. I can only make simmer-fried fish with what he caught,” Ye Jiayao said.
Song Qi chuckled. “Then I guess there will be no sweet and sour fish. Manager Bai said that these newly-hatched fishes were put in not long ago. These are the biggest of all of them.”
“Go and cut the fish open,” she ordered.
Song Qi nodded obediently.
Xia Chunyu was excited to go fishing. It didn’t take much effort before his bucket was filled with over 20 fishes. He inspected them and decided that they were too small. He was about to put them back in the water when Manager Bai stopped him.
“Heir-son Lord, these fishes have bitten the bait and have hurt their mouth so they wouldn’t be able to survive for long. We should just cook them,” Manager Bai said.
Xia Chunyu agreed and just ordered Manager Bai to buy more newly-hatched fishes of various breeds like carps, herring, and catfish.
“I wouldn’t dare to put a catfish in this pond. It’d just eat the other fishes,” Manager Bai told him.
Xia Chunyu frowned. He really was ignorant when it comes to these matters!
Song Qi has just finished preparing the fishes when he saw another basket placed in front of him.
“Song Qi, do these up as well,” Xia Chunyu said before walking away.
Song Qi took a look at the basket and almost fell off his stool. These fishes were as long as his finger and there’s so many of them. How long’s this going to take him?
After an hour of work, lunch was finally ready. Xiang Tao and the rest have yet to finish plucking the petals so Ye Jiayao just told them to eat first and continue their task later.
The servants ate at the kitchen and Ye Jiayao brought their food to the room where she saw Chunyu hunched over the table, drawing something.
“Chunyu, time for lunch.”
“Coming…”
He didn’t move, though, even after the table was set.
Ye Jiayao went over to take a look and saw a diagram of the farmlands.
“Are you designing the villa?” she asked.
“That’s right. I am planning to build a pavilion in the middle of the pond and a bridge by this irrigation channel. When the time comes, we can get some Taihu stones to decorate the place and plant some unique plants and flowers. What do you think?”
She doesn’t know anything about architecture but she liked all the things he described. “Yeah, that sounds good.”
“This is just a rough concept. The concrete design would be done by Reverend Ji Ren,” Xia Chunyu said.
Ye Jiayao hesitated for a second before asking, “Can we also build a hidden chamber?”
