Ch 114: The Regent’s Farmer Husband

The peach trees planted at the Regent’s residence had finally borne fruit.

Since it was their first year producing peaches, the harvest was not large.

That afternoon, Jiang Ji went to inspect them and carefully picked a basketful.

That evening after dinner, the entire family sat together to taste the sweet peaches.

Jiang Ji and Lu Huaizhou each held a fruit peeler, skillfully peeling peaches. The peelers had been exchanged through Jiang Ji’s system, and the kitchen staff absolutely loved them because they made peeling so convenient.

Staring at the peach in Jiang Ji’s hand, Jiang Nan said,

“This is so much bigger than the peaches back in our village. Does that mean it’s sweeter too?”

Jiang Bei added,

“Look how red the skin is. It has to be sweeter than the ones we used to have at home.”

The peaches in their hometown had all been wild peaches, each one smaller than an egg. Many were quite sour, and only the very red ones were sweet. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. But back then, food had been scarce in the village. Usually, the peaches would be picked clean long before they had a chance to fully ripen.

After peeling a peach, Jiang Ji handed it to Zhao Ru.

Seeing Jiang Nan and Jiang Bei staring eagerly at it, Zhao Ru passed it to Jiang Nan.

Soon afterward, Lu Huaizhou finished peeling his peach and simply handed it to Jiang Bei.

The two little boys happily began eating.

Jiang Ji continued peeling more peaches and asked,

“Well? Are they sweet?”

Crunching noisily, Jiang Nan nodded contentedly.

“They’re much sweeter than the peaches from our village! And they’re so crisp.”

Jiang Bei nodded as well, holding up his peach for everyone to see.

“The pit comes right out too! It’s really delicious.”

Jiang Xia glanced over and said,

“Save the pits. We can plant them in the courtyard later.”

“There isn’t any room left in the courtyard,” Jiang Ji replied while quickly peeling another peach and handing it to Jiang Xia. “The apple trees have grown too much already.”

Their courtyard contained two apple trees that were still young, but once fully grown, they would take up quite a bit of space.

Jiang Xia accepted the peach from her brother and took a bite.

Her eyes immediately lit up.

It really was much tastier than the peaches they used to eat.

“It’s such a shame to just throw away the pits when the peaches are this good,” she said regretfully.

Jiang Nan, always quick-thinking, said,

“Then give them to Xiang’er and her family! They don’t have any fruit trees in their courtyard yet.”

“That works,” Jiang Xia agreed. “I’ll give them to Xiang’er tomorrow. Don’t throw away any of the peach pits.”

Soon, everyone had tasted the first harvest of sweet peaches.

“This one looks a bit different from that one,” Jiang Nan observed as he started on his second peach.

“Mm. Different varieties,” Jiang Ji explained.

He wanted to cultivate honey peaches in the future, so he had planted several different peach varieties to provide more options for grafting later on.

Originally, he had simply wanted to see how fruits from his previous world would adapt to this one.

Now that he had tasted them, he found that they were already excellent.

These were all premium varieties developed by experts in his previous life, and they had adapted remarkably well here.

After thinking for a moment, Jiang Ji recalled that in his previous life, there had been a famous peach-producing region near the capital.

He said,

“How about we find a place to grow peach trees? We could establish a peach orchard.”

Jiang Nan immediately nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes! Yes!”

That way, he would have plenty of peaches to eat every year.

Zhao Ru looked surprised.

“Where would you plant them? Up in the mountains? Wouldn’t that require clearing the hills?”

“Not necessarily. Gentle slopes would work fine,” Jiang Ji explained before turning to Lu Huaizhou. “What do you think?”

Lu Huaizhou had always supported whatever Jiang Ji wanted to do.

Their family had enough resources now.

“That sounds fine. You can do whatever you want.”

Jiang Ji’s lips curved into a smile.

Since he had made up his mind, Jiang Ji spent the next day researching information through his system.

On the third day, he brought Lu Jiu and Lu Wen with him and headed outside the city to investigate locations.

In his previous life, there had been a particularly famous peach-growing region near the capital. Entire counties had been covered with peach orchards. He had visited with friends before to pick peaches, and the sight of mountains blanketed with peach trees had left a deep impression on him.

The area was surrounded by mountains on three sides, with ideal climate conditions, abundant water resources, excellent sunlight exposure, and fertile soil, all perfectly suited for peach cultivation.

It had produced some of the most famous peach varieties.

Jiang Ji led Lu Jiu and Lu Wen directly to this area.

In Great Sheng, the corresponding location belonged to Changgu County under Jizhou Prefecture, approximately an hour’s ride from the capital.

After arriving, Jiang Ji surveyed the area.

The county’s population was relatively small, with villages scattered across the landscape.

There was also a considerable amount of uncultivated wasteland.

He selected two large plots of unused land before heading to the county office to purchase them.

Previously, Jiang Ji had visited this area to promote new wheat varieties. The county magistrate had met him once before and recognized him as Duke Chang.

The magistrate was thrilled.

Upon learning that Jiang Ji wanted to purchase wasteland, he immediately summoned officials from the land registry and personally accompanied Jiang Ji to inspect the land. They marked boundaries and established property markers.

The purchase included two large tracts of wasteland as well as several acres of fertile farmland.

Half of the farmland would be used to cultivate seedlings.

The other half would allow estate workers to grow wheat and vegetables for their own subsistence.

Once the land had been surveyed and designated, the magistrate had his staff work overtime that very evening to complete all the necessary paperwork.

Jiang Ji and his group stayed overnight before returning to the capital the following day with the land deeds.

Establishing a peach orchard was a long-term endeavor.

It would take at least three years.

Jiang Ji selected an estate steward from among those managing his family’s various properties.

He then visited a labor agency and hired experienced agricultural workers, instructing Lu Shun to bring them all to Changgu County.

Jiang Ji had Lu Shun rent housing for the workers in a nearby town.

The rest of the work would be delegated to them.

They needed to establish an estate on the wasteland and hire local villagers to clear and prepare the land.

The following spring, they would begin cultivating seedlings.

Another year would be required to fully reclaim the land.

Jiang Ji had finally come to appreciate the advantages of wealth, status, and having capable people under one’s command.

Once he established objectives and requirements, there would naturally be people to carry them out.

With Lu Shun overseeing the estate construction and land development, Jiang Ji remained at home organizing detailed cultivation guides for peach trees.

These would later be distributed to the estate managers for study.

After dealing with all these matters, Jiang Ji finally allowed himself a period of genuine rest at home.

When he had free time, he designed textile patterns and new Yun brocade motifs.

He also began compiling cultivation manuals for various fruit trees.

Promoting staple crops had been about ensuring that people had enough to eat.

Common vegetables and fruits helped diversify the dining table.

Once these had spread throughout Great Sheng, he could gradually focus on cultivating various fruit trees.

It would be a lengthy process.

Especially for fruit trees that required years before bearing fruit.

There was no rushing such things.

As autumn arrived, regions across the empire gradually entered harvest season.

In areas that cultivated rice, the new rice varieties had been fully implemented, and farmers enjoyed abundant harvests. Original translation at HololoNovels dot com. Spring wheat also began to be harvested, and county governments found the collection of imperial grain taxes proceeding more smoothly than ever before.

This year, corn and sweet potatoes had spread to even more areas, and an increasing number of farmers had begun cultivating cotton.

In Changping County, because Jiang Ji had previously discussed it with the magistrate, cotton had been planted extensively. Many merchants from neighboring counties came to Changping to purchase cotton, only to discover that many of the wealthy local households weren’t selling theirs at all. Instead, they were stockpiling it.

The merchants were puzzled.

When they asked, no one gave them an explanation.

Not only were these households refusing to sell, but they were also buying up even more cotton to store away.

Shortly after the cotton harvest was completed, Jiang Ji fulfilled his promise.

Meng Dahai received word from Jiang Ji informing him that the blueprints for the textile machinery could finally be given to the county magistrate.

The magistrate immediately issued a public announcement:

Any resident of Changping County interested in entering the textile industry could receive a copy of the textile machine blueprints distributed by Duke Chang from the county office.

Before long, four or five textile workshops sprang up almost overnight.

Their factories had already been prepared in advance.

Once the machines were built and installed, workers from Duke Chang’s textile mill were even sent to teach them how to operate the equipment.

Very quickly, they began hiring workers and starting production.

Only then did the merchants who had come to buy cotton realize:

The reason these people had refused to sell their cotton was because they intended to open textile workshops of their own.

Over the past two years, the cotton fabric produced by Jiang Ji’s textile mills had consistently fallen short of demand and had become extremely popular among ordinary people.

Their cotton cloth was now being sold even in neighboring provinces.

The people of Changping County felt this change most deeply.

It wasn’t unusual to see crowds of merchants gathered outside Jiang Textile Shop, all competing to place orders and secure inventory.

They didn’t just compete for fabric that had already been produced.

They even reserved fabric that hadn’t yet come off the looms.

They would buy up any remaining stock in the shops as well.

As a result, despite being locals, the people of Changping County often couldn’t buy cotton fabric without placing advance orders and asking the shopkeepers to reserve some for them.

The success of Jiang Ji’s cotton business gave everyone hope.

Especially the patriarchs of the four major families who had previously heard Jiang Ji speak about his development plans for Changping County.

They were already more business-minded than most people and possessed considerably greater resources.

Naturally, they wanted to establish an early foothold in this growing market.

The Lin Family, originally merchants dealing in grain and oil, established a textile workshop while maintaining their existing businesses.

Lin Patriarch quickly realized that cloth woven using the machines developed by Duke Chang was simply softer and of higher quality than traditional fabric.

He didn’t overextend himself by attempting complicated patterns.

Instead, he focused on producing basic solid-colored fabrics, especially white, gray, blue-gray, and dark blue, which sold best.

The Zhang Family had been involved in the textile industry for many years and possessed greater expertise in this field.

They replaced all their old machinery with the new equipment.

During trial production, watching the cotton gin rapidly separate cotton from seeds and seeing one spinning machine perform the work of eight people, Zhang Patriarch couldn’t help but feel admiration.

No wonder Duke Chang’s workshops could produce so much fabric every month.

As these new textile workshops opened, many people in Changping County, especially women, gained employment.

As ordinary people’s incomes increased, their lives gradually improved as well.

Jiang Ji’s textile business inevitably experienced some impact.

However, there remained a massive shortage across the national market.

Since they maintained a leading position within Changping County itself, they had little to fear.

Moreover, their brand had already become well established.

Their business had expanded into other provinces.

They weren’t particularly worried about competition from the newly opened workshops.

Just as the silk industry flourished in Jiangnan, Changping’s textile industry was developing with equal vigor and prosperity.

Receiving letters from his hometown in Changping and learning that everything there was progressing smoothly, Jiang Ji smiled with satisfaction.

The silk factories in Ningzhou were also nearing completion.

Yun Brocade would soon enter production.

The family’s three restaurants remained packed with customers every day, business thriving.

Vegetable promotion efforts in the capital had gone remarkably well this year.

Next year, they could consider opening another hot pot restaurant.

Construction had already begun on the peach orchard outside the capital.

All that remained was planting the seedlings next spring.

Jiang Ji lifted his gaze and looked ahead.

The entire garden was overflowing with blooming flowers.

Guests filled every seat around them.

Jiang Xia, dressed in a pale pink gown, stood gracefully on the platform like a lotus blossom just beginning to bloom.

Elegant and radiant, she was currently receiving her coming-of-age ceremony (jiji).

Zhao Ru, clothed in luxurious brocade and smiling warmly, carefully inserted an exquisite hairpin into Jiang Xia’s hair.

Nearby, Jiang Nan and Jiang Bei were no longer the dark, skinny little monkeys they had once been.

They had grown into tall, handsome young men.

Then Jiang Ji turned to look beside him.

The tall, handsome man holding his hand had lowered his gaze toward him.

A smile played at the corners of Lu Huaizhou’s lips, his eyes filled with tenderness and unwavering affection.

His career had succeeded.

His family stood beside him.

The person he loved remained at his side.

Jiang Ji tightened his grip on Lu Huaizhou’s hand and returned him a bright, brilliant smile.

The sky was vast and clear.

The sun shone warmly beneath a gentle breeze.

And the days to come would only continue to grow better.

(End of Main Story)

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