The Lucky Heiress

Chapter 365: Unlocking Perennial Rice

Variety_l

Xiaobei said, “Lady Xiumei, not everyone is like you and the Young Lady. Some people only care about themselves. Whether these refugees live or die isn’t important to them, what really matters is whether they can achieve their own success.”

Xiumei was so angry that she had many words of rebuke, but in the end, she swallowed them all down.

He was the sixth prince. To ordinary folks like them, he was an existence as high as the sky.

What could she change by being angry with him? Not to mention her, even her young mistress could not do anything to the likes of him.

Seeing Xiumei like this, Xiaobei was a bit heartbroken. He wanted to say something to comfort her, but he was at a loss for words, and in the end, he could only watch.

Wei Jinyi was watching Wei Ruo, and although he couldn’t see her facial expression due to the Human Skin Mask, there was a clear chill in her eyes.

After a while, this chill gradually faded away.

“Let’s go,” Wei Ruo said.

Not looking at the refugees who were being forced to go farm the land, Wei Ruo squeezed her horse’s abdomen with her legs, increasing her speed.

Wei Jinyi followed her, his deep eyes fixated on her.

While Wei Jinyi did not voice anything, Wei Ruo knew her second brother was concerned about her. So she turned her head and explained, “Second brother, I’m fine. I might be a bit annoyed, but I’m clear about the things that are beyond my control. I won’t overthink things that I shouldn’t and I won’t make myself feel troubled.”

“Hmm.” Wei Jinyi replied.

She had always been like this, full of compassion, but at the same time extremely rational, knowing what she could and could not do.

After the brief incident, Wei Ruo’s group traveled for about an hour, and arrived at the spot Wei Ruo had marked the previous night—Fengting Mountain.

The mountain is not high, but it is big and magnificent, spanning several miles from west to northeast.

“Miss, you’re not planning on buying this mountain, are you?” Xiumei looked surprised.

“Including all the farmland at the foot of this mountain.” Wei Ruo answered. Hearing this, Xiaobei’s eyes widened. How much would that cost?

Although land is cheap in the current situation, it would still take a lot of silver to buy a large tract of land like that.

Xiumei was not surprised that her mistress wanted to buy so much land, as her mistress had recently made a lot of money from selling food to the army and other business ventures. She had saved up quite a lot of silver this year.

But what surprised Xiumei was that her mistress wanted to buy the mountain in front of her, “Miss, what are you planning to plant on this mountain?”

“Tea, rice, and fruit trees. Not all the mountain is rugged, a lot of relatively flat land can be cultivated. Those areas will be for planting rice, while the rest of the place would be for planting tea and fruit trees where it’s possible.” Wei Ruo replied.

Growing tea and fruit trees takes a long time, especially fruit trees, from planting to fruition takes quite a while.

So before, Wei Ruo was not considering planting tea leaves and fruit trees, but now that she has accumulated a decent amount, it is time for some long-term investment.

However, crops that can fill the stomach are still Wei Ruo’s first choice. She will only consider other types of crops on land that is not suitable for planting rice.

Xiaobei couldn’t help but interject, “Miss, planting rice on the mountain can be quite laborious.”

Wei Ruo replied, “Yes, it is indeed laborious. That’s why I plan to plant perennial rice to save a lot of labor.”

“Perennial rice?” Xiaobei heard for the first time that rice could be perennial.

“Yes. Perennial rice. After being planted once, it can be harvested continuously for at least five years, and the yield will not significantly decrease during these five years. This type of rice only needs to ensure suitable climate conditions in the first year. In the following years, the already well-developed root system increases its ability to cope with natural disasters. It also doesn’t require any additional processes of nursery and transplanting.” Wei Ruo explained.

“There’s such an amazing variety of rice in the world?” Xiaobei asked in surprise.

Then he turned his head to look at his Young Master, who was knowledgeable and well-informed. He wondered if he had ever heard of this type of rice.

Wei Jinyi said, “It’s my first time hearing about perennial rice.”

Wei Ruo explained, “This is something I discovered recently. That’s why I want to try planting it, if it’s successful, that would be best. If it fails, then I’ll accept it.”

When she said it was a recent discovery, she was actually referring to her garden’s recent upgrade.

The sweet potatoes had begun to be harvested recently and she had accumulated eight thousand Experience Points in her space, which had just been upgraded to level six.

The new seed unlocked after the upgrade was the perennial rice.

Knowing the attributes of the new seed, Wei Ruo was overjoyed. This space of hers was really generous, unlocking practical seeds in the early stages.

That’s why she was so eager to come to the provincial city to buy new fields.

“Ruo’er, where did you find such an interesting variety of rice?” Wei Jinyi asked.

Wei Ruo had a ready explanation, “In nature, there are all kinds of diverse rice varieties. Even the rice grown in one’s own field can experience some changes during the growth process, some are positive, others are negative. This is like people, there can be tall or short, fat or thin, smart or not smart.”

Wei Ruo continued, “We can artificially pollinate rice flowers that have different excellent characteristics, so that the rice they produce has each of their advantages. After several generations of reproduction, selection and optimization, it is possible to get a rice variety that has multiple advantages.” The principle is indeed as such, but in practice, it consumes a lot of time and energy.

However, Wei Ruo has the cheat of space, without going through this process, she can directly obtain seeds with super excellent characteristics, saving countless manpower, material resources and time costs.

“Ruo’er is really smart.” said Wei Jinyi.

“There’s some luck involved too,” Wei Ruo said, “But Second Brother, you must not mention this to outsiders. If it is successfully planted later, just say I got the seeds from somewhere else. Don’t say I found it.”

“Okay.” Wei Jinyi agreed.

Then Wei Ruo’s group continued to walk along Fengting Mountain, observing the nearby conditions.

After finding a suitable road up the mountain, the group began to ascend.

The mountain was not steep, and at first they could ride their horses. Only in the middle and latter stages did they need to dismount.

As the four of them were walking, leading their horses, rustling sounds came from the wild grass on both sides of the road.

This time, there wasn’t even a need for Wei Jinyi’s reminder, the noise was so obvious that Wei Ruo also heard it.

Immediately after, a group of ragged, dirty-faced people with sticks and stones burst out from the grass, surrounding Wei Ruo and her group….