Chapter 179 - A belly full of bad ideas

Shi Qingluo walked over and picked a few chillies.

“This is called chilli. It’s not a fruit. It’s considered a type of vegetable.

“It’s mainly used to enhance the dishes.

“My master said that these are the seeds he collected during his adventures.

“You can eat fresh chillies, or you can dry them in the sun to make chilli sauce.

“It could also relieve heat and help to lower the temperature.

“Oh right, my master said that those who can eat spicy food will like it, but those who can’t will not necessarily like it.”

Hearing her words, Mo Qingling and the others were a little disappointed.

They thought that it was something good again, but they were also satisfied with the corn.

Liang Youxiao, this foodie, went over and asked, “What does it taste like?”

Shi Qingluo replied, “It’ll be very spicy when eaten raw. It should be delicious when served with a dish.

“I’ll pick a few and try them tomorrow.”

She could finally eat chilli.

......

Liang Youxiao smiled and said, “That’s not a bad idea.”

He even took the initiative to help Shi Qingluo pick a few more red ones.

Seeing that it was getting late, Mo Qingling offered to make a move first.

He still had to make arrangements to bring people to collect the corn tomorrow morning.

Mr Hou did not want to return to the county town anymore, so he decided to stay at Xiao Hanzheng’s house for the night.

After becoming an official in his old age, he no longer had much desire for power or anything. Instead, he liked to eat.

Tonight, he ate very comfortably at his little disciple’s house.

Tomorrow, he still wanted to try the taste of this chilli again.

The next day, Xiao Hanzheng did not go to the county town.

They had just finished their breakfast when Mo Qingling brought people from the county office to collect the corn.

Mr Hou, Liang Youxiao, and the others followed him to the Taoist temple.

Because they heard that the old God had appeared again yesterday, the number of people who came to offer incense today doubled.

Seeing the magistrate bringing his people along, many were surprised.

“What is the magistrate doing here? Bringing people to offer incense?” This was unlikely.

“I heard that the old immortal appeared yesterday and gave a hint that the heaven-gifted seeds were bestowed to the emperor and those in Daliang.

“That’s why the magistrate brought people to collect the seed today.”

“Ah, is that true?”The god-given seed sounded so mysterious.

Someone emphasised, “That must be true. I saw the old immortal appear with my own eyes yesterday.”

“Let’s go and take a look.”

Hence, the people who offered incense also went to the backyard to watch.

Mo Qingling did not stop them.

He got his people to break off the corn cobs like how Shi Qingluo told them to.

He brought more than a dozen strong-looking bailiffs with him, so it did not take long for the corn to be harvested.

Finally, when they were weighed, they weighed more than 1,200 catties.

This caused Mo Qingling and Mr Hou’s faces to be filled with excitement.

It was really a high-yield grain!

The crowd of onlookers exclaimed in surprise.

“What? There’s actually grains with such a high yield per mu?”

“Oh my God, I’ve been planting for so many years, but this is the first time I’ve heard that one mu produces thousands of catties.”

“What kind of corn can really be used as food? If that’s the case, then won’t we be hungry in the future?”

“I don’t know if it’s delicious.”

Hearing these people’s words, Xi Rui said with a smile, “It’s delicious. We tried it last night. It can indeed be eaten.

“Not only can it be boiled and steamed, but it can also be made into pancakes. After drying and grounding into powder, it can also be steamed into steamed buns and made into wowotou.”

“I think pancakes made from corn are better than those made from white flour.”

He was already tired of eating those made from white flour.

Hearing Xi Rui’s words, the onlookers were all excited.

They did not doubt his words.

The young masters from the capital had eaten all kinds of good things.

Since they said that the corn was delicious, it must be delicious.

Moreover, if it wasn’t delicious or could not be used as food, Magistrate Mo would not bring his people to harvest it.

They also wanted to try this heavenly-given good seeds!

Therefore, they all cast envious and jealous eyes at Xi Rui.

Xi Rui liked to show off like this, especially enjoying everyone’s envious and jealous gazes.

Liang Youxiao was actually about to show off, but he did not expect Xi Rui to beat him to it.

He rolled his eyes and walked to Shi Qingluo’s side. “Shi Qingluo, how about we discuss something?”

Shi Qingluo saw his sneaky look and guessed. “What?”

Liang Youxiao smiled and said, “Give me some corn seeds.”

Shi Qingluo thought to herself, this guy really has his eye on corn seeds.

She shrugged and said, “Now that the corn has been handed over to the county office, I can’t make the decision.”

If you want it, go look for Mo Qingling.

She still wanted to keep some seeds, but she couldn’t do it in public.

Liang Youxiao’s skin was thicker, so he went to find Mo Qingling again.

“Brother Ling, after the corn is dried, give me a few catties.”

This was the heavenly-sent high yield seeds.

If their manor planted the first batch of seeds, the Liang family’s status would improve.

Mo Qingling glanced at him. “Do you think that’s possible?”

It weighed dozens of pounds. Why didn’t you want a few hundred catties?

Xi Rui also turned around and leaned over. “Brother Ling, I think it’s okay.”

“It’s more than a thousand catties. It’s not a big deal to give us a few dozen catties, right?”

This time, even Fei Yuzhe could not help but lean over. “Yes, give us some, Brother Ling.”

If he had known earlier, he would have asked Shi Qingluo for some yesterday.

Xi Rong did not ask for it. She wasn’t close to Mo Qingling.

Furthermore, her uncle was the emperor.

After the corn seeds were sent to the capital, she could ask for them from her uncle.

Mo Qingling facepalmed and said with a headache, “I can’t make the decision.”

“How can you not make the decision? It is only a few catties of corn. Don’t be so stingy!”

“That’s right. I remember that you were very generous in the past, Brother Ling.”

“Brother Ling, are we brothers? If we are, then give us some.”

Mo Qingling remained silent, brothers my ass.

He wasn’t that close to them, alright?

All those years when he was a dandies, these little brats were still wearing open-crotch pants.

The few of them kept pestering Mo Qingling.

He could not help but spit out a word with a dark face, “Get lost!”

Seeing that Mo Qingling would not budge, Liang Youxiao and the others could only retreat and think of other ways.

A moment later, Liang Youxiao pulled Xi Rui to his side. “You take the lead and directly snatch some corn. We’ll take it back to the courtyard to dry and then bring it back to the capital as seeds.”

Xi Rui thought to himself, no wonder his father said that this bastard had a belly full of bad ideas.

“Why do I have to take the lead to snatch it?”

Liang Youxiao said matter-of-factly, “Because the empress dowager is your great-aunt and the emperor is your uncle. If you take the lead to snatch it, you can go back and coax the empress dowager.”

“We don’t have the empress dowager as our great-aunt.”

Fei Yuzhe had already walked over and said in agreement, “Yes, so it’s good for you to take the lead.”

Xi Rui remained silent, what kind of bad friends he had.

However, what he said made sense, and he could not refute it.

He said, “The emperor is Xi Rong’s biological uncle. Why don’t you let her go?”

Liang Youxiao looked like he was stupid. “Does she need to snatch it? She just needs to go back and coax the emperor to be offered some.”

“If we coax the emperor, do you think we will be offered some?”

Xi Rui shook his head. “It’s highly unlikely.”

Liang Youxiao said in unison, “Then that’s it.”

Xi Rui Thought for a moment, gritted his teeth, and said, “Alright, let’s do it!”

If the emperor reprimanded him, he would run over and beg the empress dowager.

The three of them exchanged glances before taking advantage of Mo Qingling’s lack of attention.

Xi Rui rushed forward, grabbed a dozen or so corn cobs, and ran away.

He wasn’t thinking about having a dozen catties or so, so he just grabbed a few catties.

Following that, Liang Youxiao and Fei Yuzhe also rushed forward.

They each took more than ten corn cobs and ran away.

Mo Qingling’s face darkened again when he saw this.

He suddenly felt that her hands were itchy as he saw the three of them running away.

However, there was really nothing he could do with these people.

He could only let it go like this.

He would update the emperor when he returned back to the capital.

However, the emperor probably would not really punish these young dandies who couldn’t be bothered.

So he let his people keep an eye on the rest of the corn, and those who decided to steal them were waiting to be whipped.