At the beginning, I was a rich female prisoner

When Emperor Cheng heard this suggestion, he asked, "Li Zhangnongsi, what do you think about conferring the title of the third-rank Xingguo Princess to the girl from the Yu family?"

"Okay! I also want to bring officials from the Ministry of Revenue's Ministry of Agriculture to Wangshan County in Nanling County. I want to meet this Miss Yu, oh, not the Princess Xingguo who was just conferred by the Emperor." Li Zhangnongsi still had some questions about the second crop of rice and wanted to see how this princess came up with the idea of ​​the second crop of rice.

"Okay, after the Crown Prince returns to the capital, the Queen and I will discuss this in detail." After Emperor Cheng finished speaking, he asked people to leave the imperial study.

Arriving at the Queen's palace, he handed the Prince's letter to the Queen. The Queen took the letter and read it, saying, "Your Majesty, you must reward Yu Yunxin more. You see, she not only paid for the ducks, but also paid for the rice fields in Wangshan County after the harvest. If she doesn't pay for the second crop of rice, then she will lose all her mother's dowry."

The emperor laughed when he heard this and said, "I think this girl is very capable. She even built a tea garden and two hilltops in Nanling County. The hilltop was once a bandit's den."

"This girl is really good at making trouble, but I like her very much. She is a third-rank Princess of Xingguo. Your Majesty, I would like to let Yun Xin become the Crown Princess. What do you think?" said the Queen.

"Crown Princess? She hasn't got the hairpin yet, so we can't do it. Let's talk about it later!" Emperor Cheng rejected the Queen's idea out of hand.

"Your Majesty, I have thought about this for a long time. Let's settle this marriage first," said the Queen.

"Sheng'er is just an adult, why do you want to find a girl who has not yet married? As parents, we should just wait and see how the Queen's marriage develops!" Emperor Cheng said.

"Your Majesty, please stay in my palace for dinner today. I asked the imperial kitchen to make roast duck. This roast duck was also the idea of ​​that girl." When the queen saw that the atmosphere was getting colder, she thought of the recipe that Eunuch Zhang brought back from Nanling County, and she thought that the emperor must be interested in this roast duck.

So the emperor nodded and said, "Okay, I also want to taste the roast duck."

Soon, Eunuch Zhang served a fragrant roast duck. In the past few days, Eunuch Zhang had been studying Yu Yunxin's recipe. He had studied this roast duck carefully for several times before he could serve it to impress the emperor. He also showed off his knife skills in front of the emperor and the empress, cutting the duck skin into squares and pairing it with thin crust. In addition, he had learned how to make sauces in the imperial kitchen for more than ten days. The taste was even better than what he had eaten in Wangshan County.

The emperor took the wrapped pancake handed to him by Eunuch Zhang. It was the first time he ate it this way. It was crispy, delicious and juicy. The delicious taste flowed directly into Emperor Cheng's mouth.

After finishing the whole pancake, the emperor couldn't help but ask, "This roast duck tastes so delicious. Was this the idea of ​​Yu Yunxin?"

"Your Majesty, yes. The recipes were given to me by Miss Yu. Your Majesty, you see, the same goes for this dish of boiled cabbage." Eunuch Zhang handed the wrapped thin wrapper to the queen and replied immediately.

Emperor Cheng glanced at a cabbage on the plate and said with a smile, "Isn't this boiled cabbage? Eunuch Zhang, you really thought about carving it into the shape of a lotus."

Eunuch Zhang gently picked up the spoon and scooped a spoonful of soup and poured it on the cabbage, which immediately blossomed and its leaves fell off one by one. The chicken puree and seafood puree on the lotus were mixed together, exuding an enticing aroma that made people drool.

"Is this also the recipe that girl gave you?" Emperor Cheng said as he picked up a piece of cabbage and put it into his mouth. It was fresh, tender and refreshing. So Emperor Cheng ate one bite of crispy roast duck and one bite of boiled cabbage.

This father-in-law's talent in cooking can be said to be top-notch. If Yu Yunxin had eaten the two dishes he made, she would have been full of praise.

Because of Zhang Gong's good cooking skills, today he had crispy roast duck and boiled cabbage, and the next day he also had eight-treasure duck made by Zhang Gong. Then there was old duck bamboo shoot soup, braised duck, and so on. If you want to keep a man's heart, you must keep his stomach, especially the heart of the emperor. Because Zhang Gong, who is beside the queen, has good cooking skills, the emperor has been living in the queen's palace these days.

After the crown prince returned to the palace, Emperor Cheng asked some questions: "There is no sign of the second crop of rice. Sheng'er, why did you ask Yuzhou, Quanzhou, and other counties in the southwest to keep rice farms to grow the second crop of rice?"

"Your Majesty, although I'm not sure, even if we fail, the farmers in these places will not suffer any losses. But if the second crop of rice can really grow, won't it be an extra harvest for the farmers? I am also considering the people of the world, and I have asked officials in every place to write me a report on the second crop of rice." After the prince finished speaking, he handed a thick memorial to Emperor Cheng.

Hu Man, the eunuch standing on the side, took it and handed it to Emperor Cheng. Emperor Cheng opened it and saw that the second crop of rice in Nanling County ranked in the top three. The harvest per acre in Wangshan County really surprised Emperor Cheng and said, "Sheng'er, you did a good job this time. You have worked hard in the past two months."

"Your Majesty, it is not hard for me as your son. It is my duty as a prince to relieve the worries of Your Majesty and the people of the world." The prince replied.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Cheng nodded with satisfaction and said, "My dear prince, after you have rested for a few days, you can come to my imperial study and review the memorials with me."

When the prince heard that although he was the crown prince, everyone knew that this position was not easy to hold, his eldest brother was the crown prince, but died on the battlefield of Xiliang. Because he and the crown prince were from the same mother, Emperor Cheng gave him the crown prince position in order to appease the empress. He knew that his brothers did not submit to him, and so did some of the ministers under him. Now with this achievement and the recognition of Emperor Cheng, his position as crown prince was already almost secure.

Of course, he would not forget Yu Yunxin and said, "The biggest contribution this time is actually made by Yu Yunxin. If she hadn't left rice stubble in Wangshan County, I wouldn't have left rice stubble in the southwest as well."

"Of course, I will not forget her. Yu Tinghai is really blessed to have such a good daughter. I have decided to confer Yu Yunxin the title of the third-rank Princess of Xingguo. I will issue an imperial decree at the court tomorrow morning."

"Your son thanks His Majesty on behalf of Sister Xin'er." The prince said excitedly when he heard it.

"Sheng'er, let's go to your mother. She missed you when you just came back." Emperor Cheng said and took the prince to Kunning Palace. When they passed by the Imperial Garden, they met the Second Prince and Concubine Wang who saw this scene and said enviously, "Your father has been in Kunning Palace these days. Now the prince is back too. I'm afraid that our life will be even harder in the future."

"Don't say that, mother. The Ministry of Revenue is ours now. We have a long way to go to deal with the crown prince." The second prince Nangong Yu said, "I have found some martial arts masters for you these days. They said there is a method of cultivation that can make you younger and more beautiful. Let's go and meet this martial arts master."

"Really? That's great. Yu'er, you've married so many concubines, why is there not one pregnant?" Concubine Wang continued.

"It's so annoying when these women are all jealous of each other in my backyard. If it weren't for the fact that they are from prominent families, I would have wanted to divorce them." Nangong Yu got angry when he heard about his backyard.

"Alright, treat your wife well. She is Prime Minister Wu's legitimate daughter. It's best to let her get pregnant first. That way, Prime Minister Wu will often help you speak well of you in front of the emperor." Concubine Wang said, "I will let your wife come to the palace to accompany me tomorrow."

"Yes, mother. I will listen to you." The second prince replied impatiently when he thought of Wu Fu.

In Nanling County, the first batch of popcorn and rice cakes were of course taken to Jiangnan by Yang Yunsheng to sell. In Nanling County and Wangshan County, she found some poor and simple families but all of them were hardworking and capable people, and made a cart for each of them, and asked them to push the carts and sell them in the streets. The money they were paid was commission. The more they sold, the more they earned. They would be paid when they delivered the goods the next day. They were basically sold out every day. After all, because Nanling County had a second crop of rice this year, every household had some extra money, and they were willing to buy some for their children to try.

Every county town in Nanling County has a family selling popcorn and rice candy. These days, Yu Yunxin also made hawthorn slices and crispy and delicious sesame candy, peanut candy, and various melon seed candy made with malt. This way, it won't be so monotonous.

In Shangyang County, Yu Yunxin chose a family in the county town that had a scholar, and this was also for the convenience of calculating money. The family's surname was Gan, and the head of the family was an old man in his sixties. The family had two sons who were both married, and a daughter who was about to get married. The youngest son was a scholar and wanted to take part in the metropolitan examination next year, but the eldest son's wife was pregnant and was somewhat unhappy because the family was so poor that they had no money. They only had three acres of good farmland, and the family left the last three acres of good farmland so that the youngest son could pass the imperial examination.

Yu Yunxin was also in Shangyang County to investigate the market. Most of the products here were tea. The fertile fields and tea fields here were basically owned by the Wu family and several wealthy families. It can be said that the people of Shangyang County were living in the poorest class, and some were even slaves.

The eldest daughter-in-law of the Gan family was from Wangshan County and married to Shangyang County. Her life became more and more difficult day by day. She fainted from hunger on the streets of Shangyang County while pregnant. Yu Yunxin rescued the pregnant woman and got to know the Gan family.

On this day, the two eldest sons of the Gan family were selling popcorn in Shangyang County. Wu Jincai's second son Wu Ren came to the couple, took a look at the popcorn in the bamboo tube, opened one and was about to taste it.

Boss Gan called him and said, "Sir, you have to pay."

"Do you do business like this? Can't I try it? If it tastes good, I will buy it." Wu Ren stuffed a few into his mouth. It was really fragrant and crispy when he bit it, and there was a Wangshan popcorn carved on the bamboo tube.

"Is this something from Wangshan County next door?" Wu Ren asked, looking at the words on the bamboo tube.

"Yes, we went to Wangshan County to get it." The Gan couple replied.

Wu Renyi took two bamboo tubes and left. Gan Laoda wanted to shout that it was 40 silver coins, but then he thought, forget it, if he was beaten by the servants, it would not be worth it.

But this bamboo tube popcorn is twenty cents a can, ordinary rice popcorn is one cent a piece, and the ones with extra ingredients cost two to three cents. Sesame candy and the like are cut into smaller pieces and sold by the piece, also one cent a piece, so that everyone can afford it. Yu Yunxin didn't want to price such a delicious snack too high so that everyone could afford it.

Wu Ren came to a courtyard of the Wu family holding a bamboo tube. This courtyard was the courtyard of the second branch of the Wu family. Wu Tongzhou's daughter, two servants and four maids now lived there. Wu Yue lived in the attic and was now embroidering a handkerchief in the courtyard.

Wu Ren handed a bamboo tube of popcorn to Wu Yue and said, "Third sister, try this popcorn."

Wu Yue put down the embroidered handkerchief in her hand, took the bamboo tube, opened it and smelled it and said, "What a nice smell." After saying that, she couldn't help but take a bite, and the milky aroma rushed directly to her taste buds.

"Cousin, what do you say? If we take the secret recipe of this popcorn, replace it with popcorn from Shangyang County and sell it for more than ten or twenty taels, wouldn't we become rich?" Wu Ren said.

"Cousin, I heard from my father that the magistrate of Wangshan County is not an ordinary person. You'd better be careful and don't let anyone catch the Wu family." After saying that, Wu Yueyu picked up a piece of popcorn between her fingertips, put it in her mouth and began to chew.

"My second uncle, who is also your father, is a fifth-rank official in Tongzhou. How can he be afraid of a seventh-rank county magistrate? Besides, Shangyang County is the territory of our Wu family. What are the people from Wangshan County afraid of doing business in Shangyang County?" Wu Ren said, and then he called the servant beside him and asked, "Go and find out who is sending people to stop the couple."

The second son of the Zhang family from Xinghua Village was the one who delivered the goods to Shangyang County. Although the Zhang family was not short of money, it would be good to have a job and income. Every afternoon, they only had to drive a horse-drawn carriage to visit three places: Wangshan County, Shangyang County, and Donghe Village in Xiayu County. Donghe Village was the first stop, as it was very close to Wangshan County.

The last stop was naturally Shangyang County. When he arrived at the gate of Gan's house, he felt someone was staring at him. After all, he was a hunter and was very sensitive to the feeling of being followed. Just as he arrived at the gate of Gan's house and was about to get off the car, he found several people looking at him from afar in the alley in the distance.

He didn't say anything, just called out at the door and the Gan family came out.

Old Man Gan said, "Zhang, hunter, please send more bamboo tube popcorn next time. You don't know that poor people in Shangyang County can't even afford to eat a rice cake that costs one penny. But bamboo tube popcorn is loved by many rich young men and women. Some even buy more than ten tubes at a time and still think it's cheap."

"Why are there so many wealthy families in your Shangyang County? We don't have that many wealthy families in Wangshan County. This year, thanks to the eldest daughter of the county magistrate, we can have enough food to eat and have extra money in our hands." said Zhang the hunter.

"Isn't this business the county magistrate's son? How come it has become the young lady's?" asked the head of the Gan family puzzledly.

"You don't know, the eldest daughter of the county magistrate dressed as a man for convenience. Later, she opened this workshop in Huashan Village and hired women from the village. That's how I found out that the popcorn business was run by the county magistrate's eldest daughter. You don't know this eldest daughter, but her grandfather was the second-rank general Zhennan. I heard from the merchants in Nanling County City that she even dared to stop the emperor's carriage to file a complaint." Zhang the hunter said these words loudly just to let the people hiding at the corner hear them.

That's great. As an old man, I'm always worried that people will be eyeing me because of my good business. Now I feel relieved to have such a powerful young lady from the neighboring county.

After the goods were unloaded, Hunter Zhang also learned about the Gan family's needs and brought back half a truck of rice cakes. These cheap rice cakes were in short supply in other places, so he could send them to other places.