TFS – Chapter 77 Grafting

Hearing the results of their negotiations, Teng Yu couldn’t help but feel a little envious. However, he knew that with Prince Zhao and the Rong family involved, he had no chance of participating. Still, he didn’t feel too regretful. Like Li Feng and Tang Chunming, he understood that something like this wouldn’t stay in his hands for long—it needed the backing of a more powerful force.

With the liquor business settled, the next discussion was about the grain produced in Pingshan Village. The Rong family was an extremely wealthy household, and Rong Yue had enjoyed the finest things since childhood. Even now, as he traveled far and wide, his lifestyle remained luxurious in every aspect. However, after tasting Tang Chunming’s food, he realized that even the tributes served in the imperial palace paled in comparison. That was why Prince Zhao had personally sent him to finalize this deal.

Just like the liquor, though, it was impossible to meet the demand for top-quality grain. The first- and second-grade grains could be expanded to some extent, but there were still strict limitations. In the end, the agreement stipulated that Tang Chunming’s family would provide the top-grade and second-tier rice and wheat, while also supplying Rong Yue with a limited amount of high-quality seeds each year. Although the grains grown from these seeds wouldn’t match the top-tier ones, they would still be on par with what the villagers of Pingshan Village cultivated. Of course, the supply of these seeds was also restricted.

Everything was limited. Rong Yue almost felt like coughing up blood in frustration, but deep down, he understood—scarcity only made something more valuable. If these goods were too common, they wouldn’t be considered special.

Once both parties reached an agreement, they signed the contract. At the same time, another contract was signed with Teng Yu. To formalize this, Li Feng invited the village head over. In addition to continuing the supply of vegetables to Teng Yu, they also signed a contract to purchase some of the village’s produce.

Rong Yue, being a businessman at heart, was tempted to get involved. However, he quickly realized that Pingshan Village was already engaged in both farming and grain production. With such limited land, there was no room for further expansion. Moreover, he could see Teng Yu’s nervousness, fearing that the Rong family might snatch away his supply. Tang Chunming, being a man of his word, wouldn’t sever his existing business relationship with Teng Yu.

Indeed, neither Li Feng nor Tang Chunming had ever considered breaking their ties with Teng Yu. Especially for Tang Chunming, who saw Teng Yu as the first person to recognize the value of his vegetables and help his family during a time of urgent need. Besides, Teng Yu was trustworthy and tactful. As long as he didn’t make any mistakes, Tang Chunming had no reason to cut ties with him. His mindset was still that of a common villager—now that he had a steady stream of silver coming in every year, he was already envisioning a peaceful future. He had no strong ambitions and no desire to leave Pingshan Village in pursuit of a higher status.

After sealing the deal, Teng Yu left feeling satisfied. Managing to secure these goods from the Rong family gave him a strong sense of accomplishment, filling him with motivation.

Rong Yue, however, did not leave immediately. Instead, he leisurely asked Tang Chunming to give him a tour of the village and the back mountain. Last time, Li Feng had shown Prince Zhao around, and this time, it was Tang Chunming’s turn to guide Rong Yue.

During the tour, Rong Yue showed particular fondness for the two children. Even when they ventured into the back mountain, he brought along Ah Lin. If Ah Sen weren’t too young, he probably would have taken him too. Perhaps because they were both ge’er, Ah Lin was much less reserved around Rong Yue than he had been around Prince Zhao.

From behind, someone followed them at a distance, while ahead, Ah Lin and Er Mao ran around playfully. Rong Yue sighed enviously, “I truly envy you, Tang Fulang, for the life you live and the mindset you have.”

With his keen eye, Rong Yue could easily tell that Tang Chunming was someone content with life, lacking great ambition. In contrast, he had witnessed too many ruthless power struggles both within his family and the outside world. His own parents had died early due to clan disputes, leaving behind a massive mess. Looking back now, he could hardly believe that he had managed to come this far.

“I admire you as well, Master Rong,” Tang Chunming said sincerely. “Your achievements surpass even those of most men.”

“Don’t you think it’s unacceptable for a ge’er like me to be out in the world, competing with men for profit? Many people, especially men, can’t tolerate that.” Rong Yue turned his bright eyes toward Tang Chunming, watching his reaction.

Tang Chunming chuckled. “But Master Rong, aren’t you doing better than most men? They criticize you only because they can’t reach the heights you have. So, they try to slander and undermine you behind your back. It was the same for me back in the village. When my previous househElder Head passed away and I set up my own home, plenty of people gossiped about me. But no matter how much they talked, it didn’t take a single piece of flesh off me. Even now, after marrying Ah Feng, there are still people who talk behind my back. But look—when they see me in person, they have no choice but to flatter me and act according to my mood. What they say in private doesn’t matter. If we lived our lives based on their opinions, wouldn’t that be exhausting?”

“Well said!” Rong Yue’s eyes lit up like flames, making even his otherwise ordinary features shine brilliantly. “Then I’ll call you Ming ge’er like the others, and you can call me Ah Yue or Yue ge’er. Ming ge’er, your words are truly wise. During my hardest times, I often used similar reasoning to comfort myself. As long as I endured and reached the top, no matter how much my clan resented me, they would still have to bow their heads before me. And in the end, didn’t I succeed?”

“Alright, Ah Yue,” Tang Chunming replied with a smile. “Few can stand as high as you have.”

He truly admired Rong Yue. He understood why he himself had a different mindset from most ge’er—after all, the soul within his body was that of a man. But Rong Yue was a native-born ge’er, and to have reached such heights despite the judgmental gazes of others was no easy feat. That was something truly worthy of respect.

Tang Chunming also appreciated people like Rong Yue. Although he got along well with Zhang Xiu and the others, he always felt that something was missing. Now, thinking about it, perhaps it was the lack of experience and broader perspective.

Rong Yue also found his conversation with Ming ge’er very enjoyable. As they talked, he said, “This place has beautiful mountains and rivers. When I have time, I’ll come by often. Ming ge’er, you mustn’t refuse to welcome me.” His mood was good, and his tone was lighthearted.

“Of course, you’re welcome. Just bring me some books about strange tales, travelogues, or geography from the outside world as your lodging fee. With two kids to take care of, I can’t run around as freely as you do for now.” Tang Chunming replied bluntly.

“No problem, deal!” Rong Yue laughed cheerfully, his laughter even making Ah Lin and Er Mao, who were running ahead, turn their heads curiously.

The conversation then shifted to the mountain itself. Rong Yue was very interested and went to check out the chicken coops and sheep pens. He mentioned that while passing through Anping County, he had specifically visited the Tang Family’s Whole Lamb Restaurant, curious about what kind of household had impressed Prince Zhao. However, he ended up being captivated by the lamb itself. He also noted that the restaurant used a particular seasoning.

Tang Chunming immediately understood—Rong Yue was talking about cumin. For someone as well-traveled as Rong Yue, it was rare to find something he didn’t already know unless it was something completely new to this world or something that hadn’t yet been introduced from overseas.

“Besides the unique seasoning, the texture of your lamb is excellent. But looking at your flock, I think you’re raising too few. You can supply one Whole Lamb Restaurant at most—this isn’t ideal for expansion and opening more branches.” As expected of a businessman, Rong Yue quickly brought the conversation back to business.

Tang Chunming chuckled, holding back his laughter. “Do I have that much energy? The feed I use for these sheep is different from what’s available outside, and I have to personally oversee it. Besides, Ah Feng and I already have more silver than we can spend. We have no intention of opening more branches—just keeping the Anping County restaurant running well is enough.”

“You really lack ambition.” Rong Yue knew he was wasting his breath. Besides, in his view, this lamb, like the crops and vegetables grown here, probably relied on the land and water of this place—it wouldn’t be easy to scale up. “Luckily, your husband has a similar personality to yours. Neither of you is greedy for wealth or power. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have resigned from his official position and returned home. I’ve even heard of your husband’s reputation elsewhere, especially the part where General Wen wanted to take him as a brother-in-law. Ming ge’er, are you aware of that?” Rong Yue’s tone carried a teasing edge.

Tang Chunming rolled his eyes at him. “Are you just trying to laugh at me? Of course, I’ve heard about it. That little ge’er just thought my Ah Feng was ugly because of his scar—never mind the fact that Ah Feng got that scar for someone else. But it’s a good thing that ge’er didn’t fancy him. Otherwise, where would I have found such a good man?” As he spoke, Tang Chunming laughed as well. He had never taken this matter to heart. If others didn’t recognize Ah Feng’s worth, that was their loss—now that Ah Feng was his, there was no escaping.

No matter whether in the modern world or in this one, Ah Feng’s character was truly rare and precious.

“I think you’re just showing off,” Rong Yue continued teasing. “Aren’t you curious about what happened to that Wen family ge’er?”

“You know? He got married?”

Even ge’ers who were as strong as men and those with a man’s soul inside a ge’er’s body couldn’t resist gossip. The two of them, neither of whom were ordinary ge’ers, huddled together to discuss the Wen family’s ge’er, their conversation dripping with schadenfreude.

To Rong Yue, someone as ungrateful and vain as that ge’er was hardly worth looking up to. Being mindful of appearances wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but Vice General Li had once done a great favor for General Wen. Even if the Wen family didn’t approve of the marriage, they could have settled it privately. Instead, they humiliated Vice General Li in public, ruining his reputation. In Rong Yue’s eyes, their real reason was simple: they looked down on Li Feng for having no noble background and coming from humble origins.

Rong Yue explained that after the Wen family’s ge’er and his mother went to the capital, they first set their sights on the Duke of Zhenguo’s household. The Duke’s youngest son, General Yao, was still unmarried, and Wen’s legal husband had tried every possible way to push his son into the Duke’s residence. However, they were unaware that the Yao family had already heard about what happened to Li Feng. Moreover, General Yao and Li Feng weren’t just ordinary superior-subordinate acquaintances; they had a deep bond. As a result, the Duke’s legal husband personally humiliated the Wen family’s visitors before kicking them out. Although this was done privately, the news still spread, clearly an intentional move by the Duke of Zhenguo’s household. Because of this, many noble families began avoiding the Wen mother and son.

Even noble ge’ers weren’t completely confined to their homes. There were plenty of gatherings among ge’ers, often attended by eligible men as a subtle form of matchmaking. Naturally, Rong Yue was never invited to such events—nor would he have attended if he was—since most noble families didn’t want a ge’er who was more capable than a man.

At one of these gatherings, the Wen family’s ge’er actually set his sights on someone. The problem? That man already had a legal husband. And in the end, the Wen family’s ge’er willingly became his concubine.

“What kind of family could make a ge’er from a high-ranking military household agree to be a concubine?” Tang Chunming asked in disbelief. Li Feng had heard about this but never mentioned it to him, considering it completely irrelevant. He had brushed it aside, unaware that his own husband had such a strong gossiping streak.

Rong Yue scoffed and said, “That man is none other than the capital’s infamous and charming Little Marquis. His household is already filled with concubines and male attendants, aside from his legal husband. Maybe the Wen family’s ge’er thought his good looks would make him stand out from the others and make the Little Marquis love him so much that he’d even cast aside his legal husband.”

“Haha…” Tang Chunming couldn’t help but burst into laughter. From Rong Yue’s description, it sounded entirely possible. It reminded him of Li Feng’s cousin’s ge’er, who was similarly self-absorbed and smug about his looks, desperately trying to attach himself to someone wealthy. He probably also believed that if he bore a child, he could one day rise above the legal spouse. Although these cases weren’t uncommon throughout history, Tang Chunming had no regard for men with such fickle affections—if they loved one person today, what was stopping them from falling for someone younger and prettier tomorrow?

Knowing that Tang Chunming didn’t care for such people, Rong Yue shifted the conversation. He pointed ahead at the trees and asked, “What kind of trees are these? Why haven’t they been cut down like the others to make room for livestock?”

Tang Chunming said irritably, “If all the trees on the mountain were cut down, then my house down below would be in danger too. That could easily lead to a landslide. When heavy rain or storms come, without tree roots to hold the water, all the rain would rush down together, bringing mud and rocks with it. Isn’t that dangerous?”

“So it’s because of excessive deforestation?” Rong Yue suddenly understood. He had encountered such things on his travels. Looking back at Ming Ge’er’s house, he noticed it was right at the foot of the mountain.

Tang Chunming further explained, “These are wild pear trees. In a few days, I plan to graft branches from high-quality pear trees onto them to improve the fruit. As far as I know, some expert gardeners in the city can graft different flower branches onto the same tree, making it bloom in multiple colors. The principle is the same.” This was something he had learned from Elder He, so he felt no hesitation about using grafting techniques himself.

“I actually know about this,” Rong Yue said. Having been born into wealth, he was aware of many such techniques, perhaps even more than Tang Chunming. However, he hadn’t realized this method could also be applied to fruit trees. Interested, he added, “Let me know when the trees bear fruit—I must come and taste them.”

Rong Yue was curious about everything in the mountains. He asked about the newly sprouted goji berries and raspberries, as well as the wild jujube trees scattered in the forest. It wasn’t until he grew tired that he finally let Tang Chunming call the two children to head back. Tang Chunming was cautious about letting Ah Lin run around the mountains for too long—if he got sweaty and was hit by the mountain wind, he could easily fall ill. Er Mao, on the other hand, had a stronger constitution due to his martial arts training.

On their way back, villagers frequently greeted Tang Chunming, all of them curious about Rong Yue’s identity. Seeing the guards following him, they could already guess that he was some kind of noble. This only made them feel that Li Feng and Tang Chunming were becoming more and more mysterious, and they believed that working with them would be completely risk-free. Even the village elders no longer hesitated when considering the village head’s proposals.

The village head had told them that this noble visitor had come to discuss selling liquor with Ming Ge’er’s household. Once the village’s distillery was set up, they wouldn’t have to worry about sales at all—they just had to focus on brewing the best liquor they could.

But Rong Yue was a busy man in business. He couldn’t stay for too long, and when it was finally time to leave, he expressed his regret.

After sending Rong Yue off, Tang Chunming pulled out a money chest from his space and placed a thick stack of silver banknotes inside. Turning to Li Feng, he sighed, “Doesn’t it feel like this money comes too easily? Just selling the distillation technique and the method for making steam pots and heavenly pots earned us two thousand taels of silver. At this rate, how are we ever going to spend all this money in our lifetime?”

Seeing Ming Ge’er’s miserly expression, looking both thrilled and troubled about what to do with so much wealth, Li Feng couldn’t help but chuckle. Tang Chunming shot him a fierce glare before he finally responded, “You have to understand, once they have this technique, the money they’ll make won’t just be one or two thousand taels—it’ll be far more. So don’t worry about it. Instead, why don’t we use this money to buy an estate nearby? That way, we can grow our own grain and vegetables. We also won’t have to worry about the villagers getting jealous when they see our wealth.”

He knew Ming Ge’er’s concerns well—he feared that becoming too rich too quickly would alienate them from the villagers. That was why, apart from purchasing a barren mountain, they hadn’t bought any farmland within the village. However, if they bought an estate outside the village, fewer people would know about it. In the future, Ming Ge’er could try anything he wanted without having to be so secretive.

“Buying an estate?” Tang Chunming’s eyes lit up. “That’s a great idea! Our village has so little farmland—we barely harvest enough grain for the year, let alone enough to supply Rong Yue. Plus, our family could stay there from time to time—like a vacation home!”

The matter of purchasing the estate was left to Li Feng, though there was no rush. First, they had to deal with the fruit tree grafting on the mountain.

Tang Chunming demonstrated the grafting technique to Li Feng on the mountain. He had done this kind of work with his father before, so it wasn’t technically difficult for him. Moreover, the branches from his space had exceptionally strong vitality, so he was confident the grafted fruit trees would survive.

Helping him learn were Dashan and several other men from the village—the same ones who had been assisting Li Feng with work in the back mountain since last year. Both Li Feng and Tang Chunming needed enough hands to carry out this task efficiently.

Since they were busy, they entrusted Ah Lin and Ah Sen to Elder He and Zhang Xiu. Sometimes, Shen Fulang and Wang Mo would also come over to help look after the children.

Just then, the village head came running up the mountain to find them, his face full of excitement. “Feng boy, Ming Ge’er, I was just looking for you two to discuss the distillery. Do you have time now? We still need your guidance on how to proceed.”

This wasn’t like selling vegetables—Tang Chunming and Li Feng couldn’t just hand off the work entirely. The village head wouldn’t have dared to take on the project if that were the case. The sales channels and the brewing techniques were all in their hands—without them, the distillery would just be an empty shell.

Li Feng and Tang Chunming put down what they were working on, exchanged a glance, and nodded. “Alright, Uncle, we’ll go with you now. Dashan, we’ll leave things here to you,” Li Feng instructed.

“Yeah, Brother Dashan, just do it the way you did before. Don’t worry about messing up—we’ll come back and check later. If anything’s not right, we can redo it,” Tang Chunming added.

Dashan exchanged looks with the others and nodded. “Alright, we’ll keep working carefully.”

As the two of them followed the village head down the mountain, Tang Chunming thought about how he had soaked the grafted branches in the spring water from his space before attaching them, further increasing their chances of success.

Meanwhile, the village head kept glancing back at them and chuckled, “What new tricks are you two up to in the mountains this time?”

To him, Ming Ge’er never seemed to sit still—he was always coming up with some fresh idea, and every time, those ideas turned into profitable ventures.

Li Feng and Tang Chunming simply smiled. Li Feng explained their recent work, mentioning that the men helping on the mountain hadn’t shared the news in the village yet. If the villagers knew, they’d probably talk about it for days. Of course, no one would criticize them for “wasting money” anymore—everyone had already seen their success firsthand.