Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 363: White Tower Flower Viewing Banquet

Song Chunlin and Gu Fengyue didn't care what the Lu family was planning. The New Year was over, and although the weather was still very cold, spring ploughing had to be put on the agenda.

Gu Fengyue has been very busy recently. Not only is the Gu family army under his command, but even the 50,000 militiamen on the border are under his jurisdiction. Dou Duhu is only responsible for the 100,000 patrol soldiers. Not all of these 100,000 soldiers stay in Bai Ta City. They are also responsible for patrolling several surrounding cities and rotate every once in a while. Most of the military funds issued by the court are used here.

The militia are actually ordinary military households. In peacetime, they farm and are self-sufficient. In times of war, these people will be sent to the battlefield, and only then will they receive military pay.

However, another advantage for military households is that they have free land to cultivate, and as long as they pay enough grain every year, the rest will be all theirs.

The climate in Baita City is cold, and there is a perennial water shortage. The output of the land is only one-third of that in the south. It can be said that after the military households pay their grain throughout the year, the rest is barely enough to fill their stomachs.

Gu Fengyue didn't have to pay for the militia's food and wages, but the 150,000 soldiers under his command still needed food, drink, and shelter, so they put the important matter of spring ploughing on the agenda early on.

This was not the first time that Gu Fengyue arranged for the Gu family army to farm, so he first arranged for everyone to grow three kinds of staple food, potatoes, corn, and millet. Before the appearance of potatoes and corn, millet and sorghum had always been the staple food of the people in Baita. Now with more productive potatoes and corn, sorghum has gradually withdrawn from people's tables, and only millet has been retained.

There are still people in the folk who grow sorghum. There is no other way. Some people just like it. Besides, sorghum can also be used to make wine.

Potatoes need to be cut into pieces for seedlings. The amount of food consumed by an army of 150,000 people every day is an astronomical figure, and the number of potatoes that need to be cut into pieces during spring plowing is also an astronomical figure.

All the arable land around Baita City was allocated by Gu Fengyue to his Gu Family Army. He had to plant 300 acres of each of the three major staple crops, otherwise it would not be enough for so many people. Song Chunlin wanted to help him, so he secretly replaced half of the grain seeds for him. These seeds were all improved by the space spiritual spring water. Their germination rate and yield were twice as high as ordinary seeds.

While Gu Fengyue was busy with spring ploughing in the army, Song Chunlin was busy with spring ploughing at home. After spending several days, he finally cleared the stones and weeds from those plots of land. The weeds were piled on the ground and burned cleanly. The ash could be used to kill bacteria in the soil.

The ground was still too hard to dig, so Song Chunlin arranged for the girls and boys next door to help cut the potatoes and grow seedlings, and then deal with the matters in the field in their spare time.

For a while, both of them were very busy, but Gu Fengyue would still take time out every day to go home and have three meals a day with Song Chunlin, enjoying this rare time together.

"By the way, has Miss Lu not been bothering you recently?"

Gu Fengyue was eating when Song Chunlin suddenly said this. The half-eaten rice almost got choked in her throat.

After finally swallowing the food in his throat, he spoke with some resentment.

"Next time can we not say such scary things while eating?"

Song Chunlin pretended to be confused: "Is it scary? I just asked casually, why, is she bothering you again?"

"That's not the case... I made it very clear to Lord Lu at the beginning. He is a smart man. He wouldn't be so ignorant as to insist on marrying his daughter to me."

"What you said is different from what I heard. I heard from the steward that Madam Lu has been moving around quite frequently recently. Her words imply that her daughter has a close relationship with you. Why, don't you plan to respond to her?"

Gu Fengyue frowned and asked, "Is there such a thing?"

Song Chunlin sneered, "That's right, isn't it? Lord Lu has given up, but his wife and daughter seem to have not given up yet. The slap I gave her last time was misinterpreted by her as a show of power from the wife. These mother and daughter are really disgusting."

Gu Fengyue pondered for a moment, ate a few mouthfuls of food, and then said something.

"Okay, I got it. I'll arrange for the steward to prepare a... uh, afternoon tea for you right away? So that you can properly declare your sovereignty, okay?"

Song Chunlin didn't think of this. He was not interested in arranging a banquet, but when he thought of Mrs. Lu's arrogant look, his eyes rolled and a plan immediately came to his mind.

"Okay, I'll ask the housekeeper to make some arrangements for me later. Didn't they say I was trying to intimidate Miss Lu? I can't reject her kindness, don't you think?"

Gu Fengyue looked at his sly smile and nodded lovingly.

"Yes, that's what Chunlin said."

So at the end of January when it was still chilly in spring, Song Chunlin held a flower-viewing banquet in the name of the Gu family and sent invitations to all the wives of officials who had influence in Bai Ta City, except for Mrs. Lu.

When Mrs. Lu heard the news, she was as angry as her daughter and smashed several vases in the house.

"What the hell, why hold a flower viewing party in this remote place? There's not even a decent grass in this damn place, where can he find flowers to enjoy? How shameless! I want to see what flowers Song can bring out on the day of the flower viewing party."

Miss Lu was standing aside, and seeing that Mrs. Lu had almost vented her sissy temper, she walked forward and handed Mrs. Lu new cups of tea. From the corner of her eye, she also winked at the servants waiting by the side, signaling them to clean up quickly.

"Mom, don't be angry. I think it was that Song who deliberately didn't call us. Doesn't his behavior make it seem like he's trying to cover up his guilt?"

After hearing her daughter's words, Mrs. Lu's face looked better, but she still felt depressed and suffocated no matter how she thought about it.

Those ladies and masters have heard Madam Lu showing off a lot during this period. Although she didn't say it explicitly, she was so proud, as if she had really become the mother-in-law of the great Sima. She was as arrogant as she could be. This time, Song Chunlin invited them in the name of the Gu family but did not invite Madam Lu. It was obvious that he heard the rumors in the city and wanted to use it as an excuse to deal with the Lu family.

Among these people, some were indifferent, some just wanted to sit back and watch the fun. Of course, more people thought the same as Mrs. Lu. The climate in Bai Ta City was cold and water-scarce, so where could the flowers be found to appreciate? Could it be that the young man from the Song family was lying?

With doubts in their hearts, everyone arrived at the banquet on time on the third day. Even Cheng Qiao dressed up and brought gifts to the door.

This year, the imperial court recognized Cheng Qiao's status as a female general for the first time, so the wives of officials also had complicated feelings towards Cheng Qiao. On the one hand, they looked down on Cheng Qiao, a girl who had lost her virginity, and on the other hand, they envied her for breaking through an unprecedented path and getting the opportunity to be on an equal footing with men.

So when Cheng Qiao appeared, the air around them instantly became quiet.

Cheng Qiao paused, then held his head high, walked up to the butler and presented the gift.

The housekeeper had already received the arrangements and hurriedly took Cheng Qiao inside, while loudly telling everyone that the master had been waiting for General Cheng for a long time.

After Madam Cheng was taken away by the housekeeper, people around started whispering.

"General Cheng... I heard before that she was close to that guy. Now that I see her today, it's true."

"But with her status, is she really suitable to sit with us?"

"That's right. She's a general. We're only able to stand here because of our husbands' honor. After all, she has more topics to talk about with Young Master Song. We've fought against the barbarians together."

The woman who had just spoken heard what the lady behind her said and wanted to say that she was not talking about this identity, but another person next to her pulled her sleeve, signaling her to stop talking.

The woman was somewhat unconvinced. She sat on the chair with a pout and didn't want to talk to anyone.

The lady beside her could only shake her head when she saw this. This person was simply hopeless. Those words he said just now were meant to help her, but now she was blaming him instead. What an idiot! She didn't even see where this place was. This was Young Master Song's home ground. Even if the people around looked down on Madam Cheng in their hearts, for the sake of Song Chunlin and Gu Fengyue, who would dare to say it openly? But she was an idiot and didn't know how to appreciate a good person.

Everyone around who had any brains tacitly stopped paying attention to her and focused on discussing what Young Master Song would come up with later.

Speaking of flowers, the women and their master had a common topic in mind. Before they could come to a conclusion, someone came to say that the backyard was ready and invited everyone to move over to enjoy the flowers and have tea.

Everyone gathered together and came to the backyard. Originally, no one had high expectations for the flower viewing banquet. They thought that even if there was only a small pot of wild flowers in Bai Ta City, they would have to praise it highly. However, what no one expected was that they smelled bursts of fragrance coming from the backyard before they even reached it.

"This smell is very strange, but it's not bad."

Everyone sniffed hard and didn't think it smelled bad, but it wasn't particularly pleasant either. It was just the first time they smelled such a fragrance, so it felt a little novel.

When everyone walked through the corridor and came to the backyard, they were attracted by the large areas of purple in front of them.

"What...what is this? Is this a flower?"

"Look, there are flowers over there too!"

Everyone looked in the direction that the man pointed, and sure enough, there were many flowers arranged in the corner over there. They all recognized the flowers this time; they were peonies, pink and white peonies blooming in a corner of the yard. There was an invisible feeling of tranquility and sacredness that made people hold their breath when they looked at it.

Looking at everything in front of us in disbelief, if the lavender before made everyone feel amazed, now the blooming peonies made everyone feel extremely magical.

Because no one would believe that in this remote Baita City, there would be such beautiful and dazzling flowers blooming, even in the first month of the year. They still felt cold staying in the house, but these flowers could bloom in the severe cold. If this is not a miracle, what is it?

"Everyone, it's so cold outside, why don't you sit inside and avoid the cold."

Everyone looked back and saw a young man in a lavender robe with rabbit fur edges standing in the corridor. Standing next to him was Cheng Qiao who had just come in early.

Song Chunlin had no rank, but he had the title of Protector of the Country, so everyone bowed to Song Chunlin one by one.

"Meet Young Master Song."

It was the first time for Song Chunlin to put on airs, and he was still a little uncomfortable. It was only after Cheng Qiao reminded him that he said leisurely, "No need to be polite."

After the ceremony, everyone started to walk into the house. They originally thought that the unknown flowers and peonies outside were the protagonists of this flower viewing banquet. Unexpectedly, before they entered the house, someone noticed that there was a pot of peony flowers on each table.

There is more than one color of peonies in the house, red, yellow, pink, and all kinds of colors, as if all the spring colors of the garden were moved in, making several flower lovers couldn't help but exclaim in amazement.

"The flowers are blooming so beautifully. In such cold weather, I wonder how Young Master Song can make the flowers bloom early?"

Song Chunlin looked at the person who asked the question. He seemed to have some impression that this lady was the one who had just reminded the woman. Her husband was under the command of Dou Duhu and had a certain status among the women of the official family.

"It's a greenhouse. I had people move the flowers into the house in advance and raise the temperature so that the flowers can bloom earlier."

The lady thought thoughtfully: "So that's how it is."

Song Chunlin spoke perfunctorily, and everyone present understood that Song Chunlin did not want to elaborate, so they did not dwell on the matter anymore, and instead began to praise the flowers in various ways.

Song Chunlin smiled with satisfaction. Very good. No one was so intact as to mention poetry or songs. He just wanted to appreciate the flowers simply. Forget about writing poetry. He didn't have such skills.

At this moment, the housekeeper served tea and snacks to the female relatives. Song Chunlin imitated the afternoon tea in the hotels in his previous life and asked the housekeeper to prepare several tower-shaped snack plates for afternoon tea overnight.

Everyone was shocked when they saw the towering dim sum being brought out. They had only seen dim sum on plates before, but this Young Master Song was quite interesting as he actually brought up a whole tower.

The snacks that Song Chunlin prepared were naturally all produced in the space. Except for the egg tarts which were freshly baked, the others were picked out from the space takeaway, including some biscuits and pastries in gift boxes.

The tea is naturally not the kind of spice-filled tea that the locals like to drink. Instead, each table is equipped with a small stove, which is used to cook some health-enhancing tea for beauty and health. The taste is sweet and not greasy. Judging from everyone's reactions, they quite like it.

"Young Master Song's tea is really special. It seems to contain ginseng slices, right?"

"This lady is right. Red ginseng and astragalus are specially added. These two are said to be very effective in replenishing qi and blood. They are most suitable for girls and boys to drink."

When they heard that there was actually ginseng in it, everyone started to praise Song Chunlin, saying that he was thoughtful and had specially prepared a tea to replenish qi and blood.