The daily life of a space tycoon raising children, doting on his husband, and farming.

Chapter 174 Laws
The woman's waist was slender and soft, and once Lu Chengjing held her, he didn't want to let go. He leaned his head closer, wanting to continue.

"No." Shang Wan leaned back, pressed her index finger against his forehead, and said seriously, "You should read your book."

Upon hearing this, Lu Chengjing's long eyebrows furrowed slightly, his rosy eyes curved down in a wronged manner, and his arms around Shang Wan's waist tightened even more, his clear black eyes staring unblinkingly at the person in his arms.

Shang Wan couldn't stand his gaze, so she gently pinched Lu Chengjing's two bright red ears with her fingertips, pulled him close, and gave him a comforting kiss.

Beautiful lips, soft and warm, very kissable.

Before Lu Chengjing could make a move, Shang Wan had already retreated, her eyes smiling, "The herbs we just picked still need to be sorted out. You should focus on your studies and not get distracted."

Lu Chengjing: ?

Shang Wan skillfully pried open the large hand behind her waist, stood up ruthlessly, and pushed the door open and left without a second thought.

Lu Chengjing: "..."

The summer sun was scorching. Shang Wan and Shi Tou moved the herbs to the shade of the trees to sort them, and even so, they were covered in sweat.

Seeing this, Chu Xu got off the swing, ran into the room to get a fan, and came out to fan the two of them, muttering as he fanned, "It's only cooler with ice in the fan."

The young master has never experienced such a hot summer. If he were at home, he would have been using ice long ago and could have eaten chilled fruits. There are pavilions in the mansion where one can cool off, and when the heat is really unbearable, one can go to the other courtyard to escape the heat. The whole summer is very comfortable.

Upon hearing Chu Xu mention ice, Shang Wan couldn't help but miss ice cream.

She did remember the method of making ice with saltpeter, which was quite simple, but saltpeter was hard to come by.

This world had low productivity and limited mining conditions, so the amount of saltpeter mined was not large. Furthermore, saltpeter was used to make gunpowder, and most of it was controlled by the imperial court, with very little entering the market, making it quite expensive.

Saltpeter has a low conversion rate in ice making; if you really want to use saltpeter to make ice, an equal amount of saltpeter will only yield an equal amount or less of ice.

Ice is a resource that consumes a lot of energy once it's used. Making ice with saltpeter is less efficient than simply buying ice blocks with silver. Not only do you avoid the hassle of making it yourself, but the silver cost is about the same.

“We don’t have any ice.” Shang Wan glanced at Chu Xu, who was also covered in sweat. “Your Aunt Huan made some plum juice this morning, and it’s chilling in the well. We’ll be able to drink it in a little while.”

Upon hearing about the sour plum drink, Chu Xu and Shi Tou's mouths watered involuntarily.

On a hot summer day, a bowl of refreshing and sweet plum juice can dispel the heat and whet the appetite.

Chu Xu took two fans and fanned the two of them with even more enthusiasm.

Shang Wan was worried about tiring the child out; the pampered young master would get heatstroke soon, which would be troublesome. She waved her hand at Chu Xu, "Stop fanning yourself, go rest in the corridor, the breeze will cool you down."

"I don't want to go." Chu Xu pouted. Yuan Yuan hadn't come back from the mountains, and no one was playing with him. He was so bored.

Shang Wan looked at him, "Looking for something to do?"

Chu Xu immediately nodded his little head.

Shang Wan thought for a moment and said, "Go to the study and have your uncle find you something to do."

"Okay." Chu Xu obediently agreed and ran to the study to find Lu Chengjing.

It is said that a calm mind brings coolness. Lu Chengjing took out a calligraphy copybook and asked Chu Xu to practice calligraphy on the couch by the window. As he practiced, his mind naturally calmed down.

Chu Xu frowned immediately. Why do I have to practice calligraphy outside?
Standing far away from the calligraphy book, Chu Xu said, "I don't want to practice calligraphy."

“Then copy the book.” Lu Chengjing looked up at him. “Choose one from the Four Books and Five Classics.”

Upon hearing the words "Four Books and Five Classics," Chu Xu's face immediately scrunched up like a bun, and he didn't want to choose a single one!
Seeing this, Lu Chengjing got up, took two books from the bookshelf, and handed them over, saying, "Copy this."

Chu Xu started learning early and knew many characters. Although he was forced to learn by his family, it did not prevent him from remembering what his teacher taught him.

Lu Chengjing gave him two military books, one titled "Wu Zi" and the other "Six Secret Teachings." He remembered that his elder brother also had some in his study. Copying military books was indeed more acceptable to him than copying pages full of classical Chinese phrases.

Chu Xu took it with both hands, looked up and asked in confusion, "Why do you have a military treatise?"

Scholars don't have to go to the battlefield.

“Strategies aren’t only for use on the battlefield.” Lu Chengjing found him a set of writing materials and asked, “Can you grind ink?”

Chu Xu shook his head. He always had maids and servants to serve him when he wrote, so he never had to grind the ink himself.

Lu Chengjing knew this was how it was, so he casually used tea to prepare the ink for the child and sent someone to copy the book by the window.

The study fell silent again, with only the sound of turning pages, the rustling of brushes against paper, and the steady dripping of a water clock.

Chu Xu was thinking about the plum juice, and he would look out the window every two words he wrote, unable to concentrate at all.

Lu Chengjing saw this, closed the book and put it on the table, then stood up and said, "Go and take a look in the front yard."

"Okay." Chu Xu felt as if he had heard heavenly music and immediately jumped off the couch, hurriedly slipping on his shoes.

Lu Chengjing stopped and waited for him until he put his shoes on before continuing on his way.

Chu Xu's face lit up with a bright smile as he thought of the plum juice, skipping and hopping all the way.

As soon as Xiao Huan lifted the earthenware jar of plum juice out of the well, Chu Xu ran up happily to help, his sweet words ringing in his ears.

Lu Chengjing went to the shade of the tree to help process the herbs.

Shang Wan avoided his hand and gestured towards the kitchen with her chin, "Don't get your hands dirty, go and drink the plum juice first."

"There's not much left. Let's go drink together when we're done." Lu Chengjing squatted down, his well-defined fingers skillfully picking stems and leaves.

Shi Tou brought him a small stool, his brows furrowed with a rare hint of melancholy, and his hands, which were washing the herbs, seemed weak and listless.

Lu Chengjing turned his head to look at him, "Are you feeling unwell?"

“No.” Stone shook his head and sighed, “The herb seedlings in the field have withered and died. It feels like my child has died. I feel terrible.”

Lu Chengjing: "..."

Shang Wan explained, "The ones that withered were the herb seedlings that were transplanted from the spirit field. Whether you watered them with spirit spring water beforehand or after transplanting, it was no use; they all withered and died."

“The method of raising seedlings in the spiritual field and then transplanting them will not work. If we want to plant them in the ground, we can only start with seeds.”

Lu Chengjing said, "Diluting the spiritual spring water and watering it into the soil can accelerate the growth of seedlings. Even if the seedlings cannot be transplanted from the spiritual field, it will not have much of an impact."

Shang Wan nodded, agreeing that this was indeed the case.

She said, "The ginger slices are already dried. I'll take some to the city tomorrow and sell them directly to the clinics to see if that helps."

The herbs produced in this space are more effective than ordinary herbs, and selling them directly to medical clinics can provide an additional sales channel.

She has now figured out how to grow medicinal herbs in the spirit field.

Collect herbs from the mountain, gather the seeds and plant them in the spiritual field. After a certain period of time, harvest the herb trees and seeds.

The herb tree can be shaken to produce mature herbs, and the seeds can be planted directly in the ground. They will grow better if watered with spiritual spring water, but they can also grow without watering with spiritual spring water. Compared to ordinary herb seeds, they are not very picky about the environment.

If you encounter a difficult-to-grow herb, you can water it with spiritual spring water in advance to change the soil environment, and then water it with diluted spiritual spring water every two days. It will then grow successfully.

However, this change to the soil is only temporary. The process must be repeated when planting again, which consumes a lot of spiritual spring water.