Sheng Tang: What is Liu Jianjun going to do today?

Chapter 114 Cotton Harvest
Liu Rengui left satisfied.

Liu Jianjun's new spinning wheel gave him hope.

But as he left, he still gave Li Xian a final instruction: "Your Highness, never forget the matter of having offspring. This is a matter of national importance, heavier than Mount Tai!"

Li Xian stared blankly at Liu Rengui's departing figure.

But then, Liu Jianjun walked up behind him and suddenly nudged him with his elbow: "Xianzi."

Li Xian turned around, and Liu Jianjun grinned mischievously, "Did you hear that? Old Liu gave the order. Don't we have tiger penises in our Wangfu storeroom? Do you want them...?"

Li Xian was instantly embarrassed and annoyed: "I don't need that stuff to replenish myself! It's you who, these days you've been going to brothels with Wu Youji every day, that's the one who needs replenishing yourself the most..."

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Jianjun solemnly swore, "You're framing me! Heaven above, I, Liu Jianjun, have always been sworn enemies of gambling and drugs!"

Li Xian was taken aback, not expecting Liu Jianjun to suddenly become so serious.

But then, realizing what Liu Jianjun meant, she laughed and scolded, "You didn't say anything about being irreconcilably opposed to prostitution!"

……

After seeing Liu Rengui off, it was getting dark. Liu Jianjun went back to his courtyard and said that he had specially called Aisha to demonstrate the spinning wheel. Now that it was dark, Aisha was afraid of the dark, so he had to take her back.

This is clearly Sima Zhao's intention.

Li Xian walked alone on his way back. Along the way, servants had already begun to light candles in some pavilions and gardens. The candlelight shone through the lanterns, casting a hazy glow.

The moon had not yet risen in the sky, but faint starlight could already be seen.

Cloudless.

Li Xian then thought of the severe drought that Liu Jianjun had mentioned.

Liu Jianjun was right. Throughout the spring and summer, the entire city of Chang'an was almost completely dry. The water levels of the Jing and Wei rivers receded at a visible rate, and the government began to organize large-scale digging and repair of canals and dredging of rivers and lakes.

This is no small matter.

Even in previous years, when there was a slight drought, it was never this severe.

He could almost see the riverbed exposed in large areas, cracked by the sun, with the murky water thinning into a thin line, meandering through it with difficulty.

The rice seedlings in the fields were probably already wilted and drooping, the soil was dry and hard, and the farmers looked up at the sky and sighed, their eyes filled with endless anxiety and despair.

If a severe drought occurs, this year's autumn grain harvest will be significantly reduced, or even completely lost!
At that time, famine, refugees, turmoil... these terrible words were like the most terrifying ghosts, making him shudder.

And what is Luoyang's mother doing at this very moment?
She's busy eliminating dissidents and consolidating her power!
A sense of powerlessness mixed with resentment welled up in Li Xian's heart.

Liu Jianjun's seemingly absurd plan to create a baby, and his strange spinning wheel, now seem like mere driftwood clinging to in the face of this monstrous wave.

To defile oneself for survival and to conceal one's wisdom to avoid disaster—what a tragedy and helplessness this is!
Lost in thought, Li Xian returned to the door.

The candlelight cast a voluptuous shadow on the gauze window, but after a moment, the shadow became invisible with a sway, indicating that the embroiderer had just covered the candle with a lampshade.

Li Xian stepped forward, knocked on the door, and softly called out, "Embroidery Girl?"

The door opened, and the embroiderer exclaimed with delight, "Your Highness, you're back? I was just..."

The faint candlelight danced on the embroiderer's face. Her face, which had once been the most beautiful in Chang'an, had not changed much with the passing years. Instead, it was like a fine wine, exuding an increasingly alluring fragrance.

The candlelight stirs the soul, and the beauty confuses the heart.

Li Xian kissed him directly. ...

Time flowed by at its own pace, and by the end of August, the embroiderer was finally pregnant.

It took Li Xian nearly four months to "complete the task," and he even began to wonder if he was really getting old.

On the contrary, Liu Jianjun showed no surprise at all, saying strange things like "men over thirty", "ovulation period" and "position".

Another thing is that the cotton that Liu Jianjun planted in Nanyuan is finally ready for harvest.

In early September, Li Xian arrived at Liu Jianjun's yard, and this was the first time Li Xian had ever seen cotton planted in the ground.

An endless expanse of pure white.

The plants, each half a person's height, were covered with split cotton bolls, bursting forth with fluffy, soft white fluff that shimmered gently in the autumn sunlight. When the wind blew, the cotton fluff swayed lightly, and from a distance, it truly looked as if a thin layer of snow had been placed on the earth.

Li Xian was surprised. He wondered if cotton could bloom so profusely.

Liu Jianjun stood on the edge of the field, hands on his hips, holding a leather whip, shouting at the Kunlun slaves moving through the cotton field: "Be careful! Don't break the branches! Hey, you over there, yes, you! Don't pull, pick it gently!"

Liu Jianjun's whip-wielding skills seem to have improved a lot now. He can whip the whip so hard that it makes a cracking sound in the air, like the sound of firecrackers exploding in the fields.

Hearing the sound of the whip, the Kunlun slaves became extremely diligent. Their dark skin stood out conspicuously against the white cotton field, like big black rats in a granary.

—The autumn day was still very hot, and the Kunlun slaves were not wearing shirts; they were only covered by a dark loincloth.

This loincloth was something Liu Jianjun had come up with himself.

He said that the Kunlun slaves couldn't stop urinating. It was okay in winter, but in summer and autumn, when the weather got hot, the Kunlun slaves smelled foul. Covering their noses with a cloth would make them a little cleaner.

For this reason, Liu Jianjun also strictly ordered those Kunlun slaves to wash their loincloths every day.

Seeing Li Xian approach, Liu Jianjun cracked his whip again, then came to Li Xian's side, beaming with pride, "Look at how well it's growing! Each plant will bear at least a dozen peaches! I told you these black bastards are good for nothing else, but growing this stuff is absolutely perfect for them!"

Li Xian chuckled to himself.

Anyone who's constantly threatened with a whip can grow cotton that thrives so well.

Li Xian casually plucked a cotton boll from a nearby plant, ruffled the cotton fibers with his hand, and frowned, saying, "Is this cotton seed? There's so much of it!"

There were about seven or eight cotton seeds in that cotton boll. Li Xian carefully picked out the cotton seeds and felt them slightly. The weight of the cotton seeds accounted for more than half of the weight of the cotton boll.

"How much cotton can this hundred acres of cotton produce?" Li Xian asked.

"About... 20,000 jin," Liu Jianjun calculated roughly, then added, "The lint from the deseeded cotton."

Li Xian exclaimed in surprise: "Does that mean... there are also 20,000 jin of cottonseed?"

"Not just that, cottonseed accounts for about 60%." Liu Jianjun seemed to instantly see through Li Xian's thoughts and laughed, "Do you feel that cottonseed is wasted except as seed?"

Li Xian nodded: "If only cotton could grow fibers without producing seeds, it would be easier to harvest and the yield would be higher..."

Before Li Xian could finish speaking, Liu Jianjun interrupted him: "Nonsense, cottonseed is a treasure too, it can be used to extract oil!"

……

(End of this chapter)