My lord, you absolutely must not-this is the Ninth Prince

The next day.

Fang Heng arrived at the Seed Selection Department office.

Today was his first day on the job, and he had even arrived a quarter-hour early.

The moment he entered the Seed Selection Department office, he found it packed with people.

Every official in the Seed Selection Department, great and small, high and low, was present without a single exception.

"This subordinate pays respects to Your Highness."

"You gentlemen are too polite."

"Now that I have entered the Seed Selection Department, I am merely its Assistant Director, not some prince."

Fang Heng was warm and genial, his face wreathed in spring breeze, looking thoroughly approachable.

That string of high-sounding words immediately made the officials of the Seed Selection Department breathe a sigh of relief.

Some had even begun pondering Fang Heng's preferences.

Beauties?

Fine wine?

Gambling?

Calligraphy and paintings?

In short, they needed to cater to his tastes.

Before, even if they had wanted to cling to someone powerful, they had had no one to cling to.

Now that a thick thigh had delivered itself to their doorstep, if they still did not cling to it, they would be letting themselves down.

The Seed Selection Department was filled with people nursing different thoughts.

After scanning the crowd and spotting Xu Xingzhi, the Seed Selection Department Director, Fang Heng took the initiative to greet him.

"Greetings, Lord Xu."

"I would not dare, I would not dare! Your Highness is too courteous."

"Your Highness, the Seed Selection Department oversees twelve sections, divided into the Upper Six Sections and the Lower Six Sections."

"The roster for the Lower Six Sections shall be entrusted to Your Highness."

The moment he took office, Xu Xingzhi readily handed over the roster for the Lower Six Sections. This was within Fang Heng's expectations.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture's rules, the Seed Selection Department Director oversaw the Upper Six Sections, while the Assistant Director oversaw the Lower Six Sections.

Thus, handing over the roster for the Lower Six Sections was only natural.

Of course, that was merely in theory.

How the twelve sections were actually divided, and how many sections the Director and Assistant Director each controlled, depended on the struggle between the two sides.

Whose backing was greater?

Whose abilities were stronger?

Whose seniority was deeper?

All of it would affect the division and control of the twelve sections.

Seeing Xu Xingzhi being so tactful, Fang Heng naturally would not make things difficult for him and decided to give him some face.

"Thank you for your guidance, Lord Xu."

After exchanging pleasantries with Xu Xingzhi, Fang Heng rose to take his leave and headed to his own office.

"Supervisor Tian, brief me on the Lower Six Sections."

Fang Heng took a sip of fragrant tea and spoke indifferently.

As a Supervisor in the Seed Selection Department, Tian Sheng had developed the intention of attaching himself to Fang Heng as soon as he learned Fang Heng would become the department's Assistant Director.

Even if he was a prince with no hope of the throne, he was still a prince.

If Tian Sheng could cling to this thick thigh, he would finally see the clouds part and the moon shine through, allowing him to leave this godforsaken Seed Selection Department.

Tian Sheng exerted twelve parts effort in introducing the Lower Six Sections to Fang Heng.

"...There are a total of one hundred and twenty-five people searching outside for superior crops..."

"Have them all return."

Fang Heng spoke calmly, issuing his first order since arriving at the Seed Selection Department.

Tian Sheng was left utterly bewildered by those words.

"Recall all of them?"

"But, Your Highness... they all have assignments. The Ministry of Personnel conducts assessments every year, and this year is also the year of the Capital Inspection..."

Before Tian Sheng could finish, Fang Heng waved a hand and cut him off.

"No buts!"

"Do as I say."

"There is no need to worry about the Ministry of Personnel's assessment."

Hearing this, Tian Sheng's heart surged with excitement.

He truly had not chosen the wrong person!

As expected of the Ninth Prince—he could even settle the Ministry of Personnel's assessment.

What extraordinary powers!

"How many crop varieties are stored in the Seed Selection Department? Take me to see them," Fang Heng ordered.

"Your Highness, the Seed Selection Department has collected crop seeds from across the realm. There are a total of one hundred and twenty-six thousand varieties, all stored in the warehouse."

"Please follow me, Your Highness."

Tian Sheng was not at all surprised that Fang Heng wished to inspect the Seed Selection Department's crops.

He led Fang Heng to the Seed Selection Department warehouse.

"Greetings, Your Highness."

"Greetings, Lord Tian."

The warehouse guards cupped their fists in salute.

"Open the door. I want to take a look inside."

Creak!

The warehouse doors opened.

Rows upon rows of cabinets stood inside the warehouse.

They were packed densely together, like a maze.

These cabinets resembled those in a traditional medicine shop, divided into drawers of identical size.

Each drawer stored the seeds of one crop variety.

"Your Highness, these two rows of cabinets contain wheat seeds."

"These two rows contain rice seeds!"

Halfway through Tian Sheng's introduction, Fang Heng suddenly stopped.

Standing beside the two rows of cabinets storing rice seeds, he asked,

"Supervisor Tian, are there any rice varieties in the warehouse that cannot form grain ears?"

Rice that could not form grain ears?!

Fang Heng's question left Tian Sheng stunned for a moment.

The Seed Selection Department existed to select high-yield crops.

Why would anyone care about rice varieties that could not form grain ears?

This Ninth Prince's ideas were truly peculiar.

Though he grumbled inwardly, Tian Sheng carefully pondered the matter. In order to hold onto Fang Heng's thick thigh, he did not care what Fang Heng intended to do.

A moment later.

"Your Highness, I remember now."

"There really is a kind of rice in the warehouse that cannot form grain ears."

"It was discovered by the previous Director. After several years of research yielded nothing, it was sealed away in the warehouse."

Fang Heng's eyes lit up upon hearing Tian Sheng's words.

His brows relaxed, and joy stirred within his heart.

A Male Sterile Plant—this was a key technology for Hybrid Rice.

With a Male Sterile Plant, he could use the Three-Line Method to cultivate Hybrid Rice on a massive scale.

"Bring me the rice that cannot form grain ears. I wish to study it."

Fang Heng nodded slightly and spoke in a deep voice, revealing no trace of joy on his face.

Tian Sheng had no idea what Fang Heng intended, and though he was deeply suspicious, he did not dwell on it.

Since the Ninth Prince wanted it, he would give it to him.

At worst, it was simply a rice variety that could not form grain ears.

The Male Sterile Plant had been sealed inside a special sandalwood box. Even after several years, it remained full of vitality.

After obtaining the Male Sterile Plant rice, Fang Heng no longer had any desire to continue touring the warehouse and left directly.

Returning to his office, Fang Heng dismissed Tian Sheng, that little tagalong, and began cultivating Hybrid Rice using the Three-Line Method.

Academically, a Male Sterile Plant was called a Sterile Line.

Crossing a Sterile Line with a homozygous Restorer Line would produce Hybrid Rice.

The Restorer Line was homozygous, so it could be obtained endlessly through self-pollination.

Thus, the difficulty in cultivating Hybrid Rice lay in this.

How could one obtain an endless supply of Male Sterile Plants?

A Male Sterile Plant's male gametes could not develop, and it had no pollen.

Therefore, it could not self-pollinate to produce seeds and be cultivated on a large scale.

The wonder of the Three-Line Method lay in crossing the Sterile Line with a homozygous Maintainer Line, thereby obtaining Male Sterile Plants without end.

Crossing the Sterile Line with the Maintainer Line produced a Sterile Line.

Self-pollinating the Maintainer Line produced a Maintainer Line.

Self-pollinating the Restorer Line produced a Restorer Line.

With this cycle, one could continuously obtain the female parent line for Hybrid Rice.

After simulating the entire Hybrid Rice cultivation process several times in his mind, Fang Heng began to act.

Awakening of Insects Master

Activate!

He extracted the vitality of vegetation and infused it into ordinary rice seeds.

The seeds took root and sprouted at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a mature rice plant appeared in Fang Heng's hand.

He removed the seeds and continued cultivating them.

After several generations of selection, Fang Heng easily obtained a homozygous Maintainer Line and Sterile Line.

He had obtained all three rice lines.

Fang Heng's heart settled completely, and the corners of his lips curled upward.

The final step was to cross the Sterile Line with the Restorer Line and obtain Hybrid Rice.

"Tian Sheng, gather all available personnel and await my orders..."

Cultivating Hybrid Rice was grueling work.

Artificial pollination alone was exceedingly tedious.

If Fang Heng relied only on himself, he did not know whether he would be busy until the year of the monkey.

It would be a waste not to use the manpower of the Lower Six Sections.

Xu Xingzhi's office.

"What is the Ninth Prince doing?" Xu Xingzhi set down his memorial, rubbing his wrist as he asked.

"Master, the Ninth Prince has gathered everyone from the Lower Six Sections and sent them to the fields to plant rice."

Fang Heng's gathering of everyone from the Lower Six Sections had caused such a huge commotion that it could not possibly be hidden from others.

"He has results already?"

Xu Xingzhi was immediately stunned when he heard this.

Instinctively, he thought that the Ninth Prince must have long ago discovered a high-yield crop and had deliberately come to the Seed Selection Department to gild himself and earn merit.

"Sure enough, with someone in court, everything is easy!"

"We toil bitterly and still cannot find high-yield crops."

"Yet an unremarkable prince like him can find one with effortless ease."

"Alas—"

"The world—"

Xu Xingzhi swallowed the words "how unfair it is" before he could finish them.

After twenty years of rising and falling in officialdom, he knew that some words could be spoken, while others could not.

Even if the Ninth Prince did not mind his words,

there would always be petty people eager to make an issue of them and curry favor with the Ninth Prince.

The servant's lips moved as he spoke softly.

"Master, I do not think the Ninth Prince planted high-yield rice."

"Then what was it?"

"That rice in the warehouse that cannot form grain ears."

"Even the teams searching outside for crops have been recalled."

Bang—

Xu Xingzhi slammed his palm heavily onto the desk, making its surface shake and ring.

"Preposterous!"

"Why waste manpower planting rice that cannot form ears?"

"This is sheer reckless misconduct!"

Xu Xingzhi nearly exploded with rage.

He had thought Fang Heng had come to gild his credentials and earn merit.

He had never expected the other man to come here and wreak havoc.

Xu Xingzhi had long heard of that rice seed that could not form ears.

The previous Seed Selection Department Vice Director had become obsessed with researching this kind of rice.

For three consecutive years, he had received poor ratings in the Ministry of Personnel's assessments, then been demoted to Yazhou.

Fang Heng was a prince, so naturally he did not fear the Ministry of Personnel's assessments.

But everyone in the Seed Selection Department, from top to bottom, would be the ones out of luck.

"Come with me to the fields."

The servant hurriedly tried to dissuade him, his face full of bitterness.

"Master, you absolutely must not!"

"This is the Ninth Prince."

"So what if he is the Ninth Prince?"

"This is the Seed Selection Department, not his princely residence."

"This official will never stand by and watch the Ninth Prince behave in such a manner."

"Even if I have to give up this official's hat, I will stop him."

Xu Xingzhi's face was filled with righteous resolve, unyielding and incorruptible.

The servant groaned inwardly.

He knew that his master was unyielding and incorruptible by nature.

He simply had not expected him to be so unyielding that he would dare clash with a prince.

Too reckless!