Zhao Jingli

She pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Gong Cheng: "Second Senior Brother, please write down for me all the crops that can be grown in Beining, including grains, vegetables, fruit trees, and so on."

Gong Cheng took the paper, thought for a moment, and then began to write on it quickly.

"That's all I can write down for now. Once I get back to the yamen, I'll ask my colleagues, and if there's anything I've missed, I'll have someone send it to you."

"Thank you, Second Senior Brother."

Kang Shilin, who had been listening to their conversation in silence, finally spoke up, "Alright, go and draw."

He glanced at Zhao Ruxi: "If you could just focus on learning to paint, you could sell a painting for a lot of money. Why bother with all this effort?"

Zhao Ruxi chuckled but didn't say anything.

These are two different things. If it weren't for the political crisis two or three years later, she might have made some money and settled down, earning a living or painting as a hobby, living a leisurely life.

In her previous life, she wasn't someone who craved money to an extreme degree.

But the situation is different now. And she also wants to do something for the servants to change their situation.

However, there's no need to tell Master these things.

Wu Zong, on the other hand, somewhat understood his junior sister's thoughts.

He said, "That day, when Junior Sister went to the estate, she saw how difficult the lives of the servants were and felt great sympathy for them. She arranged these things not only to increase the estate's profits but also to help the servants and improve their lives. If Junior Sister can truly increase the estate's profits, others will surely follow her example, and in the end, it will be the servants who benefit. Junior Sister's pure and kind heart is truly rare."

He said this partly to Kang Shilin and partly to Gong Cheng. He hoped that his second senior brother would take this matter seriously and not think that it was just a naive junior sister's carefree play.

Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, Gong Cheng said to Zhao Ruxi, "When you receive the letter, if there's anything you don't understand, you can go to the Ministry of Works to find me, and I'll take you to see those colleagues who are in charge of agricultural affairs."

"Thank you very much, Second Senior Brother." Zhao Ruxi was even Gao Xing.

As evening approached, the painters dispersed. Zhao Ruxi boarded the carriage and was about to open the agricultural works written by Gong Cheng to study them carefully when Qingfeng handed her a letter, "Fifth Master sent this."

Zhao Ruxi opened the package and couldn't help but smile.

Xiao Lingyan was probably worried that the letter would be seen, so he wrote it directly in German.

Both are top students, and because they often travel with their tutor, they are fluent in four languages: English, French, German, and Japanese.

Even if the Empress Shengyao exists in this world, and English has spread here, the probability of someone understanding German is extremely low. If he writes a letter in German, even if the letter is intercepted, others won't understand it. Moreover, it's simply impossible to use this thing to identify handwriting and confirm whether the letter was written by Xiao Lingyan.

So he was being quite cautious.

His letter said nothing else but listed the things invented by the Empress Shengyao.

Empress Shengyao was probably a science student. Besides tinkering with cosmetics and bras—products that make money off women—she also invented glass to amass wealth.

Glass initially became a luxury item in the form of "Liuli cups," reaping a fortune among the nobility. Once these items were no longer profitable, they became popular in the capital as glass windows and heated pavilions. Great Jin were amazed when they grew vegetables in their gardens during the dead of winter, leading to a surge in glass purchases from people both in the capital and elsewhere.

After using this money to help her husband ascend the throne, Empress Shengyao sent people on a voyage overseas, bringing back many varieties of grains and vegetables that were not produced in Huaxia, once again shocking the Great Jin.

As for industries such as industry, agriculture, and manufacturing, these are areas that are largely outside one's expertise, so she did not venture into them.

With the information Xiao Lingyan sent, Zhao Ruxi felt more confident. She put the letter in an envelope, lowered her eyes, and pondered what kind of business she could do that wouldn't attract too much attention but could also make money quickly.

Lost in thought, she didn't notice that the carriage had already entered the capital.

Suddenly, the carriage shook violently several times, accompanied by the neighing of the horses and the crack of Uncle Lu's whip. Amidst the shaking, Zhao Ruxi grabbed onto the table welded to the floor.

Qingfeng, sitting opposite her, was also terrified and turned pale.

Fortunately, the carriage stabilized after a short while, moved forward slowly for a few steps, and then stopped.

"Uncle Lu, what happened?" Qingfeng stood up, ready to go out and find out.

"Miss, it's the young master." Ma Sheng's voice came from outside the car window.

Zhao Ruxi frowned, got up, lifted the curtain and got out of the car. She glanced around and saw Zhao Jingli standing in the middle of the road, his face flushed and his expression blank with shock.

Uncle Lu had already alighted from the carriage and was asking him if he was injured anywhere. Seeing Zhao Ruxi get out of the carriage, Uncle Lu quickly turned around and explained to her, "It was the young master... who suddenly rushed over, startling the horse and almost hitting him."

"I'm so sorry." Zhao Jingli's gaze darted away, his eyes filled with embarrassment as he looked at Zhao Ruxi. "I didn't expect to startle the horse..."

Zhao Ruxi has always had a sensitive sense of smell, and as soon as she got close to Zhao Jingli, she could smell the alcohol on him.

Seeing the abnormal flush on his face, she frowned. "Have you been drinking?"

"I... I..." Zhao Jingli's face was flushed, half from drinking and half from shame, "I only had a little bit."

"Zhao Jingli, you've really got some nerve!" Zhao Ruxi was furious when she saw him like this. "Your parents have raised you with such care since you were little, and you're already learning bad habits and becoming an alcoholic. How can you face your parents?"

These words immediately angered Zhao Jingli.

He flung away Zhao Ruxi's hand as she tried to help him up, pointed at Zhao Ruxi, and shouted angrily, "Those are your parents, not mine! Did I want to end up like this? They pushed me away the moment they found out I wasn't their biological child. Were all those years of affection fake? Fake, all fake! Now I can do whatever I want, nobody cares about me, nobody will care about me..."

Towards the end, he started to sob.

Upon hearing these words, Zhao Ruxi's eyes turned cold.

She turned to Uncle Lu and said, "Let's go." Then she instructed Ma Sheng, "Hold him back first, don't let him rush over."

She didn't want to say a word to Zhao Jingli right now.

In fact, not only Zhao Yuanxun and Lady Zhu, but also she herself had been waiting to see Zhao Jingli's performance.

After all, Zhao Jingli was a child whom Zhao Yuanxun and Lady Zhu had doted on and carefully raised since childhood. They had put the most effort into him. Now, because of his status, Zhao Jingli had returned to the second branch of the family, but Zhao Yuanxun and Lady Zhu could not simply let go of him.

But sometimes, the worst thing you can do is get entangled in complicated relationships.