The Overachieving Little Husband of the Top Scholar’s Household - Chapter 21: The Qiu Family

After Hu Qiuyan and Meng Fuyue returned home, they both began cultivating cotton according to Qiu Huainan’s method.

The seedling trays had already been woven as practice beforehand, so all they needed to do was buy some tofu dregs, mix them with plant ash, and prepare a special agricultural fertilizer according to Qiu Huainan’s formula. They then soaked the seeds in this mixture, coated them with wood ash and dry soil, and carefully planted them into the seedling trays.

While Qiu Huainan made it look simple, both families encountered various small difficulties when putting it into practice. Qiu Huainan helped them solve each issue one by one. As he gathered more and more problems and solutions, new ideas began forming in his mind.

Du Yunse saw Qiu Huainan spreading paper on the table in the main room and went over to help him grind ink. “Huage’er, what are you writing?”

“I want to record all the problems we encountered while growing cotton and the solutions we found. If we succeed, I might even be able to compile them into an agricultural book.”

Every practice must be adapted to local conditions. Qiu Huainan wanted to document all the issues and solutions that arose while growing cotton in Du Family Village. This way, people in regions with similar climates could learn to grow cotton, and even those in different environments might find some useful techniques.

Cotton cultivation was a rare skill that could generate great wealth. Many people kept their methods secret and refused to share them with outsiders. Yet, Qiu Huainan openly spoke of writing an agricultural book.

Du Yunse’s gaze wavered. “You’re not worried about outsiders learning it?”

“Why should I be?” Qiu Huainan smiled. “I would love for it to spread across the entire country, so the land can become fertile and productive, and the people can have abundant food and clothing, with more cotton than they could ever use and more clothes than they could ever wear.”

Compared to the prosperous modern era, ancient society was incredibly lacking in resources. Not only was productivity low, but the majority of resources were also concentrated in the hands of the upper class, leaving the common people to live in hardship.

Qiu Huainan knew that he was insignificant and that he couldn’t accomplish much. But when it came to efficient farming techniques that could improve yields, he would never keep them secret for personal gain.

Du Yunse was deeply moved by Qiu Huainan’s ambition and concern for the people. After a long silence, he put down the ink stick, crossed his hands, and solemnly bowed.

“I was mistaken. Huainan, you have a heart that seeks to benefit the world. I am ashamed of my own shortcomings.”

Qiu Huainan felt a little embarrassed and quickly helped him up. Their skin made contact, and the warm, smooth sensation instantly transmitted through his fingertips to his mind. It startled Qiu Huainan so much that he instinctively withdrew his hand as if burned.

“I’m just writing down useful information for now. I don’t even know if I can actually compile it into a book.”

Du Yunse noticed that Qiu Huainan was using coarse bamboo paper, the kind children used for tracing practice. He shook his head and said, “Bamboo paper has a rough texture when writing, and over time, the ink will blur and deform. You should use xuan paper instead.”

Qiu Huainan refused. “I’m just drafting my notes. As long as I can write on it, it’s fine. We should save the xuan paper Magistrate Wang gifted us for you to use.”

At three wen per sheet, using xuan paper to record farming data or sketch little stick figures would be too extravagant. Just thinking about it made Qiu Huainan feel distressed.

After writing for a while, he suddenly remembered something and reminded Du Yunse, “But when you study, you must not be frugal with paper, understood? If you run out, I’ll buy more. Always prioritize your main goals. The most important thing is to achieve good exam results.”

Du Yunse responded helplessly, his gaze at Qiu Huainan as gentle as a spring pond dotted with drifting peach blossoms.

A few days later, the cotton seedlings broke through the soil, with a germination rate exceeding 80 percent. This astonished Baoren, who had heard from others how difficult it was for cotton seeds to sprout.

However, Qiu Huainan was not entirely satisfied with the seedlings. Perhaps because homemade organic fertilizer was not as effective as monopotassium phosphate, the seedlings in the seedling trays were not as strong as he had expected.

After some thought, he made a more diluted liquid fertilizer and sprayed it on the seedlings’ roots every morning, lifting the trays slightly so the liquid could seep through the willow gaps at the bottom.

When designing the willow-woven seedling trays, he had intentionally left gaps at the bottom for this purpose. In modern agriculture, seedling trays also had small holes at the base, allowing them to float on nutrient solutions so seedlings could absorb nutrients efficiently and grow stronger.

After implementing this adjustment, the cotton seedlings in the various households finally grew according to expectations. Qiu Huainan recorded the process on bamboo paper and even sketched a simple illustration to show the technique.

Since they weren’t plowing the fields yet, the mule at Qiu Huainan’s home was idle. Villagers came to borrow it for plowing, and as long as they scheduled in advance, Qiu Huainan agreed to lend it out for free—each household could use it for one day, as long as they fed it grain-mixed fodder to keep it well-nourished.

At this point, the entire village spoke highly of Qiu Huainan’s family. The voices that once mocked him for foolishly trying to grow cotton had gradually disappeared. Now, wherever Jiujiu and Chunsheng went, villagers would look after them with care, much to the frustration of Zhao Shi and Li Gu’er.

Meanwhile, Wei Liuhua sat on the heated brick bed in the side room, sewing stitch by stitch. Her son, You-ge’er, whose face was becoming fairer and healthier, crawled around beside her. From the courtyard, she heard Li Gu’er stirring up trouble again in front of Zhao Shi, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes internally.

Never doing needlework, never working in the fields, never helping in the kitchen—only eating for free and gossiping all day. And lately, since the trip to the provincial city with Du Yunjing was planned, Li Gu’er had been treating her even worse. Wei Liuhua had put up with her for far too long!

Even as she listened, her hands didn’t stop working. The needle danced through the fabric, gradually forming intricate floral patterns.

Wei Liuhua had learned all her sewing skills on her own over the years. She had a natural talent for embroidery—just one glance at a garment, and she could figure out how it was cut and stitched. Given a sample pattern, she could deduce the embroidery technique on her own.

As she continued listening, she raised an eyebrow—there was an unfamiliar voice in the courtyard. It seemed someone from outside had come. Zhao Shi uncharacteristically sent Li Gu’er and Fubao away, then welcomed the guest into the main room.

Wei Liuhua hesitated, then gestured for You-ge’er to keep quiet before stepping outside with her needlework, pretending to go out to thread a needle under the sunlight while secretly eavesdropping.

The visitor was a woman younger than Zhao Shi, with an unfamiliar voice. “Zhao Shi, it’s been over half a month, and my son and nephew still haven’t been released. You owe our Qiu family an explanation!”

Wei Liuhua’s heart skipped a beat. She had never heard any follow-up on Zhao Shi’s scheme to sabotage Qiu Huainan by sending people to Shangliang Village, and she had gradually forgotten about it. But now, it seemed something major had already happened behind the scenes. The Qiu family had come demanding answers.

Inside the main room, Zhao Shi wasn’t backing down. “Zhou Shi, I don’t know what trouble your two boys got into that landed them in the county magistrate’s hands. If you want an explanation, go to the yamen and file a complaint! What do you expect me to do about it?”

Zhou Shi’s anger flared. “Don’t play dumb! If not for your instigation, they wouldn’t have had such ideas or ended up arrested!”

Zhao Shi sneered. “You, of all people, know exactly how Qiu Huainan suffered at your Qiu household before being sold to Du Family. Don’t act so innocent.”

Wei Liuhua, hearing all this, felt a chill run down her spine. She quickly retreated to her room and stayed inside until dinnertime to avoid suspicion.

That evening at dinner, Zhao Shi suddenly announced, “I’ve thought it over—it’s best if your father and I personally accompany Yunjing to the provincial city for his examination.”

The others were puzzled by her abrupt change of heart, but Wei Liuhua suspected she was trying to escape the Qiu family’s wrath.

“Mother, I want to go too! I want to go too!” Fubao clamored beside her.

“Go, how could we not bring my precious baby? We’ll hire a cart and go together.”

Zhao Shi did not allow You Ge’er to sit at the table for meals. Yunhu looked sorrowfully at Fubao, who was plump and fair, nestled in Zhao Shi’s arms acting coquettishly. He coughed lightly and said, “Then Liuhua will stay behind; otherwise, I won’t be able to manage all the fields alone.”

Zhao Shi hesitated. She was leaving home to avoid trouble, not to suffer hardship. If she didn’t bring someone to do the work, wouldn’t she have to labor herself along the way?

Seeing this, Li Gu’er quickly interjected, “Sister-in-law Liuhua can stay behind. It’s the same if Uncle and Aunt take me along instead.”

Zhao Shi frowned at the eager Li Gu’er. She couldn’t say she particularly liked this niece by marriage. The reason she was willing to let Li Gu’er eat and drink for free was, on one hand, because the girl was clever and sweet-tongued—every word she spoke hit just the right note to please Zhao Shi. But more importantly, Li Gu’er was of marriageable age. Keeping her for another two years meant she could be married off, bringing in a dowry.

She knew Li Gu’er disliked work, but since the one suffering for it was her unwelcome daughter-in-law, Wei Liuhua, Zhao Shi had never intervened. If Li Gu’er were to accompany her alone, she likely wouldn’t dare to be lazy or slack off.

Staying in the prefectural city for over a month, having someone who could talk properly was certainly better than bringing along someone she found annoying.

After thinking it through, Zhao Shi nodded. “Then we’ll all go. The eldest and his wife will stay behind to look after the house and tend the fields.”

That night, back in their own room, Yunhu whispered to his wife in confusion, “I don’t know why Mother suddenly changed her mind. Taking such a large group to the prefectural city won’t be cheap. But for us, this is the best outcome—you can stay behind to take care of You Ge’er.”

Wei Liuhua nodded, but her heart felt uneasy. She repeated everything she had overheard earlier to her husband and said anxiously, “I have to find a way to tell Hua Ge’er about this first thing in the morning. Otherwise, I just can’t feel at ease.”