Echoes of My Heart Throughout the Court

Thank You again Shaq for kofi and completing my goal.

The burly man was overjoyed as he stepped forward to greet them. “Why has the magistrate come here as well? And this gentleman beside you…?”

The county magistrate squinted his triangular eyes and grinned at the burly man. “Qi Dashi, your ancestors must be smiling down on you! This is Lord Xu, who has come all the way from the capital. He holds the position of Attendant Censor! The imperial court has heard of your excellent farming skills and has specifically summoned you to cultivate a new type of crop!”

“The imperial court?”

Qi Dashi’s heart nearly leaped into his throat. His mind went blank as he repeated in disbelief, “Summon… me?”

The magistrate laughed heartily. “That’s right! And not just you—your whole family will go to the capital to enjoy a life of fortune! Do you not believe the words of your own magistrate?”

This county magistrate was a good man. Whenever someone in the village needed to travel through the mountains, he would lend them his old ox to pull their cart, sparing them from having to walk dozens of miles. When he had the time, he would even help villagers move heavy loads himself.

However, his governance was nothing extraordinary—just a kind-hearted but mediocre official.

Qi Dashi stood there in shock for a few moments, his trembling hands gradually steadying. Then, a smile slowly spread across his face. “I believe you. Of course, we trust the magistrate.”

Xu Yanmiao turned slightly and instructed, “Commander Luo, please arrange for a squad of Jinyiwei to escort his family safely to the capital.”

Luo Jin, a Jinyiwei commander and also the top martial arts examination scholar this year, felt a shiver of excitement at Xu Yanmiao’s words. Even his clothing seemed to tremble slightly.

Under the envious gazes of the other commanders, he stepped forward and smiled. “Rest assured, my lord. I will personally ensure that my men take good care of the Qi family, treating them to the best food and drink along the way. We will not neglect them!”

Xu Yanmiao nodded seriously. “Thank you for your hard work.”

Luo Jin wanted to say, It’s no trouble at all! If only you could spare just a tiny portion of your brilliant mind to remember my name in your vast memory!

After all, Gao He wasn’t originally from the Hanlin Academy, but thanks to a single comment from Xu Yanmiao, he had been assigned to oversee palace construction. Once the palace was completed, he would surely receive a promotion.

Luo Jin wanted to ride this wave of fortune too!

Qi Dashi’s family quickly packed their belongings and even invited Xu Yanmiao, the magistrate, the Jinyiwei, and the yamen officers to join them for several bowls of bone broth before they excitedly climbed into the mule-drawn carriage.

After all, they were going to work for the emperor!

Who would have thought that farming could bring such honor to his family?

Qi Dashi was so excited that he spun around in the cramped carriage, touching everything.

The carriage curtains were made of bright silk gauze—so transparent! So dazzling! So thin!

The cushions were lined with satin! Such extravagance! Their family only owned a couple of satin skirts, saved for their daughter to wear. When they had bought them, every coin handed over to the fabric shop had felt like a stab to the heart. And now, this fine material was being used as seat cushions!

As the carriage started moving, he lost his balance and bumped hard into the carriage wall. His family members quickly asked if he was alright. He took two steps back, carefully sat down, and rubbed his forehead with a silly grin. “It’s fine, it’s fine!”

His seven-year-old son ran over excitedly, tugging at his sleeve. “Dad, they mentioned good food and drink—do you think they’ll use Zhenjiang vinegar? Brother Yun said that every year, he and his mother go back to visit his grandparents in a place called Zhenjiang, and they always eat dishes with that vinegar. It smells so good! They even mix it with ginger juice!”

Brother Yun was the seven-year-old son of the county magistrate. He was born while his father was in office, so he didn’t have to leave before the magistrate’s reassignment. Being the magistrate’s son, he was tall for his age and always had chicken, duck, and fish from home—sometimes even a small calf’s leg—to share with the village children, making him the de facto leader of the kids.

Qi Dashi wasn’t sure if they would have such good food in the capital, but he patted his youngest son’s head. “Don’t worry! In the future, your father will buy it for you! I’ll work hard and farm well for the emperor! Our family will always have Zhenjiang vinegar with our meals!”

His youngest son cheered.

His ten-year-old eldest son excitedly said, “Dad! I want a mule cart like this in the future! They even have a canopy over the front so the mule isn’t left under the sun!”

Qi Dashi responded without hesitation, “We’ll buy it! We’ll buy everything!”

His eldest daughter—nicknamed “Soil Beauty”—put her hands on her hips. “I want a future where I don’t have to plow the fields anymore!”

Her brother frowned. “If we don’t farm, what are we supposed to do?”

Soil Beauty stretched her imagination to the fullest and declared, “Dad will be a grand official, Mom will be a noble lady, and I’ll be a proper young miss! Just like in those storybooks—the kind of miss who has a maid to massage her legs with a cushion when she gets tired from walking!”

Qi Dashi laughed. “Alright! I’ll make sure you can be a proper young miss!”

The mule cart rolled forward, the wheels rumbling like a joyous drumbeat. The curtains swayed happily with the motion.

Soil Beauty turned her head. “Mom! What about you? What do you want?”

Qi Dashi’s wife, lost in her daydreams, came back to her senses and chuckled. “I just want to never have to make soup again.”

She was slightly regretful, though—if she had known they’d be riding in such a nice carriage, she would have spent the money to hire someone to cook the bone broth. Now, sitting in such a luxurious cart with the lingering scent of soup clinging to her, she felt extremely out of place.

Soil Beauty declared, “Of course not! You’ll be a noble lady soon! And Dad, what do you want?”

Qi Dashi tugged at his sweat-soaked collar, suppressing his anxiety, and grinned. “Of course, I just want to eat meat every day!”

When they arrived in the capital, they realized they weren’t the only ones summoned.

Experienced farmers from all over had been gathered to discuss how to cultivate a crop called the potato. After all, while some people had prior knowledge, soil quality, water sources, and climate varied across regions, so they couldn’t rely on a single method.

—Most of them didn’t even speak standard Mandarin, so translators stood nearby to interpret.

At first, the discussion was orderly:

“Well, obviously, you dig a hole, plant the seed, and add manure! That’s how all crops are grown!”

“The soil has to be loosened properly!”

“I heard these things can rot or get diseased underground—let’s try coating them with lime powder!”

“Look, they have sprouts. We should plant the sprout side facing up, or they might suffocate.”

Before long, the discussion turned into a heated argument.

“I say we should spread chicken manure!”

“Chicken manure?! Don’t you know it attracts thorn bugs? They’ll chew holes all over the crop—how are we supposed to grow anything? We should use horse manure instead!”

“Horse manure attracts mole crickets!”

Meanwhile, on another side—

“We should mix in plant ash!”

“No, we should mix in lime powder!”

“I can’t argue with you! I’ll just plant mine my way!”

“Same here!”

And then—

“Sprout facing up? No way! The sprout should face down! Look at it—it’s obviously the root of the potato! How could you plant roots upside down? The root comes first, then the shoot!”

“What?! I’ve been farming my whole life, and I’ve never heard of ‘roots first, then shoots’! Shoots should come out first, then the roots grow! If the shoots don’t come out first, how will they grow evenly?”

“Do you even know how to farm?!”

“You’re the one who doesn’t know how to farm! If you plant potatoes your way, they’ll definitely die!!!”

All of them were experienced farmers, the best in their respective regions. Each was stubborn in their own methods, and no one could agree on anything.

In the end, the old emperor waved his hand and declared that each of them would receive one mu (about 0.16 acres) of land to plant their potatoes however they saw fit. Whoever produced the highest yield per mu would be rewarded with a house in the capital—whether they wanted to live in it or sell it was up to them.

It was almost visible to the naked eye—these farmers stared at their potatoes like race cars that had just had the accelerator slammed down, their speed pushed to the max.

Farming really could bring glory to one’s ancestors!

“Hehehehe, what do you think of naming my son ‘Yaozu’ (Glory to Ancestors)?”

Lian Hang, holding his one-year-old firstborn, let out the silly laughter of a doting father.

Xu Yanmiao thought about it seriously and replied, “Then his courtesy name should be ‘Guangzong’ (Illuminating the Ancestors)?”

Lian Hang grinned. “Not bad! You even came up with his courtesy name already.”

He then passed the one-year-old child toward Xu Yanmiao. “Here! Want to hold him?”

Xu Yanmiao pressed his lips together and cautiously took the child. Under Lian Hang’s guidance, he barely dared to breathe.

[So small!]

[So soft!]

[Help! Help! Ahhhh! He looks so easy to hurt!]

Lian Hang almost burst out laughing but quickly redirected the conversation. “You don’t have to be that careful. Let me tell you, this little guy is tough. At night, he kicks around so much he bangs his foot on the hardwood headboard, but he doesn’t even cry—just lets out a loud ‘Wah!’ and grumbles a bit. Doesn’t even need a wet nurse to soothe him.”

Xu Yanmiao: “Even if you say that, I still don’t dare to move too much!”

Lian Hang finally took his son back, and only then did the wailing in Xu Yanmiao’s mind subside.

But just as he calmed down, Lian Hang struck again: “Xu-lang, I was joking about naming him ‘Yaozu’—how about you give him a proper name?”

Xu Yanmiao looked like he had been struck by lightning. “What did you say? Me? You want me to name your firstborn child?!”

Lian Hang scratched his head. “I just feel like you have good fortune, and I want my kid to share in it. But if you don’t want to…”

“It’s not that I don’t want to…” Xu Yanmiao hurriedly denied, but then he hesitated. “I’m just afraid I’ll pick something that sounds bad… or too common…”

Lian Hang laughed. “It’s fine! No matter what you pick, it won’t be as cliché as ‘Yaozu’!”

Xu Yanmiao: “……”

That actually made sense.

“…Then, I’ll come up with a name?”

Lian Hang nodded vigorously.

Having Bai Ze name his child—what could be a greater blessing?

Xu Yanmiao: “I need to think carefully. Naming a child is no trivial matter!”

And so, he thought about it for three whole days. During those three days, Xu Yanmiao didn’t even pay attention to any gossip! This left the court officials—who had only just escaped their own political survival game—feeling restless, like ants were crawling all over them.

Maybe… Xu-lang, could you go back to digging up some scandals? Just open a mystery box or something?

—

Author’s Note:

The potato-planting argument was inspired by a real-life story:

When it came time to plant the potatoes, the two almost got into a fight. Uncle Ma Er saw his in-law placing the potato sprouts facing up in the soil and couldn’t help but correct him:

“You’re doing it wrong. The sprouts should face down because the potato sprouts are the roots. The roots grow first, and then the shoots emerge!”

His in-law, who had been farming his entire life, disagreed. “Brother, you’re wrong. The sprouts should face up so the shoots come out first, and the roots grow after. That way, the sprouts grow fast and evenly.”

Uncle Ma Er argued back, “No way! The sprouts are the roots—they need to grow first for the shoots to emerge!”

His in-law countered, “If you plant the sprouts facing down, they’ll grow all twisted, and the shoots won’t be even. They should face up—”

After finishing their work, Uncle Ma Er rode his cart home, complaining to his son, Ma Liwei.

“Your father-in-law is stubborn as a mule! Who plants potatoes with the sprouts facing up? Listen, don’t let him boss me around on my own land again. That potato field is ruined this year for sure. Your father-in-law is just too stubborn…”

After ranting, Uncle Ma Er hopped on his tricycle and went up the mountain, saying he was going to pick some fiddlehead ferns.

Meanwhile, his in-law, fuming, was getting ready to head home. He turned to his daughter and said,

“Your father-in-law is useless. I tried to help him, and he wouldn’t listen! Your potato field is definitely going to have a lower yield this year—he planted all the sprouts facing down! How’s he supposed to grow any potatoes like that? Daughter, drive me home.”

— From “All Because of Potatoes”