Reborn as the Crippled King's Beloved

Chapter 156: Chapter 156: Making Sugar from Beets

“Father-in-law, feel free to ask any question, your son-in-law will hide nothing and hold nothing back.”

In fact, Jun Yuyan had already guessed what General Fu wanted to ask.

As expected, General Fu lowered his voice and asked him, “Prince, tell me the truth, is the child in Ah Jiu’s womb really yours?”

Such rumors had been around for a long time, and originally the Emperor had doubted whether the child Ah Jiu carried was of Prince Ling’s bloodline, which was no secret.

He had even heard that Ah Jiu was carrying the child of the Second Prince.

General Fu had thought it through, if the child was not the Prince’s, they could take the child and raise him themselves.

Since the Prince and Ah Jiu seemed to be in good terms, and the Prince was willing to help her investigate her origins, it indicated that the Prince had feelings for Ah Jiu.

General Fu also knew well the character of the Prince, trusting that he was not the kind of person who pursued only profit, unlike the Second Prince.

By that time they could have their own biological offspring; if they were worried that the previous child might affect their relationship, they could have the General’s Mansion raise the child.

General Fu’s question was within Jun Yuyan’s expectations.

Looking at the somewhat nervous father and his sons, he smiled gently and said, “The child Ah Jiu carries is indeed my flesh and blood.”

General Fu narrowed his eyes and looked at him, “The truth?”

“Truer than true gold.”

Jun Yuyan looked sincere, and General Fu, knowing him, understood that he wasn’t lying.

General Fu heaved a long sigh of relief:

“Good, that’s good to hear. Yuyan, Ah Jiu has suffered a lot over these years, and I, as a father, am to blame for being so useless that I couldn’t even detect that my child had been switched. We owe Ah Jiu too much, and it’s too late when we found out. She’s already married to you, and it’s difficult to cultivate feelings with her now. I just hope that the two of you can develop a deep affection and take good care of her on my behalf.”

He called him by his name, Yuyan, speaking from the perspective of a father-in-law, pouring his heart out to Jun Yuyan.

He truly felt guilty and was happy, but more than that, he felt remorse.

Even if Ah Jiu didn’t hate him, her incompetent father, she had definitely borne resentment, yet it was through Prince Ling that he finally learned the truth; if that’s not incompetence, what is?

So he hoped that Prince Ling truly cared for Ah Jiu, loved Ah Jiu, so he could be somewhat reassured.

“Rest assured, Ah Jiu is my wife, and taking good care of her and our child is my responsibility. Even if you hadn’t mentioned it, I would still protect them.”

Listening to his promise, General Fu’s heart was greatly comforted.

Even though it was bittersweet, he knew all too well that among the many men in the Capital City, there were but a few who were deeply devoted and wholeheartedly committed.

Back in the military camp, after victories, the soldiers would seek pleasure to relax their bodies and minds, which was unblamable, for who knew if they would survive the next battle.

But General Fu had never seen Jun Yuyan seek out women. Even if there were women scantily clad and lying there, he might not even spare them a glance.

At that time, General Fu had teased him, asking if he was uninterested in women.

But later, seeing Jun Yuyan’s gentle demeanor towards the Princess Consort, General Fu knew she was the one he cherished most.

And later on, Princess Consort Ling became his own daughter.

Compared to the Second Prince, who used to be close to Ah Jiu, Jun Yuyan was so much better in so many ways—General Fu might not say it, but he was very content in his heart.

Murong Jiu had not slept for long, awakened by the aroma of food.

Opening her eyes, she saw Jun Yuyan sitting by the bed, looking at her tenderly.

“Prince, how long have I slept?”

The sun was strong outside, and she had no idea how long she had slept, only feeling completely rejuvenated by this nap.

“You’ve only slept for about three-quarters of an hour, we’ll eat first, and then you can continue to sleep after we’ve eaten.”

Jun Yuyan didn’t want her to be hungry.

As her pregnancy progressed day by day, her appetite also increased. If she didn’t eat on time, she would feel heartburn and nausea.

Murong Jiu nodded vigorously, as she was indeed hungry.

The General’s Mansion had already prepared a table full of dishes, all of which were Murong Jiu’s favorites, especially prepared after consulting Jun Yuyan and Chun Tao.

Murong Jiu felt a bit embarrassed and asked them to choose more casually next time, worrying that they might not like the dishes she loved.

Fu Heng smiled gently at her and said, “Ah Jiu, what you like to eat, we also like. Our tastes are quite similar.”

“Really?”

“Really, truer than true gold!” Fu Han blurted out loudly, mimicking Jun Yuyan’s words on the spot.

General Fu also nodded. “Ah Jiu, it’s no wonder we are a family; even our tastes are the same.”

Except for desserts, Murong Jiu didn’t like overly sweet dishes and preferred spicier flavors. However, in Great Yan, sugar was expensive, and using sugar in cooking was a privilege of the wealthy, a mark of status, resulting in sweet-tasting dishes being popular in the Capital City.

Neither could General Fu’s family get accustomed to those tastes.

It was only Wang Baozhu who had a preference for sweet flavors and was very picky, so they had to accommodate her.

Now, they realized that they were not really a family; how could their tastes be similar?

Thinking about sugar in the dishes, Murong Jiu suddenly remembered something.

Her memory had been poor since she became pregnant, so she quickly said to Jun Yuyan:

“Do you know about beetroot? It’s also called beet, and its roots can be used to make sugar. If we could get people to plant it on a large scale, it would yield a lot more sugar than sugarcane. Now, in the south, many people grow beetroot as a vegetable; they probably don’t know it can be used to produce sugar.”

Sugar was much more expensive than salt.

It was well known that anyone involved with salt, whether salt merchants or officials, was exceptionally wealthy.

Currently, the sugar available was extracted from sugarcane, which was not only low in yield but also expensive, making it unaffordable for ordinary people.

Murong Jiu knew that beetroot’s roots could be used to produce sugar because, about a year or two later, a woman in the south would cook pig food with beetroot. She went out to do other chores, and almost dried out the pot, only to accidentally discover that the contents formed clumps that were very sweet.

It so happened that an official under the Second Prince was nearby. After hearing about it, he experimented with beetroot again and through repeated verification, found that beetroot roots contained sugar.

First, they cut the beetroot roots into strips and put them into a large iron pot to boil with water. Then they fished out the beetroot residue, wrapped it in a large piece of cheesecloth, secured the cloth tightly, and squeezed it. The juice containing sugar syrup flowed out from the cheesecloth into the iron pot.

Then they added fire to continue boiling the liquid in the pot. As the pot heated and boiled, they stirred it continuously with a spoon, allowing the water to evaporate. Gradually, the sugar syrup in the pot thickened, darkening in color until it reached a viscous, dark brown state, signifying it was done.

This was actually very simple, yet undiscovered because beetroot was not widely cultivated, and it was everywhere as pig feed; nobody thought to use beetroot this way, let alone by accident.

Beetroot was better at producing sugar than sugarcane and yielded more sugar.

Because he controlled the production of Sweet Sugar, the Second Prince not only gained a vast wealth but also managed to monopolize the market, securing other benefits as a result.

Murong Jiu had once accompanied him to the south to treat people, so she knew the sugar-making process well.

Now that she had remembered this, there was no way she would allow the Second Prince to continue profiting from it!