Chapter 296: Eating Watermelon in Winter

nce and then turned and left.As soon as she left, Li Chen suddenly opened his eyes and, ignoring that Zhao Rui was still there, said, "Go, summon Grand Internal Guard Commander Xu Wei."Three hundred p...Chapter 296: Eating Watermelon in Winter

"A humble woman bows to Your Highness, the Crown Prince."

Upon seeing Li Chen, Liu Sichun and others immediately put down their work and came over to pay their respects.

Having seen the young man behind Liu Sichun, whose expression was one of respectful and excited deference, bowing his head without daring to look at him, Li Chen said, "You may all rise."

"Your Highness, this is the younger brother of the commoner girl, Liu Sidar. He worked hard all the way to Zhejiang and Fujian to purchase sweet potato seedlings. All credit goes to him."

Under Liu Sichun's introduction, Liu Sidar came before Li Chen and performed a respectful bow again, excitedly saying: "Subject Liu Sidar has met Your Highness, the Crown Prince! May your Highness live a thousand years, a thousand years, ten thousand years!"

"No gifts please."

Li Chen looked at Liu Sichun thoughtfully and said, "How many seedlings did we buy this time"

Liu Sida hurriedly replied, "There were over four hundred seedlings in total. After accounting for losses along the way, there are now more than three hundred and eighty surviving. Furthermore, the commoners have invited experienced farmers from the local area to personally oversee the planting."

Li Chen nodded with satisfaction and said, "Not bad."

Although just two characters, they have already made Liu Sidada extremely excited.

"It's just, Your Highness, it's freezing cold out there. Will anything even grow" asked Liu Sichun.

Li Chen smiled and said, “Of course it's possible. Otherwise, why would I have you prepare all of this”

Saying that, Li Chen brought Su Jinpa to the field.

Although it had been cleaned, the snow was muddy and on the edge of a field, so the ground wasn't really clean anywhere.

In no time at all, Li Chen's boots and pant legs were already covered in mud, and Su Jinping wasn't faring much better.

But both of them didn't care about these trivial details.

Su Jinpa looked at the nearly completed greenhouse in the field with great curiosity and asked, "Your Highness, what is this"

"This thing, this palace names it 'greenhouse'."

Li Chen pointed to the frame recently built on the field. “It uses tender and soft but sturdy bamboo strips as the skeleton, interweaving and fastening together, then covering it with handcrafted copper mirrors polished to transparency.”

This way, it allows sunlight to pass through while also insulating against temperature changes between the inside and outside, providing a suitable and comfortable environment for the plants inside.

Therefore, as long as it is properly cared for, eating watermelon in winter will no longer be impossible.

Next to Su Jinping, the more she listened, the more magical it seemed.

Not only her, but even Li Ke Shou, the person in charge of construction, and Liu Si Chun and others, didn't know the true purpose of this thing.

Now that Li Chen explained, everyone found it unbelievable.

It is common knowledge that watermelon is a summer crop and requires hot weather to grow. Eating watermelon in the dead of winter is simply impossible.

But how could this thing made by His Highness the Prince actually defy the seasons to grow vegetables and fruits Is there such a magical thing in the world

The original best material for making greenhouses was plastic film, but in this era, plastic could not be produced. Li Chen wasn't a chemical engineer either, so after much deliberation, he could only use copper mirrors that were manually polished. Although it was time-consuming, laborious, and costly, fortunately, he was only temporarily cultivating a trial field, so it wouldn't cost him too much.

Li Chen entered the greenhouse, followed by everyone else. They felt a bit stuffy inside, but it was noticeably warmer than outside.

Taking out a seedling, Li Chen turned to Su Jinping and said, "This thing is called sweet potato. Because it comes from a foreign land, it is also called sweet potato. One mu (a unit of area) yields dozens of stones, which is twenty times more than rice. It can be eaten fresh or cooked. It can be boiled or ground into powder. Eating it raw is like eating taro, and eating it cooked is like eating honey. It tastes like water chestnut."

"It is normally an annual plant, but if properly fertilized and cared for, the harvest time can be shortened to half a year. In addition, it is highly adaptable and can be planted in most places in China. Jin Pa, do you think that if this thing is promoted on a large scale, it will be a blessing for the Qin Dynasty" head before bowing to the ground.This declaration of allegiance represented Daimiao Jing's official entry into service, and signified the successful placement of Li Chen's first pawn within the imper...