sjar Chapter 429 Greenhouse
Chapter 429 Greenhouse
Bella was not disappointed when she was rejected. She just smiled politely and said, "I can definitely learn to ride a horse."
Yunlin nodded, and quickly rode his horse forward to catch up with his brothers.
The Baron looked at Yunlin and said, "Lin, Bella doesn't have many friends. If you are free, you can spend more time with her and teach her to speak the Ming dialect." It is hard to say that the Baron had no selfish motives. He brought his wife and daughter to settle in Ming Dynasty. In the future, Bella's chance of meeting a native person is extremely slim. She will most likely marry a Ming person, so he started looking for one now. Yunlin is a very good candidate. He is the younger brother of his most trusted friend and is of similar age. He would be very relieved if his daughter could marry Yunlin in the future.
Yunlin's ears turned even redder: "I'll try my best."
When they arrived at the farm, Min Xi and Yun Ji led the Baron family to visit the farm. Alice and Bella were attracted by a large expanse of purple lavender. With Min Xi's permission, the mother and daughter cut a large bunch of lavender and held it in their arms. Their smiles were more beautiful than the lavender. Min Xi also gave them a lot of lavender essential oil and lavender soap.
Although the baron also liked flowers and plants, he was more interested in Liulichang at the moment. Min Xi took him to visit Liulichang, but did not show him the production process of flat glass, but only took him to see the glass in the warehouse.
The baron's eyes lit up: "Min, you have so many pieces of glass. I want to buy some to make a glass greenhouse. Isn't it said that winters here are very cold? If I have a greenhouse, I won't have to worry about how the flowers and plants in my garden will survive the winter."
"Sure. But this batch of goods has been reserved. Let's wait for the next batch." The baron's words reminded Min Xi that it was too cold in the north in winter to eat vegetables, so people could only store radishes and cabbages in cellars. Even if they loved them, they would get bored of eating radishes and cabbages all winter. If there were greenhouses, they could try to grow other vegetables. Moreover, for Zhang Juzheng, vegetables could undoubtedly save his life.
Thinking of this, Min Xi hurried to notify the housekeeper of the farm, asking him to grow more vegetable seedlings while the weather was warm.
It was almost harvest time, but the housekeeper received the news of breeding. He thought he was hallucinating: "Master Min, it may be too late to sow seeds at this time. There is nothing else that can be planted except winter wheat."
Min Xi said, "Yes, you can plant them. Just sow the seeds, and I'll have someone find a place for you to transplant them."
The housekeeper looked to the host Yun Ji for help, and Yun Ji said, "Just follow the instructions of the ninth brother. He has his own arrangements."
Upon hearing this, the housekeeper went to find the old farmers on the farm and asked them to breed the seeds. The old farmers naturally had some objections, but when they heard that it was the boss's intention, they had no choice but to do as he said. Even if the boss was unreasonable, he was still the boss.
Min Xi had people breeding while building the greenhouse. The structure of the greenhouse was designed by Min Xi himself. When building a greenhouse in the north, it cannot be fully open. After all, the wind in the north is too strong, the temperature is too low, and there may even be heavy snow. The current glass cannot withstand strong winds and pressure. Therefore, Min Xi used the method of the early Shouguang greenhouse, using brick walls on the north side and then building a frame with wood. A slot was left in the middle of the wood, and double-layer glass was embedded in the wooden slot. This way, the pressure resistance is better, but the light transmission performance is slightly worse, but it is still acceptable.
The glass roof is built with a slope to facilitate snow removal. When it is cold, corn stalks and sorghum stalks can be placed on the glass at night to keep it warm. A brazier can also be used to heat the house and promote the growth of vegetables.
Min Xi traveled to the outskirts of the city for almost two months to build a greenhouse, and finally built a qualified greenhouse. When he finished, the seedlings that had been grown long ago were also transplanted into the greenhouse. The old farmers in the village were very surprised. They didn't expect that they could grow vegetables in the house. What surprised them even more was that it was already autumn, and everything was depressed, but this greenhouse was lush and green, and the vegetables were growing well, not affected by the cold outside.
Seeing that the vegetable greenhouse was completed, Min Xi repeatedly instructed these people how to take care of it in the future so that the vegetables could grow smoothly even in the dead of winter so that they could eat fresh vegetables in winter.
The first snow of this year came a little early. This was the first time Bella had seen snow, and it was so heavy. The little girl was so excited that she couldn't wait to play in the snow after class. The snow in the north was too dry and couldn't be rolled into a ball. It was not easy to make a snowman, but she still played with great interest for a long time, and didn't care that her hands were frozen red.
The two maids quickly reminded: "Miss, don't play anymore, you will get frostbite."
Bella asked in confusion, "What is frostbite?"
The maid named Xiaomi stretched out her hand and pointed to the chilblains on her fingers and ears. "That's it. I had it before, and now I get it every winter. It gets really itchy when it gets warm, and I can't help scratching it. After a while, it will break. It's really scary."
Bella looked at Xiaomi's hand, which was swollen like a carrot, and said, "That's scary. Does it hurt?"
"It doesn't hurt, but it's itchy when it gets hot," said Xiaomi.
"Then how can it be cured?" Bella lives with the two little maids day and night, and now they are the closest playmates.
"There's no way to cure it. You can only wait for it to rot. Once it breaks out, it will break out every year, so young lady, you must not get frostbite. Let's go back. It's almost time for dinner." said the older maid named Damai.
"Then let's go back quickly and stop playing!" Bella didn't insist. She took the heater from Da Mai and walked into the house.
Alice, who was warming herself by the fire, saw her daughter coming back and held out her hand to her: "Honey, let's go eat."
Bella held her mother's hand, looked up and said, "Mom, I don't want to eat white radish and cabbage anymore, okay?"
Alice smiled and nodded: "Okay, no radishes and cabbages today, but green vegetables."
"Really?" Bella's eyes lit up.
"Really? Uncle Min asked someone to send it here. It was grown in the greenhouse." Alice said.
"Uncle Min is so awesome. Dad also has a greenhouse, but it's a pity that there are only his flowers in it," said Bella.
It snowed today, and Min Xi braved the snow to go to the outskirts of the city to teach the people in the village how to prevent and clear the snow from the greenhouse. He also picked some vegetables from the greenhouse, including pea seedlings, Chinese cabbage, chrysanthemum, leeks, and carrots that had not yet grown. The carrot tops were also edible.
After bringing it back, he kept some for himself, gave some to the Tao Mansion and the Baron, and also gave some to the Zhang Mansion.
When Zhang Juzheng was having dinner that night, he saw that the dishes served were not the cabbage and radish that he almost vomited, but green ones, including chopped carrots and pea sprout soup. He was surprised and asked, "Where did this dish come from?"
Madam Gao explained as she scooped soup for Zhang Juzheng: "Lord Min and Lord Yun sent it. They said they grew it using the greenhouse method. They knew that Master needed to eat more green vegetables, so they sent a basket."
Zhang Juzheng recalled that Min Xi had not appeared since he sent him the recipe, and he had not even sent him a gift during the Mid-Autumn Festival. He did not expect that he would remember to send him food now. It seemed that he was not someone who liked to flatter but really cared about him. "He is a thoughtful person. I will ask someone to send him a thank you gift later."
Madam Gao said, "Lord Min is also thoughtful and cares so much about the master's health. Why doesn't the master promote him?"
Zhang Juzheng said: "He is not interested in officialdom, otherwise why would he volunteer to go to the Honglu Temple. He likes leisure, so why not let him go. If there is a chance, you can promote Yunji more. The two of them will share honor and disgrace. If Yunji is doing well, Min Xi will naturally do well too."
Having said that, Zhang Juzheng had also thought about giving Min Xi a promotion and a raise. Since he liked the Honglu Temple, he should continue to stay there. After the exam at the end of the year, he could be promoted to a sixth-rank temple secretary. Unfortunately, he was a juren, so he was not qualified for promotion.