Chapter 487: A ray of hope

Yuan Xi followed the maid with his head down, followed by the vigorous and confident Lu Lingqi. In contrast, Yuan Xi looked like a prisoner being escorted.

The two of them went up to the small building, where Mi Zhen was already waiting. She bowed to them and said, "My concubine greets the envoy, Lord Pingyang."

Yuan Xi and Lu Lingqi returned the greeting, but Mi Zhen bowed again and said, "My brother was impolite, please forgive me, Your Excellency."

Yuan Xi hurriedly said, "It's okay, Zifang is also a straightforward person."

Mi Zhen shook her head and said, "Although my brother is an official of Liu Yuzhou, he is indeed incapable of many things. As a woman, I want to advise him, but I cannot change his behavior."

Seeing the two talking, Lu Lingqi couldn't help but ask curiously, "Why are you two so polite? Didn't I hear that Liu Yuzhou promised you two a marriage?"

After these words were spoken, Yuan Xi and Mi Zhen almost lost their composure. Mi Zhen stared at Lu Lingqi with resentment, while Yuan Xi looked helpless and opened his mouth and made lip movements.

You are the only one who talks too much!

Mi Zhen was at a loss. After a moment of panic, she took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. She said, "Originally, I shouldn't have met the envoy alone, but now that my wife is here, it's not a violation of etiquette."

"The reason why I have the audacity to meet you, sir, is that I have something to discuss with you."

Yuan Xi said, "Girl, don't worry."

Mi Zhen stood up and raised her hand, saying, "Please follow me."

She walked in front. Yuan Xi and Lu Lingqi looked at each other, followed Mi Zhen, and walked along the corridor inside.

There are many rooms on the ground floor of this small building. After walking around the corridor, Mi Zhen came to a room. She pushed open the door and saw several large willow wood boxes inside.

Mi Zhen walked to a box, raised his hand and pointed, saying, "This is a specialty that the Mi family caravan brought back from Siam."

"I am in charge of several ships of the Mi family's caravan. One time, Lord Zhen came to visit and talked to my brother about going out to sea. I heard from the side that the envoy had returned the ships to trade in the South China Sea, and I also learned a few things that the envoy wanted to find."

"I was also quite interested after hearing about it, but the Mi family's merchant ships cannot sail as far as the Zhen family's merchant ships, and it is difficult to reach India, so I had to settle for the next best thing and let them go to Siam."

"The ship just returned yesterday. I found that among the goods brought back, there are a few things that may be of interest to you, so I would like to ask you to take a look."

After saying that, she walked over. The box was heavy and difficult to open. Mi Zhen was slender and fragile, so she tried several times but failed. Seeing this, Lu Lingqi hurried over to help. The two of them worked together to open the lids of the boxes one by one.

When the boxes were opened one by one, Lu Lingqi was fine, but Mi Zhen was so tired that she couldn't breathe. Lu Lingqi saw this and turned to complain to Yuan Xi: "You don't look at people, shouldn't you do this kind of heavy work?"

Yuan Xi didn't say anything. Mi Zhen thought Yuan Xi was too embarrassed to do so and was about to smooth things over, but she saw Yuan Xi staring at her. She subconsciously dodged, but found that Yuan Xi's eyes didn't move at all, but were looking at a box behind her.

Some of the boxes contained spices, some contained ornaments, but this box was different. It was filled to the brim with tiny black particles.

Mi Zhen didn't know what it was, but she could roughly guess that it should be the seed of some crop. Moreover, it looked very strange, smaller than sesame seeds, oval in shape, brown in color, with a black outer skin, and white and grayish-white hairs on it, completely different from ordinary crop seeds.

Yuan Xi walked forward a few steps blankly, reached out his hand towards the box, picked up a few seeds, retracted his slightly trembling fingers, and put them in front of his eyes to examine them carefully.

Mi Zhen was confused when he saw Yuan Xi's look, and thought to himself, could this be the most valuable thing in the boxes?

It looks ordinary, but how can it be more valuable than spices and ornaments?

Yuan Xi gently put the seeds back and stared at the box in a daze.

After a long while, he suddenly laughed.

He laughed so happily that there were even some tears in the corners of his eyes.

Lu Lingqi and Mi Zhen looked at each other, wondering if Yuan Xi had been possessed by some evil spirit.

Yuan Xi suddenly stretched out his hand and grabbed Mi Zhen. The two women were stunned. The next moment, Yuan Xi had lifted Mi Zhen high up and turned her around on the spot.

Lu Lingqi was stunned. What was going on?

Mi Zhen's mind went blank. She twisted Yuan Xi's arm and said angrily, "Put me down now!"

Yuan Xi let out a cry of shame, then realized that he had lost his composure. He quickly put Mi Zhen down, took a step back, and looked extremely embarrassed.

Seeing that Mi Zhen was about to cry, he quickly bowed his head and apologized, "I lost my temper!"

With a snap, Yuan Xi fell to the ground involuntarily. It was Lu Lingqi who kicked him in the knee from behind and shouted, "Are you crazy?"

"Hurry up and make amends to the girl from the Mi family!"

Yuan Xi also knew that he had made a big mistake, and quickly knelt down to apologize to Mi Zhen.

Mi Zhen was originally ashamed and angry, but seeing the other party like this, it was difficult to say anything, so she whispered: "You get up first."

After hearing this, Lu Lingqi mentioned Yuan Xi and said to Mi Zhen, "This idiot must have something wrong with his brain. Don't bother with him."

Mi Zhen covered her collar and whispered, "It's fine with me."

The three of them felt the atmosphere was awkward, and it was Lu Lingqi who spoke up, "Why do these seeds look similar to the ones that were spoiled by the Zhen family caravan yesterday?"

Yuan Xi couldn't hide his joy. He picked up a handful of seeds and placed them in front of the two people. "Yes, these are the cotton seeds I want most!"

He thought to himself that he was really stupid. It was true that cotton was introduced from India in later generations, but it was also grown in Siam during the same period!

Although there are some differences between the two varieties, in the final analysis, they both need to be planted under the climate and soil conditions of the Central Plains, and slowly evolve into plants that are most suitable for local conditions.

As an economic crop, cotton has an extremely powerful advantage: it is highly adaptable!

As long as there is sufficient sunlight, it can be planted and grown from the low latitude of Hainan to the high latitude of Youzhou, and from acidic soil to neutral to alkaline soil.

Its disadvantage is that the yield is low and large tracts of land need to be opened up for large-scale cultivation. However, this did not pose an obstacle in the late Han Dynasty when the population was declining and there was no shortage of land.

Although it may occupy some arable land, if it is cultivated on a large scale, it will far exceed hemp and silk in terms of land utilization and practicality.

Of course, there are many problems to be solved, such as the technology of deseeding, cotton fluffing, spinning and weaving after cotton harvesting, which cannot be perfected in a short period of time.

Even the initial harvest of these cotton seeds may not be good. There may be poor harvests for many years, and then in the continuous breeding process, it is unknown how many generations will be needed before suitable plants are found.

But all things are difficult at the beginning. At least we have the seeds now. Otherwise, given the extremely high risks at sea, we might not be successful even if we make several more trips to the South China Sea.

Now that the sowing time can be advanced, it means that in the future, the people in the Central Plains may be able to wear cotton products a few years earlier. Cotton is much warmer, which means that during the ice age that will last for hundreds of years in the future, it can protect many people from death in the severe cold!

Thinking of this, Yuan Xi couldn't suppress his excitement, and bowed deeply to Mi Zhen and said: "Although this may be an unintentional act, it may save thousands of lives in the future."

"This is a utilitarian act for the benefit of all people. Xi deeply appreciates your kindness and would like to pay tribute to you on behalf of the whole world."

Mi Zhen saw that Yuan Xi was being serious and asked in confusion, "Is this thing called cotton really that powerful?"

"The Mi family caravan has heard about these things, and has occasionally seen a few cotton products, but they haven't seen anything much better than linen and silk."

Yuan Xi took out a cotton boll from his bosom, handed it to Mi Zhen, and said, "The warmth retention of this thing is unmatched by other crops."

"Even in this state, stuffed directly into the quilt, it is much better than silk and linen."

"Nowadays, poor people fill their quilts with thread scraps, poplar and willow catkins, or even straw."

"The rich use chicken and duck feathers, but they are nothing like this."

"The reason why cotton cloth from the production area is coarse and inferior is that textile technology has not kept up."

He started talking about the future prospects from cotton planting to textile production. Mi Zhen took the cotton boll from Yuan Xi's hand and played with it while listening.

With her keen sense of smell gained from years of inspecting commercial goods, she quickly determined that if Yuan Xi's words were true, then this so-called cotton cloth would definitely have a much wider range of applications than linen and silk!

She saw Yuan Xi's excited face, and somehow, she felt genuinely happy in her heart.

Moreover, the other party was not happy about the profits from cotton, but felt that everyone could improve their clothing and protect themselves from the cold in the future. He really had a broad mind for the world!

Mi Zhen felt the warmth of the other person's palm still lingering under her armpit, and her face turned red again.

One was listening attentively, the other was speaking with great interest, and the atmosphere gradually became ambiguous until Lu Lingqi yawned out of boredom, and the two suddenly came back to their senses.

Seeing this, Lu Lingqi waved her hand and said, "I'm fine, you guys continue."

No matter how thick-skinned Yuan Xi was, he could not continue. He said to Mi Zhen: "This box of seeds means a lot to me. I am willing to pay a large sum of money to buy it."

Mi Zhen shook her head and said, "This thing is useless in my hands, and I don't know how to grow it, so I'll give it to you, Lord."

"I feel that it can only be effective in the hands of the envoy."

Yuan Xi thanked her quickly and was thinking about how to compensate Mi Zhen when he heard Lu Lingqi say with a smile, "Just consider it as a dowry."

After these words were spoken, Mi Zhen and Yuan Xi became extremely embarrassed, and Yuan Xi glared at Lu Lingqi fiercely.

You are the only one who talks too much!

Seeing that it was getting dark outside, Yuan Xi said goodbye to Mi Zhen. He and Lu Lingqi worked together to push the box to the door, and asked Sun Li to bring the carriage over and move the box up.

He said goodbye to Mi Zhen, "I will definitely repay your kindness this time."

Before Mi Zhen could say anything, he saw several soldiers rushing in from outside the Mi Mansion, shouting, "General Guan has ordered Lord Mi to mobilize all the troops in the city immediately!"