Having a Baby Before Marrying a Wicked Husband - Chapter 84

Yan Cai immediately sat up from the ground, brushing off the grass leaves from under his buttocks. His face flushed slightly, like the rosy hues of the evening clouds.

Widow Zhang was not without brains to be able to establish herself with her child in this village. Suddenly, she understood.

“Is this, this, this person the lord’s… wife!?” Widow Zhang covered her mouth in astonishment, finding it hard to believe, yet strangely feeling that it should be so. The young man was handsome and ethereal; if he wasn’t, who else could be worthy?

“No need to call him ‘Madam,’ he doesn’t like it. Just call him—”

“My surname is Yan, just call me Xiao Yan.” Seeing Jiang Manyue in trouble, Yan Cai interrupted.

Widow Zhang is very insightful. She knows when others are being polite to you, it’s their courtesy, and you can’t overstep the boundaries. With proper manners, she changed her address to call him Young Master Yan.

Yan Cai did not oppose this way of addressing him, and he just went along with their wishes. After all, it’s better than being called a lady. Even the simple and honest younger brother-in-law at home has been corrected by him and no longer foolishly calls him sister-in-law.

Of course, in private, Jiang Manxing still consistently calls him sister-in-law, and Yan Cai doesn’t mind about that.

After exchanging greetings, everyone was very tactful. Seeing that Yan Cai had brought a food box specifically, indicating that the two would have a meal together, they all went to find shade to take a nap, leaving the space for the two of them.

The two sat down to eat, and Yan Cai took out the dishes one by one and placed them on the ground. There were meat and vegetables, and even tomato and scrambled eggs that Jiang Manyue liked.

Since Yan Cai discovered tomatoes and made scrambled eggs with tomatoes once, he found that Jiang Manyue seemed to really like this dish. The last time he discovered a dish Jiang Manyue liked was bamboo shoots stir-fried with bacon.

Jiang Manyue likes to have tomato sauce with rice, but he doesn’t eat the eggs in it. Yan Cai feels this isn’t good, so he keeps trying to stuff meat pieces into his bowl.

“Eat lamb, lamb stew with radish is good for your health. This is also delicious, here’s a big chicken leg for you…” Yan Cai kept piling food into Jiang Manyue’s bowl until it could barely hold anymore, then he reluctantly set down his chopsticks.

If he didn’t give Jiang Manyue more, his own dishes would be finished soon. Although he was very hungry, Jiang Manyue ate delicately, chewing slowly and gracefully.

It’s fortunate that the two of them have their own private meals. Even though it’s a communal pot, Jiang Manyue must be the one who can’t get food and ends up crying alone in a corner feeling very sad.

The more he thought about it, the more Yan Cai felt like Jiang Manyue was a poor little white cabbage. Unable to resist, Yan Cai looked at him with the same tender affection as an elder father, which made Jiang Manyue’s skin crawl.

How could he eat this meal calmly? He looked helplessly at Yan Cai and asked with his eyes what was wrong?

“It’s nothing, just eat your meal.” Yan Cai continued to help Jiang Manyue to more meat, saying as he did, “If it’s not enough, there’s more. Don’t worry.”

Feeling that the conversation was getting more and more strange, Jiang Manyue changed the subject.

“Is Ke Ke behaving well at home? With both of us away, is he causing trouble?” Once things outside got busy, it was hard to take care of things at home, a situation Jiang Manyue didn’t want to see. When the current situation was over, they would probably be able to rest for a while and take care of their child.

“He’s doing well, quite lively. He’s stuck to Manxing like glue. When I left, He and Manxing were playing with toys. Manxing’s school is on break these days, so he has time to goof around with the little one,” Yan Cai said as he ate, “I think he’s quite suited to taking care of children. Our son will have someone to look after him in the future.”

“He himself is naive. He appears much older than Ke Ke, but as our son grows up, he will become more experienced than him,” Jiang Manyue commented, without any harshness in his tone, just lightly jesting and speaking in an elder’s manner, “He looks after the children just to play with them.”

As he spoke, Jiang Manyue glanced at Yan Cai. “Well, there is one here who is the same, treating childcare as simply playing with them.” Yan Cai guiltily buried his head in his meal, his bowl large enough to cover his entire face.

After eating, the two leaned against a tree, looking out over the endless fields. All these potatoes would be harvested, even with the efforts of the whole village, it would take more than a week.

By then, the weather would be hot, and storing the potatoes would be a problem. However, most of these potatoes weren’t for eating; the best ones would be selected as seed potatoes for the next planting season, and only a small portion would be presented to the palace for the Emperor’s inspection.

In fact, many people in the capital had already eaten them, and this dish wasn’t uncommon at Ji Xiang Ju. In this way, one of the difficulties in promoting potatoes would be reduced.

The greatest obstacle for many things before they are developed is that people don’t know they are edible. The fear and reverence for the unknown can involuntarily make people retreat and choose to escape or endure.

​Like when the first person to eating crabs appeared, then later generations followed suit, the act of eating crab becomes perfectly normal.

Nowadays, they are presenting new things to people that have never appeared before, making them accept potatoes, chili peppers, and cotton.

Perhaps the initial process of promoting these items may not be smooth, but as soon as people realize their benefits, they will automatically start to maintain them.

Now, the initial use of potatoes by Ji Xiang Ju is actually reducing the difficulty of promoting such food, as many still consider it harmful.

The Emperor is naturally very satisfied with Jiang Manyue’s successful completion of the task. In comparison, the cotton planting project originally managed by the Third Prince Xia Jue, now taken over by the Fourth Prince Xia Jing, has not yielded any results yet.

However, it’s not yet the cotton harvesting season, so the Emperor is not too anxious. However, his emphasis on cotton is well-known throughout the court.

Since the house arrest, the Fourth Prince has felt extremely unlucky. He never expected that the Third Prince would follow in his footsteps and also be placed under house arrest, and moreover, he lost all the responsibilities Father Emperor had entrusted to him.

The Fourth Prince was pleased to seize what the Third Prince lost. Originally, he might have been disdainful, but anything that the Emperor valued and was taken from the Third Prince always made him very happy and self-satisfied.

So, after enduring for two or three days, he couldn’t help it and went to the third prince’s palace to show off.

“Third Brother, do you think this cotton is white or not? I heard that cotton grown is as white as clouds, but unfortunately, you don’t have the chance to see it now.”