Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 165 - 163: Get Busy

Chapter 165: Chapter 163: Get Busy

Although this season was not suitable for planting trees, the preparation work started to be carried out. As soon as Shangguan Xuanyi received the method of constructing a protection forest written by Xiao’er, he began his field investigations and got busy.

Every one or two days, he would ask Xiao’er some questions, sometimes even taking her out for field research.

Xiao’er’s household was also busy with managing the flower field and the two shops.

These days, she was so busy that she had to eat her meals on the go in the carriage.

Xiao’er selectively informed Shen Chengyao about some aspects of her spatial powers.

Previously, Xiao’er had found books about Qi Men Dun Jia in her spatial study room. She insisted on studying and practicing formations in the space every night. She didn’t know how many years’ worth of time she spent inside the space studying, but with persistence comes success. She finally achieved results.

Then, she arranged Fog Formations all over the space, in areas like the Ashoka Fruit Tree Zone, the Fairy Lake Zone... Basically everywhere except for the Huaguo Mountain, Grassland, Ocean, and the black soil areas for growing normal crops and medicinal herbs.

Perhaps because of the formations set up in the space, Xiao’er and the animals living in the space could still see everything clearly. However, any animal coming in from outside would only see a thick mist, with glimpses of purple light shining through. It was very mysterious.

This Fog Formation, Xiao’er also tried outside. After setting it up, she could only see a dense fog, unable to see her fingers when she extended out her hand, with nothing else in view.

In a fit of mischief, Xiao’er used a piece of Hetian jade created from the space’s jade mountain to carve a stone tablet and buried it in a corner of the black soil. It was engraved with the words "Yaochi Fairyland" in oracle bone script style. The dangerous, ancient, and mysterious atmosphere was palpable.

Xiao’er took Shen Chengyao to the space, explaining that she had been blessed with a chance encounter with immortals. By helping a fairy with a trivial task, the fairy had allowed her to enter and manage her fairyland as a reward. Anything in the fairyland was hers to use.

Folks from this era were quite superstitious, so this explanation passed. After all, who would think of it as a portable space?

Moreover, isn’t teleporting people through space something only divine beings can do?!

Shen Chengyao was aware that it was a blessing Xiao’er received after Shen Bei’er pushed her, causing her to fall and hit her head. He was both heartbroken and grateful.

He was thankful that his daughter was blessed by the gods, allowing her to continue living. However, he was also heartbroken about the great calamity his daughter suffered.

As for managing the fairyland and using its resources, it was clearly a huge piece of pie that fell from the sky. Surely no one would be unhappy about that, right?

With Shen Chengyao’s help, taking things out from the space was even easier.

Regardless, things were much easier for Xiao’er now. It was Shen Chengyao who would now typically take Xiao’er out of the city gates before she brought stuff out from the space. After which, she would disembark the carriage and return to the city to take care of her own affairs.

Shen Chengyao would then drive a carriage filled with items around once, before returning to the flower field to place the flowers taken from the space into the greenhouse.

After a few days of hustle and bustle, the greenhouse was inconspicuously filled with a variety of precious fresh flowers and bonsai plants.

Only then did Shen Chengyao arrange for flower farmers and servants to manage the greenhouse.

As for the two shops bought from the First Prince, they were conveniently located across the road from each other. Xiao’er planned to renovate, modeling after the style of the Four Seasons Tea House. She decided to name them "Twin Towers," using both shops for the Four Seasons Tea House.

Since the Imperial City was the cultural and political center of the nation and the primary location for her family’s future livelihood, Xiao’er decided to set up Four Seasons Tea House’s main store in the Imperial City.

In addition to the original menu from the town’s Four Seasons Tea House, they were also going to be adding new features such as Cantonese, Hunan, and Sichuan cuisine restaurants, and a hotpot city.

The renovation contractor was recommended by Xiao Fuzi. This person had previously visited the Four Seasons Tea House in town, so it was much easier to communicate with him.

That day, Xiao’er went out with Shangguan Xuanyi to inspect a path which had frequently experienced mudslides and landslides last year.

The path was somewhat distant and remote from the Imperial City, mainly opened up in recent years to facilitate travel to Yaowang Town.

Yaowang Town was a major hub for medicinal herbs. Its residents were adept at cultivating and processing medicinal plants. However, the town was situated in remote and unique climatic conditions. The road conditions connecting it to the outside were complex and difficult, either requiring steep climbs or presenting treacherous terrain! In the past, herb farmers used to carry herbs in baskets to sell them.

As human power had its limits, many good herbs were wasted because they couldn’t be sold in time.

Shangguan Xuanhao, the Fourth Prince, was a medicine enthusiast. Each year, he would travel around looking for famous doctors to learn from and precious medicinal herbs in the deep mountains. It was he who discovered this place, and that’s why efforts were made to tunnel through several mountains to carve out a path.

The newly opened path was indeed more convenient. Horses and carriages could pass through, bringing a lot of income to the people of Yaowang Town and solving the shortage of medicinal herbs outside to some extent.

However, several sections of the road which had been created by carving out half of the mountains ran into some problems during the rainy season. Especially during torrential rains, the mountain soil would be washed away by the rain, causing landslides and landslips, blocking the road. There had been more than one or two accidents resulting in loss of lives.

After spending two days trekking up and down the mountain roads until her feet blistered, Xiao’er was finally able to thoroughly understand the situation and environment.

Now, Xiao Fuzi carried a small stool with him wherever he went, so that Xiao’er could sit and rest whenever she stopped.

At first, the people who accompanied them were quite surprised that the princess would sit when even the prince wasn’t sitting. However, after Shangguan Xuanyi’s various thoughtful gestures, they all became accustomed to it.

The Sixth Prince even made fun of the Fourth Prince, ignoring any signs of his jealousy.

After many laughs, when the Sixth Prince said: "Miss, let’s go; let’s not involve ourselves in this trouble," the Fourth Prince would be brought back to his senses.

If not for Xiao’er’s insistence, everyone figured their master would rather carry Rui’an County’s Mistress on his back.

Xiao’er recalled driving through some expressway sections in her previous life, which also involved carving out half a mountain to open a road.

She proposed the methods she observed for dealing with the face of the half-excavated mountains.

In the modern era, there are even tunnels that completely pass through an entire mountain.

Originally, these mountains were lush with vegetation, and the soil was filled with tree roots and grass roots. Now, only a small section of the mountain had been dug out, causing landslides.

Combining the actual situation, Xiao’er, Shangguan Xuanyi and his accompanying staff discussed whether to dig the mountain face more steeply. They decided to stabilize these slopes first with a combination of concrete and turf.

Where they could plant trees or grass directly, they did. Where they needed to build channels for mountain water drainage, they used concrete to construct drainage channels.

As for what kind of trees to plant and where to find the turf, Xiao’er told Shangguan Xuanyi to get them from her flower field when the time came, assuring that she would have them ready.

Now, Xiao’er had also secretly spread some grass seeds from the space into the soil and planned to secretly water them with spatial water when the opportunity arose. She initiated this project with the idea to grow as much as possible first.