Although she knew he was the Crown Prince, she treated him with neither servility nor overbearing pride, and she conducted herself with remarkable ease.
Even dressed shabbily, she didn’t make people feel she was out of her depth.
The most important point was that the relationship between her and his Brother Yi gave the impression that they were meant to be together, leaving no room for objection.
With this in mind, Su Chengyu sighed softly in his heart, "The only downside is that she can’t have children. Otherwise, it would be wonderful if she could bear Brother Yi a son or a daughter."
Su Chengyu looked towards Xiao Changyi, who had no objections to An Jing asking him to stay, and said, "Brother Yi, the Emperor has already decreed that the treasury will fund the grain rice mills, distributing one to each village that grows rice, so the farmers won’t have to pound rice so laboriously."
Xiao Changyi did not speak.
Su Chengyu praised, "Brother Yi, you and your Sister-in-Law are truly talented. I just saw it for myself, those fields outside your house, Vice General Meng said they were opened by you and your Sister-in-Law. If other mountain residents could do the same, bringing water down from the mountains to turn the land into fields, they wouldn’t have to fear not having farmland and starving to death."
Even though potatoes and sweet potatoes could fill the stomach, one still needs land to plant them. Although Xiyun Kingdom encouraged land reclamation with the policy that the tiller owns the land, implementation was difficult.
But now, seeing the land and fields opened by An Jing and Xiao Changyi gave him new confidence.
He firmly believed that one day, there would not be a single citizen of Xiyun Kingdom dying of hunger!
An Jing smiled and said, "You could teach this method to the people below and have them teach it to the impoverished residents by the mountains. Turning reclaimed land into farmable fields is good both for Xiyun and the individuals."
Su Chengyu immediately smiled and said, "That’s exactly my intention. I will mention it to the Emperor when I return. He will definitely be pleased; his biggest concern now is whether his subjects can have enough to eat and clothes to wear."
An Jingxin sighed in her heart, "Fortunately, this Emperor is an enlightened ruler; otherwise, the common people really wouldn’t know what to do. Hopefully, the Crown Prince will be an enlightened ruler too."
Because eight people were dining that evening, although one of them was the Crown Prince, with his esteemed identity, An Jing did not plan to cook anything lavish. She simply prepared six traditional farmer’s dishes, but she cooked a lot of rice, a big pot of rice, and a big pot of pork stewed with glass noodles.
Worried that the dishes wouldn’t suffice, An Jing also brought out half a bowl of fermented bean curd to add to the meal.
Meng Zhuqing and the others would not dare to eat at the same table as the Crown Prince; it would be a great disrespect. Therefore, An Jing set up a separate smaller table for Meng Zhuqing and them to dine.
An Jing, Xiao Changyi, and Su Chengyu ate at the same table.
Only half of the big pot of rice was eaten, but the pork stewed with glass noodles was entirely consumed, even the soup was finished. It was eaten completely clean, leaving An Jing speechless, "..."
After the meal, Su Chengyu wiped his mouth with a brocade handkerchief and said warmly, "Sister-in-law, your vermicelli is really delicious."
An Jing smiled and said, "Would you like to take some back with you? I still have some at home."
"Then thank you, Sister-in-Law!" That was exactly what he meant.
An Jing, "You should also take some to the Emperor as thanks for his gift." As Xiao Changyi was not the Emperor’s biological son, to differentiate, calling the Emperor as "Father" was customary. Naturally, she followed Xiao Changyi’s lead.
Su Chengyu, "Very well, the Emperor will surely be delighted."
Xiao Changyi said, "A tael of vermicelli for one hundred taels, how many would you like?"