However, since it was no longer the time to plant cotton, the matter had to be postponed until this year.
In his letter, Su Chengyu also said that because the national treasury was abundant, the Emperor of Xiyun had long ago approved the allocation of silver from the treasury to have blacksmiths make a batch of seedling bowls, and each village would receive one when the time came.
The iron used for the seedling bowls wasn’t much, but the work required a lot of time, and the price was still somewhat high.
Ordinary farming families simply could not afford them.
If the farming families were to have blacksmiths make them, it was estimated that the entire village would have to pool money to make just one.
Now that the Emperor of Xiyun was willing to take money out of the national treasury, naturally, it was better than ever.
In the letter, Su Chengyu also mentioned that there were thirty people coming to learn how to use the Nutrition Bowls for cotton farming; once these thirty people had learned, they would then teach others until every farming family in Xiyun Kingdom knew how to use the Nutrition Bowls for cotton farming.
Clearly, this was not something that could be achieved overnight; it had to be done step by step.
"My dear, those thirty people are being sent from different places to learn, and it will probably be mid-February by the time they all arrive," An Jing carefully put away the letter Su Chengyu had written and said to Xiao Changyi.
"We don’t really have to prepare anything," An Jing continued, "When they arrive, we’ll just teach them. Our main task right now is to take care of our four precious children."
"The children are still too small, they need our constant attention. What if we hire people to farm our fields just like last year? As for the land in front of our house, we can farm it ourselves. Since it’s close to home, we can move the cradle to the side of the field, let the children sit in it while we work the land, and at the same time keep an eye on them."
"Mhm." Xiao Changyi had no objections.
"Since we’re going to teach people how to sow cotton with the Nutrition Bowls, there will definitely be a lot of cotton seedlings. To avoid wasting them, let’s plant cotton on the land in front of our house this year as well."
"My dearest," An Jing, holding her youngest son An Yiyun in her arms, said, "When our Yun Er can sit up by himself, we’ll let Meng Zhuqing go, as well as those two other older women, and it’ll just be our family of six. What do you think?" Doctor Jiang, the Imperial Physician, had already been sent back to the Capital at the end of last year.
Without a second thought, Xiao Changyi replied, "Good." It was evident that he really didn’t like having outsiders at home.
No sooner had Xiao Changyi answered than the little fellow An Yiqing began to roll over, rolling towards Xiao Changyi.
It was only when he reached Xiao Changyi’s legs that An Yiqing stopped rolling. His little hand grabbed Xiao Changyi’s trouser leg, his small face tilted up, and he broke into a smile towards Xiao Changyi, as happy as a Maitreya Buddha.
All four little ones were already over seven months old; Su Yi Jing, Su Yixing, and An Yiqing could all roll over, with only An Yiyun yet to learn how; An Yiyun was still at the stage of learning to sit.
At this moment, Xiao Changyi and An Jing were sitting on the bed, while Su Yi Jing, Su Yixing, and An Yiqing were on the bed, and An Yiyun was in An Jing’s arms.
Seeing An Yiqing gleefully rolling towards Xiao Changyi, Su Yi Jing, who was originally sitting quietly on the bed playing with a rattle-drum, immediately lay down and then also rolled towards Xiao Changyi.
When he reached Xiao Changyi’s legs, Su Yi Jing’s tiny hands also reached for Xiao Changyi’s trouser leg, and, lifting his little head, he smiled at Xiao Changyi, but the angle of his open mouth was much smaller, clearly showing a lot more composure than An Yiqing.