Cowardly Stepmother Dressed As the Hero

One bright morning in July, Cao Mi and his three children were about to leave for the palace.

Qi You sent them to the vicinity of Huaitong as usual, and after confirming that the road ahead was no longer in danger, he officially said goodbye to the mother and son.

Qi An was the one who was looking forward to leaving the most, but at this time, he was also the most reluctant. He rarely vented his emotions directly, hugging Qi You's neck and refusing to let go.

In the end, Cao Mi went directly to pick him up, and he got into the carriage crying and hiccupping.

"Take good care of the three of them. If you encounter something that can't be solved, find the housekeeper or Qi Liu, and they have a way to contact me quickly." Qi You said to Cao Mi and instructed.

Cao Mi lowered his head, did not look at him, and nodded blankly.

Since the two kissed under the moon that night, she couldn't face Qi You directly.

Although it was said that nothing happened later, she was very fortunate for a while. But Cao Mi still couldn't understand Qi You's actions - was he really dissatisfied because he was "differentially treated", or... he had other thoughts.

But what annoyed her even more was that she hadn't come up with a reason for her thoughts on this side, but on the other side, she found that something was wrong with her.

Cao Mi can only try his best to comfort himself. It is normal for every girl to blush and feel restless when facing the man who stole her first kiss...

Bar?

"Wandering again?" Qi You looked at her and frowned slightly.

"No, no." Cao Mi came back to his senses and shook his head quickly: "Thank you for sending me off, uh...it's almost time, my concubine should set off with three children."

Beside her, Rie Yan also knew what she was going to do, and reluctantly leaned over and rubbed her arm.

It followed Qi You for just a few months, but it seemed that he had honestly recognized the master. Before, Cao Mi joked that he would take it back with him, but after thinking about it for a while, he even refused.

Cao Mi reluctantly reached out and touched its neck.

Qi You pushed the flames away a little and said, "Okay, it's really getting late, let's go."

After saying this, he coughed, lowered his voice and said, "Well... take care of yourself too."

Cao Mi was stunned for a moment, but his face couldn't help but start to turn red.

She concealed the past with a nodding gesture, hurriedly said "OK", and got on the carriage directly with the help of the maid.

Soon, Princess Bei'an's convoy moved, and gradually moved away from the cold sword light-qi in the frontier.

Qi You held the flames and stood there for a while, and then rectified the team and brought people back.

After a delay of nearly 20 days on the road, Cao Mi finally returned to Cannes with three children.

When I returned to Cannes in early July, it was almost August.

Everything in Cannes went smoothly, and nothing happened because Cao Mi left.

Cao Mi took three children to rest for two or three days, and made up for the energy consumed during the boring journey. Only then did he call Dongli and Xiling to learn about the recent affairs in the city.

The two capable servants had already made preparations, and when they heard the summons, they brought a stack of letters and documents to the study and told her in detail the affairs that had accumulated in the past two months.

The shop in charge of Xiling is thriving, and there is nothing for Cao Mi to worry about—

Sifang Bookstore is as lively as ever. The third set of fine paper "Qiu Jian" will go on sale after August 15th, and most of them have been booked directly.

Due to the colder weather, the cement factory's sales have increased again. Master Zeng and his party are thinking about ways to increase production.

The newly opened Fengdeng Restaurant is still as lively as ever, with many guests coming in and out every day, and it has become a recognized banquet venue of the highest standard in Cannes.

Cao Mi expected the dishes with peppers to be added, and after it came out, it won everyone's love.

"The shop on the first and second floors of Fengdeng Building has been rented, and many people have been asking about it recently." After talking about the actual situation, Xiling talked about the things that Cao Mi needed to handle personally: "The shopkeeper of the restaurant is caught by those businessmen every day. Grab the inquiry, and hope to get a reply from the princess as soon as possible."

It has been nearly two months since Fengdeng Restaurant opened.

Those who were still on the sidelines could no longer sit still when they saw the current state of the restaurant. Originally just for testing purposes, I rented a small Pengji Jade Shop on the second floor of the restaurant. Because the sales were so good, it had been replenished three times.

Peng Hu now takes someone to Fengdeng Building almost every few days. When he mentions his jade shop, his expression has changed from embarrassment to pride.

All the people who had ridiculed and mocked him before, but now in front of him, they can only flatter with their tails between their tails. Anyone who sees them has to say: "Master Peng is far-sighted!"

After listening to Xiling, Cao Mi breathed a sigh of relief: "Huh? They have all come to their senses? Didn't they all say that the rental fee I set was too high?"

Xiling was originally responsible for this kind of thing, and he was in a very happy mood at the moment.

With a smile on the corner of his mouth, he said, "People in the world are ignorant, and there are very few people who can look like a prince and a princess."

"The three stores rented by the lord...the business is very good?" Hearing him mention Qi You, Cao Mi couldn't restrain his curiosity and asked.

She didn't forget that when the news of the investment promotion had not yet spread, the housekeeper came directly and ordered the three best-located stores in Fengdeng Building.

Xiling nodded, picked up the most famous shop and said to her: "The shop rented by the housekeeper, the shop on the first floor steps, sells some rare fur treasures outside the Great Wall. The villain heard that the supply is completely in short supply. , the pre-ordered goods list has already been placed in October."

With the market on Changling, the King of Bei'an, who has the absolute initiative, can buy a large number of Rong specialty products from the market at a low price, and then transport it back to Sheng Dynasty to double it and sell it.

Thinking of this, Cao Mi was about to take a bite of a lemon with conviction, when Dong Li added, "Princess Concubine, the housekeeper sent some of the things Xiling said to the backyard.

"He said it was the prince's order, and the best will be left to you and a few young masters."

Cao Mi suddenly discovered that the lemons in his mouth are actually sweet!

So she opened her eyes and smiled and said, "Well, you can handle those things, and stick to the three little sons first."

Dong Li nodded: "My servant understands."

Xiling asked again from the side: "Princess, will the shop continue to lease?"

Cao Mi said: "Of course, we can't keep the place empty all the time."

She thought about it for a while and asked Xiling: "Are there many people who are interested in leasing now, more than the rest of us?"

Xiling nodded and confirmed: "Yes. In addition to the businessmen from all over the world, even some aristocratic families are inquiring."

Cao Mi knew something in her heart, and she said, "Since that's the case, just prepare and hold an auction on the fifth floor of the restaurant."

As early as before the restaurant was built, Cao Mi marked out the fifth floor separately, just to meet the various needs of his family.

"Auction?" Xiling frowned slightly.

In this world, there is already a saying that "the higher bidder wins", but no one has ever held an auction with a well-established process.

Cao Mi organized the language and began to explain the general situation and process of the auction to Xiling.

"...In short, that's it, give a reserve price, let those who are interested in bidding increase their own prices, and the person with the highest bid in the end gets the item." Cao Mi looked at Xiling: "You can go down and refine more details, but in general It's about the principle of 'open auction, whoever has the highest price'... Well, it's better to pay more attention to the needs of those businessmen to show off their financial resources."

Cao Mi's explanation made Xiling's eyes brighter and brighter.

After listening, he bowed and saluted, respectfully: "Don't worry, Princess, the villain will prepare now."

Cao Mi nodded, indicating that he could leave directly.

Seeing that there is nothing urgent to deal with at home, the three children have returned to Lin Yi to continue their studies. Cao Mi found some time and ran to Rongguang Villa again.

It is a good time in golden autumn and August, and the large fields of crops are shining with blue-yellow waves, which contrast with the river next to them.

In order to prepare for the upcoming harvest season, Beisi led people to squat in the fields in shifts, daring not to be slighted.

Hearing the news that Cao Mi was coming, he hurried from the field to greet him.

Cao Mi first cared about his health, and then asked, "Are there enough people in the village during the autumn harvest?"

Beisi nodded: "Don't worry, princess, that's enough. This year, many people have come to the villa, and we have gained experience in many things, so we don't need to let all the laborers from the cement workshop come back.

"Also, I have already made an agreement with the steward at the wool workshop that when the time comes, I will let those women come back to help for a few days and do some light work."

The wool workshop was completed a month ago, and it has been moved to the side of the paper mill. The female workers have finally moved to a spacious new environment, so they don't have to live in the small courtyard of the villa all day.

Cao Mi nodded when he heard the words: "Well, you can see the arrangement of these things."

After talking about the most important autumn harvest matters, Cao Mi tried to lead the topic to sweet potatoes and corn.

Even when she is away from home, new crops are still her biggest concern.

In the book she had read, with Qi Rui as the protagonist, Sheng Chao would encounter several natural disasters in the near future, causing the people to suffer and starve to death.

The cruel natural disaster has exposed all kinds of misfortunes in this long-standing imperial court, and the already devastated dynasty will go directly to collapse because of this turmoil.

This is one of the reasons that Qi Rui and Qi An will disregard loyalty and etiquette and become king by themselves.

Cao Mi only vaguely remembers that these disasters happened when Qi Rui was young, and it didn't get better until he was weak, but when it started, I don't know if Cao Mi didn't remember it, or the book didn't say it at all.

But these are not important. Cao Mi just needs to make it clear that even the gods can't stand the appearance of Sheng Chao's lingering life now, and as a mortal, she needs to store enough food before the natural disaster and build a high enough A fence to protect the family's little sons.

The high-yielding sweet potatoes, corn, and the potatoes and pumpkins that she was going to smuggle out of her own way seemed to be the only life-saving straws she could grab at the moment.

After listening to her question, Beisi thought for a while and replied, "The newly opened Tanaka... Those plants... should be pretty good."

But he was still worried about one thing, and even asked the guilt directly: "Princess, forgive me, many plants don't look as expected, I'm afraid... I'm afraid it didn't meet the expectations of the princess."

Because of the previous excuse, Cao Mi couldn't just roll his eyes and tell him that he didn't care about the appearance of those things at all. She could only smile, and asked what she cared about most: "The batch of 'vines' that were expanded before... um, how do they look?"

Saying this, Beisi's face wrinkled directly.

He said: "The little people cultivated according to the princess's instructions, and the 'vines' that have been expanded grow very well, but... I don't know why, those vines have always been like that, and they don't look like they are about to bloom and bear fruit!"

"That's good!" Cao Mi breathed a sigh of relief.

If this sweet potato is planted to bloom, it can only mean that the nutrition is used in the wrong place, and the fruit below will be difficult.

Beisi looked over with some surprise, and Cao Mi said with a haha: "I don't really like flowers very much, so the green look of the 'rattan' suits my heart very well."

Bei Temple heard the words and nodded.

Cao Mi took the opportunity to say, "That's the case, let's go directly and have a look."

Beisi bowed and said "yes", and led Cao Mi to the field.

When I arrived at the sweet potato field, it was really green. Sweet potatoes, which are already well-grown, are prospering more and more because they have been properly cared for.

Cao Mi looked at these sweet potatoes with a rare look, as if he had seen baskets of life-saving food.

Beisi introduced beside her: "Princess, take care of the recipe you left before, these 'vines' seem to have grown to their limit now, and some vines have even begun to wither... You see, they are continuing to be planted here, Or move them indoors?"

Cao Mi raised his eyebrows to look at him: "Have you dug up one or two plants to check?"

Beisi shook his head in panic: "The little people are determined not to damage the princess' favorite Qizhi."

Hearing him say this, Cao Mi knew it.

She began to observe the sweet potatoes in the field.

Judging sweet potato maturity is actually relatively simple. It is now early autumn, and a small number of sweet potato plants have withered, indicating that they are close to maturity. As long as the vines on the ground dries up, the sweet potatoes are grown.

At this time, it is necessary to harvest in time to prevent the sweet potato fruit from being frozen in the soil.

Cao Mi searched carefully, and sure enough, she found a precocious seedling.

The sweet potato grows in a corner to the east, and the vines are more completely dry than others of the same kind.

Cao Mi pointed at it and instructed the people next to him: "Since it's dying, I'm afraid it's useless. You guys go and pull it out to see if the root system is damaged."

Hearing that, following behind her, the heartbeats of the two peasant men named skipped a few beats.

Damaged roots, after all, they didn't do a good job.

This is almost equivalent to being caught directly by a major mistake when the leader inspected.

For a while, the two of them couldn't even make a move.

Where did Beisi not know their thoughts? He stood beside Cao Mi and tried to explain: "Princess Rong Qi, in fact, the situation of this plant is only relatively special. The other 'vines' are still extremely lush..."

As soon as he finished speaking, the two people who entered the field had already pulled up the whole sweet potato.

Everyone looked closely, only to find that this kind of plant with vine leaves on the ground was not obvious, and the part buried in the ground was actually a blocky rhizome with a red skin.

The two Nong Han who pulled it out did not expect this situation at all. One of them was so frightened that he fell directly to the ground, and even moved his buttocks a few steps back!

Only Cao Mi was the only one who stepped forward to check with his joy, and then shouted in ecstasy in his heart: "It's done!"

The author has something to say: nine o'clock in the evening, you know.

Thanks to the little angel who threw mines: Zhen Zhen 2; Zhan Zhan 1;

Thanks to the little angel who irrigated the nutrient solution: 30 bottles of white rice porridge; 20 bottles of (?-?); 10 bottles of Xueluo; 5 bottles of cjl and dew; 1 bottle of Chen Zijing;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!