Chapter 1254: Chapter 1256: Ahead is a Small Dock Under Construction_1
On the third day of March, a portion of the required flowers and plants had arrived, some of which were transplanted from the place Ye Zi’an had taken her to last time.
On the fourth day of March, the dozens of workers who had been recruited were all in place, and the original florist had also set off for Yanghe Town with Yang Chuxia.
They set off early in the morning and arrived at the upper reaches of Yanghe before midday.
"Master Hui, have someone draw lines first to create fixed shapes for the characters and patterns to be planted, so they won’t go outside the lines when planting within the frames," Yang Chuxia instructed.
Master Hui was the florist for this occasion, and the flowers, plants, and some of the willows needed for Mianyang were all purchased from the same nursery estate, where Master Hui was an experienced craftsman.
"Good, I’ll get someone to start drawing the lines right away," Master Hui agreed.
"Yes, please do as we discussed earlier, planting one layer inside and another layer outside, alternating between layers of flowers and layers of evergreen trees," she continued.
"Rest assured, Lady, I have all your requirements in mind," Master Hui chuckled. "For those with short blooming seasons, we’ll use potted plants to arrange the patterns and characters, spaced a certain distance apart. Otherwise, even if we bring over all of Mianyang’s flowers and plants, I’m afraid we wouldn’t be able to plant the entire banks of Yanghe."
"Haha, Master Hui, you’re absolutely right," she laughed.
After chatting with Master Hui, she walked to the side and noticed that Yanghe had already changed; the willows were planted—one weeping willow, one round-headed willow, and after a certain distance, a red willow. A gentle breeze flowed, lightly ruffling the river’s surface, creating a refreshing scene.
However, from afar came the clinking and clanking sounds, prompting her to send the estate’s guards to check it out.
The guard returned shortly.
"My lady, they are constructing a small dock ahead," he reported.
"Oh, they have already started?" she inquired.
"According to the manager there, our Lord County Magistrate said that while planting flowers and plants this time, they should also repair the dock in passing. Otherwise, if they wait to repair it later, it might damage the nearby plants that will have been planted by then," the guard explained.
Yang Chuxia nodded, "Let’s go and take a look."
"As you wish, my lady," he replied.
Upon reaching the site, they saw some men driving stakes into the ground, one by one, and others were nailing two pieces of wood together, which explained the noises they had heard.
Those working didn’t notice her, and she didn’t stay long, just looking around for a while before leaving.
Yang Chuxia stayed in the area until the afternoon, and only after seeing that under Master Hui’s guidance, everything was properly underway, did she board the carriage to return to the county town.
On the way, she happened upon Ye Zi’an, and they returned to the estate together.
"I’m afraid I’ll need to ask for your help with something once we’re back," Yang Chuxia mentioned to Ye Zi’an during the ride.
"What’s that? Why would my wife need to trouble herself?" he questioned.
"Hehe, it’s nothing major," Yang Chuxia shifted closer, resting her head against his shoulder, and said, "You know about the distillery I’ve started with the Jiang Family, right? We’ll definitely need a lot of raw materials in the future, so I was thinking of having someone from the yamen speak with the Land Officer. In the villages, wherever there’s empty land, or space in front of or behind houses, we should plant more fruit trees—peaches, pears, pomegranates, whatever can be planted. Later on, there will be someone to buy the harvest."
"Of course, we need to make it clear that no one should convert all of their arable land into fruit tree orchards, and planting fruit trees will be entirely voluntary, with no coercion involved," he added.
"That won’t be difficult. I’ll have Ye Si take care of it when we get back. In the countryside, every household has some private land before and behind their homes. They would surely be willing to plant some fruit trees for extra income," he assured her.