The Lucky Heiress

Xiu Yaojun paused, and then slowly began to write down the lines of poetry Wei Ruo had just dictated.

Everyone took some time to read the lines, eventually becoming absorbed in its deeper meaning.

The young scholars of the Anzhou Academy such as Xiu Fengyuan and Wei Yichen, who were in the next room, quietened down for a moment.

Soon, looks of surprise and delight dawned across their faces, almost simultaneously.

Xiu Fengyuan began to heap praise on her, exclaiming, ’What a wonderful poem! It speaks of spring, but not just of spring! It praises flowers, but not just flowers! Truly, it is a poem that could only be composed by Miss Wei from the Wei Family, a person who can put aside the self for the greater good!” Compared to Miss Wei’s poem, the lines penned by all present seemed somewhat parochial, merely depicting spring, flowers, trees, or expressions of melancholy.

Miss Wei, on the other hand, captured vast ambitions within the metaphor of spring blossoms.

Fengyuan couldn’t resist saying to Yichen, “Brother Yichen, your sister is not an ordinary woman!”

Wei Yichen couldn’t suppress his smile, genuinely surprised that his young sister Ruo could write such a broad-minded poem.

When Ruoruo humbly declared herself a mediocre poet earlier, he had believed her. After all, it was not surprising that his elder sister, who hadn’t been at home for long, wasn’t skilled at writing poetry.

The rest of the students also gave high praise to Wei Ruo’s poem.

Lu Yuhong, who was not as skilled in poetry as the others, still understood it somewhat. From the perspective of a martial artist like himself, he also preferred the two lines from Miss Wei from the Wei Family.

On the other side, Madam Fengyuan, recovering from her surprise, began to laud Wei Ruo: “Miss Wei, your poem is wonderful and greatly suits the theme of today’s spring outing.”

Following Madam Fengyuan’s praise, the others also began to compliment Wei Ruo’s poem effusively, their praises even more lavish than their previous comments on Wei Qingwan.

Hearing the barrage of compliments, Wei Qingwan’s expression grew darker. She bit her lip to keep her emotions at bay.

Madam Yun, however, was looking at Wei Ruo in surprise. This unexpected outcome had not crossed her mind. She assumed that Ruo, who spent every day working on agricultural matters, wouldn’t be proficient in poetry.

Earlier, when Wanwan had encouraged her elder daughter to recite the poem, she had felt rather nervous and uneasy. If it weren’t for the public occasion she would have dissuaded her right away.

As it turned out, Wanwan had a better understanding of her elder daughter. Not only was her daughter good at writing poetry, but she had also been genuinely modest.

Madam Fengyuan then suggested, “I think the winning prize should go to Miss Wei today. What does everyone else think?”

Everyone else readily agreed, supporting Madam Fengyuan’s judgment. Madam Fengyuan then walked over to Wei Ruo, smiling, removed the jade pendant that she wore, and presented it to Wei Ruo.

“Madam, what is this?” Wei Ruo asked in confusion.

“This is the prize for today’s competition. As the winner, you are naturally entitled to it,” Madam Fengyuan explained.

Only then did Wei Ruo realize there was a prize for this activity, during which she hadn’t paid much attention to the details.

Since it had been agreed, Wei Ruo couldn’t refuse. She accepted the jade pendant from Madam Fengyuan with both hands.

“Thank you, Madam,” said Wei Ruo.

Madam Fengyuan smiled graciously at her, her eyes full of satisfaction. We Ruo then glanced at Wei Qingwan, whose head was bowed so low that her face could not be seen. But Wei Ruo could guess that she must be feeling upset. After all, if it hadn’t been for her, the prize would have been Wei Qingwan’s. In her heart, Wei Ruo conceded that it was not her fault. She wasn’t initially planning to recite anything, Qingwan was the one who forced her into it.

Although she wasn’t skilled at writing poetry, she was capable of remembering poems. Moreover, she was fortunate to know some poems that the others didn’t.

###

After a short rest, the ladies started heading towards a nearby farmhouse, following Madam Fengyuan’s arrangement.

The farm had been prepared in advance by Madam Fengyuan, with people already arranged to receive them.

During their journey to the farmhouse, they passed through a vast farmland which belonged to the local farmers.

At that moment, farmers were busy working in the fields-planting rice, weeding, or digging irrigation ditches.

The ladies chatted as they walked, discussing their hopes for this year’s autumn harvest.

Some rice fields they passed already had young plants that had been planted some time ago. After last year’s poor harvest, many people chose to plant early-maturing rice this year, hoping for an early harvest to secure their grain supply.

Wei Ruo looked at the rice seedlings in the field, her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

The seedling’s leaf sheaths were a bit too long, its color slightly yellow, and the internodes were somewhat elongated. There were also slight curvature at the joints showing outside of the leaf sheath.

These symptoms weren’t immediately noticeable unless one examined them closely or was familiar with the characteristics of seedlings.

However, these symptoms indicated a very destructive disease to rice seedlings.

If it was that disease, it would be necessary to immediately replace the seedlings, and it would be best to re-cultivate them.

Wei Ruo went further ahead and found that the same status existed in the seedlings of several continuous rice fields.

This disease is contagious, so it was normal for there to be large-scale infection. But with several households experiencing the same situation, the problem was even more severe.

If left alone, by the time the seedlings completely manifested the problem, it might be too late to re-cultivate and replace them.

Furthermore, if they do not understand the cause of this situation, seedlings cultivated in the future may still encounter the same problem.

Wei Ruo pondered for a while, then saw an old man resting by the side of the rice field. She stopped walking and took the initiative to converse with the old man.

Seeing Wei Ruo’s actions, Madam Yun and Wei Qingwan also stopped.

“Mother, what is sister doing?” Wei Qingwan inquired.

Perhaps she has something to discuss with that old man,” Madam Yun replied though not entirely sure herself.

The other ladies, noticing Wei Ruo’s peculiar behavior, also stopped to watch. As they watched curiously, the old man suddenly started cursing loudly. His voice was so loud that everyone could hear him.

“Stop spouting nonsense here! What do you know? Judging by your clothes, it’s clear you’re a rich lady who has never done a day’s worth of fieldwork’ If you don’t know anything, stop making things up! You’re openly cursing our crops’ You’re up to no good!”

The old man’s cursing attracted other villagers who were working in the fields.

They gathered around to ask what had happened.

The old man explained to everyone, “This young lady said there’s a problem with the rice seedlings we’ve planted. She told us to pull them out and burn them, and then re-plant them!”

Upon hearing this, the villagers looked at Wei Ruo with anger in their eyes. A middle-aged woman confronted Wei Ruo, saying, “Miss, we don’t blame you for not knowing our hardship, but why are you cursing us and causing us trouble?”

A young man also shot back, “What do you hope to achieve by this? Do you know how hard we worked to plant these rice seedlings? You just come in and tell us to pull them all out? Being a rich man’s daughter who never will work the fields, what do you know?”