Chapter 233 - Chapter 233: Chapter 142: Vegetable Greenhouse (2/2)

Su Lanfang was still young, and upon hearing about delicious food, she eagerly nodded her head. In her view, the food at her cousin’s place was even better than what they had at the Su Mansion. Once they returned home, they wouldn’t have such good opportunities. Their meals were delivered to them by the kitchen on a regular schedule. Although the Queen Mother wasn’t overly harsh, by the time the food from the big kitchen made it to them, it would be nearly cold and lose much of its taste.

“These pickles are even more delicious than any I’ve had before. Cousin, your house really has a lot of good food,” Su Lanfang said with envious admiration.

“Yes, and every meal is so lavish. Even in our Marquis Mansion, these days are tough, and only the Old lady and Madam have such fine dishes,” Su Lanxin observed the table, which, aside from those few fresh items they hadn’t seen before, didn’t lack chicken, duck, fish, or meat, and even had fashionable vegetables. It was then that she truly understood that her cousin’s home might not be as shabby as it seemed. The food wasn’t any worse than what was served in the Marquis Mansion or the Su Mansion, and was perhaps even better. Was it possible to live this way without some savings?

“My favorite is these green vegetables. Now that it’s winter, the variety of vegetables we can eat is becoming scarce, even more expensive than meat. It’s only at my cousin’s place that I can eat so much,” as Su Lanfang spoke, she continued to pile more veggies onto her plate, having eaten nearly half of the green vegetables on the table. She seemed to really love them.

Having spent so much time in the backyard in her previous life, Su Wenyue understood the bitterness and hardships of being a concubine’s daughter, and with the way the world was, although the Marquis Bei’an had a high status and considerable power, in terms of wealth, they couldn’t compete with their family’s merchant Second House, and their meals weren’t even on par with the Su Mansion. The treatment of concubine’s daughters was naturally not great.

However, Su Lanfang’s words gave Su Wenyue an idea. The availability of vegetables was dwindling in winter, but there was a way around it. By building a greenhouse, they could grow vegetables there and not worry about having none to eat during the winter.

Before, Su Wenyue hadn’t thought much of it, but now she was extremely grateful to Noble Consort Li, who was forced to death by courtiers in her early years. Thanks to Noble Consort Li, Su Wenyue had benefited a great deal. Greenhouses for growing vegetables were, after all, first experimented with by Noble Consort Li. It turned out to be quite a boon for her. She remembered many of Noble Consort Li’s ideas, with people praising her and the little girls at home gossiping about this legendary figure, she could almost recite Noble Consort Li’s life story by heart.

Perhaps this was Providence looking out for her. Noble Consort Li flourished with such methods, and now they could help Su Wenyue live a good life too. Of course, she needed to be discreet and cautious, otherwise, she might meet the same fate as Noble Consort Li.

Su Wenyue was lost in thought and didn’t feel like laughing and chatting with Su Lanxin and Su Lanfang anymore. If she managed this project well, it could save her a lot of expenses. In these times, foodstuffs were actually more precious than gold, silver, or jewels. She had instructed the servants to collect plenty of seeds. As long as she had more than enough seeds, and aside from the greenhouse and labor costs, there were no other expenses. It was indeed a splendid idea.

Su Lanxin and Su Lanfang were clever and knew how to interpret others’ expressions, having grown up in the Marquis Mansion. Seeing that Su Wenyue was preoccupied, they intuitively did not disturb her any further and went off to play on their own.

“Grandma Chen, have the caretakers go to the estate and call Xiao Xi back. I have urgent tasks for her,” Su Wenyue instructed, “She should drop whatever she’s doing and come quickly. This is more important.” Xiao Xi had essentially become her external steward, often busy managing outdoor affairs rather than serving at home.

Grandma Chen could tell that Madam must have come up with another good idea, otherwise, how could the Han Family’s life be so comfortable and prosperous? They would have been worrying about food and other necessities a long ago. It wasn’t just because Madam had a generous dowry, but also because she knew how to manage everything so well.