Wei Fuyu had been staying at Lin Shuying’s Little Lin Manor for three days now.
In those three days, the tiger general’s daughter had won over everyone on the estate with her martial prowess.
From lifting a hundred-catty grain sack with one hand, to knocking out a wild boar that had sneaked into the vegetable patch at midnight with three punches, to prying apart a jammed stone mill with her bare hands—she had proven with real action exactly what “tomboy” meant.
But in those same three days, she’d also proven exactly what “farming newbie” meant.
“Miss… Miss Wei…” Forester Chen stared with trembling eyes at the half-row of watermelon seedlings that had been ruthlessly thinned, his old face twitching with pain, “thinning doesn’t mean pulling them all out… You—you’ve pulled out too many…”
Wei Fuyu looked at the dozen or so tender green seedlings in her hand and blinked blankly: “Didn’t you say to ‘leave them spaced out’? I pulled one out and left one, exactly like you said.”
“But you pulled out all the strong ones and left the weak ones!”
“…There’s a difference?”
Lin Shuying held her forehead and walked over, taking the pitiful handful of seedlings from Wei Fuyu’s hand.
Luckily, the roots were intact—they could probably be saved.
She handed them off to A Li: “Soak these in water; we’ll replant them later.” Then she turned to Wei Fuyu, keeping her tone as gentle as possible: “Fuyu, when you thin seedlings, you’re supposed to pull out the weak, diseased, and overcrowded ones, and leave the healthy, robust ones. Look at these two—”
She crouched down and pointed at two adjacent seedlings: “This one has thick leaves, a sturdy stem, and a rich green color. This one next to it has yellowing leaves and a thin, weak stem. Which one would you keep?”
Wei Fuyu suddenly understood: “Keep the strong one!”
“Right.” Lin Shuying brushed the dirt from her hands. “So next time you thin seedlings, look carefully first. No rush—you’ll learn.”
Wei Fuyu scratched her head sheepishly: “Shuying, am I really stupid?”
“Not stupid—just inexperienced.” Lin Shuying smiled. “When I first started learning, I was even worse than you.”
In her previous life, the first time she’d set foot in an experimental field, she’d actually pulled up her advisor’s carefully cultivated transgenic rice seedlings as weeds and gotten chewed out royally.
At that, Wei Fuyu’s eyes lit up again: “Then let me try again!”
“Not yet.” Lin Shuying pulled her along. “Come with me to the greenhouse—there’s more important work to do.”
The two returned to the house and entered the greenhouse beside the east wing.
This greenhouse had been built by Lin Moqian to Lin Shuying’s exact specifications: the entire south side was glass windows for maximum sunlight.
Clay pipes were buried underground to circulate hot water for warmth in winter, and a simple ventilation system had also been installed.
At the moment, dozens of seedling trays were neatly arranged inside, with tender green melon sprouts already showing their first two true leaves.
“These are ‘Honey Treasure Watermelons’—the seeds from the Seventh Prince.” Lin Shuying pointed at one tray. “And these are ‘Local Green Rind’—an old variety Uncle Chen collected from the village. I want to graft them together.”
Wei Fuyu’s eyes went wide: “G-graft? You can graft melons?”
“Yes.” Lin Shuying picked up a sterilized small knife and, with practiced dexterity, cut a young shoot from a Honey Treasure watermelon plant, then selected a Green Rind watermelon as the rootstock. She made a diagonal cut on the stem, inserted the scion, and wrapped it tightly with fine hemp twine.
The entire process was smooth as flowing water, taking only a few breaths.
“Honey Treasure watermelons are sweet with few seeds, but they have weak disease resistance. Green Rind watermelons are hardy and easy to grow, but their flavor is average.” Lin Shuying set the grafted seedling aside. “By joining them together, we combine their strengths and cover their weaknesses—we can grow watermelons that are both delicious and resilient.”
Wei Fuyu watched, utterly dumbfounded: “Shuying, all these skills… did you learn them from books?”
“From books, and with my own experimentation.” Lin Shuying kept working. “The ancients already knew how to graft—peach onto plum, pear onto apple—though it’s rarer for melons. I call this ‘southern technique applied northward’—taking fruit-tree grafting methods from the south and using them on northern melons and vegetables.”
She spouted this nonsense with a perfectly straight face, while Wei Fuyu listened with wide-eyed admiration, nodding along.
“Oh, by the way,” Lin Shuying remembered something, “Fuyu, any word from your father…?”
At that, Wei Fuyu deflated instantly: “I had A-Gua ask around. They say my father flew into a rage and said he’d bring troops to tie me up and drag me back. But strangely, there’s been no movement these past two days.”
Lin Shuying raised an eyebrow.
No movement? That wasn’t normal.
Given General Wei’s protective nature, if his daughter had “gone missing,” he’d have turned Jinling upside down by now.
She could only offer comfort: “No news is good news. Maybe your father has come around.”
“He’ll never come around,” Wei Fuyu pouted. “He can’t wait for me to marry someone so he can stop worrying about me.”
“Then prove to him with action that you can put his mind at ease without marrying.” Lin Shuying finished grafting the last seedling, washed her hands, and said, “Come on—I’ll show you something really special.”
The two walked to the innermost part of the greenhouse.
A small separate area had been sectioned off here, with three flower pots placed inside.
The melon seedlings in the pots were growing especially vigorously—their leaves thick and glossy, with faint iridescent rainbow hues shimmering along the veins. If you didn’t look closely, you’d think it was just sunlight refraction.
But Lin Shuying knew it wasn’t.
These were her experimental “Rainbow-Striped Watermelon” seedlings, cultivated using the methods recorded in the Strange Melon Illustrated Record combined with her Wood Spirit Root.
The record said that when ripe, the rind of this melon would display a gradient of red, yellow, and blue striations, like a rainbow.
At first she’d thought it was just exaggerated ancient description—but the seedlings had actually manifested this strange phenomenon.
“Wh-what kind of melon is this?” Wei Fuyu leaned in to look, astonished. “Why do the leaves change color?”
“A new variety,” Lin Shuying said casually. “I’ve named it the ‘Rainbow Kirin Melon.’”
“Kirin Melon?”
“Kirin is an auspicious beast, and this melon looks festive too.” Lin Shuying made it up as she went along. “When it fruits, the rind will be multicolored—perfect for high-end banquets. One melon could sell for ten times the price of an ordinary watermelon.”
Wei Fuyu gasped: “Ten times?!”
“Scarcity drives value.” Lin Shuying smiled. “Jinling has no shortage of wealthy people—they don’t care about money, only about face. Imagine bringing out a rainbow-colored watermelon when hosting guests—how impressive.”
Just as she was speaking, A-Gua came running in breathlessly: “Miss! Miss! The Eldest Young Master is here! And he brought Manager Liu from Drunk Immortal Tower!”
Lin Shuying’s eyes lit up: “Please, show them to the front hall!”
— —
In the front hall, Lin Moqian was chatting with a middle-aged man in silk robes.
When he saw Lin Shuying enter, he waved and smiled: “Shuying, come—this is Manager Liu from Drunk Immortal Tower. Manager Liu, this is my younger sister.”
Manager Liu quickly rose and bowed: “Greetings, Second Miss.”
Lin Shuying returned the greeting, and after taking her seat, got straight to the point: “Manager Liu, are you here for the watermelons?”
“Exactly.” Manager Liu rubbed his hands together, looking a little sheepish. “The Eldest Young Master mentioned that you had even better things here, so I had the nerve to come along…”
Lin Moqian picked up the thread: “Shuying, I told Manager Liu about those rainbow watermelons of yours. He’s very interested and wants to place an advance order.”
“How many?” Lin Shuying asked.
Manager Liu held up five fingers: “Five hundred.”
Lin Shuying raised an eyebrow.
Five hundred? It was only April now—watermelons wouldn’t ripen until August.
And the rainbow watermelons were still experimental—she’d only grown three seedlings total. Even if all survived and each bore five melons, that would only be fifteen.
“Manager Liu,” she began carefully, “the rainbow watermelons are rare—I won’t be able to supply that many this year.”
“Then… how many can you supply?”
“For the first batch, at most fifty,” Lin Shuying said. “But besides the rainbow watermelons, I have others. For example, ‘Honey Treasure Watermelons’—sweet as honey, with very few seeds. And ‘Wine-Scented Watermelons’—carrying their own wine fragrance, mildly intoxicating to eat. Those I can produce in larger quantities.”
Manager Liu’s eyes lit up: “I’ll take them all! All of them! Fifty rainbow watermelons, three hundred Honey Treasure watermelons, and Wine-Scented… one hundred and fifty! That’ll make up the five hundred!”
Lin Shuying calculated quickly in her mind.
Fifty acres of land could easily grow five hundred watermelons.
But both Honey Treasure and Wine-Scented were new varieties requiring careful management. The rainbow watermelons would need a separate plot with dedicated attention.
“Alright,” she nodded. “But I have a few conditions.”
“Please, Second Miss, name them!”
“First, a thirty percent deposit in advance. Second, an exclusive supply agreement—Drunk Immortal Tower may only source these specialty watermelons from me, and cannot substitute with similar ones from elsewhere. Third, I set the price.”
Manager Liu hesitated: “The exclusivity clause…”
“Don’t worry, Manager Liu,” Lin Moqian cut in at the right moment, “my sister’s melons are one of a kind in all of Jinling. If you can find rainbow-patterned or wine-scented watermelons anywhere else, the agreement becomes void and the deposit will be refunded double.”
That gave Manager Liu confidence. He slapped his thigh: “Done! We’ll do it as the Second Miss says!”
Lin Shuying had A Li bring paper and brush, and she wrote up a simple agreement on the spot.
Manager Liu signed and pressed his thumbprint, then pulled out two banknotes: “This is three hundred taels as a deposit—please keep it safe, Second Miss. The balance will be settled when the melons are delivered.”
After seeing Manager Liu off, Lin Moqian smiled at his sister: “Five hundred melons, even at two taels apiece, that’s a thousand taels. After costs, a net profit of seven to eight hundred taels is no problem. Shuying, you’ll break even in your very first year on this estate.”
But Lin Shuying shook her head: “Brother, you can’t calculate it that way.”
She spread out the estate map and pointed to the marked areas: “Out of fifty acres, I only plan to use thirty for watermelons. Of the remaining twenty, ten will be for muskmelons and cantaloupes, five for grapes—the Seventh Prince gave me some Western Region grape seeds that I want to try—and the last five will grow seasonal vegetables for the estate’s own consumption, with any surplus sold in the city.”
Lin Moqian listened attentively: “Still plenty of profit.”
“Profit comes second.” Lin Shuying put away the map. “The important thing is to build our reputation. I want ‘Little Lin’s Fine Delicacies’ to become synonymous with quality in Jinling. From now on, whenever anyone wants good fruit, the first name they think of will be ours.”
Lin Moqian looked at his sister and felt a sudden surge of emotion.
The little girl who’d only known how to cause mischief four years ago was now talking business with such confidence and certainty, and with a glint of tears in her eyes: “Shuying, you’ve grown up.”
Lin Shuying smiled: “People have to grow up sometime.”
Just then, Wei Fuyu came charging in like a whirlwind: “Shuying! Shuying! Come quick! Something’s wrong!”
“What happened?”
“The melon—melon seedlings…” Wei Fuyu was so flustered she could barely speak, “those rainbow melon seedlings, they—they—”
Lin Shuying’s heart tightened, and she ran toward the greenhouse.
Inside the greenhouse, Forester Chen and several laborers were gathered around the rainbow watermelon seedlings, all with strange expressions on their faces.
When they saw Lin Shuying arrive, Forester Chen said in a trembling voice: “Second Miss, come… come look at this…”
Lin Shuying leaned in and was stunned.
The three rainbow watermelon seedlings had somehow climbed up the bamboo trellises that had been set for them.
That was normal—what wasn’t normal was… they had bloomed.
Not one or two flowers, but over a dozen on each plant.
Even more bizarrely, the surface of each flower bud shimmered with a faint rainbow iridescence.
“It’s only been a few days since we planted them…” one laborer murmured. “Normal watermelon seedlings take at least a month and a half to flower…”
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