The Fourth Prince was quite surprised, both at being summoned here by Imperial Father and at the scene before him.

He noticed the Third Prince beside him, whose eyes couldn’t help but show sourness.

Seeing this, the Fourth Prince calmly looked away.

He knew what made him sour. The Lin family was his Ce Fujin’s natal family, and it was Imperial Father who had decreed their marriage in the first place.

This kind of merit was unlike others—meritorious for a thousand autumns, leaving one’s name in history, needless to say.

This was naturally advantageous for him as well.

When he saw Imperial Father also pick up a sickle and go into the fields, the Fourth Prince skillfully followed suit. This was not unfamiliar to him.

He carefully compared the differences between the wheat here and ordinary wheat.

The height was about the same, but the wheat leaves here were somewhat wider, and the base also looked sturdier. Most importantly were the wheat ears.

Heavy and full, making people unconsciously joyful at the sight.

The Fourth Prince roughly estimated that the wheat here would yield thirty to forty percent more than ordinary wheat. For those performing exceptionally well, he deliberately set them aside separately.

Compared to ordinary wheat, these wheat ears were double!

However, such quantities were indeed few. Even after harvesting all the wheat in the entire estate, only twelve stalks were collected.

Viewed this way, the quantity was actually quite substantial. This estate wasn’t very large.

After the harvest was complete and the wheat dried, it was weighed, verifying his earlier estimate.

The Fourth Prince also had an estate in this area. The yield per mu here was thirty-five percent more than the wheat on his estate.

He had personally overseen the cultivation on his estate. Unlike others who let estate servants manage things simply and crudely, the annual harvest was no worse than the intensive cultivation of common people.

This shocked the Fourth Prince as well.

What did this represent?

It meant that the same land could fill more people’s bellies.

Was this due to the seeds, or the soil quality here?

The seeds were undoubtedly carefully selected over many years and cultivated using special methods.

The land here didn’t appear particularly fertile or uniquely blessed.

Moreover, he had looked at that booklet, which detailed how to apply fertilizer and control pests.

The fertilizer was accumulated from common materials—fallen leaves, decomposed mud, and cow, pig, and chicken manure piled together.

The Fourth Prince was also very interested in this. If it could be promoted, the beneficiaries wouldn’t be limited to wheat-growing common people.

The Third Prince was also very interested. This was obvious merit. The Third Prince looked at Imperial Father with earnest eyes—Imperial Father, look at your son! Your son is willing to serve!

Then he disappointedly heard Imperial Father call the Fourth Brother’s name.

Third Prince: “…”

The Fourth Prince solemnly accepted: “Your son receives the command.”

As for Third Brother’s thick sour mood over there, best to ignore it.

With the Fourth Prince responsible for this matter, given his consistently serious attitude, naturally every detail would be attended to. Yun Shuyao was only grateful that for safety’s sake, she had made plenty of preparations in advance. So while saying she had developed quality seeds had an element of luck, with so many years of foundation, no one could say there was a problem.

This matter was not made public.

To be prudent, all harvested wheat became seeds. Even scattered wheat that had fallen in the fields was carefully sifted several times. Then they would take root and sprout at the farm.

If the methods in Yun Shuyao’s booklet proved workable, the test fields would increase year by year. After several consecutive years of confirming there were no problems, large-scale promotion would begin.

What Yun Shuyao needed to do was cooperate with the Fourth Prince.

The Fourth Prince’s attitude was very respectful: “Madam Yun, thank you for your efforts.”

Yun Shuyao remained down-to-earth. After being praised by the Emperor, she had been excited for a while but had now calmed down: “Your Highness is too kind. If there are any questions, this subject’s wife will speak freely.”

The Fourth Prince nodded, looking at her with a stirring in his heart.

It seemed that previously discerning sea salt extraction, purification, and low-proof alcohol distillation was no accident.

For so many years, seeing no results yet still not giving up on researching quality seeds, and when results initially appeared, still being able to remain steady without claiming credit—this required great determination.

She was still researching rice. If that also showed results… The Fourth Prince’s attitude became somewhat warmer: “If Madam needs anything, please feel free to instruct the servants.”

Yun Shuyao: “Thank you, Your Highness.”

Recently, it had been inconvenient for her to use her abilities to accelerate growth. She had transferred all her abilities to the Spirit Mirror, letting it eat more fully and recover sooner.

Once this period passed and the Fourth Prince returned to handle other matters, she wouldn’t need to be so careful. This wasn’t something that could be completed overnight.

However, by that time, Yun Shuyao believed that even if not openly, there would definitely be imperial family members watching her in secret. She would need to be even more cautious in her actions.

The Fourth Prince was very busy during this period. Besides the estate on the outskirts of the capital, he took over all other estates with quality seeds, dispatching people to follow up.

This was now properly the only assignment he had. After he arranged things more or less, whether it was because they saw he had leisure time or because of drought somewhere and the empty treasury’s inability to provide disaster relief displeased the Emperor, the Emperor summoned all the princes and asked who was willing to collect debts.

Previously when funds were loose, many had borrowed silver—both imperial relatives and officials.

Before, no one demanded repayment and no one repaid. When encountering difficulties, some would borrow another sum. Some truly found living in the capital difficult and had no choice but to borrow from the court. But some purely saw there was advantage to be gained and didn’t want to miss out, so they also borrowed silver. With no one mentioning it for so long, many were about to forget the matter.

Without doubt, collecting debts was an assignment that offended people. They still wanted to compete for the throne. Once they collected debts and offended people, how could they still seek support from these officials and imperial relatives and nobles?

So when Kangxi asked, after a moment of silence, only the Fourth Prince stepped forward.

“Your son receives the command!”

Kangxi glanced at his other sons, his eyes heavy. “Fourth son, this is entrusted to you.”

He specifically looked at the Eighth Prince. He had originally intended to give this matter to the Eighth Prince.

What a pity.

Although the Fourth Prince accepted this assignment, he also proposed wanting a helper. Then the Thirteenth Prince, who had long been sitting on the cold bench, finally had an assignment again.

Though it was an assignment that offended people, he had previously been almost forgotten by everyone. Now that Imperial Father had finally agreed to let him assist Fourth Brother with official business, of course he had to seize this opportunity.

Facing the two princes collecting debts, the various people in the capital who owed silver didn’t dare pretend not to know. Each waited to see their actions.

The Emperor had dropped hints several times before, but no one picked up the thread. This silver was no small sum. Once it had to be repaid, it would hurt to the bone. If they could avoid repaying, naturally they wouldn’t.

But now… the situation wasn’t good. The Fourth Prince wasn’t someone who would handle things carelessly. Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the Fourth Prince didn’t disappoint. He first took action against his own brothers, heading first to the Third Prince’s mansion.

The various princes were also among those who borrowed silver.

They also knew that this time, eighty to ninety percent couldn’t escape. Not repaying would directly register them with the old man. However, they couldn’t just hand over the silver in one go. How much to repay was particular. If you already had this much silver, why did you borrow, and why didn’t you repay?

The Third Prince produced one-third and cried poverty loudly: “Fourth Brother, your Third Brother truly has no more silver. The remainder… give me more time. When I’ve gathered enough, I’ll repay.”

The Third Prince wasn’t purely feigning poverty—he was truly poor.

Though he also received offerings from his followers and such, his expenses were also high—social obligations, and birthday gifts for Imperial Father and others. These were all substantial sums. What he produced now was almost eighty percent of his mansion’s ready cash.

If any unexpected situation arose, he would have to ask his Fujin to lend him silver.

The Fourth Prince didn’t mind the small amount. He checked the sum, noting it mentally. “Third Brother, I understand.” Then he went to the Fifth Prince’s place, collecting silver from each one in turn.

Each sum received was signed for by the Ministry of Finance, and a receipt was issued confirming how much was received and how much was still owed.

Other people in the capital saw this. Even princes were repaying silver—did others have the nerve not to repay?

Some truly didn’t want to repay, such as some imperial relatives and nobles. The Fourth Prince was a junior to them. They relied on their seniority, stubbornly crying poverty, having no silver to repay. Could the Fourth Prince forcibly take it from their mansions?

Forcible taking was naturally impossible, but as long as they went out, they couldn’t avoid repaying.

A special squad watched them. Didn’t you say you had no money?

You still dare spend hundreds of taels on one meal?

Still going to flower houses?

Still buying antiques, spending thousands at once?

This was the crime of deceiving the sovereign!

The imperial relatives and nobles cornered with red faces: “…”

Among them were people from the Tong family.

That was the Fourth Prince’s adoptive mother’s family, powerful and influential, yet still given no face. For a time, his reputation for being “impartial and incorruptible” spread through the capital once again. Those who felt they couldn’t compare to the Tong family’s face had no choice but to raise funds to repay debts. For a time, many scenes of “selling household items to repay silver” appeared in the capital. Some went directly to the Emperor to complain, but at this time Kangxi also avoided them.

The Fourth Prince knew he was offending people, but some things always needed someone to do them. Moreover, if not for the empty treasury, Imperial Father wouldn’t have proposed having everyone repay.

This, to some extent, was slapping Imperial Father’s face.

Even now when asking everyone to repay, the attitude was actually quite lenient. As long as they repaid a portion, Imperial Father wouldn’t pursue it further.

If he could make all the decisions… Thinking of the disaster victims everywhere over there, while here some people had mountains of gold and seas of silver, still spending thousands on playthings yet constantly crying poverty and refusing to repay silver, Yinzhen secretly tightened the Buddhist prayer beads around his wrist.

If you can’t endure small things, you’ll ruin great plans.

He had to continue enduring.

The Lin family also had debts, though not much. At that time everyone went to borrow money. If they didn’t go borrow, they would be different. Now that repayment was required and someone had already started, Lin Ruhai quietly sent people to repay the borrowed five thousand taels of silver and retrieve the IOU to destroy it.

They hadn’t borrowed much silver, so repaying was easy. But some people had borrowed quite a lot. Looking at this situation, they wanted to repay, but where would the silver come from?

When Jia Lian first heard friends mention this matter, there was somewhat a flavor of “not my problem, hang it high.” But who knew that upon returning to ask: “Grand Master, the court is now collecting debts. Does our family have debts?”

Jia She raised his head groggily, burped with the smell of alcohol heavy on his breath. He shook his head to keep himself alert. “…I remember there is.”

Jia Lian immediately had a jolt: “How much does our family owe?”

Jia She didn’t know either: “Go find the IOU. I remember this happening. Father borrowed it.”

It wasn’t handled by him. He had only heard about the IOU once in passing.

Jia Lian: “Where is the IOU?”

Jia She: “The storehouse. Search everywhere. It’s in a small box.”

Wang Xifeng listened, striving to maintain her expression, her heart pounding.

She had switched out most of these storehouses. The items inside appeared to still be there at first glance, but anything valuable had basically been picked clean by her. Some were reported as lost, some were replaced with fakes to fool the eye. If that IOU was really there… she would say there was a rat disaster, the storehouse was poorly managed, losses were heavy, and the IOU was gnawed away!

Second Madam Wang was also anxious about the debt matter. She truly didn’t know about such a thing.

How could silver given by the Emperor be taken back?

He possessed all under heaven. When subjects were short on funds and borrowed some money, after so long, he still sent his son to collect it back. The Emperor was too stingy!

Second Madam Wang grumbled in her heart but didn’t dare treat it as nothing. The Fourth Prince didn’t give face to his own brothers or even his own uncle. The Jia family’s face… probably wasn’t that significant.

Later, the storehouse was indeed searched high and low, but the IOU couldn’t be found. However, there was another place that had it—the Ministry of Finance.

Jia Lian took his calling card to check. Upon checking, his face immediately showed great shock. Their family actually owed over seven hundred thousand taels of silver?!

The neighboring Ningguo Mansion owed one hundred thousand more than them. How could they have borrowed so much silver?!

How could this possibly be repaid?

Jia Lian returned home with weak legs. When he spoke, no one could sit still. “The handwriting is Grandfather’s.”

He had verified it—it was Grandfather’s handwriting.

Hearing this, Grandmother Jia wanted to speak but could only make sounds. She knew about that silver, but it wasn’t purely borrowed and used by their family. Some was for receiving the imperial visit, some was pensions for personal troops. The imperial visit used the lion’s share!

They shouldn’t have to repay this!

But no matter how anxious she was, covered in sweat, she couldn’t speak.

Jia She made the decision: “Open the storehouses! If our family doesn’t repay a single fen when the Fourth Prince collects debts, we’re finished!”

Jia Zheng strongly agreed: “Our family has a large estate. The total amount is somewhat large, but we won’t be unable to produce thirty percent.”

Second Madam Wang and Wang Xifeng: “…”

They knew all too well how much was left in the storehouses. At most they could scrape together several tens of thousands of taels—far too little!

Second Madam Wang tightened the handkerchief in her hand: “I’ll first have someone send word to Yuanchun, asking her to plead with the Emperor.”

Yuanchun had borne a young son, and the Emperor still favored her considerably. If this debt could be forgiven, that would be even better!

If it couldn’t be forgiven, they would ask various relatives and friends for help. Each family contributing a bit would make it about right.