Minister Liu still tactlessly continued, "When the watermelons get there, could you possibly give this old man one? Don't misunderstand me, this old man isn't asking for one because I want to eat it. I want to research it a bit, find out how just how exactly they're able to ripen watermelons out of season. Could it be a new breed…"
Under the barrage of Minister Liu's questions, Zhu Junyang started to feel a bit impatient. He wrinkled his good looking eyebrows and glared at the man before he said, "Won't all of these questions of yours be answered when you arrive at Tanggu Town and meet the Yu Family?"
After finis.h.i.+ng, he turned around and only let Minister Liu see a tall straight back. If it was any other person on the receiving end of this, that person would have hated the prince. However, Minister Liu reacted differently. He patted his hat as if he suddenly realized something and muttered to himself, "I was being too literal! You are right, Royal Prince Yang. Once I get to Tanggu Town, won't I know everything?"
The Left Commander in Chief, Official Du, guffawed and said, "Congratulations, Official Liu. You have finally solved a big problem. Let's go and drink a couple cups of wine tonight?"
"Another day ah, this old man needs to go back and organize some questions I have regarding planting crops. When the moment comes, the Yu Family might be able to help this old man figure out some other problems ah! Sure enough, the emperor is truly right——all of the experts are hidden within the people ah!" Minister Liu wiped away the worries from the past dozen days and grinned as he smoothed his beard. He then clasped his hands behind his back and strolled towards the exit of the palace.
Official Du looked at his slowly disappearing back and chuckled as he shook his head. Imperial Censor Yang, on the other hand, lowered his head and walked out, keeping his thoughts close to himself.
The next day, the watermelons that Zhu Junyang had used a piece of mutton-fat jade to buy had finally arrived in the capital. He fulfilled his promise and first went into the imperial palace to present six large watermelons. His older cousin, who had just received a big bonus and had a shameless personality, tsked his tongue when he saw them, "I'll say, Junyang ah, you transported a large cart of watermelons, but you only give us six of them. You're really too stingy, eh?"
The muscles on Zhu Junyang's face twitched as he complained inside, 'You think that's too little? Then don't ask for any ah! If you want more, then you can send people out to buy more ah! It's not like you're lacking for money!'
"Zhu Junyang ah! Is that new store, Treasure Pavillion, opened by you? Some of the imperial censors are accusing you of abusing your position for personal gain. They claim that when you went out to sea to help us find the new crops, you also smuggled a lot of treasures from the distant lands. What do you think about that, eh?" Zhu Junfan had one of his personal eunuchs cut one of the watermelons into pieces. When he saw that the watermelon looked exactly the same as the ones in his previous life, Zhu Junfan felt so moved that he almost cried crocodile tears.
The watermelons of this world were just too c.r.a.ppy. Although they were sweet and their taste wasn't too inferior compared to the ones in his previous life, they were truly too small. The amount of edible red pulp in these watermelons were quite little as the inside flesh was criss-crossed with red and white flesh. It made him, a person who was somewhat obsessive-compulsive, feel uncomfortable whenever he looked at the insides of a watermelon. To him, a watermelon should only look like the ones in front of him: full of delicious red pulp and black seeds ah!
Before his cousin could reply, the emperor picked up a piece and crudely took a large bite. Immediately his mouth was filled with sweet, fresh juice that cooled his body. For a moment, it allowed him to fall into his previous life's memories and reminiscence fondly.
In his past life, he was the epitome of a science and engineering man. His looks were nothing special and he wore a pair of gla.s.ses with very thick lenses. His major was s.h.i.+pbuilding at the time and, after he graduated, he found a job that paid him enough that he wouldn't starve but also not enough to become rich on. By the time he was in his thirties, he still didn't have a girlfriend. Unexpectedly, an accident occurred when he was testing one of the s.h.i.+ps and he ended up transmigrating over into this world, becoming the grandson of an emperor.
Even more fantastical was that his imperial grandfather was also a transmigrator. In fact, prior to coming over, his 'grandfather' was also a great and well-known commanding officer of a military command in his country. His imperial grandfather had replaced the original Zhu Yuanzhang and overthrew the previous Yuan Dynasty in this world. As a funny joke, he decided to call this dynasty the 'Great Ming Dynasty' and also claimed that his surname was Zhu because he 'didn't want to change history'. However, the old man didn't think about the fact that by transmigrating over he had already changed history, right?
