Chapter 147: Site Selection

“What have I become?” Li Yo’er sighed, looking at her reflection in the mirror.

She had just disembarked from the ship yesterday afternoon, and it had only been half a month since she had completed her agricultural extension work on Jeju Island and returned to Lingao.

“I’m on track to become a model worker,” she had said on the ship, complaining endlessly and even regretting her decision to volunteer for the Agricultural Committee.

The Agricultural Committee seemed harmonious, but in reality, it was even more brutal than the Finance and Economics Department, where women were used as men and men as beasts. Here, it was clear that both men and women were used as beasts. For any Traverser working at the Agricultural Committee, business trips to the various counties of Hainan were commonplace. Jeju Island, Shandong, Taiwan, North Vietnam… wherever the Fanhaijin’s flag flew, there were almost always figures from the Agricultural Committee.

During her months on Jeju Island, she had not been able to cultivate ginseng according to her plan. The latitude of Jeju Island was a bit too low. She had no time for sightseeing either. From the moment she disembarked, she was thrown into the work of promoting potatoes and detoxifying seed potatoes. The latter was a major hurdle in potato cultivation. If she couldn’t make a breakthrough, the potato industry on Jeju Island would soon fall into a state of continuous decline in production.

Seed potato detoxification technology required certain hardware and techniques that ordinary farmers couldn’t handle, and Jeju Island lacked such hardware. Therefore, Li Yo’er could only adopt the effective techniques tested by the Agricultural Committee, namely using sexual reproduction to save seeds to avoid the accumulation of viruses in the seed potatoes caused by asexual reproduction. To this end, under her leadership, a potato seed breeding base was specially established on Jeju Island.

This work had kept her busy for several months. After finally establishing the initial system, she returned to Lingao to reunite with her husband. It was true that the bed had not even been warmed up before she was sent to Hangzhou to guide silk and mulberry production.

Li Yo’er felt her hair was tied too tightly, and even her scalp was a little sore. She had never been in the habit of braiding her hair. Now, she had her hair in double buns, adorned with a jade hairpin, and a few freshly picked daidai flowers.

She wore a sky-blue narrow-sleeved garment with a water-red vest over it. Li Yo’er had only seen this kind of attire in television dramas, and once in a park where Hanfu enthusiasts wore similar clothes. If worn by someone good-looking, it was quite beautiful.

She looked quite good in it. After disembarking yesterday and dressing up, she had admired herself in the mirror for a while. But even with her limited knowledge, she knew that this was a young girl’s attire. Although modern people generally looked younger, wearing this at nearly thirty still felt a bit awkward.

Moreover, when she met with the native “forewoman” in charge of sericulture and silk reeling at the estate last night to discuss matters, the other party’s attitude clearly treated her as Zhao Yigong’s concubine. In fact, this was the cover identity arranged for her by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau. Li Yo’er felt a bit “humiliated.” But if she were to dress up as a noble lady, it would be inconvenient for her work.

She had to personally go to the fields to guide sericulture. A too-honorable status would make it difficult to get close to the working people. If she were too ordinary, she would not be able to command respect. Whether in the 17th or 21st century, status was always the most important attribute of a person. In comparison, a status like a “personal attendant,” half-servant and half-master, was the most suitable for her to carry out her work.

It was one thing for her to suffer a little, but it was unfair to her husband. Li Yo’er thought to herself that although it was for the needs of the revolution, her husband would definitely feel uncomfortable if he knew. She had been on Jeju Island for several months, and after a short reunion in Lingao, she was off to Hangzhou again. Forget it, maybe I should increase the number of maids?

While she was lost in thought, Furong, one of the “first-term students” personally educated by Zhao Yigong after he came to Hangzhou, walked in. Her public identity was now Master Zhao’s maid. In reality, she was an administrative trainee at the Hangzhou station.

“Miss Li, Wang Siniang has arrived. Shall I have her come in?”

“Let her come in,” Li Yo’er said.

She had met Wang Siniang in Zhao Yigong’s inner residence yesterday. Seeing this woman, who was about her own age, kneeling and kowtowing to her, Li Yo’er’s spirit was greatly shocked. This woman was slightly older than her, already had three children, and her appearance was exquisite even by 21st-century standards. And yet, she knelt at her feet, kowtowing and not daring to rise until she said the words “that’s enough.”

Whether in Lingao or on Jeju Island, Li Yo’er had always operated in “liberated areas” and had little contact with “primitive” natives. Moreover, in those places, their strong entry had already broken the traditional concepts of hierarchy, and a new order of ranks was being established. Whether they were naturalized citizens or natives, they all knew that the “chiefs” did not follow the old set of etiquette. Even if someone tried to kneel and kowtow, they would be stopped. But here, she sat and received the courtesy with complete composure, and even had to put on an air of “this is as it should be.”

This time and space is truly terrifying, Li Yo’er thought. Any favorable impression she had of the Ming Dynasty had now vanished.

After Wang Siniang came in, she kowtowed and paid her respects as usual. Li Yo’er stood up and said politely, “No need for so much ceremony.”

According to the arrangement they had discussed yesterday, they were going to the mountain today to find a suitable place to build a silkworm house.

“I’ll have to trouble you today, Fourth Sister-in-law.”

“Not at all, this is our duty as servants. It’s you, miss, who has to go and inspect in person,” Wang Siniang said with a smile. “It’s just that your clothes are not suitable for going up the mountain. I have already asked Steward Cai to prepare some clothes for you.”

She then brought out a set of clothes. Because many of the places they were going to had no paths, her current clothes were both inconvenient and easily torn. So, a set of blue cloth work skirts, a headscarf for wrapping her head, and a bamboo hat for shade were prepared for her, the same attire she wore for picking tea on the mountain.

Li Yo’er dressed neatly and was led up the mountain by Wang Siniang. She carried a shoulder bag containing a pen, paper, a tape measure, a level, and a thermometer, ready to roughly survey the terrain and surrounding environment at any time.

The silkworm house had certain requirements for its surroundings, and Li Yo’er’s purpose this time was not just to raise silkworms. She also had to establish a silkworm breeding farm for the Agricultural Committee, in preparation for the upcoming silkworm farmer cooperative.

The Agricultural Committee had already established a silkworm breeding farm in Hainan, but the storage and transportation conditions for silkworm eggs were quite strict. They could not be transported over long distances, so they had to rely on local breeding.

Since it was a breeding ground, the site conditions were even more stringent. Fortunately, the vast Phoenix Mountain had plenty of places for her to choose from.

The two of them first walked a section of the stone-paved mountain road, then gradually left the main road and went onto a smaller path.

Most of these paths had been gradually opened up after Zhao Yigong began managing the estate. They were mostly small paths used by the servants to go to work. Most were unpaved and relatively narrow. The branches and weeds on both sides were dense, making it very difficult to walk.

The silkworm farm was best built on a sunny slope. Secondly, there should be trees around for shade and wind protection. Finally, for the convenience of work and life, there should preferably be a water source nearby. To allow for future expansion, the place could not be too small. Limited by these conditions, there were not many suitable places on Phoenix Mountain.

Wang Siniang and Shen Da had once been dispatched by Cai Shi to walk around the entire Phoenix Mountain Estate and its surroundings to see if there were suitable places for planting mulberry trees, tea trees, and raising silkworms. So she had a good idea of which places might meet the requirements of this “Miss Li.”

She led Li Yo’er up the mountain and through the forest, visiting four or five places, but Li Yo’er was not very satisfied and wanted to see more. Wang Siniang was somewhat impressed. This Miss Li seemed to be a person who could endure hardship. Even the younger girls on the estate would complain about climbing mountains and going through forests like this, but she didn’t seem to mind at all. Her movements were still flexible and agile, and her speech was crisp and clear, without any of the coquettishness common among “personal attendants.”

The sun was gradually approaching its zenith. Wang Siniang led her to an open space on a slightly concave hillside. A mountain stream was flowing down the slope, and because the terrain was slightly flat here, it had formed a pool among the rocks, not much bigger than a bathtub. The water in the pool was crystal clear.

“This is another place. What do you think, miss?” Wang Siniang asked.

“Good, this place is really good,” Li Yo’er nodded.

This was truly a textbook example of a sericulture site: it was on a sunny slope with good sunlight and ventilation. The windward side was blocked by a forest, and there were many large trees around to provide shade. The entire piece of land was about four or five mu in size, and most of it had a gentle slope of no more than 10 degrees, which was conducive to drainage and would not hinder the construction of houses. And there was a water source.

“I also thought you would like it here,” Wang Siniang said with some pride.

“When we are together, you don’t have to call yourself a servant,” Li Yo’er said. “It’s too formal.”

“Miss, you are the master’s personal attendant. How could an outer court servant like me dare to speak so casually?”

Li Yo’er sighed helplessly. She really didn’t want to hear the words “the master’s personal attendant,” and she couldn’t deny it. She had to change the subject:

“Fourth Sister-in-law, you are an experienced sericulturist. In your opinion, how is this place for raising silkworms?”

“The place you chose is of course excellent,” Wang Siniang said, although she felt that Miss Li was making a big fuss about choosing a place. If they were to follow her standards for choosing a place, there would be few places in the whole of Hangzhou where silkworms could be raised. However, the surrounding environment of this place was excellent, and there would be no problem raising silkworms here.

Li Yo’er nodded, stepped on a large rock, took out a thermos with a wicker cover from her bag, and poured herself a cup of hot tea into her bamboo cup. She then nodded to Wang Siniang, “I have tea here, would you like some?”

Wang Siniang thought that this Master Zhao’s tastes were really unconventional, and this Miss Li was truly bold and unrestrained. Although she thought this, her face was still full of smiles, “Thank you, miss. I have a bamboo water bottle here.”