Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 668: Flower Bud's Unproductive Promotion

A hundred days after the Jinshi, several carts of gifts sent back by Pei Jingyang and Madam Han also arrived at the Marquis' Mansion, so the two boys' storehouses became even fuller.

Hualei recovered very well. Although she had not yet gone to the Ministry of Revenue to report for duty, she was like a normal person at home. Then, she teased Jinshi and coaxed Jinnian every day, and lived a very happy life.

Before we knew it, it was autumn again, a time of abundant harvest. On this day, the weather was clear and crisp, and Hualei took Jinnian to Huaguo Mountain.

On the one hand, he wanted Jinnian to relax. On the other hand, he hadn't been to Huaguo Mountain for a long time. Rong Jin had to work overtime at the government office because of something.

The current Huaguo Mountain no longer had the image of a barren mountain, but had become a picturesque place with clear water and green mountains. Hualei held Jinnian's hand.

Following behind were Fu Bo, Cheng Linsheng and a few others, walking slowly on the mountain road. The occasional fragrance of flowers made people feel relaxed and happy.

When they arrived at the Kudzu forest, Hualei couldn't help but stop. She unexpectedly discovered that some of the kudzu vines suddenly became thicker, as if they had lumps growing on them.

Or a section of kudzu vine becomes bumpy and uneven, and looks very ugly. What's going on? Is it infested with worms?

Hua Bud moved closer to a swollen kudzu vine and took a closer look. He recalled the books he had read before on kudzu root cultivation and maintenance. If he remembered correctly, this was probably because there were kudzu worms growing inside the kudzu vine.

The kudzu vine weevils are the larvae of the purple beetle, and they like to parasitize on kudzu vines. In June and July every year, the purple beetle lays eggs in kudzu roots or kudzu vines. In August and September, these eggs will hatch into larvae.

The larvae feed and grow inside the root or vine, eventually hollowing out the center of the vine. As they grow, a portion of the vine will enlarge and swell into a gall, which looks like a lump.

Therefore, the kudzu vine borer is a pest. In addition to kudzu vines, it can also parasitize the rhizomes of many plants, such as some leguminous plants. These fat white insects can also be found in their rhizomes.

However, the insects growing in the kudzu vines are slightly different from the insects that parasitize the legumes. Because they have never been exposed to the outside, they are very clean.

Like insects such as bee pupae, silkworm pupae, and cicada monkeys, they are also edible insects and are all high-protein delicacies.

In the past life, many people could not accept this delicacy, but Hua Lei, who grew up in the countryside, had eaten kudzu worms when he was a child.

Once fried in oil, it is fragrant and crispy. Eating kudzu vine worms is equivalent to eliminating pests. If you wait for it to turn into an adult after cocooning, it will cause great harm to the growth of kudzu root.

Hualei wandered around the kudzu forest and found that there were quite a lot of bulging kudzu vines. So he immediately asked Cheng Linsheng to bring people over to cut down these kudzu vines.

Then after prying it open with force, you can see larvae of all sizes inside. Crush the small ones and pick out the big and fat ones and put them away. You can pick out a bowl of larvae with just a few kudzu vines.

Then rinse the larvae with water, drain the moisture, coat them with egg liquid and flour, and fry them until golden and crispy, then you can eat them.

Kudzu vine worms have an appetite-stimulating effect. Recently, Jinnian has not been very fond of eating, so eating some kudzu vine worms is just right, which can increase appetite and promote digestion.

Seeing the ignorant Jinnian eating with gusto, Hua Lei couldn't help it and picked up a few and put them into her mouth. It was crunchy and very delicious.

There were many kudzu vines infested with insects, and Hua Ru collected a lot of kudzu vine insects and asked Cheng Linsheng to take them back to Hua Mancheng for drinking. The Marquis' Mansion also brought some back.

In recent years, the number of kudzu vines in this area has increased, so even if a lot of kudzu vines are cut down, there is no need to worry about damaging the kudzu forest.

Because kudzu vines grow very fast, you can remove the buds on them, apply fertilizer and water, and maintain them. The kudzu roots underground will not be affected at all.

After wandering around Huaguo Mountain for a whole day and visiting every possible place, and finding no other problems, Hualei took Jinnian, who had a good meal and fun, back to the Marquis' Mansion.

The days passed happily like this, and before we knew it, it was the twelfth lunar month. When preparing window decorations, couplets and red lanterns at home, Hualei suddenly realized that the New Year was coming again.

This year, because of Sheng Jinshi, Hualei felt that the work in the Ministry of Revenue was mediocre and she did not have any outstanding performance. It can be said that she accomplished nothing because she had too much free time.

Therefore, in the year-end assessment, Hua Lei got a mediocre "average" grade. She thought that this would be it for this year, and she would start again after the New Year.

Unexpectedly, on the last day of the court seal, Pei Jingxuan returned from his shift and brought Hua Lei a letter of appointment drafted by the Ministry of Personnel, but it did not have the final seal of the Minister of Personnel.

In the promotion letter, Hua Lei was promoted from a doctor in the Ministry of Revenue to the position of Xichang Prefecture, a prefect of the fourth rank. Xichang Prefecture was located in the westernmost part of the territory of the Great Sheng Dynasty.

Xijiang County, where Dingxi Houfu Bai Liyun was stationed, was a county town under it, bordering the neighboring country of Dachen.

Looking at this promotion letter, not only Hua Lei was stunned, but the entire Zhenbei Marquis Mansion was stunned. Pei Jingxuan said that this was handed to him personally by the Minister of Personnel before the decree was issued.

Originally, Xichang Prefecture had a prefect, whose surname was Fei. He had just been the prefect for a year when, in November, his father suddenly died of illness, so Prefect Fei had to return home to mourn.

Therefore, the post of prefect of Xichang Prefecture became vacant. Originally, after receiving the news, the Ministry of Personnel had submitted a list of candidates for the new prefect, allowing Emperor Shengwu to make the final selection.

Who would have thought that after looking at the list, Emperor Shengwu rejected all the candidates, hesitated for a moment, and then added Hua Lei's name.

I don’t know if he felt that it was inappropriate after he finished writing it, but he was kind enough to add a sentence to ask for Hualei’s own opinion.

If Hualei is willing to take up the post after the new year, the promotion letter will take effect. If there are difficulties, she will continue to serve as a doctor in the Ministry of Revenue. Therefore, the Ministry of Personnel did not give the final seal.

Normally speaking, if Hualei is a man, this is a normal thing. It may be a good thing, after all, it has been promoted twice.

In the prosperous dynasty, where every official had his own job, it was not easy to be promoted one level, let alone to be promoted two levels at a time.

However, when he was appointed as the prefect of Xichang Prefecture, the most remote area in the southwest of the Dasheng Dynasty, although he was a fourth-rank official, it was not necessarily much better than the fifth-rank official in the capital, the Ministry of Revenue.

After all, Xichang Prefecture was one of the poorest prefectures in the Great Sheng Dynasty. It spanned a wide area and bordered five or six neighboring countries. Although the border was relatively safe now, the environment was very poor, the land was barren, and the climate was complex.