Chapter 1458: Chapter 1434 Digging Lotus
Manbao and Mingda were led here by Keke. Manbao was digging and didn’t care much where she was, just following the direction scanned by Keke.
Mingda noticed, but she often came to the front hall to play with the Emperor. When she was younger, she even peed in the court hall, though she couldn’t remember it—her mother told her about it.
The palace attendants following behind were hesitant to speak, but seeing the princess having so much fun, they hesitated to approach.
Hand in hand, the two followed Keke’s guidance to a hall entrance. Manbao stared at the stone vats on both sides, dazed. "How come there are lotus flowers in the early spring?"
Mingda, well-versed, laughed, "This was cultivated by gardeners a few years ago. See how these lotus flowers are small and delicate, with slightly pointed petals. Don’t they look like the lotus seat under the Buddha?"
Manbao thought for a moment and nodded, "They really do."
Mingda smiled, "Father believes in Buddhism. So when the gardener cultivated this flower, Father was very pleased and had several stone vats placed in the Taiji Hall. The servants saw it and researched diligently, and in less than three years, they made these flowers bloom in three of the four seasons. Except in winter, once spring warms up, they start blooming until the cold of late autumn stops them."
Keke added in Manbao’s mind, "The genes of this lotus flower have not been recorded before, so they can be recorded, and the reward points are quite generous."
Manbao looked down at the lotus flowers in the stone vat and tapped the petals, thoughtfully speaking to Keke, "You judge that the reward points would be generous because its genes, though altered, are heritable and maintain particularly well, right?"
Keke did not respond.
Manbao was certain of her thoughts. She vaguely realized the issues in their own world.
The florist in the mall sold her many flowers, seemingly able to grow any kind of flower she required. He could even make peonies and chrysanthemums grow on the same plant.
Seasons didn’t matter, and flowers were available whenever she needed them.
Thinking about it carefully, it’s quite terrifying.
If a rice stalk branched out into a wheat ear, both growing irrespective of spring, summer, autumn, or winter...
Manbao shivered.
Yet, however splendid these things grow, they cannot be used for seeds. Seeds produced from them could grow who-knows-what or nothing at all...
Everything moves in its seasons and all things have spirits. If humans control all things like this, all things might retaliate against humans.
Manbao’s gaze fell into emptiness, her mind swirling with thoughts, but she didn’t speak again to verify with Keke.
She knew Keke wasn’t free. From the last time it accidentally mentioned "genes" and then disappeared for a while, some things not only couldn’t it say, but perhaps she, as the host, couldn’t ask.
Otherwise...
Manbao swallowed.
Manbao slightly returned to her senses and saw Mingda waving in front of her, worriedly asking, "What happened to you?"
Manbao blinked, and Mingda said, "You were staring ahead blankly. I called you several times without any response."
Embarrassed, Manbao said, "I got lost in thought."
Lowering her head, she realized she had accidentally plucked several petals from the lotus flower, leaving it looking rather ragged.
She looked embarrassedly at Mingda.
The palace attendants behind watched, trembling. His Majesty was very fond of these lotus flowers.
Mingda, however, didn’t mind. Seeing the flower turned ugly, she simply pinched it off.
Manbao didn’t mind much either, after all, it was just a flower. But she found the scent pleasant and didn’t want to throw it away, so she took it in her hand to play with.
Looking at the well-grown lotus, she asked, "Since His Majesty likes it so much, shouldn’t we not dig it up?"
The lotus needed to be dug up at the root to be recorded; otherwise, recording just the branches and leaves was useless.
Mingda asked, "Will it die if the root is dug up?"
"No," Manbao replied, "I’ll be careful and just take a piece. The rest can continue to grow."
Mingda smiled, "Then it’s fine, go ahead and dig."
Mingda rolled up her sleeves wanting to dig herself. But as soon as she did, palace attendants rushed forward, and Manbao immediately stopped her, "The water is cold, don’t touch the cold water."
Saying this, she handed the flower to Mingda to hold, then looked around. Seeing couch and stool under the nearby open porch, she ran over and brought two stools.
Stacking them together, she stood on them, rolled up her sleeves, and reached into the stone vat to dig up the rhizome.
Having recently listened to two heated arguments in his study, the Emperor, with a slight headache, decided to go for a walk, casually taking the loudly arguing group from the study out for some fresh air. Only to turn a corner and see his little darling and Zhou Man standing in front of a stone vat.
Zhou Man had almost half her body buried in the vat, sleeves rolled up, groping for something inside.
Mingda stood to the side asking, "How is it, did you find it?"
Manbao replied, "I found it, but it’s grown tightly. To avoid damaging it, I have to go slowly."
She laughed, "You know, this mud feels nice to touch, just the water is too cold."
As the Emperor hesitated whether to call out to them, Zhou Man withdrew her hand, smiling gleefully, "Got it."
She raised her little hand, holding a blackish lump, still attached to a lotus plant.
Emperor: ...
Court officials: ...
The palace attendants standing five steps behind Mingda kept their heads down, only daring to look at Mingda’s toes. Noticing something amiss, they slightly lifted their heads and saw a group of people standing in the left corridor, scaring them enough to kneel down immediately.
The Emperor glanced at them indifferently, and Gu Zhong immediately signaled for them to be silent.
The kneeling palace attendants dared not make a sound.
Mingda, unaware of what was happening behind, was helping Manbao carefully untangle the entwined lotus.
Manbao exerted some effort, breaking the blackish thing in half, one large piece and one small, right in front of the Emperor and the court officials.
Unluckily, the small piece was attached to a lotus plant. Manbao handed the extracted rhizome to Mingda and directly buried the thumb-sized rhizome back into the stone vat.
Thinking it might be hard to thrive due to her actions causing trouble for the gardeners, she spoke to Keke and took a small packet of plant immersion liquid Doctor D had given her last time from the system space and buried it next to the root.
This was what Doctor D had given her last year when she traded for a plant called lily of the valley.
Besides the recorded plant, she also dug up two others, one of which, fairly strong, she posted on the forum where Doctor D bid for it. She kept one herself, but it was tough to grow as the root was damaged during digging.
When Doctor D found out, he gave her a box of plant immersion liquid, something not sold in the mall but common in biological labs and inexpensive.
This stuff is mostly white with a little green, sealed in a transparent film that dissolves in water without leaving any trace.
So Manbao buried it near the lotus rhizome with confidence.