"Your Majesty, Chengyou has just completed the imperial examination at the county level. This old servant ordered him to diligently study at home in the hope that one day he would use his learning to relieve Your Majesty of his worries and serve the Imperial Court. Please forgive us!"

Old Hai and a few others well knew the Emperor's temperament; once he was aware of the abilities possessed by the Yang siblings, he would definitely want to employ them for his own use, which could attract certain unfavorable attention—a blessing might turn into a curse.

After discussing, they decided to present only Yang Chengrong this time, while the other siblings would temporarily avoid the situation.

The Emperor nodded appreciatively, "We await a loyal and good talent to be cultivated for the Imperial Court by the Imperial Teacher!" The people nurtured by the Imperial Teacher were never mediocre; with this, the Imperial Court would gain another pillar of loyalty and patriotism.

"This servant obeys the decree!" Old Hai and the others secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

While they were speaking, Eunuch Sun and Yang Chengrong arrived outside the room. With the Emperor's permission, the two entered.

Yang Chengrong knelt and kowtowed respectfully, "This commoner greets Your Majesty. May the Emperor live for ten thousand, ten thousand years!"

"Lift your head." After examining him closely, the Emperor observed a handsome appearance and a clear gaze. It was the first time the young man had seen him, the Emperor, yet his demeanor was respectful without a hint of panic. No, not just panic, it seemed even nervousness was absent, more composed than even the princes and high officials—it was indeed a talent that could be molded.

"I heard from Beloved Xiao that you were the one who convinced him to experiment with growing wheat and rice twice in a season?"

Facing the majesty of the Emperor, who wouldn't feel fear and nervousness? Even more so for Yang Chengrong, merely a farmer's boy. However, his sister had trained their siblings in this regard and had told them to remember that the Emperor, too, was human and needed to eat, drink, and sleep just like anyone else. With this in mind, he encouraged himself to stay calm.

Answering the Emperor's question, Yang Chengrong could only tell the truth, "In reply to Your Majesty, this commoner was born into a farming family and has been fond of tinkering with agricultural matters since childhood. I happened to obtain a book on agriculture and studied it earnestly;

It was not until the end of last year that I successfully tried the second-season rice. This commoner thought that with two harvests of rice in a year, the villagers would no longer have to endure hunger, so I went to the County Office and told Sir Xiao. Sir Xiao, who loves his people like his own children, agreed to plant the second-season rice throughout the county."

Was there really such a miraculous book? The Emperor immediately asked Yang Chengrong to present it to him for inspection.

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty!" Yang Chengrong kowtowed and admitted his fault, "Two months ago, when this commoner returned home from a neighboring village, I discovered that the book had disappeared without a trace. No one in the family knew what happened, and despite searching everywhere multiple times, I couldn't find it;

Prince Chen hypothesized after his investigation that someone must have known about the existence of the book to have stealthily entered this commoner's home to steal it, and the thief must be highly skilled otherwise my family wouldn't have been undisturbed;

Luckily, this commoner had already succeeded in the second-season rice experiment and had made records. As for the two-season wheat, I had only read it once and wasn't confident, so I reported the truth to Prince Chen and Sir Xiao. Later on, Prince Chen instructed Sir Xiao and this commoner to continue experimenting with the second-season wheat while keeping detailed records;

Every word this commoner says is true—please discern the truth, Your Majesty!"

Long Xuanmo's face was expressionless, but he understood clearly in his heart that it must have been Ah Jiu who taught Yang Chengrong to say this, the purpose was self-evident.

"Your Majesty, my father, when I checked it carefully at the time, it was indeed the work of a master," he reported.

Although the situation had come to this, the Emperor felt regret but knew it was not Yang Chengrong's fault.

For one thing, some schemes were simply impossible to guard against, and for another, even if Yang Chengrong were lying, he couldn't punish him for it—the word would spread that the Emperor wanted to take something that belonged to the common people, tarnishing his image as an enlightened sovereign: "Enough, you and Beloved Xiao put your hearts into experimenting with the two-season crops.

I will issue an order for several officials to assist from the sidelines, with Prince Chen supervising. Should the experiment succeed, there will certainly be a grand reward!"

"This commoner will heed Your Majesty's decree!" Yang Chengrong and Xiao Hongtao responded respectfully in unison.

"You may withdraw." The Emperor gestured dismissively and then, as if struck by a thought, added meaningfully, "Remember to be cautious and careful in the future; we cannot afford to have such incidents occur again."

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