Frenzied Rush for Divine Melons

Whoa! Since Minister Li said so, the others naturally began to feel envious, looking at those melons already cut and placed on the cart, their hearts filled with curiosity.

Li Yuanzhao saw the situation and quickly took melons to distribute around.

The ten or so people in the front row all began carefully tasting the melons.

Fang Zheng had already grabbed a piece earlier. This bite was indeed sweet!

Li Yuanzhao slyly moved close to him, whispering, "Old Fang, sweet or not?"

"Sweet! Did Your Highness add sugar to it?"

Li Yuanzhao smiled proudly, "You definitely couldn't guess how I did it. Yesterday afternoon I thought of a way to make the melons sweet."

"Guess how I did it? Forget it! You'd never guess anyway!"

"I mixed some honey water, and the Eastern Palace still had some of those penicillin syringes you used for poisoning before. I injected it with the syringes. Didn't expect that, did you!"

"Your Highness is brilliant!"

Fang Zheng munched on the melon, somewhat speechless.

This was a damn water-injected melon. What was there not to expect? And you're accusing me of poisoning again.

"Hey, Old Fang, this doesn't count as false advertising, does it?"

"It doesn't!"

At most this counts as turning primary agricultural products into processed agricultural products. This idea was worth ten thousand gold!

Everyone took bites here and there, eating the melon.

Praise kept flowing continuously. Worthy of being melons sold by the Prince, truly sweet beyond compare!

Melons injected with honey water, how could they not be sweet?!

Fang Zheng watched everyone's reactions, not knowing what to think for a moment.

Crooked! Getting more and more crooked!

Zheng Qiao also took a piece of melon. After two bites, he smacked his lips with some lingering taste, "Your Highness, where did these melons come from? Could it be the palace is growing melons now?"

"I imported these from Taoyuan County!"

Everyone suddenly understood.

So they were imported from Taoyuan County. That wasn't strange then.

That place had different customs from normal places. There were even women openly fighting in the streets with no one stopping them.

Having some out-of-season watermelons was nothing. Maybe they were cold-resistant varieties?

"Alright! Pick one for me! Pick a big one!" Li Yansong pointed at Fang Zheng.

Sigh, me, a dignified Grand Tutor, not sleeping at home but here selling melons!

Fang Zheng reluctantly picked a watermelon from the pile and gave it a pat.

Bringing it to Li Yansong, he asked, "Will this one do, Minister Li?"

When the melon was brought before Li Yansong, he hesitated again, "How can there be melons in this season? Were they planted late? They won't be unripe, will they?"

Fang Zheng looked displeased, "Would the Prince and I set up a fruit stand to sell you unripe melons? Do you want it or not!"

Li Yansong smiled bitterly and took out his money pouch, "Want, want, want! No one does business like this. Even for charity sales, the attitude can't be this bad! How much?"

"Ten taels each, not sold by weight." Li Yuanzhao proactively said.

"How much?!" Li Yansong's hand froze as he was reaching into his money pouch, staring at Li Yuanzhao in disbelief.

"Ten taels." Li Yuanzhao repeated.

The crowd immediately erupted, then a group of court officials began whispering among themselves.

Ten taels of silver, although none of the people present considered ten taels a big deal, you couldn't set the price so much higher than market price!

"Damn, are the melon rinds made of gold, or are the melon seeds made of gold?"

"Ten taels of silver! This is highway robbery, isn't it? No matter how sweet it is, it's still just a melon! Couldn't you get the same effect soaking ordinary melons in honey water?"

"Hey! Now that you mention it, I feel this melon's sweetness is somewhat suspicious! Could there be honey water inside? There should be a hole if it's injected. Let's take one and check..."

"If honey water was injected inside, there should be a break in the skin. Let's examine one carefully..."

Li Yansong stood among the crowd, looking suspiciously at Fang Zheng and Li Yuanzhao, then took the melon from Fang Zheng's hands.

Turning to face the crowd, he began examining it.

Li Yuanzhao looked in shock at the group of ministers who had turned their backs to him, cold sweat streaming down his forehead as he looked pleadingly at Fang Zheng.

Fang Zheng helplessly shrugged.

These old foxes weren't so easy to fool!

Things like eyeglasses that they'd never seen before were easier to bluff with, but watermelons, something common in daily life, weren't so easy to deceive about.

They could only hope the needle holes wouldn't be discovered.

A group of people held the melon, passing it around for examination.

"There's no break in the skin either. How was the honey water injected?"

"Could the whole melon have been soaked in honey water?"

"Slurp... impossible. The melon rind isn't sweet!"

"Eh? The stem area seems to have a... no, no, it looks like that's just how this variety is, naturally this sweet!"

Zheng Qiao didn't participate in the discussion, but squinted at Fang Zheng instead, then had his answer in his heart.

He moved into the crowd and whispered, "Everyone, these melons cost ten taels each, so expensive! But look, Fang Zheng still seems reluctant. Clearly these melons were forcibly taken from Taoyuan County by the Prince. Otherwise, such treasures would have been kept by Fang Zheng for his own enjoyment!"

"According to my observations, although Fang Zheng is young, he's well-versed in health preservation!"

"These melons definitely aren't ordinary melons. They might even have health benefits!"

After pondering for a while, the group nodded one after another.

"That makes sense! Fang Zheng doesn't look happy even seeing silver. He must be taking a loss! Ten taels... looks like it's really not expensive!"

After finishing their discussion, everyone turned back around. Li Yansong cheerfully took out ten taels of silver, "Alright! Since it's charity sales, ten taels it is!"

Li Yuanzhao saw the situation and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Looks like they didn't discover anything...

When Fang Zheng handed over the watermelon again, Li Yansong happily took it and held the melon in his arms.

Getting old, his only hobby was health preservation. This thing was truly precious. He'd go home and savor it carefully!

"Pick one for me too!"

With this beginning, other officials began buying the honey-injected watermelons one after another.

Li Yuanzhao was overjoyed, handing out watermelons one by one while Fang Zheng collected money while constantly shaking his head and sighing.

Damn, this is like seeing ghosts!

Ten taels each for broken melons and they're fighting to buy them. When did business become so easy?

Even if watermelons were sweet, it wouldn't be like this. Am I the only one who doesn't like eating watermelons?

Maybe I should set up more greenhouses...

The more helpless his expression, the happier the ministers became.

Only ten taels! I'm making a profit, you're taking a loss!

Under everyone's scrambling, the full cart of watermelons was sold out in no time.

Li Yuanzhao grinned widely, shouting, "Sold out! Sold out! No more Honey Melons!"

"Your Highness, isn't there still another cart!" Those who didn't buy pointed reluctantly at the other melon cart behind Li Yuanzhao.

Li Yuanzhao jumped onto the cart, cleared his throat and shouted, "The Honey Melons are sold out! This is a different kind of melon!"

"This cart is even more precious, called Milk-Fragrant Melons, fifteen taels each! First come, first served!"

Milk-Fragrant Melons?! How novel! Eating a melon and tasting milk fragrance?

Everyone was amazed. Sweetness was nothing special, but being able to taste milk fragrance in fruit was truly unheard of.

While everyone was puzzled, Li Yuanzhao directly pulled out a melon from the cart.

Just like the previous one, he used the same technique with swift knife work, cutting it into more than ten pieces.

A large splash of milky white liquid immediately burst from the melon, accompanied by bright red flesh, particularly striking.

Fang Zheng looked at the liquid flowing from the melon and couldn't help feeling horrified.

If I'm not mistaken... that's milk inside!

This wasn't Milk-Fragrant Melon! This was Explosive Watermelon! Wouldn't whoever ate it get diarrhea?!

Also, if this was milk injected last night, wouldn't the melons have spoiled by now?

Damn! These old bones better not eat themselves sick!

The Prince really lacked virtue this time! Fang Zheng cursed internally.

Zheng Qiao secretly observed him, seeing his face change drastically, felt delighted and immediately shouted, "Your Highness, give me one!"

"I want one too! I want one too!"

This time everyone didn't wait to taste-test! Such a rare thing, buy first and ask questions later.

Even Minister Zheng was fighting for them! Only fools wouldn't take advantage of a good deal!