Chapter 222: Flower-picking thief

As Princess Jin walked further in, there was a bamboo fence made of green vines in front of him. Princess Jin accelerated his pace, opened the fence door, and said to Chen Ao behind him: "Please look at Mr. Chen."

Chen Ao walked into the fence and saw a small isolated flower bed. The drainage ditch was complicated and the land was fertile. On piles of small ridges, all kinds of flowers were fighting each other, and Chen Ao's eyes were dazzled.

Chen Ao was dazzled for a moment, but his eyes quickly fell on a bright peony in the middle of the flower bed. The branches of this peony are thin and narrow, upright, tall, and the center of the flower gradually spread outwards. The layers of double petals guard a little bright red on the center of the flower. The petals are light red. When the sun shines, it seems to gradually turn into deep red.

The whole peony stands in this small flower bed, making the surrounding flowers look pale; the flowers in the flower bed are all precious varieties, but they are immediately devilish compared to this peony.

"This... this is..." Chen Ao was confused for a moment and murmured: "Is it the legendary Baihua jealousy?"

Among all the flowers, peonies are the most beautiful, and the king among them is the jealousy of flowers. Chen Ao only vaguely obtained from some ancient books he had read. There is also a legend about this kind of flower, saying that in a certain year, the Peony Fairy ordered that a seven-day peony flower competition be held in Beimang Mountain, Luoyang; after the order, peonies in the world gathered in the ancient capital, gathered in famous flowers, and were very lively.

The Peony Fairy invited Princess Baihua, the daughter of the Jade Emperor, to supervise the competition. Participants in the selection include: "Yao Huang", "Wei Zi", "Luoyang Hong", etc. When the Flower King announced that the "Flower Competition Begins", the peonies bloomed in full bloom and were colorful, and the whole mountain was full of flowers and colorful. After a week, the selection results were announced: Among the nearly 100 kinds of peonies participated, "Shouan Hong" from Shouan Mountain in Luoyang was accurate in bloom, with a large number of flowers, bright colors, beautiful posture, and long flower time. All five items were excellent; "Taizhen Evening Makeup" from Taibai Mountain ranked second, and "Yanzhou Hong" from Wanhua Mountain ranked third.

The flowers were very surprised and envious of the never-famous "Shou'an Hong", and even a little jealous of the winner; later, some people changed the name "Shou'an Hong" to "Hundred Flowers Jealous".

However, although jealousy of flowers is easy to survive, for some reason, it has gradually disappeared since the Tang Dynasty. Even in later generations, it is extremely precious and has no market value. Its biggest feature is that it has plump flowers and tender branches. Whether it is made up or drunk, they are equally radiant and can be independent of wind and rain without any need for support. Such a famous flower, Chen Ao, met today, was moved by his heart, and his eyes were staring at this peony flower, intoxicated.

"If there is paper and pen here, I will definitely draw it. Such a beautiful flower cannot keep it forever. It's a pity." Chen Ao sighed in his heart, and finally calmed down. Then he found that the petals of this precious peony had small yellow-brown spots on the back, with yellow dizzy outside the spots, and many black marks appeared on the stems and leaves.

"It's true that I'm sick!" Chen Ao sighed. The precious peony in front of him was like a sickly beautiful woman, swaying slightly in the spring breeze, making people feel caring for love.

Princess Jin moved over with tears and said to Chen Ao: "Young Master Chen also knows that this flower is jealous of all flowers? It is rare to call it out. Young Master Chen is so knowledgeable that he must have found the root of these flowers!"

Chen Ao smiled and said, "It's impossible to cure flowers like men. I need to take a look. The princess and Mrs. Shi would go to the hall first and wait until I come up with a countermeasure and report the good news to you."

The Princess Jin only thought that Chen Ao had any special skills and did not want to show it to others. She smiled and said, "Okay, please trouble Mr. Chen." After that, she left with Mrs. Shi.

Chen Ao watched the princess and Mrs. Shi leave, and then focused on the yellow spots on the back of the petals. He meticulously checked the stems and leaves of the peony. Sometimes he lay on the mud, sometimes he squatted up, sometimes he checked the soil under the flowers, concentrate on his mind, and dared not be careless.

He suddenly frowned and murmured: "This disease is like a common flower disease in later generations. Why can't the princess see a flower-raising fool like this? Could it be that this disease is still a difficult and complicated disease in this era?"

Chen Ao thought about it and confirmed his thoughts more and more. Just like tuberculosis, a terminal illness that humans can’t help but have been helpless for a considerable period of time, but with the development of medicine, curing has become easier and easier. At present, although this disease is common in later generations to diagnose and treat, it is very likely that it is helpless in this era.

Even though I think so, I still need to observe carefully, otherwise if I misdiagnose, I will lose face.

Chen Ao is thick-skinned and has nothing to do with it, but he was recommended by Mrs. Shi. At that time, Mrs. Shi would not be able to be a human being in front of the princess. His "thousands of methods" were told by Mrs. Shi. These twists and turns are related to the credibility of Mrs. Guo. The wife treats him as good as her own son, and he cannot teach people to gossip about Mrs. Guo!

Chen Ao calmed down and went to observe carefully. Then he heard a person behind him shouting loudly: "Who are you?"

Chen Ao glanced back and saw a gardener slowly coming with a flower hoe. The man was wearing an ordinary dress, unfast steps, and a fair face was slightly anxious. His eyes looked at him were alert.

Chen Ao smiled and said slowly: "Who are you?"

The gardener was stunned for a moment, who am I? This sentence was originally asked about you, but this kid kicked the ball back! The gardener was furious and said, "I'm so brave. I don't even know me when I work as a servant in the mansion? You...you..."

The gardener was so angry that he put down the flower hoe and the watering bucket, pointing at Chen Ao and couldn't speak; but he remembered something and said angrily: "This flower garden is forbidden from outsiders. How did you come in? Okay, I understand, you are a flower picker, come... Come and catch the thief."

"The flower-picking thief?" Chen Ao was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but smile bitterly. This young master is so romantic and charming, it's almost the same as being picked! Thinking of it, he rushed over and covered the gardener's mouth: "Hey, hey, don't shout, I'm the princess who invited Huaer to treat her!"

"Ummm..." The gardener didn't look at the tall and big horse, but he was very weak. He looked at Chen Ao in shock and terror, but he couldn't take off. When Chen Ao let go of his hand, he gasped and stared at Chen Ao, saying, "What did you say? The princess asked you, a young boy, to treat Huaer?"

Chen Ao was not humble at all and said, "Yes, I'm so famous that the princess invited me."

The gardener snorted coldly and said, "Nothing is nonsense, you are a young boy, but you have a reputation? Go quickly, go quickly."

Chen Ao understood in his heart that the gardener regarded himself as a fellow traveler. When he saw his fellow travelers, he was filled with tears. Naturally, these tears were not tears of excitement, but tears from old punches.

Chen Ao laughed and said, "I'll leave right away, but I have to treat this flower disease first."

The gardener sneered: "I can't even see this flower disease, you know?"

Chen Ao ignored him, touched the soil on the ground, and said, "This soil is too moist. It's raining again these two days. No wonder the flowers are getting sick."

The gardener looked at Chen Ao disdainfully and said, "I have only heard that rain waters flowers and plants, but I have never heard that rain will make flowers sick."

"That's because you are ignorant!" Chen Ao replied bluntly.

"You..." The gardener blew his beard and glared at him, but he had no choice but to use Chen Ao for a moment. Besides, looking at Chen Ao's confident appearance, he seemed to be confident in treating this flower disease. He was a little curious and wanted to see how Chen Ao used his methods.

Chen Ao said: "This is brown spot disease, which is the most harmful symptom to flowers and plants in the world. Let me ask you, do the petals of this flower grow yellowish brown or rust color, and small needle-shaped spots when the flower starts to develop? "

The gardener exclaimed and said in surprise: "How did you know?"

Chen Ao just smiled and continued with an irresponsible question: "The disease of this peony flower has now developed into a round lesions. If it is not treated in time, it will take three or five days or as little as one day. The flower will wither."

The gardener took a breath and said reluctantly: "This is the most precious peony flower in the world. It was brought out from the royal garden and given to the princess. If it witheres, it would be a pity."

Chen Ao said, "There is only one way to avoid it withering!" Chen Ao looked at the gardener and said, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he said in surprise: "Hey, you brought a flower hoe? It's great. You should dig a drainage ditch and dig along the outer edge of the rhizome of the flower."

The gardener said angrily: "I have only heard that digging ditches to grow flowers, but I have never heard of digging ditches. If the flowers lose water, how can they survive?"

Chen Ao almost rolled his eyes and said, "Do you dig?"

The gardener hugged his hands and looked at Chen Ao coldly and said, "If you don't tell me a reason, of course I won't dig it."

Chen Ao had to tell the reason: "There is a lot of rain in spring. The reason why this flower gets sick is because the rain is too abundant. There was already constant rain in the sky. I'm afraid that you, the gardener, have poured a lot of water on it. If there is too much rain, the soil will produce insects. If the flowers don't get sick, that's strange."

The gardener said in surprise: "Bits? Where are the Bits?"

The worms that Chen Ao mentioned are actually bacteria, but how can this germ be explained to the ancients, and looked at the gardener with a wry smile and said, "This kind of worm cannot be seen by the naked eye. Anyway, what we have to do now is to dig a drainage ditch and try to keep the soil dry. If you don't dig, it won't be a surprise to me if the flower witheres."

Seeing that he was talking, the gardener pondered for a moment and gritted his teeth and said, "Okay, I'll dig." He picked up the flower hoe and carefully dug out small water diversion channels along the outer edge of the flower stem. The man was very serious and careful in doing things. It took him half an hour to dig out three small channels and wipe the sweat from his forehead. The gardener raised his eyes and asked, "Can the flowers be saved?"
Chapter completed!