After becoming rich overnight, I handed over the system.

Chapter 167 Cotton and the Heated Bed

Upon hearing that Li Mingyue had become the Crown Prince's subordinate, the Crown Princess could barely hold her teacup.

"What did you say? Are you sure the other person isn't a concubine but a subordinate?"

"I've inquired, and Li Mingyue has indeed become the young master's subordinate, and he has already assigned her a small team of men," the maidservant beside the young master dutifully replied.

The Crown Princess couldn't believe it, so she went to check on Li Mingyue when she returned with her entourage.

"Reporting to Your Highness, all the bandits near Jiqing Prefecture have been wiped out."

"Good, good, good! Mingyue, you are truly a valiant general in my arsenal. This hammer is a perfect match for you!" The young master praised without reservation.

After becoming the young master's follower, Li Mingyue's first act was to volunteer to suppress bandits, as she wanted to prove herself.

Moreover, she now has a new goal: in the future, she wants to build an all-woman team to show everyone that women have more options than just getting married and having children.

After reporting her duties, Li Mingyue greeted the Crown Princess and left.

"Is this Li Mingyue? How did she change like this..." The Crown Princess urgently asked the Crown Prince for confirmation.

"You've become so powerful and tall, haven't you! She said she became like this by practicing martial arts. By the way, let's not mention those things from before. Li Mingyue is now a fierce general under my command. In the future, when we conquer the world, she will be an invaluable asset to me." The young master instructed the young master's wife. He was not unaware of those rumors, but he simply didn't care.

That won't do now; he needs Li Mingyue's help.

"I understand." The Crown Princess completely abandoned her previous idea. The Crown Prince had spoken, and it was better for her to serve the Crown Prince than to become his woman.

Li Mingyue embarked on a new path, while Liu Mingyue finally reached the border.

"Wife, be careful!" Liu Mingyue got off the carriage with her husband's help. After meeting her in-laws, she found it all to be alright, and everyone was trying to get along.

Life on the border is indeed much harder than imagined.

But her husband and in-laws took good care of her, and she tried her best to adapt to everything here.

"Madam, look, this is a flower I got from a merchant from the Western Regions. It's as white as snow!" Jiang Heng returned from the military camp carrying a flowerpot and came to Liu Mingyue with great interest.

"Cotton!" Liu Mingyue exclaimed with delight. The thing she had been searching for for so long had actually appeared here.

Among the many things Lin Liuyi gave her, Liu Mingyue noticed cotton, since the people of her dynasty were most afraid of winter.

Wealthy families could wear all kinds of furs to keep warm, had an ample supply of charcoal, and would carry a hand warmer when they went out.

Ordinary people would wear hemp clothing lined with reeds and straw, and would stay indoors when the weather was cold.

Therefore, the number of beggars outside the capital city is highest in winter, and some families in the capital will distribute porridge at this time.

Liu Mingyue had also searched for this cotton before, but she couldn't find it. In the end, she saw it at the border and it was used as an ornamental flower.

"Madam recognizes this flower? But the merchant said it's as white as snow and called 'Snowflake,' which is different from the name you gave it. But then again, Madam is a princess, so someone must have already presented it to the princess's residence." Jiang Heng was somewhat frustrated; he had originally wanted to give Liu Mingyue a surprise.

Liu Mingyue found Jiang Heng's defeated expression somewhat amusing.

"I've only heard about this flower before, this is the first time I've ever seen it. It's kind of you, my husband, to think of it so thoughtfully," Liu Mingyue comforted him.

Jiang Heng was delighted to hear this. The young couple were newlyweds, deeply in love, so he wanted to buy them new and interesting things for Liu Mingyue.

Liu Mingyue was also happy. Although the gift wasn't expensive, the sentiment behind it was precious.

"Really?"

"Yes, of course it's true. But I heard that this flower is called cotton. When it's not in bloom, it looks like a small green peach, so it's also called a cotton peach when it's unripe. When it's ripe, it bursts open into several petals, revealing snow-white cotton. More importantly, my husband, come and touch this flower."

Liu Mingyue led Jiang Heng to touch the snow-white cotton. "It's very soft?"

"Yes, this cotton is not only soft, but it also keeps you warm, much warmer than reeds and straw!"

"Mingyue, are you serious?" Jiang Heng stood up in shock after hearing this.

Jiang Heng's family, being the Earls of Wuxing, had always been guarding the border, and therefore knew their soldiers very well.

The biggest worry for everyone is how to get through the winter. In the winter, the northwest wind blows fiercely on the border, and the soldiers can't go out unless they dress warmly. Even in the barracks, soldiers freeze to death every year.

If cotton could really keep you warm, how wonderful that would be for those soldiers.

"Such fine things, and those people treat them as ornamental flowers for rich people. I'm going to find that Western Region merchant right now and ask him if he has any more." Jiang Heng said and hurriedly ran out.

Liu Mingyue took the opportunity to ask Lin Liuyi for cotton textile technology.

"We really found cotton!" Lin Liuyi was also shocked. When Liu Mingyue had been searching for a long time without finding it, she even asked her if this thing would only be passed on to them hundreds of years later.

“Isn’t that right? We didn’t find it in the capital, but we found it here at the border. My husband bought it from a merchant in the Western Regions, and it was even used as an ornamental flower.” Liu Mingyue told Lin Liuyi this as a joke.

"The Western Regions? Xinjiang, huh? That's certainly a suitable place to grow this. Ornamental flowers? That makes sense. Even our flower shops have cotton now, used for flower arrangements. We happen to have a 'Cotton Picture' here, with sixteen illustrations covering the process of cotton cultivation, irrigation, plowing, picking, harvesting, drying, selling, ginning, carding, binding, spinning, warping, sizing, loom operation, weaving, and dyeing. Each illustration is accompanied by a text description and a seven-character poem, like a comic strip. It should be suitable for you."

Lin Liuyi also packed up other information about cotton and gave it all to Liu Mingyue.

Liu Mingyue gave Lin Liuyi some furs and medicinal herbs, since these were the most abundant items here.

"By the way, if you need to get through the winter, you can build a heated kang bed." Lin Liuyi thought of another essential item for getting through the winter in the ancient world.

"A heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed)?"

"Yes, I'll give you the documents along with the documents."

Liu Mingyue was very excited after reading the information. It might take several more years for cotton to be harvested and planted before people could wear cotton clothes. However, the heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove) was simple to make and practical.

"Thank you so much, June 1st."

When Jiang Heng returned, the couple discussed the heated kang bed and decided to first use it for the soldiers in the military camp before extending it to ordinary people's homes. Of course, Liu Mingyue also wrote letters to her uncle, the emperor, and her father, the Marquis.

In her view, the best thing would be for all people in the world to have access to heated brick beds and get through the cold winter.