The heading stage of rice development typically lasts seven to ten days, with flowering usually occurring on the very day the panicles emerge. Yinreng's immediate operational objective was to select the parental lines (paternal and maternal) and execute emasculation on the maternal plants 'before' they flowered.
Rice is a monoecious, self-pollinating species (possessing both male and female reproductive organs within the same flower). Therefore, the most efficient method for crossbreeding is to utilize wild male-sterile lines—plants with defective stamens incapable of self-pollination.
However, two massive obstacles existed:
1. Scarcity: Wild male-sterile lines are incredibly rare. Even with no formal agricultural background, Yinreng knew the historical magnitude of Yuan Longping discovering a single wild abortive plant in his past life.
2. Ignorance: The Qing Dynasty agricultural sector lacked the biological framework to even understand that rice 'had' male and female organs, let alone how to identify a sterile variant.
Consequently, Yinreng had to rely on manual emasculation. While methods like hot-water emasculation existed, maintaining the precise water temperature was impossible with 17th-century technology. He opted for the direct clipping method.
It was a delicate, tedious process, but Yinreng possessed a cheat code: The System.
[System Target Acquired. Identifying male stamens. Initiating holographic overlay for manual extraction...] With the System guiding his hands via real-time visual simulations, Yinreng's efficiency skyrocketed. The System was particularly vital for selecting the parental lines.
Songgotu had procured dozens of rice varieties. Randomly crossbreeding them would result in thousands of genetic permutations, requiring decades of trial and error. But the System had already scanned the genetic profiles of the local flora, instantly calculating the optimal paternal and maternal pairings for maximum yield.
To obscure his reliance on the System, Yinreng deliberately selected three additional, suboptimal pairings, tagging them as control groups to make his eventual success look like a product of broad experimentation rather than divine foresight.
Once the maternal plants were emasculated, pollination was straightforward. With Eunuch Meng Jixiang and the staff assisting, the transfer of pollen across all four test groups was completed rapidly.
Finishing the task, Yinreng stood up, stretching his aching back. He looked down and realized he was entirely caked in mud, resembling a clay statue.
"What on earth happened to you?"
Yinreng snapped his head up. Emperor Kangxi stood at the edge of the field, his expression a mix of shock and irritation.
Yinreng blinked, momentarily stunned. "Imperial Father, what are you doing here?"
"You have the audacity to ask?" Kangxi glared. "I hear my Crown Prince is hiding in a glass box all day, skipping formal meals, and acting like a madman in the dirt. Did you think I wouldn't investigate?"
Out of habit, Yinreng stepped forward to hug his father's leg, but noticing his muddy hands, he awkwardly pulled back, offering a placating grin. "Imperial Father, the primary phase is complete. I won't need to stay in here constantly anymore. I promise I'll eat properly."
Kangxi snorted, his gaze drifting to the numbered stakes in the muddy water. "What is all this? One, Two, Three, Four? Explain."
Yinreng's eyes brightened. "When I was talking to the peasants near Great-Uncle's glass factory, they mentioned northern and southern rice varieties yield differently. I was curious, so I had Great-Uncle collect different seeds during his smallpox logistics runs."
Kangxi nodded. He was aware of Songgotu's minor agricultural errands.
"Imperial Father, you know that a mule is a hybrid of a horse and a donkey, right?"
Kangxi frowned. 'Where is he going with this?' "Yes."
"And you know an orange is a hybrid of a pomelo and a mandarin?"
"Obviously," Kangxi replied, losing patience. "What is the relevance?"
Yinreng smiled innocently. "If crossbreeding works for animals and fruit trees, why wouldn't it work for staple crops? Rice is just another plant."
Kangxi took a slow, deep breath, trying to follow the boy's massive leap in logic. "And your conclusion is?"
"My conclusion is I took these different rice varieties and artificially cross-pollinated them," Yinreng declared. "Who knows? Maybe the hybrid will taste better or grow faster. Oranges are better than both pomelos and mandarins, right?"
Kangxi stared at the mud-filled paddies, feeling a profound sense of absurdity. "Do you even know the first thing about farming rice?"
"Not really!" Yinreng admitted cheerfully. "I just experimented based on the theory. Now that the crossing is done, Meng Jixiang can handle the daily maintenance. He knows how to farm. I'll just check the data occasionally."
He was completely incompetent at farming, yet entirely confident in his theoretical disruption of agriculture. Kangxi rubbed his temples. "...Fine."
Before Kangxi could lecture him, Yinreng bolted to the adjacent dry plots. "Look here! Meng Jixiang says these leafy greens are ready for harvest. And the cucumbers are almost mature! I was planning to send the first batch to you and Great-Grandmother!"
Kangxi walked over, genuinely surprised by the vibrant rows of vegetables thriving in the dead of winter. He knew Yinreng had built the greenhouse for this, but seeing the physical results was different. "You actually managed to grow them?"
"Of course!" Yinreng puffed out his chest.
Context: These were fast-growing crops. This was actually the second harvest cycle. While Yinreng had exhausted his mental energy on the complex rice hybridization, he had completely delegated the vegetable farming to Meng Jixiang. Meng was a natural agronomist; after failing the first batch due to temperature issues, he had rapidly optimized the greenhouse climate control.
"Now the commoners won't have to suffer without fresh vegetables in the winter!" Yinreng proclaimed.
Kangxi found the boy's idealism amusing. It was late January; the weather was warming, and natural spring vegetables would be available soon anyway. He decided to introduce a dose of reality. "Look at the size of this facility, Baocheng. Do you think the average peasant can afford a massive glass pavilion?"
Yinreng paused. "...Oh. Right. Glass is a luxury monopoly right now. The supply chain is backed up."
His disappointment lasted exactly one second before his eyes lit up with predatory capitalism. "If the peasants can't afford it, the nobility definitely can! I'll write down the architectural blueprints for the greenhouse and Meng Jixiang's optimized planting schedule. I'll have the clerks copy it a hundred times."
He began pacing, calculating profit margins. "We sell the manual for a premium. Then, to build the greenhouse, they have to buy the glass from our imperial factories, generating a secondary revenue stream! It's a perfect closed-loop monopoly! I am a financial genius!"
Kangxi's face darkened instantly.
Yinreng's innate talent for identifying market inefficiencies and extracting capital was undeniable. But he was not a merchant; he was the Crown Prince of the Great Qing.
Without a word, Kangxi grabbed Yinreng by the scruff of his collar, dragged him out of the greenhouse, and threw him toward his head maid, Xiacao. "Scrub him clean! Now!"
Twenty minutes later, a spotless Yinreng emerged to find Kangxi sitting in the main hall, his aura frigid.
"Baocheng," Kangxi began, his voice deadly serious. "You are the Crown Prince. How can you constantly speak of profiteering like a common merchant? Have I ever denied you anything? Do you lack silver?"
"It's not about lacking silver, Imperial Father," Yinreng argued smoothly. "No one ever complains about having 'too much' capital."
"You are to inherit an empire, not a merchant guild!" Kangxi snapped. "You must master the art of governance, not wealth accumulation."
Yinreng crossed his arms, feigning defiance. "With all due respect, Imperial Father, that is hypocritical. When I invented the glass and the clocks, and designed the trade monopoly to bleed the imperial merchants and fill the state treasury, you were thrilled. But now that the treasury is full, you condemn my methods? That's burning the bridge after crossing the river."
'Silence.' The entire hall froze. Accusing the Emperor of using and discarding his subordinates was borderline treason.
'SLAM!' Kangxi slammed his teacup onto the table, his fury radiating outward. The eunuchs and maids instantly dropped to their knees, trembling.
Yinreng hesitated for a split second, then put on a perfectly executed display of terrified regret, dropping to his knees with tears welling in his eyes.
Kangxi opened his mouth to deliver a devastating reprimand, but seeing the boy's frightened face, his anger hitched. Before he could speak, Liang Jiugong rushed in.
"Your Majesty! An urgent messenger from the smallpox quarantine estate requests an audience!"
Kangxi's paternal anger vanished, replaced by executive alarm. 'Did the vaccine fail? Is someone relapsing?' He glared down at Yinreng. "Reflect on your insolence!" He turned and swept out of the hall.
***
Remaining kneeling, Yinreng dropped the terrified expression. His face smoothed into calm calculation.
[System: Host! Why did you deliberately trigger his rage? What strategic value does a punishment serve?!]
Context: Yinreng possessed an adult consciousness. He fully understood the rigid socio-economic hierarchy that placed merchants at the bottom. He knew Kangxi despised his capitalistic tendencies. He could easily have agreed with his father and avoided the conflict entirely.
"You lack psychological profiling data," Yinreng replied internally.
[System: Are you a masochist? Do you enjoy kneeling on hard floors?]
"I've been punished before; physical discomfort is irrelevant," Yinreng scoffed. "Analyze this scenario: You have two children. Child A has virtues but also glaring flaws. He makes mistakes, causes trouble, and constantly requires your intervention to fix his messes. Child B is a hyper-competent prodigy who solves civilizational crises independently and never needs your help."
Yinreng paused. "If you are the father, which child occupies more of your mental bandwidth?"
[System: Processing... Child A requires more active management.]
"Exactly. Human psychology defaults to focusing on the dependent variable. Yinshi is Child A. I am rapidly becoming Child B."
Yinreng shifted slightly, adjusting his posture. "By intentionally committing a severe ideological error—by acting greedy, insolent, and childish—I am not just angering him. I am reminding him that I am still a six-year-old boy. I am proving that my character is flawed and that I desperately require his moral guidance."
Conclusion: "I am inviting him to parent me. I am forcing him to invest emotional capital into my development, ensuring he remains psychologically anchored to me rather than feeling alienated by my unnatural competence."
[System: ...Host, your psychological manipulation is terrifying.]
"Consider your own programming," Yinreng countered. "When I recited classical poetry perfectly, you barely reacted. But when I relied on your holographic interface to execute the rice emasculation—when I 'needed' you—you generated immense satisfaction data. Correct?"
[System: ...Yes. Because I was vital to the mission success.]
"Precisely. I am simply applying that same dependency algorithm to the Emperor."
Yinreng smiled faintly, entirely unbothered by the cold floor. The board was set. He just had to wait for Kangxi to return and play his part.