703: A unique rose

A unique rose

"  A what?" Fei Qinfan blinked his eyes and asked with a questioning look in his eyes. He was sure that he has never heard of such a term that Su Wan was using at the moment, it was surely a bit depressing for him to realise that he, the third prince of this country didn't know a term that a country woman knew.  1

But he knew that Su Wan was close to his granduncle and her second uncle, the famous merchant Shen Zizhen was also well acquainted with many contacts in foreign countries, did they bring her something nice and rare? 

Fei Qinfan didn't want to make himself look like a fool in front of Su Wan who came from the countryside and looked at Su Wan who was sitting on the chair with a smile on her face before he  doubtfully asked, " Is this some sort of rare plant from the foreign?" 

Su Wan blinked at his question before she burst out laughing and said, " Of course not," she shook her head and Fei Qinfan scratched his cheek looking a bit awkward as he looked at Su Wan, turns out he was wrong, fortunately, his elder brother wasn't here to witness his great feat, or else he would have scolded him for an entire week. 

He actually made such a big blunder in front of Su Wan, who came from the countryside. Fei Qinfan cleared his throat uncomfortably and asked, " So, what do you mean by that this plant is a hybrid?" 

" Hmm, how should I explain this?" Su Wan tapped her forefinger on her chin before she hummed and then snapped her finger and turned around to look at him with an ' aha' expression and said,  "Let's say, you have a Persian cat and a normal cat, if you let them mate wouldn't you get a kitten that has the attributes of both the parents?" 

Fei Qinfan was a bit embarrassed upon hearing Su Wan use the word 'mate' with such ease, he cleared his throat again before nodding his head. " Well, that's true, I will indeed get a kitten who will have the features of both the cats but what does it have to do with this, it's not like plants can… can… do that.." he didn't say the word that Su Wan used but even then his entire face flushed as he looked down at his hands. 

Su Wan chuckled upon seeing how cute Fei Qinfan was, she on the other hand was a woman who could be considered to be in her late forties with the number of years that she has lived in her time together with the age of this era. So, she wasn't shy instead she calmly explained the topic of a hybrid plant to Fei Qinfan, she explained pollination and many other things such as the mother and father plant to Fei Qinfan before the latter understood.

" You …you really know so much about plants and flowers?" asked Fei Qinfan with a stunned look on his face.  He took another look at Su Wan, though she was dressed in much nicer clothes than the villagers she still had a country woman look, it was surprising for a woman from the countryside to be this knowledgeable. 

Fei Qinfan was sure that even his elder brother wouldn't know something like this!

Su Wan nodded. " Of course I do, who else do you think takes care of these flowers? I do, do you think I am bad at my job?" 

He looked around at the blooming flowers in the backyard that was blooming in full bloom and had to admit that Su Wan was indeed good at what she did. The flowers were in an even better condition than the ones in the greenhouse of the Imperial palace. 

" So, are you saying that the flower of this plant … will have the properties of roses, peonies and a few more flowers?" Fei Qinfan asked after he was done looking around the garden, he really could not imagine something as unique as this, he has never heard about a rose that has more than forty petals with its scent mixed with that of peonies and other scented flowers. 

Even the most expensive chrysanthemum in the Empire only had the properties of chrysanthemum, best come to best, it would have some rare colour such as a majestic purple and that alone was enough to make it popular in the capital. 

He has never heard of flowers having properties of more than two flowers.

He was the third prince of the Empire if he wanted he could have brought any flower that was available in the capital but he was no flower lover and he has never brought any flowers to groom it his elder brother was someone who loved classy things like flower grooming and whatnot. His brother once paid a sky-high price to buy a purple chrysanthemum so that he can groom it and show it off to others. 

His brother was one of the well-to-do individuals but he too had to control his expenses when he bought that flower. 

If such a rose with more than forty petals, a scent similar to gentle tea and a shade of ombré pink and lilac peach was to come into existence, then how big of a sum his brother would have to fork out to buy it? 

He looked at Su Wan again a bit surprised, from her appearance it was obvious that she came from the countryside…so how come she knew so much about flowers? Or was she just boasting? 

Su Wan could read the doubts that were rising in Fei Qinfan's heart, she was not at all offended by his gaze instead she simply shrugged and said, " I know that you don't believe me but I once found out a notebook that was filled with a lot of things, back then I did not know that it had so many good things, I just read it until I could no longer read it… that was how I came to know so many things….if not how would I know how to cook that cap fish that no one can?"

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