A Small Farmer Girl 's Story of Making a Fortune by Farming

52

The drizzling autumn rain lasted for several days before it stopped.

　　It was late autumn now, and most of the farmland was deserted. Every household took advantage of the sunny weather to bring out their quilts and food to dry in the sun. Only Old Man Shen couldn't wait for the ground to dry, so he brought out his tools, called his son and daughter-in-law, rolled up his trousers, and prepared to go to the field to dig red sweet potatoes.

　　The Shen family's house is located at the innermost of Daliu Village, next to Niutou Mountain. Although the Shen family's sweet potato field is also at the foot of the mountain, the mountain is a small green mountain extending out. Therefore, if the Shen family wants to go to the sweet potato field, they have to pass through half of Daliu Village and then turn out from the rice bed.

　　The Shen family had a large population, so when all of them went out, it was naturally a big deal. Especially during the slack season, those who heard the noise came out of the house to investigate.

　　"All the crops in the fields have been stored in the warehouse. Why is Third Grandpa here with his hoe and basket? What is he doing?" Someone who was too talkative could not help but ask.

　　Old man Shen carried his hoe but didn't stop walking. He said with a smile, "There are two mu of sweet potatoes planted at the foot of the mountain. We were just about to dig them, but it suddenly rained for several days. We wasted several days of work. So, we have to harvest the sweet potatoes quickly while the weather is fine today."

　　As soon as they heard that the sweet potatoes were going to be harvested, the onlookers became excited. At the beginning, Mrs. Wu boasted to them that one mu of sweet potatoes could produce 1,000 to 8,000 kilograms. Today, the Shen family started digging sweet potatoes, and they happened to be free, so they had to go and take a look. They wanted to see how Mrs. Wu would step down if she couldn't dig out 1,000 to 8,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes from this mu of land.

　　But living in the same village, seeing each other every day for years, how could Wu Pozi not understand what those people were thinking. But she believed her granddaughter's words, and determined that the yield of the sweet potato was no less than what her granddaughter said. So when these people wanted to laugh at her, she was not at all panicked. Instead, she openly invited the villagers to go to the foot of the mountain with her. To see more of the finished article, please visit Penguin Skirt Yao Er Wu Yi Si ...

　　The chill brought by the autumn rain was dissipated by the sun overhead. After walking a short distance, both adults and children were sweating slightly.

　　Old man Shen took off his coat and entered the sweet potato field first. He pulled apart a small piece of sweet potato vines, spat into his palms and rubbed them, then picked up the hoe and started digging.

　　The three sons of the Shen family followed suit, each choosing a patch of land and starting to dig sweet potatoes. Mrs. Wu, along with her daughters-in-law and granddaughters, picked up all the sweet potatoes they dug and put them into baskets.

　　After a busy work, all the sweet potatoes in the one acre of land outside were dug out.

　　Shen Laosan seemed to have used up all his strength. He didn't care that the ridge was covered with broken soil. He sat down on the ridge, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Zhang Chunxiang felt sorry for her husband, so she led Shen Yao and the others to take out the teapot and bowl from the basket and pour water for everyone. But before old man Shen drank the water, someone started to talk: "Third Grandpa, you just dug an acre of land, and we helped Third Grandma to put all the sweet potatoes into the basket. How about we weigh it first? As for the water, you can drink it later. If not, I will make you a pot of tea when we get back! Before Qingming Festival this year, my mother picked a lot of wild tea in Xiaoqingshan."