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

53

Early the next morning, before Old Man Shen went out to harvest the remaining sweet potatoes on the one acre of land, many people came to the yard.

　　In addition to the people from this village, there were actually a few people from other villages. This made Old Man Shen a little confused. He thought, maybe something happened, otherwise why would people from other villages rush here so early in the morning.

　　After asking, I found out that Niu San's wife had returned to her parents' home, which was nearby Hujiadun, last night. Niu San's wife talked to her family about the harvest of the Shen family's sweet potato field and said that she would also plant sweet potatoes next year.

　　How could her family believe it?

　　They knew about yam, and they had grown it before. In the early years, peddlers from outside the county said that it had a high yield and could be used as food. Farmers were most looking forward to filling their stomachs, and when they heard that yam could be used as food and had a high yield, they gritted their teeth and spent some money to buy yam to grow.

　　As a result, the sweet potatoes grown were only slightly bigger than eggs, and the yield was pitifully low.

　　Since then, farmers no longer planted yams, and only pig farmers would plant two yams and use the vines to feed pigs. The vines of this thing can grow very well, and once they grow, they can grow a large area, which is perfect for feeding pigs.

　　But now, someone told them that one mu of sweet potato could produce 3,000 kilograms. Isn't this a big joke? Anyway, they would never believe it!

　　Niu San's wife saw that those people refused to believe her after she had talked so much, so she said angrily: "If you don't believe me, just follow me to Dalui Village tomorrow! The Shen family still has an acre of sweet potatoes that have not been harvested. Just go to the Shen family's field and see if I am bragging."

　　Just like that, the people from Hujiadun got up early and followed Niu San's wife back to Daliu Village. After a whole morning's journey, they didn't even have time to go to Niu San's house to have a drink of water, and went straight to Shen's house. They wanted to see with their own eyes what a 3,000-jin-yield sweet potato per mu looked like.

　　After understanding the whole story, Mrs. Wu felt a sense of relief.

　　Originally, only her Shen family knew how to grow sweet potatoes. According to her old man, since everyone lived in the same village, if she put a pot in her house, everyone would know what she had for lunch. And they were from the same village, so this method of growing sweet potatoes must be passed on to the villagers. But as for people from other villages, they had never thought about it before.

　　It was all because of Niu San's wife's big mouth. Before the next night, everyone in her family's village knew about this. Now if someone comes to ask about how to grow sweet potatoes, her old man will definitely teach them everything he knows. But if this happens, I'm afraid that in a few days, the whole county will know how to grow sweet potatoes. Then the plan to grow more sweet potatoes to sell next year will not work.

　　While Mrs. Wu was still thinking about the loss of the sweet potato business, Old Man Shen had already taken his men to the sweet potato field at the foot of the mountain.

　　"Yaoyao, stay home and look after your brothers and sisters. I'll go to the mountain to pick some chestnuts for you!"

　　Mrs. Wu didn't want to see those people from other villages. She remembered that her daughter Yaoyao said last night that the chickens were fed particularly well this year, especially the big roosters, which would taste especially good if roasted with chestnuts.