Chapter 226: Corn Feast
When Wen Xiuyi announced this decision before dinner in front of everyone in the family, it was met with a spell of silence.
Following the silence was a query from Old Madam Luo: “How do you plan to distribute it? How much will each family get? Will they need money to buy it? Have you figured all of this out?”
Old Man Wen quickly nudged his son’s waist, and Wen Xiuyi braced himself to nod. “Yes, Mother. In any case, we have so much that our family won’t be able to use it all up for seed, even if we include the remaining land cleared on the mountain. It’s better to distribute some to the villagers. We… we don’t plan to charge money.”
As the backbone of the Wen family, Old Madam Luo received everyone’s gaze at this moment, with everyone waiting to see how the old lady would scold them.
However, the anticipated tongue-lashing did not occur. Old Madam Luo merely said, “Giving it away is definitely out of the question. Each family can only get twenty catties, and they must bring money to buy it. As for how many wen per catty, discuss it with Yao’er; she knows how to do business.”
Wen Yao raised her hand. “The old price, ten wen.”
Old Madam Luo and her granddaughter exchanged a look—perfect harmony.
Beside them, Li Fu patted Wen Xiuyi’s shoulder and said, “Brother Wen, I think Auntie is right. As the saying goes, ‘A pint of rice creates a benefactor, but a bushel creates an enemy.’ It is already rare enough that you do not grudge teaching them the methods to improve soil quality and the planting techniques to increase yields. These seeds must absolutely not be given away for free. Things given away are often not cherished.
“Moreover, you think you are doing a good deed, but in the eyes of those insatiable people, your twenty catties will only make them feel you are brushing off beggars.”
Wen Xiuyi was no fool; he understood the moment it was explained this way.
“Alright, then we’ll listen to Mother. Each family is limited to twenty catties at ten wen per catty. If they want it, they come buy it; if not, then forget it. Those whose hands and feet are nimble can still hurry up and plant it to catch a harvest by the end of the year. In any case, everyone saw how high the yield of these sweet potatoes was before, so there’s no need for over-explanation.”
Old Madam Luo cast a glance at Old Man Wen, and Old Man Wen understood in a second. “Alright, I’ll go find the village chief.”
“Dad, I’ll go with you,” Wen Xiuyi also kept up.
Worried that this grandfather-and-son duo would get hoodwinked by others, Old Madam Luo called Datou over and whispered a few instructions into his ear. Datou nodded repeatedly. “Grandma, rest assured. I definitely won’t let Grandpa and Dad be hoodwinked.”
After speaking, he took off running to catch up, and three generations of the grandfather, father, and son were suddenly all together.
Only then did Old Madam Luo look at Li Fu with embarrassment, smiling bashfully. “Li Fu, don’t mind them. This father-and-son duo are just too simple-minded, entirely bent on considering things for others. They’ve suffered plenty of losses over the years. Especially the old man—the moment others say a few nice words or play pitiful, his heart softens. Sigh, I have no choice either.”
Who wouldn’t want everyone’s life together to be better? She had no choice either; she had to consider things more for her own family.
Furthermore, she was also afraid those people wouldn’t know to cherish it and would ruin the saplings and seedlings. The care and caution taken when tending to things given for free versus things bought with one’s own money were completely different.
Li Fu, however, felt that Old Madam Luo was the one who was truly clear-headed in the world. In his position, he had seen far too many such occurrences.
“Auntie, no wonder Yao’er says this family would fall apart without you; those words are not false in the slightest. Li Fu truly admires you, Elder,” Li Fu said with a smile.
Praised until her face grew slightly red, Old Madam Luo felt that someone finally understood her heart. Happily, she had Wen Yao fetch quite a few small pastries and snacks for Li Fu. This delighted Li Fu, who used every nice word possible to coax the old lady into absolute joy.
When Wen Xiuyi and Old Man Wen returned, they said it was settled with the village chief. He would notify everyone about the matter: if they wanted to plant sweet potatoes, they should come to the Wen family to buy them, limited to twenty catties per family at ten wen per catty, and this was non-negotiable.
Knowing the result had not changed, Old Madam Luo was very satisfied.
It was only when no one was around that Datou whispered softly into the old lady’s ear. Upon learning that the village chief had actually tried to play pitiful and act weak in front of the old man and the eldest son to hoodwink them into waiving the seed money, Old Madam Luo roundly cursed that old fox of a village chief in her heart.
Fortunately, Datou was clever, constantly saying a sentence: “My grandma, my grandma, my grandma.”
These words were like a sword hanging over the heads of Old Man Wen and Wen Xiuyi, making the two of them resolutely refuse to loosen their lips even a fraction.
In the end, the village chief also knew he couldn’t hoodwink them and could only drop it. After all, he had seen the sweet potato yields with his own eyes. Twenty catties per family could truly plant quite a lot once the seedlings were raised. If they caught a wave by the end of the year, they could spend a full and satisfying year this year.
In addition, Wen Xiuyi also stated that the remaining land left after planting sweet potatoes could be used to plant soybeans. Everyone just had to plant them, and their family would purchase all of them when they were grown, provided that the quality of the beans was good.
Every single household here consisted of veteran farmers; how could the beans they grew not be good?
The village chief agreed to all of it. As for how the village chief went about notifying the villagers, it wasn’t their concern anymore.
Sure enough, when the Wen family members went down to the fields to work the next day, people came one after another to inquire about buying sweet potatoes for seed.
Receiving definitive confirmation from the Wen family, everyone finally set their hearts at ease. The yield of that item was truly high! Even if it was only twenty catties, once they planted it this year and continued to keep seeds to plant next year, wouldn’t the yield instantly surge up?
Doing it this way was always better than in previous years, where they planted a crop of grain and a crop of vegetables, and in the end, whatever couldn’t be sold entirely rotted in the fields.
Moreover, the extra land could be used to plant beans, which greatly delighted everyone. Scholar Wen had said that planting soybeans could nourish the soil, and only if the soil was well-nourished could the wheat of the coming year grow well. Whatever the reason, since Scholar Wen said so, they would just follow suit.
Furthermore, the Wen family had also said they would purchase any grown beans that couldn’t be sold. The Wen family currently had a large sauce workshop, and the material for making large sauce was precisely these beans.
All at once, everyone stopped worrying about their market outlets, and their drive for working grew even more robust.
As for why Wen Xiuyi had everyone plant beans, on one hand, it could indeed improve the soil quality. After harvesting the wheat, the land had to be nourished, otherwise the nutrient depletion would cause the wheat grown in the second year to be poor as well.
There was also another layer, which was Old Madam Luo’s sauce workshop; the consumption of these beans was not small either. Of course, the primary reason was still the oil-pressing matter Wen Yao had discussed with him.
Currently, cooking oil consisted entirely of lard. This item was fragrant, but Wen Xiuyi worried that eating too much of it wouldn’t be good either; they still needed to produce some vegetable oil.
However, aside from the father and daughter, no one else was told about this matter.
After finishing the harvest of the wheat, the villagers began turning the soil in full swing again, raising seedlings according to Wen Xiuyi’s methods. A portion of the sweet potatoes was planted in their home fields, while the rest fully followed Wen Xiuyi’s advice, planting soybeans.
As for the Wen family’s own land, half was planted with potatoes and half with sweet potatoes. In the fields cleared on the barren mountain, Wen Yao’s sunflowers, chili peppers, and tomatoes were planted.
It was precisely during such busy days that the corn in the cornfield finally ushered in its harvest.
This was the day Li Fu had been waiting for, making his long stay at the Wen family residence worthwhile.
All the corn was harvested and weighed.
The yield of a single mu of land was around one thousand three hundred catties. Compared to sweet potatoes and potatoes, the yield was slightly lower, but it had already far exceeded the original grains.
Furthermore, to let them more personally experience the benefits of corn, Wen Yao even prepared a corn feast.
Rice steamed with corn, pancakes made with corn, boiled corn, popcorn, and even dishes stir-fried with corn and soup stewed with corn—as long as corn could be used, it was all served up.
