The Eldest Daughter of a Rural Family
Chapter 264 Are You Even Letting Others Live? (1)_1

Chapter 264: Chapter 264 Are You Even Letting Others Live? (1)_1

Lady Zhu and Lady Chen confirmed that it truly was Master County who had come. Seeing his warm smile and courteous speech as he talked to Pei Qin, both of them looked uncomfortable.

After exchanging a few words with Wu Dongsi, Pei Qin led him and a group directly to the fields.

Lady Chen spoke to Lady Zhu, and then quickly followed behind them in secret.

They left Taiping Town, heading eastward, and after traveling half a mile, they stopped.

There, Sun Dashun was leading the craftsmen in building a workshop.

Seeing the large compound, Wu Dongsi asked, "Is this workshop being built for processing sweet potatoes?"

"The workshop has nothing to do with sweet potatoes, although it can be used to store them after harvest," explained Pei Qin, pointing at a large expanse of luxuriant sweet potato fields not far ahead. "That’s it! This time, we could only plant a little over seven acres, but next year, after another cycle of seedling cultivation, we should be able to expand to about seven hundred acres."

Wu Dongsi did some mental calculations: two thousand pounds per acre – if it was seven hundred acres, then no one in Yuanyang County would starve again! He couldn’t help but feel a bit excited and quickened his step.

Upon reaching the field and observing the thriving sweet potato vines, Pei Qin bent down, plucked a handful of leaves, and said, "When there are excess sweet potato vines, they can be harvested to feed pigs. These sweet potato leaves and the ridges can be used as vegetables too!"

"The vines have just started growing; don’t be so wasteful!" Shen Songming couldn’t help but interject. If they let Wu Dongsi eat them now, in a couple of days, when he wanted to eat more, wouldn’t there be much less left?

Pei Qin only picked a handful, and there were just enough ridges for one dish.

After a tour around the sweet potato field, Wu Dongsi was taken aback by the vast cabbage patch nearby. "Why not plant wheat? You’ve planted cabbages everywhere!?" Looking around, he saw that dozens of acres were all covered in cabbages!

The Sun Quanliang family had almost turned against Pei Qin over choosing to plant cabbages instead of wheat. Even after accounting for the land used for sweet potatoes and the workshop, there were still thirty to forty acres. She had decided to plant cabbages on all of them. Once the cabbages hit the market, they would only fetch two copper coins each – how could that compare with wheat? That was the staple food! Even if one didn’t need to pay the grain tax with it, it was still not right to waste good farming land like this!

Pei Qin could only explain that next spring, they had to follow the Government Office’s directive to promote the cultivation of sweet potatoes. Even if they planted wheat, it would have to be uprooted later. That’s when the Sun Quanliang family stopped complaining and helped her hire people to plant the cabbages.

"Oh! We can plant spring sweet potatoes next year! The yield for spring sweet potatoes is higher than that of summer and autumn ones. With proper care, they can yield up to three thousand pounds. Just grow cabbages in winter, free up the land, and turn over the year with sweet potatoes!" Pei Qin explained, though what she really wanted to plant was spring soybeans. When it came to soybeans for making soy sauce, those from the spring harvest made the best soy sauce.

Hearing that spring sweet potatoes could yield three thousand pounds, Wu Dongsi reluctantly accepted the idea of planting cabbages in the fields instead of the important grain crop wheat.

Lady Chen watched from a distance, not daring to approach, unable to hear what they were saying, so she could only guess wildly in her heart.

Soon, after having looked around the fields, the group returned to town.

Seeing Pei Qin carrying a big bunch of sweet potato leaves, it was clear they were definitely going to make sweet potato dishes that day. She didn’t invite Wu Dongsi and Shen Songming to her own home but went straight to Pei Qin’s house.

Pei Yuan and Pei Qian had the sweet potatoes ready to be steamed, and they had also baked several pieces.

Shen Songming, acting as the host, invited Wu Dongsi to try the roasted sweet potatoes, describing the various sweet potato dishes to him.

Pei Qin kept busy in the kitchen with Pei Yuan and Pei Qian, preparing the meal.

Before long, Sun Lizheng’s daughter Sun Xiujin came over with her niece Sun Tingyu, explaining that there would be many people for lunch and Sun Lizheng was worried they would be too busy, so they came over to help, bringing along a basket of vegetables and meat.

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