Half a month passed by unknowingly, and Li Tingcen still hadn't returned. Xu Xingchen also accepted the fact that he left without saying goodbye.

What puzzled her was why Li Tingcen didn't take the money and the night pearls together. Wouldn't it be troublesome to exchange the night pearls and colored stones for money at the pawn shop?

But now Li Tingcen has also disappeared, and these have become unsolved mysteries.

On that day, a large number of villagers slammed the door of Xu Xingchen's house, almost tearing it down.

Xu Xingchen went out and asked, "What can I do for you?"

The leading villager stepped forward and threw the withered, drought-stricken wheat seedlings in front of her, angrily saying, "Widow Xu, look at your seedlings! It's not the dry season now, how could they die of drought?"

"That's right, Widow Xu, are you trying to trick us? This seedling is not good at all!"

"Two months of planting were wasted, alas."

The villagers who came with him echoed angrily.

Xu Xingchen picked up the wheat seedlings on the ground in confusion. The roots of the wheat seedlings were very long, which meant that they were growing well. However, the seedlings, which should have been green and lush, had turned yellow and shriveled.

"This shouldn't happen. Everyone knows that my wheat can grow in winter. How could it wither?" Xu Xingchen did not doubt the villagers' intentions, but only asked whether there was a mistake in any link of the planting process.

"What do you mean? You taught us all the steps, and now that something goes wrong, you ask us?" A hot-tempered villager immediately jumped out and got angry.

Well, I still misunderstood what she meant. She frowned and said, "Someone's wheat field has a problem? Take me to see it first."

A group of people went to the fields aggressively. At first glance, the terraced fields that should have been green were now withered and desolate. If it wasn't spring, one would have thought it was autumn.

Not all households' wheat fields turned yellow and shriveled. On the contrary, the wheat of some households that did not care about their wheat fields and left them alone grew well.

The sharp contrast made Xu Xingchen even more confused. The villagers all got their seeds from him, so how come they produced such different results?

She went down to the field where the withered seedlings had been thrown. The soil was moist, so it was impossible for the seedlings to wither due to water problems. She bent down, grabbed a handful of soil, put it to her nose and smelled it.

She frowned when she smelled it. This smell...

Then she started digging the soil with her bare hands, and the villagers behind her looked at her in confusion.

After digging less than thirty centimeters, she pulled out a handful of root fibers from the soil. The root fibers were very long, almost a meter long to the end. There were a few sweet potatoes the size of red dates scattered on the root fibers.

When seeing the sweet potatoes, Xu Xingchen suddenly realized that in order to save planting time, the villagers planted wheat on the ground and sweet potatoes underground. The two competed for nutrients, and the sweet potatoes had stronger vitality than wheat, so they consumed the wheat to death.

It is similar to the saying that there can't be two tigers in one mountain. This is true for people, let alone plants.

However, Xu Xingchen had not yet promoted the sweet potato in the village. She held up the sweet potato roots and asked, "Where did you get these sweet potatoes?"

"This is called sweet potato? It was given to me by Zhou Xiaoniang." The owner of the wheat field replied.

"Mrs. Zhou?"

Yes, she had indeed shared the sweet potatoes only with Zhou Xiaoniang, but she remembered that she had asked Zhou Xiaoniang to open up a separate piece of land to plant them.

"Who can go and call Miss Zhou over?"

The villagers didn't even know the name of the sweet potato, so they could only ask Zhou Xiaoniang in person.

"I'll go." Jun Haoyue, who had followed at some point, volunteered. After saying that, he left the crowd to look for someone.

After a while, Jun Haoyue came with his men.

Xu Xingchen asked straight to the point, "Mrs. Zhou, were you the one who taught us how to grow sweet potatoes?"

Zhou Xiaoniang looked at the dead branches on the ground, not daring to look at her, and replied evasively: "Yes..."

"I remember telling you to plant sweet potatoes separately. How could you let everyone plant them with wheat?"

Zhou Xiaoniang panicked and replied quickly: "You didn't tell me."

The villagers started talking all of a sudden.

"Mrs. Zhou didn't tell us."

"Nonsense, Widow Xu didn't tell her, how could she tell us."

"But..."

"But what but? Shut up. It was Widow Xu who caused this. Let's see what to do now."

Zhang Tiansheng, who was forced to work in the fields, carried a hoe on his back and mingled with the crowd, shouting, "Widow Xu is shirking responsibility. All the land in the village is ruined, and only hers is still intact. I'm afraid she wants to make a fortune alone..."

As he spoke, he saw Jun Haoyue standing beside Xu Xingchen like a guardian angel, and changed the subject, "Support a man!"

The crowd either laughed or despised him, pushing Xu Xingchen to the forefront.

Jun Haoyue silently clenched his fist in his sleeve and looked over with calm eyes, "Zhang Tiansheng, I guess it's not easy for Aunt Wang to support an elderly person. As the saying goes, lustful people are lustful, and wise people are wise. What are you yelling about?"

"Who are you talking about relying on the old people?"

Zhang Tiansheng swung the hoe and wanted to hit someone, but he twisted his foot and the hoe in his hand fell straight towards Zhou Xiaoniang. Zhou Xiaoniang was so scared that her face turned pale and she even forgot to retreat.

Fortunately, Xu Xingchen was quick-witted and pulled the person away. The hoe fell on the place where she had been standing a second ago, and just brushed against her embroidered shoes and was inserted into the ground.

Xu Xingchen glared at Jun Haoyue in dissatisfaction, "The problem now is about Mai Miao. You should go fight somewhere else."

Jun Haoyue spread his hands innocently. He had just said a word, and the other party swung a hoe to hit him.

Zhang Tiansheng gnawed a mouthful of dry seedlings, stood up, spat a few times, cursed, and dejectedly disappeared into the crowd.

A small episode, Xu Xingchen continued to question Zhou Xiaoniang about the sweet potato. After being frightened, Zhou Xiaoniang's psychological defenses became weak, and she could not withstand Xu Xingchen's questioning and told the truth.

"Oh, oh, oh, I'm sorry, everyone. Xu Xiaoniang told me that sweet potatoes should be grown on separate land. I forgot. It's my fault, oh, oh."

Xu Xingchen frowned and looked at her. She asked herself honestly that she had been very sincere to Zhou Xiaoniang, and it was really hurtful that Zhou Xiaoniang just denied it.

The village chief arrived at some point, and after hearing the explanation, he stood up and said, "Alas... no family can expect a smooth life. Everyone, please don't blame Miss Zhou. She was just being kind and wanted to help everyone get a bigger harvest."

He poked the dead seedlings on the ground with his crutch, sighed and continued, "Xu Xiaoniang, look, can our seedlings be saved?"

Xu Xingchen pondered for a moment, then shook his head in the hopeful gazes of the crowd. "It can't be saved. We can only replant it."

Everyone's hopes were dashed and there was only cries of grief.

It's already April. If we start all over again, it will be winter by the time the harvest comes. Without any food stored, everyone will starve to death this winter.

Xu Xingchen said loudly, "Don't worry, everyone. Let's plow the land first. Some people will plant sweet potatoes, and some people will plant wheat. Sweet potatoes are drought-resistant and can be planted in fields far away from the canal. Wheat can be planted in fertile land. This way, both sides can quickly make up for the loss."