Several figures appeared outside the half-closed wooden door of the courtyard. The door was low and had a hollow bamboo bar design, so whoever had come could be seen at a glance.

They were the uncles who had helped carry the chestnut balls before.

"We went home and got gloves and sickles."

The implication is, come and help peel the chestnuts.

Xu Fuqiang stood up and said, "How can this be so embarrassing? This chestnut ball hurts my hands a lot."

"There's nothing to be afraid of. I work every day and have thick calluses on my hands. I'm not afraid of thorns." One of them laughed heartily.

Grandpa went into the house to pour tea and brought it out to people.

People are willing to help out of good intentions. They are all acquaintances in the village. The host should be polite to them and there is no reason to be polite and then drive them away.

All of a sudden, there are several more people working on peeling chestnuts.

Xu Fuqiang invited a few people to his house for dinner later in the evening before leaving.

Helping out with a meal was very normal in the village, and since everyone had worked for the Xu family before, they all knew how delicious the food was, so they all nodded in agreement.

While Xu Fuqiang went to the backyard to drink water, he called his wife and told her that more people would be having dinner in the evening.

It would take too long to peel all the chestnut balls in a few baskets, but it would certainly be much faster with help.

The chestnuts that have just been peeled have full flesh and a lighter color on the outside, but the color will become richer after a while.

The adults started chatting about this and that again.

Xu Qingzhi squatted obediently on his side and peeled the chestnuts. From time to time, he would be lazy and use a certain technique to make the chestnut balls easy to peel open automatically, and he would just pick out the chestnut meat inside.

The man in the black short-sleeved shirt said, "Old man, are you going to sell all these chestnuts? The price of chestnuts has dropped again this year."

The man in the blue short-sleeved shirt heard this and saw Xu Qingzhi next to him. He smiled and praised: "Qingzhi is a promising person. The big star returned to the village to grow vegetables, and now the vegetables are selling so well."

Someone agreed: "Yes, the vegetables are really delicious. The rice porridge that the helpers drank in the morning was also delicious, and the fried water spinach tasted very good. No wonder the vegetables can be sold at such a good price."

Xu Qingzhi was most afraid when her elders were chatting and suddenly praised her. She would inexplicably feel her toes digging into the ground and would just look up and smile at them politely.

The topic then turned from her to chestnuts.

"I feel like there's really no point in growing chestnuts. My father-in-law's family also grows chestnuts and will be harvesting them in a few days. I heard that this year's new chestnuts are only sold for three yuan per pound, but in previous years they could be sold for six yuan."

"That's right. In the past, fewer people planted chestnuts, so they were sold at a higher price. Now, more and more people are planting chestnuts, so the price is lower. Many people who want to make money don't plant chestnuts anymore."

"I heard that there are some places with famous chestnut varieties, and some people are willing to buy those. These chestnuts can be sold at a good price, and some people will buy them at ten yuan a pound."

"Hahaha, that person's chestnuts are better. We are in a poor area, so don't expect to get 10 yuan a pound. We'll be lucky if we can sell them."

"It's better to hurry up than late. Old man, you picked these chestnuts early. They can be sold for three yuan now, but it's possible that they will drop to two yuan later. This is a weird market."

"Oh, right? I see your rice is in the house. Have you not sold it?"

"No, last time I sent it over, they said my metal content exceeded the limit and they refused to accept it. They never had this excuse in previous years."

"My neighbor's rice also exceeded the standard this year, so they refused to accept it. They asked me whether I should send it to the millet factory, and they did."

Xu Qingzhi listened carefully and looked up twice.

(End of this chapter)