Chapter 201: Prosperity
It was the first time for the villagers in Shenjiazhuang who planted strawberries and watermelons to experience the busy farming season in summer. It was also the first time they experienced the feeling of money coming to their doorsteps.
Chen Mu took a group of children to the fields to pick strawberries before dawn. In about an hour, they had picked all the strawberries that could be picked and filled three large wooden baskets.
Su Tai asked the villagers to weave the so-called wooden cages themselves. They are like steamers, stacked up layer by layer, and can be stacked up to ten layers. This way, there is no need to worry about the harvested strawberries being crushed.
Just as the father and his son were about to go back, a foreign businessman came into the village. Seeing his three wooden baskets, his eyes lit up and he quickly stopped them and asked, "Fellow villager, has anyone ordered these strawberries?"
Chen Mu shook his head. Thinking of what Su Tai said before about staying calm and taking the initiative, he deliberately pretended to be expressionless and said slowly, "Just harvested, ready to take it back."
The other party became even more excited and asked to take a look.
Chenmu opened it openly and let him take a closer look, so the other party bought all the strawberries from Chenmu's house without saying a word.
The family next door looked at him with envy, and within a quarter of an hour someone came to his house to ask.
The situation in Shen Quezi's family is similar.
Originally, he had no intersection with Shen Yi, and he had no intention of following the trend to grow fruits. He only became interested because he adopted a child, and because several poor families in the village worked with Shen Yi and made money, he gritted his teeth and tried his best to clear out four acres of dry land, two acres for watermelon and two acres for strawberry.
He didn't expect strawberries to be in such short supply. He now works hard from dawn to dusk every day, and has saved more money than in previous years. He is so happy that he smiles to everyone he meets. But then he becomes annoyed that his family has too little land. If he had more land, he could earn more.
There were many families who were as upset as he was, so a wave of land buying started in the village.
Shen Ying was in pain and happy at the same time.
Because there were so many people looking to him to buy land, he had no time to take care of his own farm work and had to leave it to Zeng and his children and grandchildren.
After more than half a month of strawberry craze cooling down.
Shen Ying was finally able to take a breath.
In the evening, he sat in the yard enjoying the cool breeze and asked Zeng: "How much did our family earn from selling strawberries this time?"
They only planted four acres of strawberries.
Zeng smiled so hard that she couldn't stop. She leaned over to his ear and whispered, "Three hundred and twenty taels."
"How much?" Shen Ying stood up suddenly. His legs were cramped from excitement. He grinned and asked, "How could there be so many?"
Zeng smiled at him in a reproachful way, sat down with a smug look on her face, and while picking the vegetables she explained slowly, "Because this is the first batch, to be honest, the strawberries are so fragrant! I have never seen such sweet fruits in my entire life, and they look so pleasing.
We sell it for ten cents per pound. The yield is quite high, and we can earn about eighty taels per mu of land. When I sold the last batch, I went to Shen Yi's house to give some thank-you gifts and chatted with Su Tai for a while. She said that this is only the first year, and if we take good care of it, there will be more fruits next year!
I am content. It doesn't matter whether we can get more fruits next year or not. Anyway, we have earned more than 300 taels. In ten days or so, we can harvest watermelons and make a lot of money again."
Shen Ying recovered, surprised and happy, and asked: "How do you know that watermelon can make a lot of money? What if this thing is worthless?"
"That's impossible!" Zeng said confidently, "To tell you the truth, I went to the fields and checked. Most of the melons are ripe. There are a few that were spoiled by thieves. I also tasted a few. They are sweeter than strawberries and have enough water to quench your thirst. They are not afraid of being pressed and can be stored longer than strawberries. I don't agree with you that watermelons don't make money."
Shen Ying now felt confident and smiled like a fool.
After a long while, he sighed and said, "It seems that everyone who works with Shen Yi's family has made a good living this year. Shen Quezi can also save more than a hundred taels. I never dared to think about it before!"
Zeng nodded in agreement, "That's right! Their house is right next to Shen Yi's. When I went there, I chatted with Mrs. Zhang. Mrs. Zhang was very happy and kept saying that Shen Yi and his wife were living Bodhisattvas who saved people from suffering.
He also said that the child was their family's lucky star. If it weren't for the child, Shen Quezi wouldn't have thought of working with Shen Yi, and their family wouldn't have been able to save so much money.
I think the child is doing really well with Shen Quezi. In just a few months, he has become a lot fatter and whiter. He is also very clean and smiles whenever he meets people. He is very likable. "
Shen Ying listened silently, thought about what he had asked Shen Dagou to inquire about before, and walked towards Chen Mu's house.
When Shen Dagou saw Shen Ying coming, he immediately followed him out obediently.
Shen Ying said slowly: "If there is no result for the things that uncle asked you to ask before, then you don't need to ask. No matter whose family the child belongs to, she has been exposed in front of the town official and was abandoned by her biological family. It's good for her to follow Shen Quezi."
Shen Dagou was a little surprised, but felt it was expected, so he nodded and agreed obediently.
Shen Ying smiled, turned around and looked at the small courtyard of Shen Mu's house which was almost completed, and the smile in his eyes deepened.
After taking a few days' break, the villagers started busy harvesting watermelons again.
Watermelon fields are just like strawberry fields. As soon as the fruits come out, small animals will visit the fields. Someone must watch over the fields for twelve hours, and when the harvest starts, the ripe ones and the rotten ones must be picked off.
When Su Tai stood at the door of her house, she could often hear the workers shouting in pain, "How come such a big piece of food was stolen again? What a heartless thing!"
Every time Huang Xinghua brought people to collect the spoils, Su Tai would complain to her, and she felt helpless.
The harvested melons were immediately taken to the provincial capital by ox carts. Their family had a lot of land, so they usually harvested from morning to night without stopping.
At this time, Huang Xinghua had no time to take care of their melon fields.
After more than a month of harvesting, she realized that her family had earned more than 550 taels. She was immediately dizzy and grabbed Chen Mu's hand tightly. Her voice was trembling as she spoke, "Dad, you mean that our family has earned nearly 1,000 taels this summer?"
Their family planted four acres of strawberries and eight acres of watermelons.
These twelve acres of wasteland were purchased last year. There was no tax on the wasteland in the first three years after it was reclaimed, so the couple gritted their teeth and planted fruit trees on all of them. They thought they could only make a little money, but they didn't expect it to be so much!
Chen Mu, who was usually dull and serious, smiled like a fool and could not stop nodding. "I have been counting over and over again for two days. That's right. How about you count again?"
Huang Xinghua had to count the numbers herself, and the couple lit candles and counted all night. There were bursts of strange laughter coming from the house, and Shen Dagou and Shen Xiang, the brother and sister who got up early to work, were frightened when they heard it.
The Chenmu family has such a large sum of money, plus what they saved in the previous two years, they can be said to have completely turned their fortunes around.
Originally, they were worried about building a small courtyard for their eldest son to marry and what to do when the next few sons came. Now, this problem is no longer a problem. What they want to think about is buying more land to build a family business for their sons.
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