28 Chapter 28
◎Wheat diseases◎
The vegetables in the greenhouse came out again. Mu Yun went to the town every two days. One day he came back and said that the shopkeeper Hu from Qingyunlou asked him how many hawthorn eggs he had.
Mu Yun only said that he planted three plots of land in the greenhouse last year. He didn't say how big the land was or how much he harvested. He had to ask Cheng Mu how much she wanted to sell it for.
Cheng Mu wanted as many potatoes as she wanted, but she couldn't be too ostentatious. She said, "Tomorrow, take him a cartload. Have him gather some sand and let it dry for a day. After it cools, bury the potatoes. As long as they're not exposed to the sun, they'll keep very well. But there's one thing: if they sprout, don't eat them. If they do, have Shopkeeper Hu find a plot of land to plant them. You can cut them up, and use each sprout as a seed. In a few months, you'll have a bunch."
When she first asked Mu Yun to go to Boss Hu to sell potatoes, she gave him a few recipes.
These potatoes were many generations older than the ones Gao had at the time. They contained more starch and had a flourier texture, so she didn't give a recipe for spicy and sour potato shreds. They were all stewed, such as stewed meat, roasted duck, pan-fried, etc. Mu Yun said that Boss Hu had developed many other cooking methods based on this, stir-fried, shredded, or sliced. No matter how it was cooked, this mountain egg was very delicious, so he wanted to order a large quantity.
"If Shopkeeper Hu grows his own potatoes, will he still want ours in the future?"
"Wouldn't it be better if he grew his own crops?" That was exactly why Cheng Mu had shamelessly asked Gao for potatoes. She said, "Once the wells and ditches for washing and draining the salt are almost finished, get some people to go to the hills behind to cut down the bushes and till the soil. I'll have a lot of potatoes there."
"There's money to be made, and people from Banbi Village also want to come and work. We can hire people anytime."
"Okay, then, use the money from selling this truckload of potatoes to hire someone to plow the land on the hill behind us." Cheng Mu drew a diagram of how to plow the hill behind us and showed it to Mu Yun. "It will look like this in the future."
Besides the layers of terraced fields, there was also a place with a number of Mongolian tent-like patterns drawn on it. Mu Yun asked, "Where is this?"
"The granary," Cheng Mu said, "we store the potatoes, rice, and wheat we harvest there."
Mu Yun pursed his lips and frowned, thinking that it was not feasible. Wouldn't this be telling others that I have food here?
Seeing his worried expression, Cheng Mu chuckled, "It's just for show, it won't hurt anything. I have enough space for as many as I want, and no one can find them. I've put them all there."
Yes, she has a secret, and everything she does now is to rationalize her secret.
Mu Yun thought about it carefully and said, "Why not build a high platform here and surround it with high walls to prevent thieves?"
"Okay." Cheng Mu nodded approvingly, her eyes gleaming in the fragmented sunlight. She pointed at the unpainted space, "How about buying this place and building a dock?"
Mu Yun was a little stunned. A picture seemed to appear in front of his eyes. There were corner towers standing on the four corners of the high and thick courtyard wall. The city was rich in water and food. It was well-defended and the city was as solid as a rock. "My sister-in-law will be the owner of the dock, so I need to train the soldiers."
Cheng Xi took a deep breath and said, "Let's work towards this goal."
The sun was shining brightly. In front of the hall, Cheng Mu placed Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi in the wooden cart made by Zhao Datian.
This stroller has two seats, for children six and seven to sit facing each other, and there is a table in the middle, like train seats.
Gui'er came running back from somewhere, panting and shouting, "Madam Cheng, Brother Shitou has caught Old Man Chen. Go check out the fields."
Facing the glare of the light, Cheng Wei squinted and looked over, "What's wrong?"
"Old man Chen is doing something bad on our land!"
Yu came out of the house and said, "Madam Cheng, you and Gui'er go and take a look. I'll take care of the two children."
Old man Chen was a stranger in the village. He wasn't very old, not even fifty years old. He had a knotted chin and spoke incoherently, "Cheng, Cheng, Cheng..."
Gui'er puffed out her chest and said, "This is our host, Madam Cheng."
Zhao Shitou was still holding onto Old Man Chen's clothes. Old Man Chen shrank into a ball, as if trying to shrink himself into an egg. Cheng Mu said, "Shitou, let him go first."
On the way here, Cheng Mu heard from Gui'er that Old Man Chen was stealthily pulling up seedlings in their field, and that she had seen him hanging around nearby the day before.
Cheng Mu asked him, "What are you doing in our fields?"
"Cheng, Cheng, Mr. Cheng, boss..." Old man Chen stammered for a long time and couldn't say a complete sentence.
Cheng Mu looked around on the ground. Zhao Shitou caught Old Man Chen here, which meant he had been squatting here before.
I did find something.
Cheng Mu went over and picked it up. It was a leaf with yellowish-brown powdery spots. Her face froze, and she asked Old Man Chen in a cold voice, "Where did this come from? Why are you doing this in our fields?"
If you don't look carefully, you would think it is a withered yellow leaf. Shi Tou and Gui Er didn't notice it.
Shitou asked, "Boss, what is this?"
"Wheat diseases affect wheat heading and grain filling. In mild cases, the grains may not be full, and in severe cases, the wheat plants may wither and die."
"You bastard!" Gui'er was so angry that she rolled up her sleeves and was about to go forward and beat the guy up, but Cheng Mu stretched out her arm to stop her.
"Uncle, if you have such thoughts, don't blame us for not being considerate of our neighbors. You know Gui'er, she's a person who will take revenge if she has any."
Old man Chen's face turned pale, his legs bent, and he knelt down begging, "Mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy..."
Gui'er looked at Cheng Mu and asked, "Do you want to fight?"
Cheng Mu asked her and Shitou, "Do you know where his land is?"
Impatient to listen to Old Man Chen's stammering and non-sensical talk, Cheng Mu asked Shitou and Guier to take their men and go directly to Old Man Chen's field.
Old Man Chen planted two acres of wheat. At first glance, the wheat seedlings, which were already sparse, had mostly yellow-brown leaf tips. Cheng Mu's field was green like spring, but at first glance, Old Man Chen's field looked like autumn.
Gui'er's eyes widened, "Wheat is so sick, have you ever thought about giving it to us?"
Old man Chen begged for mercy again and again. He learned how to grow wheat from Cheng Mu and the others. He used the same method of tilling the soil and sowing the seeds, and the wheat seedlings grew well. He just didn't know why his wheat seedlings were sick while those in Boss Cheng's field grew so well.
If we say that no crops can be grown in the fields, everyone should be the same.
If the disease in wheat seedlings can be transmitted from one plant to another, then Boss Cheng's should also be sick.
He was somewhat unconvinced, and more than that, he didn't understand.
Cheng Mu asked Old Man Chen, "Do you want to know why our wheat seedlings are not diseased? You just wiped each plant with a diseased leaf, and our wheat seedlings are not diseased. Do you want to know why?"
Old man Chen looked at Cheng Mu in horror. How could she guess so accurately!
Cheng Mu told him, "Because the seeds are different, you should exchange your wheat seeds for mine next time. Plant them once and you will know."
Old man Chen stopped talking and hung his head dejectedly.
"These diseases are everywhere. Do you want to treat them?"
Of course he would have thought about it. If Old Man Chen knew there was a way to cure it, he would have done it long ago. Their farming has always depended on the weather. At most, they would apply water and fertilizer, and they would harvest whatever God gave them. Whether these wheat seedlings can survive the diseases all over the ground depends on them.
Zhao Shitou looked at Cheng Mu with admiration, "Does the boss have any way to cure it?"
“People need to take medicine when they are sick, and wheat seedlings also need to take medicine when they are sick.”
Old man Chen raised his head, his eyes lit up, and looked at Cheng Mu with hope.
Cheng Mu laughed, "You've bullied me so much, and I'm not the type to repay evil with kindness. Shitou, hand the man over to the Eighth Master for punishment. I want an explanation."
Cheng Mu gave Zhao Shitou a look, wondering if he understood what she meant.
Zhao Shitou brought the man to Mr. Zhao Baye and talked a lot, expressing double the anger and asking Mr. Zhao Baye to severely punish Old Man Chen.
It was obvious that he didn't understand what Cheng Xi meant.
Mr. Zhao, as the village elder, was in charge of educating the villagers. He hoped that all the people in the village would be friends, help each other, and save each other when sick. He could not tolerate the old man Chen's behavior of harming his neighbors and corrupting the morals.
"You are so confused. Why are you getting more confused as you get older?"
Old Man Chen originally thought he was at fault, but seeing Mr. Zhao's grief-stricken expression, he gradually felt that he was not at fault at all. "Cheng, Boss Cheng is a foreigner, a foreigner, invading, invading, occupying my land..."
Mr. Zhao couldn't stand it anymore and slapped the table hard. Old man Chen was so scared that he trembled and swallowed back all the words he hadn't said.
"Chen San, ah Chen San, don't think outsiders can be bullied. Your Chen family is also outsiders! They came here with money and seeds, and they know how to improve the land, grow vegetables and wheat. But you, on the other hand, came here with nothing to escape the famine! We all helped build the house, and you just took the land away. How are you better than Boss Cheng? If you can't grow wheat well at your age, you will do bad things!"
Mr. Zhao scolded Old Man Chen and then earnestly told him to be moral and to help each other in times of trouble.
Old man Chen thought of his two acres of wheat seedlings, and also thought of how Boss Cheng had the means to save them but didn't, and said angrily that Boss Cheng had no intention of helping each other.
"Boss Cheng is right. She shouldn't repay evil with kindness. You don't realize your mistake at all. Even if I were you, I wouldn't be able to help you!"
"Wrong, wrong, wrong, I, I was wrong..."
As long as his wheat seedlings can still be saved, Old Man Chen will admit his mistake immediately.
Seeing his pitiful appearance and thinking of his family's situation, Mr. Zhao Ba spoke sternly, "If you want to sincerely admit your mistake, go and apologize to Boss Cheng and help her with her work for a few days. As long as she calms down, I will help you get a prescription to cure your illness."
Zhao Shitou didn't understand what was meant, but Mr. Zhao Baye made sure it was done for him.
They were all poor people, and it was not easy for them to earn a living from the land. How could Cheng Mu just sit back and watch and let the wheat seedlings on two acres of land die in vain?
Under the guidance of Mr. Zhao, Old Man Chen came to work for her every day and even brought his little grandson with him to work.
Cheng Mu asked Gui'er to search for Ailanthus altissima trees nearby and bring back a few baskets of leaves. She soaked the leaves for a few days, extracted the liquid, added water, and made an insecticide, which she filled a whole jar for Old Man Chen.
She lent him the spray bucket she made for watering the vegetable garden and asked him to go spray it as soon as possible.
I specifically reminded him that he was not watering the ground, but spraying it on the leaves that had rust.
Old man Chen killed two rounds of wheat, and after a period of time, the yellow-brown color faded and the wheat seedlings turned green again.
It really worked! Old man Chen was so excited that he asked his grandson to kowtow to Cheng Mu a few times.
He went to thank Master Zhao Ba again and wanted to kowtow himself, but Master Zhao Ba stopped him, "We've been neighbors for decades, don't do that. Remember, harming others will eventually harm yourself. If you really made Boss Cheng's wheat sick, how could your wheat seedlings be saved today? Don't have the intention to harm others in the future. Boss Cheng is a real talent. How can someone praised by County Magistrate Huang himself be wrong?"
"Hehe." Old man Chen just laughed.
Mr. Zhao stroked his beard and praised Cheng Mu in this way, which also made him feel reassured in his heart. He had given her ten acres of land, and of course he hoped that she would become as capable as possible.
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