Chapter 250: Exchanging Cornmeal for Wild Vegetables
Lin Sanqi knew that he had to help, and it wasn't a difficult task for him.
"Don't worry, Dean Shen, I'll take care of the fertilizer issue."
The three old village heads were all surprised: "Oh, there are capable people in the Chinese Medicine Hospital who can even get fertilizer? Chief Lin, can you help our village get some fertilizer too..."
Lin Sanqi rolled his eyes and thought to himself, you guys are really dreaming.
"Uncles, didn't you hear just now? Fertilizer is incredibly expensive and hard to come by. Even if you all lost your limbs, you still wouldn't be able to afford it. Besides, I'm just trying to find a solution, I don't guarantee I'll be able to buy it."
The three old village heads felt a little embarrassed after hearing this. Indeed, it would be better for farmers to buy grain directly with this money. Only the wealthy units in the city could afford fertilizers.
Vice President Ji obviously found inspiration at this time and said to President Shen next to him:
"We can't put all our hopes on fertilizer. What if Comrade Lin Sanqi can't get it? How about we go to the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and ask if they have any corn seeds that increase yield and are drought-resistant?"
Dean Shen clapped his hands and said, "Yes, how could you forget about the seeds? You can ask not only about corn seeds, but also about potatoes, sweet potatoes, or any other vegetable seeds."
Lin Sanqi next to him was thinking about something else.
In 1960, the level of scientific research in China was just so-so. A group of leading grain experts like Grandpa Yuan Longping had not yet grown up, so it was useless to ask at the Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
If there really is some good agricultural technology, why has the country been experiencing a food crisis for three or four consecutive years?
Others don’t have the conditions, but Lin Sanqi does.
It's just grain seeds. When the time comes, ask Mr. Zhao at the grain and oil wholesale market to see which company has the highest seed yield and buy a batch. It will definitely be a high yield by 1960.
He is not too ruthless and does not want a ton or 1,000 kilograms. He just wants the average yield per mu to reach 700 kilograms.
Those 1,000 acres of land can harvest 700 tons of grain, which can completely solve the problem of food and clothing for thousands of employees and their families in the hospital.
If these 700 tons of corn are all used as food, they can be turned into tens of thousands of tons of grain. Wouldn't that be considered a huge contribution to the country?
I just don’t know whether those high-yield grain seeds are genetically modified. If they are, then they are doomed and cannot be used for growing grain.
After seeing off the three old village heads, Dean Shen, Vice Dean Ji, and Lin Sanqi stood in the field and continued their small meeting.
"Xiao Qi, you just heard that now the smooth operation of our farm depends entirely on you. How much money is needed to buy fertilizer? I'll think of a way. We only have 100,000 yuan in our account right now. I'm not sure if it's enough."
Lin Sanqi thought that this old man really didn't know how to calculate. For 100,000 yuan worth of ginseng, he could provide two or three hundred tons of food.
You spend 100,000 yuan to buy fertilizers. Even if the corn yield doubles or triples, it will only be a little over 100 tons. This will cost all the employees half a year's hard work. It's not cost-effective.
But there is no way around it. Chinese people are so attached to the land. They feel at ease only when food grows in the land.
"Okay, Uncle Shen, Uncle Ji, don't worry, I'll take care of the fertilizer and the seeds. Just prepare 50,000 yuan worth of musk and bezoar for me."
Dean Shen and Vice Dean Ji smiled at each other after hearing this, and felt relieved...
"Sanqi, what are we going to do?"
Pan Ye followed Lin Sanqi carrying a bamboo basket and asked curiously.
Lin Sanqi also carried a basket and walked towards the hillside:
"Let's pick wild vegetables today. Look, there are so many people on the distant mountain. I even saw some people picking wild vegetables in the orchard near our Chinese medicine hospital this morning."
Pan Ye felt a little strange. Her boyfriend didn't seem to lack food. There were hundreds of kilograms of white flour hidden in the dormitory. How could he suddenly have to eat wild vegetables?
"Sanqi, are you having any trouble?"
Lin Sanqi was a little surprised: "No, what difficulties could I have? If there is any difficulty, it's probably just hoping for the early reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait."
Pan Ye rolled his eyes at him: "Virtue!"
Lin Sanqi chuckled and was about to go up a slope when he stretched out his hand.
Pan Ye put his hand into Lin Sanqi's hand without hesitation, then pushed hard and climbed up the hillside.
After pulling his girlfriend up the hill, Lin Sanqi was reluctant to let her go. The two of them pretended to know nothing and walked forward hand in hand.
Lin Sanqi gently stroked Pan Ye's little hand, thinking that when you fall in love, you have to go into the woods or to a dim movie theater. Only in such a deserted place will girls let down their guard.
If I meet a more open-minded girl, it is not impossible to have a deep and simple soul-to-soul communication in the woods.
The two of them held hands, smelled the fresh air, felt the breath of spring, and their hormones were stirring.
Men need women, and women need men as well. Spring is here, and it is the breeding season for animals...
"Actually, I wanted to pick some shepherd's purse so we can make shepherd's purse dumplings when we get home. Wow, this is the best gift spring has given us."
After hearing this, Pan Ye was really at a loss whether to laugh or cry:
"Other people pick wild vegetables to save their lives, but you pick them to improve your life and enjoy delicious food. Be careful not to be heard by outsiders, otherwise they will criticize you again."
Lin Sanqi didn't care: "There's no one else here, so of course I can speak my mind to my wife."
"Bah, who is your wife? You are so shameless."
Although Pan Ye had already admitted it in her heart, as a girl she certainly couldn't admit it out loud, as this was related to the girl's modesty and family education.
Lin Sanqi asked in surprise:
"Oh, you're not my wife? Then what should I do if I'm holding someone else's wife? Why do I feel even more excited?"
Pan Ye got angry when he heard this: "You pervert, how can you say that to your partner? I'm going to beat you up!"
The two of them ran through the orchard, one chasing the other, laughing happily all the way.
In fact, there were quite a few family members of Chinese medicine hospital employees picking wild vegetables in the orchard. When they saw the young section chief playing with his girlfriend, they all started laughing too.
The hospital leaders are worried about the food problem, but the employees are not worried. After all, they are used to the company taking care of everything they eat, drink, defecate and urinate.
In Changping in spring, there are quite a lot of wild vegetables, including shepherd's purse, dandelion, wild garlic, wheel vegetable, etc.
But Lin Sanqi and Pan Ye only found a little shepherd's purse after searching for a long time in the orchard. Other places where there were wild vegetables showed signs of disturbed soil, which made both of them a little depressed.
"Sanqi, I see all the wild vegetables here have been picked. It looks like we won't be able to eat shepherd's purse dumplings today."
Lin Sanqi thought that he could definitely eat it. He could travel back to the vegetable market in 2013 to buy cultivated shepherd's purse, but the taste of cultivated and wild ones was completely different.
Especially the wild vegetables from 1960 are pure natural and pollution-free, and can be eaten raw.
In 2013, wild vegetables either had excessive pesticide residues or excessive heavy metal pollutants. In short, wild vegetables can only be tasted for their own good. Eating too much will not only fail to clear away heat and dampness, reduce swelling and disperse nodules, but will be harmful instead.
"It's okay. The wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain have been dug up. Let's go deeper into the mountain. If nothing works, we can trade grain with the farmers for some wild vegetables."
Only Lin Sanqi could come up with the bizarre idea of exchanging precious grain for wild vegetables from farmers.
However, Pan Ye knew her boyfriend's ability and did not object. The girl was quite obedient and would do whatever her boyfriend said. She would never argue or act on her own.
It's rare to find a girl with traditional ideas.
The two of them were talking and laughing as they walked towards the mountain. On the way, they met a few young boys carrying a few broken bamboo baskets coming down the mountain.
These are some rural children from a nearby village. They are dressed in rags and don’t even have a pair of shoes.
On the other hand, look at Lin Sanqi and Pan Ye. Although they were not dressed very well, they were both clean. If it were not inappropriate, Lin Sanqi would have wanted to wear Li Ning sneakers to go hiking.
Visible to the naked eye.
Lin Sanqi was also sharp-eyed. Seeing what these children were holding, he cried out in surprise:
"Hey, little brother, wait a minute."
Several little boys stopped and looked at Lin Sanqi and Pan Ye nervously:
"What do you want? We picked these things from the mountains. They're not from your farm. Don't take them away!"
Lin Sanqi was a little puzzled: "Why would I steal your things? Has anyone robbed you before?"
One of the little girls, about ten years old, nodded and said:
"They snatched it away from us. They were kids around our age. They said the mountains where we were picking wild vegetables all belonged to the Chinese Medicine Hospital farm and that we couldn't pick any more. They even snatched everything away. It was so unreasonable! City people shouldn't bully others!"
Lin Sanqi thought, this rural kid is so naive, he believes whatever others say.
However, this was a dispute between the children of the staff of the Chinese Medicine Hospital and the rural children of the nearby villages. Lin Sanqi didn't bother to care about it. Young boys fight all the time. It's a normal thing.
"Don't worry, uncle is a farm cadre and won't steal your things. Can I see what's in your basket?"
Seeing how polite and easy to talk to, the children lowered their guard and said proudly:
"I'll show you guys this. This is Chinese toon. Look, there's a big basket of it."
Lin Sanqi started drooling when he saw the Chinese toon. It was so fragrant and delicious when fried with eggs.
"This basket is of willow buds..."
"Willow Leaf Bud?"
Lin Sanqi was a little puzzled. "Is this a new leaf from the willow tree? Can you eat it? What if it's poisonous?"
Pan Ye was speechless about her boyfriend, wondering how this family of traditional Chinese medicine raised her:
"Willow buds are not poisonous. From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, they can be used as medicine. They have the effects of clearing away heat and detoxifying, promoting diuresis and reducing swelling, fighting inflammation and killing bacteria, moistening the intestines and promoting bowel movements, and helping to lower blood lipids."
Lin Sanqi was despised and felt a little embarrassed. He was the apprentice of 12 masters of traditional Chinese medicine, and his personality was that of a child from a traditional Chinese medicine family.
In 1960, he relied on this identity to get medicinal materials and secret recipes. In 2013, he used this identity to deceive rich people into buying precious medicine villages. If outsiders knew that he didn't even have a solid foundation in traditional Chinese medicine, his image would collapse.
Several children have already started to chatter about how to eat it:
"Willow sprouts are edible. In the past, the landlords would wrap them in flour and fry them in oil. I heard that fried willow sprouts tasted even better than meat. Now we just take them home, boil them in water, and add a little salt before eating."
Lin Sanqi was a little curious: "Does boiling willow leaves in water taste good?"
Several children shook their heads and said, "It's not tasty. I feel like a sheep eating grass."
“Hahaha~~~”
Lin Sanqi thought these kids were really humorous, but unexpectedly, Pan Ye stepped on him lightly.
Sure enough, the expressions on the children's faces were embarrassed and annoyed, thinking that Lin Sanqi, a city dweller, was laughing at them.
Lin Sanqi scratched his head awkwardly and quickly explained:
"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean anything else. Come on, I'll treat you to some candy."
After saying that, Lin Sanqi took out a handful of fruit candies from her messenger bag and distributed them to the six children present, and even gave some extra to the two little girls.
Children can be easily coaxed, not to mention candy, which they probably hardly ever get to eat on a regular basis.
“Thank you, uncle!”
"Thank you, uncle, you are such a kind man!"
Lin Sanqi continued to look at the other baskets, because at a glance, he felt that there should be quite a lot of colorful harvests:
"What other good things did you find?"
"Uncle, we also picked shepherd's purse, dandelion, and amaranth..."
“And this bamboo shoot…”
"This is yellow mushroom. It's a pity there's no lard, otherwise it would be super fragrant when stir-fried..."
"Wow, you guys have quite a harvest. By the way, can you sell all these wild vegetables to me?"
"Sell it to you?"
The children looked at each other, and sure enough, in their life options, there was no idea of selling wild vegetables to others. To them, every household was picking wild vegetables, so how could they sell them?
One of the older boys touched the candy in his pocket and smiled innocently:
"Uncle, if you want to eat wild vegetables, we'll give these to you."
"Give it to me?"
Lin Sanqi was a little surprised. These were several baskets of wild vegetables. It might have taken so many children a whole day to collect them.
Pan Ye was anxious. She had been taught since childhood not to take even a single needle or thread from the masses.
"No, no, this is all the result of your hard work. If we take it, we will become the exploiting class."
Lin Sanqi stopped Pan Ye from exaggerating and talking about this class and that class all the time. It was clearly the good intentions of the mountain kids, and he shouldn't scare others.
"Well, I'll take all your wild vegetables, but I'll trade them for food. Now I'll write you a note. Send the wild vegetables to the bungalow dormitory at the Chinese Medicine Hospital and ask someone named Aunt Li to give you five pounds of cornmeal. How about that?"
The children were excited when they heard this: "Really? Are you really willing to trade our food for wild vegetables?"
Lin Sanqi said cheerfully while writing in his notebook:
"Of course it's true. From now on, if you pick any wild vegetables, rabbits, pheasants, or anything else, you can send them to me and I will exchange them with food!"
“Great, thank you uncle!!!”
For children, 5 kilograms of corn flour is the best gift for them this spring...
Today, a friend from Chengdu treated me to some Yunnan mushrooms, which I specifically requested. They weren't as delicious as I'd imagined. Afterward, I wandered around Chunxi Road. Chengdu is truly a beautiful city, incredibly bustling with people. It was already past 9 PM when I got back to the hotel, and I could only manage 4,000 words. Tomorrow I'm heading to Chongqing for a serious meeting, so I'm running out of time to write again. Haha...
(End of this chapter)
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