Chapter 487 Knowing
In fact, it’s not just a few households, but more than a dozen households.
This year's summer and autumn harvests were good, and with the winter wheat crop in the spring, Bai Shanbao even exchanged one pound and two ounces of wheat for a batch of wheat, so most of the villagers in Qili Village had enough food.
So not many families decided to grow winter wheat.
After all, it’s tiring, isn’t it?
Throughout the year, everyone has a little relief after the autumn harvest, and then they plant winter wheat, which means they are really busy all year round.
This is not a good sign.
But the Zhou family decided to plant winter wheat. After he contacted several families in the village, several families agreed. After a little hesitation, more than a dozen other families followed suit.
That’s how farming works.
The reason why the Zhou family decided to plant winter wheat was, first, that Manbao and his family's small farm wanted to plant it; second, Old Zhou still missed the income from the new wheat seeds; and third, the family had cows, and it would feel like a waste if they didn't plant it.
However, they don't plan to plant more, and will still only plant 20 acres this year.
No other family can afford as much as the Zhou family.
Planting two or three acres is enough, mainly because they don’t have to rely on winter wheat for food.
Yes, everyone is so easily satisfied.
After Manbao and his friends got out of school, Mr. Zhuang was also invited over.
Mr. Bai was very happy to see the children interacting with County Magistrate Yang, so he asked Bai Shanbao and Manbao to stay and have dinner with County Magistrate Yang.
Yang Heshu also likes talking to the three children.
Talking to them is neither as troublesome as coaxing a child, nor as stressful as dealing with a cunning adult. There is no need to worry that they won't understand what he is saying and feel powerless.
So the four of them soon formed a separate group, walking in the garden, admiring the flowers and talking, leaving Mr. Bai and Mr. Zhuang playing chess in the pavilion.
Manbao took a fancy to a chrysanthemum and ran up to admire it.
Bai Erlang waved his hand generously and said, "This is for you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Bai Shanbao picked the flower and put it on Manbao's head, then couldn't help laughing.
Yang Heshu couldn't help laughing when he saw the chrysanthemum that was almost as big as Manbao's face.
Manbao, however, felt very beautiful and even ran to the lotus pond at Bai Erlang's house to take pictures. Bai Shanbao held her tightly and said, "It's very beautiful, very beautiful. We just came from that side. Don't go there."
Yang Heshu laughed until tears came out. He wiped his eyes and nodded, "Yes, it looks very good."
Manbao took the flower down and said, "Since it's so beautiful, you should give it to Lord Yang. You are our father and mother."
When Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang heard this, they thought it made sense, so they grabbed Yang Heshu and the three children worked together to put the flowers on his head.
Now Manbao's turn to laugh along with Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang.
Yang Heshu waited until they had laughed enough before taking the flowers off their hair. He asked with a smile, "Didn't you agree to come to my house when you have time in the city? Why haven't you come yet?"
Manbao said, "I have only been to the county town once before the Mid-Autumn Festival, but I went with my family. There were so many people there, I didn't want to disturb you, my Lord."
Bai Shanbao also said: "We went to Yizhou during the Mid-Autumn Festival."
"Oh?" Yang Heshu saw that they were acting more and more like little adults, so he spoke more like he was talking to his peers. "Is Yizhou fun?"
Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang nodded vigorously. "Their streets are incredibly large, and there are so many of them. We spent two days walking around and still couldn't finish them all."
Manbao exclaimed, "It's so big?"
They both nodded.
Manbao said, "There must be a lot of delicious food there."
"Of course," Bai Shanbao said, "I told you to go or not."
Yang Heshu asked with a smile, "Is Yizhou lively?"
Bai Shanbao thought for a moment and said, "It's lively, but the people are weird."
"Oh, what's so strange about it?"
Bai Shanbao said, "There are many beggars in Yizhou, not only in the city, but also along the official roads and outside the city gates. We haven't even entered the city yet, and they are already begging with bowls in their hands. How pitiful."
Bai Erlang nodded repeatedly, "We don't have so many beggars in Luojiang County. They're rare in the city, and there are only one or two in the towns. Occasionally, they'll pass by and ask for a bowl of porridge."
The reason why Bai Erlang said this was because his family had the most imposing house in Qili Village. Beggars passing by would hang around outside his door first. Every time, his grandmother would ask someone to give the beggar a bowl of rice and then give the other person two bowls of rice to send him away.
Bai Erlang has seen this several times since he was a child.
But only a few times.
So he was as surprised as Bai Shanbao at the beggars that could be seen everywhere in Yizhou.
Yang Heshu put his hands behind his back and sighed softly, then asked, "Are they all begging because of last year's natural disaster?"
"I've asked, and most of them are. Some also come from other places in Yizhou," Bai Shanbao sighed. "The prices in Yizhou are too high. There's a place that sells delicious wontons, and they cost twenty cents a bowl, while in Luojiang County they only cost seven cents."
Manbao immediately explained, "It only cost five coins before."
Yang Heshu thought thoughtfully, "The price of grain must be very high over there, too?"
Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang nodded together.
Yang Heshu looked at him and laughed, "Did you specifically ask about the price of grain?"
"Of course," Bai Shanbao said as a matter of course, "There's a grain store not far from the villa where we live, so we went in to take a look."
Bai Shanbao said to Manbao, "My cousin has made a lot of money from us. You must not know what our new wheat seeds are selling for in Yizhou."
"What's the price?"
Bai Shanbao said, "It's an outrageous price! The grain shop won't even sell it, but the clerk said so. He said if we want to buy that new wheat seed, we have to pay at least three hundred coins."
Manbao was stunned. "One bucket?"
Bai Shanbao nodded affirmatively, "One bucket."
The three friends never had time to talk about these things, because he and Bai Er had too much fun on this trip and did not finish the homework assigned by the teacher. As soon as they returned home from vacation, the teacher punished them with three times the homework.
Every day, Bai Shanbao and Bai Erlang could only stay in the study to do their homework, but Manbao could run home to play with his nephews and nieces after finishing his homework, and he didn't take care of them at all.
Yang Heshu's eyes widened as he asked, "What kind of wheat seed costs three hundred coins a bushel?"
His first thought was that someone was maliciously raising the price of wheat seeds. At this critical moment of post-disaster reconstruction, this behavior was extremely bad.
The three children were very proud, "It's our wheat seeds."
Yang Heshu narrowed his eyes and asked, "Is there anything special about your wheat seeds?"
"Of course." In order to promote their wheat seeds to Mr. Bai, the three of them, including Bai Erlang, listed the advantages of their new wheat seeds and recited them by heart.
Although it's been a long time now, Bai Erlang still remembers it, so he and his two friends chatted with each other...
"Our wheat ears are long!"
“Our wheat plants are tall and strong.”
“Drought and flood resistant.”
“The main reason is that the output is still high.”
Yang Heshu asked with a smile, "How much did you sell it for?"
"It's 150 wen a dou if sold to our family, and 180 wen a dou if sold to outsiders. But now the price of grain has dropped, and the price of grain seeds has also dropped."
(End of this chapter)
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