What if this potato is only so well-behaved in Lili's hands?
"Lili, have you ever thought that this isn't a problem with potatoes, but rather that you can harvest a bountiful harvest from anything you touch?"
Lili blinked: "Hmm... that's not wrong."
Seeing that Village Chief Ma's expression immediately fell, Lili added, "However, Lili thinks that everyone can have a good harvest by planting!"
Yes, that's right, Pear's lips have been blessed.
Village Chief Ma hesitated: "Really?"
"Of course! If you don't believe me, you can try it."
*
At the foot of the mountain at the end of Xinghua Village, men were working hard in a large pit on the right, while women were gathered in a circle in the square on the left, ready to listen to Lili speak.
There were nearly thirty potatoes piled up in front of Lili, each one a large one.
Shen Jiawen stood on the left, Shen Jiaqing on the right, like bodyguards, and Shen Jialuo squatted in front, cutting potatoes in half.
A group of people watched the children's actions with a cacophony of voices, full of doubt.
Shen Jialu, who was working hard alongside Shen Jiahao, saw them from afar and couldn't help but ask, "Big brother, what are Lili and the others doing?"
Shen Jiahao glanced at it briefly before continuing his work: "It seems like they want to get everyone to plant potatoes?"
"Plant potatoes?" Shen Jialu asked, puzzled. "Are they the potatoes that Lili dug up from the backyard yesterday?"
"It seems so. Those potatoes are really good, big and plentiful. No wonder Lili was secretly growing them there. It turns out she was secretly thinking of ways to make our village rich."
Shen Jialu nodded in deep agreement.
Over here, the women looked at the potatoes that had been cut in half; they were golden yellow inside and looked delicious.
Lili made three batches of potatoes. This batch of potatoes was brought over in one go. They had just been taken out of the soil. Even though the potatoes were cut in half, they were bigger than the potatoes she usually makes.
There are potatoes that big, but why are all the potatoes in this whole pot so big?
One person tentatively asked.
"Lili, these potatoes look really big. Did that nobleman from the capital bring them to your family?"
Another person retorted, "I think you're confused. These potatoes are still attached to their roots and leaves, and they're covered in mud. They look like they were just dug up."
The person who was refuted glared at her. She knew they were freshly dug up, which made her even more curious about why this bunch of potatoes was so plentiful and big!
Village Chief Ma coughed twice: "Alright, alright, everyone quiet down and listen to what Lili has to say."
The crowd gradually fell silent. After Shen Jialuo finished cutting the dozen or so potatoes, he looked at Lili and boasted, "Little sister, I'm done cutting them!"
"Thank you, brother!"
After praising the child, Lili started boasting: "Aunties and grandmas, look at the potatoes Lili grew, aren't they plentiful and big?"
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"It's huge, really huge. Can you see it? It's almost as big as my palm!"
"Wow, not only are they big, but there are so many of them! This whole litter is so big, I've never seen anything like it before."
"Yeah, there must be more than a dozen of them, right? If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really wouldn't believe that a litter of more than a dozen could be that big."
"Why don't you believe it? Lili said she grew it herself, so what's impossible about it?"
Everyone chimed in with their own opinions, and Lili waited until they had all finished before continuing, "Yes, one grain seed can grow a whole bunch of potatoes, and a bunch of potatoes has at least ten or more, and each one is big and delicious."
The crowd gasped in disbelief.
"Lili, are you planning to sell this to your aunt?"
Lili shook her head: "Of course not, Lili wants everyone to grow potatoes together."
"ah?"
Shen Jiawen spoke up at the opportune moment, explaining his idea to everyone: "Our current potato yield is about two shi per mu, but if we plant this kind of potato, the yield can reach at least six shi per mu, and we can guarantee both quantity and quality. As far as I know, there are zero people in Xinghua Village who grow potatoes on a large scale. Therefore, we would like to ask everyone to clear out their empty land and plant potatoes."
Lili: "Potatoes have low requirements for grain varieties and are easy to grow. Not only can a single potato produce more than a dozen at a time, but the planting time is also short, requiring at least one month. Potatoes can be planted in spring, autumn, and winter. The shorter planting time means that potatoes that could only be planted once can be planted twice, thus greatly increasing the yield. Do you know what a yield of six shi of potatoes per mu means? It means that Xinghua Village's road to prosperity may have started from here."
After hearing this, everyone looked at each other, not daring to utter a sound.
They didn't hear wrong, did they?
Potatoes that yield six shi per mu?
That's a full three times!
And the harvest time is only one month?
This means that in the same amount of time, they can get six times more potatoes per acre than others!
But doesn't that sound too unrealistic?
What if this batch was just lucky, or... maybe it's just because the person who planted it was Lili that there were so many?
Why can't they grow such good quality crops? Let alone six times, even two times is something they wouldn't dare to dream of.
Lili was naturally aware of their concerns, which were quite normal.
Land is, after all, the lifeblood of farmers. If they are not careful, they will lose both their land and their money, and the time and land costs involved will be a huge loss.
Moreover, in this year of famine, when everyone is in danger, not a single bit of waste can be tolerated.
If large-scale planting were to proceed without any clear understanding of the situation, it would be difficult to predict what problems might arise.
Lili said, "I know everyone still has doubts, but that's okay. Everyone can take a little bit back and try it out. We'll see the results in a month."
Grandma Wang pulled her daughter-in-law forward and said, "Lili, let your Grandma Wang try it! Anyway, the rice harvest is over, and we're just sitting around doing nothing. It won't hurt to take some to try. The potatoes are all here, so I believe what Lili says. Besides, everyone knows what kind of people the Shen family are. They're trying to make money off everyone!"
After hearing what Aunt Wang said, the others thought about it and agreed, "Why not try some?"
It's fine to plant just one small patch. It's a small quantity, and watering and fertilizing are easy things that don't take up much land or time.
Even if the yield isn't that impressive, getting a few potatoes for free is still a good deal.
Besides, the Shen family is doing very well these days. They've even built a new house. Why would they bother to lie to you?
The honesty and kindness of the Shen family are well-known to everyone in Xinghua Village.
Most importantly, everyone's rice harvest this year was all thanks to Lili. Who doesn't know what Lili is capable of?
Village Chief Ma, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.
"The reason I called everyone here today is so that you can all think about this carefully. Lili is just a child. Why go to all this trouble? Isn't it all so that everyone can have a better life?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com