Xiao Youran tilted her head and thought for a moment before saying, "We've seen these kinds of potatoes back in our hometown of Dingzhou. Didn't you, brother?"
Jiang Youchen had no choice but to bite the bullet and reply, "Yes."
The villager couldn't help but mutter to himself, "If we could have two kinds of food a year... then we'd truly be saved. We wouldn't have to wait until next autumn to forage for wild vegetables..."
Another villager, as if suddenly injected with adrenaline, exclaimed, "Tomorrow we'll go to the county town and ask if they have any potato seeds!!"
Xiao Youran thought for a moment and then said, "Corn is fine too."
She remembered seeing farmers planting corn around November in later dynasties, though she didn't know which one. Although it was December now, this place was in the south and the climate was warm, so the corn might grow a little slower, but it should still be able to grow.
Some villagers got excited, "Is corn really effective?"
Another villager hesitated, "I don't know if it will work or not. If it doesn't, wouldn't it be a waste of the seeds? Besides, buying seeds costs a lot of money!"
Xiao Youran turned to look at Yun Tiankuang, "Cousin Tiankuang, didn't we harvest some corn cobs last time? Haven't we eaten them yet? Why don't we let them use them as seeds? The fields are just lying fallow anyway, aren't they?"
Yun Tiankuang nodded hesitantly, "I have to go back and ask my mother."
A villager then looked curiously at the tree branch Jiang Youchen was holding and asked, "Young man, what are you holding? It looks like mushrooms, but it's bright red. Could it be poisonous?"
Xiao Youran also asked her brother curiously, "Brother, this looks just like the dried red mushrooms we saw at the North-South Trading Company in town yesterday."
Jiang Youchen immediately gave her sister a dramatic look, and then said in cooperation, "It should be, it seems to be more than ten taels of silver per catty."
The villagers gasped in shock. "More than ten taels of silver per pound?"
Xiao Youran immediately asked, "Does anyone in our village know how to cultivate mushrooms? If these red mushrooms can grow in large quantities, wouldn't they be able to sell for a lot of money?"
The villagers' eyes immediately lit up. "I know, the old clan chief is very good at cultivating mushrooms!"
"Brother, let's go find the old clan chief!"
When they arrived at the old clan chief's house, his eyes lit up as soon as he saw the red mushrooms.
Xiao Youran asked, "Grandpa Chief, can you cultivate this kind of red mushroom?"
The old clan chief trembled, "These red mushrooms are extremely valuable; they're rare even in the entire Taizhou region. The ones you can usually buy in ordinary north-south trading houses are just dried goods. If these red mushrooms could be cultivated, then..."
Wouldn't that be a huge windfall?
Jiang Youchen placed the red mushroom on the table in front of the old clan chief, saying, "Please give me your guidance, old clan chief."
The old clan chief frowned again. "These red mushrooms shouldn't survive the winter, right? They only grow well in warm weather. Where did you find them?"
Jiang Youchen said, "On Zhongshan Mountain."
When the old clan chief heard about their trip to Zhongshan, he advised them, "Few people have been to Zhongshan, and we don't know if it's dangerous. You must be careful."
Xiao Youran nodded, "Yes, Grandpa Chief, red mushrooms grow best in warm weather. Although it's cold outside now, we all have heated brick beds at home, so it's quite warm, isn't it? Can't we cultivate red mushrooms there?"
The old clan chief's eyes lit up again after being reminded of this, and he patted his head. "Oh my, our little lucky star is so clever! How come we didn't think of that? Grandpa Clan Chief will give it a try!"
"Mmm!" Xiao Youran jumped off the chair, hugged Xiaobai, and said to her brother, "Let's go back then."
The clan elder was thrilled, "Little lucky star... do you mean you're going to let us cultivate these red mushrooms?"
Even Yun Tiankuang and Yun Manwan, who were following silently behind, were quite surprised.
Xiao Youran turned her head and said, "Grandpa Chief, if you succeed in cultivating this red mushroom, could you teach all the uncles and elders in the village about the mushroom and how to cultivate it? They are so pitiful, searching for food on our mountain all day long."
What was clearly a word of sympathy was heard as great news by the clan leader.
He suddenly burst into laughter, "Little lucky star, you have no idea that this move of yours is giving away boundless wealth!"
Xiao Youran blinked. "Huh? If Grandpa Clan Chief doesn't want it, can I take it back?"
The clan chief's wife, who was already laughing uncontrollably, slapped the old clan chief's hand hard. "You old codger, still teasing this little girl! You don't even know if you can successfully cultivate these red mushrooms. If you do, then you can teach the villagers! Do you think this is like growing a cabbage? Can every household grow it? Those who can grow it are truly blessed!"
The old clan chief, upon hearing this, realized it made perfect sense. After seeing the two pairs of siblings out, he specifically called out to Jiang Youchen and his sister at the door and bowed deeply to them, saying, "Last time you saved more than twenty lives, and this time you are going to save the lives of the entire village! I would like to express my gratitude to you here!"
Jiang Youchen quickly helped the old clan chief up, "Grandpa Clan Chief, you're too kind to us."
Finally, when someone expressed their gratitude, they included him in the conversation, sob sob...
...
As the night passed, Xiao Youran discovered that her luck value had soared to 16 points.
She believes that some of the villagers who went up the mountain with them yesterday to pick chestnuts are here, as are others who have heard about the possibility of cultivating mushrooms together in the future.
Xiao Youran, however, was struggling with how to conjure up potatoes and how to convince everyone that their origin was legitimate. Clearly, the potato yield would be much higher.
This year, the only cause of crop failure was flooding, but it was not a drought that made farming impossible.
So the town wasn't short of grain, but the price had gone up. Many farmers were already strapped for cash, and once they'd used up their savings, they were unable to buy any more.
If they were to rely on rice grown in the fields, they would have to wait until spring to sow and autumn to harvest the new grain, which would mean they would go hungry from this winter until next autumn.
She just suggested planting corn. If you plant it now, you can harvest it next summer. Then plant another batch in the summer, and you can harvest corn again in the winter.
If the red mushrooms can be cultivated now, the villagers will have an additional source of income and won't have to go hungry.
I just don't know how long it will take from nurturing to monetization?
Upon hearing about the chestnuts and the red mushrooms at the Yun family's old residence, Madam Yun remarked that Xiao Youran was not only a lucky star for the Yun family but also for the entire Sanyang Village.
Therefore, she specifically asked Zhou to come over after the four sisters-in-law returned home that evening to inquire about Yun Manwan's marriage.
When the old lady learned that Zhou Shi had made up her mind after hearing those two sentences from Xiao Youran: first, that Zhao Huai would have a bright future; and second, that he and Yun Manwan would live happily ever after.
Madam Yun praised Zhou for doing a good job.
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