Chapter 108: Planting Peppers
After Lu Yao's coaxing and tricking, the three children finally picked up their spoons and started eating.
With just one bite, three pairs of eyes opened wide at the same time, then curved into crescents.
"How about it?" She really wanted to hear the children's opinions.
"tasty!"
"tasty!"
“It’s delicious!”
The two boys and Yueyue answered loudly.
"Mom, the ice jelly is so delicious." Yueyue scooped another spoonful into her mouth, her eyes narrowed involuntarily, and she was enjoying it very much.
Lu Yao nodded silently. "If you like it, I'll make other flavors later."
Nowadays, there are many flavors of ice jelly. She believes that they only need to copy two or three flavors and their ice jelly business will become popular all over the country.
However, if we don't put it into practice, everything is just empty talk.
After a while, the person who delivered the ice jelly came back quickly, followed by men carrying bowls.
Lu Yao was curious: "Why are you all here?"
"Yaoyao, how come you're so amazing!" Rong Bingwu, who was taking the class for free, said excitedly, "For more resources, join the Knock Knock group: [Medicine and] Phase 2, 5281. What's this ice jelly called? It tastes so good! I could eat three bowls in one sitting."
Lu Yao chuckled: "No matter how delicious it is, you can't eat too much at once. Your stomach won't be able to handle it."
Everyone got ice jelly, sat under the eaves, felt the cool breeze, and ate ice jelly. It was a beautiful day.
Rong Bingwen smiled and said, "It's really comfortable and relaxing to have a bowl of cool ice jelly in weather like this."
"What do you think? If we can find the ingredients to make ice jelly, can we sell it?" Lu Yao wanted to hear everyone's opinions.
“That’s fantastic!”
“It’s fresh, delicious, and refreshing, a must-have for hot weather.”
“It’s going to be a blast.”
"I just don't know what it's made of, and whether it's easy to find."
"What materials do you need? Yaoyao, tell us and we'll look for them."
“…”
Everyone is quite confident about ice jelly. When the weather is hot, having a bowl of it will make you feel relaxed and refreshed.
"Yaoyao, can we sell this ice jelly once we find the ingredients to make it?" Lan Xin asked expectantly after swallowing the ice jelly in her mouth.
If you sell this, your business will definitely be booming.
Ye Jiayue nodded in agreement, but...
"I think braised food is also good. As long as I smell the aroma, I will definitely not be able to move my feet," she said.
It's too difficult to choose one between the two.
She couldn't choose.
"Why choose one?" Rong Ziyu was puzzled. "There are so many of us, we can do all of them."
Ye Jiayue and Lan Xin looked at each other, and then looked at Lu Yao at the same time, asking for her opinion with their eyes.
Lu Yao chuckled lightly, without being pretentious, and said, "We can try selling braised food and ice jelly. These two are relatively simple and easy to make. However, we should start with a small amount to see the market feedback. If people like it, we can continue to add varieties. For example, ice jelly is just the basics. We can also add a lot of ingredients to it, such as dried fruits, fruits, and taro balls. For braised food, we can try pig head and pig offal first. These are relatively low in cost and cheap to sell, so people are willing to spend a little money to try them."
She paused for a moment, then continued amidst everyone's excitement, "But we're still unclear about the spending power of people here. We'll have to try it out to find out. If these things aren't popular, we'll have to switch to something else."
“It’s definitely welcome!”
This is the voice of everyone present.
Lu Yao is confident in her cooking skills, but whether others can accept it or not, she has to try it first to know.
The conditions here are limited, and it is unlikely to make a lot of money all at once.
At least,
Not yet.
But little by little, you can accumulate a lot. Once the business is stable, you can slowly seek other development opportunities.
She has a lot of business ideas in mind, but she has to take them one step at a time.
"Of course, this is just my idea. We need to plan and discuss the specific situation in detail," she said.
Although the Rong family gave her enough trust and respect, she should also return the same respect and trust.
"Yaoyao, your idea is very good. Let's do as you say."
"Yes, we will fully cooperate."
Ye Jiayue and Lan Xin said.
Lu Yao chuckled: "Aren't you afraid that I'll just talk big and lose money?"
"We believe you."
"Anyway, you won't know until you try it first."
"Besides, how much can we make in a day? Even if we really can't sell it, there are so many people in our family, so why worry about it being wasted?"
"Yeah, there are so many of us, we have to eat anyway."
"If you have any ideas, feel free to go for it. Even if you fail, it doesn't matter. We are here for you."
"If you need anything, just ask."
“…”
Everyone was talking at once, and Lu Yao could hear everyone's concern and support for them. The most important thing was not to feel any psychological burden.
She smiled and nodded, indicating that she would do her best.
"You can do it, but make sure you combine work and rest and don't get too tired."
"Yes, if there's any heavy work, we must be asked to do it."
“We are studying now, but that doesn’t mean we are doing nothing.”
"We must give us a chance to exercise."
Lu Yao thanked everyone. "Don't worry, I won't forget you," she said. "I want to go up the mountain tomorrow to see if there's anything I can use."
From Xiao Rong, General Lin and others, they knew Lu Yao's ability and skills. When she wanted to go up the mountain, no one objected. They just repeatedly emphasized the need to pay attention to safety and arranged for someone to accompany her.
After eating the ice jelly, everyone talked for a while. The men went next door to continue reading, while the women were busy with housework.
Liu Manyun and Qin Tianxiao were embroidering under the shade of a tree, talking and threading, looking at the three children from time to time.
In their spare time, they would make some embroidery to sell.
Several of them were women from wealthy families, and they had learned embroidery and other skills from great masters since childhood. Their skills were very good, even better than those sold outside. However, embroidery was tiring on the eyes, and there were many things to do at home, so they only made some occasionally and sold them outside, which was considered a source of income for their family's "good days".
Lu Yao lost her parents when she was young, and her uncle's family was full of calculations, so no one taught her embroidery. However, because the brother and sister depended on each other, they were good at needlework. She envied and admired that they could embroider such beautiful patterns, and she was eager to try it.
Liu Manyun knew about Lu Yao's family situation. Besides feeling distressed, she also wanted to take better care of her, so she immediately asked her if she knew how to embroider.
Lu Yao shook her head honestly. She and her brother were lucky enough to have decent clothes to wear. They couldn't even imagine the styles, patterns and embroidery.
Liu Manyun was happy, "Do you want to learn?"
Finally, there is something this child can't do, and she has a chance to show her abilities.
"Really?" Lu Yao was a little tempted, but still hesitant: "Will it be too troublesome?"
I have no basic knowledge of embroidery, and I still have a long way to go to learn.
How could Liu Manyun find it troublesome? She immediately said that as long as she wanted to learn, she could do it anytime.
Lu Yao said happily, "Then I'll learn embroidery from you when I have time."
Because they were going up the mountain tomorrow, it would be much more convenient if they could find what they wanted with a clear goal, so she decided to draw what she was looking for first. If they had seen it before, they could just go and look for it.
He did what he said, said a few words to a few people and returned to his yard.
In the study, Rong Bingwen's voice could be heard from time to time. Lu Yao took a look and then looked away. She returned to the bedroom, found a piece of waste paper that the man used for calligraphy practice, and began to sketch.
In order to avoid suspicion, she shaved the charcoal into very thin pieces. Although it was a little inconvenient to use, it was usable at least.
Lu Yao hadn't held a paintbrush for a long time, and she was a little unfamiliar with it at first, but she had a solid foundation and quickly got the hang of it. Since it wasn't a professional brush, the results weren't very good, but she could still recognize what they were.
If she had been like that, she would have definitely redrawn it, but now, she decided not to force herself and just make do with it.
After drawing several things, Lu Yao returned to the next room. Liu Manyun and the others looked at them and were a little uncertain.
Qin Tianxiao also said: "Let them take a look later. It feels a little familiar to me, but I'm worried that I won't be able to remember it."
Getting such an answer was beyond Lu Yao's expectations. She had just wanted to try her luck and didn't hold out much hope.
Now she hopes that her painting was just too abstract and that these things really exist on the mountain.
When the sun was not so scorching, several female relatives took Lu Yao to the vegetable garden in the backyard to check on the situation.
The vegetable patch in the backyard is quite large and is well maintained. In addition to several fruit trees, there are also various vegetables and fruits, enough for them to be self-sufficient.
Only then did Lu Yao realize that there was also a piece of land behind their yard, but it was empty and nothing was planted in it.
According to Liu Manyun's introduction, this piece of land belongs to Lu Yao and her family. It is considered a private plot and they can decide what to plant.
Only then did Lu Yao discover that there was such a piece of land behind many courtyards. Many families, like the Rong family, grew vegetables, but some also grew crops and grains. It all depended on how each family arranged it.
"It just so happens that I have some things I want to plant." Lu Yao was really happy.
I was still hesitating about where to plant the peppers, but now I don’t have to worry about it anymore, the backyard is the best choice.
It is not only convenient to take care of, but also safe and not easy to be discovered.
The piece of land next door that belonged to the Pu family is now empty. It seems that the Pu family has been busy working on the fields on the slope recently and has no time to take care of this place.
She thought of Xiaobao and wondered how the little guy had been doing these past two days. She hadn't seen them come to see her.
Thinking of the Pu family's character, she suddenly realized and felt a little annoyed. The other party came here because of the Rong family's "behind-the-scenes operation". She and Brother Rong have been busy with other things recently and have no time to pay attention to them.
After deciding what to plant, Liu Manyun and others did not delay any further and went directly to the front yard to get tools such as digging and started turning the soil.
Lu Yao was not idle either. She picked a piece of land that was facing the sun, had strong water retention, and had relatively loose and fertile soil. She would use this as a seedbed for growing pepper seeds.
In fact, according to the weather here, the best time for breeding is around Qingming Festival. If the plants are planted too late, they cannot develop before the high temperature and drought, which can easily cause flowers and fruits to fall off, affecting the yield and quality.
Fortunately, their location is opposite to the village entrance and is on the shady side. As the sun sets in the west, this side is gradually blocked by the mountains behind. In other words, the side where the exiles live has relatively less sunlight and the climate is relatively cooler.
At least, Lu Yao doesn't have to worry about being exposed to the sun for a long time.
Lu Yao took a hoe and began to turn the soil in the selected place. She was very careful and dug very deep, trying her best to turn the soil into fine and fluffy.
According to scientific breeding methods, the bed soil must be deeply plowed half a month in advance, and some farmyard manure and calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer must be sprinkled according to the situation to improve soil fertility, and pesticides must be sprayed to disinfect the soil and prevent weeds in the seedbed.
But now we are in the backward ancient times, and some aspects cannot be guaranteed.
Lu Yao could only try her best to follow the scientific breeding method.
After turning the soil, she went back to the chicken coop in the front yard and shoveled some chicken manure into the soil. She used a hoe to evenly distribute the farm manure on the seedbed, and then mixed it with the soil after being exposed to the sun tomorrow. The preliminary preparations could be temporarily slowed down.
There is no pesticide to disinfect and sterilize, but she remembers that some herbs can achieve the same effect, so she plans to go up the mountain to look for them tomorrow.
After she finished her work, Liu Manyun and others also turned over a lot of area. Looking at the weather, Lu Yao asked everyone to go back and prepare for dinner first, and continue the rest tomorrow.
The preliminary preparation of seeds still takes some time. It will take at least half a month to grow a few leaves and then transplant them. There is no need to rush to turn the soil.
"Yaoyao, what are you planning to plant?"
Everyone is curious about this question.
Lu Yao kept it a secret, saying that you would find out when you wait until evening.
No one had yet experienced the charm of chili peppers, and she didn't intend to tell them beforehand.
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