Li Yan looked at Qin Yue, whose eyes were curved with a smile, and thought to herself, "Don't mention it, this kid is quite good-looking! If he didn't have so many little thoughts, he would be pleasing to the eye!"
At this time, Li Xiaomei, who had cleaned up the dishes, called her niece, and the aunt and niece went back home first.
After returning home, Li Yan first found a few bamboo baskets and said to Li Xiaomei who was busy at the side: "Auntie, come and help me pick some sweet potatoes from the field!"
Li Xiaomei: "Okay, you go first, I'll go find you in the cellar when I'm done!"
After Li Yan picked up the sweet potatoes, the aunt and niece lifted them onto a donkey cart and pulled it down the mountain.
When Mr. Li saw Li Yan pulling the sweet potatoes over, he hurriedly led his men forward to help carry the sweet potatoes to the edge of the field. "I just had them hoe the ground again and raise the plots. Do you think this will work?"
There weren't many rules for planting seeds, so Li Yan nodded immediately: "Master, you guys go ahead and do your work. I'll just take care of the three aunts and Xiu'er here!"
Hearing this, Mr. Li stopped caring and went to work busying himself with pulling the cows to plow the fields.
Li Yan turned around and said to Qin Yue who was standing beside her: "Call your people over here. This won't be difficult. They'll figure it out as soon as they see it!"
Qin Yue saw that Li Yan really wanted to teach him, so he immediately called over the dozen people who were busy hoeing the fields. "Now, watch carefully how Miss Li plants the seeds, and follow her and learn from her!"
The dozen or so people who followed Qin Yue to Lijia Village were all veteran farmers carefully selected by him, and they were all used to doing farm work!
Qin Yue's original plan was to bring them here to learn planting techniques, and this was now exactly what he wanted.
At the edge of the field, Li Yan stood in front of a neatly trimmed patch of land, holding a sweet potato in her hand. She said to the crowd gathered around her, "Uncles, look carefully. This sweet potato has a head and a tail. If you plant it vertically, don't put the head at the bottom! Otherwise, the sweet potato vine won't grow!"
At this time, someone asked, "Girl, this is the first time we've seen this. Can it grow melons if we plant it like you said?"
Li Yan shook her head: "That's not the case. We are planting seeds now to grow vines. We will have to cut the vines and use cuttings later. But we can only do that in a month. Let's plant the seeds first!"
Everyone was confused. Could crops be grown this way? Wasn't it too much of a joke?
However, none of them had ever seen anything like this, so they had no choice but to obey orders.
Li Yan continued to demonstrate with the sweet potatoes in hand: "The method just now doesn't allow for planting seeds that deep. I have plenty of land here, so I can just lay them out horizontally and cover them with soil! It's simple and there's no chance of them being planted upside down!"
Everyone followed Li Yan's instructions and began to apply fertilizer, plant seeds, cover the soil, and water the plants.
But it takes some effort to get this water. Although there is spring water coming down from the foot of the mountain, the area is too far away. It doesn't take much effort to get water near the spring, but it will take a lot of effort to get water from the areas a little further away!
Although it is a drought-resistant crop, it still needs water when it is first planted.
I am still not fully prepared for this matter. It seems that digging ponds and storing water need to be put on the agenda.
Because there were so many people helping, it didn't take long to cover several large baskets of sweet potatoes. Li Yan then took people back home and ran several times to pull all the remaining more than 2,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes from the cellar!
Of the original 3,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes, nearly 500 kilograms were damaged due to improper storage when they were brought back. However, the vines grown from these 2,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes were enough! With crop after crop of vines, Li Yan couldn't finish planting all the 30 acres of land, but that's a story for another time.
With everyone's help, 2,500 kilograms of seed potatoes were planted in just half a day.
Then Li Yan instructed several aunts to go to the mountain and cut some thatch to cover the sweet potato fields.
This practice not only helps maintain soil moisture but also locks in temperature, providing conditions for the growth of sweet potatoes.
Qin Yue stared intently at Li Yan and the others busying around, occasionally stepping forward to help. When Li Yan finished, Qin Yue walked up to her and asked doubtfully, "Is it that simple?"
Li Yan smiled and shook her head. "I've already told you this, this is just planting the seeds. We'll need to do some cuttings after vines grow in a month or so. There's no rush right now! Go back and till the soil first, then start planting the seeds the way I told you to!"
Qin Yue nodded as if he understood, but there was no point in asking more questions. It would be better to start according to what the girl said!
After watching Li Yan plant the seed potatoes, Qin Yue felt that his goal for today had been achieved. He clasped his fists towards Li Yan and said, "Thank you so much for today, young lady! I'll have people start planting tomorrow!"
"Mr. Qin, there's no need to be so polite. You also brought cows to help me. This is mutually beneficial for us! I think there's no need to be so polite!" Li Yan said cheerfully.
It was already sunset. Qin Yue looked at the sky, said goodbye to Li Yan, and hurried back with his men.
After everyone left, Li Yan also pulled the donkey cart back home and settled the animals.
Li Yan sat on a small stool in the main room, supporting her chin with her hands, thinking about her next plan in her mind!
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