Chapter 259 - 259 Exchanging Wheat
After the summer harvest, Zhou Ying found Manager Liu. “Uncle Liu, how’s the wheat harvest in your two villages?”
“Why? Do you want some?” Manager Liu asked with a smile after pausing for a moment.
“That’s right. As you can see, our farm is full of white sweet potatoes. There are still two to three months before they can be harvested. We have to eat before they ripen.” Zhou Ying immediately replied with a smile.
“I can only give you a thousand pounds of wheat.” Manager Liu nodded.
“Sure, as long as we can get through this. I’ll pay you ten coppers per pound. How about it?”
Manager Liu shook his head. “Let’s trade. I don’t have any feed for my cattle and sheep, so I want you to provide me some white potato vines back.”
“That’s fine too, as they grow back fast. After the flowers wither and bear fruit, we’ll have cut some of the vines. I’ll give them to you then.” Zhou Ying stated.
“Why do you have to cut off the vines? Shouldn’t you keep the vines and leaves on it so the potato can grow bigger?” Manager Liu asked in confusion.
“Think about it; there’s only so much fertilizer in the field. If the vines overgrow, wouldn’t the fertilizer all be wasted? We’re supposed to be prioritizing the fruit, not the leaves.
“Also, they will absorb fertilizer when it takes root in the ground. So when you no longer need the vines and leaves, you must start pruning them. Otherwise, the potatoes won’t be sizable.”
“Not bad; you’ve already studied it thoroughly in such a short time.” Manager Liu commented thoughtfully.
“So-so. An old farmer in the village also discovered it.”
After the two of them exchanged a few polite words, Zhou Ying returned to her restaurant.
She spoke to Sun Hongliang, “Brother Sun, put a sign at the door that we are buying wheat. One pound for 20 coppers.
“No matter how high the price we are paying, I’m afraid we won’t be able to get any, right?” Sun Hongliang was surprised by her request.
“Let’s try, just in case.” Zhou Ying sighed and continued, “If we can’t buy any, our restaurant will only sell vegetable dishes soon.”
“I understand.” Sun Hongliang also understood that she was trying to find a way out.
Otherwise, they couldn’t sell anything without grain or wheat.
Early the next morning, Manager Liu sent someone to deliver two carts of wheat. Zhou Ying asked them to transport it directly to the manor, as it wasn’t safe to leave it in the restaurant; it was likely to cause more issues.
As expected, five days after the sign was put up, no one came to sell their wheat, and the water in the well was getting lesser and lesser.
In the end, Zhou Ying reluctantly closed the restaurant while Fang Qing and the others stayed to guard it.
As for Sun Hongliang and his family, they followed Manager Liu to move to the manor. Zhou Ying also returned to the village and began to harvest her chilies.
After harvesting all the chilies, Zhou Ying climbed the mountain to see if she could forage for something to cover up her act of taking stuff out of her interspace.
Madam Qiao spoke up after dinner in the Gu family’s old house, “Son, in a while, you should go and deliver 50 pounds of black flour to your third brother.”
“No, I don’t agree. We have only harvested about 1000 pounds of wheat from our 50 acres of land this year. It’s already not enough for us to eat. If we give them any, we will starve to death.” Mrs. Liu continued, “Besides, their lives are much better than ours. They wouldn’t care about that little bit of black flour.”
Madam Qiao glared at her unhappily. This was the thinking of someone in a lower position. Even if she were made the main wife of the family, it didn’t do any good to her overall vision of the family.
She looked at Mrs. Yao and asked, “What do you think?”
“L…” When Mrs. Yao heard this, she was also somewhat unwilling. There were more than ten people in the family. At most, a thousand pounds of wheat mixed with vegetables would be enough for them to eat for four months.
She didn’t want to give a speck of it to anyone else..