Joe's Farming

Qiao Yu readily agreed: "Sure! But I can't give too much, because we promised our county magistrate that we have to give it to him first, and he has to give it to the poor families in the county."

Kang Ping nodded: "That's natural, that's natural."

"But you two haven't eaten them yet. How do you know that these potatoes will be delicious?"

Wang Xuan rushed to say, “Do I need to taste this? Boss Qiao spent a lot of money growing this, so it must taste right!”

Everyone likes to hear good things. Qiao Yu smiled and said, "Hahaha, it's really delicious. You'll be able to taste it later. Otherwise, if you two don't mind, you can have dinner with our family tonight. I plan to make a potato feast tonight. It's just that my family is a little large, I wonder if you guys mind?"

Wang Xuan looked at Kang Ping in disbelief, and Kang Ping smiled and nodded. Wang Xuan then waved his hands vigorously: "No problem, no problem! Please be sure to call us!"

Qiao Yu: “Okay!”

As soon as Xie Changyu heard that Qiao Yu was going to prepare a potato banquet, he climbed up from the ridge of the field.

"Brother Qiao, can I bring my wife and son to try it?"

Qiao Yu waved her hand hurriedly: "Your Excellency is too kind. If you don't mind, please come. But please come in the evening. Is it convenient for you?"

Xie Changyu said happily: "Of course it is convenient, then I'll have to trouble Brother Qiao."

Since they were going to invite them, Qiao Yu thought of Xu Yuan and his wife again, so she asked Gu Feng to go to the town to buy meat and vegetables, and to tell the couple by the way.

The people at the snack bar also asked them to come back early after they had sold out.

Not to mention the children, let Wen Ge'er and others take them back.

When Qiao Yu finished making all the arrangements, more than half an acre of land had just been harvested. Qiao Yu asked someone to bring a large scale and began to weigh the potatoes that Xie Changyu had promised to give him.

We had agreed that if the potato harvest was good, we would sell him 2,000 kilograms.

Qiao Yu estimated that one acre of land could produce 3,000 kilograms, so he would have about 4,000 kilograms left, half for seeds and the other half for eating and selling, which would be just enough.

Soon, two thousand kilograms of potatoes were weighed in the field and piled together like a mountain of potatoes.

The villagers nearby exclaimed: "We haven't even dug up all the acre yet and we've already produced 2,000 kilograms of this stuff! This thing can really grow!"

Some villagers are already ready to take action.

A few people had already gathered around him and asked, "Brother Qiao, how much are these potatoes? Can you buy a hundred kilograms for my family?"

"I want fifty kilograms."

A little boy blushed: "Can I... have ten kilograms?"

Qiao Yu smiled gently and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely sell it to you. Wait until my family finishes collecting the crops and see how much is left."

Xie Changyu nodded appreciatively and took out the silver bill from his sleeve and handed it to Qiao Yu.

"Here are two hundred taels. Keep it."

Qiao Yu blinked her beautiful eyes and asked in a puzzled voice: "Sir, is this too much?"

He originally planned to sell potatoes for only three cents a pound, just a little more expensive than sweet potatoes, otherwise ordinary people would not be able to afford to eat them or grow them.

Xie Changyu comforted him, "I don't care how much you plan to sell it for. This is the reward I asked the court for for these two thousand kilograms of potatoes. You deserve it. Take it and have a clear conscience."

Qiao Yu then happily took the banknote and said, "It's good to follow the right official." The court actually has such rewards.

Qiao Yu didn't know that the Great Yan court actually had many ways to reward people who made contributions to local areas, but most of the money was taken away by officials.

Xie Changyu ordered his people to pack the potatoes into sacks and transport them back to the county government office by ox cart. In the next few days, he would distribute these potatoes to the poorest families in Taoyuan County and let them grow them themselves.

This season is the best season to plant potatoes. If you act quickly, after harvesting one batch in July, you can harvest another batch at the end of October.

The bumper harvest of potatoes by Qiao Yu’s family is certainly due to the fact that he hired someone to take care of them, but even with a conservative estimate, the yield of 2,000 kilograms per mu is a real result.

Xie Changyu asked and found out that Qiao Yu only used 110 kilograms of potatoes per acre of land!

Two thousand kilograms means that at least more than 30,000 kilograms of potatoes can be harvested.

If half of the more than 30,000 kilograms of potatoes are left for another round of planting, another 300,000 kilograms of potatoes can be harvested!

When Xie Changyu thought of this, he became extremely excited.

Thinking of how Qiao Yu had previously given him a booklet on how to grow potatoes, he secretly decided that the next time the county elected gentry, he would definitely nominate Qiao Yu.

Xie Changyu left with satisfaction, but the villagers who had wanted to buy potatoes earlier looked a little worried.

Because they saw the silver note that Lord Xie gave to Qiao Yu, two hundred taels for two thousand kilograms of potatoes.

That means one pound of potatoes costs one hundred coins! This is simply a sky-high price for them.

Especially the little boy, he originally wanted to plant 10 kilograms for his family. He had played with Qiao Xing and others and knew that potatoes were delicious food.

Seeing them turn away sadly, Qiao Yu hurriedly shouted, "Potatoes are three cents a pound, don't you want them?"

The little boy turned around in surprise and said, "Yes! Uncle Qiao, I want ten kilograms!"

As he spoke, he took out a very old purse from his bosom and counted out twenty-seven copper coins from it.

He could only get one or two copper coins from his mother every month, and he saved up this money for a long time.

"Oh! It's not enough to buy ten kilograms." The little boy was a little annoyed.

Qiao Yu smiled and took all the money, then said to him: "You are my first customer, so I will give you that pound!"

The little boy immediately bowed respectfully to Qiao Yu: "Thank you, Uncle Qiao!"

Qiao Yu asked Da Zhuang to load him ten kilograms of stuff in a backpack so that the little boy could carry it home.

"I'll return the backpack in a minute!"

The little boy smiled happily and was about to run when he was stopped by Qiao Yu.

"Remember to ask your parents to come over. I will teach you how to grow potatoes later."

The little boy nodded vigorously and ran away briskly with a backpack similar to his own.

Qiao Yu couldn't help but sigh that the children in the village were so energetic.

By the time all the potatoes in the field were dug up, most of the people in the village who wanted to buy potatoes for seeds had also bought theirs.

A total of more than 6,300 kilograms of potatoes were dug out this time.

Two thousand kilograms were given to Xie Changyu, and there was the five hundred kilograms that he had promised to give to Xu Yuan and Xu Ning. He only had less than four thousand kilograms left.

He plans to plant ten acres of potatoes next, which will require more than a thousand kilograms of potatoes.

He planned to give 50 kilograms each to Wen Ge'er, Auntie and Li Li'niang.

There are at least three months until the next harvest, so he wants to keep at least 1,000 kilograms of potatoes for his own consumption and to supply snack bars.

That leaves only 1,500 kilograms of potatoes to sell. It sounds like a lot, but if every family buys 100 kilograms, all 15 families will have bought it all!

So Qiao Yu started to impose purchase restrictions.

Each household can buy up to 20 kilograms, and it’s on a first-come, first-served basis.

"If we grow 20 kilograms well, we can harvest more than 300 kilograms by the end of July."

Kang Ping quickly bought twenty kilograms, fearing that Qiao Yu would change his mind and not sell to outsiders like them.

By the time Qiao Yu finally finished her work, half an hour had passed since lunch time.

When Gu Feng came back and found out about this, he was so distressed that he forced him to eat and then coaxed him to take a nap.

Wang Xuan was filled with envy and said to Kang Ping, "Brother Ping, do you think we can be this good?"

Kang Ping rubbed his fingers quietly: "Don't you know what I do to you?"

The two walked away, joking.

Ling Lie frowned and looked at their backs, asking a soul-searching question: Aren't girls good enough? Why do these people treat men like treasures?