Chapter 56 - Chapter 56: Chapter 56 Helped a lot i (1/2)
Chapter 56: Chapter 56 Helped a lot i
Translator: 549690339
Wei Ruo’s carriage headed north and, when it reached near Manton Mountain north of the city, the manager there had already received instruction from Madame Yun and was waiting.
After arranging for full-time workers to replant seedlings in the vacant areas, Wei Ruo excused herself to take a neighborhood walk and consequently left in the company of Xiumei.
Wei Ruo noticed that the paddy fields were relatively weak along the way, and there were large swaths of crops that were dead.
Some paddy fields were even in worse shape than those of the Wei family.
This was not a good sign; if this trend continued, the autumn harvest would be troubling.
Her nurse had mentioned to her earlier about Xingshan County’s grain conditions this year, but she only understood how severe the situation was after witnessing it herself.
Wei Ruo then accompanied Xiumei to Xiaoyang Mountain.
The majority of the previously uncultivated land had been planted with sweet potatoes, the lush green leaves were thriving.
Even now, they would pick a batch of vine leaves to sell at the market every day.
At the price of two coins per bundle, it’s quite affordable for everyone, from well-off families to common folks.
Consequently, a cartload a day is not sufficient.
Although the price of two coins is not high, there is still some profit to be made.
For ordinary fruits and vegetables, Wei Ruo preferred small profits and quick returns, while only leaning towards high prices for “luxury goods” intended for the upper-class society.
Wei Ruo randomly picked a plot of land, opened a corner, and checked how the sweet potatoes were growing inside.
At this time, the sweet potatoes had not yet reached the ideal size and were still small, each being just a little bit larger than the size of a pinky, far from the standard harvest size. However, it was obvious that the current growth situation was good and there were no pests or diseases.
The seeds in Wei Ruo’s own fields were of excellent quality, showing superior performance in terms of disease resistance, drought tolerance and flooding tolerance. They also grew relatively faster than others. She guessed that in about a month, this batch of sweet potatoes could be fully grown.
By then, she can start selling them gradually. Part of them will be stored in the warehouse. She plans to turn the rest into dried sweet potatoes for storage, with some of the dried sweet potatoes to be sold in the fruit preserves shop.
During her trip out on the Dragon Boat Festival, Wei Ruo had taken the opportunity to inspect several fruit preserve shops, finally selecting one for cooperation intending to sell dried sweet potatoes and sweet potato chips in their shop.
For Wei Ruo, this could save her the risk of setting up a separate shop, and at the same time, it could increase her own sales volume by leveraging the existing customer traffic of the fruit preserves shop.
Wei Ruo stayed on Xiaoyang Mountain until the evening before returning to the Wei family’s Mantou Mountain.
The work of transplanting rice seedlings was nearly over. After briefly checking the situation, Wei Ruo returned home in her carriage.
By the time Wei Ruo returned to the Wei Residence, it was already past the usual dinner time.
The Wei family didn’t have dinner without her. They waited until Wei Ruo came back, and then Madame Yun informed the kitchen to serve the dinner.
After dinner, while they were sitting together drinking tea, Madame Yun asked Wei Ruo about the details of her day.
“The work you’ve been doing to transform the barren land in the south of the city is truly impressive, Ruo’er. I never expected that you could successfully cultivate crops there. I underestimated you before.” Madame Yun said with emotion.
“Hmm.” Wei Ruo made a low sound in response.