Chapter 240 - Contac (1/2)

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Since the seeds had been planted, nearby villagers would come to the Yu Family’s corn fields to see the rare crop. Due to being specially notified by the royal prince from the capital, the county magistrate attached great importance on this matter and sent bailiffs to patrol the fields every now and then. The village head of Dongshan Village took this as a great honor and established a patrol team. Every day from morning to night, there would be people guarding the fields, so it made things a lot easier for the Yu Family.

Most of the villagers looked up to Yu Hai with great respect. The village head also didn’t dare to put on the airs of a village head in front of him. When the village head’s successful sons returned to the village, they also took the initiative to be on friendly terms with Yu Hai.

This was no joking matter because Yu Hai’s family was definitely different from before! First, they became friends with the young boss of Zhenxiu Restaurant and caused the future master of the Zhou Family to regard them with special respect. After that, they became adoptive relatives of a general. But that wasn’t the end of it. Now, they had also became acquainted with a royal prince from the capital! He was a real member of the imperial family ah!

To be able to work for the royal prince, it wasn’t only the pride of the Yu Family, but also the entire Dongshan Village. In the future, if someone wanted to cause trouble at Dongshan Village, he would have to first consider whether he had the ability to do it. One had to know who the master was before striking a dog! Imperial Prince Jing had built a mountain manor in Dongshan Village, so he would certainly provide some protection to Dongshan Village. The village head felt his back becoming ramrod straight, and in front of other village heads, he felt a slight sense of pride in being superior to them.

There wasn’t anyone in the surrounding villages who didn’t know that Yu Hai was protected by the royal prince. Therefore, although a lot of people came to see the rare crop, none of them dared to have any malicious intentions.

“Tsk tsk, is this the corn that was brought back from the west? Why does it look like sorghum seedlings ah? They didn’t plant the wrong seeds, did they?” Someone gloated.

The Yu Family’s corn, which had been planted for less than half of a month, had already grown upwards. With a green stalk and wide leaves, it looked like a green flag fluttering in the wind. Compared with the corn in her previous life, Yu Xiaocao relied on her cheat, the mystic-stone water, and sowed ahead of time. As expected, corn watered by the mystic-stone water grew very fast. Corn usually took around a month to mature, but the growth period had actually been shortened by half. Moreover, it had grown very luxuriantly.

As if it was in a competition, the watermelon fields next to it grew rapidly. Normally, watermelon planted in March or April would be ready for harvest in July or August. For the Yu Family, this regular pattern of growth had already been broken. At the beginning of March, when the land in the north had just thawed, the Yu Family’s melon seedlings had already sprouted and were buried in the fields.

In order to prevent freezing, straw thatches were moved to the melon fields. When the temperature was low at night, they would be used as ‘blankets’ for the seedlings. At noon, when it was warmer, the watermelon seedlings would bask in the sunlight. Even in the early spring when the temperature was low, the watermelon seedlings still grew tenaciously.

It was currently still late April, but the watermelons in the fields were already about the size of a rubber ball. The dark green watermelon in the green foliage resembled a mischievous child poking his head out to look about curiously. Yu Hai walked around the melon fields and picked out several watermelons that had ripened early for his daughter in town. He planned to go to town tomorrow and bring two watermelons for her to taste.

Wang Ergou trotted over with a grin and looked at the plucked watermelons. His eyes lit up and he said with a smile, “Brother Dahai, there’s already ripe watermelons? That’s great! It won’t be long before we harvest the watermelons on a large scale, right?”

Yu Hai picked up the largest watermelon, stuffed it into Ergou’zi’s hands, and patted him on the shoulder, saying, “Brother Ergou, you have worked hard during these past two months! Take this watermelon back and taste it!! Rest assured, we will definitely give you priority for this year’s watermelon!!”

This year, they planted six mu of watermelon. According to last year’s output, they should probably yield about one hundred thousand catties of watermelon. Seeing that the Yu Family and Wang Ergou made a lot of money from selling watermelons last year, ideas emerged in the minds of the villagers of Dongshan Village. They had already quietly approached Yu Hai, hoping to get a wholesale quota.

There was a limit to the amount of ripe watermelons produced every day, so he couldn’t promise everyone. After a period of distress, Yu Hai chose to work with several families that he had a closer relation with, and politely declined the others. Those who had been rejected would certainly feel unhappy in their hearts, but now Yu Hai was rich and had backing from influential people, so what could they do even if they felt unhappy?

Yu Xiaocao, who was taking care of her godmother and younger brother in town, couldn’t return to Dongshan Village every day, but she was always concerned about the watermelon fields! She counted her fingers every day. Soon, the watermelons would be available on the market. In her heart, she pondered whether she should rent a shop in town to sell the watermelons this year.

Although the two shops near Zhenxiu Restaurant were located in a good area, they had been rented out after all, and signed a three-year lease. If they rented a shop randomly, it would probably be hard for their business to achieve the same popularity as last year. Just as she was troubled over this matter, her father, Yu Hai, had come to visit his precious daughter with several ripe watermelons.

Fang Zizhen had gone to the harbor, so the head steward invited Yu Hai to the study in the front court and sent someone to the inner court to notify the eldest young miss. The head steward didn’t dare to slight the master’s adoptive relative, who had come from peasant origins. Not to mention the master’s attitude towards this adoptive relative of his, but just based on the fact that his daughter was even more important than the master’s own daughter, no one would dare to look down on him.