Chapter 83

Liu Tong told Xu Ran that he had mentioned the matter of strawberry seedlings to Qin Shuwen, and Qin Shuwen said that he would help them find the seedlings.

Xu Ran pinched Liu Tong’s nose and said, “Tongtong, we’re really on the same wavelength. I’ve told Zhuo Yun as well.”

Liu Tong said with a shy smile, “I always want to help you do something.”

Xu Ran hugged him and walked to the bed with his arm around Liu Tong’s shoulders. “Then give birth to one more child for me!”

Liu Tong blushed but said softly, “OK.”

……

Xu Ran went to the village head at six a.m. in lunar January because he wanted to buy ten mu of low-grade fields.

The village head looked at Xu Ran with a little surprise and said, “Xu Ran, I have to remind you that you’ve just bought thirty mu of uncultivated fields. If you buy ten more, you won’t be able to manage them at all! If you want to grow rice, it is enough for your family of four to manage five mu. As long as your fields are good, they are almost as good as the ten acres of low-grade fields.

He knew that the village head said this with a kind heart, but he didn’t buy the fields for growing rice, so he didn’t care about the reminder.

“Village head, thank you for your kindness. I don’t buy the fields for growing rice, so you don’t have to worry about that. You just help me ask if anyone wants to sell his land in our village or anyone from the nearby villages wants. I want some nearby fields because it’ll be convenient for me to take care of them.”

Seeing that his persuasion didn’t work, the village head sighed and said to Xu Ran, “In this case, let me go and ask about it for you, but you have to be mentally prepared. Such land is 1.5 times as expensive as the uncultivated land at least.”

Xu Ran knew it and thanked the village head, saying that he was going home to prepare the silver, but he didn’t turn and leave until he gave the village head the money to show his gratitude.

Growing strawberries was not simple. From fields to manpower to strawberry seedlings, these were all basic things. Besides, he had to prepare fertilizers and prevent the leaves from becoming ill. Apart from eating strawberries, he didn’t know anything else at all. Moreover, not to mention that no one could give him guidance in this era, it was even impossible for him to find a book to get a reference.

This was sure to be a long and tiring road, but Xu Ran was full of confidence because his beloved one supported him wholeheartedly.

Xu Ran walked home as he hummed songs. The passers-by looked at him curiously a few more times, and some who were familiar with him specially came to ask if he had met anything good.

Xu Ran smiled but shook his head. “No, I just feel happy. One should be happy if he has enough food to eat and warm clothes to wear while being alive.”

Those people felt that what he said made sense, but they couldn’t understand it, so they stopped pestering him to ask about it.

After going back, he started to discuss where to find fertilizers with Liu Tong. In this era, there was only human waste. As for the dung of pigs and cows, it was rare. No family was willing to give it to others, for they all wanted to put it in their fields to make their crops grow better.

Their family had nothing, so this was a difficult problem. More terribly, they couldn’t use the fertilizer when growing strawberries because strawberry seedlings couldn’t absorb it. Thus, they could only put ash into the fields like growing potatoes and also add some pig dung or the kind into the ash.

Xu Ran thought that they should raise one or two pigs. When the time came, they could make cured meat and wouldn’t need to buy meat in town. Besides, they could raise a few chickens and ducks. Anyway, they would just feed them grass. Not only could these domestic birds produce fertilizers, but they could also lay eggs when they grew up.

He thought that as long as they made more ash by burning, they would have enough fertilizer when the time came.

Now their uncultivated fields were full of withered weeds, and their new sprouts had not come out yet, so they could be cut and burned directly. “Let Tangtang and Guoguo burn the weeds and get the ash,” Xu Ran thought.

When he told Liu Tong his idea, the latter agreed. Now he didn’t have much work to do, so raising two pigs was not a problem at all.

There were lots of uncultivated fields around their house, and it was easy to cut pigweed for pigs.

“In this case, Tongtong, go and ask if any family has piglets, and we can buy two and bring them home. But few people in our village have chicks and ducklings. Then we can buy them in town,” Xu Ran said.

“OK,” Liu Tong nodded. “Then let me go to the village and ask about it first. You tell Tangtang and Guoguo, but they are still young. If they can’t do it, we’ll have to do it ourselves.”

“OK, I see. They are my sons. I won’t let him get tired,” Xu Ran said with a smile.

Ignoring him, Liu Tong turned around and went outside.

Xu Ran went to Tangtang and Guoguo, who were playing with the dog in their arms in the yard outside. The two kids were quite lonely. Probably, the children of other families were pulling weeds with their parents in their fields or doing something mischievously. Since they couldn’t find anyone to play with, they had to play with their dog.

“Tangtang, Guoguo, come over. I have something to tell you.”

As soon as they heard Xu Ran’s words, they put down the dog in their arms and rushed to him.

“What do you want to tell us, dad?” Guoguo asked Xu Ran while blinking his big shiny eyes.

Xu Ran took out copper coins from his chest, counted a hundred coins, and gave them to Tangtang. “Tangtang, Guoguo, I’m going to grow strawberries, but there are no fertilizers or ash now. I want your help. Can you help me?”

Tangtang had to hold the one hundred copper coins with his two hands. After holding them for a while, he felt tired, so he gave half of them to Guoguo. Then he listened attentively, trying to figure out the help Xu Ran was asking for.

“It’s like this. As long as we burn more firewood and more dried grass, we can get ash, but your daddy and I have other things to do and have no time to burn the weeds, so we want you to burn them. These one hundred copper coins are my reward to you. You can burn the weeds and take the money or hire others with the money to help you do it. Are you willing to do it?”

The two kids did not nod immediately. Instead, Tangtang asked Xu Ran, “Dad, how much ash will we have to get by burning? Is the ash left after cooking the meals at home not enough?”

Xu Ran touched Tangtang’s head and said, “We need so much. At least, we have to fill up the thirty mu of fields of our family.”

The two of them didn’t know how many fields were thirty mu, but Tangtang knew how many fields their family had. Thinking about the work to fill up such a wide land, the two kids instantly became bitter-faced, thinking, “Don’t know how long it will take to burn the weeds.”

For a while, they had joy on their faces; for another while, they became distressed. Yes, their expressions changed quite fast. Seeing that, Xu Ran was amused and said, “You only have half a month or fifteen days. Would you like to do it, Tangtang, Guoguo,?”

How could they bother about “like” or “not like” when they worked for their family? Although the job was a little tough, Tangtang and Guoguo still nodded and agreed.

Tangtang pulled Guoguo, and the two kids began to murmur. Consciously, Xu Ran covered his ears with his hands, showing that he wouldn’t eavesdrop.

After a while, the two kids raised their heads, and Xu Ran put down his hands. Tangtang said to Xu Ran, “Dad, we’ve decided to use our money to hire people, but we can only hire children because we can’t afford to hire adults. But Dad, we’ll try to burn as much as possible. If it’s not enough then, please don’t scold us.”

Xu Ran always knew that Tangtang and Guoguo were thoughtful, but he did not expect them to be so thoughtful that he felt sad.

He squatted, held the two kids in his arms, and said, “You are my treasures. How could I bear to scold you? I believe in you. You just do your best. That’s enough”

“OK.” The two kids nodded in unison and ran away with the copper coins in their hands.

Xu Ran went to do his job after giving Tangtang and Guoguo the instruction. As for the matter of the ash, he really didn’t want to care about it, leaving it all to Tangtang and Guoguo, but he fully trusted them, although they, his sons, were only five years old.

The modern strawberry was grown either in pots or in the greenhouse. Even the one grown outdoors was covered by the thin plastic sheet, but he couldn’t find such things or get anything to replace them in this era, so he could only try his best to work out ways to avoid the strawberry leaves being eaten or getting sick. However, it was obvious that this was no easy task.

He was not so smart, and he had never touched this field before, so he was now completely ignorant of it.

Yet, this was not the big trouble. Spring was a busy time for farming. At this time, he probably wouldn’t be able to find anyone to plant strawberry seedlings. Therefore, he was even more irritable.

Since he had no one to discuss with at home, he simply went out to the village to chat with a few elderlies or see if he could find strawberry seedlings in some family’s field. If he found them, he could bring some home.

There were few people moving around in the village because they had gone to work. Xu Ran walked around but didn’t see many people, so he went straight to the place where there were many fields.

Working people were seen everywhere in the fields. He saw that these people kept moving the hoe in their hands while smiling. Spring was their hope. They hoped that they could have a good harvest, have enough food to eat and warm clothes to wear, and improve their life with the crops in the fields this year.

No matter whom, acquaintances or not acquaintances, he met, he would greet them with a smile and then walk to and fro on the field ridges. When he saw strawberry seedlings occasionally, he would ask for a few cheekily if the field owner was easygoing.

Those who were generous would give him some, while those who were mean would just give him one or two seedlings, but he didn’t mind. As long as they were willing to give him, he was very happy.

He also asked that if anyone would like to work for his family when he went to hire laborers by the time. A few who had worked for his family before instantly agreed, telling him to just go to them when it was time.

It was very troublesome to grow strawberries. What was important was to be careful and not to damage the tender seedlings, so Xu Ran thought that it was better to hire Ge’ers, but he also needed to hire ten men to dig the fields.

It was naturally better if Ge’ers could make the money. Xu Ran asked about them and almost got all the laborers he needed. When the time came, he would only need to see the specific situation.

A difficult problem had been solved, so he was slightly relieved.

After that, he went home with a bunch of strawberry seedlings. When he was home, Liu Tong was also home. Then, the two of them planted the strawberry seedlings in the field outside the gate of their house before going to have lunch.

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