The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

"What, you look down on them all?"

"No! The seeds are all good seeds, but as you know, the land around here is okay for growing variegated and white variegated varieties, but the prices aren't high, and black variegated varieties are too delicate and difficult to grow!"

"I was just trying to find a compromise, wasn't I?"

Zhao Shi'an explained that the striped watermelon is the "lazy man's watermelon" because it is not picky about the soil and does not require much care. The second type is the "three white" watermelon, which has a stable yield. These two types are also the most common watermelons in Beijing.

"Hey! You've got good taste, kid. I still have some sunflower seeds and black devils here. How about it? Want some?"

As the stall owner spoke, he pulled two small paper packets from his stall and tossed them over.

"Sir, I know this black devil. Who's Pillow Melon?"

Zhao Shi'an was a little puzzled when he heard this. He knew that the black-skinned, yellow-fleshed watermelon was a common variety in Beijing, while the pillow-shaped watermelon was less common.

"The pillow melon looks like a pillow, has a green skin, and has red and yellow flesh. The flesh is sandy, mealy, and sweet!"

The price is comparable to that of black linseed oil, and of course, it is selective about the location.

Seeds are 800 a bag, while the black devils pay 600.

There are only five types of melons in total. Which one do you want?

"Sir, are there any mixed together, like a package containing all five of these?"

Zhao Shi'an wanted to have it all, but found that he didn't have the funds. After buying the books the day before yesterday, he only had a little over 8,000 yuan left. He spent 1,000 yuan on envelopes and stamps for submitting his manuscript, and just now he spent another 2,000 yuan on sugar cakes.

He currently has over 5,000 yuan left, but if he buys one pack of each, it will cost 3,000 yuan. He'll only have 2,000 yuan left, and he'll be penniless. If he had mixed seeds, he could save a lot of money, since he only needs a few seeds for initial cultivation, and he can breed them himself later.

"Young man, you're quite the shrewd strategist, but unfortunately, I don't have that kind of business acumen!"

"Then give me a pack of black bandage varnish!"

After hearing this, Zhao Shi'an immediately chose the Black Rib Seed. Since the seed prices were all about the same, he naturally chose the most expensive one.

The Black Ribbed Watermelon is a tribute watermelon, so its price is naturally high. If it can be bred earlier and brought to market earlier, a watermelon weighing three or four kilograms can easily sell for tens of thousands of yuan, which is comparable to the price of meat.

"Alright! Young man, you can choose for yourself! Each pack contains one hundred seeds, and you can come back anytime to get more if you're short!"

"Alright! Sir, here's your money!"

Zhao Shi'an nodded, used his mind to select the plumpest seeds from the bag, and then handed over the money.

"Exactly eight hundred!"

"Sir, you're busy!"

Zhao Shi'an then got up to take his leave.

Seeing their eldest brother about to leave, the four little ones quickly followed.

"Big brother, does that mean we can eat watermelon in the summer?"

Zhao Xiaoyue looked up and asked.

"right!"

"Wow! We get both cucumbers and watermelon to eat, this is amazing!"

Zhao Xiaole was very happy to hear this.

"Big brother, you're so kind!"

The little ones chattered excitedly, praising their eldest brother.

"Alright, alright, it's getting late. Let's go home for dinner. After dinner, I'll soak the watermelon seeds and plant them on the stove later... Remember to wash your hands thoroughly, and don't let anything slip. If you get a beating, I won't be responsible!"

After stopping his younger siblings from making noise, Zhao Shi'an solemnly gave the four of them some instructions.

"Brother, don't worry! Even if we're found out, I'll never betray you!"

"Me too!"

"Haha! Let's go home!"

Zhao Shi'an laughed and took his younger siblings home. When they passed the goldfish pond, the four little ones rushed to wash their hands and faces by the water. They smelled each other until they no longer smelled of sugar cakes before sneaking home like thieves.

Back home, Zhao Xiaoyue started showing off.

"Mom, Mom, my older brother bought watermelon seeds! We'll be able to eat watermelons this summer!"

"Mom, let me tell you, my older brother is amazing! He can do everything!"

Zhao Shijie also joined in the shouting.

"Boss, why did you buy watermelon seeds? We can't grow them in our field. You've forgotten how we tried before, and the watermelons were never sweet!"

Hearing what her two children said, Liu Guiying frowned deeply.

"Mom, I'm just giving it a try! Besides, the seeds aren't expensive. I'll soak a few for a day and see how it goes!"

As Zhao Shi'an spoke, he took out the seeds. On the way back, he took twenty seeds and put them in his space. He planted half of them directly and soaked the other half in spring water for breeding.

"Still the same as Xiaogua, right?"

After hearing this, Liu Guiying asked.

"right!"

"Okay, let's give it a try! Give me the seeds, I'll soak them first!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Guiying immediately agreed. The reason she agreed so readily was that all the melon seeds that had been soaked for a day had sprouted after being planted, as had her younger brother's.

With the success of growing watermelon seeds, Liu Guiying's confidence in her eldest son increased considerably. If they could really grow watermelons, the family would definitely earn more money in the future.

Thinking about all this, she was full of energy.

"Mom, I can do it! I know how."

Having successfully fooled everyone, Zhao Xiaoyue immediately scooped up a large bowl of water and asked her older brother for a small handful of seeds to soak.

After soaking the seeds, the family sat down together for a meal.

After lunch, Zhao Shi'an took out the booklet he had bought and started working on the college entrance examination questions. He had completed four test papers yesterday at noon, and today he was going to finish all the remaining test papers.

I'll talk to the teacher about skipping a grade after I go to school tomorrow.

Seeing her eldest son doing his homework, Liu Guiying, while working in the fields, reminded him:

"Xiaoyue, Shijie, your older brother has homework to do, so don't bother him this afternoon, okay?"

"Mother, I understand!"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Shijie immediately made their promises.

"Okay, I'm getting out of bed!"

As Liu Guiying spoke, she called her sister-in-law to go to work in the fields together, while the four little ones, Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole, ran into the alley and played with the children around them.

With his younger siblings gone, Zhao Shi'an felt much more at peace, and he even sped up his problem-solving speed.

When doing the questions, considering the original owner's level, he deliberately left some of the more difficult questions unanswered.

Some rely purely on the original owner's knowledge, such as Russian.

I answered all the questions on both sets of college entrance exam papers, except for the Chinese composition.

To better convince the teacher, he kept his scores in humanities and biology around 70, his scores in math, physics and chemistry around 60, and his scores in political knowledge close to 90.

After finishing one and a half sets of 12 test papers in an afternoon, Zhao Shi'an didn't feel anything special. The questions were quite easy, and he had deliberately left many of the more difficult questions unfinished, which made him finish the test very quickly.

The following Monday, after the flag-raising ceremony during the long break, Zhao Shi'an approached his homeroom teacher with his college entrance exam papers and stated his purpose directly:

"Teacher, I want to skip a grade!"

"Skipping a grade? Zhao Shi'an, why are you thinking of skipping a grade? Have you already learned all the material from the first year of high school?"

Hu Chengzhi was somewhat surprised to hear this, but he didn't pay too much attention to it. As the homeroom teacher, he was quite familiar with the students in his class. Zhao Shi'an had skipped a grade in junior high school.

At that time, education reforms were underway, and all primary and secondary schools across the country switched to autumn enrollment. This system was officially implemented starting in the autumn of 52.

During this period, students had to attend an extra semester of school. Many students who did well in their studies were encouraged by the school to skip grades. Zhao Shi'an was only in the second year of junior high school at the time, but he skipped directly to the third year. After graduating from junior high school smoothly, he was admitted to the high school of the same school.

With existing examples to follow, Hu Chengzhi was not too surprised by Zhao Shian's suggestion of skipping grades.

"I've learned it!"

Zhao Shi'an admitted that looking at the teacher in front of him, he realized why he was so afraid when he first transmigrated to this era. It turned out to be because of the suppression of his homeroom teacher's bloodline.

"It's already the second semester, and it's been a month since the second year of high school started. Will you be able to keep up? How about you attend a few classes for the second year first? If you can understand them, I'll agree to let you skip a grade. What do you say?"

Hu Chengzhi nodded after listening and did not refuse. Zhao Shi'an had good grades and studied diligently, so mastering the first-year high school knowledge would not be difficult for him. His concern was whether Zhao Shi'an could adapt to the teaching pace of the second year of high school after skipping a grade. So he proposed a solution that would benefit both parties.

"Thank you, teacher, but I want to go straight to senior year!"

Seeing that the teacher did not object, Zhao Shi'an breathed a sigh of relief and immediately expressed his thoughts.

"Going to the senior year of high school? Zhao Shi'an, you're not mistaken, are you?"