The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

"Uncle, if we sell them by the bunch, we can't offer such a small amount."

A handful or two sells well, but it looks like too little. We'll know this by looking at the reactions of the people buying vegetables when we're hawking our wares.

Zhao Shi'an originally wanted to persuade his family to continue selling according to today's situation, first selling to large households, and then selling the rest to individual vegetable buyers.

After seeing his father and uncle's reactions, he changed his tune. Although it was troublesome to carry a bunch of chives, it would earn the farmers an extra three thousand yuan per kilogram, so this little trouble was nothing.

Considering that the first batch of chives is a seller's market, as long as you don't mind the trouble, you can sell them all. Even if some are left over, it's still quite profitable overall.

"Why didn't I see it? Many people say that our chives are cheap, but there's too little of them. Some people bought several bunches at once!"

"Shi'an, how about we weigh more? It'll save us trouble and make them easier to sell!"

Hearing his nephew's words, Zhao Youliang was deeply moved. When he first started hawking his wares, people gathered around to buy vegetables, but after taking a bite of the chives, they turned and left.

"Boss, what did your uncle say?"

As Zhao Youtian spoke, he looked at his eldest son.

"Uncle is right! One or two taels of chives is too little. People would buy them at this price even on Huashi Street."

The people over there in Hademen are all wealthy. A handful of food weighs at least two ounces. One handful is enough for a small family to make a meal of small steamed buns. It's just the right amount and nothing goes to waste.

If you're eating chive boxes, you'll need three or four ounces.

Finally, we'll get some bundles of half a catty each. As for pricing, two liang (200 grams) will sell for three thousand, three liang for four thousand, four liang for five thousand, and half a catty for ten thousand.

This way, it's easier for us to weigh the vegetables, it's easier for shoppers to choose, and it's easier for us to answer questions from the mutual aid society!

Zhao Shi'an gave his uncle a thumbs up. Hademen Street is the top commercial district in the south of the city. These people are not price-sensitive, and they are unlikely to weigh things themselves when buying them. They sell by the bundle, giving them plenty of room to choose, so it is still easy to sell them.

"Haha! I was just saying. Shi'an, chives are already expensive at 1,000 per 50 grams, and we're selling two 50 grams for 3,000? Isn't that too expensive? That works out to over 20,000 per 500 grams!"

Hearing his nephew's praise, Zhao Youliang was very happy, but after hearing the price his nephew quoted, he worried that it would be difficult to sell.

"Boss, your uncle is right! If it's one tael and a thousand, people won't notice. But if you sell it like that, you might scare people away."

Zhao Youtian frowned after hearing this.

"Uncle, we sell by the bundle, not by the pound. People only look at how much chives there are. We have several different weights, don't we? Try them first. If it doesn't work, try the original weight of one ounce for a thousand. If we can sell them, we can earn more!"

Seeing their concern, Zhao Shi'an patiently explained.

"Shall we give it a try?"

Zhao Youliang looked at his elder brother as he spoke.

"Give it a try!"

Zhao Youtian nodded. His eldest son's words were very tempting. After a whole winter of idleness, wasn't he just counting on making some money from this first batch of leeks? If there was an opportunity to earn more, who would complain about not having enough money!

"Let's give it a try!"

"What are you trying? Time to eat!"

Liu Guiying called out to the three of them, and then went to call the children who were still sleeping.

Before long, the whole family sat down to eat together.

After breakfast, Liu Guiying washed the dishes, cleaned the pots, fed the chickens, took down a bamboo basket from the roof beam, took a few packets of seeds, and then the whole family pulled a cart to the vegetable garden. The cart was loaded with many farm tools and straw mats woven from reed leaves.

Upon arriving at the vegetable garden, Liu Guiying and Sun Cuilan, hoe in hand, carefully dug holes next to the bok choy, coriander, and spinach. Zhao Shijie and Zhao Shixiong placed seeds in the holes to bury them, while Zhao Xiaoyue and Zhao Xiaole followed behind, checking to make sure no seeds were forgotten.

The vegetable garden mainly grows long beans, which are one of the main vegetables in summer.

We only planted a few mung beans and soybeans in the corners; these are for our own consumption, mainly for exchanging for tofu, making porridge, and the like.

Zhao Shi'an followed his father and uncle to a sunny plot of land, where they harvested the spinach. The remaining vegetable patch was used to cultivate seedlings for cucumbers, pumpkins, zucchini, and other vegetables.

Tomorrow is Qingming Festival, and there's an old saying that you should plant melons and beans around Qingming.

As the name suggests, this season is mainly for planting melons and beans.

"Gourds and beans" does not specifically refer to long beans and cucumbers, but rather to most types of beans, such as soybeans, mung beans, and red beans, as well as most gourds, such as cucumbers, pumpkins, loofahs, bitter melons, cantaloupes, and watermelons, which can be used to cultivate seedlings.

Melons can be grown as seedlings or planted directly. Melons grown as seedlings tend to have a higher yield than those planted directly, allowing them to be sold at higher prices in the early market.

The melon and watermelon seedlings he grows at home are the best example.

Compared to melons, beans are different. Because their roots are deep and they have few root hairs, they are prone to stunting or dying when transplanted. It is best to plant them directly.

The first batch of spring vegetables we grow at home are all fast-growing vegetables, such as bok choy, spinach, coriander, and water radish. These vegetables are planted at the spring equinox and can be harvested in about a month.

The long beans planted at this time are just about ready to be trellised, and the harvest of spring vegetables will not affect the growth of the beans at all.

This time of year coincides with the Grain Rain solar term, making it a good time to plant tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and other solanaceous vegetables.

The green beans and cucumbers planted during Qingming Festival will enter their peak fruiting period in June, but will start to decline in July. Replanting another crop of green beans and cucumbers during this period can completely replenish the yield and make up for the damage caused by the late spring frost, thereby increasing the yield and extending the vegetable production period throughout the summer.

The 24 solar terms are most accurate in the central provinces. Although Beijing is also located on the North China Plain, it is still somewhat north of Beijing, so when a cold snap occurs in spring, the losses are still quite significant.

The safest time to plant melons and beans is around Grain Rain (谷雨). If you go further north, the timing will have to be pushed back. In Northeast China, you won't be able to start planting vegetables until at least May Day.

The family worked hard for most of the day, planting more than an acre of green beans. The seedbeds were already set up, and to increase the soil temperature, they covered them with straw mats woven from reed leaves.

After finishing the chores at home, and seeing that it was still early, Liu Guiying and her sister-in-law went to dig for wild vegetables.

"Big brother, let's go pick some Imperata cylindrica to eat!"

After finishing her work, Zhao Xiaoyue's face was dirty, and her clothes, hands and face were covered in dirt. She asked her older brother to help her dig for cogon grass. When she smiled, she revealed her white teeth, which was very cute.

"Go ahead, Shijie and Shixiong. You two keep an eye on your sister. I'm going to check on the moat!"

Zhao Shi'an refused the little girl and handed her over to his two younger brothers.

He wanted to take the opportunity to stroll around the neighborhood and collect some fruit trees to fill the space.

Last week I was busy with skipping a grade, and on Sunday I went to the flower market and did some college entrance exam questions. I didn't have time to collect them.

After finishing the farm work today, I still have plenty of time, so I'll take a stroll around the neighborhood. South of the vegetable garden is the South Moat, and it's not far from the old course of the Yongding River. The toon trees in this area have all been picked. I'll collect a few and put them in my space. With ten times the flow rate, the second batch of toon trees will grow quickly and be in season.

Even if all else fails, we can still harvest a few bushes of wild cherry trees, and then we won't lack cherries to eat. Although the taste is not very good, we can cultivate them slowly and graft them onto better varieties later.

"Big brother, I'm going too!"

Zhao Xiaoyue insisted on going too.

"Big brother, I want to go too!"

Zhao Xiaole came over when she heard this.

After hearing this, Zhao Shijie and Zhao Shixiong looked at their elder brother pitifully.

"You'd better behave if you want to go! You can't go swimming, understand?"

Seeing his younger siblings' reactions, Zhao Shi'an couldn't help but laugh!

"Big brother, I'm the most obedient!"

Zhao Xiaoyue immediately shouted.

"Me too!"

"And me!"

Seeing that their eldest brother had agreed, the four little ones immediately made their own promises.

Let's go!

As Zhao Shi'an spoke, he led the group south.