Transmigrating with a Five Million Dollar Retirement Life

Chapter 141 Planting Potatoes

Without hesitation, Song Jiaojiao took a few stalks to the kitchen, peeled off the outer skin, cut them into small pieces, and boiled them directly in water with rock sugar.

Fifteen minutes later, it was cooked. The cooked cassava was a bit yellow. Song Jiaojiao scooped out a piece to taste, and yes, it tasted just like cassava.

Cassava can grow anywhere, just like sweet potatoes. Most importantly, it has a very high yield and the season is the same as that of sweet potatoes.

Since cassava is mostly propagated by cuttings, and Song Jiaojiao only has cassava fruit at hand, she has no choice but to cultivate it in her space first.

After finishing her tapioca soup, Song Jiaojiao went to her room and entered the space.

I want to see how many potatoes have been planted in the past few months.

Just as Song Jiaojiao had steadied herself and was about to go check out the warehouse, she was startled by Fei Hu, who suddenly appeared in front of her.

Feihu looked resentful, like a neglected wife. "Host, tell me, how long has it been since you last entered the space? How long has it been since you last searched for new seeds? The space hasn't been upgraded in ages."

Song Jiaojiao awkwardly touched her head. She had indeed been quite busy lately and hadn't had time to come in.

"Oh, here I am! Besides, I have you, my sweet little helper, watching over my space."

Flying Tiger: Who's the sweet little cotton-padded jacket? I'm a male!!!

"Host, you can't just worry about what's outside and ignore me. Look, I haven't grown up in so long."

Looking at the flying tiger, which was almost as big as a golden retriever, Song Jiaojiao realized that if she still thought it was a cat, she would truly be blind.

"Speaking of which, Flying Tiger, what kind of breed are you? If you say you're a tiger, then why can you fly? If you say you're not, then no one would believe you with your size."

Song Jiaojiao had wanted to ask this question for a long time. This space was supposed to be compensation for her, but it seemed to have no other use besides planting.

Other people's cheat codes at least have something like a spiritual spring, but hers can only be planting.

"The Spirit Spring will only appear when you reach the maximum level. It's not that it doesn't exist, it's just that the host's level is too low."

Fei Hu heard what Song Jiaojiao was thinking and spoke it out loud.

Song Jiaojiao: ……

Song Jiaojiao didn't say anything. First, she went to check how many potatoes were in the warehouse. Seeing that the warehouse was half full of potatoes, she figured it was enough.

Potatoes can be planted by cutting them at the apex, but in ancient times, Song Jiaojiao was afraid that they would rot and be wasted, so she chose to plant them whole.

On the other side were piles of lotus roots, sugarcane, and a lot of red chili peppers. We were just about to run out of red chili peppers at home, so this was a good opportunity to replenish them.

The next day, the village chief arrived early with his men. Early in the morning, the men in the village took their machetes and went up the mountain to cut down trees, first enclosing the Qingshui Mountain that Song Jiaojiao had bought.

Everyone is working very hard. Once Song Jiaojiao's workshop is built, his wife might be the one to work there, earning 25 coins a day. That's 750 coins a month, which is a very good income.

Song Jiaojiao found the village chief, and the two went to the pavilion to talk.

"Uncle Wang, I mentioned last time that there is a high-yield crop. Now that the sweet potatoes have been harvested, this crop can be planted as well."

"Is it the 'earth egg' you mentioned last time, the one that Hervan brought back from another county?"

The village chief was thinking about what Song Jiaojiao had told him last time.

"Yes, I didn't expect you to remember. If we plant these ground potatoes now, we can harvest them before spring planting next year, which won't delay the spring planting. Moreover, the yield is higher than that of sweet potatoes."

Song Jiaojiao said with a smile.

"Taller than a sweet potato? And it won't delay spring planting? It's so cold in winter, how can it sprout?" the village chief asked incredulously.

"That's why you have to plant them now. It won't work if it's too cold. Now is the perfect time. By winter, the seeds will have grown quite a bit."

Song Jiaojiao explained that she only hoped everyone could grow more.

"Jiaojiao, besides eating them, do you have any other uses for these groundnuts?" The village chief thought that if they could only be used for eating, not many villagers would want to grow them.

"To be honest, I do need them. Not only can potatoes be eaten as a staple food, but they can also be used in dishes. Also, like sweet potatoes, they can be used to make starch. I plan to buy them at 2 wen per jin, the same as the requirements for sweet potatoes, but they don't need to be washed."

Since potatoes generally don't have much dirt, they don't need to be washed before selling; unwashed potatoes can be stored for longer.

Upon hearing Song Jiaojiao's price, the village chief raised his voice, "Two coins a pound!!! That's much more expensive than sweet potatoes. Here's what we'll do: I'll inform everyone after work, and we'll tally the number of people tomorrow and then I'll tell you."

"Alright, we'll have to trouble Uncle Wang again this time. The price of the seeds is two coins per pound. Planting ground peas is similar to planting sweet potatoes, but this involves burying the entire ground pea. One ground pea can grow to at least ten pounds of ground peas next year."

Song Jiaojiao gave a brief explanation of potato cultivation, worried that people might find the seeds too expensive and therefore not want to plant them.

"Okay, I understand. Although the seed price is a bit high, the yield is not low either, and it's planted when the land is idle, so I think there will still be quite a few people in need."

"Jiaojiao, do you have enough eggs here?" the village chief asked worriedly.

"It should be enough. If it really isn't enough, we'll just have to plant less and save the seeds for next year. Besides, potatoes can be planted for two seasons. After the harvest, we can plant more and use them as seeds when we have the autumn harvest. That's enough for all the places we need."

Song Jiaojiao estimated that it would be enough. She thought that potatoes could be planted for two seasons, but it was better to plant them in winter. In this dynasty, grain was still the most important thing. Potatoes and sweet potatoes could not be used as taxable grains and could only be eaten by themselves.

"Okay, I understand. I'll get back to work now."

Seeing that Song Jiaojiao had said everything she needed to say and was just waiting for the results from his side, the village chief figured there was nothing else to do and went off to attend to his business.

After seeing the village chief off, Song Jiaojiao went to the place where sugarcane was planted.

Rows of sugarcane stood straight, each one as thick as Song Jiaojiao's forearm.

Song Jiaojiao went forward and tried to break off a sugarcane, but failed. In the end, she had to use both her hands and feet to get the sugarcane off.

Her favorite food is this kind of black sugarcane with the skin on; the process of peeling it makes her feel very relaxed.

Taking a bite of the peeled sugarcane, it's quite sweet. The space has definitely changed; this level of sweetness could probably yield a lot of brown sugar.

The sugar mill is still busy. We'll stop making it once this batch of sweet potato candy is finished. There's a lot of sweet potato candy piled up at home. We don't need much each time we make rice candy. We only had half a day off and only went to get some sugar once. Liu Xuewen is in charge of managing the sugar supply from now on.

Thinking back to the sweet potato candy sold on the streets of the previous generation, I realized that it could be sold to pastry shops, as this kind of candy could be considered a snack.

Song Jiaojiao didn't plan to sell the brown sugar made from this year's sugarcane. Since her family needed it, she decided to keep it all. Looking at the sugarcane planted in front of her, which was only about half an acre, she figured she wouldn't be able to make much brown sugar from it.

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