Chapter 77: Chapter 77: Improved Rice Sprout Quality

In the world of business, there was always rise and fall. Their soy milk easily gained customers because it was rather cheap and affordable.

Shun Zi’s business, however, was more risky. It involved a whole family’s livelihood. The farmers would have their own worries; what if nothing changed after they used the seeds they bought?

They would think that it would have been better if they had used the seeds from their own fields. At least, they didn’t lose any money.

Zhou Anran, however, smiled at her daughter. "We just need to do our part."

Xiao Yuyan nodded, trying to console her worried sister. "We already gained almost double from the original price."

Even if Shun Zi only bought it at the agreed original price for the rest of the paddy rice, they were already making quite a fortune and didn’t lose anything.

Xiao Yuxi had a look of understanding on her face, and she soon brightened again. Her mother and sister were truly optimistic people.

In order to maintain the quality of the rice seeds, they had dried the paddy rice stalks under the sun.

For the next few days, the Xiao family’s life was truly at peace. Well, if they ignore the occasional stares directed to them from curious neighbours.

They also began to sell soy milk again, wanting to use up all the soybeans they had.

"Mother, the rice plants have already sprouted!" Xiao Yuxi excitedly entered the house and reported to her mother.

In another two weeks, they would be ready to be transplanted to their field.

Xiao Yuxi dragged her twin younger sister to see the nursery tray, followed by the little tail Xiao Qingya. Holding her baby bottle that was now finally filled with milk, she looked up and pursed her lip, realizing she was too short.

"Little Ya wants to see too?" Xiao Yuyan asked softly, lifting up her sister into the air. Just enough for Xiao Qingya to see the newly-sprouted rice plants.

"They all look so green. It seems that we have more sprouts for this batch." Xiao Yuxi commented while stealing a glance at her youngest sister.

Xiao Qingya’s eyes crinkled in a good mood.

Not long after, Zhou Anran also went to check. They had put the nursery tray in front of their house on a high table so that animals like chickens wouldn’t destroy it.

Xiao Fenghao’s recovery also had been going quite fast. The deep bruises had begun to fade a lot. His wounds had all become dry and started to scab over at the edges.

He could move around the house more freely and no longer needed any help from his mother and sisters. What remained was just his broken left arm, which was still tightly bound with wooden splints.

It was noon and the farmer neighbours around them were returning home to take some rest before they went to the fields again in the afternoon.

Aunt Dong and Aunt Li had helped the Xiao family a lot and they had become rather close to them. As they passed by, they saw the Xiao family members crowding around their nursery tray.

The two aunties came over, their hearts filled with curiosity.

"Anran, this is your family’s nursery tray?" Aunt Dong looked amazed.

Although the sprouts were still small, they looked dense. The two aunties easily recognized the plants in the wooden nursery tray as rice plants.

"How many jin of rice seeds is this? All of them looked like they had sprouted!" Aunt Li exclaimed. Her fingers carefully touched one small sprout.

Zhou Anran smiled. "This one is five jin of seeds."

In the backyard, they still had a few more wooden nursery trays filled with rice seeds. If this one had sprouted, the rest in there should be in the same condition.

Lately, the family had become so busy that they had forgotten to check them. The twins often visited the back mountain to collect herbs while Zhou Anran went to the village market with Xiao Qingya to sell soy milk.

A few days later, unexpectedly, they had such a surprise.

It might have been Xiao Fenghao who had moved this nursery tray from the backyard to the front yard.

"Where do you get the rice seeds from?" Aunt Dong and Aunt Li asked almost at the same time.

Zhou Anran didn’t reveal that it was from her own rice fields. It was also a nice opportunity to promote Shun Zi’s shop, after all.

"Merchant Yang recently opened a shop selling rice seeds in the village market." Zhou Anran told them. "We still have some here, do you want the seeds, Elder Sisters?"

They both waved their hands. "We will check it out ourselves. Keep yours to grow in your fields, Anran."

Merchant Yang must have gotten such high-quality rice seeds from other regions, and wasn’t cheap. They didn’t want to trouble Zhou Anran at all.

However, Zhou Anran already nudged Xiao Yuyan. Upon receiving the signal from her mother, Xiao Yuyan understood and went to the grain room.

She didn’t fetch much, only two sheaves which weighed around one jin each. As both Aunties were still chatting with Zhou Anran about the paddy rice, Xiao Yuyan handed them to her mother.

"Your rice plant sprouts look so healthy. They all are absorbing the nutrients quite well." Aunt Dong commented.

In a nursery tray, each plant would have different resilience. Some might have fungal disease or insects which lead to different growth. However, Zhou Anran’s sprouts all almost had similar heights.

As if they weren’t affected by any fungus or insects.

"You have a talent for growing them," Aunt Li also added, praising sincerely.

Zhou Anran was really embarrassed. She knew that all other farmers put similar efforts just like their Xiao family in tending their fields. It was just that their family was lucky to have Xiao Qingya.

"It’s actually because of the seed quality." She coughed, and stuffed Aunt Dong and Aunt Li’s arms each with one sheaf of paddy rice before they could evade.

They were both stunned. They thought that Zhou Anran was planning to make a new nursery tray with the paddy rice sheaves Xiao Yuyan just brought. After all, they only saw one nursery tray, and generally it wouldn’t be enough for their fields.

Aunt Dong and Aunt Li politely tried to refuse. Only after Zhou Anran convinced them to take it that they finally thanked her and took the sheaves with a peace of mind.

"We usually use three or even four jin of seeds for one mu. Looking at Anran’s result, if we can grow so many rice plants from just five jin of seeds, we might only need two jin per mu of land." Aunt Dong made a calculation.

She patted Zhou Anran’s shoulder. "Thank you for telling us, Anran. We did see Merchant Yang’s shop before, but we have been hesitant because we don’t know how well it will grow."

Aunt Li nodded in agreement. "The price is quite high, but now that we have seen the real result, such a price is actually worth it."

As they gathered to chat in a pleasant mood, they suddenly heard someone yelling.

"Help! Help! Someone died!"