nashuaworldcup Chapter 155 Coveting
Chapter 155 Coveting
News of the successful chili pepper cultivation spread throughout the village, and those villagers who hadn't initially paid much attention became interested. Previously, they had been reluctant to grow chili peppers, firstly because they feared they wouldn't be able to grow them successfully, and secondly because they worried they wouldn't be able to sell them. Although the Li family promised to buy them all.
Later, Li Xiaonuan used edamame as a springboard to promote chili peppers. Many people began to regret their decision. Before the chili peppers were even planted, they went to Li Xiaonuan asking for seeds. But Li Xiaonuan refused.
At the time, they didn't resent Li Xiaonuan for being heartless. After all, they weren't sure about the success of something they hadn't actually grown. But now that she had, they naturally saw the potential profits in her eyes.
"Xiao Nuan, didn't you say you had a lot of extra chili seedlings? Could you give Grandma a few?" An old woman from Jiuzhou Village came to chat with the old lady and asked Li Xiao Nuan, who was seeing her off, before leaving.
Li Xiaonuan didn't think much of it, only saying "Wait a minute" before turning and going into the kitchen. After a while, she came out with a small basket of tender chili seedlings and handed it to the old woman, saying, "Grandma, these chili seedlings are delicious. If you want some in the future, just come to our house and get some. We have plenty of flowerless chili seedlings growing in our field."
The old woman stared blankly at the tender seedlings in Li Xiaonuan's hand, unsure how to respond. Seeing that the old woman didn't take the chili seedlings, Li Xiaonuan said to her again, "Grandma, how about I take them back for you? I'll also go and visit your local temple while I'm at it."
The wife awkwardly came to her senses and said with some disappointment, "Oh, that's great. With Xiao Nuan by my side, I won't be lonely on the road." She thought to herself that she would give Li Xiao Nuan a hint later on the way.
The road to Jiuzhou Village passes the field where Zhou Liufeiteng planted chili peppers. At this moment, those three mu (approximately 0.2 acres) of land are neatly planted with rows of chili peppers. The extra chili peppers from before have been planted in the adjacent soybean field.
As the old woman passed by the chili field, she deliberately said, "Look at these chili seedlings, they just don't grow well when planted in the soybean field. I still have nearly an acre of vegetable garden lying around. Xiao Nuan, why don't you pull some of those chili seedlings for me to plant in my vegetable garden?"
If Li Xiaonuan still didn't understand the old woman's scheme at this point, then she would be a complete idiot.
“Grandma, if you pull those chili seedlings out and replant them, they won’t produce chilies. Besides, I don’t think they grow any worse in the soybean patch than others. Also, Grandma, you should probably plant some autumn vegetables in your vegetable garden, otherwise what will we eat in winter?” Li Xiaonuan said, pretending not to know.
The old woman barely spoke to Li Xiaonuan on the way from the fields to Jiuzhou Village. Li Xiaonuan didn't care much, as she was still inspecting the surroundings and planning her Peach Blossom Spring.
There were quite a few people eyeing the chili seedlings planted in the soybean field. When Li Xiaonuan returned from Jiuzhou Village, she happened to run into Zhou Jingjing's aunt leaving with an unhappy expression.
"Mom, why is Aunt Zhou unhappy?" Li Xiaonuan asked, puzzled.
Mrs. Su sighed and said helplessly, "It's all because of those chili seedlings in the soybean field. Your Aunt Zhou said she wanted to pick some so her family could plant them in their vegetable garden. She said they were just leftover seedlings anyway, and it would be a waste to plant them in the soybean field."
Li Xiaonuan asked curiously, "What did Mother say?"
Mrs. Su said somewhat unhappily, "What else can I say? When we had extra seedlings, we asked them to take them back to plant in the vegetable garden, but they were unwilling. Now, all those seedlings have been taken back by Aunt Yu, so how can we give them to anyone else?"
Well, Su must have once again displayed her strong, straightforward nature, unintentionally offending someone without even realizing it. Seeing Su increasingly reverting to her true self, Li Xiaonuan felt deeply satisfied. At least, her appearance had rescued this woman who had been worn down by life.
Li Xiaonuan nodded and said, "Mother is right. No matter who asks in the future, just say this. Anyway, we gave them a chance back then. Now, we don't need to be polite to them. But we still have to be tactful and say things that leave them with no room for argument."
Madam Su tapped Li Xiaonuan's forehead and said with displeasure, "You, you dare to teach your mother how to speak. How could your mother not know to speak more tactfully? But some people just like to pretend they don't understand. What's the use of your mother being tactful?"
Li Xiaonuan chuckled and took Su's arm, saying, "Hey, Mother, say whatever you want. As long as those people can understand. Mother, where's Father?"
The father and daughter had agreed to go to the fields together. Li Xiaonuan had been back for quite some time, but she hadn't seen her father.
"Your father was summoned by Zhou Erquan. He said his son asked someone to write a letter back and asked him to read it." Madam Su snorted, looking somewhat displeased.
Li Xiaonuan tentatively asked, "Dad was invited to ask for chili seedlings, right?"
Su snorted coldly: "Your father is such a nice old man, I want to see how he refuses."
Just as Li Xiaonuan and her mother said, after Li's father arrived at Zhou Erquan's house and read the letter to Zhou Erquan, they started chatting and the conversation drifted to the chili seedlings.
“Brother Li, look at those good seedlings, isn’t it a waste to plant them in the soybean field? I just cleared out an acre of vegetable garden behind my house, why don’t we transplant some of them here? The harvest will be better then.” Zhou Erquan said with a hint of regret, seemingly unintentionally.
Li's father was taken aback. When he remembered which chili seedlings Zhou Erquan had pointed out, he replied, "It's alright, those chili seedlings are growing very well. I went to see them the day before yesterday and found that many of them had already flowered. They're no worse than those planted in other fields."
On Tuesday, Quan was speechless, unsure how to continue. But being a shrewd fellow, he added, "I'm just worried that harvesting the soybeans will ruin the seedlings. Look, the soybean pods are all yellow; it's time to harvest the beans, isn't it?"
Father Li thought that made sense, so he nodded and said, "It is a bit inconvenient. I have to go back and talk to Xiaonuan to see if she has any good ideas. We can't pull out those chili seedlings anymore, since they've already flowered."
In fact, Li's father hadn't grasped the underlying meaning of Zhou Erquan's words. Therefore, the focus of his answer was completely off-target. Zhou Erquan, seeing Li's father's serious contemplation, almost spat blood onto the wall.
"Brother Erquan, thank you for reminding me. I have to go home now. Xiaonuan is waiting for me to go to the fields. If I'm late, it will be dark when I get back." Father Li said as he stood up. "Xiaonuan and I will go to the soybean field to figure out how to harvest soybeans."
Zhou Erquan reluctantly got up to see him off, inwardly cursing Li's father as a fool. As soon as Li's father left, Zhou Erquan kicked a winnowing basket in the yard until it scattered. Finally, he slumped down on the steps, sighed, and said, "Alas, who can I blame for this?"