Reborn as a Landlord-Chapter 701 - 359 Unveiling Talent_1
"How big is this plot of land?" an elderly official asked, twirling some of his grizzled beard.
"This newly dug section is about three fen," replied Lian Manman. They had already turned over about a third of the sweet potato field, which in total was roughly nine fen.
"Only three fen?" The official seemed incredulous and pressed further with another question.
"Your honor, that’s right, just three fen, not less nor more," Lian Manman said.
"Go and measure it," Shen Liu ordered a few attendants by his side.
It was uncertain how the attendants happened to carry a measuring tape with them, but they indeed entered the sweet potato field and began to measure.
"Reporting back to your honor, it’s exactly two fen nine li plus some change, and the whole sweet potato field is one mu two fen," the attendant reported back after measuring, standing with arms akimbo and addressing Shen Liu at the field’s edge.
Immediate exclamations of astonishment filled the air. Villagers who had stood back cautiously were no longer fearful of the officials and crowded forward, luckily restrained by the attendants, lest they "collide" with the officials in front.
In three fen of land, they harvested three hundred and twenty-seven jin of sweet potatoes. Wouldn’t the yield for one mu of land exceed one thousand jin? One thousand jin, what a concept. In Liaodong Prefecture, the most experienced farmers, after a year of hard labor, would consider it a good harvest if one mu could yield three hundred jin of sorghum or millet. One mu yielding one thousand jin was equivalent to the output of more than three mu of land, how could this not excite people!
"Is it possible to dig up the entire plot?" The elderly official asked somewhat shakily, as though only by witnessing the whole yield of more than one mu himself could he believe the reality of this high productivity.
The growing period for sweet potatoes is around one hundred to one hundred and twenty days, and Lian Manman’s family’s sweet potatoes had been growing for one hundred to one hundred and ten days, so harvesting now was not too early. Moreover, they had planned to dig up all the sweet potatoes today and weigh them on the spot to create a sensational effect.
Seeing was believing for the crowd; there was no need for them to advertise, as the sweet potatoes would definitely spread by word of mouth. Naturally, more people would come to buy sweet potato seeding from their family.
Lian Shouxin then led others back into the sweet potato field to dig, and after they had unearthed all the sweet potatoes and weighed them, the total yield from the one mu two fen of land was one thousand three hundred sixty-two jin and some change.
"Your honor, people can eat these sweet potatoes, and the vines can feed pigs. With the land now free, we can plant a crop of soybeans," Lian Manman announced to the elderly official, aware of his keen interest in farming, her statement clearly directed to him.
The official, already dancing with excitement, became even more ecstatic upon hearing Lian Manman’s words.
"Young girl, how do you know so much?" he asked after his excitement subsided, finally realizing that the person he was talking to was seemingly just a young girl around ten years old, his query tinged with surprise.
"Your honor, don’t be fooled by my young age, I’m an old hand at farming too. All this I learned from my father," Lian Manman said with a smile.
Hearing Lian Manman call herself an "old hand" at farming, everyone couldn’t help but smile.
"Isn’t this the first time your family has planted sweet potatoes? Even if your father knows a lot, how could he know this much?" the old man asked again.
Shen Liu stood by, letting him ask away without intervention. Lian Manman knew that this elderly official must be trusted by Shen Liu and thus did not hold back in her reply.
"Your honor, we call them sweet potatoes, but in Prefecture of Fuzhou, they’re known as ’fan shu’. Someone in Fuzhou has grown them before. We sought them out and learned how to cultivate them too, so that’s how we know," Lian Manman explained, and then she repeated what she said earlier about getting the sweet potatoes from Wang Family Wang Youheng.
Wu Lang stepped forward at this moment, respectfully handing a written statement to Shen Liu.
"The full details are in the written statement, please Sixth Master take a look," he said.
Shen Liu had someone take the statement, quickly read through it, and then handed it to the gray-bearded official at his side.
"Official Li, take a look," Shen Liu said.
Official Li quickly took the statement and read it from beginning to end, nodding repeatedly.
"So that’s how it is, excellent, this is wonderful," Official Li said, repeating praise as he looked up and inquired of Wu Lang, "Who wrote this statement?"
"Your honor, my brother wrote it," Lian Manman pointed to Wu Lang and said to Official Li, "He’s studying in a private school in the town and is going to take the imperial examination for young scholars next year."
