The Bai family selected a site, booked materials from the county town, and started work on an auspicious day.
This was considered a particularly lively event in the village. Because the Bai family offered high wages, villagers from several nearby villages came to apply.
Old Zhou went there himself.
The Bai family selected and hired some people. The house was going to be quite large, so it would require a lot of wood, stones, etc., all of which needed people to do the work.
The whole village became lively. The children especially liked to run to watch the fun. Manbao also ran to watch with great interest. When they returned home in the evening, the Zhou family was also talking about this.
Among the people from the Zhou family who went, only Zhou Dalang and Zhou Silang were selected. Zhou Erlang was not selected, and Zhou Sanlang did not go because he needed to rest to cope with the labor.
Because the winter solstice was approaching, there were many things to prepare at home, so Qian specially took out the money at home and counted it. Of course, this matter could not be hidden from Manbao who lived in the same room.
Manbao even volunteered to keep accounts for her.
Qian glanced at Manbao and agreed.
In fact, they earned a lot during this period, but they were also spending money. Thinking that the third child was going to serve in the army and it was winter, she set aside some money to buy some cotton for him to fill his clothes. Clothes needed some extra fabric.
Qian allocated another part, which allowed Manbao to remember the remaining money.
Manbao asked, "Mom, is our family rich now?"
"Not at all. This little money is not enough for the New Year. We still have to work hard after the spring." Qian sighed, "Your flower basket business is gone too. Otherwise, the family would still have some income."
Manbao said, "We can sell yams."
"Where can we look for it?" Qian said, "We dare not go into the deep mountains, and we may not be able to find it even if we search the shallow places."
“Then we’ll grow our own.”
"How do we grow this? We have never heard of it before, so we dare not plant it carelessly. Besides, where can we get the seeds?"
Manbao was in deep thought. Now the entry had not come out yet, and the points had not been collected, but she felt that yam could be planted, because Keke had said that although yam was extinct in its time, it was a very common thing before, in the Earth Era, and people ate it just like eating cabbage.
Since it is as common as cabbage, it means it can be grown.
Manbao asked Keke.
The system silently searched out some information and showed it to Manbao, using its own privileges to confiscate her points.
Manbao read most of the information, and the next day he found Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, "Fifth Brother, Sixth Brother, I have already thought of what to plant on Fourth Brother's land?"
"What to plant?" Zhou Wulang said, "What else can he plant on his wasteland besides beans? Dad said that he would give him two kilograms of bean seeds next year and he must return them after the summer harvest."
"What's the point of growing beans? If we want to grow something, we should grow yams!"
Zhou Wulang's eyes rolled and he asked, "Do you know how to plant it?"
Manbao said confidently: "I almost know it."
"What do you mean by almost knowing? If you know, you know. If you don't know, you don't know."
"I haven't planted it before, but haven't I seen it? Fifth brother, we all watched when we went to dig yams, so we can plant them according to how they grow. I see it has vines , so we can give it a frame for it to climb up, and then go to the mountains to dig some more soil and bring it back, and water it more, and that's about it."
Zhou Liulang asked, "Why do we need to dig the soil?"
"It likes to grow there because it likes to eat the soil there. We dig up the soil and spread it on our land. After we plant it, of course it likes to grow there."
The two brothers always felt that something was wrong, but they couldn't tell what it was.
Manbao encouraged them, "When the yams are grown, we will also have a share. Let Fourth Brother share some of the profits with us."
Manbao said that she would talk to her fourth brother about this.
Zhou Wulang was not worried that his fourth brother would not agree, but he said, "Where can we get yam seeds? No, does yam have seeds?"
Manbao said, "Didn't several pieces of yam break off in the soil last time we dug it? Let's dig it back."
Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang opened their mouths wide, "Then, can that be planted?"
Koko had said that tubers could be used as seeds, so she nodded confidently, "Of course it can be done."
"What if you dig it up and bring it back?"
"Let's dig it out first." Although Manbao now has some clues, he is not very sure. But, never mind, just take it one step at a time.
Because Manbao is the only educated person in the family, and a lot of the money the family has earned recently is due to her ideas, Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang subconsciously listened to her opinions without realizing it.
Not only Zhou Wulang , but Zhou Erlang now listens to Manbao's opinions.
Manbao pestered him to go into the mountains to look for yam, and said, "Don't pull them out, bring them back with the vines. Maybe the vines can be used as seeds."
Zhou Erlang thought what she said made sense. What kind of crops would be better if you grew them yourself than if you went into the mountains to grow them?
Maybe next year they will be able to harvest a crop of yams.
Manbao reminded him again: "Brother, if you see any plants in the mountains that I haven't seen before, you must pull them back for me."
Zhou Erlang agreed as usual, but this time he was finally more serious and asked Manbao, "What plants have you seen?"
Manbao drew a big circle and said, "I have seen everything in the village. Second brother, just look for things that are not in the village or on the mountain, and bring some back to me."
Zhou Erlang smiled and touched her head, saying, "Good!"
"Host, the points for Ligustrum lucidum and Chinese yam have arrived together." Koko suddenly spoke. Manbao's eyes lit up and he ran back to the room, hiding in his little quilt to check the points.
When the system saw Manbao's consciousness coming in, it opened the page for her to see. The reward points for Ligustrum lucidum were 5,000, and for Chinese yam they were 2,500.
"These two plants have a very important position in history. They are not only valuable for studying botany, but also for studying the social and humanities of the time. Therefore, the points reward is relatively high."
The system saved all the points and said, "The entries for other plants that the host had collected before are also being produced. They are expected to arrive in the next two days. Host, you have earned so many points, why don't you exchange them for something to reward yourself?"
He took out the beautiful bag again and showed it to Manbao.
Manbao looked and looked, and when he had seen enough, he said, "No, I want my sister-in-law to do it for me. Please let me take another look at my mother's medicine."
Koko could only prepare the medicine and show it to her.
Manbao admired the green potion and said contentedly, "Keke, don't worry, I will definitely include many, many plants. Maybe next year I can collect enough points to buy medicine for my mother."
Koko didn't want to hit her, but still couldn't help but said, "It's difficult, host. Consider buying something else, something inexpensive and cheap will do. You have a lot of points now, and it's a waste of points to buy candy at one point a day."
Manbao poked at the merchandise in the mall and said, "I don't know what else to sell besides candy."