Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

Zhou Guo glanced at the women who were surrounding Zhou Gu and looking at him, rubbed his ears, pointed to the side, and said, "Come on, Grandpa, let's talk over here."

She explained in detail how to sell and return the goods, and how to get more if the goods are not fat enough in the middle.

Farmers valued their few acres of land and the crops in it the most. Fertilizer was as important as the land. After hearing Zhou Guo's words, they couldn't believe it. "How could such a good thing happen to me? There won't be any problem with the fertilizer, right?"

Zhou Guo said, "How can that be possible? You all have been experts for decades. You can tell what the fertilizer is like and what good fertilizer is like by just smelling it with your eyes closed. Who can deceive you about this? You can see when you go back and pull it yourself. If the fertilizer is not good and is fake, you just don't buy it. We can't force you to buy it, right?"

"That's right. So, you really are selling fat?"

Zhou Guo nodded, "It couldn't be more true. We are farmers ourselves, and our family also grows crops. We know the importance of fertilizer. We value fertilizer just like everyone else, so we won't cheat you on this matter. We still have to live in the village. If we offend everyone nearby and cheat them all, everyone will hate us. How can we live in the village?"

At this time, Zhou Gu also squeezed out from the crowd of women and immediately said, "Yes, yes, they are all from nearby villages. We are from Cangshan Village and we can't run away."

Everyone felt relieved. They bent down and grabbed a handful of food from the sack. Then they looked at their ox cart and asked, "Is this all you brought with you when you went out?"

Zhou Guo said, "It's more than this. There are two and a half sacks. We left some in several villages along the way. After a while, there are only this much left. If you want to buy now, we don't have any in the car. You can only go to our village to get it."

Everyone thought about it, discussed it again, and felt that it should not be a lie. They had a name, a surname, and a village. There were so many people in their village, how could they dare to lie to them? They immediately said, "Okay, tomorrow, I will go to your village to take a look. Are you home?"

Zhou Guo said happily: "Even if I'm not at home, there are people at our house. There will be people there anytime. Anyway, the price has been set and the things are at home. It doesn't matter whether I'm here or not."

If you think about it, it makes sense.

After saying goodbye to the people in this village, it was already starting to get dark.

Zhou Gu looked at the sky and said to Zhou Guo, "When are we going back? If it's any later, Second Aunt and the others will be worried."

Zhou Guo chewed on some dried meat and said, "No hurry, it's still early. We can go to one more village and go back after dark. The momentum is good now, so we have to strike while the iron is hot."

The two of them staggered to the next village. The village was not big, with only about twenty or thirty households.

It seemed that every household was having dinner at this time. There was no more white smoke on the roof, but there were bursts of the aroma of rice.

Zhou Gu turned around and said, "Why don't we wait any longer..."

"Ding ding ding..." Zhou Guo struck the gong, his breath sinking into his dantian, and shouted: "Selling fertilizer, selling fertilizer, the best fertilizer, it can increase grain production and make the land fertile..."

Zhou Gu turned around silently and shouted as well.

The loud sound of the gong, along with the shouting of the two people, opened a gap in the increasingly dark sky, and this peaceful village suddenly seemed to be in an uproar.

"Who is it? Why are you howling so late at night? Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"Oh my God, where does the gong sound come from? What are they shouting outside? It's so loud that if you don't know, you might think it's a wolf coming."

There was something fun to see, so everyone came out to watch.

He had just finished his meal and without even picking up his bowl, he hurriedly opened the door and came out.

Some of them were even holding bowls and steamed buns, and a hint of curiosity appeared on their originally numb faces when they saw Zhou Guo and his sister.

"What do you sell? Are you performing arts?"

Zhou Guo said: "No, we sell fat."

He then briefly recounted what had happened.

Everyone was stunned. Those who were eating with bowls stopped eating, and those who were holding steamed buns stuffed them into their arms.

"Are you telling the truth? You don't want money, but you really want us to pay you with grain next year?"

"What if the yield doesn't increase after we use your fertilizer? Where can we get food to pay you back for the fertilizer?"

Zhou Guo said, "How can it not increase? We are all working so hard now, spending most of the year and half a year on the land. Even if we have done deep plowing, weeding and watering on the best land, we can only get 2.7 dou of rice per mu at most. Why? It's because there is not enough fertilizer or the grain is not good. We can't do anything about the grain, but we can do something about the fertilizer. If the fertilizer is good, how can the yield not increase if we cultivate one mu of land carefully? We are all farmers, so we know this principle better than us two young boys, don't you agree?"

Everyone nodded involuntarily. As long as God is kind and the fertilizer is applied appropriately, the yield will indeed be different.

Zhou Guo said, "I'm not asking you to buy now. Go back tonight and think about it, discuss it with your family, and go to Cangshan Village when you have time. Even if you don't buy anything, it's good to go and have a look. Anyway, the spring plowing is over and the fields are not so busy, so you can just go out for fun. What do you think?"

"Yes, you are right, kid. You can go and have a look even if you don't want to buy it. I want to see if this fertilizer is as good as you said and whether many people buy it."

The crowd suddenly became lively and everyone said they wanted to go and take a look.

Zhou Guo waited for them to finish speaking before he smiled and said, "However, I want to tell you that there are not many fattened eggs in the first batch. If there are more people, I'm afraid there won't be enough by then. The next batch of fattened eggs won't come out for more than a month. You have to consider it carefully."

By this time, the sky had turned completely dark and the villagers were reluctant to light a lamp. There were only two torches lit in the large open space.

The two chatted with the villagers for a while before saying goodbye.

Zhou Gu turned the ox's head, and the two men and the ox walked back.

There was a torch stuck on the edge of the car.

Zhou Guo took out another piece of air-dried beef jerky. It was really hard, harder than wood. If the jerky was made a little bigger, it could crack a person's head.

He put one in his mouth and picked out a big one for Zhou Gu.

The two of them hurried home with the dried meat in their mouths.

There is no moon tonight and everything is silent. On the way back, I have to pass a cemetery. If I were to walk alone, I would be a little scared.

Zhou Gu said, "Do you think they will really come tomorrow?"

Zhou Guo held the dried meat in his mouth for a while, but it didn't get soft at all. He pulled a piece off with his teeth and chewed it. The salty and fragrant taste came out, and the more he chewed, the more fragrant it became.