Locked: God is the matchmaker, neither you nor I can escape

After Ren Huaimin, Lord Xu, Lord Ma, and Lord Liu followed Father Li into the Li family's home, they were somewhat surprised that this countryman could actually afford to live in a house made entirely of blue bricks.

As far as they know, there are very few country people who can afford to build blue brick houses. Even if there are, they will not be too big. The few who can build large blue brick and tile houses will not be so extravagant as to even pave the ground with blue bricks.

It seems that the Li family has a good foundation!

Walking around the main house and coming to the back, I saw that the houses at the back were all newly built, and the bricks and tiles were still very new. Not far away, there were a lot of dried vegetables and mushrooms spread out on the ground to dry.

Uh... so this is how the blue brick floors in the countryside are used. They are too narrow-minded.

The group came to the backyard, where they saw a vegetable garden of about one acre that had been reclaimed in bits and pieces. Green vegetables were planted in it, which immediately brightened the eyes of several officials who came from the capital and rarely saw green vegetables.

Ren Huaimin couldn't help but sigh: "Life in the south is so good. I can eat fresh and green vegetables in the winter."

Although Chen Yong felt proud in his heart, he did not dare to agree. These adults were all from the capital, which is the imperial city! How could there be anything wrong under the feet of the emperor?

Father Li introduced sweet potatoes to the officials who had never seen them before: "These are sweet potato dishes. The stems and leaves are eaten. They taste very good. If you adults don't mind, you can have lunch at my humble abode. I will let my son show you how to cook them."

Ren Huaimin instantly thought of the sweet potato feast mentioned in Chen Yong's letter, which was prepared by the lame young man. Chen Yong praised the young man's cooking skills so highly that he couldn't help swallowing.

Now that I have a rare opportunity to taste his cooking, how could I refuse just for the sake of face?

"No problem, thank you for the hospitality, Brother Li. We will shamelessly have lunch at Brother Li's house." Ren Huaimin said happily, looking very amiable and approachable.

Lord Xu, Lord Ma, and Lord Liu would naturally not refuse. Not to mention that Ren Huaimin, the general manager, agreed to it, and they couldn't afford to slap him in the face. The most important thing was that they had never eaten sweet potato dishes!

Father Li explained at the right time: "This sweet potato can grow again soon after being cut. Planting a crop of sweet potatoes can be eaten for several months!"

Lord Xu, Lord Ma, and Lord Liu's eyes lit up, and Lord Xu said in surprise: "In this way, can we eat sweet potato dishes all year round?"

"In theory, this is true, but the cold winter is not suitable for growth. After a crop is cut, if it suddenly gets cold, it may freeze to death. If the climate is good, it will grow again after the spring warms up." Father Li explained.

Mr. Ma immediately understood what Father Li meant and asked, "Is this sweet potato dish not cold-resistant?"

"Sweet potato vegetables are sweet potatoes, and they are essentially the same. They are not cold-resistant, but the climate in our south is warmer than in the north, so the cold weather is relatively shorter. Sweet potatoes can survive now, but if it gets colder, I can't guarantee it."

After hearing this, Lord Xu, Lord Ma, and Lord Liu were all slightly disappointed. They thought they could eat green vegetables in the capital!

There are spinach, leeks, mustard greens, onions, and radishes in the vegetable garden. It is so lush and green, completely different from the winter in the capital.

At this moment, they were envious.

I couldn't help but swallow my saliva. Hehe, actually, it's not bad to celebrate the New Year in this village this year.

Going further in, there is half an acre of sweet potatoes growing in rows of land. They are growing very well and the whole field is full of green.

Chen Yong looked at the sweet potato field and couldn't help but smile, feeling full of pride.

He and Arnold contributed to this half-acre of sweet potato field. They participated in clearing the land, planting, weeding, watering and fertilizing.

The boy from the Li family said that when the time comes, he and Arnold will come to dig sweet potatoes, and he will give them all the sweet potatoes they dig. Everyone in the family, young and old, likes to eat sweet potatoes, but they can’t buy them even if they want to.

The matters here are handed over to Father Li and the magistrate. Chen Yong, who has participated in the discussion of the entire process of sweet potatoes, can be considered a veteran.

Xin Ye and Yan Yiyi went to the vegetable garden to pick vegetables. She did not miss the envious and hungry looks of several adults when they saw the vegetables in the garden. They could have some meat as a token of their appreciation, so they must have a vegetable feast for them today.

There were still bones and pork left over from yesterday, so we didn't have to go all the way to the county to buy meat and vegetables. The dishes for lunch included: bone soup stewed with radish, fried bacon with leeks, stir-fried mustard greens, cold spinach, stir-fried sweet potato with garlic, fried egg with green onions, braised pork, and sauerkraut pork.

The sweet potatoes had been planted in the fields. After seeing the lushly growing sweet potatoes, they went to the warehouse to see the harvested sweet potatoes. The warehouse was full of sweet potatoes, which shocked the four adults from the capital.

Ren Huaimin hesitated and said, "This is more than a thousand pounds, right?"

"Well, there are more than 4,000 kilograms." Father Li answered. Although they ate a lot, they did not eat several hundred kilograms. It was still more than 4,000 kilograms.

"Hiss——" The four of them took a deep breath in unison.

Ren Huaimin turned to look at Chen Yong. Chen Yong stroked his mustache calmly with a calm expression.

Ren Huaimin had a flash of inspiration. Yes, four thousand jin is also one thousand jin, not ten thousand jin. Chen Yong did not make a mistake, he just did not report it in enough details.

But he understood Chen Yong's concerns. If it was before, he would have reported it directly and truthfully, and anyone with a brain would have sent someone to investigate. By then...

A high-ranking official can crush people to death, let alone ordinary people who have no one to rely on?

However, he would write a letter back to report to Lord Mu truthfully at night. Now that the emperor was watching, no one dared to take action easily.

Besides, it’s just a matter of increasing grain production. Once it becomes popularized, it will benefit everyone. Why take the risk of snatching it?

After having lunch at Li's house, the five officials left Dashan Village with bulging bellies. Although this lunch was not luxurious, it contained green vegetables that were rarely seen in Beijing!

This farm meal is so delicious!

After returning, the four of them began to do their respective jobs. Ren Huaimin wrote down everything he saw and heard in the vegetable garden that day. Thinking that he could not express the feeling with words alone, he immediately drew a picture to fill in the gap.

Mr. Xu, Mr. Ma, and Mr. Liu came to learn sweet potato planting techniques, so they recorded the new knowledge they learned today. These are important materials for popularizing sweet potato planting.

Today, they have learned almost all the theoretical knowledge about sweet potato cultivation, but cultivation requires more than just theoretical knowledge, but also practice. Moreover, as agricultural officials, they need to consider how to promote sweet potatoes more effectively.

Therefore, in the following days, they needed to go to the nearby area to investigate the land and climate conditions.

Slurp~ I already miss the food cooked by the young man of the Li family before I even leave.

Wait, next time they won’t be polite to the young man from the Li family. They also want to try the sweet potato feast and see if the county magistrate surnamed Chen can still show off in front of them!