Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

Zhang Xixi and Ma Youqing agreed to take the schoolteacher to the deserted village three days later and then said goodbye.

After that, they went to a teahouse.

This small teahouse is a newly opened establishment in Jinxiufang, used for delivering messages.

Ever since Manager Qian obtained Zhang Xixi's pills last time, he told her about it, saying that if there was anything, she could send a message to him through this teahouse, and the token was the one left by Duanmu Yun.

Zhang Xixi went inside alone with the token, while Zhang Wenbo watched the carriage from outside.

Inside the teahouse, Zhang Xixi showed her token to the manager, who then knew she was looking for Manager Qian.

"Madam, is there anything I can help you with?"

"I want you to pass on a message to Manager Qian, saying that Zhang Xixi in the deserted village has some new grain, and ask if he wants it."

"Okay, ma'am!"

After everything was settled, Zhang Xixi and Zhang Wenbo returned to the deserted village at noon. After lunch, Zhang Wenbo went to Zhou Dashan to discuss the school.

Zhang Xixi went to the sweet potato field; she was in a bit of a hurry!

These sweet potatoes need to ripen quickly; she needs them!

Once in the field, Wang Daniu was also checking the sweet potatoes. "How are they? Are they ready to be dug up?"

"You can start digging now, boss!"

"Then we'll start digging tomorrow. We'll get more people involved. After we're done digging, we'll plant the sweet potato vines as cuttings. We'll cut the sweet potato vines from the ground and put them in a place with water to keep them fresh!"

Wang Daniu nodded in agreement, “Master, there are twenty people who have gone home to visit their families this time. I will call the rest of them tomorrow and try to plant the sweet potatoes the day after tomorrow.”

"Okay, there's one more thing I need to tell you, which is about the children's schooling. After this batch of sweet potatoes and rice is harvested, your children can come here to study, but each child will need to pay a tuition fee of one tael per year. You'll have to figure out your own accommodation and food."

Wang Daniu was stunned and asked blankly, "Boss, do you mean my brothers can also send their children to school?"

"Of course, but as I said, you'll be responsible for our food and lodging, and it can't interfere with our normal work."

Wang Daniu said, "Of course. The employer has given our children this opportunity to study, so we will definitely work hard. If there is anyone who is lazy, I will fire them immediately."

Zhang Xixi thought that there would definitely be conflicts when there were more children in the future, but she wanted to discuss it in advance.

"Also, I hope the children you bring will get along well with the children in the village. Don't bring any spoiled children, because I'm afraid they might have conflicts with the villagers, and that would be difficult to handle!"

"I understand, boss!"

"Okay, go back!"

Zhang Xixi went to Old Wang's house and asked her to help spread the word among the villagers that anyone who needed sweet potato vine cuttings could come to her field the next day to get them for free.

Old Wang thought this was good news!

"Da Bao's mother, don't worry, I will definitely inform everyone in the village. You are so kind-hearted!"

Hearing her sincere praise, Zhang Xixi felt a little uncomfortable. After all, Old Wang was not easy to talk to, and she had even tried to extort money from her before.

"Just say what you want to say!"

Old Mrs. Wang smiled ingratiatingly, "It's not that none of my family members were selected to work in the factory. I was hoping you could help me put in a good word, so at least one person from my family could go!"

As she spoke, Old Wang started to play the victim, talking about how difficult her family's situation was and where they needed money.

Hearing the endless complaints, Zhang Xixi quickly shouted, "Stop! Going to the factory is definitely not an option, but I can give you an idea to make money."

"What idea!"

Upon hearing that it could make money, Old Wang immediately stopped her fake crying and looked at Zhang Xixi expectantly.

That look in her eyes was as if she were a piece of gold, it was really hard to stand. Zhang Xixi immediately said, "You can raise pigs, and when you produce vermicelli, there will definitely be a lot of sweet potato residue left over. You can buy that and stop feeding the pigs!"

"But it's really hard to find piglets in this town!"

"I have connections to buy pigs. I can help you buy a litter of piglets and a male and a female pig, so you can breed them yourself later!"

Old Mrs. Wang raised another question, then said embarrassedly, "My family doesn't have that much silver!"

"That's fine. You just need to raise the pigs to adulthood and give me 60% of the pork every year. After two years, the whole pigs will be yours!"

"real!"

Old Mrs. Wang was overjoyed. It meant that she could help raise pigs for a year and get 30% of the meat. Apart from paying for the sweet potato residue, she wouldn't have to pay for anything else.

Zhang Xixi nodded, "Really!"

Raising pigs is no easy task; it's not only tiring but also requires preventing them from getting sick!

"If the pig dies while you're raising it, you'll have to pay compensation!"

Old Wang laughed, "I'm an expert at raising pigs, there won't be any problems, don't worry!"

Zhang Xixi thought to herself, "I only chose you because I was attracted to your pig-raising skills."

"I'll bring the pig to you tomorrow afternoon. Get a place ready."

Old Mrs. Wang said happily, "Da Bao's mother, thank you so much!"

"Don't mention it, let's get down to business first!"

The next day, Wang Daniu and his group cut some sweet potato vines, and the villagers came. Zhang Xixi told them to take the sweet potato vines home and work with them.

There's still a small patch of sweet potato vine left on our own land; we'll cut it down around 1 p.m.

In the afternoon, the villagers came to Zhang Xixi again to buy soil-improving chemicals, because they had already reclaimed two or three acres of wasteland and planned to plant sweet potatoes the next day, without waiting a month.

Now almost the entire village is planting sweet potatoes. Zhang Xixi's family planted sweet potatoes on the land where they had dug them up the next day, and on the third day they planted sweet potatoes on the wasteland that had been cleared.

Zhang Xixi went on a buying spree at home, purchasing plant growth regulators and nutrient solutions, which she then had villagers and Wang Daniu and others carry to spread on the ground.

That evening, Zhang Xixi was overjoyed to see that she had been rewarded with 450,000 luck points for this sweet potato harvest. She could finally send gold to her parents.

"System, I want to redeem a time-space transport!"

"Okay, host!"

A screen popped up in front of Zhang Xixi's eyes, followed by a system notification sound.

"Please write the address clearly and select a photo of the recipient!"

After Zhang Xixi followed the system's instructions, the box containing the gold on the table disappeared.

"This delivery service has been successfully completed. One million luck points have been deducted!"

"Ok!"

Zhang Xixi checked her luck value and found it was now only a little over 300,000.

In the following days, Zhang Cunren and Wang Daniu were either clearing wasteland or pulling weeds in the rice paddies, keeping them extremely busy.

A few days later, Wang Daniu's group of brothers came back to relieve him. Wang Daniu and his wife didn't go back, but the others went back to visit their families.