Chapter 103: The Culinary Tycoon

New Farming Tools, Crops, and Shops

In late June, the snack shop closed for ten days, and all the employees returned home to harvest rice and participate in the “Double Harvest.”

(T/N: Double Harvest is the term referred to a specific agricultural practice. However, the literal translation of “双抢” (shuāng qiǎng) is “double grab” or “double snatch.” It refers to completing the harvesting and threshing of crops in a shorter time than usual, thus achieving a double harvest. It implies being efficient and quick in completing agricultural tasks.)

Prior to this, the village chief’s family had made another batch of rice beds for sale. After experiencing the benefits of rice beds during last year’s harvest, people discovered their advantages, and this year’s production was also in high demand.

However, due to the simple production process, other carpentry shops also began to introduce their own rice beds before the harvest, causing a slight decrease in overall prices. The village chief’s family didn’t make as much profit as the previous year, but it was still satisfactory.

Speaking of which, there are other woodworking shops selling items like baby strollers in the market as well. These items are different from food; their structure and construction can be easily replicated at a glance. Even the baby tricycle and toothbrush made by the village chief’s family were copied by others shortly after.

Especially after the toothbrush was introduced, it gained popularity among people. However, due to its relatively high price, only affluent families could afford it.

With the introduction of the toothbrush, Yu Qingze thought there should also be toothpaste. He later approached Doctor Li from Jiren Hall and discussed the concept of toothpaste with him. However, Doctor Li has not yet developed a particularly effective one, and they are still using fine salt and tooth powder for brushing teeth.

What deserves particular recognition is that after months of effort by the woodworkers, the design and method of securing the bristles of the toothbrush have been improved significantly. It has become more advanced and scientific, at least not as prone to bristle shedding while brushing.

Thanks to being located in Tongshan City, an important inland transportation hub, these new products sell well even with several woodworking shops simultaneously producing them. Astute merchants always have a keen eye for the hidden business opportunities within various items and are willing to pay high prices to bring them to different parts of the country.

Back in the village, Yu Qingze and Brother Le seldom returned home. This time, they noticed some changes among the villagers.

Since they made a good profit during the Lunar New Year, most households in the village ordered custom-made rice beds for the harvest. These beds could be used for threshing rice during harvest time and then for drying vegetables. When autumn came and sweet potatoes were harvested, they could also be raised to dry sweet potato flour.

With a foundation in making sweet potato flour, Yu Qingze also taught them how to make rice flour. Now, many households with surplus grain have started making rice flour to sell in the market, while those without surplus grain but seeing decent profits have also purchased rice to make it.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Boss Liu’s snail noodle shop orders rice noodles from the villagers.

Once the summer vegetables started to harvest, Yu Qingze had Grandpa Chang teach the villagers how to make pickled string beans and pickled radishes.

Their snack shop no longer needed these methods to make money, so they shared them with the villagers, allowing them to have a few more avenues for earning money and increasing their income. As everyone’s living standards improved and their days became more promising, their moods became more relaxed. The quarrels over “your chicken pecked at my vegetables” or “my duck trampled your seedlings” became much less frequent.

Thanks to the blessings bestowed by Yu Qingze, his family is now highly respected and popular in the village. Even Chang Hao said that the children in the school listen to him, and his expression couldn’t be more proud.

There is also good news that after eight or nine months of research and production, Dajian has made the first foot-powered threshing machine, just in time for the summer harvest.

As soon as Yu Qingze returned, he immediately went to the village chief’s house to see it.

In the old courtyard of the village chief’s house, a brand-new foot-powered threshing machine was placed in the center of the yard. There were many reed poles and dogtail grass nearby, as well as two Artemisia plants. The seeds on top were all gone, leaving only bare stems.

Yu Qingze went up to give it a try. He placed his right foot on the pedal and slowly exerted force, causing the roller to start moving along with the gears.

The speed gradually increased, and the buzzing sound produced as the roller rotated was so delightful!

“Fantastic, Dajian!” Yu Qingze excitedly came down and patted Dajian’s shoulder forcefully, saying, “This year, we won’t have to swing our arms sorely when threshing!”

Dajian rubbed the back of his head with a grin, sporting two panda-like eyes, and said, “I didn’t expect it to work so well. I tried it with the reed poles and dogtail grass, and after the roller made two rotations, the seeds were all cleaned.”

“Hahaha, it’s indeed so useful! Why else would I insist on having you make it?” Yu Qingze laughed. With this foot-powered threshing machine, their harvesting speed would increase, and they wouldn’t have to work as hard.

Turning his head, he noticed a few gears and a roller frame still placed under the eaves and asked, “Are those discarded?”

Dajian followed his gaze, nodded, and replied, “Those gears don’t fit properly, and there are some issues with the discs on both sides of the roller. I’ll take them back to the blacksmith’s shop another day to have them fixed.”

Yu Qingze nodded and then looked at Dajian, asking, “Your eyebags are so dark, how long has it been since you slept?”

The village chief beside them laughed and said, “Ah, he has been thinking about getting it done before the harvest, so he hasn’t slept much these past few days. He has been here in this old house all along, and his meals were brought to him by his wife.”

After Dajian finished making the threshing machine, he had been feeling excited and didn’t feel tired. He had been thinking about showing it to Yu Qingze. Now that Yu Qingze had seen it, he began to feel his eyelids getting heavy. He said, “Now, I’m feeling really sleepy. It’s alright, I’ll take a nap later.”

“You should go and rest. I’ll talk to your father.”

“Alright, then I’ll go back to my room and sleep. I didn’t feel tired just now, but now that we’re talking about it, I’m getting sleepier…” With that, Dajian went back to the front room.

Afterward, Yu Qingze discussed with the village chief, and they worked out a schedule for using the threshing machine. Then, with a cheerful demeanor, Yu Qingze went home.

The next afternoon, Brother Le and the others experienced the charm of the foot-powered threshing machine for the first time.

Yu Qingze demonstrated it to them once, and when he stepped down, the two young boys couldn’t wait and eagerly grabbed a handful of rice straws to try it out. Even Brother Le’s speed lagged behind.

“Be careful and stand steady! Xiao Hao, don’t step on it so fast, you might get pulled in! Don’t put it in yet, let it slow down a bit.” Yu Qingze watched the two boys with trembling nerves.

They were stepping on the threshing machine’s pedal too quickly, causing the rolling wheel to spin rapidly. If they didn’t stand steady and put the rice straws in, they would be pulled in and fall forward.

“Oh, oh!” The two boys lifted their feet and stopped stepping. They waited until the speed of the rolling wheel slowed down a bit before slowly stepping on it again, threshing the rice straws as they went.

“So fast!” Jiabao turned the rice straws upside down two or three times in his hands. When he looked at them again, all the rice grains had been threshed. He still remembered how his arms swelled up from last year’s harvest. Now, with this threshing machine, it only took a few turns to get the job done.

Chang Hao was also excited and said, “This threshing machine is really amazing!”

Helplessly, Yu Qingze said to the two boys, “Xiao Hao, Jiabao, don’t step on it for now. Let’s thresh together when we do it later.”

The two boys stepped down, and Brother Le and Grandpa Chang took their turn.

Buzzing and swishing, they flipped the rice straws left and right a few times. In an instant, the handful of rice straws in their hands turned into bare stalks.

“Hehehe, it’s so useful!” Grandpa Chang laughed happily. Brother Le also nodded in agreement, showing his joy.

The threshing machine also attracted the villagers’ attention. Watching them thresh the rice so quickly, many villagers went up to give it a try and were amazed by the machine.

They asked Yu Qingze how much one of these machines cost.

Yu Qingze replied, “This is the first one, and the village chief hasn’t calculated the cost or set a price yet. But it won’t be cheap. It’s made of a lot of iron, so it will cost at least seven or eight taels.”

So expensive!

After hearing this, the villagers fell silent and shook their heads before returning to their rice beds to continue their work. They hoped to borrow the threshing machine once the village chief and Yu Qingze’s family were done using it.

With the foot-operated threshing machine and the village chief’s oxen available for plowing, Brother Le and the others finished the double cropping earlier than other villagers.

With the remaining time, they completed all the tasks in the fields.

Yu Qingze specifically went to the potato field to take a look. After nearly two months of growth, the potatoes had grown knee-high and were starting to bloom. The white flowers stood gracefully on the branches, swaying in the wind, quite beautiful.

Yu Qingze dug into the soil to check the roots and found that the sprouted potatoes had already started growing small potatoes. He was delighted.

Since he didn’t know how to cultivate potatoes, Yu Qingze couldn’t offer any effective suggestions and had to rely on Grandpa Chang’s planting experience.

“Grandpa, I see that the potato plants are so dense. Do you think we should trim them like we do with sweet potatoes?” Yu Qingze looked at the closely packed potato plants and asked.

Grandpa Chang frowned and replied, “This is the first time we’re planting them, so I’m not sure. Potatoes don’t vine like sweet potatoes, so it seems unnecessary. However, if they grow too close together, the potatoes might end up smaller.”

“Why don’t we give it a try then? We can trim some branches from one area and leave the other area untouched, and later we can see which one yields better results.”

“Alright, let’s give it a try.”

So they divided the potato field into two experimental zones, one with trimmed branches and the other without.

After the holiday season, when the snack shop reopened, Yu Qingze started strolling around the streets every day, looking for vacant shops.

On July 13th, Boss Liu came over and pulled Yu Qingze to the backyard, whispering, “I heard from a customer that the teahouse near the intersection might be closing down. You should go check it out!”

Yu Qingze’s face lit up, and he said, “Really? I’ll go take a look right away!”

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