208 Chapter 208 Borrowing Ice
No matter what the villagers presumed, the matter was settled. Although the profits were much lower, there was still work to do, so the villagers weren’t too unhappy.
In the end, Gu Chengrui told Father Gu and Second Uncle Gu about Qiao Lansheng’s arrest. If they wanted to start a shipping business, they could start now.
At least, no one would be targeting them.
Zhou Ying took advantage of an opportunity while importing more soybeans and green beans over the next half-month. She took out 5,000 pounds of flour from her interspace and put them in the restaurant’s warehouse.
She also prepared 10,000 pounds of black, unrefined flour for the long-term workers in the manor and a boat of bran and tofu dregs for the cattle and sheep, which should be enough to feed them for half a year.
At the same time, they planted sweet potatoes on 80% of the land around their house. In the future, if they wanted to promote the seeds, they would have a source.
In the blink of an eye, it was the wheat harvest season. As expected, the wheat yield was reduced, but Zhou Ying didn’t expect that one acre only produced about 70 pounds of wheat, and those without fertilizer only had enough to replant for the next season.
This also made her deeply aware of the hard work of farmers. The price of food was considered cheap.
After the wheat was harvested, the people continued to plant the autumn grain.
The next step was to harvest the chili. Although the yield was much worse than expected, with one acre of land only producing 500 to 600 pounds, Zhou Ying collected them at the price of five coppers per pound. The income from one acre of land was equivalent to the income from three or four acres of wheat.
So, someone ignored Zhou Ying’s dissuasion and continued to plant nothing but chili.
However, no matter what they planted, the following situation was not optimistic.
Drought was everywhere because there had only been one rain after the new year. The water level in the river was also dropping quickly; if it weren’t for the waterwheel supporting them, no water could come in.
When Zhou Ying saw this, she planted all the dry land with white sweet potatoes, and the edge of the field was full of chilies. Of course, she also left ten acres of land for planting vegetables.
At the same time, when the sweet potatoes and yams planted in the grassland were ripe, she dug up a large portion of them and put them in the warehouse.
It was too hot today, and no one was in the restaurant during lunch.
Zhou Ying made some ice with saltpeter and then put some clean, crushed ice in a piece of watermelon and half a cup of milk. She was eating it happily.
Manager Liu rushed in and asked anxiously, “Miss Zhou, do you have any more ice?”
After he finished speaking, he looked at the ice in her hand and was stunned for a moment. “What are you eating?”
“I made my own ice dessert. Do you want a cup?” Zhou Ying asked after being surprised by his question.
“Don’t mind if I take one. The weather is so hot that I really want to dive into a pool.” Manager Liu looked at the ice and finally couldn’t help but nod.
“Wait a moment; I’ll make you another bowl.” After Zhou Ying finished speaking, she went back to the kitchen. A moment later, she made a bowl and handed it to him.
Manager Liu didn’t hesitate and immediately picked up the spoon at the side. After taking a mouthful, he took a deep breath and said, “It’s cool, from the inside out too. You really know how to enjoy a good meal.”
His shoulders relaxed, and he also remembered the purpose of coming here. He hurriedly asked, “By the way, do you have more ice here? Can you give me some? It’s such a hot day, and the chicken I just slaughtered in the morning already tastes terrible in the afternoon. ”
“No, the ice in the icehouse can’t be taken out; otherwise, the meat inside would be rotten too.
“But I can tell you how to create ice.”
“Create ice?” Manager Liu was stunned for a moment and looked at her with a surprised expression.
“Hurry up and eat up. I’ll teach you after you’re done.” Zhou Ying spoke as she lowered her head and began to eat. Otherwise, her ice dessert would melt.
Manager Liu was curious, but he lowered his head and started eating.