Chapter 124
Chapter 124
Xiao Che hurriedly lifted Jin Bao in front of him and seated her securely.
“Daughter, you said you planted a lot of potatoes? Where?”
Jin Bao pointed toward the southernmost part of the valley.
“Beside the drying ground.”
Because they had recently brought back so many fish, they needed open space to dry them. Xiao Che had temporarily approved a plot of land as a drying ground.
It stood beside the fur workshop.
Xiao Che remembered that the reserved farmland lay farther south.
Excluding the gentle eastern and western slopes, Black Pine Valley had roughly forty-six hundred mu of usable land. One thousand mu had been designated for roads and workshops, while the remaining three thousand would serve as farmland. However, because most people had been sent to work in the mine, no fields had yet been assigned.
The land had remained empty.
It was far from the residential area, so children rarely played there. When had Jin Bao gone there?
But Xiao Che did not keep Jin Bao beside him every moment. Most of the time, she played wildly with the other children in the valley. Even more often, she ran through the forest alone.
Once he understood, Xiao Che stopped dwelling on the question. He put his clothes and shoes back on, picked up Jin Bao, and headed outside.
“It’s dark. Take a torch.”
Pei Wanqing followed and handed Xiao Che one.
The Xiao Family’s courtyard was the finest in the valley and stood at the foot of the northern mountain.
The spring lay beside it.
The water emerging from the spring was quite hot, so people came only at night, when they needed to wash, to carry a basin home.
Layers of black stone had been stacked around the spring to form a large pool with an outlet below. Hot water flowed from the opening, and its temperature gradually dropped after traveling one li.
This was the busiest time for evening washing, so many residents greeted Xiao Che as he emerged.
Xu Huaijin was among them.
“Valley Master, you’re going out this late?”
“Mr. Xu, if you’re free, come with me for a while.”
Xu Huaijin quickly handed his wooden basin to a nearby resident and followed Xiao Che downstream.
“Valley Master, where are we going?”
Xu Huaijin saw that they were not heading out of the valley but downstream, away from the residential district.
“Just follow me for now, Mr. Xu. You’ll know soon enough.”
At the eastern slope, Xiao Che collected two reindeer.
The two men rode them and soon reached the area downstream from the drying ground.
“Daddy, we’re here. Over there.”
Sitting in Xiao Che’s arms, Jin Bao pointed toward a patch of weeds downstream.
Few people visited this area, so everything remained in its natural state. Weeds grew everywhere, and pheasants appeared from time to time. Jin Bao had collected many eggs here and brought them home.
Xiao Che brought his reindeer to a stop and climbed down with Jin Bao.
Xu Huaijin followed. They released the reindeer beside the stream to graze on moss.
Completely bewildered, Xu Huaijin’s curiosity had been thoroughly aroused by Xiao Che and Jin Bao. He followed closely behind them.
Only the three of them occupied this downstream area. The surroundings were so quiet that they could hear insects chirping.
“Daddy, go that way.”
Jin Bao pointed toward the weeds again.
Torch raised, Xiao Che quickly approached the patch.
Xu Huaijin hurriedly stepped ahead and pushed the weeds aside. They stood half a man’s height, easily concealing snakes and insects whose bites could be fatal.
The moment he parted the weeds, however, piles of earthen lumps filled their vision.
Xu Huaijin recognized them. They were called potatoes, though the Persians called them earth apples.
He had heard their yield was exceptionally high, reaching several thousand jin per mu.
When the Valley Master first told him, Xu Huaijin had not believed it. Now, as he stared at hills of potatoes scattered throughout the weeds, his mouth fell open in amazement.
“Th-this… this is…”
Jin Bao giggled and pointed at Xu Huaijin. “Uncle Xu turned into a stutterer! Hahaha!”
Xu Huaijin turned and bowed respectfully to Jin Bao.
“The Young Miss truly is a savior who brings blessings to all people.”
Jin Bao clasped her little hands and giggled.
Xiao Che set Jin Bao on the ground and stepped forward.
Across these more than two thousand mu of open land, the torchlight resembled a firefly and illuminated practically nothing.
Xiao Che walked through the weeds for fifteen minutes, finding potatoes heaped into small hills everywhere around his feet.
They continued beyond the light’s reach.
He was utterly shocked. How much food was there?
From the area he had crossed, Xiao Che estimated at least fifty or sixty thousand jin.
Moreover, beneath these piles, there appeared to be additional potatoes that had not yet been harvested. Their vines had turned yellow, suggesting that they were mature.
How much had been planted below?
“Daughter, how many days did you spend growing these? Do you feel unwell anywhere?”
So many potatoes must have consumed a great deal of energy, yet Jin Bao had shown no unusual sleepiness in recent days. Had her ability grown stronger again?
Or was it related to the new temple in the valley?
After returning from beyond the valley with Xie Chengyan, Xiao Che had ordered a small temple built at the top of the residential district. Inside stood a clay statue of Jin Bao.
Ever since the temple was completed, people had gone there to kneel and worship every day.
The valley had no incense, but Jin Bao did not seem to need any.
Xiao Che had discovered that as long as people sincerely knelt and worshiped Jin Bao, she grew stronger or quickly woke even when unusually sleepy.
To test his theory, he had ordered the temple built in the residential district on the gentle western slope as soon as he returned.
Sure enough, Jin Bao had not suffered another spell of sleepiness since its completion.
Even after secretly using her ability to grow all this food by herself, she showed no discomfort. His theory seemed to have been confirmed further.
It was too dark tonight to determine exactly how many potatoes were here. They could only return tomorrow.
Early the next morning, Xiao Che posted notices at the valley entrance and in New Life Village. The iron mine would close for one day, and everyone was to gather in the valley to receive land.
The valley now held two thousand residents and roughly three thousand mu of arable land.
Xiao Che had established a village outside Black Pine Valley precisely to preserve the land within it.
Outside the valley, the ground remained frozen for half the year. Inside Black Pine Valley, the weather was warm as spring, the soil fertile, and water easy to obtain. It was ideal for farming and could support two crops a year.
Spring planting was approaching, and they could not miss the agricultural season.
Ninety percent of the refugees Xiao Che had recruited were farmers who had worked the land all their lives. When they learned that fields would be allocated without costing any points, they grew incoherent with excitement, and the crowd instantly erupted.
This was the solution Xiao Che, Xu Huaijin, and Xiao Jingmo had worked out through the previous night.
The land would be distributed for free, but the crops grown on it would be taxed at forty percent of the harvest per mu.
Despite the forty-percent tax, no one objected.
Compared with taxation in the Northern Frontier, they saved a large sum by not having to purchase these fields. Moreover, after years of warfare, the tax in the Northern Frontier had risen to fifty percent.
The Northern Frontier’s harsh environment could not compare with the fertile southern lands of fish and rice. Families labored all year without retaining enough grain to feed themselves. Once winter arrived, they could only remain at home without income, depending entirely on the yield of that small patch of land. Every year, those who starved to death in the Northern Frontier could have formed mountains.