Chapter 486: Chapter 28: Turning Waste into Treasure
Mei Nian said this while taking out a business card.
Xiao Xian had not taken it yet when Xuerou reached for it first, glanced at it, and then said: "Xiao Xian is a student, and a student’s main job is to study."
After hearing such a parental statement, Mei Nian didn’t retort but instead asked: "What do you think Monk Tianya does when you see him?"
"Monk."
"Being a monk was his longest-held job. Besides that, he has been a chef, a martial artist, a bricklayer, done odd jobs, and has also been an adventurer. From the Tianbao era to now, he could be considered the most versatile person in China, having dipped into over a hundred of the three hundred and sixty-five professions. He even tried being a Flower Gardener, but since he is an animal-oriented cultivator, he innately lacks the talent for handling plants, so he had to give it up," Mei Nian listed a series of identities of Monk Tianya.
"Tianbao is a era name from the Tang Dynasty? You mean to say, he has been alive for..." Xuerou choked up.
"Among cultivators, Tianya’s talents are not astonishing, but he is low-key and rarely competes with others. Having held many jobs, he has learned quite a few tricks for survival, so you can consider him the most Senior cultivator in China today," Mei Nian’s speech didn’t directly mock Xuerou’s words but had clearly conveyed her implication to Xiao Xian. On the lengthy road of cultivation, if one doesn’t find the right cultivation couple, then one must find plenty of engaging tasks to undertake.
"Even if what you say makes sense, what does it have to do with Mr. Mao? Yet, from my observations, Mao Dazhu is just a very ordinary Flower Gardener, and I would get more training under the Mei Family than working under him," the person Mei Nian suggested Xiao Xian find was Mao Dazhu, a former South Gate Disciple of the Five Gentlemen Flower Art.
"It’s because he’s ordinary that you need to assist him, and that too without using the Spiritual Rhinoceros Scissors," Mei Nian said with a malicious smile.
Xiao Xian took Mei Nian’s words to heart, and the next day, Mrs. Zeng had the driver take Xiao Xian back to Yanqing Farm.
Having not returned for nearly three months, Xiao Xian’s memory of the farm was still of the early spring scenery where swallows nested; now standing outside the farm, she saw an entire field of lush green sweet potato leaves.
Zhuo Feng knew Xiao Xian was coming back today, and upon hearing some noise, he ran out.
Hearing the familiar call of Xiao Xian, Zhuo Feng paused, then came over and hugged Xiao Xian.
"Let your aunt take a good look at you. It’s only been a couple of months, but how do I feel like you’ve grown taller," Zhuo Feng was also slow in realization, only now sensing something was off about his niece recently.
"Aunt, I am still me," Xiao Xian said, feeling the rose she pocketed start to warm subtly, quickly changing the topic, "Aunt, why do I feel like the sweet potatoes in the field are even better than before? Did you use some special fertilizer?"
A newcomer might not notice, but compared to when Xiao Xian left, the sweet potato leaves in Yanqing Farm had grown a few centimeters longer, and some freshly dug up sweet potatoes visible on the ground were significantly larger.
"Who knows? It’s just planted the same way as in previous years. Ah, this has been troubling me; look, the recently planted sweet potatoes not only have a higher yield but have also matured about ten days earlier. I just managed to get someone to take care of the first batch, and the next one is coming up; I really don’t know what to do with them," Zhuo Feng said, afraid to dig up the sweet potatoes fearing they might not sell well, and just symbolically dug up a few to send as samples.
"If they can’t be sold, then let’s not sell them as sweet potatoes," Xiao Xian looked at the prospering sweet potatoes in the field and, with a roll of her thoughts, thought of those cherries and roses from Meijia Village.
Even though Yanqing Farm’s cultivation might not compare with Meijia Village, the sweet potatoes were coarser and cheaper than cherries and roses; once harvested, they would match the quantity planted by every household in Meijia Village.
"If they’re sweet potatoes, how can they not be sold as sweet potatoes," Zhuo Feng also thought through everything, even considering renting a truck with Feng Xing to sell them in another area, but their physical stamina couldn’t endure such exertions, and since there had recently been a thief at the farm, with both spouses gone, no one knew what chaos might ensue here.
"Aunt, it’s a loss that you’re from Jiangsu and Zhejiang; isn’t it said that people there are quick-witted? Sweet potatoes can be ground into sweet potato flour, we can also get sweet potatoes into supermarkets as specialty agricultural products, and sweet potatoes can be processed into sweet potato crisps or sweet potato strips. And about those sweet potato vines, I heard in some foreign places, sweet potato leaves are even canned." Xiao Xian was just applying what she saw at Meijia Village to sweet potatoes, which seemed quite fitting indeed.