Chen Xuan is not a particularly smart person, but she is someone who will try hard to find solutions when encountering problems.
Because she had confirmed from Wei Nian that this fruit called strawberry was a particularly expensive fruit, Chen Xuan became even more eager to grow strawberries.
Then she waited for another two days, but still no seeds showed any movement.
Chen Xuan thought of a way. While Mrs. Wei was taking Yun Jie'er to the theater in Dazhalan to watch a play, she went to the East Market and found the vendor selling seeds. When the vendor saw Chen Xuan from a distance, he wanted to cover his face with his sleeves and quickly avoid her. Chen Xuan was furious when she saw the damn vendor. She stepped forward and stood in front of the stall, "Why are you hiding? I have something to ask you!" In the past, with Chen Xuan's temperament, she would never be able to reason with others in such a dignified manner. It was really that the strawberry seeds were too important. Not only did they cost a dollar, but Chen Xuan also owed Wei Nian two dollars and fifty cents, and Chen Xuan relied on the strawberry seeds to pay off her debt. So, even though she had never had the experience of reasoning with others before, Chen Xuan came here with courage.
Seeing Chen Xuan's fierce look, the vendor couldn't help but straighten his chest and speak louder, "I, I'm not hiding."
Although Chen Xuan was an honest person, she was not blind. She knew at a glance that the vendor was guilty. Chen Xuan sighed inwardly. She had planted the seeds that needed to be planted and soaked them. Although there was still half of them left, it would be difficult to get her money back. Chen Xuan simply said, "Don't worry, I'm not here to ask you to return the money. I'm here to solve the problem."
The vendor was relieved first. Chen Xuan thought that kind people are often bullied. She said with a stern face, "But my family is not one that can be fooled. Although my family is not particularly rich, we have a number of businesses in Beijing. If you tell me the truth when I ask you something, I won't care about this kind of thing. If you make excuses and make a scene, it won't do you any good."
Chen Xuan said these words with a gloomy face. She was born tall and her stature was not as slender and graceful as Li. If you didn't know Chen Xuan, you would think she was not easy to bully. The peddler obviously didn't want to make a big deal. He bowed and said, "Young Madam, just say what you want to say."
Chen Xuan asked, "Those seeds are really strawberry seeds, right?"
"It's true!" said the peddler. "My father went to the border of the Russians and saw this rare fruit. He ate it and found it delicious, so he brought back this packet of seeds. Well, to be honest with you, my father brought it back because my family wanted to grow it ourselves. But for some reason, the seeds just refused to sprout. My mother said that it was because of the bad feng shui of our family that we couldn't grow this fruit. I happened to be in this business, so I took it out, thinking that if someone who knew the value of the fruit took it away, my father's trip to the border would not be in vain."
Those who run small businesses are really eloquent.
After hearing this, Chen Xuan couldn't help but glare at the vendor and asked him, "Then what you told me about how to grow it was also a lie."
The vendor was in the wrong first and whispered, "It's not entirely false. My father said that this kind of fruit likes fertilizer. When it grows, you should apply more fertilizer to it so that it will grow well. Also, it has to be planted in a place with good sunlight. My father also said so." Alas, his family just didn't grow it.
Chen Xuan snorted, "Seeing that you are still honest, I will keep my word, so forget it."
Seeing that Chen Xuan didn't want him to pay her back, the vendor bowed twice to her and handed her two small packets of melon seeds. He said attentively, "These two packets are melon seeds. They are large melons from Xinjiang. We don't have them here. Madam, take them back and plant them. They are delicious!"
Chen Xuan exchanged one of the bags for zucchini seeds. The vendor smiled and said nothing. Chen Xuan then went home.
When Chen Xuan was leaving the East Market, she happened to run into someone she knew. Someone greeted her, "Hello, Mrs. Wei."
Chen Xuan looked back and saw that it was Mr. Jiao who taught Wei Nian foreign language. She hurriedly said, "Hello, Mr. Jiao, why are you in East Market?"
Mr. Jiao laughed, "Why can't I come?"
Chen Xuan said seriously, "This is a vegetable market. You are a learned person, how can you come to such a place?" Seeing that Mr. Jiao was holding a paper bag, the words printed on it were foreign words that Chen Xuan did not recognize. Chen Xuan still found it incredible. In Chen Xuan's opinion, people like Mr. Jiao should be like Mr. Xu, the neighbor behind him, called that thing. Yes, a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen.
Mr. Jiao looked gentle, "Now is not the past. Now, men and women are equal. There is no such thing as the old idea that men must work outside and women must work inside. Today is Sunday, and a friend is coming over. Let's go to the East Market to buy some things."
Chen Xuan smiled. She didn't quite understand what Mr. Jiao said. She felt that she was still limited in education. Although she knew a few words, she could understand what a learned person like Mr. Jiao said, word by word, but she couldn't understand it when they were put together. What is "equality between men and women"? What does this mean
The two of them just happened to meet. For a modern man like Mr. Jiao, what they could do for an old-fashioned woman like Chen Xuan was just to say hello when they met occasionally, because Mr. Jiao was employed by the Wei family.
Chen Xuan was still concerned about the strawberry seeds, so she said a few words and then said goodbye to Mr. Jiao.
Chen Xuan had no other options when she got home, so she recalled the whole process of planting strawberries from beginning to end. Based on Chen Xuan's many years of experience in planting, there would be no problem with the strawberry seeds. Besides, she had seen no movement when she planted them in the field, and no movement when she soaked them in water.
Now all Chen Xuan can do is wait.
Then, Chen Xuan found a place to loosen the soil and prepared to plant zucchini and melons in the evening.
It’s been half a month and the strawberry seeds haven’t sprouted yet.
The deadline set by Mrs. Wei was coming up. Chen Xuan was worried that Mrs. Wei would have another outburst, so she had to find a way to calm Mrs. Wei down. Sure enough, Mrs. Wei came home from watching a play. She talked about the play with her daughter Wei Jin in the house, took a break, had a snack, and then strolled to the backyard. Mrs. Wei looked at the quiet strawberry garden outside the fence and her face fell.
Chen Xuan was washing clothes in the yard. Old Mrs. Wei asked her, "It's been half a month, and there's still no sign of the broken berries!"
Chen Xuan had already thought of an excuse. She paused from washing clothes and looked at Old Madam Wei. She spoke with a serious and confident look, "I heard that anything expensive is hard to grow. I heard from Sister Yin that strawberries are extremely expensive, and the seeds came from the Russians. Old Madam, think about it, not to mention things, even people may not adapt to the local climate and soil. The harder it is to grow, the more valuable they are. Common fruits and vegetables are easy to grow, but they are not valuable after they are grown."
Old Mrs. Wei was actually fooled by Chen Xuan's twisted logic. Seeing Chen Xuan working hard at washing clothes, Old Mrs. Wei snorted and said only one sentence, "It would be better if it can be grown." Then she turned and left.
Chen Xuan breathed a sigh of relief.
Chen Xuan was so worried about the strawberry seeds that one night she dreamed that the strawberry seeds would not sprout, which woke her up in the middle of the night.
Chen Xuan kept these seeds in mind, and finally on the 20th day, when she got up in the morning and changed the water for the seeds soaked in the porcelain dish, she discovered that some of the strawberry seeds soaked in the cotton cloth had actually grown tiny white spots on them.
Chen Xuan was so happy at that time that her eyes were sore and she almost cried.
The strawberry seeds have sprouted.
After the Wei family knew about this, even though Old Mrs. Wei said, "At least the money was not wasted," she secretly felt that Chen Xuan was worthy of being from the countryside, and she was quite capable of dealing with land and other things.
Wei Yin personally went to Chen Xuan's room to look at the sprouting strawberry seeds and asked Chen Xuan, "Sister-in-law, is this little bit of white a bud?"
"Yes, they have sprouted." Chen Xuan was overjoyed and said to Wei Yin, "When they grow bigger, I will move them to the garden."
This kind of seed is not easy to germinate.
Moreover, the germination in the garden is later, and it takes a month for them to slowly break through the soil.
Chen Xuan is so meticulous and attentive to these strawberries.
The strawberry garden was not big, but Chen Xuan found an unused wooden board under the kitchen, used a hatchet to chop it into small pieces, and marked each piece with charcoal. Chen Xuan divided the strawberry garden into two groups, one group sowed directly in the ground, and the other group bred in water. These two groups were divided into 30 small groups each. Chen Xuan carefully recorded in her notebook how each group watered and fertilized the plants. This helped her judge whether this precious plant liked water or drought, sunshine or shade.
Chen Xuan takes great care of the strawberry garden and goes to check on it every morning, noon and evening.
Chen Xuan was so concerned that Old Lady Wei would go over to take a look from time to time. Seeing the green fruit seedlings in the garden, she was not unhappy. She thought that this was a valuable thing. If it could be grown well, it might be sold for a lot of money. It turned out that the country girl knew how to grow vegetables. Even the vegetable patch in the front yard was tidy by Chen Xuan. The children were also told not to touch the fruit seedlings.
Wei Jindu said, "It's like looking at your life."
Mrs. Wei used to be very obedient to her daughter, but this time she said, "For such precious fruit seedlings, it is not too much to be more delicate."
Wei Jin imitated the pattern of shoes and cut the uppers for her husband. She looked up at Old Lady Wei and said, "Mom, you really believe that a country girl can grow fruit! If this precious fruit is so easy to grow, everyone can get rich."
"Do you think everyone has the ability to take care of fruits and vegetables like your second brother and sister-in-law?" Old Mrs. Wei was now waiting for Chen Xuan to grow these precious fruits. It was very unpleasant to hear Wei Jin's discouraging words.
Wei Jin smiled and cut the uppers with a few scissors. "I am looking forward to her growing them. Then I will see what kind of fruit is so precious that it costs one dollar a pound!"
In fact, in Chen Xuan's opinion, this fruit will not be difficult to take care of as long as it sprouts.
By the end of March, the strawberries began to bear fruit, one crop after another. In mid-April, the strawberries were quite big. Old Mrs. Wei asked, "How ripe are they?" She also said, "Why do they look like snakeberries?" She asked Wei Yin, "You didn't buy snakeberry seeds, did you? They are not worth much.
Wei Yin was certain, "How could it be snakeberry? This is strawberry!" But he asked Chen Xuan privately what snakeberry was. Chen Xuan said, "It's not snakeberry. I've seen snakeberry before, how can I not recognize it? It just looks a bit similar, but the fruit of snakeberry is small, not as big as this one."
Only then did Wei Yin feel relieved.
By the tenth day of April, some strawberries had turned red. At first, the tips of the strawberries were slightly red, but not completely red. Finally, on the twentieth day of April, Chen Xuan got up early. The first thing she did in the morning was to wash her face and brush her teeth. The second thing she did was to go and see the strawberries. As a result, she saw some that were completely red. Those red strawberries were like small red lanterns, half-hidden by the green leaf veins. Chen Xuan was so excited that she didn't dare to move. She was stunned for a moment. She ran back to the house in two steps and slapped Wei Nian twice to wake him up. Wei Nian rubbed his eyes and saw Chen Xuan saying to him with shining eyes, "Brother Nian, the strawberries are all red!"