Chapter 187

Cornmeal isn’t much better than potatoes in terms of taste, so the village chief wouldn’t gain much by trading cornmeal for potatoes. However, most villagers were accustomed to eating coarse grains, and cornmeal was the most suitable grain they had for trading—previously, they had already exchanged their rice for coarse flour and salt to store.

Furthermore, since cornmeal was dry, families willing to trade wouldn’t be at a disadvantage; they might even benefit a little. Those who grew potatoes understood this logic as well.

The village chief signaled for everyone to quiet down. “I’ve saved enough potatoes for planting, and I’ll trade the rest. However, my family’s supply alone won’t be enough for everyone in the village.”

“Don’t worry,” he continued, “there are other families in the village who also planted potatoes. When we return to the village, I’ll tally the quantities, and we can arrange a unified trade.”

Previously, villagers who helped at Fan Jin’s house had taken potatoes to plant, with most planting only a few mu, while also growing corn, red beans, black beans, soybeans, peas, and other mixed grains.

Now, with the rice paddies yielding nothing this year and uncertain prospects for the coming years, everyone just wanted to plant as much as possible to ensure their families had enough to eat.

Shanshui Village didn’t have much fertile land, but it had plenty of general land. However, even if they used all this land to plant potatoes, the potatoes from the village chief’s family alone wouldn’t be enough.

Apart from Fan Jin’s family, six other families were part of the first group to plant potatoes. Together, these six families had yields comparable to Fan Jin’s family. If each of these families was willing to trade their surplus, other villagers could plant about ten mu of potatoes each.

Ten mu might not be a lot for each family in terms of land, but considering the high yield of potatoes, even a large family with over twenty people wouldn’t starve with such a harvest.

Present among the crowd were Old Xu, Grandpa Wang, and Uncle Fan, all of whom belonged to the first group of potato planters and were decision-makers in their families. They immediately agreed to keep enough potatoes for planting and trade the rest.

Apart from Fan Jin, the next largest supplies were with Aunt Zhang and Aunt Li. Aunt Li’s husband was the village chief’s brother, and they always consulted him for family matters, so there was no concern there.

Now, the only remaining family to ask was Aunt Zhang’s. The crowd followed the village chief in a procession to Aunt Zhang’s house.

Aunt Zhang had built her new house on an open space by the road leading to Fan Jin’s Shuiqing house.

Before they reached the house, they heard the noise of an argument.

“You are my sister-in-law. Now that my brother is gone, is this how you treat his only brother?”

“Your family has a good potato harvest. Can’t you spare some for us? You are too calculating, aren’t you afraid my brother will come for you in your dreams?”

“Now that my brother is dead, you don’t consider yourself part of the Zhang family? Are you thinking of remarrying?”

The villagers immediately recognized the voice of Bald Zhang!

“You! Where were you when your brother sold our fields and land?”

“When I was struggling to feed my children, where were you?”

“When Mu Niu and Xiao Cao were sick with high fevers and I asked you for some cornmeal to make porridge, you refused. Why don’t you mention that?”

“And now, when my family has finally started to do a little better, you come asking for my grain? But remember, I don’t even have land!”

The villagers following the village chief understood instantly.

In the past, Bald Zhang might have been borrowing, but now he was outright demanding. Perhaps he had restrained himself when borrowing from others, but now, seeing his sister-in-law’s family doing well, he felt entitled to demand from them directly.

“Uncle, you never thought of us when you had enough to eat. Now that you’re out of food, you come to us first, demanding our food without any shame!”

“How dare you scold your uncle! Hey, insulting an elder like this—let’s see who will marry you if this gets out!”

“Aunt Zhang, how is this insulting an elder? Don’t say such things,” Aunt Zhang said, her voice trembling slightly.

Bald Zhang immediately felt emboldened. “I don’t care! Today, you must give me those potatoes, or I’ll go around the village and tell everyone how you neglect my brother and don’t take care of your husband’s only brother! And how your nephew insults his uncle!”

“No need for that; we already know.”

The deep, elderly voice made Bald Zhang stiffen. He slowly turned around to see the village chief and a large crowd behind him.

“Bald Zhang! We’re all trading for potatoes with cornmeal, and here you are, just demanding them!”

“How shameless can you be, bullying a widow and her children? Where were you when they were suffering?”

“You keep talking about your brother, but if you cared about him, why didn’t you stop him from gambling and selling his land?”

“Today, even if the nephew beats you up, I won’t see a thing!”

This last statement inspired the crowd, and they chimed in, “Right, I won’t see a thing either.”

“I have poor eyesight; I didn’t see anything.”

“Today, I can have poor eyesight too!”

Jinniu, Yinniu, and Tongniu felt their blood boil and clenched their fists, advancing towards the short Bald Zhang.

Aunt Zhang had been worried about her son’s reputation. During the hard times, she constantly worried about finding matches for her children. Now that they had a new house and enough food, arranging marriages was no longer an unattainable dream, so she couldn’t let her brother-in-law ruin it.

Hearing the villagers’ support, she no longer had any reservations. She was ready to personally give her shameless brother-in-law a good beating.

Bald Zhang, used to being shameless, didn’t feel embarrassed. He grinned and said, “My mistake, I shouldn’t have done that! I’ll go home and reflect on my actions. No need for you all to bother!”

With that, he ran off quickly.

Everyone left behind couldn’t help but be impressed—they had never seen such a shameless person!

Ding Heli also clicked his tongue in wonder. This Bald Zhang was truly adaptable.

Aunt Zhang sighed with relief. After today’s events, she wouldn’t have to worry about her brother-in-law anymore. She turned to the village chief and his group, curiously asking, “Village Chief, what brings you all here?”

The village chief explained the plan to trade potatoes.

After hearing it, Aunt Zhang laughed heartily. “Oh, I thought it was something urgent. No need for you to come all this way—just come over if you want to trade!”

In the past, her family wouldn’t even think of eating cornmeal! They had planted many potatoes this year, and after keeping enough for planting, there were still more than they could eat. Trading for cornmeal, which was dry and easy to store, made perfect sense. The best part was that they could plant another crop later in the year and harvest another batch!

The group began discussing how many mu to plant and how many potato seeds were needed. They also asked for tips on growing potatoes.

Meanwhile, back home in the kitchen, Sun Jinhua packed a few black bread buns in a cloth and handed them to Fan Qian. “For the wild boar’s den. It should be enough.”

Fan Qian took the bundle silently, tucked it into his coat, and headed out of the village.