The next day, Zilei watched as Zixi took care of the household chores. Zeng Rui-xiang took them all to work on the beans. Zeng Rui-xiang said that they could first focus on the outdoor tasks and slowly dig up the sweet potatoes at home. Zifuchu went to school on the seventh day, and when Zeng Rui-xiang left in the afternoon of the seventh day, the beans were not yet finished, but it was said that there werent many left. Shen Shi took Zilong to work for another day, and they almost finished too.

  The peanuts have been planted, and the soil should be loosened now. The work in the fields has begun to connect, and the seedlings in the field say they need to apply the first fertilizer. After applying fertilizer, the field needs to be weeded again. Zi Qing heard that rice needs to be fertilized twice and weeded twice, and peanuts also need to loosen the soil twice. After loosening the peanut soil, its time to loosen the soybean soil again. In short, after this busy period, the days will quickly pass by.

  Its already late May, the weather is getting hotter and hotter, and there are more and more mosquitoes. This is something that Ziqing cant bear. Every night, Shen Shi would burn a bunch of mugwort at the door, and Zixi would also crawl out. Putting him on a bamboo mat to play every day is his happiest time.

  The situation at home is getting better and better, Shen said that this month, selling vegetables, sweet potatoes, chickens and eggs have earned nearly 15 yuan. Shen has been exchanging them for silver all along. The harvest of sweet potatoes was over 1,000 catties, which surprised everyone. Shen sent more than 100 catties to her brothers family and kept 300-400 catties at home, selling the rest. Zi Qing planted cucumbers and beans in the sweet potato field because the first batch of cucumbers and beans had passed their maturity date, and this batch should be ready by Mid-Autumn Festival. The second batch of chickens at home are almost all laying eggs now, and the 50 little roosters Shen bought later have also grown well this month.

  The watermelons in the ground have grown to over 10 kilograms, covering the entire field. Ziqing doesnt know if theyre ripe or not, so she keeps tapping them with her hand and listening for the sound. She wants to pick one but is afraid its not ripe yet. Finally, on May 25th, Ziqing compared the sounds of two watermelons and chose one that sounded crisp and clear, picking it up and calling out to Zirong to carry it back to the wellside to chill in the well water.

  When Zifang returned from school, he opened it and saw the red watermelon. Zirong couldnt wait to taste it, but was scolded by Zifang. After cutting the melon, Zifang first let Shen Shi eat the first piece, then everyone else picked some up to eat. In his haste, Zishou spilled watermelon juice all over his clothes. "Its sweet. Its delicious." Almost everyone said this, as if it was the only phrase that fit the occasion.

  "But with so many watermelons, how can we sell them? We dont even know what price to sell them at." Shen was worried, and indeed, it would be difficult for her and Zi Lun to sell the watermelons from their three mu of land in the city every day.

  Zi Qing knew that in her time and space, watermelons could produce up to 10,000 catties per mu. Even if the productivity of this time and space was low, three mu of land should at least have 10,000 catties. As for how many were ripe in the first batch, Zi Qing hadnt even gone to check individually. There were still some that were continuously blooming, with some as big as fists, and Zi Qing didnt know what to do.

  "Or else, let Little Uncle sell it, doesnt Little Uncles family run a shop?" Zi Qing asked.

  "My husbands family runs a pancake shop, how can they sell watermelons?" Shen Shi vetoed.

  "Mother, lets go find that grocery store owner again, maybe he has a way." Zi Qing asked again.

  "Mother, I seem to have heard that in the city there is a kind of person called a middleman, who specializes in running errands and making connections for others, earning commissions. Mother can go ask around first, and little sisters method can also be tried. If it doesnt work out, wed rather earn less, but we cant let the watermelon rot in our hands." said Zifeng.

  "Yes, I forgot that the Chinese have a saying about this. Tomorrow, Ill bring half a watermelon to the market and see who gives me the highest price, then Ill sell it to them." Shen decided to go early tomorrow morning.

  Zi Qing took a look and found nothing wrong with her, so she went to the field to knock on watermelons. When she saw ripe ones, she used a straw as a marker. Along the way, before even half of the field was done, Zi Qing had already tied up over a hundred. It wasnt until night fell that she stopped.

  Before going to bed, Shen told Zi Qing to take her to Anzhou Prefecture because the general store in Anzhou Prefecture was where she and Zi Fu went. Zi Fu couldnt get away, so only she went. As soon as Zi Qing heard that she could go to the city again, she was excited and didnt sleep well all night. Zi Qing never thought that this time going to Anzhou would not only change the difficulties of one familys life but also change her own destiny.

  The next morning, Ziyin went to the field and picked a melon. Shen Shi went to the vegetable garden and chose several winter melons and pumpkins. They put them in a frame and took them to town on a donkey cart. After entering the city gate, they parted ways. Ziyin saw her mother give four cents to the car driver. The two first arrived at that grocery store. At this time, it was still early, so there were not many people. Ziyin saw the boss arranging goods and went forward to greet him.

  "Boss, hello, do you still remember me?" Zi Qing asked sweetly.

  "Little girl, who are you?" The boss obviously had no impression.

  "Boss, at the beginning of the year, my brother and I came to your store to buy some new seeds. You even chased us away back then. Later on, we bought all the sweet potatoes and watermelon seeds from your store. Think carefully about it."

  "Oh, arent you that little girl? Sorry, Ive had a lot of people coming and going today, I really cant remember. What brings you here today?" After finishing speaking, he looked at Zi Qings mother again, "Hello, big sister." The shopkeeper smiled and greeted her warmly.

  "Boss, its like this. The watermelon seeds my kid bought from you have been planted and are now ripe, each one weighing over 10 pounds. Were just a rural family, relying on selling at the market in town isnt easy, plus were about to harvest the rice soon and wont have time for that either. So I thought of coming here to try my luck and see if theres any opportunity." said Shen.

  "Oh, is that so? It cant be ripe yet. In previous years, it wasnt until the end of June that they were ripe. Even in Beijing, they dont ripen until early July. Are you sure theyre ripe?"

  "Shopkeeper, this is the south, naturally its more familiar than the north, whats strange about that?" Zi Qing really wanted to roll her eyes.

  "Its ripe, shopkeeper. I brought one over and will cut it in half for you to try." Shen said, fearing the other wouldnt believe him, and immediately took out the melon, found a knife and cut it in half for the shopkeeper.

  "Hmm, its not bad, sweeter than what I usually have. In that case, this is something I cant decide on my own, I need to report back to our master. Consider yourselves lucky, youve caught him at home. Otherwise, go sell your vegetables first and come back after an hour."

  "Alright, sorry to trouble you." Shen led Zi Qing away, and Zi Qing hastily picked up the remaining half of the melon. The cut-open one was enough for the old master of the shop to try.

  "Girl, isnt it inconvenient for you to carry this half a melon while selling vegetables? How about this: you sell me this half a melon and Ill give you 50 cents?"

  "Its not good, we still need to go ask other shops, in case your husband doesnt agree to buy, we can also find another seller. We came to your shop first because we bought the seeds from you." Zi Qing spoke straightforwardly, and the shopkeeper could only smile.