CHAPTER 291: CHAPTER 280: LEND HIM A HAND (PART 2)

Yu Changhe handed the basket to Jiang Haiqiu. Jiang Haiqiu saw it was full of sweet potatoes and appeared flustered. He took the basket and intended to pour out the sweet potatoes, but Yu Changhe stopped him.

Yu Xiaolian was also a bit dazed at this moment. This Jiang Haiqiu looked so much like someone she knew, "Please take these sweet potatoes. I have a favor to ask of you!"

Jiang Haiqiu was stunned. A favor to ask of him?

He believed he had no particular talent, so he was very puzzled at this moment.

Yu Xiaolian asked, "What kind of peaches does your family’s twenty-acre orchard produce? How many pounds per acre? Around which month do they ripen?"

Jiang Haiqiu didn’t understand why she was asking, but he honestly replied, "My orchard mainly produces yellow-fleshed peaches. Last year, I sold about three thousand pounds from my twenty acres, but this year I’ve taken care of the orchard meticulously, so I should be able to harvest more than last year.

You can start picking some peaches and selling them in late June. By mid-July, they are fully ripe, but by August, the number decreases. If they aren’t sold, they just rot on the mountain."

Yu Xiaolian nodded. It was already late May in the lunar calendar, which means in just over a month, the first batch of yellow peaches could be harvested.

However, with the low yield of the Jiang family’s orchard, only three thousand pounds from twenty acres, how sparsely these peach trees must be planted!

"Do you have any buyers for this year’s peaches?"

Jiang Haiqiu scratched his head, "Not yet!"

Last year, he and his father went from street to street selling peaches. Their legs ached from all the walking, and they didn’t sell much. In this area, apart from peaches, not much else is abundant. When the season comes, these seasonal fruits are worth the least.

Last year, he managed to sell two cartloads to a shop that makes candied fruits, after much pleading. Later, through a friend, he sold a large cartload to a brothel in Luocheng, preventing them from rotting on the trees.

Although last year they sold scatteredly and managed to make nearly seven taels of silver, at that time they hadn’t yet separated from his grandparents. All the money earned was handed over to his grandmother.

When the family separated, his grandmother only gave his father five taels. Building a thatched house and buying pots, bowls, and pans cost over three taels. The remaining one tael or so was used to buy cornmeal, and the family of three survived the winter on cornmeal porridge. Even though the porridge reflected their shadows, it didn’t sustain them until the wild vegetables sprouted.

Luckily, the Yu Family lent them half a bag of corn grits. Otherwise, during the lean season, they really wouldn’t have known how to get through. Once the cornmeal was used up, his father went to borrow some grains from his grandmother, but at that time, food was at its most expensive. His grandmother had grains in her hands, but she’d rather sell them at high prices to other villagers than give them to them for free.

Jiang Haiqiu knew his grandmother didn’t like his mother, but he didn’t expect her to be so ruthless, disregarding even her own son and grandson.

From that time, Jiang Haiqiu became thoroughly disillusioned with his grandparents. From then on, he secretly vowed in his heart to live a good life, so his grandparents would see and regret it.

Yu Xiaolian asked again, "How much did you sell your peaches for last year per pound?"

Liang Haixiu smiled a little embarrassedly, "I sold them for various prices. If they bought by the cart, I’d sell them cheaper for two wen per pound. For retail, I’d sell them for three or four wen per pound."

"Well... this year, I’ll take all your peaches at three wen per pound. When they’re picked, just send them to my home." Somehow, Yu Xiaolian had a favorable impression of Jiang Haiqiu.

He somewhat resembled her cousin from a past life, really much alike. When Yu Xiaolian first saw him, she was a bit dazed, as if she encountered a relative while in a foreign land, feeling unreal and uncertain.

She could have offered Jiang’s family two wen per pound, but she didn’t.

She wanted to give him a hand.

Jiang Haiqiu was shocked. Three wen per pound, for all?

If she wanted all, it meant he didn’t have to go walking streets to sell retail. He didn’t have to worry about selling them and having them rot in the fields.

And four thousand pounds, not to mention this year could potentially yield four thousand pounds. This year, they wouldn’t need to hand over the orchard money to their grandmother. Because of this, he took extra care of the orchard. In winter, when everyone was at home, avoiding the cold, he was pruning and cleaning the orchard. In spring, he carried buckets of water from the river to water the fruit trees, often working from morning till night.

He calculated that with four thousand pounds... oh, four thousand pounds, he could earn twelve taels. My gosh... Jiang Haiqiu suddenly felt at this moment that he and his father weren’t the unlucky ones without land. They were clearly lucky stars.

No, he must keep quiet about this. It couldn’t get out, or else if his grandparents heard about it, they’d try to take back the orchard.

Although he wouldn’t give it to them, if they came to cause trouble, it would still be a headache.

However, what did the Yu Family want with all those peaches? Could they be planning to make them all into candied fruit?

Oh, how much sugar that would require!

Jiang Haiqiu thought about it and still asked, "What does your family want so many peaches for? These peaches aren’t easy to store, unless made into candied fruit, to keep for a longer time."

But even if made into candied fruit, they wouldn’t last forever. They must be consumed within a certain time frame, or they’d spoil too.

Yu Xiaolian replied, "I have my reasons. Just make sure to deliver the peaches when the time comes."

Jiang Haiqiu, seeing Yu Xiaolian had a confident look, assumed she had found another big buyer and was planning to make a profit on the difference, so he didn’t ask further.

After expressing his thanks, he carried a basket of sweet potatoes back home.

When he got home, his mother had already made wild vegetable soup. Seeing him return with a basket of sweet potatoes, she was surprised, "Where did these sweet potatoes come from? How are there sweet potatoes in this season?"

Liang Haixiu placed the basket on the ground, "From the Yu Family."

Mrs. Zeng smiled, "Indeed, it’s from a wealthy family. Their cellar is deep, keeping last year’s sweet potatoes in such good condition."

Saying this, she picked three sweet potatoes from the basket and asked her husband Jiang Mangzi, "There’s still some fire left in the stove. Should I roast three?"