Xu Hengyan was clearing sweet potato vines with the minor officials and farmers from the county yamen.
The sky was slowly brightening.
More and more farmers arrived from all directions, carrying their tools.
The agreed-upon time to start working the fields was辰时 (chenshi, 7-9 AM) this morning, but it had been moved up unexpectedly. Upon receiving the news, they had all rushed from their homes.
The sweet potato harvesting had been preceded by training. Guang Bai gave the instruction to first clear the acre enclosed by ropes, and everyone spontaneously got to work.
The elders stood by, watching with their hoes. They noticed that the farmers weren't directly turning the soil to dig for sweet potatoes, but were carefully harvesting the vines from the ground.
The harvested sweet potato vines were not discarded carelessly but were neatly piled to the side. Yongxin Hou couldn't help but ask curiously, "What use are these sweet potato vines?"
Xu Hengyan replied while working, "The sweet potato vines can be kept for next year's seedling cultivation. We'll select some strong, pest-free ones, remove the leaves, cut them into sections, and store them."
Upon hearing this, Yongxin Hou was overjoyed, "Sweet potato vines can be used for seedlings? That's wonderful!" Kuai Shu Ge
Looking at the vast expanse of sweet potato vines before him, Yongxin Hou was extremely pleased. "Then, with so many sweet potato vines, can we plant even more sweet potatoes next year?"
Xu Hengyan smiled and nodded, "Yes, we'll try to plant more sweet potatoes next year."
As they spoke, over a dozen rows had already been cleared. Old Li Tou excitedly said, "Lord Xu, can we start digging now?"
Whether it was Xu Hengyan, who had advocated for this from the start, the officials and minor officials of the county yamen, or the farmers who had carefully tended to the sweet potatoes, everyone had been counting down the days for this moment.
"Dig!"
Xu Hengyan gave the order.
Everyone excitedly gripped their shovels and hoes.
But no one actually moved. They looked at each other, searching for someone.
The Duke of Qian state roared, "Where is that lazy brat Xie Jiang!"
On such an important occasion, how dare that brat shirk his duties!
Yongchang Hou, with his sharp eyesight, pointed to the edge of the field in the distance, "Over there."
Someone was lying on a blanket spread on the ground, with another person standing beside them, gently fanning them.
Who else could it be but Xie Jiang, who had been dozing off all morning!
The Duke of Qian state rolled up his sleeves and rushed over, grabbing Xie Jiang and pulling him along.
Yongxin Hou immediately shoved a shovel into Xie Jiang's hand.
"You dig!"
Xie Jiang looked at Xu Hengyan inexplicably. Hadn't the sweet potatoes planted in the county yamen courtyard a few days ago already been dug? Why was it like they had never dug before, expecting her to demonstrate?
Xu Hengyan said to her, "You do it." It was different.
Xie Jiang was speechless. She had just managed to doze off.
Digging sweet potatoes required no special skill. A single shovel thrust into the ground would suffice!
All eyes were on Xie Jiang.
The Duke of Qian state secretly prayed for a miracle with that first shovel thrust.
Xie Jiang looked at the base of the sweet potato vines on the ground, then placed the shovel, pressed down with her foot to pry it up, and did the same on the other side. She then grabbed the vine roots and pulled, shaking them, and a cluster of sweet potatoes of varying sizes and shapes emerged from the soil.
Yongxin Hou quickly took the cluster of sweet potatoes from Xie Jiang and counted them.
"Seven sweet potatoes on one vine! And each one is over half a jin, so seven combined weigh several jin!"
Yongchang Hou grabbed the largest one, his hands trembling, "Half a jin? This one alone is at least a jin and a half!"
The Duke of Qin state was calculating how many rows there were per mu and how many plants per row, when he saw Xie Jiang quietly unearth two more from the pit.
They were two sweet potatoes, each weighing over a jin.
"So big!"
The Duke of Qian state shouted, picking up the two sweet potatoes.
As soon as the Duke of Qian state finished speaking, Xie Jiang unearthed two more from the side, kicking them out with her foot.
Everyone except Xu Hengyan was stunned.
Xie Jiang handed the shovel to a farmer, "Alright, my first shovel is successfully done. You can dig the rest yourselves."
"Dig! Dig! Dig!"
Yongxin Hou and the Duke of Qian state put down the sweet potatoes in their hands and joined Qin Guogong and the others in working enthusiastically.
Xu Hengyan pulled Xie Jiang aside to prevent her from being accidentally injured by the elders' hoes. He reached up and stroked the shadows under her eyes, "Did you stay up all night again yesterday?"
Xie Jiang leaned on Xu Hengyan's arm, "I'm also a person who handles a myriad of important matters."
She felt his hand was not quite right, so she grabbed it and slapped it.
After finishing with the sweet potato vines, he had come to rub her eyes. Did he want to blind her?
She tugged at his sleeve, intending to wipe her face, but found his robe already covered in dust. Xie Jiang immediately let go with a look of disgust.
Xu Hengyan smiled broadly, "There shouldn't be much to do from now on. You go rest, I'll help them harvest the sweet potatoes."
Xie Jiang's eyes were hazy, "Can I go back and catch up on sleep? Will these old men cause any more trouble?"
Xu Hengyan said, "Perhaps as soon as you get home, you'll be dragged back here. Why don't you try to bear with it and rest nearby?"
Xie Jiang was too lazy to go rest at the edge of the field and sat down on the spot to watch everyone work.
Soon, the sweet potatoes from several rows were dug out. The elders and farmers dug very carefully, not even leaving behind the undeveloped ones the size of a finger.
After only a few hoes from Old Duke Qin, his attendant snatched the hoe away.
The attendant dared not let the old gentleman exert himself given his health. Every time the old gentleman swung his hoe, the attendant would flinch.
The attendant earnestly pleaded with the old gentleman to rest and let him dig, begging him to sit and watch like Young Master Xie.
Although Old Duke Qin was in the midst of his digging and felt he could still dig half a row, he didn't insist further given how nervous his attendant was.
Old Duke Qin handed the hoe to his attendant, instructing, "Dig carefully, don't ruin the sweet potatoes like Old Xu."
Yongchang Hou, who was working diligently, let out a muffled hum. He had only accidentally broken a few, and the county yamen clerks had said that broken sweet potatoes were still edible!
Everyone was busy, only Xie Jiang sat there. Old Duke Qin walked over.
Upon approaching, he saw Xie Jiang playing with a sweet potato under her foot. Old Duke Qin rushed forward, nearly knocking Xie Jiang over.
"If the Duke of Qian state saw you wasting food like this, he'd snap your legs off!" Old Duke Qin raised his hand as if to strike Xie Jiang.
"I'm just playing with it. The skin isn't even broken. Is it really that serious?"
"You don't understand."
Old Duke Qin sat opposite Xie Jiang with the abused sweet potato, looking at the piles of sweet potatoes dug out by everyone. His mood shifted from initial excitement to the satisfaction of a good harvest.
"It looks like the yield will be quite good. But tell me honestly, how many jin per mu can this produce?"
"Your Grace, why the hurry? This mu will be dug out soon, and we'll know the yield once we weigh it."
Seeing Old Duke Qin cradling the sweet potato as if it were a treasure, Xie Jiang suggested, "Since we're idle here, why don't we roast some sweet potatoes? Didn't you say you wanted to cook and taste them after digging?"