Reborn in a small mountain village in 1991

Chapter 39 Luckily, we acted early

Two more days passed.

In the past two days, apart from the occasional curious question from villagers about whether Xu Chunsheng had sold Ophiopogon japonicus, and some jokingly asking if he had really sold it for two thousand yuan, nothing special happened at the Xu family's home. The family continued to wholeheartedly dig for Ophiopogon japonicus in the field, and at night they picked it by the light of kerosene lamps.

At that time, Gushan Brigade actually had a small hydroelectric power station jointly built by several villages. It was not connected to the main power grid. Each household stretched its own PVC strip and wires, and used wooden poles and bamboo poles to run the wires to their homes. Several households shared an old-fashioned electric meter, and the cost was shared among the households.

However, most households are reluctant to spend the money on wiring, as installing the meter and running the wires alone costs around 20 yuan. In addition, they also have to pay for electricity, power station maintenance, and the wages of the dam maintenance worker.

All in all, it's a considerable expense, so there are actually quite a few families like Xu Chunsheng's who don't have electrical wiring and still rely on kerosene lamps to work at night.

At night, only a few large households in the entire village have electricity, but the voltage is unstable and weak, the lights are dim and yellowish, and there are temporary power outages during dry and rainy days.

Families like the Qian family, which can power refrigerators and televisions, all paid for their own connection to a large power grid.

"We should be able to finish digging in two more days. We'll hurry up and cut them off, wash them clean, and then dry them all at once after we're done digging."

Xu Chunsheng threw the cut ophiopogon japonicus into a dustpan, then carried out the basket full of ophiopogon japonicus stumps with their roots already cut from the side and dumped them in the corner.

……

Tuanjie Town.

"Have you heard? The price of Ophiopogon japonicus has gone up."

"Where can this thing possibly grow?"

"The price has gone up really high. Don't you believe me? My cousin, who married and moved to the county, came back and told us this."

"Really? How much will it go up?"

"The price has risen to over twenty yuan per kilogram. She came back this time to go up the mountain to dig up Ophiopogon japonicus."

"Why has it gone up so much?"

"It seems that fewer people are planting it, so supply and marketing cooperatives and drug dealers can't get enough stock. With less supply, prices are higher!"

In no time, the news of the price increase of Ophiopogon japonicus spread throughout the town, and the news gradually reached the villages as well.

Everyone went crazy digging for Ophiopogon japonicus by the roadside and in the mountains, and of course, some people also set their sights on the ones grown in other people's fields.

The ophiopogon japonicus planted by Xu Chunsheng's uncle, Xu Hongbing, was the first to be damaged.

Although Xu Chunsheng had reminded his uncle's family, his uncle didn't really believe that the price of Ophiopogon japonicus would rise so quickly. He just thought that his younger brother's family wouldn't cheat his family, so he planted some Ophiopogon japonicus. Therefore, he didn't take the harvest of Ophiopogon japonicus too seriously and only thought about finishing other important work first.

But little did anyone know, because it was a little late, a lot of the Ophiopogon japonicus from Xu Chunsheng's uncle's house was stolen.

"Hurry up, or someone will see us when it gets light."

"I know, I know. Xu Hongbing's family has quite a lot of Ophiopogon japonicus in their field. I see him harvesting it all by himself every day."

That night, several people who were stealing Ophiopogon japonicus were whispering among themselves in the field where Uncle Xu Chunsheng's family grew Ophiopogon japonicus.

Not satisfied with this, these people went on to steal other people's fields of Ophiopogon japonicus.

"We're going to steal from Xu Hongjun's house, that son of a bitch, I remember his family grows the most!"

These people stole a little from one house and a little from another, and now they set their sights on Xu Chunsheng's house.

"Damn, why is Xu Hongjun's field so clean?"

They turned and went to the "corner," only to find nothing there.

"Let's go check out 'San Kuai Bao'. We saw them digging there a couple of days ago, so they probably haven't finished yet."

"walk."

Two men, carrying hoes, stealthily made their way to Xu Chunsheng's lilyturf field before dawn.

"Here, here."

All that could be heard was a person calling softly from the very edge of the woods:

"Hurry up and come up, the Ophiopogon japonicus here hasn't been dug up yet."

The two men groped their way out of the Ophiopogon japonicus, shook off the dirt, and casually put it into their baskets, saying as they dug:

"No wonder Xu Chunsheng started collecting Ophiopogon japonicus a long time ago. He probably knew the price was going to go up, but he kept it a secret from everyone."

"That's right. He just kept saying he wanted to harvest Ophiopogon japonicus and asked everyone to plant some and sell them to him in a couple of days. He just wanted to take advantage of the villagers."

"If he just told everyone that the price of Ophiopogon japonicus was going to go up, wouldn't we all start growing it ourselves? That's not a fair deal."

These two don't even consider that if it were a year ago, Xu Chunsheng would have simply told everyone:

The price of Ophiopogon japonicus will rise, but people will probably just treat it as a joke and won't appreciate it.

Moreover, when Xu Chunsheng was harvesting Ophiopogon japonicus, he had already said that he would buy any Ophiopogon japonicus available, and he had also mentioned the matter of planting Ophiopogon japonicus to the farmers. However, he was not obligated to remind everyone that they had to plant it.

When the time comes, whoever plants it will be considered lucky.

"call."

One of them wiped the sweat from his brow and said:

"Let's go, let's go, it's getting light, let's carry these back and pick them."

After carrying the Ophiopogon japonicus home, the two lit a lamp in the house and prepared to cut it off.

"Brother, this isn't right. Why are there only leaves and no roots?"

The man took the Ophiopogon japonicus from his younger brother, held it up to the lamp, and examined it closely:

The tuberous roots of the Ophiopogon japonicus are small and few in number. The leaves are thin, stiff, and dark in color, unlike the light green leaves of Ophiopogon japonicus, which are wider and shorter.

"Damn it, we dug up the wrong ones. We dug up the wild lilyturf seedlings that the Xu family picked at the beginning. The roots haven't grown much yet."

"What should we do then?"

"What can we do? Just throw it somewhere. We've already dug it up, are we going to put it back in the ground?"

"Damn it, it took all that effort to get it back, and it's all for nothing."

"Why did he dig up Xu Hongjun's house so early!"

It turns out that Xu Chunsheng's family had already dug up all the Sichuan Ophiopogon japonicus in the field two days ago, leaving only some wild Ophiopogon japonicus seedlings that were planted at the beginning on the edge of the woodland.

After transplanting wild Ophiopogon japonicus, a small amount can usually be harvested in the second year, and a large amount can be harvested in the third year. Therefore, the Ophiopogon japonicus they dug up did not have many medicinal roots. Basically, it can be said that although they did not get any medicinal roots, they at least worked hard.

Like these two brothers, there are quite a few people who have other intentions.

But no one actually managed to steal any of Xu Chunsheng's Ophiopogon japonicus. The thought of Xu Chunsheng's family becoming rich because of this made them even more upset.

Everyone else is doing just fine being poor, so why is it that Xu Chunsheng's family can become rich? Being poor is certainly terrible, but seeing others rich is even more enviable.

……

"Damn it, who's the heartless scoundrel who stole my Ophiopogon japonicus!"

"Robbers are stealing Ophiopogon japonicus! Catch the robbers!"

"Honey, wake up! Go dig up the liriope in the field right now! Someone's stealing it!"

As night fell, Xu Chunsheng vaguely heard nearby villagers shouting that their Ophiopogon japonicus had been stolen, yelling to catch the robbers, and occasionally hearing the voices, "I told you to harvest your Ophiopogon japonicus but you didn't, now it's been stolen."

Xu Chunsheng didn't care at all. He turned over, yawned, and continued sleeping, while feeling glad that his family had been home early.

"Clang! Clang!"

The knocking on the door continued; it was my uncle, Xu Hongjun, calling out:

"Red Army, your family grows the most Ophiopogon japonicus. Why don't you go and check if any of your Ophiopogon japonicus has been stolen!"