792 Earning Big Money
“Qiao Mei, when should I collect the next batch?” He Guang asked.
Qiao Mei was stunned for a moment. These seeds were just ordinary seeds from the capital. All the benefits were stimulated by her energy. It would probably take half a year for the next batch to be ready. However, business was so booming that He Guang would definitely not be able to wait so long.
“Uncle, these seeds are a new variety. The unique thing about these seeds is that we can’t use the seeds harvested this year to continue planting. We have to go back to buy them from the supplier. Even if everyone plants the remaining seeds they have this year, they will only be able to harvest next spring,” Qiao Mei said.
These were all Qiao Mei’s excuses. If He Guang had not mentioned it, Qiao Mei would not have thought about this at all. She had intended to sell more seeds when she distributed the money later.
In a while, she would hurry home and secretly infuse some energy into the seeds. Although these new seeds would not grow as fast as the previous batch, it could still be harvested in two to three months’ time.
Qiao Mei used her unique ability to accelerate the growth whenever she planted crops. She no longer knew what the normal growth cycle of plants was like and could do a rough estimate.
The villagers arrived one after another and Qiao Mei also started to do the payout. A few of the villagers saw He Guang and even wanted to go forward to talk to him, asking him indirectly how much he paid for the seeds.
After all, the price was decided between him and Qiao Mei. Since Qiao Mei had not said anything, he did not find it appropriate for him to say anything. If he said something wrong, it would ruin Qiao Mei’s reputation.
He Guang did not say anything. He just smiled and left the village with the trucks. Everyone lined up in an orderly manner to collect their money.
“Everyone, don’t be anxious! Everyone has a share! I still have some seeds that you can use to plant next year, but the quality is not as good as this year’s batch. The cycle is also longer than the current batch by a month, but the quality is definitely the same as this year’s. If anyone wants to buy the seeds, go and collect money from my mother first before coming to me to buy the seeds!” Qiao Mei shouted loudly.
The villagers had all kept some seeds from the harvest this year for planting next year. They did not expect Qiao Mei to be selling new seeds.
“Mei Mei! We’re all experienced farmers. Every family will leave some seeds for planting after harvesting. We really don’t lack any…” Aunt Wang said embarrassedly.
They were all worried that Qiao Mei would be disappointed if they did not buy new seeds from her. After all, social norms advocated reciprocity. Qiao Mei always included them whenever there were any benefits, so it was not nice of them not to buy the seeds that Qiao Mei had specially set aside for them.
“The seeds you kept can’t be planted and harvested. The person who sold me the seeds specially told me that only the seeds bought from him would grow at the same speed as this last batch. Even if we keep seeds from the harvest, these seeds won’t work that well. If we continue to plant seeds from subsequent harvest, the seed quality of the second, third and later generations harvested will only get worse and worse and will not meet the standard,” Qiao Mei said.
“It sounds so serious! We’ve never heard of such a thing!” Auntie Wang immediately panicked.
Everyone started to discuss among themselves. They had been farming their entire lives, but they had never heard of such a magical thing. They all knew that Qiao Mei would leave the village this winter and they had wanted to ask her to bring back some seeds for them from the capital, but they were too embarrassed to raise this issue. Since Qiao Mei still had seeds with her at the moment, they should buy as many as they could afford!
“Let me make it clear first! Based on the amount of seeds I have, each family can at most buy six pounds! The price is still 50 cents per pound! I won’t sell more than that to each family even if you ask for it! I’m going by headcount! You can buy less, but you can’t buy more!” Qiao Mei shouted out.
“Then how much per pound did we sell those seeds! Qiao Mei, tell us!” Auntie Dong asked with a chuckle.
“Everyone, make a guess!” Qiao Mei said.
Some people guessed 30 cents, some people guessed 50 cents, and some people said 20 cents. Everyone had different opinions and no one knew what the price that Qiao Mei had negotiated. The highest amount guessed was 50 cents.
“Mei Mei, just tell us the truth. We’re so anxious!” Auntie Dong slapped her thigh anxiously.
As the “know-it-all” in the village, this was the first time she did not have any information about something. She was so restless.
“90 cents!” Qiao Mei said with a grin.
There was a collective gasp from the crowd. Each family could earn more than 400 dollars! This was something that they had never done before!
