met free Chapter 89 Potatoes in Hand
Chapter 89 Potatoes in Hand
After a quick dinner, Wen Yuxia instructed Gu Jiusi to arrange accommodations for Lu Mubai and the others, then led Bei Yi and Bei Er to her room.
The staff quarters at the horse farm and the guest rooms at the racetrack were both furnished with identical furniture and brand-new bedding.
Gu Jiusi and Nan Er and the others busied themselves and finally arranged accommodations for everyone. As guests, Lu Mubai and his personal guards stayed at the racetrack next door.
The veterans came to work at the horse farm, and the staff dormitory was prepared for them. They moved into the staff dormitory, slept on brand-new beds, and were covered with warm blankets.
The room was furnished with neatly arranged wardrobes, tables and chairs, and a towel draped over a washstand with two wooden basins. This helped the veterans, who had been worried about their future, gradually relax and drift off to sleep.
The next morning, Lu Mubai presented Wen Yuxia with the several boxes of jewelry he had brought. Under Wen Yuxia's guidance, he carefully toured the racetrack and horse farm.
Under Gu Jiusi's guidance, the veterans quickly settled into their roles, some feeding the horses, others farming.
These veterans are all disabled and were turned away by their families. According to Lu Mubai, there are many more veterans like them in Pingyuan Pass.
Previously, Lu Mubai's father was providing financial assistance, but the Lu family's resources were limited, and Lu Mubai's father was unable to properly arrange the fate of these wounded veterans.
After Xia Qianchen arrived at Pingyuan Pass, he purchased a piece of land, built a village, and arranged for all the wounded and disabled veterans to live there. He also paid out of his own pocket to buy daily necessities for these veterans.
It was also stipulated that every year during spring planting and autumn harvest, the military camp must send soldiers to the villages to help with the work.
When Wen Yuxia met Xia Qianchen, Xia Qianchen was only fifteen years old. A fifteen-year-old boy reclaiming lost territory, a fifteen-year-old boy finding a way out for wounded veterans.
Listening to Lu Mubai's story, Wen Yuxia seemed to see Xia Qianchen in his battle armor, fighting bloody battles against the enemy; she saw Xia Qianchen acquiring land and building villages; she saw the helpless and disabled veterans living peacefully and happily in the villages...
A surge of pride rose within Wen Yuxia, and she calmly said, "Brother Lu, I have a batch of supplies here. Could you please take them to the veterans on your way back?"
Having experienced the famine, Wen Yuxia developed a habit of hoarding goods. She not only stockpiled grain at three farms but also continuously filled her spatial storage with other supplies.
Cloth, grain, cotton, quilts, and pills she made in her spare time were all stored in her spatial storage. Now, Wen Yuxia is preparing to give the supplies in her spatial storage to those in need.
Lu Mubai stared at Wen Yuxia. At such a young age, she had already separated from the family and lived independently with her younger brother, not only making a living but also having the ability to help others… Lu Mubai suddenly felt his heart race.
He steadied himself and said sincerely, "Thank you!" This thank you was on behalf of the wounded veterans of Pingyuan Pass.
Wen Yuxia waved her hand, "No need to be so polite, it's just something I can do." With that, she took her leave. All the supplies were in her spatial storage; she needed to find a place to move them out.
In Xinchuan County, Wen Yuxia found Xiao Zhang and rented five large warehouses from him. She then went to the warehouses alone and stored the supplies from her spatial storage.
He then returned to the horse farm, handed the warehouse key to Lu Mubai, and told him to leave the key in the warehouse after the supplies were taken away.
Lu Mubai did not linger in Xinchuan County; two days later, he returned to Pingyuan Pass with the supplies.
A month later, Wen Yuxia received a letter from Lu Mubai, informing her that he had safely arrived at Pingyuan Pass, and that the supplies Wen Yuxia had sent had been distributed to the veterans.
The veterans, holding the supplies, had tears in their eyes and expressed their gratitude to Wen Yuxia. Lu Mubai also wrote the truth in his letter, and at the end of the letter, he invited Wen Yuxia to visit Pingyuan Pass when she had time.
Wen Yuxia politely wrote a reply to Lu Mubai, and then devoted herself to nourishing the horse farm.
The horse's food and water, its living environment, its health, and its proper training and exercise, etc.
No matter how small the matter, as long as it involves horses, Wen Yuxia would personally go to the site to educate her employees and require them to strictly follow her instructions.
To help the horses reproduce as quickly as possible, Wen Yuxia reassigned their enclosures, with one strong stallion and ten mares living in a large pen.
After mating, the six mixed-sex groups of horses moved into the main stable, while the remaining thirty-six stallions moved into the adjacent racetrack.
"Miss, does this kind of herding ensure the horses will successfully give birth to foals?" the veteran Hou Tie asked skillfully.
Wen Yuxia's understanding of horses was more comprehensive than that of these veterans who had dealt with horses for many years. Hou Tie was very curious to know whether a mixed-sex herd of horses could successfully breed.
But when faced with a twelve-year-old girl, he couldn't bring himself to say the word "mating," so he cleverly used "foal" as a substitute.
Wen Yuxia pondered for a moment, mentally organizing the information she had seen in videos about equine estrus cycles and mating patterns in her previous life, and then spoke softly:
"A horse's estrus cycle mainly occurs from March to August each year. During estrus, a horse will have sharp eyes, neigh frequently, and appear tense. It will actively chase other horses and urinate more often... It will also like to mount other horses... Mating is considered successful if the mare does not experience another estrus cycle within 120 days after mating... The gestation period is approximately 340 months..."
Hou Tie asked curiously, "Miss, how do you know so much?"
They knew the timing of a horse's estrus cycle and the various symptoms during estrus, but they didn't know the exact period of successful mating and gestation.
Wen Yuxia said with a faint smile, "It was a dream, a dream."
She's right, isn't she? Her past life was like a dream, and everything that happened in the dream is deeply imprinted in her mind. If she wants to know something, she only needs to search through her memory.
Seeing the skeptical expressions on Hou Tie's and the other employees' faces, Wen Yuxia smiled and said, "Just kidding. My master taught me about horse breeding."
The days spent at the horse farm were happy. Whenever Nan Er and the others had free time, they would pester the old soldier to teach them how to ride horses. Wen Yuxia not only learned to ride horses herself, but also sent someone to inform Wen Yunhong to bring the Wen Yunhai brothers to the racetrack during their days off.
Two months later, the potatoes were ripe. Wen Yuxia was invited to Nanping Village, where Prefect Mu and County Magistrate Yang also came with their men. Everyone stood on the ridges of the fields to watch the spectacular potato harvest.
"Lord Mu, one mu yielded 2,200 jin of potatoes, one mu yielded 2,500 jin of potatoes, and the two mu yielded a total of 4,700 jin of potatoes," the bailiff A loudly reported the potato harvest.
The potatoes that the villagers of Nanping Village dug up from the mountain, under the guidance of Wen Yuxia, were sprouted, cut into pieces, and planted. This yielded just enough to plant two mu (approximately 0.16 acres) of land.
In the Great Xia Dynasty, where rice yields were 300 jin per mu, potato yields reached a staggering 2,000 jin per mu, a truly rare occurrence. Lord Mu waved his hand dismissively: "Load them all onto carts and send them to the capital."
At Li Yang's repeated requests, Lord Mu left 500 catties of potatoes for Nanping Village, and paid the rest to Nanping Village on the spot at the price of rice.
Lord Mu hurriedly left with the potatoes. Wen Yuxia gestured to Bei Yi to load the twenty catties of potatoes that Li Yang had given her onto the mule cart. "Village Chief Li, thank you!"