Chapter 1001: Chapter 1001: Eighty Acres of Land Remaining

Zhou Qiao pointed outside, “Your Brother Daniu is busy in the field. Ever since those twenty acres were planted with sunflowers, he’s been wishing he could guard them day and night, hoping they’d grow big and mature overnight.”

Shu Yu chuckled, “Then I’ll go take a look.”

How could her thoughts be any different from Brother Daniu’s? Only when the sunflowers grew could she start turning a profit. Otherwise, with money only flowing out and none coming in, it was hard not to feel anxious.

Zhou Qiao saw her get up, glanced at the glaring sun outside, and said, “It’s hot out there. Yu, you should stay home and rest. I’ll call him back. If there’s anything, you can just ask Daniu.”

“No need, I’ll go take a look at how they’re growing.” She wasn’t sure if they had sprouted yet.

Shu Yu, full of excitement, headed out the door. Zhou Qiao quickly followed to lead the way.

As for Ah Ning, she didn’t follow them. It was her first time at the manor, and her curiosity about the place had her wandering around the front and back after feeling a bit more refreshed from drinking some water.

Not far from leaving the manor, Shu Yu spotted a stretch of lush green little shoots in the distance, and her eyes lit up–they had sprouted!

She immediately quickened her pace, and as she got closer, she heard Daniu speaking with a group of people. “…Don’t worry. This land might not be the best for growing grains, but it’s absolutely suitable for sunflowers. You can all see for yourselves now, the sprouts are growing well.”

Someone, too curious to hold back, asked, “Village Chief Lu, can sunflowers really grow over two meters tall? What can you do with them after they’re planted?”

“You’ll know once they’re fully grown,” Daniu replied with a smile, but his response was deliberately vague.

It was still the seedling stage and needed protection. If he spilled all the details now, what if someone came to steal the idea later?

It was at this moment that Shu Yu approached, “Brother Daniu.”

Daniu and the long-term workers spun around abruptly and stood up in unison.

“Yu, you’re here.”

The others also chimed in, “Good day, boss.”

Shu Yu waved her hand, “Carry on with your work. I just want a word with my brother.”

The long-term workers shuffled off to some distance, leaving Shu Yu to squat down and examine the seedlings on the ground.

“Looks like they’re sprouting well. No major issues, right?”

Daniu shook his head, “No issues. Everyone’s been quite diligent. It’s just that none of them have ever grown or even seen sunflowers before, so they’re a bit unsure and worried they might mess it up. Luckily, sunflowers sprout quickly, and once they saw the sprouts, everyone felt much more at ease.”

He paused for a moment, then frowned slightly, “It’s just that…”

“What’s the matter?”

“Yu, we’ve only planted twenty acres of sunflowers, but there are still eighty acres of land left empty. It feels like such a waste. Should we think about planting something else? That way, the farmers will have more to do and won’t be afraid of you letting them go.”

Shu Yu nodded, “I came here today precisely to discuss that with you. Let’s plant the remaining eighty acres with broccoli.”

Daniu was stunned, “All eighty acres with broccoli?”

Shu Yu stood up, dusted off her hands, and looked at the barren stretch of land in front of her. In a low voice, she said, “We already know why this land has such low grain yields. The options for what we can plant are limited. After thinking it over, broccoli seems like the best choice.”

This stretch of land was mostly salt-alkali soil. Fortunately, the salt content wasn’t excessively high, but it still had a considerable impact on grain harvests.

However, sunflowers not only had low soil requirements but could also grow normally in salt-alkali soil.

In fact, they even had the ability to absorb salt, improving the land, making them one of the crops suitable for managing salt-alkali soil.