The second watch, asking for pink.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Before the year-end trip to Taicang, seeing that wheat seeds were sold, Lian Manman wanted to buy seeds of both winter wheat and spring wheat. However, even if winter wheat seeds had been bought then, it would have been too late to plant them, so only spring wheat seeds were purchased.

During the few days in Taicang, she carefully experienced the winter temperatures there and inquired extensively. The winter temperatures of Taicang were not significantly different from those of Thirty Mile Camp, with Lian Manman estimating a mere two to three degrees Celsius difference. Since Taicang could cultivate winter wheat, Thirty Mile Camp should also be able to.

With the successful precedent of spring wheat cultivation, the family was relatively accepting of winter wheat.

However, winter wheat posed greater risks compared to spring wheat. One might say that planting spring wheat pretty much had no risks, but planting winter wheat did involve risks. After all, no one here had ever planted it before, and although Lian Manman judged that winter wheat could safely survive the winter, the actual situation would only be revealed after planting.

"We shouldn’t spread our resources too thin," Lian Manman thought, then said, "For spring wheat, we bought seeds for ten acres; for winter wheat, let’s first buy enough for three or four acres to experiment."

For other families, taking out three or four acres to test a crop known to carry risks might be difficult. But in Manman’s Family, everyone quickly agreed.

Corn, sweet potatoes, spring wheat—none of these had ever been planted here before. Regarding corn, people previously didn’t even know it could be food. Having gone through these experiences made the family’s minds and thinking more flexible and daring, especially since they brought great profits.

The family decided to buy the winter wheat seeds from Taicang. However, they didn’t plan to go in person but intended to have someone else purchase them.

It wasn’t yet the time to plant winter wheat, but after harvesting sorghum and millet, it would be.

"Tomorrow, I’ll go to town and talk to the Old Zheng family. I heard their convoy will head to Taicang in the next few days, so it’ll be convenient to ask them to buy the seeds for us. They know people well there, so we can trust them completely."

With this decided, the next day, Lian Shouxin really took money to the Zheng family, who readily agreed and assured that the winter wheat seeds would be duly brought back.

However, upon returning home, Lian Shouxin did not appear particularly happy; on the contrary, he seemed somewhat gloomy.

"Dad, what’s the matter? Did someone upset you?" Lian Manman asked seeing his expression.

"Not upset, just... I just came out from the Old Lu house and ran into folks from the Old Zhao family." Lian Shouxin said in a muffled voice.

Hearing about the encounter with the Old Zhao family, Lady Zhang paused her work and looked over. Old Zhao family naturally referred to Zhao Xiue’s maternal family.

"Who from the Old Zhao family did you meet?" Lady Zhang asked.

"Zhao Wencai." Lian Shouxin replied.

Lian Manman’s family didn’t have much interaction with the Zhao Family. Ever since the senior members of the Lian Family moved to Taicang, there had been even less contact between the two families. Only Zhao Wencai had visited Lian Shouxin a few times since, probably looking to establish relations, hoping for Lian Shouxin to take care of their grocery store business.

Having suffered from Zhao Wencai before and having the Lu Family’s Grocery also in town, Lian Shouxin only superficially agreed to Zhao Wencai’s requests, continuing to support Lu Family’s Grocery.

Lu Family’s Grocery was larger, had more goods, and never took advantage of acquaintances. They had no reason to inconvenience themselves with Zhao’s grocery.

Later, Zhao Family grew closer to Taicang, frequently visited, perhaps attracted by the abundant opportunities there, and with no advantage to gain from Lian Shouxin’s side, rarely bothered them again.

"Dad, what did he say to upset you?" Lian Manman probed, guessing that Lian Shouxin, who was honest and not as eloquent as others, might have been disadvantaged in the exchange with Zhao Wencai’s slick talk.

"Whatever he said, I didn’t bother with it. He wanted to discuss something with me." Lian Shouxin shook his head.

"What is it?" Lian Manman asked.

"He asked me not to sell wheat seeds anymore because he plans to bring in a batch from Taicang to sell to everyone." Lian Shouxin responded.

"If he wants to sell wheat seeds, we won’t stop him. Why should he stop us?" Lady Zhang exclaimed.