Chapter 67: Bobai County is a Treasure Land, Suitable for Growing All Kinds of Fruits

Chapter 67: Bobai County is a Treasure Land, Suitable for Growing All Kinds of Fruits

Deng Yunqiang asked in shock, "Are the Cinnamon Flavor lychee seedlings really that good? Can they bear fruit in the second year of planting?"

At present, in the Double Prosperity area, the few lychees planted are grown directly from leftover lychee seeds. Farmers have never seen ring-branch planting or grafting techniques, so when they heard that Cinnamon Flavor lychees could bear fruit in the second year, they found it hard to believe.

Deng Changfu nodded and said, "That's what Uncle Jiu said. These Cinnamon Flavor seedlings aren't grown from seeds like the lychee trees we have here. Instead, they take a good branch from a lychee tree, peel a ring of bark, wrap it in mud, and then cover it with straw or something similar. Once the roots develop, the branch is cut off and used as a seedling. Only seedlings grown this way can bear fruit in the second year."

Although Deng Yunqiang had never heard of growing lychees this way, since Uncle Jiu—a respected figure in the village—had said it and was taking the lead, the seedlings were likely genuine.

As long as the seedlings were good, there was no need to worry about whether the land here was suitable for growing them.

After all, Bobai County is widely recognized as one of the best places for growing fruits. This is evident from a local ballad that sings about the fruit production throughout the four seasons of the lunar calendar.

The ballad goes like this: "The whole county of Bobai is a treasure land, suitable for growing all kinds of fruits. Bayberries in March, plums in April, peaches and lychees in May, pineapples with yellow skin in June, longans and sand pears in July, bananas in August, oranges and persimmons in September, grapefruits in October, and carambolas are always popular."

In addition to the fruits mentioned in the ballad, there are also sugarcane, loquat, mango, papaya, tomato, myrtle, black olive, yellow olive, chestnut, millet, star apple, date, lemon, orange, pineapple, grape, monk fruit, and many others.

Among these, lychee and longan are the most famous.

Therefore, Bobai County is exceptionally suitable for growing lychees.

Deng Yunqiang grew more and more excited about the prospect of growing Cinnamon Flavor lychees. However, his excitement was soon tempered by reality. He lamented, "What a pity! Our family can't afford to invest so much money in this orchard."

Changfu's mother felt both excited and heartbroken. She was thrilled by the opportunity to make a lot of money but devastated that her family couldn't seize it and could only watch it slip away.

At this moment, Guan Yongying gave Deng Changfu a meaningful look.

Deng Changfu hesitated for a moment and then said, "Dad, Mom, it would be a shame to miss this opportunity. We could earn at least a thousand yuan a year, and even more in the future. If our family could really develop this orchard, we might become millionaires in just a few years.

So, I think we should follow Uncle Jiu's example and take out a loan from the credit union. There's no interest, and we can pay it back once we start making money."

Deng Yunqiang was moved by this idea. In the past, if someone had suggested taking out a bank loan, he would have refused outright. He would rather skip a meal every day than do something so "shameful."

But things were different now. Even Uncle Jiu, a respected figure in the village, had taken out a loan from the credit union. If he wasn't afraid of losing face, why should they be?

After thinking it over, Deng Yunqiang nodded and said, "Then let's go for the loan. Uncle Jiu has been very kind to us, sharing this opportunity to make money. If our family doesn't seize it, we'll be letting him down."

Seeing that her father-in-law, the head of the household, had agreed, Guan Yongying was thrilled. If the orchard really took off, their family's path to becoming millionaires would be within reach.

While her husband discussed the loan with his parents, Guan Yongying began planning to visit her own parents the next day. She wanted to share the good news and encourage them to join in planting lychee trees as well.

As Deng Yunkun and five others worked hard to clear the wasteland on Deng Shirong's mountain, news of his plan to transform the mountain into an orchard and plant lychee trees spread quickly throughout the village.

Now that every household in the village had been allocated a significant amount of mountainous land, the villagers came one by one to inquire about the situation.

When faced with questions from other villagers, Deng Shirong didn't share as openly as he had with Deng Changfu and his wife. He simply explained the costs of growing lychees and said that the orchard would definitely make money, though he couldn't be sure how much until the trees bore fruit and the lychees were sold.

It wasn't that Deng Shirong was being stingy or unwilling to share the truth. He was wary of potential accidents. If he led the entire village to plant lychee trees and someone's trees failed to survive, who would be responsible for the loss?

Even if everyone's trees survived, if the lychees couldn't be sold when the time came, who would bear the blame?

Of course, the likelihood of lychees not selling was relatively low. It was 1980, and the country still operated under a planned economy, with strict regulations and plans for the purchase and sale of agricultural products.

Additionally, this was the early stage of reform and opening up. The government had introduced many policies to support farmers in developing the economy, such as interest-free loans from banks. Some local governments even provided subsidies or incentives to encourage fruit farming.

This was also the main reason Deng Shirong dared to set the purchase price of Cinnamon Flavor lychees at 40 cents per pound.

From Deng Shirong's perspective, he was simply trying to help the villagers, giving everyone a chance to get rich. He couldn't be blamed if something went wrong. He wasn't profiting from this, so how could he possibly compensate the villagers for their losses?

But human nature is complicated. If villagers who suffered heavy losses blamed everything on Deng Shirong, it would be a classic case of no good deed going unpunished.

Rather than risk that, it was better for him to be cautious. He would wait until his own lychee trees bore fruit and proved profitable before encouraging others to join in.

That way, even if something unexpected happened, no one could blame him.

Since Deng Shirong didn't fully explain the prospects of lychee farming to the other villagers, when they heard how high the costs were, they couldn't help but shake their heads. No one dared to follow Deng Shirong's lead.

After all, planting lychees required an investment of several hundred or even thousands of yuan. Without knowing whether it would pay off, few in the village had the courage to take the risk.

They all planned to wait and see whether Deng Shirong's lychee orchard would succeed.

(End of this chapter)