CHAPTER 386: CHAPTER 93: THE FAMILIAR-LOOKING EXPERT (PART 2)

Zhou Ziang suggested visiting the site in person, and once Huang Tengchong brought them over, he eagerly spoke first: "Hello, this is your farm, isn’t it? We’re from the city, interested in setting up an ecological plantation in this area, so we came here first to observe the local planting situation."

Zhuo Feng heard voices and came out as well.

"Oh, fellow practitioners, huh? There’s really not much to observe here. My spouse and I just got here not long ago and we’re still half-baked beginners. But if you’re interested, feel free to come in and have a look." Zhuo Feng, like an eager parent when hearing other parents are coming to visit, was delighted and quickly invited them inside.

However, upon seeing the strikingly beautiful Aisha and Zhou Ziang, he couldn’t help but mutter: "To grow up looking like that and still go into farming, nowadays even farmers need to be judged by appearance over substance, it really makes life tough."

Aisha couldn’t understand much Chinese, and the countryside was more like a sightseeing tour for her. Zhou Ziang, however, understood everything clearly, and seeing Huang Tengchong’s explanation, he knew there was something off but didn’t want to cause any trouble, so he just followed them inside without much talk.

Just upon entering, the lush greenery in front of him left Zhou Ziang momentarily stunned.

"Ang, what are these things, they look so green and cute," Aisha walked subtly closer to Zhou Ziang, speaking affectionately near his ear.

"Miss Aisha, this is..." Huang Tengchong had already inquired from Feng Xing that they were planting sweet potatoes and rushed to answer first, but when he tried to recall the English term for sweet potato, he got stuck and the rest of the sentence remained unspoken.

"Sweet potatoes?" Zhou Ziang quietly responded, as Feng Xing watched him with interest, not expecting this young man to be quite knowledgeable.

"Sweet potatoes? Why plant so many, can you even eat those? Aren’t they just for feeding livestock?" Aisha had barely eaten sweet potatoes; coming from a wealthy background, she regarded sweet potatoes and similar tubers as food for the lower class, fearing they might upset one’s stomach if consumed in excess.

"They are edible, and a lot healthier than the junk food Americans eat," Zhou Ziang replied, his tone edged with displeasure. Fortunately, she doesn’t speak Chinese, or else she might inadvertently cause offense with her words.

Hearing this, Aisha felt uneasy; after a few more glances at the sweet potato vines sprawling across the field and spotting a few pinkish-white flowers, she commented, "The flowers don’t look bad."

Zhou Ziang had already squatted down and turned over a few sweet potato leaves, gently rubbing them with his fingers. These sweet potato leaves showed no traces of herbicides and seemed to have been nourished with natural farmyard manure. Judging by their growth, they could be harvested by late summer.

This couple wasn’t simple.

"This guy, don’t touch randomly; it’s the leaf-growing season, be careful," Zhuo Feng, like a worried mother, hurriedly cautioned, fearing someone else’s rough handling might damage the sweet potato plants.

"Sweet potatoes, and actually three different varieties of them; if I’m not mistaken, these should be the domestically grown roasted varieties, American hybrid black potatoes, and Japanese white potatoes." Zhou Ziang was slightly surprised by the layout of the farm plots, the fertilization, and the spacing between the sweet potatoes, all of which were quite reasonable.

Hearing the most visually striking young man in the crowd, relying only on visual inspection, identify the three types of sweet potatoes left Zhuo Feng speechless with his mouth agape.

"How so?" While Zhuo Feng and his wife were unaware of the details, Huang Tengchong knew Zhou Ziang’s background, a researcher from Cornell University; how could he not know about a few sweet potato plants?

"The growth is quite good, it will yield a lot," Zhou Ziang’s response nearly infuriated Huang Tengchong; who was asking about that? Was he asking about the efficacy of the herbicides, all used in vain?

Zhou Ziang ignored Huang Tengchong and plucked a few sweet potato leaves.

"Almost forgot to say," he paused, prompting Huang Tengchong to perk up and listen intently to Zhou Ziang.

"A suggestion for you, these sweet potato plants haven’t been topped yet, right? While the plants haven’t fully formed, remove the main stem’s top bud to encourage the growth of other branches. When the branches grow another ten or twelve nodes, then remove the top buds of the branches too. More branches and leaves will speed up the growth of the sweet potatoes by increasing the utilization of sunlight. Effective topping only needs to happen one or two times, which could increase the yield by twenty to thirty percent." Zhou Ziang’s casual few words prompted Zhuo Feng and his wife to nod repeatedly.

Huang Tengchong couldn’t take it anymore; his expression was beyond simply ’ugly’.

"Ang, what did you say?" Aisha also sensed something off, noticing the drastic change in Huang Tengchong’s expression and his staring at Zhou Ziang.

"Thank you. We’re both still novices here, really appreciate your advice; just wait a moment," Zhuo Feng hurried into the house, and then came back with scissors, quickly cutting off a few sprouts and vine shoots.

"he sweet potatoes aren’t ripe yet, but these sweet potato leaves and vines are very fresh. We haven’t used pesticides; these are absolutely organic food. When the sweet potatoes are ripe in a little while, you must come back to visit, we’ll give you some to try for free."

As Zhuo Feng spoke, and then glanced at the handsome young expert, he paused briefly, staring at his own face reflectively for a while. Embarrassed under the gaze, Feng Xing coughed, prompting Zhou Ziang to turn his face away and gather the freshly plucked sweet potato leaves.

When Zhou Ziang and Aisha left the farm, looking back at Zhuo Feng and Feng Xing.

They seemed quite amiable; Zhou Ziang couldn’t help but smile, unaware why he felt a resemblance to "her" as his fingers caressed the bundle of fresh sweet potato leaves.

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation ticket and monthly ticket. Your support is my greatest motivation.)