The provincial exam took place once every three years. The city of Longbei Province gathered scholars and xiucai from all over. With ten days left before the exam, the streets, inns, and teahouses were practically packed with thousands of scholars.
The braised food shop and barbecue restaurant were overflowing with customers every day. Considering that the scholars taking the exam had no time to wait in line, Song Jinzhao even introduced a door-to-door delivery service. The delivery fee was only five copper coins per order. If an order was placed a day in advance, it would be delivered to the door at the agreed time the next day. If multiple people ordered together for the same location and reached a certain amount, the delivery fee could even be waived.
Looking at the delivery boys bustling about on the streets, many shops followed suit and started delivering takeout, with the Li family's inn and restaurant leading the charge.
In the garden of the Song Manor, Chunxing and the others were busy digging up potatoes. Compared to the tender potatoes eaten in late June, most of the mature potatoes now were the size of a fist, and some of the larger ones were the size of two fists.
"Eldest Miss, it's a letter from Song Family Village." Lanxi ran over holding two letters.
Of the two letters, one was addressed to Song Jinzhao, and the other to Song Gaoli. The village chief must have asked the messenger to bring them together.
"Send someone to deliver this letter to Song Gaoli at Anyang Academy. They should be having lunch at this hour."
"Yes." Lanxi took the envelope with both hands, turned around, and asked the other servants to run the errand.
Song Shixue held Song Anhao with her right hand and beckoned Xuetuan to move closer to Song Jinzhao with her left.
"Sister, what does the letter say?"
Song Jinzhao replied, "Grandpa knows Qiming is going to take the provincial exam, so he told him to do his best and not be nervous. Whether he passes or not, he should remember to write a letter to let him know."
Song Shixue took the letter and read it a couple of times. "Yongnian's handwriting is getting better and better."
Song Jinzhao glanced at it and nodded in agreement. "Neither Yongnian nor Yaozu passed the county exam to become a tongsheng this year. Grandpa must be very disappointed. Maybe one of them can pass next year."
By next year, the three-year period would be up. If they couldn't pass, she wondered if the first and second branches of the family would give up, or let them continue studying.
After a busy day, and making sure no potatoes were left in the soil, Chunxing had someone bring over a steelyard and began weighing them basket by basket.
After weighing and adding up all the catties, Chunxing's hands were trembling as she wrote down the numbers.
"Eldest Miss, we harvested a total of two hundred and seventy catties of potatoes."
Ten catties of potato seedlings, two and a half fen of land, yielding one thousand and eighty catties per mu. It was simply astonishing, truly a divine crop.
If every household could plant them, they would never have to worry about running out of food again.
Song Jinzhao looked at the potatoes in the bamboo baskets. The potatoes of this era had nowhere near the yield of modern improved seeds.
With such good soil and careful tending, a yield of two or three thousand catties per mu would be absolutely no problem in modern times, but now it was just barely a thousand.
"Clean off the dirt, put the potatoes in black cloth bags, and store them in the cellar. Place wooden boards on the ground, and lay straw on the boards. Don't put them against the wall, and make sure to keep them away from light and moisture so they don't sprout."
Two hundred and seventy catties of potatoes, even if all used as seeds, would only yield over seven thousand catties next year. It would take at least several years for every household to plant them. After presenting the birthday gift, she could suggest planting them in the south now, where there were two harvests a year, cutting the time in half.
When Song Qiming returned in the evening and learned of the yield, he excitedly spun around in circles. "A thousand catties per mu! It's actually a thousand catties per mu!"
"This is wonderful! With such a high yield, if every household plants them, how many people could be fed!"
As if thinking of something, he stopped and said to Song Jinzhao, "Sister, do you need me to write to my teacher immediately and ask him to present the potatoes to the Emperor to claim credit for you?"
After going to the capital, the title of Lady of the Township was a bit low. It was time for his sister to get a promotion.
