The autumn harvest in Luojiang County was before that of Beihai County. Zhou Lizhong actually brought back a lot of rice seeds the previous year with the intention of letting the county magistrate spread it. However, the county magistrate refused to take the risk, so he planted most of it himself and divided it.
A little was given to the villagers, and the rest was basically divided by Mr. Bai.
The first person to get sick was the eldest uncle of the Qian family. He always thought that this year's rice was growing well, so he kept watching it.
When it turned yellow, he harvested it without delay for a day. When he weighed the ears of rice in his hands, he felt that this year's harvest was excellent.
After harvesting an acre, the rice ears were not even left to dry in the field. They were bundled directly home and threshed without weighing them. His eyes widened when he saw so many sacks.
Uncle Qian didn't have time to wait for all the rice to be harvested, so he ran to Qili Village.
It was a busy farm holiday in the yamen and the officials were allowed to go home to harvest grain. Zhou Lizhong was wearing a straw hat and cutting rice in the fields. His family had a sickle harvest today.
Uncle Qian ran directly to the field, pulled the man out, and asked him, "Can we save these new rice seeds? Or do we need to buy new rice seeds from you next year?"
Zhou Lizhong perked up and said, "You don't need to buy it. Keep the ones you picked yourself. I've tested them and they're very stable in keeping seeds. Grandpa, have you harvested them? How much can you harvest from one acre of land?"
Uncle Qian: "It's raw rice now. I threshed and weighed it today, and it's more than six stones!"
He said: "If it is dried in the sun, it will still be five stones, right? It is more than double the previous yield per mu."
Uncle Qian held his hand tightly and said: "Li Zhong, your family is lucky. There must be smoke coming out of your ancestral graves. The new wheat seeds were grown by your family in the past, and now new ones have been planted."
Rice seeds.”
His eyes were shining, he was so excited that he couldn't help but slap his thigh hard, "It must be your uncle who is blessing you. Apart from him, no one in your family is capable. Hurry, I have to go and help you."
Uncle, go and offer incense, oh my, I will plant all new rice seeds next year."
His voice was so loud that villagers passing by laughed and asked, "Isn't this Uncle Manbao? Why are you here now? Why are you so happy? Tell us and let us enjoy it."
Uncle Qian asked, "Didn't you plant the rice seeds Li Zhong brought back this year?"
"You said Datou, I have planted it, two acres. Don't tell me, the rice grows better than others. I don't know if it's because of the better water in that field, or because of the fertilizer, or the seeds."
The villagers who heard this immediately said: "Then it must be because the seeds are good. You didn't realize that the rice grown in the village this year is better than other rice. The village chief was still saying it in the field two days ago. I'm afraid it's...
It’s the same as the new wheat seed before.”
"real or fake?"
"Of course it's true. We have looked at several fields. The ears of rice are always long and tall. They are all planted with new rice seeds. Go and see Datou's field. Hey, they are all growing.
It's a little higher than other people's homes, and the rice ears are so heavy. If I had known that I was going to replace them with new rice seeds, I shouldn't have just replaced two acres, I should have replaced them all."
Uncle Qian said: "I threshed today, and the rice produced lasted six stones and nearly half an acre."
As soon as these words came out, the villagers were all stunned, "Is it true or false? Uncle Manbao, you must have seen it wrong, right?"
"Can I be wrong? I weighed myself twice."
That would be too shocking.
One person walked around in circles and said, "My ones are still a little bit worse. They are not ready yet. I have to wait at least seven or eight days before they can be cut."
"My family should be able to cut it, how about I go and do it?"
"Forget it, I think it's still a lot greener. Let's keep it for two more days. The sun is good these two days. If it's exposed to the sun, it'll turn yellow in a few days."
"The Manbao family planted the rice early this year, should it be harvested now?" Someone looked at Zhou Lizhong.
Zhou Lizhong nodded blankly, pointed to the fields not far away and said, "That's enough. I'm starting to use the sickles today, and I'm collecting them now. My second and third uncles are all in the fields."
When everyone heard this, they immediately said: "There is nothing to do today anyway, why don't we go and help?"
"This is okay, this is okay, let's go, let's help."
Zhou Lizhong stretched out his hand to stop him, "How can we trouble uncles?"
"Oh, what's the trouble? The village should help each other. Let's go for a walk and go back to get the sickle. It's still early today. Let's call it a day after cutting."
Everyone rushed home to get sickles, went to the fields, said hello to Tuesday Lang and Zhou Lang, and then went to the fields to use the sickles.
Zhou Lang looked at it in a daze, "We just finished harvesting the beans, and the rice in their fields will be ripe in two days. Why don't you take a break and come to cut the rice for us?"
Zhou Erlang also stood and watched, and after a while he bent down to cut the rice. "They want to weigh our rice. Let them be busy. Since we have time, we will cut all the yellow ones nearby."
Zhou Zuorang confidently took advantage of everyone, and after harvesting, everyone helped take the rice back to Lao Zhou's yard.
But threshing is impossible. The rice has not been dried and is not easy to thresh at all.
Uncle Qian was just too impatient. He happened to be harvesting another acre of rice and there were many people in his family, so he and his wife came out in shock.
Uncle Qian was not in a hurry to go back, and while helping them spread the rice to dry, he said: "You don't have to rush to thresh the rice. It's too raw and hard to thresh. I asked your second and third uncles to help you a little today. Now you three
My uncle is still holding his hands and crying out that it hurts."
Zhou Lizhong nodded repeatedly and whispered: "Grandpa, it's getting dark. You can stay here tonight."
Uncle Qian thought for a while and nodded, "That's okay. I also want to ask you where you got this new rice seed and whether there are any other new seeds."
No one knows where the seeds come from better than Zhou Lizhong. He said: "My sister-in-law set aside some of her farmland in the capital as experimental fields, specifically to test new seeds."
Uncle Qian was surprised, "So this new rice seed is..."
"We grew it."
"Okay, okay," Uncle Qian patted him on the shoulder and said, "Like us, no one has grown new rice seeds after cultivating the land all their lives, but you, on the other hand, planted it at a young age."
Uncle Qian turned to Zhou Lang and Zhou Lang and said, "This is because the smoke is coming out of your ancestral graves. Otherwise, it's all farming. Why can't they grow it? Whether it's wheat seeds or rice seeds, they all grow in your land?"
He said: "Hurry up, before it gets dark, bring some food and burn incense for your uncle."
Zhou Erlang: "...Uncle, this is different from the wheat seeds. I have seen their experimental fields. It is complicated. The rice has to be selected one by one and marked. When it blooms, sometimes
Li Zhong had to sow the flowers himself, and in some plots cross-planting was not allowed and had to be separated. Anyway, it was complicated, and it took him several years to plant this seed."