The Li family guarded the water source every day, but no one in Futian Village caused any trouble.

They greeted them with smiles.

When the rice seedlings grew to eight centimeters, Pan Jinhua chose a sunny day, and the entire Li family, young and old, went out to plant them.

Led by Pan Jinhua, who was dressed in shorts, she was the first to go down into the field, followed closely by Li Xuhai.

Not only were there members of the Li family on the shore, but also many villagers.

Pan Jinhua pulled up the rice seedlings with one hand and tied them up with the other by pulling out rice stalks.

"Watch carefully. Don't pay too much attention at this point. Just pull it out, tie it up, and set it aside. Don't tie it too tightly, as you'll need to untie it later."

She taught him as she pulled the seedlings, and Li Xuhai learned quickly. Once he understood, Pan Jinhua picked up a bundle of tied seedlings and went to the side.

Li Xuming and Li Xushi had already drawn the line, taut and straight.

Pan Jinhua untied the seedlings, grouped them into clusters of two, and inserted them directly along the line. Only when the roots of the seedlings were firmly planted in the mud was it considered done.

Pan Jinhua bent over and kept planting rice seedlings along the line. In no time, she had planted a straight row of seedlings, which stood upright.

"Now is the time to plant the rice seedlings. Two seedlings make one clump. Don't plant too many. Make sure there is a certain distance between each clump. Just follow my spacing."

"good."

The Li family unanimously agreed that it didn't matter if they didn't understand, they would just do it.

Li Xuhai followed closely, not daring to miss a single moment, nodding his head like a chicken pecking at rice.

After Pan Jinhua finished, she turned to look at Li Xuhai and saw that he had indeed learned well, so she asked him to teach others.

Li Xuhai first called down a few clansmen and taught them how to transplant rice seedlings. Once they learned, he sent them to other paddy fields to pull the lines and wait.

Then the others were told to pull up the rice seedlings, tie them up, put them in carrying poles, and carry them to other fields.

Soon, the Li family took action. One advantage of the Li family is their excellent execution ability; they do what they are told.

Once the tasks are divided, everyone can perform their duties.

Pan Jinhua led Li Qingzhang and the others to a plot of land. Li Qingzhang, Li Qingjing and Li Qingfei from the first wife's family, Li Qingruo, Li Qingduan and Li Qingyi from the second wife's family, Li Qingtong from the third wife's family, as well as Li Qingyao and Wang Jiao also followed. Li Qingzhi and Li Qingjun were excluded because they were too young and could only watch from the shore.

Pan Jinhua had them set up four lines, with three people responsible for each line. Since the third branch of the family only had Li Qingtong, Li Qingyao and Wang Jiao were responsible for one line with him.

Pan Jinhua was responsible for one of them.

When the children first started planting rice seedlings, they always planted them crookedly and couldn't even fit them properly along the lines. The villagers on the bank were so anxious that they wished they could do it themselves.

"It's not plugged in properly, it's crooked!"

"It's too shallow, the rice seedlings will float away."

Pan Jinhua was also watching from the sidelines, demanding that anything not done properly be redone. It took half a day to work on a small area, leaving her feeling embarrassed and exhausted.

Fortunately, the children were all resilient, and none of them gave up or threw tantrums.

They said they'd go back to work, and then they did.

Of course, Pan Jinhua would also praise whoever did a good job. For example, Li Qingzhang was the best at transplanting rice seedlings among the brothers, and Li Qingruo and Li Qingfei transplanted them the most neatly.

For example, whenever Pan Jinhua noticed that Li Qingyao and Li Qingtong's rice seedlings hadn't fallen over, she would immediately praise them without reservation, which made the children very enthusiastic. They even had the idea of ​​competing with each other and asked Pan Jinhua to be their referee to see which group planted the rice seedlings better and more steadily.

Pan Jinhua wasn't going to spoil the fun and happily agreed.

The whole clan worked together for several days and finally managed to plant the rice seedlings. The villagers also helped with the process.

Having learned the Li family's breeding methods, the villagers naturally planned to follow the Li family's path, so helping the Li family was also a way of learning in advance.

Although the villagers were puzzled as to why they bred the seedlings in this way and then transplanted them.

After all, since ancient times, they have always sown grain seeds in the fields when the time came, waited for them to grow on their own, and then considered whether to sow more rice seeds to replant. They didn't know what rice transplanting was.

The seeds are sown, and they grow on their own. Then they are fertilized and irrigated. It's always been like this.

Therefore, it is unclear why the Li family would scatter all the sprouted grain seeds on one piece of land, and then wait for them to grow up, pull them up, and replant them.

"What is the purpose of doing this?"

Zhao Qi is a very straightforward person; if he has a question, he'll ask it.

Li Xuhai had already asked Pan Jinhua about this matter, so he spoke confidently at this moment.

"Uncle Zhao, have you noticed that the germination rate of our grain seeds is very high when we use this breeding method?"

"That seems to be the case?"

Zhao Qi hadn't observed this carefully before, but now that he thought about it, it seemed to be true.

“Sowing does save time and effort, but the germination rate is not high, and after it grows, there are more seedlings in some places and fewer seedlings in others, which is uncontrollable. The seedlings will compete for nutrients as they grow, just like beggars who gather together and fight for food. The same is true for seedlings.”

"This rice transplanting is also an experiment. If we separate the seedlings and fix their positions, will more of them survive, making them easier for us to manage? Is it possible to increase the yield?"

"Hehe, this is just one of my aunt's ideas. Let's give it a try, who knows, it might actually work."

Zhao Qi nodded repeatedly. The example of the beggar scrambling for food was indeed very apt, and might even be quite accurate.

Zhao Qi thought of his own rice seedlings, which were now almost grown and would be ready for transplanting in a few days.

His family is small and doesn't own much land. Since he's already learned everything else, he might as well learn how to transplant rice seedlings as well.

Without exception, those who learned the Li family's seedling cultivation method also gradually transplanted their seedlings again using the rice planting method.

The neat rows of rice seedlings in the fields are a sight to behold and bring joy to the heart.

Spring planting has come to an end, but there's still no news from Sun Youtian's family.

The Li family spread the word that the workshop was about to be built, with double wages and a free lunch.

The benefits are exceptionally good. Putting aside the wages, just the fact that a meal is provided is enough to make anyone yearn for it.

With the new year just over, many families have little food left and have to be careful with their food until the new harvest. If the Li family provides a meal, they can save their own food, which will allow their family to eat more, and they can also sell the new grain when it comes out – a win-win situation.

The villagers of Shuxia Village were astounded by the news of double wages, not to mention the reactions from other villages when the news spread.

To put it bluntly, the Li family used an open strategy.

They openly told the people of Tomita Village: "We're going to build a workshop, and we're hiring laborers. Once it's finished, we'll be hiring full-time workers. Aren't you going to come and apologize?"

Sure enough, Sun Youtian struggled at home for four or five days, trying to cover up the matter.

Sun Youcai and the villagers, however, could not allow them to do this, as it was a matter of great importance concerning the interests of the entire village.

When word got out that the Li family was going to hire people to build the workshop at twice the wages, the people of Futian Village couldn't sit still any longer and flocked to Sun Youcai's house.