Chapter 121 Regenerated Rice

Early morning of the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).

It was still bright outside.

Cheng Wanwan sat under a tree in the yard to rest; she was truly exhausted.

She glanced at the unfinished sand table in the courtyard and thought to herself that it was time to prepare more writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones for Cheng Zhao.

Children can indeed use a sand tray when they first start learning to read and recognize characters, but once they are proficient, they can practice writing on paper. They need to master all aspects of using a brush, such as brush tip control, as soon as possible.

Buying these things at Dehetang would cost at least several tens of taels of silver, but they are very cheap in the mall, and you can buy as many as you want.

Find an opportunity to go to town, and then openly and honestly bring these things out.

Just as she was thinking this, the village headman walked in from the courtyard gate.

When an outsider came in, Cheng Wanwan could no longer sit there casually. She stood up and said with a smile, "Uncle Village Head, what brings you here?"

The village head said, "I just sent Tieshuan's father to check on the other villages. Guihua Village, Lijia Gou, and Chengjia Village have all driven away the locusts. Although there were some losses in the fields, some grain was left. If we tighten our belts, we should be able to make it until next year. I just don't know if the locusts will fly back?"

He told the villagers that the locusts wouldn't come back, but deep down he still wasn't sure.

Cheng Wanwan felt a little embarrassed. When exactly did Uncle Village Head start asking her for advice?

“Once locusts gather and fly away in one direction, they rarely return unless they encounter a high mountain blocking their way.” Cheng Wanwan also learned this from a book. “The rice in the fields will be harvested in a few days, and the locusts should not return in these few days.”

The village head breathed a sigh of relief: "At least there's hope for this year. I won't be so hungry that I feel dizzy and lightheaded anymore."

“However—” Cheng Wanwan changed the subject, “Judging from the current situation, there may still be locusts next year. There are so many locusts this year that they will lay eggs in the fields. When the temperature rises next summer, after the eggs hatch, who knows how many more locusts will emerge and devour the crops.”

The village head was horrified: "How do we kill those insect eggs?"

Cheng Wanwan's expression was also very serious.

Modern science has a hypothesis that locusts swarm and cause disasters because the insects secrete a hormone after laying eggs, which attracts the locusts.

The fact that the locusts have now gathered means that the mother locusts have finished laying eggs, and there are millions of unseen eggs hidden in the soil of the fields.

The book mentions several methods for killing insect eggs. Pesticides are the most effective, as are flooding the fields for a long time, freezing them to death in low temperatures or exposing them to high temperatures, and another common method is burning the land.

Cheng Wanwan walked to the edge of the field.

This is their family's rice. Zhao Dashan takes meticulous care of the fields every day, and weeding and pest control are daily tasks. Now that it's almost harvest time, they stopped applying fertilizer. The rice isn't growing well. It can be said that the nutrients in the rice roots haven't been fully absorbed into the rice ears because the drought has lasted too long and the water came too late. There wasn't enough time for the rice to slowly absorb nutrients and grow to full size.

Most of the rice has turned yellow. We start harvesting when the yellowing rate of the rice ears exceeds 95%, otherwise the grains will fall off and be difficult to collect.

Cheng Wanwan squatted down and carefully examined the rice roots. The tops of the rice plants had turned mostly yellow, but the roots were still green and full of vitality.

She suddenly remembered a news story she had seen in her past life: the ratooning rice in a certain place was growing well, and local leaders came to inspect it... Ratooning rice is rice that can be harvested twice after being planted once. After the first harvest, the rice stubble is used to sprout new seedlings and grow ears, and it can be harvested again. Of course, the yield of the second harvest is only about half of that of the first harvest.

The locusts have eaten up nearly half of the rice. If the ratooning rice method is feasible, it can completely make up for this loss.

Cheng Wanwan's heart pounded wildly.

"Grandma, what's wrong?"

Seeing that she hadn't spoken for most of the day, the village headman felt inexplicably uneasy.

Cheng Wanwan didn't dare mention the matter of ratooning rice. She only learned about it from the news, and she heard that ratooning rice can only successfully head in areas with suitable water, sunlight, and temperature. She didn't dare give the village head any hope. What if the climate conditions in Dahe Village were not suitable for cultivating ratooning rice? Wouldn't that be hope followed by disappointment, which would be even more painful?

“Burn the locust eggs with fire.” Cheng Wanwan continued the topic of locust egg destruction. “During the autumn harvest, leave the rice stubble longer and let the fire burn in the field for a longer time to completely kill the locust eggs.”

The village head nodded solemnly: "I've taken this to heart. I'll remind them during the autumn harvest."

After the village head left, Cheng Wanwan returned to her room, went to the online store to buy a book, specifically "Practical Manual for Regenerated Rice".

There were already many books under her bed, all about farming. She had never been exposed to these things in her previous life, but she never expected to become a farming expert in this life. As the saying goes, one is never too old to learn. Since she was going to spend her whole life here, she had to master these farming skills. She was already much luckier than others to be able to buy modern science books.

Cheng Wanwan wasted no time and opened the book to begin reading.

Originally, ratooning rice was developed to address yield reductions caused by natural disasters, such as floods and droughts that lead to crop failure. As long as the rice seedlings survive, a second crop can be grown... This technology is very simple to implement, not as complicated as she imagined, and has extremely low costs and high efficiency...

After it got completely dark, the children outside returned, and she hid the book under the bed and went out.

Cheng Zhao led the children into the house and continued teaching Er Gou and Si Dan. The firelight illuminated their faces, giving them a strangely sacred appearance.

Zhao Dashan and Zhao Sanniu exchanged a glance and silently joined the study group. Although their mother did not require them to study as well as Sidan, they could not fall too far behind. They were brothers from the same family, and if they fell too far behind, they would be embarrassed to stand together.

Cheng Wanwan and Wu Huiniang are stewing pheasant and rabbit.

Every morning, the four wolves bring seven or eight prey. We stew four for them, and there's still a little bit left at home. From now on, we can eat wild game every day. It's a worthwhile deal.

The stewed game was placed at the entrance of the yard. When the night was quiet, the four wolves would naturally come and drag it away to eat.

At the end of the Xu hour (7-9 PM), the whole family was asleep in bed.

Cheng Wanwan was dreaming, dreaming about her past life. She was lying on a soft sofa, scrolling through her phone, with fresh strawberries and cherries beside her. She was happily playing on her phone and watching TV, enjoying the cool breeze from the air conditioner. Life was so leisurely...

I was dreaming when I heard the village head's voice in my ear.

"Grandma Mountain! Come out quickly! Something's happened!"

Cheng Wanwan sat up sleepily. It was pitch black outside, but the full moon shone brightly. Judging from the sky, it must have been just past midnight.

She yawned as she got out of bed and went outside. The village head was standing outside her yard, looking anxious: "Zhang Wulai's house has been surrounded by wild wolves. I don't know if it has anything to do with your Xiao Hei. Take Xiao Hei with you right away!"

Cheng Wanwan was instantly awakened from her sleepiness.

She looked down, and Little Black was circling around her, the little guy's face showing anxiety.

She immediately scooped up Xiao Hei: "Let's go take a look."

Big Black wagged its tail and followed.