Chapter 26 Summer's Long End - Epilogue

After scalding the mulberries with boiling water, Zhao Xuan and Lu An carefully picked them up to eat. The sweet and sour fruit tasted especially good in the hot weather, but they didn't dare to eat too many. After eating a few handfuls, they packed some to feed the chickens.

Lu An was curious whether chickens that ate mulberries would lay blue eggs. After waiting for a few days, he found that there were indeed some light blue spots on the eggshells. He wondered if it was because the chickens had eaten mulberries.

The loquats were still pale yellow, so they could be stored for a few more days. In addition, the dog would occasionally bring over a few bags of plums, so Zhao Xuan had been getting a constant supply of fruit lately and had even been eating less.

Ah Jiao's milk production gradually decreased, and the milk became increasingly thin and unsuitable for drinking. The dog stopped bringing milk, but he would often come to visit, bringing some delicious food that his mother had made.

Lu An found the rice milling machine and examined it carefully. These kinds of rice milling machines used by farmers are usually not large. They use household electricity (220 volts), and after being plugged in, the rice is poured in from the top, with white rice coming out at one end and fine bran at the other.

Initially, Lu An didn't know how to use these machines, but Zhao Xuan had seen them in the countryside when he was a child. Their functions complemented each other; Zhao Xuan could recognize what these machines were used for, and Lu An could study how to use them.

There are also flour mills, which are smaller than rice mills and can turn crops such as wheat and corn into flour and cornmeal.

The village had several of these machines, more or less. Lu An brought them all home to test them, keeping a few that worked well and storing them in the machine storage room on the second floor. While Lu An was inspecting the various machines, Zhao Xuan had also washed the bamboo mats for drying the grain, as well as various farm tools.

The rice seeds have already been cultivated. Once this crop is harvested and the fields are plowed, the second crop can be planted seamlessly.

So, when the Great Heat arrived but before the Beginning of Autumn, two young men, carrying sickles and water bottles, marched proudly towards the golden rice paddies!