The harvest was good; every household received a large bucket of fish.

Liu Qing carried the wooden bucket and walked beside Lin Xue, reminding her to watch her step from time to time.

Those families who received bighead carp would specially bring it over to Lin Xue to help her recover.

It was one thing to not have the means before, but now that we've caught so many fish, everyone wants to express their gratitude.

Even during the Chinese New Year, Lao Liu's family forbade Lin Xue from going out on the streets.

The reason was that her belly was big, and her family was worried.

The three Liu brothers went to the mountains and hunted a lot of game. While other families were carefully managing their finances, the Liu family had a prosperous New Year.

The villagers had just settled down in Anning County, so they hadn't visited each other's relatives yet.

People from the same village are all in the same situation; it's difficult for them to prepare a decent meal.

Let's just go our separate ways, then no one will feel pressured!

The New Year passed quietly and uneventfully. After the New Year, the village chief organized the villagers to start planting crops.

Because of different regions, the types of grains grown are also different.

During this period, the village chief also frequently went to Anning County to inquire about grain cultivation in the area.

Now that spring has arrived, the village chief has led people to dig ditches to irrigate the land that has been prepared.

Because they didn't have time to plant wheat at the end of last year, the village chief plans to plant a season of potatoes and spring beans in the spring as a temporary measure.

The Liu family had already prepared the potato seeds, and the more than 200 jin of potatoes were cut into small pieces.

Each small piece has a tender potato sprout on it.

Under Lin Xue's direction, Lao Liu's family quickly planted their potatoes in the ground.

The other villagers came over and took a look, and then they understood what was going on and went back to their own business.

After the potatoes were planted, everyone started planting spring beans.

During this period, the county government finally sent someone to process their household registration and land certificates.

Meanwhile, the magistrate of Ning'an County also made a special trip to inquire about potato cultivation methods.

The potato seeds had originally been taken back to the prefectural government office by the yamen runner, and later they were sent to the county government office of Ning'an County by the people of the prefectural government office.

The purpose is to learn from nearby sources and not waste good seeds.

Just as the potato harvest was nearing its end, Lin Xue finally gave birth to her first child.

Fortunately, the Liu family had prepared a midwife in advance, and the delivery went extremely smoothly.

It took a total of 4 hours from the onset of labor to the birth of the baby.

Compared to most women who give birth, Lin Xue's delivery was already considered fast.

Liu Qingyuan has been extremely well-behaved and sensible since birth, and never deliberately causes trouble.

Moreover, this little guy is very good at reading people's expressions. One whimper means he's peed, two whimpers mean he's pooped, and continuous whimpers mean he's hungry.

This little guy rarely cries since birth, unless he's sick or has a need.

Lin Xue spent the entire 40 days of postpartum confinement in the house. Fortunately, Lao Liu's family valued this, so Lin Xue didn't have to worry about the baby most of the time, as there were people to help take care of him.

On the very day Liu Qingyuan was born, officials from the county government came to oversee the first harvest of potatoes in Qingshan Village.

Looking at the potatoes yielding over 3,000 jin per mu, the county magistrate grinned from ear to ear.

This was because it was the first time the villagers of Qingshan Village had planted potatoes, and they had a limited supply of potato seeds, so the potatoes were planted too sparsely.

Even so, the county magistrate was extremely satisfied.

In the end, they spent money to take away half of Qingshan Village's potato production and allocated a large piece of nearby wasteland to the village.

Both the county government and the villagers of Qingshan Village were very satisfied.

By the time Lin Xue finished her postpartum confinement, a month had already passed since this incident.

She glanced at the rice seeds that Old Liu had bought with his three sons. The seeds looked relatively plump, but grain yields were not high in ancient times.

He then took out a similar amount of rice seeds from his own space and replaced these ordinary seeds.

These things are related to the Liu family's future food supply, so they must take them seriously.

In addition to the large plot of land that is connected with the villagers' land, the Liu family also cultivated a plot of land of about 1.6 to 1.7 acres behind their house.

The land was near the river, so they had it fenced off and bought some ducks to raise inside.

Raising ducks in rice paddies can prevent pests and provide sufficient nutrients to the fields.

Originally, Lao Liu's family was worried that the ducks would eat the rice when it began to ripen.

So they kept observing this land, only to find that the ducks showed little interest in the rice from the time it sprouted to the time it formed ears.

Instead, they preferred to catch grasshoppers and moths in the rice paddies.

Compared to the crops in the large fields, the rice in the field behind their house is growing much better.

Several villagers who were envious said they would plant rice again next year and raise a few ducks, letting them roam freely in the rice paddies to find food.

To the surprise of the people of Qingshan Village, when the rice was being harvested, the magistrate of Ning'an County came running over again.

There were no high-yield potato seeds this time, and everyone was wondering why the magistrate had come over again.

The magistrate of Ning'an County didn't say much when he arrived. He strolled around the rice paddies of Qingshan Village and then wandered around the village.

Finally, his footsteps stopped by the river, beside the rice paddy that belonged to Old Liu's family.

"Whose rice is this? It looks like the ears of rice are fuller than those in other places, and there are more ears."

The county magistrate squatted beside the rice paddy and lifted a heavy ear of rice with his hand.

"Reporting to the magistrate, this is the field belonging to Liu Xiuhe's family in our village."

Because Lin Xue was pregnant and taking care of the child, the elderly couple had been helping to manage their land.

In addition, the Liu family has been hunters for three generations, so they are not as adept at farming as other villagers.

They were learning as they planted.

Therefore, their farming practices are not as rigid as those of other villagers, and they dutifully follow the methods of the older generation.

Their family farms more casually.

This land was used to raise ducks in the rice paddies, as Lin Xue had requested.

Even though it hasn't been harvested yet, you can tell that the rice in this field is different from that in the larger fields.

Even if it's the same batch of rice seeds.

There are also discrepancies in the output on both sides.

"Liu Xiuhe, is that the family that gave us potato seeds last time?"

The county magistrate still remembered Old Liu's name, and seeing the rice in this paddy field, he knew that this trip had not been in vain.

I didn't have much hope to begin with, but I was just thinking that maybe Qingshan Village had some high-yield grain varieties.

Wouldn't that mean he'd be able to achieve another great feat?

So the county magistrate put aside all his official business at the county office and rushed over to see Qingshan Village harvest its grain.

"Yes, sir."

"Their rice does grow better than others. Do you see this fence? They usually keep ducks out in there!"

"The ducks eat all the insects in the rice paddies, and their droppings settle at the bottom of the water, becoming nutrients for the rice!"

"That's why their rice paddy is growing exceptionally well!"