Chapter 89 Great Harvest

Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao had pheasant stewed with mushrooms, dry-pot rat meat and blanched vegetables tonight.

"The meat of this bamboo rat is indeed more delicious than ordinary mouse meat." Lin Qi said.

Xu Hexiao nodded, "Yes, it tastes much better. But bamboo rats are relatively rare, so it's not easy to eat them often."

"I plan to raise it." Lin Qi said. She didn't have this idea at first, but after tasting it, she felt that this bamboo rat was worth raising.

"Growing in the planting area?" Xu Hexiao recalled the situation in the planting area. There seemed to be few bamboos in it.

"The northern hillside can be used to plant bamboo. Once there are bamboos, I will go and catch a few nests of bamboo rats. I heard from Luo Cheng that bamboo rats are very gluttonous and can grow to several kilograms in a few months." After eating the bamboo shoots she helped to grow, they will probably grow even faster. Not only can they eat them themselves, but they can also sell them to Brother Tan.

Xu Hexiao nodded. "As long as you have an idea, that's fine. Whenever you go to catch bamboo rats, I'll go with you."

"I will go plant bamboos tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow, I will go catch bamboo rats." Lin Qi said.

"Then I will make a cage for bamboo rats at home tomorrow." Xu Hexiao said.

Lin Qi got up early in the morning and went to the mountains without eating breakfast.

After not being here for two days, the first thing Lin Qi did when she arrived at the planting area was to promote the growth of various plants. Then she took fruits and vegetables to the pond to feed the fish, and to promote the growth of her rice.

There were even more fish in the pond. Lin Qi took a quick look and found no less than two hundred of them, both big and small.

These fish should be attracted by the aquatic plants in her pond. At this rate, the number of these fish should double in a few days.

Maybe in a few days I can catch a few dozen for Brother Tan.

After feeding the fish, Lin Qi began to harvest the rice. After the rice bloomed, she did not rush to ripen it, because she was preparing for the pollination step. Although rice is self-pollinating, it still takes time, so she reserved three days.

Only after pollination can the harvested rice grains grow into new rice seedlings.

Lin Qi could control the active rice grains with her supernatural power. As soon as she moved her mind, the rice grains flew into her basket as if they had consciousness.

The harvested rice grains from the two mu of rice filled fifty baskets. These were large baskets that she had specially made. They were as high as her chest and she couldn't hold them with both hands. A basket full of rice grains weighed about 100 to 120 kilograms. The rice grains in fifty large baskets weighed nearly 6,000 kilograms.

The yield per mu of her rice field reached 3,000 kilograms!

Although this is wet rice and has not been dried yet, the number is still shockingly large.

What is the per-acre yield of rice fields in Anliang Brigade, 400 kilograms or 500 kilograms?

Lin Qi used her supernatural powers to dehydrate the rice grains and then carried them back to the cave.

After finishing all these, she felt tired for the first time in a long time, and every cell in her body felt bloated and painful. This was the sequelae of overusing her supernatural powers.

The bamboo forest has not been planted yet, so Lin Qi can only leave this matter until tomorrow.

When she came out of the mountain, it was already twelve o'clock noon.

It was a bit late at this time, but when they learned that the person who went to herd the cattle was Lin Qi, no team member stood up to embarrass her.

Lin Qi even took her time to eat lunch before driving the cows out of the cowshed.

On the other hand, Xiaomei and others in the mountains began to doubt their lives.

Where are the bamboo shoots? Where did they go?

They dug for a whole morning and only found one or two trees, and sometimes they didn't even find any.

What's going on?

Is it possible that there are no winter bamboo shoots growing here?

"We have already destroyed most of the bamboo forest, and there are only a few bamboo shoots left. It may be because there are fewer winter bamboo shoots here."

"Compared to what happened yesterday, it's really pitifully small."

"How about we go somewhere else?"

"First check out what's going on over there with the men and ask them if they want to change places."

"Change place? Okay, let's change now." Luo Cheng agreed very readily. Not only did those who were digging bamboo shoots fail to find any, those who were digging rat holes also didn't catch any rats.

"Yesterday I caught one every time I dug a hole, but today I dug ten holes and only caught two or three."

"Lin Qi gave you instructions yesterday, but you forgot."

"Of course I haven't forgotten. I just wonder how she knew which hole had the mouse."

"The sense of smell and observation ability of a master can only be understood but not explained. It is not something that ordinary people like us can learn."

“.......”

Xiaomei and Luo Cheng went to another hilltop and another bamboo forest. They thought the situation would get better, but the result was the same.

At the end of the day, they only dug up a few bamboo shoots and caught a dozen mice.

"Is it my illusion? We caught fewer mice today than yesterday, but I feel much more tired today than yesterday." Luo Dali sighed.

"We dug more than 20 holes yesterday, and more than 40 holes today. What do you think?"

"Without Lin Qi, we have fewer bamboo shoots to dig and fewer rats."

"I'm going to say this, don't hit me. I think the number of bamboo shoots we dug today is normal."

Well--

Everyone was thoughtful.

"So yesterday was abnormal?"

"My mother said that a bamboo forest can't produce so many winter bamboo shoots."

"My dad said the same thing. And you have to know that these days, our team has members going into the mountains to dig bamboo shoots every day, but no one digs 40 to 50 kilograms, or even 70 to 80 kilograms a day. It's already amazing to dig 20 to 30 kilograms."

"Then how do you explain yesterday?"

"With Lin Qi here, that's the explanation."

"............"

So the metaphysics of Lin Qi still exists.

"My grandma told me not to become an enemy of Lin Qi."

"My grandfather won't let me scold Lin Qi, even behind her back."

"It turns out that I'm not the only one who was warned by my family. My family also told me to be polite and respectful to Lin Qi. If I can't do that, I shouldn't hang around Lin Qi."

"Lin Qi is such a nice person. Even if she has close ties with that black five category, I can't distance myself from her."

"Because of Lin Qi, I am now polite to the black five categories."

“.......”

Lin Qi was a little depressed after using her supernatural powers too much. After dinner, she let Xu Hexiao practice calligraphy by himself and went back to her room to sleep.

"Are you feeling uncomfortable?" Xu Hexiao asked worriedly.

"I don't feel uncomfortable, I'm just sleepy and tired. I'll be fine after a good sleep." Lin Qi said.

Xu Hexiao was still worried, "Really?"

"It's absolutely true. I just overused my ability. I'll be fine after one night of rest." Lin Qi had already closed her eyes.

Xu Hexiao frowned, "Why did you overuse your ability?"

"The rice has been harvested." Lin Qi said, and the next second her consciousness faded away and she fell into a deep sleep.

Xu Hexiao: “….”

Didn’t we agree to plant again next year?

It's only been a few days and the rice is already harvested?

How much was harvested?

Lin Qi had a dreamless night. When she woke up, it was already dawn. She slept for more than ten hours.

Xu Hexiao was practicing boxing outside. When he saw her coming out of the room, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"

"No." Lin Qi stretched, "I'm just a little hungry."

Seeing that her face was rosy and she didn't seem to be lying, Xu Hexiao was relieved. "I've boiled some hot water. Go wash up first. Breakfast is being heated on the fire. Do you want to eat by the fire or at the dining table?"

"Just eat by the fire." Lin Qi said.

Xu Hexiao hummed and helped her get the bowl and chopsticks. "We won't go to catch bamboo rats tonight. Go to bed early tonight and go tomorrow."

"No, I'll go tonight. I'm fine." Lin Qi said, "I feel like the situation is going to change, it's just going to happen in the next two days. I'll go catch bamboo rats myself tonight, you go find Brother Tan and ask him to pick up the stuff tomorrow."

It is now the twelfth lunar month and the Chinese New Year is only a few days away.

The brigade’s task pigs have been handed in, and in two days, the brigade will also slaughter pigs for the New Year.

"Okay, I'll go tonight." Xu Hexiao said, "You said you harvested the rice last night. Have you threshed the rice?"

"Take it off." Lin Qi said.

Harvesting and exhaustion, is it so fast?

Is it because the amount of rice is relatively small?

"How many pounds does it weigh?" Xu Hexiao asked.

"More than 4,000 kilograms." This is the weight after drying.

Xu Hexiao: “….”

Grow 4,000 kilograms of rice in just a few days!

You harvested and threshed four thousand kilograms of rice in one morning!

Xu Hexiao could no longer remember how many times he had been frightened, but he had a feeling that this would not be the last time.

Xu Hexiao swallowed his saliva and said, "Four thousand kilograms of rice, what are you going to do with it?"

The cave is damp and full of moisture, which is not a good place to store rice.

"Sell it?" Lin Qi asked tentatively.

Xu Hexiao rubbed his stiff face and asked, "How do you explain it?"

Lin Qi: “…I can’t explain it clearly.”

Xu Hexiao pondered for a moment, "It's winter now, the weather is relatively dry, and the wind is strong in the mountains. We need to work harder and often take them out to dry in the sun. They should be able to be preserved until next year. We can sell them in June next year and say they are the early rice we planted."

There is almost no rice that early in Yao County.

However, Brother Tan knew that Lin Qi had extraordinary planting abilities, so it was barely acceptable.

Lin Qi came back from herding cattle and wanted to go straight back to the cave, but Xu Hexiao said that dinner was ready.

"It's only around three in the afternoon." Lin Qi said.

"I made this for you in advance because you're going to the mountains." Xu Hexiao said, pointing to the cage in the corner, "Is this big enough?"

"That's enough. It's no problem to fit a dozen of them." Lin Qi said, praising, "The cage is beautifully woven. Your craftsmanship is getting better and better."

Xu Hexiao looked at her dimly, "The girl is too good. If I don't work hard, I'm worried that I won't be worthy of her."

Lin Qi: “….”

Did she put pressure on Xu Hexiao?

"You are also very good." Lin Qi said seriously, "Your handwriting is beautiful, your painting is also good, you are good at arithmetic, you can sew clothes, and your cooking skills are getting better and better..."

Lin Qi listed all of Xu Hexiao's strengths in detail.

Xu Hexiao curled his lips and chuckled, "So in your heart, I am so good?"