Su Luo filled the pesticide into a bucket and took her bamboo sprayer to the field.
The village chief, his wife, Zhao Ruyun, Yan Chuan Yi Huan, and Du Xiuyuan all came over to watch Su Luo spray pesticides.
Other villagers who were watching the fields also came over when they saw so many people here.
Everyone's waiting to see the results of Su Luo's pest control efforts. If it works, they'll have a harvest this year; otherwise, it's hard to say.
More and more villagers gathered around, eventually filling up Su Luo's one-acre field. Su Luo sprayed the pesticide quickly with a sprayer, finishing in about the time it takes for two incense sticks to burn.
There was still half a bucket of pesticide in the bucket, but no one dared to take it to their own field to spray, so they just left it there for now.
Su Luo went to the small ditch to wash her hands and feet, and waited with them on the field embankment for the medicine to take effect and for the insects to die.
After a stick of incense had burned, half an hour had passed, then an hour had passed, and someone shouted, "It's dead! The insect is dead!"
The village chief and Zhao Ruyun went over to check and found that several leaf miners had come to eat the rice leaves and then died, falling into the field.
"They're really dead! Look! The insect eggs on the leaves have turned yellow, and the larvae's bodies are curled up and oozing pus." The villagers suddenly felt a glimmer of hope.
The village chief saw that the insects were dead, but his biggest worry was still the rice.
"Su Luo, will this affect the rice?"
This is a question that probably concerns everyone: if the insects are killed, but the rice also dies, then there's no point in using the medicine.
"Village chief, this is something I specially developed for pest control. It won't harm the plants or the soil."
After Su Luo said that, everyone looked at her own field. The rice hadn't wilted even after all this time, so it seemed to be true.
In any case, it's better to try to salvage the rice than to watch it be destroyed by insects.
"Yan Chuan's mother, this medicine is effective! Please teach us how to make it quickly, our fields can't wait any longer," said an uncle from the village.
"Yes, Yan Chuan's mother, please tell me quickly."
Su Luo also wanted to tell them immediately, but even if she did, buying medicinal herbs would require a lot of money. If a family had more than four or five acres of land, they wouldn't be able to buy herbs without three or five taels of silver.
In order to develop the medicine quickly, Su Luo didn't have time to calculate the cost of the medicinal materials.
And to replace it with a cheaper or more common medicinal herb.
"Su Luo, is there anything else troubling you? Why aren't you saying anything?" The village chief was also waiting there.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's not that I'm unwilling to tell you, but to put it bluntly, this medicine is an insecticide, as you've all seen. Secondly, the production of this medicine requires a large amount of medicinal materials."
This is a considerable sum of money. A whole bucket of medicine like this from my house would cost about one tael of silver. Doctor Du is here too; I got all my medicinal herbs from him. You can ask him if you don't believe me.”
The villagers immediately turned to Du Xiuyuan and bombarded him with questions.
"Dr. Du, is it true? Are these medicinal herbs really that expensive?"
It wasn't until Du Xiuyuan nodded in confirmation.
"What should we do? We don't have that much money."
Another person said, "Dr. Du, if I want to buy herbs from you, there are so many people here, could you sell them to us at a lower price?"
"Yes, Dr. Du, please save us, it's a good deed for the day..."
Du Xiuyuan stroked his beard and said, "I don't have many medicinal herbs here either. You can only buy them from the Chamber of Commerce. I can't control the prices there."
Du Xiuyuan would not, and disdain to, profit from such a national crisis.
Moreover, it would be best to distance himself from the situation at this time. It is true that he does have some medicinal herbs at Ji'an Hall, but not many. However, if he were to engage in trading during this critical period, his reputation would not be good in the future.
The drug prices at this point, no matter how high, will be criticized in the future.
The villagers could only afford to eat broken rice, so how could they possibly have the money to buy medicine? Suddenly, all fifty or sixty people fell silent.
"Su Luo, is there really no other way?" the village chief asked Su Luo blankly.
Su Luo has no way to deal with the medicinal herbs right now, but if she were to research how to make them with inexpensive herbs, there wouldn't be enough time.
How can we ensure that the villagers obtain medicinal herbs without spending money?
“Village chief, go find the county magistrate now. I read about this leaf miner in a book yesterday. If it exists in one place, it will also exist in nearby or even more distant places. The government is probably more anxious than we are.”
I'll write down this prescription for you in a bit. Take it and tell him we have a prescription for insecticide. The county magistrate will work with officials from other prefectures to find a solution, and the imperial court will immediately allocate disaster relief funds. Only in this way can the disaster be truly resolved.
This was the only way Su Luo could think of that wouldn't require the villagers to spend money; it all depended on whether the local officials and the imperial court would be supportive.
"Okay, I'll make a trip right now."
The prescription was written down the moment Su Luo successfully developed it. She took it out of her pocket and gave it to the village chief, and the villagers began to disperse.
They said that everyone went to the village entrance to wait for the village chief to return.
Today, Li Niu isn't making tofu. He's using the oxcart to take the village chief to the county. The fate of the entire village is at stake, and this is a time when everyone needs to unite.
However, when everyone was leaving, many people stared at Su Luo's half-empty bucket of pesticide, wanting her to give it to them, but were too embarrassed to ask.
Su Luo saw that Chen Ping'an had also come to see them, and his field was right next to Su Luo's family's field. Su Luo handed the bucket to Chen Ping'an.
"Uncle, would you like to take this medicine and use it first?"
Since it was leftovers from Su Luo, Chen Ping'an didn't stand on ceremony with her. If the pests weren't removed from the rice fields every day, the pests would eat for an extra day, and they would harvest less grain.
"Okay! Thank you, Su Luo."
"Uncle, we're all relatives, don't say things like that."
On the way back, Su Luo had Zhao Ruyun lead Yan Chuan and Yi Huan ahead, while she followed behind them. Her clothes were covered in medicine, and she didn't dare let the two children get close to her.
When they got home, the two younger children were very well-behaved. They didn't ask Su Luo to teach them to write anymore, but instead went to play with their puppy.
In just one month, Stone and Flower ate and slept well and grew up a lot. Stone became more and more wolf-like and learned to guard the house. If a stranger came to the house, it would bark unusually fiercely.
Hua Hua, too, has grown from a little yellow dog into a big yellow dog, and listens to Yi Huan the most.
"Luo Luo, I'll boil some water for you. Take a bath and go to sleep for a while."
Zhao Ruyun felt heartbroken seeing Su Luo's slightly messy hair and dark circles under her eyes. Luo Luo was working too hard for this family.
“Grandma, if the village chief can bring the medicine back later, I’ll go and teach them how to brew it. Besides, it’s not easy for you to carry water, so I can just wash it by the river tonight.”
Not only was there not enough water for bathing at home, but the key issue was that Zhao Ruyun had to carry it back herself, which was such a waste.
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