Chapter 115 Spring Ploughing Ends
Chen Yi pretended to lead a few people to the Daxun River to dredge up river mud. Su Tai watched over the things for them by the Daxun River. Chen Yi was responsible for dredging, and the working villagers were responsible for transporting the things.
While they were away, Su Tai put the river mud she had dug up from the water space-time into a bucket.
After two days of hard work, they finally managed to water the 20 acres of wasteland with river mud.
The next step is to come here every day and turn the soil diligently.
Su Tai would secretly water the fields from time to time. In half a month, the twenty acres of wasteland were turned into fertile fields and looked pleasing to the eye.
Seeing that it was almost done, Su Tai immediately brought out the malt, peanuts, and soybeans that had been fermented at home, and said to Huang Xinghua and the others, "Today is the beginning of sowing. Thank you for your hard work."
When everyone saw the seeds, they were all jealous. Someone couldn't help but ask, "Su Tai, can we buy some seeds from you? Don't worry, we will pay for it."
Su Tai was stunned for a moment, then nodded and agreed, "You don't have to pay, you can buy on credit first, and return the grain after the autumn harvest."
"Thank you so much!" Huang Xinghua was so excited that she rushed to the wasteland with the seeds in her hand.
The others followed suit and worked hard for Su Tai.
Of the twenty acres of wasteland, ten acres are planted with wheat, eight acres are planted with peanuts, and the remaining two acres are planted with soybeans. Among them, wheat is a little more troublesome to grow, but soybeans and peanuts can be grown quickly.
As soon as the people who were planting soybeans and peanuts finished their work, they went over to help plant malt.
It was completed in just one day.
Su Tai paid the last sum of money and gave everyone a cabbage and coarse flour pancake to express her gratitude.
The working villagers received the last sum of money and cakes, as well as the grain seeds they borrowed from Su Tai, and all left with gratitude.
Huang Xinghua returned to her own fields with the grain seeds in her hand, called Chen Mu and a few children who were working over, and said in a low voice: "I borrowed high-yield grain seeds from Su Tai today. Come on, replace the ordinary grain seeds we have planted. At most, we will have to work harder for a few days, and we can harvest hundreds of kilograms more grain in the fall!"
Chen Mu's hands were shaking as he held the grain seeds. "Mother, it's all thanks to you. Wait, I'll go dig those grain seeds out."
He had had hope before, so he marked the places where the wheat was planted, and he would find the right one every time he dug.
The family of five worked in the fields until dark before returning home.
After arriving home, Huang Xinghua took out the cakes from her arms and handed them to the children, her eyes full of love, "Share them among yourselves."
“Dad and Mom, eat too!” The two older children broke the pancake into two halves, and the fragrance instantly filled the whole house.
The pancake was cut into two halves and then divided into three portions, one for each of their parents and grandmother, and the remaining portions were for their seven brothers and sisters.
Chen Mu's blind mother, Mrs. Chen, refused to eat the cakes and insisted on leaving them for her grandchildren. "Grandma didn't do anything at home. She's not hungry and doesn't need to eat cakes."
"Grandma, who wouldn't be hungry? Please eat." Huang Xinghua's second daughter Chenxiang advised sensibly.
The other children said they didn't want to eat it.
Huang Xinghua was pleased to see this, and then advised: "Mom, just eat it. You have been very hard to help take care of the children during this period. Su Tai is generous and put enough ingredients in the cakes. Come and have a taste of her cooking skills.
This time I worked for Chen Yi for sixteen days and saved up a little over half a tael of silver. From what Su Tai said, they will need help with the autumn harvest, and they may need a few more people to help look after the crops in the fields. If I am lucky enough and they choose me, we will definitely be able to save some money this year.
Even if you are not selected, it doesn't matter. We have planted high-yield wheat in our fields, and we will definitely have a bumper harvest this year." Mrs. Chen was touched by the vision described by Huang Xinghua, and two lines of tears fell from her turbid and lifeless eyes.
Chen Mu wiped it for her silently, "Mom, our family will definitely get better and better this year, eat!"
After hearing what her son and daughter-in-law said, Mrs. Chen finally agreed to eat the cake.
After Su Tai and Shen Yi sent the villagers away, they began to check the farm tools and found that they were not damaged, which made Shen Yi happy for a long time.
Su Tai found it funny, and went to the kitchen to cook while Shen Yi was collecting farm tools, and asked Shen Yi to call Shen Zhuang's family over for dinner.
It is already spring in late March and the earth is covered in green, but it is still cold in the evening.
Su Tai placed the food in the main room.
The Xu family arrived late, their legs and feet still covered in mud, obviously having just returned from the fields.
Su Tai was a little surprised, "Second Uncle and Second Aunt haven't finished their spring ploughing yet?"
Xu was so tired that she collapsed on the stool and waved her hands. "We bought some extra land last year, and it's really hard for our family of four to work! My wife said the weather is not right, and it might rain tonight. We have to rush to plant the remaining land!"
Seeing this, Su Tai hurried to fetch water for them.
We waited until the four of them washed their hands and feet before eating.
Tonight, Su Tai prepared braised fish, crucian carp soup with fried eggs, braised pork, pheasant stewed with mushrooms, a pot of big meat buns and a pot of steamed buns.
The four members of the Chenzhuang family were so busy eating that they had no time to talk.
Especially Shen Liang and Shen Wen, they were said to be the ones who could eat their fathers out of money. These two ate two big meat buns, two big steamed buns, a big bowl of fish soup, and other dishes. Their appetite was even better than that of Shen Zhuang.
The group recovered only after they had eaten their fill.
Shen Yi took out a small jar of wine and drank with Shen Zhuang and his son.
Xu and Su Tai sat on the side and talked.
"Second Aunt, our spring ploughing has been successfully completed, but I will need to hire six or seven people to help us take care of the crops in the field. Shen Yi and I have observed and found that Huang Xinghua from the Shenmu family and the two daughters-in-law from Uncle Tie's family are all good. I am also quite satisfied with the remaining five, but we don't need so many people. Please help me with some advice."
Su Tai named the remaining five people. These people chosen by Xu had no problem doing the job. Now it depended on who was more suitable.
Both Xu and Shen Zhuang were very concerned about this matter. The couple carefully analyzed the situations of the five people and finally selected three.
Su Tai breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Okay! That's them. I'll have to trouble Second Aunt to go over and tell them for me."
"It's no big deal. I'll go tomorrow! But you hire people to do the work in the fields. Why do you do it yourselves?" This question has been bothering Xu for a long time.
Su Tai glanced at Shen Yi and said as a matter of course: "Shen Yi will naturally get off the boat and continue to do his old job."
Chen Liang sprayed out all the wine in his mouth, and his eyes widened in shock, "Cousin, my cousin only earns 80 wen a day for pulling people across the river, but you have to pay 180 wen a day, which is not cost-effective at all!"
"How can it be that much! You have to go to the fields every day for spring ploughing, and then go once every few days to water and weed. You don't have to be busy every day. But it still costs dozens of cents a day, which is really not cost-effective." Xu calculated.
Su Tai explained, "So I plan to make some food and put it on the boat, so that when Chen Yi pulls people across the river, he can also do some small business. It will definitely be much better than being trapped in the ground."
(End of this chapter)
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