35 Chapter 35
◎Spring Ox Sacrifice◎
Before winter arrived, Mu Yun and Sao Hu went into the mountains several times, hunting with some success. They also helped Widow Xu build a greenhouse. Widow Xu used the money from the taro and taro vermicelli she harvested to build the greenhouse and grow vegetables. Wool felt was too expensive, so she used straw felt for her greenhouse.
Vegetable prices are high in winter, and the vegetables in the greenhouse can be sold for more than a month. Every three days, Mu Yun goes to the town to deliver vegetables to the restaurant, and also asks him to take the vegetables collected by Widow Xu with him.
Cheng Mu specifically reminded Mu Yun that it is not easy for a woman to make a living, so she should help as much as possible.
During the twelfth lunar month, Mu Yun had more and more chores to do, all of which were writing Spring Festival couplets.
He still wanted to write the Spring Festival couplets himself, so he brought the red paper. This year, Mu Yun was more confident in his handwriting, and his writing was indeed getting better and better.
He took the time to learn all the characters in the Thousand Character Classic book he bought, and now he is using this book to teach Xiaoliu and Xiaoqi.
Xiaoqi can already walk unsteadily but cannot speak yet. However, Xiaoliu speaks fluently, articulately and loudly, and it is foreseeable that he will become a capable person in the future.
The two of them loved to sit around Mu Yun at the eight-immortals table in the main hall. Mu Yun would recite a sentence and Xiao Liu would follow him. Xiao Qi didn't say anything, but he looked very serious and listened very carefully.
"Hey, what did Xiaoqi steal?"
The adults weren't paying attention for a moment, so Xiaoqi dipped his finger in ink and put it in his mouth, staining his hands, face, and mouth all black.
After being discovered, he remained calm and wanted to give it to Cheng Mu.
Xiaoliu tilted her head to look at Xiaoqi's small black mouth. Xiaoqi tried to suck her finger, but she pushed it away in disgust.
"father!"
When Xiaoliu is anxious, she will still call him dad, and when asked to call him little dad, she will also call him dad.
Every time he heard it, Mu Yun's heart trembled. The word "Dad" made his words have an extra pause, almost wasting a whole piece of paper.
Mu Yun corrected her, "Call me uncle. Uncle——"
Xiaoliu: "Uncle."
Cheng Mu continued to read her book by the brazier, but she thought to herself, "You're embarrassed to call me dad, but you're not embarrassed to call me uncle. The half-grown girl is quite stubborn and always insists on correcting Xiaoliu to call her uncle."
Seeing her uncle buried in his writing again, Xiaoliu ran to Cheng Mu and hugged her neck, "Mom."
It was soft and sticky, and especially adorable. Cheng Mu gave her a kiss and said, "Our Xiaoliu is a good boy. Don't worry about Xiaoqi. If he thinks it doesn't taste good, he won't eat it."
This year's two little ones can walk and talk, which is much more fun than last year.
Winter in Yanbei is long and boring, but having children adds a lot of fun.
People get up early in spring and eat early in autumn.
As soon as the beginning of spring arrived, many people stepped into Cheng Mu's house.
"Thanks to Madam Cheng, we are able to have a good harvest this year. I came here to express my gratitude."
Many members of the Zhao family came and gave holiday gifts. Old Man Chen and Widow Xu, who were taken care of by Cheng Mei in the village, also sent holiday gifts and auspicious words. Old Man Zhou also took the opportunity to pluck up the courage to come and pay New Year's greetings and ask for advice on how to grow rice seedlings.
He bought a stone of grain seeds from Zhao Xiu's family. This year, he put all his efforts into growing a yield of two stones per mu. Even though he was old, he did not care about his face and came to humbly ask for advice from a young lady.
Cheng Mu was open-minded and answered every question. It was very valuable that he recognized the importance of seeds. After all, 70% of the increase in yield depended on good seeds.
But there is a lot of knowledge involved in getting high-quality seeds.
Old man Zhou is willing to work hard on farming. What he doesn't understand the most is why the yield gets lower and lower after planting his own seeds year after year.
Cheng Mi understood that planting self-saved seeds year after year would lead to an increase in poor quality plants due to the mixing of varieties and serious degradation, and a decrease in disease resistance, resulting in lower rice yield and quality.
While saline-alkaline soil is a significant environmental factor, this problem also arises in areas without saline-alkaline soil. The key lies in the seeds. Her work focuses on purifying and rejuvenating conventional seeds and finding hybrids with superior traits.
It is not easy to express these things in a language that the old man can understand. It is halting and it is like one is speaking in a foreign language and the other is listening to a foreign language.
When asked why he knew so much, the answer was that he had a master who traveled all over the world and that he had a family background in learning.
Old man Zhou came over and had a personal discussion with the company, and he was completely convinced.
The rest of the people from other villages, like Old Man Zhou, thought that he had obtained the true scriptures, and they all came to pay New Year's greetings to Madam Cheng and receive her teachings.
The period from the Spring Festival to the thawing of the land is the most leisurely time, and we can sit down and talk.
A year's plan begins in spring. After meeting with Madam Cheng, I have a plan for how to plant crops in the fields, which is a good start.
The eighth day of the second lunar month is the day of the Spring Ox. A notice was given a few days ago that all the men, women, and children in the village must go to the spacious drying yard to offer sacrifices to the Spring Ox.
Yu was very skillful and took the time to cut out many spring swallows and spring butterflies to make headdresses.
"Madam Cheng, wear this." Early in the morning, she picked out a bunch of bright and beautiful floral ornaments for Cheng Mu. "Little Six, wear the red butterfly, and Little Seven, wear the swallow."
Guier said, "Xiao Qi is a good boy. Let him ride the cow later. I will wear this swallow."
Chunyan was cut from a green banner, very domineering. Guier put it in her bun and picked up Xiaoqi, "Madam Cheng, we'll go first. Mother, don't be late! Bring the whip. Xiaoqi, let's go and ride the ox."
She was eager to let Xiaoqi ride the cow before the sacrifice.
A large straw ox made of straw stood in the drying yard. Before the ceremony began, each family let their children ride the ox for fun.
The person who presided over the ceremony was Mr. Zhao Baye, and the person who was nominated to whip the Spring Ox this year was Old Man Zhou.
Mr. Zhao once suggested to Cheng Mu that she should come to beat the Spring Ox, but Cheng Mu refused. She was not suitable as she had never plowed the land before. This ancient custom carried good wishes, so he suggested that they should choose an old man.
After everyone kowtowed together, Old Man Zhou raised his whip and cracked it towards the sky.
As expected of someone who has been farming for many years, his movements are powerful and solemn.
"A dozen good weather and good harvests." Uncle Zhao's drawn-out tone hovered over the drying yard.
With a swish, the whip passed through the air with a loud whistling sound, and this time it hit the bull's head.
"Two hits, four seasons of peace."
The third whip hit the ox's stomach, and the grains in the ox's stomach burst open and flowed out.
"Three strikes and a good harvest."
The crowd cheered, and then anyone could go up and whip the Spring Ox, smash the grass ox into pieces, and divide it up.
Zhao Xiu brought the plow, and Zhao Datian brought Cheng Mu's cow.
The men will move to the next location to do spring plowing in the fields.
"Madam Cheng," Gui'er came over breathlessly, holding Xiao Qi, "I'm going to grab some grain to take home."
She handed Xiaoqi to Cheng Mu and disappeared into the crowd.
While riding the cow, Xiaoqi picked up a few pieces of straw in his hands and was chewing them in his mouth.
Cheng Mu didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so she opened his mouth and said, "Xiao Qi, you're not a cow, so why are you eating grass? Do you want to get down and walk back? How about holding hands with me?"
Cheng Mu put him down, held his hand, and walked slowly towards home.
The men, accompanying their oxen as they went away, sang, "... Children are happy to hear that the harvest is good and they are not hungry, while oxen are worried that they are not fat. Wheat ears are like clouds, and rice is like pearls in a bushel..."
If you don't care about worldly affairs, in this situation, the years will be peaceful.
Someone in the town was saying that there was a severe drought in the Central Plains and the areas south of it last year, leaving the land full of starving people.
They are far away from the Central Plains and on the border, so news of bad times rarely reaches them, and people fleeing famine will not flee to the northwestern border.
Counting the days, there will only be one or two years of peace. Once the little emperor supported by Prime Minister Yan dies, Prince Yanyun will send troops south under the banner of "eliminating treacherous ministers and clearing the court". After several years of war, more people will be displaced.
Relatively speaking, this place is a paradise for them.
The news that Cheng Min had a bumper harvest of 60 acres of rice last year spread throughout Shang'an Township, which was facing the same problem.
Every household in the village and neighboring villages saw hope and hurried to dig the ditches and water wells that Huang Xiancheng had planned last year but had not yet completed.
After plowing the land in the spring this year, every household washed the land. The paddy fields were connected by ditches, and the fields were crisscrossed. Water conservancy was completed, and it could irrigate during droughts and drain water during floods.
It is inconvenient to get water from the fields far away from Santou River. The 30 acres of land newly acquired by several families by Cheng Min are located here, next to Zhengzhuang Village.
When she was looking at the land here, she met Zheng Lizheng.
"Madam Cheng, digging a well to get water for irrigation is much more convenient, but it's really tiring. Look at Li Jiang's family over there. The two brothers have been fetching water for three days and are so tired that they are paralyzed and can't get up."
How tiring it would be to carry water up from the well bucket by bucket.
Cheng Mu said, "People come up with solutions." Lazy people change the world.
Zheng Lizheng knew something was up when he heard the words, "Madam Cheng, do you have any good ideas?"
"I wonder if County Magistrate Huang will come again this year?"
County Magistrate Huang sent a letter in the first month of the lunar year, along with a blueprint, and asked the carpenter in Cheng Mu's family to make some parts according to the blueprint. When Cheng Mu saw the parts, she thought that the combine harvester had potential, so they worked overtime to make it. However, County Magistrate Huang has not been seen since then.
"Speaking of this, ah," Zheng Lizheng sighed, "Didn't Mr. Huang come down for the autumn harvest last year? It turns out that Mrs. Huang passed away."
"ah?"
"I also learned about it when I went to my brother-in-law's house in the first month of the year." Zheng Lizheng's brother-in-law worked in the county government office.
Zheng Lizheng didn't know whether County Magistrate Huang had come down yet. "But Lord Huang is in charge of agriculture, grain, and water conservancy. As long as he's still in office, he'll come down to supervise agricultural affairs sooner or later. Madam Cheng, do you have anything to report?"
The wind blew up Cheng Mu's hat veil, revealing her beautiful chin. "It's about pumping water from the well."
"Pumping water?"
"Manpower is too labor-intensive to draw water. Perhaps we can ask the wind for help." She reached out to touch the wind. The spring wind was strong, and it would be a shame not to use it. "Let the wind help us pump water from the well."
Oh? Zheng Lizheng looked at her in confusion. Could she ask Feng for help? How?
"Since Madam Cheng has already made a plan, I will send someone to Puyang City tomorrow to report this good news to the County Magistrate. I just wonder if there is anything we can do in advance?"
“It costs money.”
The well already existed, and if a water-drawing windmill was built on it, the water in the well could be automatically pumped out with the help of wind power. Cheng Xi had drawn the blueprint, but buying wood and hiring a carpenter would cost money.
When it comes to spending money, Zheng Lizheng has no choice. The labor of farmers is worthless. If it costs a lot of silver, it is better to sell some labor and be tired.
"If Madam Cheng's method of summoning wind and pumping water can be successfully used, who knows how many villagers will benefit from it. I, Zheng, will wait and see."
This year's seedlings were planted half a month earlier than last year.
Since her own greenhouse was not enough, Cheng Mu borrowed the greenhouse from Widow Xu's house.
Other families watched what Cheng Mu did and followed suit. Some who had never grown rice seedlings before now did. They didn't have a greenhouse, so they grew them indoors, keeping them warm and having the same effect.
Madam Cheng came to check on the condition of the seedlings, and Widow Xu wiped the bench again and again.
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