Chapter 249 Winter Wheat
In the evening, when the sun was about to touch the mountains in the sky, people from the Zhou family came back in groups of three or four, some carrying buckets of water, some carrying hoes, and some with muddy hands. Only then did they know that Manbao was learning medicine on his own and was able to treat Zhou Dalang today.
Of course, this is what Xiao Qian said.
Zhou Dalang repeatedly emphasized, "Manbao only read the book for two and a half days and didn't understand anything."
Old Zhou ignored Zhou Dalang's words and cheerfully called Manbao to him. He said happily, "Not bad, not bad. Manbao, learn more. If anyone in the family gets sick in the future, I'll come to you for help."
Manbao nodded happily.
Now not only Zhou Dalang, but everyone else felt a chill down their spine, especially Zhou Erlang, Zhou Sanlang and Zhou Silang, who were still injured and broke out in cold sweats.
The happiest people in the family are probably Old Zhoutou and Manbao.
The father and daughter looked at each other happily.
Qian ignored them and called the second, third, and fourth sons over to her. "Your injuries are almost healed now. Go to the village headman's house tomorrow and borrow a cart. Then go to the city together to buy tiles. It would be best if the roof is repaired within the next two days."
Old Zhou's attention was diverted, and he nodded repeatedly, saying, "Yes, yes, yes. I took a look today. The sun has been shining brightly these past two days, and the wheat is starting to turn yellow. I estimate it will be ready for harvest in about half a month. We have to arrange the housework, otherwise we won't have time to take care of the house when the summer harvest starts."
Everyone agreed.
"Oh, right. I went to the fields today and took a closer look. I found some wheat that's growing exceptionally well. The ears are very long and plump." Old Zhou turned and said to Qian, "Tomorrow, have the eldest and second eldest families go with me to the fields to look for them and note the locations of the ears. When the time comes to harvest, we'll cut these first and save them for seeds."
Qian nodded and asked, "Are you feeling much better?"
"Much better." Old Zhou himself was a little puzzled when he said this, frowning. "I've been to three fields in a row and they're all like this. There are some wheat ears mixed in. I didn't notice them last time, but this time I went to check and found that they are slightly taller than normal wheat ears. The key is that the wheat ears are very long and the grains are full. It's a pity. If it hadn't been flooded this year, I think it would have been better."
"But this year's seeds are the same as in previous years, and the planting method is the same as in previous years. Could it be that because they were flooded, some of them became like this?"
Zhou Silang asked, "Dad, should we flood the wheat next year?"
Old Zhou fell into deep thought, seemingly considering this feasibility.
Guilty Manbao: ...That's because she mixed in some wheat seeds bought from the mall~~
She glared at Zhou Silang, who was always giving her father bad advice, and said to him, "Dad, I've never heard that wheat likes to be flooded."
Old Zhou shook his head. "I think Old Four is right. Next year, we should choose a smaller field. We can try to irrigate it and see whether it is better to grow crops in a dry field or a paddy field."
Manbao slumped his shoulders and asked Keke in his heart, "What should I do?"
Keke comforted him, "Host, you have a lot of land anyway, so it's okay to use a small field for experiments."
All right.
But Manbao felt unwilling to accept the fact that part of the seeds she had managed to sneak in would be wasted on experiments, so she held up her little head and thought hard.
After a long time, she finally thought of it. She clapped her hands and the whole family looked at her.
Manbao looked at Old Zhou happily and said, "Dad, we can grow winter wheat."
The temperature here is not low in winter. Although she has never seen people here planting wheat, Manbao read in the book she got from Koko that in the future, humans will not only plant winter wheat, but also intersow it in spring and summer.
It can make the best use of the land, but this intercropping method has high requirements on soil fertility, otherwise the soil fertility will be depleted and the crops will not be good.
Manbao doesn't want to think about intercropping, but he can plant winter wheat.
There is little water in winter, even in the paddy fields, which is just right for growing wheat. After planting this crop, my father naturally knew that it was a problem with the seeds. No matter what the reason was, it was definitely not caused by flooding.
Of course, Manbao couldn't say this to Old Zhou, so she counted on her fingers the benefits of growing winter wheat.
"Dad, isn't the disaster this year very serious? If we don't plant winter wheat, what will we do if we have nothing to eat in April or May next year?"
Old Zhou was about to speak when Manbao continued, "Yizhou suffered such severe disasters this year, and grain prices will definitely be high next year. If we grow more, we can sell it and make money."
Old Zhou began to ponder, "But I'm afraid the soil isn't fertile enough."
Of course he knew that the climate here was suitable for growing winter wheat. Some people in the village had grown it in previous years. Even now, white landlords would grow winter wheat every other year and would hire temporary workers from the village at that time. Zhou Dalang and his friends had all gone.
But at that time, the white landlords had very fertile fields and had prepared enough fertilizer.
It is not easy for families like them to grow winter wheat. It is easy to consume too much soil fertility, and the winter wheat may not be good in time, which will also affect the rice planting next year.
In addition, the people in Qili Village are not short of land. Since there are only a few people, if they really want to get some food from winter wheat, they can just plant the land carefully in spring and summer and cultivate it meticulously.
It's better than ruining the land.
but……
Old Zhou fell into deep thought. Didn’t we suffer a disaster this year?
Perhaps growing winter wheat is one way to go, especially since it is still unknown whether it can be tax-exempt.
If it is not avoided, life will be very difficult for everyone next spring.
Manbao continued, "Dad, if you're worried that the fertilizer isn't strong enough, then have my brothers ferment more fertilizer and spread it when the time comes. After the wheat is harvested and the fields are plowed, spread some more."
Old Zhou nodded. "That's one way, what do you think?"
He looked at Qian.
Qian pondered, "We can plant some, but if we plant too much, we might not have enough fertilizer. Although the fertilizer is fermenting faster now, it's still not enough."
Manbao said as a matter of course: "Then go buy it."
Qian asked with a smile, "Where can I buy this?"
"I know, the county town," Manbao said, "I asked Mr. Bai, and he bought it from the people who collect night-blooming incense in the county town."
Everyone: ...
Little Qian knocked her little head and said, "The food is ready. Let's eat first and talk after we finish eating."
Manbao was unaware of anything and ate with gusto. After she finished, she took out the box of snacks that Liu had given her and shared it with everyone.
The others felt that the meal tasted a bit strange. Fortunately, it was cooked by the eldest sister-in-law. If it was cooked by someone else, they probably wouldn't be able to eat it.
Old Zhou planned how many acres of wheat to plant, and ate a piece of snack given by his daughter with gusto. Finally, he clapped his hands and said, "Okay, this year we will try to plant a kind of winter wheat."
(End of this chapter)
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