As the dawn broke and the sky turned pale, Jiang Tang got up early, washed up quickly, and rode his bike to Shaluo Village to meet Sun Maomin without even having breakfast.
When she came back yesterday, she told Captain Sun that she was going to buy seedlings today, so Captain Sun sent Sun Maomin and Sun Yaowu from the village to go with her.
When Jiang Tang came out of the village, he found that the children were cutting grass early in the morning with baskets in their hands.
The grass here can easily feed dozens of rabbits, but the grass needs to be stored, otherwise it will be difficult to survive the winter.
After Jiang Tang walked away, the villagers who were working in the village looked at her from behind and said, "Secretary Jiang has been going to Shaluo Village a lot lately. I heard that Shaluo Village is repairing the riverbank?"
"I heard that Secretary Jiang has come up with a way for them to grow sugarcane."
“We can also grow it in our village.”
"Forget it. Sugarcane can only be sold for a few dollars. It's not as good as vegetables. Besides, our village doesn't have that much land. Besides, rabbits need grass to grow. You can't just not give the grass a place to grow."
"Let's just plant our vegetables honestly. I think we'll have a harvest in less than two weeks."
"It's growing pretty fast."
"I carry water for the plants every day, how can I not be busy?"
"What's up with the geological exploration team? Did they find anything? And Zhang Ba is just messing around."
"Captain Yang came down yesterday and said he had indeed discovered something, but he needed a large machine, so he went to the city to hire someone."
"I found something. It can't be jade or something. If it is..."
Before he could finish his words, Captain Luo came over and interrupted him: "Stop daydreaming! Even if there is jade, it won't be ours. Keep weeding well. The corn will be ready for harvest in just over a month."
"Captain, we have fertilizer in our fields this year, and you can see how plump these crops are.
You'd better keep an eye on Secretary Jiang. The people in Shaluo Village were jealous of us a while ago. After knowing how good Secretary Jiang is, they started to win him over. You see, Secretary Jiang has been going to Shaluo Village every day recently.
I heard that Shaluo Village also provided Secretary Jiang with free accommodation. It was also a small courtyard.
Captain Luo had been focusing on the tea and rabbit issues lately and hadn't paid much attention to this. But when he heard about this today, he felt a sense of crisis: "Is this true?"
"That's right, Captain. Secretary Jiang is our village's treasure. We can't let them take him away."
Jiang Tang had no idea that what happened in Shaluo Village had caused a sense of crisis in Caozi Village.
At this moment, she, Sun Maomin, Sun Yaowu and two donkey carts had already set off for the county.
Arriving in the county, they didn't waste any time, riding east along the winding dirt road. The morning breeze gently caressed her cheeks, bringing a touch of coolness. It should have been a relaxing moment, but she felt incredibly anxious. As the sun rose higher, its blazing rays pouring down unobstructed onto the earth. Jiang Tang felt her sweat build up, her back already soaked with sweat, clinging to her clothes. She kept wiping the sweat from her forehead, her eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead, not missing a single corner where sugarcane might be found.
Not only her, Sun Maomin was also anxious. He felt that they had walked more than ten miles. "Secretary Jiang, are you sure there is sugarcane here?"
"Sure, but I don't know the exact address."
"This waiter is really something. He just said it's ten miles to the east, but didn't tell us specifically what landmarks are around. How long will it take to find it?" Jiang Tang couldn't help but complain in a low voice while pedaling the bicycle with difficulty.
But they had been walking for almost two hours and asked many people, but they still couldn't find out who here grew sugarcane.
As time went by, Sun Maomin's patience gradually wore out, but his anxiety grew stronger.
Jiang Tang was also anxious. If the two of them hadn't followed her, she would have definitely run to the space to pull the waiter out and scold him a thousand times.
Just when Jiang Tang felt a little desperate, a small thatched house appeared not far ahead: "There is a house over there, let's go ask."
Jiang Tang thought that when she got there, she would take the opportunity to go to the toilet and run to the space to settle the score with the waiter.
When he got closer, Jiangtang parked his bicycle and saw an old farmer sitting in front of his house, holding a piece of sugarcane in his hand and eating it leisurely.
Several people's eyes lit up, their hearts were excited, their hands were shaking, oh my god, finally there was some clue.
Jiang Tang quickly stepped forward and greeted him politely: "Hello, uncle!"
The old farmer raised his head and looked Jiang Tang up and down, with a hint of doubt in his eyes: "Comrades, do you want some water?" After that, he pointed to the kitchen and said, "There is some in the house, you can help yourselves."
Jiang Tang smiled and said, "Uncle, your sugarcane is pretty good. Do you have any more?"
The old farmer listened and a look of alarm appeared on his face: "It's gone."
Jiang Tang quickly stepped forward and squatted beside him to explain: "Uncle, it's like this. We are from Shaluo Village. Our village is developing a sideline business. We want to grow sugarcane and are looking for seedlings everywhere. I heard there are some nearby, but we have been asking around all morning and can't find where they are." As he spoke, he hurriedly took out his ID and showed it to the uncle.
Sun Maomin, who was standing by, was quite good at handling things. He took out a cigarette from somewhere and handed it to the old man: "Uncle, please have a smoke."
The old farmer was illiterate, but he relaxed his vigilance when he saw the certificate and nodded: "Oh, so that's how it is. We don't grow sugarcane in our village, but I reclaimed some land and planted some myself. Come with me." As he said that, he stood up and walked to the back of the house with Jiang Tang and the others.
After walking around the thatched hut for about three or four hundred meters, a lush sugarcane forest appeared before them.
Jiang Tang's eyes lit up, and she quickly walked into the sugarcane forest, carefully observing the growth of the sugarcane. She found that the sugarcane was growing particularly thick and strong. Moreover, this piece of land was located upstream of the Shaluo River, also on the riverbed, but strangely, it had not flooded due to the heavy autumn rains.
"Uncle, you grow sugarcane really well! How do you grow it?" Jiang Tang asked curiously.
The old farmer smiled, a hint of pride on his face. "Growing sugarcane requires a lot of attention to detail. I've been growing sugarcane by this river for decades and have developed my own methods. Take the spacing, for example. If it's too close together, sunlight won't reach the sugarcane, and they won't grow strong. If it's too sparse, it wastes land and the yield won't increase. I usually plant with 80cm between rows and 30cm between plants. That way, every stalk of sugarcane can comfortably bask in the sun and drink the rain."
As he said this, he generously cut one for them.
Sun Yaowu took it tactfully and helped the old man process the sugarcane.
Then he cut it into three sections with a knife and divided it among several people.
Jiangtang took a bite and said in surprise, "This sugarcane is really sweet and juicy."
Sun Maomin also nodded in response.
Jiangtang squatted down and looked carefully at the soil at the roots of the sugarcane. He couldn't help asking, "Uncle, what about the fertilizer? I heard that sugarcane can be very picky about its food."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
