Cao Wang was still calculating the grain on paper when he suddenly heard a voice in front of him, and he immediately looked up.
Lin Yuxi was sitting in a chair with her legs crossed, holding a ceramic cup in her hand, as relaxed as if she were at home.
Cao Wang: ...
"How did you figure that out?" He looked down at the contents of his paper, which was completely filled with writing.
He also wrote down 45 jin of grain and how much flour could be made from it, and Lin Yuxi answered the question immediately.
"I graduated from high school and I am quite familiar with numbers."
Cao Wang looked somewhat surprised, not expecting that Lin Yuxi was actually a high school graduate. However, considering the many restrictions that would be imposed on her by her status as a sent-down youth, he suppressed his plans for the time being.
“We will hand over a portion of this grain to the production brigade as public grain, and we will also keep some for seed grain. If there is a famine, this public grain will become our reserve grain.” He sighed softly, “The grain is mostly lost after processing, and there are no other food options in the village. At that time, let alone meat and oil, even white flour will be a luxury.”
Cao Wang said with some melancholy and helplessness, "If there are only 240 jin, and we hand over 80 jin, there won't be much left in the village. We planted it the same way last year, and the harvest was several times greater then."
Cao Wang is now eagerly awaiting the growth of the corn, which will take more than three months to mature.
Lin Yuxi thought to herself, the drought is affecting the harvest. If the soil problem is not addressed now, the corn will not grow big and the harvest will still be low. Since she has come here, she should adapt to the changing times. She slowly drank the water in her ceramic cup. "The phenomenon of soil moisture deficiency started with wheat. Even if you turn the soil and plant corn, the harvest will not be much."
"What does 'lacking moisture' mean?" Cao Wang asked, puzzled.
Lin Yuxi then remembered that moisture deficiency was a term used in agricultural production.
She explained, "Moisture deficiency means that the soil lacks water, the humidity is insufficient, and the water source is inadequate. The soil will also affect the harvest and the crop yield."
Even the usually composed Cao Wang couldn't sit still any longer. "Fetching water from our village to Huangtupo won't solve the problem. Everyone needs the well water. If we carry water every day, we might collapse before the harvest is even finished."
Production volume is indeed a major issue.
Luo Yueying's gaze fell on Lin Yuxi again. The only time the two had interacted was when she delivered the basket of cherries yesterday. Lin Yuxi was very polite to her, so she thought he was a good person. She didn't expect to run into him again today.
“There’s no need to carry water from the village every day. We can build a water storage facility first. We can dig a reservoir on the loess slope and then irrigate from the reservoir.” Lin Yuxi remembered that she had mentioned drought relief projects in class before, and water storage was only one aspect of them.
“Huangtupo is a plain. In addition to water storage, we also need to find a way to pump water. We are surrounded by mountains, and rivers and lakes are too far away. The only way to irrigate is with well water. The demand for water is large, so we can modify the way of irrigation.”
"Planting trees and forests first will increase soil coverage, which will reduce the amount of sunlight and decrease the chances of the trees dying from drought."
"Then we will save water and switch from flood irrigation to precision sprinkler irrigation."
Lin Yuxi sat in the village office all morning, explaining to Cao Wang how to implement land irrigation. She explained that simply watering with buckets and ladles cannot change the soil geology; it can only alleviate the problem. Ultimately, it is a temporary solution that does not address the root cause.
The imbalance between water supply and demand and the rapid development of drought will increase the water consumption of the Loess Plateau. At that time, well water will not be enough for drinking, and irrigation will also require water. We cannot rely solely on well water; we must transfer water from other watersheds.
Few villagers can read, let alone use sprinkler irrigation.
Luo Yueying had only attended a few classes and knew a few words, so she usually helped Cao Wang with some trivial matters.
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