Zhang Zhaoci lifted the curtain on one side of the carriage, looking at the scenery outside with deep, thoughtful eyes.
This mountain road is only about two miles long. After passing through this valley and turning around, you'll reach your own village.
The five houses built on the hill last year were located at the foot of the mountain. However, after Zhang Zhaoci came over, he thought the scenery on the top of the mountain was nice, and there was also a mountain spring on the mountain, so he built a few more small houses on the mountain. Because the top of the mountain is covered with green trees, and the houses are built quite simply, you can't usually tell that there are these houses on the mountain.
The houses on the estate were later enclosed to a large courtyard, and a small courtyard was built behind the five houses. Since few people came here, the backyard was left vacant. When Xu Rao built this small courtyard, she thought that she would have a place to stay when she came here. Therefore, the house was built according to Xu Rao's preferences, and simple furniture was placed inside. Although there were a few people introduced by Wei Lang to help manage the estate, Xu Rao still asked Granny Zhao's husband to find a housekeeper for this courtyard. He usually stayed on the estate and was responsible for cleaning the courtyard and helping with cooking.
When Zhang Zhaoci and his group arrived, the small courtyard behind the house had been swept clean. The older brother of Granny Zhao, a man in his fifties known as Old Man Zhao, was a man of few words but very diligent.
Zhang Zhaoci entered the backyard and nodded repeatedly upon seeing its appearance. Granny Lu had already arranged for Qingmiao and Qingsui to settle the things they had brought in the backyard, and then went to the kitchen to see what lunch to make.
I walked here early in the morning. Judging from the sun, it was around nine o'clock in the morning. The wheat seedlings in the field had already turned green. I had hired people to hoe the wheat these past few days. After hoeing the wheat with small hoes, Xu Di was thinking of arranging for people to roll the wheat field with a roller.
Xu Di and Zhang Zhaoci came here this time for the vegetable garden. It's almost time to plant open-field vegetables. Xu Di plans to plant a lot of chili peppers, as well as tomatoes and cucumbers, which should also be planted in large areas. As for spinach, several large vegetable plots were prepared after the beginning of spring. After sowing the seeds, they were covered with straw mats.
Xu Di chose a vegetable plot near the river for easy watering. There was also a plot for growing upland rice. Zhang Zhaozhi had brought the upland rice seeds with him when he came last time. The next step was to cultivate the seedlings and prepare the land.
After Xu Di arrived, he started working. Zhang Zhaoci followed him around and looked around. To be honest, Zhang Zhaoci had grown up in the countryside, and his closest contact with farming was probably when he visited a farmhouse and saw the wheat in someone's field.
Zhang Zhaoci still remembers the plump ears of wheat, which weighed down the straw. The awns were hard, and when he reached out to touch them, the awns gradually pricked his hand, causing an itchy pain that went straight to his heart.
It was around that time that Zhang Zhaoci learned about winter wheat from the owner of the agritainment business. Zhang Zhaoci was very interested because she really didn't expect that after a cold winter, wheat could still survive, and when the spring breeze blew, the wheat that had turned yellow could turn green again and continue to grow.
Zhang Zhaoci never expected her son to be so capable, excelling at everything from farming to growing vegetables. Moreover, he mentioned that he was researching waterwheels, wondering if they could install one right by the river to make it much easier to fetch water from the river.
Zhang Zhaoci didn't understand any of this, so she didn't say anything and just took Xu Zhi for a walk around the estate.
Part of the land on the estate is rented to some farmers in the vicinity. They did not plant winter wheat last year, and are now preparing the fields to plant oats. Seeing Zhang Zhaoci with Xu Zhi and Granny Lu following behind, with green seedlings and ears of oats, one can tell that this is not an ordinary family.
There was an elderly farmer at the edge of the field, who looked tired from working and was resting there. Zhang Zhaoci went over and asked, "Grandpa, how old are you?"
When the old farmer saw Zhang Zhaoci, he said somewhat awkwardly, "Madam, I am sixty-three years old this year."
Zhang Zhaoci said with a smile, "Old man, I really can't tell you're sixty-three. How many years have we been farming this land? Have you only ever grown oats?"
Upon hearing Zhang Zhaoci's words, the old farmer asked, "Madam, are you our new employer?"
Zhang Zhaoci said, "Yes, I am your new boss. I bought this land from Landlord Zhang last year."
The old farmer listened with great gratitude and said, "Madam, you are a kind person. Last year, the people on your farm even helped us fetch water from the river to irrigate our crops."
Looking at the prepared fields, Zhang Zhaoci said, "Old man, why aren't there any irrigation ditches in these fields? How will the water get to irrigate the crops?"
The old farmer said, "What is an irrigation ditch? We naturally fetch water from the river to water our plants."
Looking at the vast fields, Zhang Zhaoci sighed, feeling that people's productivity was really too low these days. He continued, "The irrigation canals are small ditches we dig in the fields to bring water from the river. That way, when we irrigate the fields, we only need to watch over them from the edge of the field, and we don't have to carry buckets of water over here anymore."
The old farmer chuckled and said, "That riverbank is much lower than our land, how could the water possibly flow across? Madam, you're joking."
Zhang Zhaoci didn't say anything more. After keeping the matter in mind, he asked some questions such as the yield per mu, how many people were in the family, and whether there was enough food. Then he took Xu Zhi back to the courtyard.
Xu Di was squatting in the yard, pondering how to make a waterwheel, when Zhang Zhaoci saw him and said, "Xu Di, I just went to check the fields, why don't the tenant farmers' fields have irrigation ditches?"
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