It took Du Yuhan half a day to plan out the locations and routes of all the water channels to be dug before she went home with Liang Shouzhen.
This time, Du Yuhan brought a lot of food, even grain, so her second brother drove her there.
She was going to stay in Laohewan Village for a while and didn't want to be a burden on Uncle Liang's family, so she brought her own food.
Of course, I also brought some things for my adoptive parents. My three younger brothers are all at the age where they can eat a lot; if they don't get enough to eat, they won't develop properly and won't grow tall, which would be a problem.
This time, Du Yuhan did not stay at the Du family's house. After all, she was a relative of the Liang family. Although she said to others that she was also related to the Du family, she still wanted to be careful and stay at the Liang family's house just in case.
If Han Yixian doesn't come looking for her after two years, then she won't have to worry anymore.
After dinner, Du Yuhan asked Liang Shouzhen, "Uncle Liang, is there not enough food in the village? I see that many children are very thin today, and the adults are even thinner. We'll have to do physical labor from now on. Can everyone manage?"
Liang Shouzhen sighed and said, "The team really has no food left, and there's nothing I can do. I really can't distribute the grain seeds to everyone, otherwise there won't be any seeds left for spring planting. Right now, the team can only owe everyone their work points for now, and distribute them later when there's food."
Du Yuhan asked, "What crops does the village plan to plant this year?"
Liang Shouzhen said, "Of course, we need drought-resistant corn and sorghum, and we also need to plant some potatoes and sweet potatoes."
Du Yuhan nodded and said, "Uncle Liang, I said I would get some grain for our village. After the grain is transported back, you can take a look. If the grain can be used as seed, you can distribute the grain that the team uses as seed to everyone."
Upon hearing this, Liang Shouzhen excitedly asked, "Xiaohan, is there some news about the grain you mentioned you wanted to get? Is it really at the normal market price?"
Du Yuhan nodded and said, "Of course, although I owe someone a favor, it's still better than people in our village starving to death. I've already arranged to meet them tomorrow. They don't meet outsiders, so they'll deliver the grain to the vicinity of our village, and I'll go to receive it."
Tomorrow evening I will ride your bicycle to collect the grain. This matter must not be known to outsiders. Tomorrow you and my father will each drive a horse-drawn cart to transport the grain.
Set off when it's getting dark, and bring the grain back under the cover of darkness, so fewer people will know.
When it's time to distribute the grain, you should say that you used your connections to get a higher-yielding crop, and the team's grain will be distributed to everyone based on the market price converted into work points.
Liang Shouzhen said excitedly, "Thank you so much, Xiaohan. You are a great benefactor to our village. You go first tomorrow, and your father and I will come to find you when it gets dark. Don't worry, we won't let anyone else know about this except our own family. But you must be careful on your own."
Du Yuhan said, "Don't worry about that. I also know some martial arts. Two or three ordinary men are no match for me. Just prepare the carriage tomorrow. You can tell the other village officials about this, using the excuse we agreed on. After all, it costs money, so it has to go through the village accountant."
Upon hearing this, Liang Shouzhen immediately became restless and said, "No, I have to talk to them first and prepare the money in advance. We can't let tomorrow's business be delayed. Xiaohan, you should rest first."
With that, Liang Shouzhen rushed out of the house. He wanted to tell several village officials this wonderful news as soon as possible.
The village officials of Laohewan Village didn't sleep well that night. Getting grain was incredibly good news. This meant the villagers, young and old, could at least survive until wild vegetables grew in the fields. If there was enough grain to eat before the harvest, that would be even better.
The next day, Liang Shouzhen and several village officials organized the villagers to dig irrigation ditches.
During the mobilization meeting, Liang Shouzheng said, "This irrigation ditch is purely for the sake of our harvest and for everyone to have food to eat. I hope no one will slack off. And this won't be a free labor; everyone will be paid work points. I'll see how efficient everyone is; if you do a good job, you might get a share of grain. The grain will be distributed every ten days, based on the number of work points each family has earned in digging this irrigation ditch."
For families with young children, two people could work together to carry soil in baskets; everyone who did the work would be paid work points and given a share of grain.
Liang Shouzhen also wanted to take this opportunity to motivate everyone and ensure that everyone had food to eat.
When everyone heard that they would get a share of food for doing a good job, they got excited and vowed to work hard.
Liang Shouzhen mobilized everyone and led the villagers, armed with tools, to the riverbanks and fields to dig irrigation ditches.
Liang Shouzhen also divided everyone into groups. The three irrigation canals were to be managed by three groups, and the group that finished the work the fastest would receive an extra bonus.
These were all ideas suggested by Du Yuhan. The purpose was to motivate everyone.
Instead of going to dig the irrigation ditch, Du Yuhan asked Liang Shouzheng for an ice pick and wandered around the riverbank.
She wondered if she could break the ice in the river to catch some fish to share with everyone, so that they could have some extra nutrition.
Liang Shouzhen thought Du Yuhan wanted to see how thick the ice was in the river and when they could set up a waterwheel, so he didn't pay much attention.
Du Lianqiao and several waterwheel makers did not dig irrigation ditches; they had to finish building several waterwheels before the river thawed.
Du Yuhan didn't let her two younger brothers go with her to dig the irrigation ditch. Instead, she had them take ice picks and nets and follow her around the riverbank.
Du Haifeng is already twelve years old. Thanks to his good nutrition over the past year, he has caught up with Du Yuhan in height and is now over 1.6 meters tall.
The young man looked quite strong, and was certainly more powerful than Du Yuhan.
Du Yuhan instructed the Du brothers, Du Haifeng and Du Haisheng, to work together to use ice picks to chisel holes in the ice some distance from the riverbank.
Soon, an ice hole about one meter in diameter was carved out.
Du Yuhan used a net to scoop out all the ice fragments from the water, and then sprinkled some bran into the water.
This time, Du Yuhan used the same trick again, just like last time in Luancheng, she mixed well water from her space into the bran. The difference this time was that she added some sesame oil and lard.
This was also to cover for herself. Sesame oil is such a precious thing that ordinary people can't get their hands on it, so even if someone wanted to learn from her, it wouldn't be easy.
As for other methods that don't work, it can only mean that the bait isn't good enough and the fish aren't biting.
Du Yuhan was very confident in the bait she had cast. She warned her two younger brothers, "When the fish come, don't shout, or you'll scare them away."
The two younger brothers had a lot of faith in their older sister, who said that if there were fish, there would definitely be fish.
Sure enough, soon enough, fish began to appear in the ice hole, which was a meter in diameter, and their numbers increased. Many of them were large carp weighing several kilograms.
Du Haifeng and Du Haisheng immediately covered their mouths in excitement, afraid that they would shout out loud.
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