"Gu Yunduo, what are you thinking about?"
Zhou Linong was extremely surprised to see Yun Duo daydreaming during his class, and not just once, but repeatedly.
Yes, as the teacher who was "teaching" Yunduo, he wasn't angry, but rather surprised and somewhat expectant. This was because Yunduo was usually very attentive in class, had a very strong ability to learn, and could apply what she learned to other situations. Moreover, she would often come up with ideas that sounded strange at first, but upon closer examination, were actually very inspiring.
No one was disappointed in Yun Duo and Zhou Linong... This was something she had already planned.
"Teacher, I read a picture book a few days ago about a mule that wanted to be a father. Teacher, why can a horse and a donkey produce a mule that is stronger than a horse and a donkey? And why can't a strong male mule and a female mule have more mules?"
This is because mules have an odd number of chromosomes and cannot undergo meiosis.
Zhou Linong was just about to answer Yun Duo's question and explain meiosis to her, even though this knowledge might be a bit difficult for a child Yun Duo's age. However, Yun Duo had already proven to Zhou Linong with her "ability" that she was not an ordinary child, so Zhou Linong didn't feel there was anything wrong with him explaining this knowledge to Yun Duo.
Little did he know, Yun Duo didn't want his answer; she just wanted to elicit her next words.
"Teacher, the picture book says that horses and donkeys are distant relatives. They are different species in the same family, so they can interbreed and produce stronger offspring. Barnyard grass and rice look so similar, so what is their relationship? Can they interbreed? After interbreeding, can they produce stronger offspring... oh no, I mean, more plump rice?"
"If rice and barnyard grass can be crossbred to produce more plump rice, can the rice grown from this cross be used as seed?"
“Our family… oh, the family in the countryside that grows rice with a very high yield per mu. Near our paddy field, I remember there was a small puddle where some barnyard grass often grew… Actually, I don’t know if it was barnyard grass, it seemed a little different from barnyard grass. I vaguely remember that some old people in the village said that what grew in that puddle wasn’t barnyard grass, but wild millet… oh, wild rice, that doesn’t produce seeds.”
"Anyway, I don't know whether what grows in that puddle is wild rice or barnyard grass. In any case, it has never produced any ears of grain, and even if it did, they were shriveled and dry, with nothing on them..."
At this point, Yun Duo suddenly stuck out her tongue at Zhou Linong, made an embarrassed look, and said to Zhou Linong, "Teacher, did I talk too much? Oh, I'm sorry, teacher, I was a little homesick, so I couldn't help it."
"By the way, teacher, do you think it's possible to hybridize rice and barnyard grass? I read in a book that they share the same ancestor. Rice was domesticated by our ancient ancestors using barnyard grass, so it should be possible to hybridize them, right?"
"How about... when we can grow rice next year, we do an experiment? Let's see if rice and barnyard grass can be hybridized."
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