The next day, spring's busy season began on time.
As soon as it was light, Jian Dan struggled to get up. The first morning was relatively easy.
Cook a pot of thick, sticky rice porridge, top it with a few steamed buns and a bowl of steamed egg custard, and when you lift the lid, it smells delicious.
She served herself some and ate it first, then covered the pot.
When I left, the child was still asleep. I had already told the child last night that if Jian Dan wasn't home when the child woke up, I would leave the food in the pot, turn off the fire underneath, and make sure the pot wasn't too hot to handle. The child could easily cook it himself.
On the first day, around noon, still unsure of the situation, Jian Dan simply carried a water bottle and gloves and headed towards the village.
When they passed by Mingzhu's house, the couple also happened to be going out, so it became a three-person trip.
"Is Mingzhu working here too?"
Lin Dongfang nodded.
“I talked to the village chief. Taking leave now would be too conspicuous. He will put Zhuzhu and me together, which means we'll be under my watchful eye, and I'll feel more at ease.”
He nodded simply, probably because he was worried that Mingzhu would get tired, and it would be more convenient for him to be together like this.
"That's good. Let's see if we can all be assigned together so we can look out for each other."
Mingzhu still wants to try her best.
"I'm fine. The first three months are over. Didn't we say that everything would be fine after three months?"
The main problem is that Lin Dongfang has been keeping a very close eye on him lately, almost to the point that he won't even let him get out of bed.
However, Lin Dongfang was clearly still very cautious about this issue.
"It's just that the most dangerous period is over after three months, but the body is more vulnerable during pregnancy than the average person, so we still need to be more careful. Besides, this little bit of work won't tire me out."
In many places, the land is turned over in late autumn or early winter, before it freezes.
Firstly, spring temperatures rise rapidly, evaporation is high, the air is dry, and there is a lot of wind, resulting in much greater soil moisture loss during tilling compared to autumn.
Secondly, spring temperatures rise quickly, but there is little rain and drought. Once the ground thaws completely, spring sowing will soon follow, making time tight. However, if the farmland is deeply plowed and turned over in late autumn or early winter before it freezes, the farmland will be available during the off-season, avoiding the problems of competing for time and manpower shortages during the busy spring season.
Moreover, autumn rainfall is often more abundant than spring rainfall. Plowing the land in advance can help store more autumn and winter rain and snow, which can make up for insufficient spring moisture and allow autumn rain to be used in spring.
However, the climate here is quite different from that in the south, and farmland here is only cultivated once a year.
In early spring, the temperature is low, and even after the soil thaws, it cannot be planted immediately. Seedlings are easily damaged by the low nighttime temperatures. Therefore, some crops here need to be cultivated in advance, such as various eggplants, peppers, persimmons, and cucumbers planted in the garden. They need to be cultivated as seedlings and then transplanted outdoors after May Day when the temperature rises.
Corn, soybeans, and sorghum planted in the ground are all quite robust and can be planted directly, but according to the season, they should be planted around May Day.
However, if you are planting rice or glutinous rice, you must start seedling cultivation and soak the fields in advance. When the seedlings grow to half a foot tall, the fields must be thoroughly soaked. It is about half a month after planting corn before you can transplant the rice seedlings.
So it did give the land some buffer time, and also gave the labor force enough time.
In Xiangyang Commune, people usually take advantage of this time to plow the land, make ridges, and then start spring planting.
Both the timing and the personnel arrangements were very well coordinated.
On their first day of work, everyone was in high spirits and arrived at the village office early. When Jian Dan and her friends arrived, half of the villagers had already arrived. Their arrival was neither too early nor too late.
Soon, the other people from the educated youth compound also arrived one after another, with the three newcomers, Chen Jing, Ling Weidong, and a few others, coming together.
Even Wang Hongmei, Chen Hongli, Du Xiuling, and several male educated youths, who were known for their laziness, had long faces. They had no choice but to come; they still had debts to pay off in the village. While others earned work points by working, they had to pay off their debts first.
Tang Cui was still the lone wolf, but the gloom in her eyes had faded, and she was much more peaceful. She paused for a moment when she met Jian Dan's gaze, then nodded slightly and looked away.
Liu Weimin arrived early as well, but didn't say much when the time came; he had already given the pep talk yesterday.
"Today we only have one task, which is to plow the land. Our village only has one plow and one ox. The ox's work capacity is limited. The rest depends on everyone's concerted efforts."
"In a little while, Uncle Three will be leading the ox, plowing the field in the northwest corner. The rest of you, let's start assigning tasks."
Some of the educated youth have already begun to wail in despair.
"If we don't use oxen, are we supposed to plow the fields ourselves?"
"Didn't the village chief say that with just one ox, one plow, such a large plot of land, and so many people, how can't they work?"
The villagers weren't surprised at all and calmly accepted the task. It was the same routine every year; besides, could tilling the land be as tiring as planting or fertilizing? Or as tiring as harvesting?
As for the complaints of the educated youth, the villagers heard them, and even Liu Weimin heard them, but what good did it do?
No matter how much you talk, you won't get any work points if you don't complete the task.
Liu Weimin held their lives in his hands, so despite their complaints, when it was their turn, they obediently followed the villagers to their assigned tasks.
It's simple and I'm quite happy.
Previously, when people went to work, it was always a large group working together. A few people would work on one piece of land, which inevitably led to some people slacking off.
This time, Liu Weimin clearly and decisively divided the categories.
"Each person has a plot of land. Large clods of soil must be broken up. Once the work is done and the inspection is passed, the work is done."
That suits my simple mind perfectly.
Now that she has regained her skills and is strong, doing this kind of work is really not a problem for her.
Lin Dongfang was also assigned to the same room as Mingzhu, right next to Jian Dan.
It should be said that this area was all allocated to the educated youth, one piece for each person, and distributed equally.
The first piece on the side is simple. The second and third pieces are Lin Dongfang and Mingzhu's. Further down, in order, are Tang Cui, Ling Weidong and two others, Chen Jing and two others, Chen Hongli, Du Xiuling, Wang Jiancheng, Wang Hongmei, Su Hong, Wei Shujuan, and Li Jianye, lined up in a row.
Simply move aside, and you'll feel refreshed.
Lin Dongfang only cared about his wife and didn't want her to get involved at all.
Tang Cui remained silent.
Ling Weidong and his two companions wore nonchalant expressions; this amount of work wasn't really much for them.
Of the three, Chen Jing remained silent, Gu Jianjun spoke loudly to Qian Cheng next door, and as for Li Guang, Chen Hongli and Du Xiuling on his other side were completely bewildered by the long ridge. They had just managed to put on a delicate expression, but before they could even open their mouths, he shouted out first.
"What are you trying to do? Don't come any closer!"
Jian Dan and the others were all startled by what he said. Luckily, they were there, otherwise they would have been thinking all sorts of things.
"What are you doing? I don't know you, I haven't said a word, why are you all staring at me like that?"
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