He arrived at the inlet of the rice paddy, and seeing that no one was around, he spent fifty coins to buy a ten-pound bag of urea from the system and poured it into the inlet.
The urea began to melt and spread to every corner of the rice paddy with the water flow. This was the first time Zhao Xian had used modern fertilizer to fertilize ancient plants.
Seeing that the water in the paddy field was increasing, Zhao Xian told his two younger brothers to stop pumping water and then sealed the inlet of the paddy field to prevent the water from flowing back into the paddy field.
Zhao Xiaosheng and Zhao Xiaoshan were very excited to see that the field had been filled with water so quickly, and they circled the field several times.
At this moment, Zhao Youzhu came over. After seeing with his own eyes how quickly the waterwheel could draw water from the river, he was very impressed with his scholar nephew.
This waterwheel, which can irrigate farmland, is something even the ancient sages couldn't have imagined, yet he was able to build it.
"Brother, I'm going to help Uncle dig a ditch. The ditch over there is only about twenty steps long, and it will be finished quickly," Zhao Xiaosheng said excitedly.
"Alright, Xiaoshan, you go help too, and take the waterwheel with you," Zhao Xian instructed.
"Okay, brother, I'm coming right now." After saying that, Zhao Xiaoshan took the waterwheel out of the river and found that the waterwheel was much heavier after being soaked in water.
"Uncle, I have some things to attend to, so I won't be able to come and help you," Zhao Xian said apologetically to Zhao Youzhu.
"Zhao Xian, I'm so happy that you could build a waterwheel for me to use. My paddy field is ten acres, and with the waterwheel, it should be irrigated in a little over an hour," Zhao Youzhu said excitedly.
Seeing Zhao Youzhu and his two younger brothers walk away, Zhao Xian prepared to go to the grassland on the other side of the dam to buy wild mushrooms. He bought thirty steamed buns from the market trading system, which he estimated should be enough.
As soon as he walked over, a large crowd gathered around him, more than before. Perhaps the villagers had heard that wild mushrooms could be exchanged for steamed buns, and they had come to pick them.
This time he bought more than 27 kilograms of ground mushrooms. He noticed that the ground mushrooms had shriveled up quite a bit, but it didn't affect their sale in the system.
If the sun shines again tomorrow, the ground mushrooms should be gone, or at least dried out.
He sold all the ground mushrooms and received 822 copper coins. Adding the more than 200 copper coins he already had, he now had more than 1,000 copper coins.
There are so many copper coins, I can't possibly put them all in my pocket. I wish I could exchange them for silver.
So he started searching in the system. The system allowed him to exchange copper coins for silver. 1,000 copper coins could be exchanged for one tael of silver. In addition, a 1% handling fee would be charged, which would be 10 copper coins.
This made Zhao Xian feel a little heartbroken, but he couldn't keep the copper coins if he didn't exchange them, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and exchange the copper coins for silver.
He looked at the small silver ingot in his hand. This was the silver used by the ancients. He never expected that he would earn his first silver ingot by reselling goods right after he transmigrated. He couldn't help but feel happy.
But the thought of the twenty taels of silver in debt immediately dampened his spirits. He had to work hard to earn money and pay off the debt first, otherwise his family would have nowhere to live.
Looking at the last big steamed bun in his hand, he took a big bite.
There was no food left at home. He only remembered that his mother had left a bowl of rice when she cooked lunch, and he had to take something back with him so that he would have something to eat that evening.
He glanced at the great river below the dam and made up his mind.
He checked the system and found that there were fresh fish for sale. Grass carp was 15 coins per catty, silver carp was 10 coins per catty, and common carp was the cheapest, only 6 coins per catty. The fish sold in the system were all very large, each weighing more than 10 catties.
He had already exchanged one tael of silver, and only had a few dozen copper coins left, enough to buy a carp.
Modern people don't like to eat carp, so it's cheap. But people in ancient times didn't care about that. Back then, when food and clothing were scarce, any fish was considered a delicacy.
He spent sixty coins to buy a ten-pound carp, and had one tael of silver and twenty-three coins left in his pocket.
He found some thick thatch, strung the carp together, and started walking back with the fish in his arms.
The two younger brothers are helping their uncle Zhao Youzhu, and they probably won't be able to go home until dark.
He was carrying a large carp as he walked down the street, which certainly attracted attention.
"Look, the scholar has caught a big carp. It's huge!"
"My dad told me that a scholar built a waterwheel, and with the waterwheel, there was no need to carry water to irrigate the rice seedlings."
"What is a waterwheel? I've never seen one before."
"I've never seen it either."
"The scholar is really amazing, even more amazing than Zhuge Liang."
Zhao Xian was taken aback. The fact that the people here already knew about Zhuge Liang meant that the Northern Dynasties should be a dynasty after the Three Kingdoms period, but he still didn't know the specific era.
He soon returned home, where his mother and sister were busy at work. They were pleasantly surprised to see him carrying a large carp.
"What a big fish! Where did it come from?" Mother Li Chun'e took the carp from Zhao Xian's hand.
"Just now by the river, this carp was probably startled and suddenly jumped onto the bank. I quickly held it down, and it almost got away." Zhao Xian's explanation was quite reasonable.
"Meat for lunch and fish for dinner, that's wonderful!" Zhao Lingling, the younger sister, was drooling.
"All you ever think about is food. You had meat for lunch. Keep this fish alive for now. We'll take it to town tomorrow and exchange it for some brown rice. With brown rice, we can eat for a few more days," my mother said irritably.
Zhao Lingling pouted and continued sorting the wild vegetables in the basket.
"Mother, my younger siblings haven't had fish in a long time, let them have a taste."
Li Yue'e sighed. This scholar's son was really bad at managing money, but she couldn't say anything.
"Dinner is wild vegetable porridge, which I've already cooked. We'll save the fish for tomorrow's lunch."
Zhao Xian walked over and patted his little sister's head.
"Lingling, listen to your mother, we'll eat fish tomorrow."
"Mmm," Zhao Lingling nodded. She really liked it when her scholar brother stroked her head.
During the famine, wild vegetable porridge was the staple food of the poor, and he really wanted to taste what it tasted like.
As the sun began to set, Zhao Xiaosheng and Zhao Xiaoshan went inside. Although they were very tired, they seemed very excited.
Because Zhao Xian had built a waterwheel, the villagers immediately treated the two brothers with great respect, their aim being to borrow their waterwheel.
Li Chun'e was completely baffled as to what a waterwheel was and when her family had such a thing.
"This was made by my brother. It only took the time it takes to drink a cup of tea to fill the rice paddy at home with water. We will never have to carry water to irrigate it again."
Li Chun'e basically understood what was going on. Her scholar son could create such a good thing, which had earned him the respect of the villagers. He would no longer be looked down upon by the villagers.
"Brother is so amazing! He can build waterwheels and catch fish!" Zhao Lingling exclaimed happily.
"Brother can catch fish?" The two brothers were taken aback.
"My brother caught a big fish and is keeping it in a wooden basin. Mom said we'll eat fish tomorrow." After saying that, Zhao Lingling ran into the kitchen, and the two brothers followed her in.
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