Chapter 102 No Return
"Eat! Eat your fill! You've worked hard these days!" Su Laoer and Laosan cut grass to feed the cows and gently combed their backs.
Now their most important thing every day is to take care of the oxen. The oxen are their family, and they must feed the oxen before eating every day.
The plowing oxen silently ate the fresh green grass, snorting from time to time.
"Come, drink some salt water!" Su Ying brought a bucket of water.
Oxen work at a high intensity, so like humans, they need to drink some salt water to replenish salt in their bodies and improve their resistance.
The ox sniffed it and drank it down in big gulps.
Yesterday I fed him honey water.
My family is poor and we don’t have good things to feed it like soybeans and bean cakes. We can only feed it some honey water and salt water to show our care.
Honey water is good, but cows have different stomachs than humans, so you can’t feed them too much or too frequently. It’s better to feed them once every two or three days, and the amount of honey at a time should not exceed 200 grams.
After drinking the water, the oxen mooed happily.
After breakfast, everyone went to work in the fields.
Jiang Dong plowed the land quickly, but Su Bucheng and his companions were slow at hoeing the land. Today, Su Shiyan and Su Quanyan also joined in the hoeing.
A lot of compost was moved yesterday, and there wasn't much left, so a few half-grown kids could carry it all.
After Su Ying cooled the boiled water, she and Su Lu carried it to the edge of the field.
The village elders and several women stood at the edge of the field, watching the Su family hoe and plow the land, pick up and clean the stones in the field twice, and use a hoe to break up the large pieces of soil that were turned over, nodding their heads constantly.
The service here is so meticulous!
The ground that was plowed yesterday began to be covered with humus, a thick layer of soil, and the barren land immediately became much more fertile.
The land is plowed deep, turned thoroughly, and has soft humus soil, so it's hard for the crops not to grow well!
"Aying, the yield from your land will definitely be 10% higher than others next year!" Old Man Yang's tone was filled with joy and regret.
If the Su family had come ten days or half a month earlier, the whole village could have taken advantage of this trip, and the winter wheat harvest could have increased by 10%, meaning each family could have harvested hundreds of kilograms more wheat!
What a pity!
"Village chief, what's an extra 10%? If we improve the pond and create paddy fields, and plant two crops of rice in the future, won't the harvest be higher?" Su Ying said with a smile.
"Yes, yes! Let's work harder to dig out the pond and plant two crops of rice!" The village elders all agreed.
Everyone knows that paddy fields are better than dry land. What's more, the climate here is suitable, and many places have two rice crops.
If we could grow it in our own village, we wouldn't have to go hungry anymore! We could eat dry rice every day and have a full meal every day!
Everyone's heart is burning with excitement when thinking of a bright future.
Even though my body is soaked with sweat, I don’t feel tired and I feel full of energy.
"Aying is really capable! Unlike us, we know nothing!" Madam Zheng smiled and pulled Su Ying affectionately.
"No way! My sister is a lady from a prominent family. How can we, from a poor family, compare to her?" Su Ying said modestly.
"Look at this little kid, he's so talkative!" Madam Zheng said with a smile.
The other women looked at Su Ying with admiration and liking in their eyes, and it seemed as if they wanted something?
Su Ying looked around and saw that the women were widows who had gone to the market together the day before yesterday and had no labor force at home.
It's the busy farming season now, shouldn't you be busy working in the fields? Why are you here? Could it be...
"Aying!" Madam Zheng held Su Ying's hand and spoke hesitantly.
The other women also looked expectantly.
"Sister, do you want to borrow some oxen?" Su Ying asked.
"Yes!" Madam Zheng's voice became very low, and she lowered her head, not daring to look into Su Ying's eyes.
The Su family's oxen are the strongest, but the Su family has no land at all, so they have to plow a large area, and the oxen work very hard.
We can’t even finish cultivating all the crops at home, how can we lend it to others?
Although they knew that borrowing oxen was asking too much, they were just a few women and had no labor. During the busy farming season, every family had to work on their own land and had no extra labor to support them.
Several village elders said nothing, their faces flushed.
The two cows in the village belong to three families, and each family has at least ten to twenty acres of land. Three families have more than sixty acres of land, which is the limit for plowing oxen.
Only the Su family's cows were still available.
Other families can ignore it, but these widows cannot. Every year, they have to help after everyone else has finished their work, and they are always the ones with the least harvest.
"Uh..." Su Ying looked at the seven or eight women present and pondered for a moment.
Even if seven or eight women came to help, she couldn't help even if she wanted to, and the oxen would definitely be exhausted to death.
But if I help this one and not that one, who should I help and who should I not help?
The village elders and women all looked at Su Ying eagerly.
"Well, we will help all the sisters!" Su Ying said decisively.
"Ah? Really? That's great! Thank you, Aying!" The women were so excited that they chattered away, losing their usual reserve.
After the joy, the women felt something was wrong, "Aying, your cow..."
Seven or eight families have at least a hundred acres of land. Wouldn’t the oxen be exhausted to death?
“I mean that each family can help you cultivate four or five acres of land, so that each of you can save some money.
Once my brothers and sisters have recovered, they can lend a hand and finish planting winter wheat sooner."
"Thank you, Aying!" The women's voices choked with sobs.
During the busy farming season every year, I am a burden to my family, and it is very difficult to beg for help from my parents or my husband's family.
When they came to ask the Su family for help, everyone was unsure. They hoped that the Su family would agree, but at the same time they were worried that they would not get a share. They felt very conflicted.
Now everyone has a share! Even though it's only four or five acres, it really saves a lot!
"Aying! Wuwu! How nice it would be if I had such a capable daughter! Wuwu..." Madam Zheng pulled Su Ying and spoke incoherently.
"Sister, my mother doesn't agree!" Su Ying joked.
"Of course! If I had such a capable daughter, I would definitely not agree to it!" Madam Zheng cried and laughed.
The other women were not much better. Yang Chunhua, who was not good at speaking, had red eyes and didn't know how to express her gratitude.
Turning around and seeing Mrs. Du and Mrs. Wei working in the fields, Yang Chunhua walked up to Mrs. Du without a second thought and snatched the hoe from her, "Sister, let me do it!"
Although Yang Chunhua looks thin and petite, she is very efficient and effective when hoeing the ground.
"Hey, sister, let me do it!" How could Mrs. Du let a girl who was thinner than herself help her?
"Sister, just let me do it!" Yang Chunhua gripped the hoe tightly.
Seeing this, the other women also rolled up their sleeves and went to the fields. Madam Zheng grabbed Wei's hoe, and the others who didn't grab one went to carry the rotten soil.
The Su family generously provided assistance, and the women had no way to repay them, so they could only express their gratitude in this way.
"Aying!" Du and Wei were unable to get the hoe back, and looked at Su Ying helplessly.
Su Ying smiled helplessly, "Ladies, please don't be busy yet, just listen to what I have to say."
"What's the matter, Aying?" Madam Zheng continued working.
"Go back first and tend your own land. Hoe as much as you can and pick up rocks and branches. Then plow deep enough so that you can grow good crops!
"We have enough manpower at home! You guys, save your energy and take care of your own land first!" Su Ying said gently.
The women hesitated and stopped what they were doing. It was the busy farming season, and who wouldn't want to finish their work quickly?
But I felt uneasy asking the Su family for help in vain without doing anything myself.
"Okay, sisters! Don't worry! I will come to help you as soon as I finish plowing the fields at home! Don't worry!" Su Ying pulled Yang Chunhua and Zheng Niangzi up.
"Everyone, go back quickly! Don't worry, our lives will get better. Maybe by this time next year, our village will have several more oxen!" Su Ying's mouth chuckled again.
"Really, Aying!" Not only the women, but also the village elders were looking forward to it.
"Of course, we make so many good things and sell them, but we can't even exchange them for a few oxen?" Su Ying said with a smile.
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