BXBX NOVEL Chapter 134: Idea
By the time Mu Yangling and Madam Liu-Ma reached the fields, the Liu family had already started eating.
When Liu Ting saw them, he threw down the things in his hand and came over. He said to Mu Yangling with a smile, “Come, Uncle will plow with you.”
Mu Yangling looked at his hand and shook her head. “Let Aunt Ting do it. Uncle, you should rest. My father has medicinal wine. If you don’t mind, I’ll bring half a bottle over tomorrow.”
Liu Ting’s face was slightly red, so Madam Liu-Zhang smiled and pushed him away. “Alright, alright. Do you think you’re the one actually pulling the plow? I still have to push forward with all my might. With Ah Ling pulling the plow, I just have to push a little harder into the ground. Go away, don’t delay our efforts.”
Her words made everyone laugh, Liu Ting could only rub his nose and return, handing the iron plow to his wife.
Mu Yangling first started plowing in Liu Li’s fields, before running to the Liu family’s side. When the people in the nearby fields saw that Mu Yangling could plow enough land for three families, they couldn’t help but envy the Liu clan’s good luck. They said, “It’s fine if it’s Liu Daqian and Liu Erqian’s family. After all, they’re biological relatives. However, Liu Li’s family is so lucky. They don’t seem so chummy with the Mu family usually.”
What the people not from Nearhill Village paid attention to was, “This young lady’s strength is simply divine. If our son can marry her, even if we don’t have plowing oxen in the future, we won’t have to worry about farming anymore.”
However, this was just a thought.
Under the envious and jealous gazes of the others, Mu Yangling alternated between helping the two families. Even though Third Great-uncle’s family was furious, they did not dare to offend Mu Yangling at this moment.
The Mu family was no longer just relatives to the Liu family; there was now also a debt of gratitude. Didn’t they see that Mu Yangling didn’t feel any pressure at all when she contradicted Third Great-uncle?
Liu He didn’t say a word.
When the sun was about to set in the evening, Mu Yangling went over to help Liu Daqian’s family plow a large area of land. Before she left, she said to Madam Liu-Ma, “Aunt, I’ll come back tomorrow. Bring more wheat seeds when you come to the fields.”
Madam Liu-Ma agreed.
Madam Liu-Zhang also gave Mu Yangling an answer. “I’ll do as you and Ah Lang say. I’ll go to your house the day after tomorrow and help you do that detailed work. However, let me be clear upfront that you need to give me instructions. I have no idea what that delicate work should be like.”
“Don’t worry, Aunt. I’ve already thought about it. Just do as I say.”
There were only a few experiments that Mu Yangling wanted to conduct. There were two ways of planting wheat seeds. One way was to directly plant the wheat seeds in the soil like what they were doing now, and the other way was to first soak them in water to allow them to sprout before planting them.
The two types of wheat seeds would then be covered with soil using two different ways. One way was to use one’s feet to cover the seeds with soil as per tradition, while the other way was to use a ‘double-sided rake’ to cover the seeds with soil. The depth would vary.
The two types of wheat seeds were divided into one acre of medium-grade land and one acre of high-grade land. Each of that one acre would be further divided in half for the two different methods of covering the seeds with soil. Next, fertilization and irrigation would be carried out on each plot of land simultaneously and in exactly the same way. Finally, when autumn came, she would compare the harvest reaped in each experimental plot.
These four acres of land were more even than the land they had farmed previously. Because she wanted them to try their best to plow as deeply and cultivate as intensely as possible, Mu Yangling planned to spend one to two days on the four acres of land. Only she, Madam Ma-Liu, and Madam Liu-Zhang would work on these four acres. Little Bowen and the others were still young, so it was inevitable that they would be negligent. Hence, she sent them out to do other work.
If this experiment was successful, Mu Yangling’s next experimental target would be rice.
Compared to flour products, she still preferred to eat rice. Alas, the production yield of rice was even lower in Xingzhou Prefecture. Therefore, everyone chose to plant wheat, leaving only a little land to plant rice. Wheat seeds also accounted for the majority of the seeds that were distributed.
It was the same for the Mu Family. They only reserved 13 acres of high-grade farmland for growing rice.
However, in fact, Mu Yangling preferred planting these two in equal amounts and in staggered timings. This was because they could plant wheat in February and plant rice in March. This way, the timing would be staggered, the intensity of labor would decrease, and everyone could farm more meticulously. Before that though, Mu Yangling had to solve the problem of the production yield of rice. If rice remained so low-yielding in Xingzhou Prefecture, not to mention the other commoners, even the Mu family would probably not utilize a large area to plant rice.
There was really a long way to go.
Mu Yangling felt extremely regretful. In her previous life, she shouldn’t have listened to her father and gone to a military school. Instead, she should have attended an agricultural university. If she had done so, she wouldn’t be so clueless now.
Whoever said that agriculture was an unpopular profession? It was clearly the most useful profession.
When Mu Yangling returned home, she squatted in the basin and looked at the wheat seeds that she had soaked. Seeing that some of the wheat seeds had already sprouted, she heaved a sigh of relief. “I was worried that the water would be too cold for it to sprout.”
At this point, Mu Yangling’s eyes lit up slightly. She looked at Madam Ma-Liu. “Great-aunt, why don’t we try using warm water? Perhaps the wheat seeds will germinate faster.”
Great-aunt’s face darkened. “You child…” She couldn’t find a suitable word to describe her and could only say in annoyance, “Even if there are a lot of wheat seeds, you shouldn’t be this wasteful. The higher-ups have spread the word that the Imperial Court is only distributing wheat seeds this year. We’ll have to rely on ourselves next year. You should be more careful and keep these wheat seeds until next year. If not, keep them to make a bowl of porridge for your younger siblings in the event there’s a shortage of crops.”
Mu Yangling waved her hand nonchalantly and said, “Don’t worry, Great-aunt. I definitely won’t let you guys starve. I’m conducting an experiment now, aren’t I? I won’t take too much. I’ll just try a handful. If it doesn’t work, we can then forget it.”
Without waiting for Madam Ma-Liu to object, Mu Yangling ran into the house and came out with a handful of wheat. She mixed some hot water with cold water and poured the wheat in when she felt that it was only slightly warm.
Xiuhong and the others squatted at the side and watched curiously.
Seeing that Shu Wanniang only smiled and watched them fool around without stopping them, Madam Ma-Liu said unhappily, “Wanniang, you should take Ah Ling in hand. If this child is already like this now, all the more she won’t listen to you in the future.”
Lowering her head, Shu Wanniang said gently with a smile, “It’s alright, Aunt. I’ll just listen to her. She’s right. There’s a lot of wheat seeds at home and we can’t use them all. Why don’t we let her play… I mean, do an experiment with it. Perhaps she’ll really find a better planting method than now?”
“Everyone has been farming like this for generations.” Madam Ma-Liu said unhappily, “I don’t see anyone going through all this trouble. Could it be that she can increase the yield of an acre from 200 catties to 250? Such a high yield is only possible through meticulous farming. Our family isn’t a large one, so it’s already not bad if we can produce more than 100 catties per acre.”
Shu Wanniang didn’t know how to farm and hadn’t even farmed before, so she didn’t have deep-rooted thoughts like Madam Ma-Liu. In her opinion, since even the dynasties and heavens could change, what couldn’t be changed in this world?
She had always been supportive of her daughter, but Aunt was an elder. Shu Wanniang’s upbringing prevented her from contradicting her, so she could only beat around the bush before the two of them and try her best to blur out their conflict.
Seeing that she wasn’t planning to discipline Mu Yangling, Madam Ma-Liu could only sigh. She thought to herself, ‘Out of sight, out of mind’, as she went to the kitchen to cook for the children.