Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 17 Homestead Production (Please continue reading)

Under the dim light of an oil lamp, the whole family sat around enjoying the rich aroma of wheat flatbread and the soft, bouncy eggs.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, Zhang Xian was the first to get off the table, still thinking about the produce from his home and fields.

Before leaving, he said to Zhao's mother, "Auntie, you should rest early tonight. It's too dim to sew and mend in the dark, and it will strain your eyes."

Then his gaze shifted to Zhou Cui: "You should do the same, do your needlework during the day."

"Yes, I know," Zhao's mother replied cheerfully, her face etched with wrinkles.

"Yes, Master." Zhou Cui replied, clearly feeling somewhat uncomfortable. As someone who considered herself a maid or servant, she felt like she was just eating for free if she didn't do something, and she was also worried about being abandoned.

Zhang Xian could see it, but he didn't want to persuade him anymore. The class system formed over hundreds of years could not be erased from people's hearts with just a few words. Even in modern times, class is still a stubborn rock weighing on people's hearts.

Stepping outside, you arrive at the edge of the family farmland in a corner of the courtyard. At this moment, all the plants except for the ginseng, which still needs time to grow, are already showing signs of maturity.

Then there's nothing more to say, let's start reaping the rewards!
Asarum, Polygonatum, chili peppers, scallions, ginger, garlic, pumpkins—one crop after another appears and disappears from your hands, replaced by a continuous increase in your [weight value].

Similar to farming and animal husbandry, the produce you create will enter a space similar to a system inventory after you harvest it. However, this space is not unlimited and depends on your carrying capacity.

This is the second function of the weight-bearing attribute that I discovered myself after the chickens in my farm started laying eggs.

Moreover, apart from the two items produced by the [Homestead] template, no other real-world items have been found that can be stored in the weight space.

However, this is already very good. Although the carrying space is not large, it can hold some emergency food. If the recovery items produced by the medicine kitchen could also be stored in the carrying space, then that would be a divine skill.

After a short while of work, the nine-square-meter plot of land in the garden had lost all its greenery, except for a ginseng seedling that remained standing strong.

The weight-bearing space was already full; just four pumpkins filled the entire weight-bearing space.

The rest were now stacked at his feet.

Du Ruo is just a bunch of grass with roots, and a few small black fruits on top that don't weigh much. These black fruits are the seeds.

Polygonatum is a tuberous medicinal plant, mainly consisting of tubers under the vines and leaves. It has a sweet taste and is known as "the leftover food of immortals".

Based on my knowledge of herbs, I judged that these Solomon's seal plants would only have medicinal effects for about a year. I wondered if they could continue to grow if I replanted them.

Distinguishing the age of Solomon's Seal is simple. Just like the annual rings of a tree, Solomon's Seal also has its own rings. Basically, the tuberous nodes that can be clearly seen represent how long it has grown.

One holiday means two years, two holidays mean three years, and no holidays mean one year.

Gather these Solomon's Seal roots and bury them back later. Aside from being eaten as a sweet snack, the medicinal value of Solomon's Seal roots grown over a year is not as great as expected.

As for scallions, ginger, garlic, and chili peppers, those are very important, because they mean tomorrow! Just tomorrow! We can finally enjoy the flavors we want.

Harvesting the crops naturally brings experience points as well. Eighty crops in nine square meters yielded 80 points of agricultural experience and 54 points of medical experience.

Cultivating medicinal plants is arguably the most cost-effective activity, as it allows one to gain both agricultural and medical experience.

However, there are still many questions, such as why onions, ginger, and garlic are not considered medical vegetation.

According to the analysis of the herbal identification skills, scallions, ginger, garlic, and even chili peppers can all be used in medicine.

However, this question only flashed through my mind for a few moments before disappearing. There's no need to worry about so many issues; the panel has its own operating logic.

All I need to do is continuously improve myself within this logic.

After organizing all the harvest, all the pumpkins in the storage space were taken out. The eight pumpkins were neatly arranged as if they had been copied and pasted, with orange-yellow skin and firm flesh. They had a rich pumpkin aroma when held in the hand.

Based on the loading conditions of the load-bearing space, it is not difficult to determine that the weights of these pumpkins are all the same.

This is very encouraging, as it shows that crops grown from farmland are, in a sense, unlikely to degenerate.

"It seems we need to plant the crop seeds produced outside the homestead fields. If the crop seeds produced in the homestead fields can also be planted outside, then the importance of the homestead fields will be even greater." He muttered to himself, squatting at the edge of the homestead fields.

Non-degradable crop seeds are very useful. Take pumpkins for example; if four seeds fill the weight-bearing space, it means that a pumpkin weighs about 22 kilograms.

It weighs 22 pounds! Although it can't compare to those giant pumpkins, you have to remember that this is an edible pumpkin, so the two are not even in the same league.

Pumpkin itself is high in starch, sugar, and various vitamins. If it can also be made delicious and abundant, then it would be a perfect staple food substitute.

The help it will provide in the future will be considerable!
Crack open a pumpkin, remove the seeds from the center of the flesh and store them in the weight-bearing space. Then plant 54 pumpkin seeds and 27 Solomon's seal plants in the soil.

After seeing the planted Solomon's seal seeds light up after 480 hours of growth, the anxiety in my heart finally subsided.

After finishing everything, Zhang Xian washed his hands and returned to the inner room.

At this moment, the brothers Zhao Yun and Zhao Feng were already chatting on the bed.

In the past, when Zhao Yun was not back, Zhang Xian and Zhao Feng would squeeze together, but now that there was another person, the originally spacious earthen and wooden bed felt a bit cramped.

"Brother Xian."

The three adjusted their positions on the bed, and once they were settled, Zhao Yun asked with some anticipation, "Where will Wang Lufei and the others go today? Do magical places like Sky Islands really exist?"

The daily storytelling session had become Zhao Yun's most anticipated part, or rather, even Zhao Yun's elder brother Zhao Feng was looking forward to it.

"Well, let me explain."

As Zhang Xian narrated the story in a gentle, measured voice, the sound of snoring gradually filled the small house.

The moon sets and the sun rises.

A thin mist hangs over the mountain village, and with each loud crowing of roosters, the small village gradually comes alive with the flavor of life.

Inside the Zhao family's small house, Zhang Xian opened his eyes right on time.

She pulled one leg off her stomach and rolled out of bed.

"Uh uh ah!"

I stretched and felt refreshed.

The 22 days of living in ancient times completely adjusted his biological clock.

Pushing open the door, I grabbed a towel and toothbrush, squeezed on a little toothpaste, and walked familiarly to the water tank in the yard to start washing up.

As a recent graduate working in the workforce, I sometimes worked overtime until late at night and was too lazy to go home, so I would fall asleep at the company. Therefore, my backpack was mostly filled with these daily necessities.

Just as he was brushing his teeth and spitting out tiny bubbles, Zhao Yun ran over and started washing up like him, except that he didn't have a toothbrush, so he just rubbed his teeth with his fingers.

"Brother Xian, is this really too sweet to eat?" Zhao Yun muttered, a little toothpaste on his finger.

"No, ptooey!" Zhang Xian, who almost swallowed a mouthful of foam after saying that, quickly spat it out twice.

He took a sip of water from the ladle, gulped it down a few times, spat it out, and wiped his face: "Don't eat random things."

"Hehe, it smells good." Zhao Yun spat out the foam in his mouth and washed his face with water.

By draping towels over the clothesline in the yard, the Zhao family's courtyard came alive.

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(End of this chapter)