Traveling through troubled times to escape famine and cultivate crops as a grain merchant

"What a jerk! They're using fertilizer like it's free. They're really willing to spend so much on just two acres of land. Are they going to use fertilizer on the rest of the land? Women can't be in charge. They have no rules!!"

"What do you know? Haven't you been to their backyard? There's a huge pile of fertilizer there, as high as a small mountain. How can ours compare to it? I don't think we need to look at the paddy field anymore. With so much fertilizer, I wonder how well it's growing. It must be more than two stone!"

"It would be better to apply this fertilizer to the wheat fields. At least one acre of wheat fields can yield two or three dan, which is twice as much as rice. With this fertilizer, I'm afraid it can only reach three and a half dan."

Everyone felt sorry and thought that applying these fertilizers to the paddy fields was like spreading gold into a manure pit. They really wanted to pick them up.

Zhou Guo couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the piles of fertilizer that had disappeared in the backyard. "Mom, I thought there was a lot of fertilizer, but now it seems there isn't much. Half of it has been removed before we even start planting. I don't know if it will be enough for the additional fertilizer later."

The reason why there were so many was that the leftover hay in the pen was shoveled out and mixed in. She also added a lot of it in the autumn, and piled in the garbage from the house, so there were such big piles.

Li said helplessly, "Who told you to spread so much? You just spread a truckload of fertilizer like dirt. When your grandparents were still alive, one load of fertilizer per acre of land was the limit."

Zhou Guo said, "Isn't it because we didn't have much fertilizer at home at that time? Although we don't have much now, we are not short of it. We need to apply enough basal fertilizer. Only when we apply enough will the crops grow well and the yield will be high."

Li smiled and said, "With all the fertilizers applied, how much lower can the yield be? In the past, the two acres of land with the best fertilizer in our family could yield three dan of rice in the best years, and even in bad years, we could still get nearly two and a half dan of rice. This year, let's see if these acres of land can yield two and a half dan."

"Two and a half dan?" Zhou Guo thought for a moment, "It should be more than that, right? If we manage it well, maybe we can get three dan per mu. Mom, have you selected the wheat seeds? Do we need to dry them in the sun before sowing and mix them with something..."

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Li.

Li said, "I'll let you work on your two acres of paddy fields, but I won't care. But the wheat fields won't work. If I let you work on them, and they get damaged, will we have to rely on buying food this year?"

"But, having said that..." She changed the subject, "When the rice is harvested this year, if your two acres of land can produce two and a half shi per acre, next year all the land in our family will be given to you and you will be in charge of it. I will not be in charge of it anymore."

Li also understood that although her daughter almost never failed, the family's ten acres of land was the family's annual food supply, and they had to rely on them to pay taxes this year. Not to mention that she had never farmed before, she had never even worked the land. If she messed up, the family would have nothing to eat.

But then I thought, what if she can succeed? It just so happens that the two acres of paddy fields were bought by her herself and she was the one who managed them the whole time, so I will give the two acres of land to her. If she really manages it well, it won’t be too late to give the land at home to her next year.

Zhou Guo was a little frustrated at first and wanted to fight for it, but after hearing the following words, he became excited again and said confidently: "Mom, just wait and see. Although my two acres of land is thin, the wheat harvest may be higher than that of your fields."

Two acres of paddy fields are just two acres of paddy fields, and two acres is not a small number. She can still focus all her energy on the paddy fields.

It was already mid-March, and there were only ten days left before sowing.

Zhou Guo went to check on the field anyway and saw that the weeds had grown again. He put the plow on and tilled the field carefully again, and all the weeds were turned over.

After turning the land, Zhou Guo began to prepare for raising rice seedlings. It takes about twenty to forty days to raise rice seedlings. The suitable season for transplanting rice here is late April. She also had to soak the seeds, so it was almost time.

The snow water stored last year is now of great use.

She went to another village to collect some silkworm manure and sheep manure, then carried a hoe and found the place where the horse was buried last year. She took out a lot of horse bones, washed them in the river, and carried them back to chop them into pieces.

Her family saw her going out early and coming back late these two days, and suddenly she dragged back a load of sheep manure and silkworm manure from somewhere else. Although they didn't understand it, they didn't say anything because it was fertilizer after all.

But this bone is different, it looks white.

Zhou Xing asked: "Guoguo, what are these bones?"

Zhou Guo said without even looking up: "Horse bones!"

"Horse bones, horse...bones?" Everyone was even more surprised. "Where did you get so many horse bones?"

Zhou Guo pointed to the entrance of the village with an innocent look on his face, "We dug it up from over there. Horse bones are only found at the entrance of the village."

Zhou Gu said in a trembling voice: "You, you, you actually went to dig up someone else's grave!!"

The two men looked at her with strange eyes and subconsciously took a step back.

Zhou Guo was confused, "...I didn't dig up anyone's grave, I just dug out some horse bones. There is no grave over there, no one is buried there."

Zhou Gu said: "These horses are graves!"

Zhou Xingdu nodded.

Zhou Guo was speechless. "...How can a horse be a grave...Even if it is, I will just dig it out and use it. I have gone to several villages and couldn't find any horse bones. I can only use these. Don't be nervous. Aren't these the same as the pig and deer bones that I used for composting before?"

Hearing the sound of bones, Hei Dadan, who was curled up nearby, immediately started barking.

Zhou Guo said: "Okay, I get it, these bones are all yours, I won't use them in the compost pile."

Zhou Xing said: "Although that's the case, these things are buried after all. How can we dig them out again?"

Zhou Guo looked at them innocently. People can hardly get enough food these days. In order to increase the production, couldn't they just take some horse bones?

When Zhou Mi and Zhou Mai came back and heard about it, they said, "What's the big deal? They are horse bones, not human bones. We eat the meat and bones of cows, but what's wrong with horses? They were just lucky to be buried. There are not many horses in the world that have not been buried."

Then he said to Zhou Guo, "It's okay. If you think this is enough, are they enough? If not, I'll go dig with you!"

Zhou Guo was very touched. There were so many people at home and the old man was not at home. When everyone heard that she had dug up Ma's grave, they looked as if they had seen a ghost, as if she had done something extremely evil. She began to doubt whether she had really done something wrong.

Zhou Mai squatted down and said, "Come, brother will help you. If you are doing this kind of work next time, you can tell me in advance. How can you run over there by yourself?"

Zhou Mi squatted down and picked up the things together.

"Brother, no need, there's not much left, I can chop it off in a few strokes."

"It's okay. Let us pick these up for you. Are these used as fertilizer?"