Spring comes to the desperate place

Aunt Song gave one to each of the children, and there was still one left in her hand. Gu Fengyun was drinking tea when the colorful Hundred Ropes were placed in front of him.

Gu Fengyun seemed a little puzzled: "For me?"

Song A-mo explained to him with a smile: "The hundred ropes are for praying for health and safety, so it's just right for you, Lord Marquis."

Gu Fengyun did not extend his hand, but lowered his eyes, making it impossible to see his expression. Song A'mo was a little at a loss for a moment, not knowing if she had done something wrong.

Just when Song A'mo wanted to take her hand back, Gu Fengyun stretched out his long finger and took the colorful rope.

"Since it is a gift from the elder, I will not refuse it."

Amour Song smiled again and helped him tie the rope.

Because we had guests today, we ate the rice dumplings we made ourselves at home. The sweet ones were candied date dumplings, and the salty ones were egg yolk and meat dumplings.

Neither of the two brothers of the Gu family had ever eaten anything salty, so they opened one out of curiosity. In front of the Ninth Prince was a candied date rice dumpling. He could already eat by himself, so he took a spoon and ate the rice dumpling obediently.

Song Xiaobao, who was standing next to him, was drooling as he watched the Ninth Prince eat. The Ninth Prince thought that the prince was greedy and would secretly put a bite into his mouth.

The two little ones ate the whole rice dumpling one bite at a time. Song Qin gave each of them a bowl of hawthorn water to aid digestion.

The Gu brothers had already finished their salted egg yolk and meat dumplings. Gu Fengyue was still not satisfied with the meal, but Gu Fengyun was not. He couldn't accept putting meat in dumplings. After eating half of it, he felt so nauseous that he had to drink several cups of hawthorn water to suppress it.

"Brother, aren't you going to eat anymore?" Gu Fengyue pointed at the remaining rice dumplings in front of Gu Fengyun.

Gu Fengyun frowned and shook his head: "No, I can't eat this with meat."

"Oh." Gu Fengyue didn't care and took the remaining rice dumplings and ate them herself.

Song Chunlin looked at Gu Fengyue with a little surprise. He didn't expect that Gu Fengyue, who was raised in luxury, would actually eat her brother's leftovers. But looking at Gu Fengyun's appearance, it seemed to be a very normal thing.

Song Chunlin saw that Gu Fengyue had eaten his fill, then asked him if there would be any activities in the city today.

Gu Fengyue wiped his mouth and said, "Have you forgotten that this is still a period of national mourning? All kinds of festivals are prohibited, and the water level on the river bank is not high. The capital has not held a dragon boat race for three consecutive years."

As Gu Fengyue said this, she felt it was a pity. How could the Dragon Boat Festival be called the Dragon Boat Festival without dragon boat racing?

As a modern man, Song Chunlin was naturally lacking in reverence for the emperor. He thought that various activities would be held just like in modern times, like the lanterns during the Lantern Festival.

But what Gu Fengyue said was right. After three years of severe drought, the water level of the river dropped sharply, and it has not recovered even after three years. This shows how powerful this natural disaster is.

On the way back, Gu Fengyun was sitting in the carriage, and the Ninth Prince was leaning against Gu Fengyue, already drowsy.

Gu Fengyue held his little head in her arms and let him lie down with his head on her legs so that he could sleep more comfortably.

He looked up and saw Gu Fengyun, who was looking at the rope on his wrist with a very strange look.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

Gu Fengyun came back to his senses. He calmly pulled his sleeve and hid the colorful rope inside his sleeve.

"Nothing. Come to think of it, I haven't received a Hundred Corrugations from my elders for ten years. I'm a little... flattered." Gu Fengyun felt a little melancholy. When his parents were still alive, his mother would personally weave a Hundred Corrugations and give them to him and his brother every Dragon Boat Festival. Ever since his parents passed away, Gu Fengyun has never worn a Hundred Corrugations again.

Because he no longer has any elders to pray for his health and safety.

After the Dragon Boat Festival, the crops in the fields can almost be harvested. As usual, Song Dazhuang inspected all the fields that day and came back very happy.

"Dad, little dad, I have a feeling that our family will have a bumper harvest this year!" Song Dazhuang's voice was filled with unconcealable excitement, and he wished he could go to the fields right now and harvest all those things.

The two elderly people are old and have rarely gone to the fields since the spring plowing. Anyway, there are young people taking care of the fields, so they don't have to bother with their old limbs.

Hearing what Song Dazhuang said about the good harvest, Grandpa Song also had a smile on his face, and even clamored to go to the fields to take a look.

Song Dazhuang couldn't persuade the old man, so he had to take him to the fields. When they reached the end of the field, Grandpa Song saw a golden field from afar.

When the familiar farmers nearby saw Grandpa Song, they kept praising their family for the good crops they had grown.

"Hey, isn't this Brother Song? The grain from your field, I think this will be the amount this year." The man smiled and pointed to Grandpa Song with the number six, meaning six hundred kilograms.

These days, the maximum yield of an acre of good farmland is about 500 kilograms, and the 600 kilograms that man mentioned is still a conservative estimate. Since an old hand at farming said so, Grandpa Song must have been very happy in his heart, and the smile on his face never stopped.

When they walked over to the rice field, they found that every rice plant was heavy with full grains, and looked better than the rice in the next field.

Grandpa Song smiled until his face was wrinkled, and he kept saying, "Good, good, good."

They both walked lightly on the way back, and Song Dazhuang was no less impressive. One can only say that they were worthy of being father and son.

Rice was the first to be harvested. Because the number of crops planted was small, the whole family worked together and finished the harvest in one day. The next day, the rice was threshed and weighed, and the yield per acre was an astonishing 700 kilograms.

"There are so many!" Song Dazhuang couldn't believe it. He had been farming in his hometown for so many years, and in a good year, only more than 400 kilograms of grain could be produced per acre. After changing to modern seeds, even though Song Dazhuang was planting rice for the first time, he could easily achieve a yield of 700 kilograms per acre.

That’s seven hundred kilograms!

After deducting 20% of the land tax and 10% of the population tax, there are still 490 kilograms left. In the past, this output was enough for their family to eat for a season.

And this is just the rice output; they still have wheat, potatoes and sweet potatoes that have not been harvested.

Thinking of the golden ears of wheat in the fields and the considerable yield, the Song family was motivated to work.

However, it took six days to harvest the wheat. When they calculated the yield, it was dozens of kilograms more than rice. The Song family was all very happy.

After harvesting wheat and rice, the Song family rested for a day and then started digging potatoes and sweet potatoes.

These two things were something no one had ever seen before. Some curious villagers stood on the edge of the field and watched the Song family dig these two lumps of earth.

The potatoes were relatively round, so Song Dazhuang and Song Qinshi were responsible for wielding hoes to loosen the soil, while the rest of the people squatted on the ground to dig out the potatoes.

Seeing the round lumps of earth, the villagers looked around curiously. A few gossipy women couldn't help asking Song Qin what those round things were.

Song Qin stopped, resting her hand on the hoe, she pointed to the basket of potatoes and explained to everyone: "We call this thing potato. We used to dig it in the mountains to survive, and found that it was delicious and filling, so we tried to grow some to eat. Unexpectedly, the yield of this thing is quite high. Look, isn't this a basket?" While she was talking, another basket of potatoes was picked out over there. Grandpa Song and Amma Song lifted the full baskets together so that they could be taken away later.

Grandpa Song wiped the sweat off his forehead and asked Song Dazhuang to stop digging as the baskets were not enough.

Upon hearing this, Song Dazhuang put down his hoe, walked aside to rest and drink some water.

There was only one basket left from the basket brought over there. Song Dazhuang rested for a while and then went up to carry the full basket onto the cart. When it was full, he rode the horse back home. After two trips back and forth, all the potatoes dug from the field were finally loaded.

Grandpa Song and Grandma Song handed out a few potatoes to each of the villagers who were watching the fun: "Take them home and eat them. You can stew them or boil them in water. Don't be reluctant. If they sprout, don't eat them. Potatoes with sprouts are poisonous and will make you sick if you eat them."

Grandpa Song warned solemnly that it was impossible for freshly dug potatoes to sprout, but there was no guarantee that these people would be reluctant to eat them or did not know how to eat them, or that the potatoes might sprout due to improper storage, which could be fatal if eaten. It was better to make such things clear at the beginning. Grandpa Song did not want to take the risk, so he said the same thing to everyone. In this way, even if they had problems because of the sprouted potatoes in the future, the people around them would be witnesses, and at least he had fulfilled his responsibility to inform the other party.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes were only planted on half an acre of land. Harvesting potatoes is not easier than harvesting rice and wheat. The family squatted in the field and dug for a whole day, and only managed to harvest half of the potatoes.

When Song Chunlin returned home, he poured everyone a glass of water mixed with spiritual spring water. After drinking it, everyone felt that their body aches were relieved a lot. If it weren't for a glass of spiritual spring water every day, the Song family would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.

After the potatoes were harvested, it was the turn of the sweet potatoes. As usual, many villagers came to watch on the day of harvesting sweet potatoes. Most of them only knew that sweet potato vines could be eaten and fed to pigs, but when Song Dazhuang and Song Qinshi dug with a hoe and revealed the round thing inside, everyone's eyes widened.

Some people say that it is Kudzu vine, while others say it is not, because the leaves of Kudzu vine are very different from sweet potato vines.

But no one could tell what this thing was, and in the end they could only watch helplessly as the Song family dug out those clods of earth.

Seeing Grandpa Song holding up a clod of earth weighing nearly three pounds, everyone took a deep breath.

"Wow! This guy is really big."

"That's right, one is this big, and they have so many more!"

"Are all these lumps of dirt edible?"

"Of course, otherwise why would the Song family go to the trouble of growing this thing?"

"My wife cooked that potato for me yesterday. It tasted really good."

"I ate some too. My family cooked them over a fire. They were pretty fragrant and filling. My family got five and I was half full after eating two."

Everyone was discussing how to eat potatoes and how they tasted, while the Song family was busy working in the fields.

The next day, after the sweet potatoes were harvested, Song Dazhuang weighed them specially. The result was amazing: the sweet potatoes weighed 500 kilograms, and the potatoes weighed even more exaggeratedly, a full 700 kilograms. The wheat on his one acre of land only weighed more than 700 kilograms.

The Song family was stunned when they heard this number. The people who came to help weigh were also stunned. When they learned that this was only the output of half an acre of land, their pupils shook.

"Brother Song, where did you dig these lumps of earth from? The yield is amazing..." The man stuttered as he spoke. You know, other farmers can only produce 500 kilograms at most per acre of land, but these two lumps of earth in half an acre of land can catch up with the yield of one acre of land of others.

This is not a lump of earth, it is clearly a lump of gold!

The Song family was also surprised. This was the first time they had planted these two things. If they gained experience in the future, they estimated that the yield would double.

Song Chunlin next to him put his hands on his hips proudly and said, the output of these two is extremely large. Song Dazhuang didn't understand the meaning of extremely large before, but now he knows, this is not just extremely large, it is super large.

The Song family immediately understood why Song Chunlin wanted to promote these two things so much. Judging from the yield, the yield of sweet potatoes per acre of fertile land can reach thousands of kilograms, and potatoes can produce more than a thousand kilograms. Song Chunlin said that potatoes are more suitable for growing in sandy land. Although their family's fertile land is fertile, it is not as good as sandy land.

If potatoes are planted in sandy soil, the yield can reach at least two thousand kilograms.

That’s two thousand kilograms!

Two thousand kilograms of grain can feed many people and even have some surplus.

Grandpa Song was so excited that he was speechless at this moment. He didn't expect that in his lifetime, he would be able to see a grain yield of 2,000 kilograms per mu. This was really, so exciting. He rubbed his face and tried to calm himself down.

"Chunlin, we have to let the government know that the output of this stuff is too amazing. There were quite a few people watching us when we were collecting these things these past two days. They are all experienced farmers. They can estimate the output of our things when they go home."

"Chunlin, we may not be able to protect these things. They are too eye-catching."

Song Chunlin comforted him: "Grandpa, don't worry, I have already made plans for this matter."

Song Chunlin's determined look made Grandpa Song feel at ease. At this time, he also thought that their family was on good terms with Gu Fengyue, and being on good terms with Gu Fengyue was equivalent to being on good terms with the Yongyi Marquis' Mansion. It was said that the Yongyi Marquis' Mansion was now a favorite of the new emperor. If he could present these crops to His Majesty, that would be perfect.

They are just common people, and suddenly they got these two precious gold nuggets. Who knows who will see them as thorns in the eyes of others. This matter needs to be resolved quickly.

So Song Dazhuang didn't even have dinner, but hitched a carriage and sent several baskets of potatoes and sweet potatoes to the marquis's mansion.

Gu Fengyue was a little surprised to hear that Song Dazhuang came to see him. It happened to be a day off today, so he followed the housekeeper to the backyard.

Song Dazhuang was unloading several baskets from the carriage. He first greeted Song Dazhuang, then came forward curiously and found that the baskets were filled with potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Gu Fengyue's eyes lit up: "Uncle Song, you really grew it!"

Song Dazhuang chuckled: "Not only did it grow, but the yield is quite high."

Gu Fengyue showed rare interest: "How much?"

Song Dazhuang compared two numbers: "500 kilograms of sweet potatoes and 700 kilograms of potatoes."