【Quick Wear】My Years as a Mother-in-law

Li Chunsheng didn't care about anything else and loved his cows very much. He named the bull Dahei, the cow Xiaohei, and the female donkey Yaer.

The name is totally useless.

Yun Xi followed them and said, "Feed the cows good food, beans, malt sugar, etc. Don't skimp on them. If they can't adapt to the local climate, they will get sick."

"I know." Li Chunsheng's love for livestock comes from the heart.

The cows and donkeys were raised in the backyard and familiarized themselves with the environment while everyone began preparing for seedling cultivation.

Rice seed seedling cultivation is divided into seed selection, seed drying, seed soaking, germination, seedling cultivation, seedling pulling, seedling separation, transplanting and management.

There is no need to select the seeds, they are all good seeds with full grains. They can be dried directly. The weather is good and the sun is shining brightly. Pour each bag of rice seeds into a burlap bag, spread it flat and dry it in the sun for two days. This can increase the germination rate and germination potential of the seeds.

During this period, Chunsheng drove Dahei and Meizi drove Xiaohei to plow the two acres of land in the east and sprinkled the good fertilizer specially reserved on it. This place was to be used as a seedling nursery first.

Yun Xi also took out bean seeds, eggplant seeds, pepper seeds, winter melon seeds, gourd seeds, loofah seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and cotton seeds to dry in the sun, as these all needed to be grown into seedlings.

"Mei Zi, let's find some good soil. If the soil is too rough, it will be difficult for the seeds to germinate." Yun Xi held the wooden basin.

"Is there such a saying?" Mei Zi hurriedly followed.

The two found a place with soft soil and no grass. They dug a lot of fine soil back and forth to the east side. Yun Xi divided part of the land into several long squares, and made ridges at the corners to prevent water from flowing away. Each piece was turned over again, the large clods of earth were broken up, and all the stones were picked out, trying not to leave any hard soil and stones.

Next, draw water and water each piece of land thoroughly.

Mei Zi scratched her head in confusion. Was raising seedlings so troublesome in the past?

Patriarch Li watched the whole process. There was nothing he could do. Before he knew it, Sanniu's wife had become a role model in the hearts of the Li clan members. It would be right to follow her.

Yun Xi was too lazy to explain. Since the system showed this, she just did as it said.

After the seeds are dried, soak them in water at a suitable temperature to promote water absorption and germination. This process takes another two days.

Yun Xi watered the nursery area outside again and sprinkled fine soil on it, leaving half of the fine soil as she didn't want to use it in a hurry.

Two days later, Yun Xi asked everyone to water the nursery field again, gently sprinkle the rice seeds on the nursery field and cover it with a thin layer of fine soil. There was a piece of field where vegetable seeds were scattered, and finally covered with a thin layer of straw to keep warm.

"That's it."

There were several light rains during this period. The spring rain was as precious as oil, silently moistening the earth. The desolate scene was wetted by the spring rain, and the ground was covered with green.

The farmers were filled with simple smiles and willingly put on the thick clothes they had just taken off.

The seedlings in the field need plenty of time to grow. It takes about 35 days to grow up. Planting starts in early April and harvesting is in mid-August because the weather here is quite warm. We didn’t plant wheat last year. In the past, we planted rice in May, harvested rice in September, and then planted wheat after plowing and fertilizing the land again. Now we don’t need to do that because we have regenerated rice.

While waiting for the seedlings to grow, other families were clearing land to plant beans, corn, peanuts and other crops. Yun Xi felt jealous because her family had so little labor, and if they cleared the land again, they would easily end up picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons, which would not be worth the effort.

But we can't sit idle either. Spring is a busy season and the beginning of the revival of all things. I don't know when the weeds have quietly grown out and the winter jasmine has been flaunting itself.

Taking advantage of the free time, a real farmer? Yun Xi pulled an ox cart up the mountain to cut grass for pigs and cows, and asked the children to pull all the cows and donkeys out to the mountain to graze.

There are occasionally wild vegetables to eat in the mountains, and my intestines have finally returned to normal. I don’t have to drink chrysanthemum tea every day. The kang I sleep on is very dry, and if I don’t drink much water, going to the toilet is definitely a headache.

The first room in the west wing of the house is the kitchen, the second is the woodshed, the first room in the east wing is the bathroom, and the second is the utility room, where wild grass is piled up. The daily consumption of three cows, one donkey and one pig is astonishing. I really envy their life of waiting to eat and die every day.

On the fifth day of March, it rained again. It rained just after the seedlings were planted. It was simply a blessing from heaven. Everyone was happy. After the rain, bamboo shoots and mushrooms all popped out.

Take the children to the mountains to pick mushrooms.

"A little girl picking mushrooms, carrying a small bamboo basket..."

Yun Xi unconsciously hummed this popular ballad, and the two children imitated it and sang along. The mountain was filled with laughter and children's chatter.

The spring bamboo shoots are very tender, and they are fried with bacon, and then served with a dried sea cucumber and mushroom soup. It is so delicious that it is no wonder that it is called a delicacy from the mountains and the sea.

The leftover bamboo shoots were sliced, boiled, and then dried to be eaten later. Mushrooms were directly dried. The small yard was filled with winnowing baskets full of mushrooms.

As the seedlings grew out, grass also grew out, growing better and more tenacious than the seedlings. This made it very difficult for farmers, who had to pull out the weeds every day to prevent the grass and seedlings from competing for nutrients.

Soon it was the eighth day of March, and Yun Xi asked everyone to start the second round of plowing.

This time there were three cows. Xiaohei and Yaer were rented out to earn fodder, while Dahei and Huanghuang stayed at home to plow the land. They were really fast and could plow seven or eight acres a day. After fifteen days, all the land was plowed. The family did not dare to stop for a moment and began to divert water to irrigate the land. This time they had to divert a lot of water to turn the land into fields.

Fortunately, there are many streams, and Yun Xi only dug ditches to divert a stream of water, and did not divert all the water away, so there was no competition for water sources.

After ten days of working day and night to irrigate the fields, they finally got enough water. The seedlings were already very strong, so they started to plant them. Cows couldn't help with planting, so Yun Xi arranged for the two younger ones to take care of the livestock at home, especially Xiao Hei and Yaer, who had just been sent back, to be fed more grass as they had been very tired recently.

Mei Zi is responsible for pulling out seedlings from the nursery and cooking, while Yun Xi and Chun Sheng focus on planting rice. They are busy from dawn to dusk, and never stop except to eat or go to the toilet. Mei Zi will also come to plant rice after she finishes her work, but even so, she is much slower than other families.

There was no time to clean the house or everyone's clothes. Yun Xi felt like everyone had become African refugees.

On the sixth day of April, Yun Xi pounded her waist and went to Li Daniu's house to hire people. There was no other way. Li Daniu had the most labor force and of course more land, but he could farm much faster than Yun Xi's family.

"You want to hire someone to plant rice? Twenty cents a day?"

"Yes." Yun Xi looked tired. "Meals included."

Li Daniu scratched his head and looked at his sons and daughters-in-law. "Eldest, second, and third, you guys go ahead. There are only a dozen acres of land left at home, and we can finish planting it soon."

Li Dashan, Li Ershan, and Li Sanshan nodded silently, "Okay."

With the help of her three older nephews, Yun Xi felt a lot more relaxed. She finished the work on April 12th and was paid only 360 coins, which was a great deal.

This time, the stingy Li Chunsheng couldn't say anything against it. If he didn't hire people, the spring plowing would be delayed, and the spring plowing must not be delayed.