Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

In the afternoon, Zhang Xixi took Zhou Fu to the carpenter's house and told him about making a waterwheel. She also said that she would give him fifty taels of silver as research funding, and if he succeeded, she would give each of them an additional ten taels of silver.

Zhou the carpenter was very tempted by the offer, but he knew his own limitations. He had never seen a waterwheel before and knew he couldn't possibly make one!

"Third Aunt, I've never made a waterwheel before! If we can't finish it in the end and we've used so many materials, isn't that a waste?"

"Carpenter Zhou, don't worry. Zhou Fu has seen others do this before, and he knows the principles. You two can discuss it together. If you can't make it in the end, it's not your fault. Don't feel guilty, just do it boldly!"

Carpenter Zhou remained hesitant. He knew that building the waterwheel would definitely save a lot of manpower, but...

Seeing his hesitation, Zhang Xixi added, "If it's not finished in the end, I'll pay you for the time you wasted."

Hearing this, Zhou the carpenter's wife tugged at his clothes, saying, "Such generous terms, hurry up and agree!"

"Then I'll give it a try!"

"Then you guys discuss how to do it and what materials you need. I'll be going now."

Everything is settled; now we just wait for their research results.

She felt that Zhou Fu was not a boastful person and believed that he would eventually make a waterwheel.

After Zhang Xixi returned, she went to find Wang Daniu and asked him to arrange for someone to harvest hay in the next few days.

“Boss, why don’t you let my wife go? She feels bad about getting paid so much for just cooking all day.”

Zhang Xixi raised an eyebrow and thought, should she agree to let someone offer them work?

Cooking must have been a very difficult task for her, unlike the easy task for housewives in ancient times.

"Won't that affect her cooking? Besides, she'll have to deliver the cut hay to my house!"

Wang Daniu scratched his head and chuckled, "This kind of work is easy for my wife. She can cut the grass first, and I'll help her carry it to the neighbor's house at one o'clock in the afternoon. Is that alright?"

Zhang Xixi nodded, "Sure, as long as it doesn't interfere with your work."

"Let's start tomorrow then!"

After arranging things, Zhang Xixi went to the pasture and carried all the cut grass back home.

Although the village children help herd the cattle during the day, they still need to eat grass at night.

Time passed slowly, and the villagers' labor exchange program came to an end!

The previously cleared wasteland was planted with sweet potatoes and peanuts. However, this time Zhang Xixi only sprinkled some growth nutrient solution after they sprouted and then left them alone.

Therefore, the sweet potatoes and peanuts are estimated to mature in two or three months, in order to avoid conflict with the rice harvest time.

A month later, Zhang Xixi's rice was ready to be harvested, while the rice of other families in the village would not be ready for harvest for several more days.

Looking at the golden expanse of rice paddies, the villagers exclaimed that with so much grain, they would certainly not go hungry!

The weather was clear and sunny that day, without a single cloud in the sky!

Wang Daniu and his brothers carried seven or eight threshing machines and tools to the rice paddy, while Zhang Xixi and Zhou Yujie followed behind with sacks.

Because the rice in the village has been ripening recently, Zhang Wenbo let the children help at home and gave them a ten-day holiday.

Zhang Xixi thought to herself, how could a farmer not know how to do farm work!

So it would be good to let Zhou Yujie and the two babies go to harvest rice together and help with the sacks!

When they arrived at the rice paddy, Zhang Xixi first explained to Wang Daniu and the others what ratooning rice was, leaving them all completely bewildered. Could it really be harvested again after doing this?

The villagers who had come to join in the fun also looked at Zhang Xixi with suspicion, wondering if it was true!

"Everyone, when you harvest the rice, leave one-third of the plants as I told you. I'll take care of the rest." After saying that, he demonstrated the approximate length of the leftover rice plants.

Wang Daniu also shouted, "Do as the boss says! We should trust the boss!"

After he finished speaking, he led everyone to cut rice and thresh it.

When the villagers saw that Zhang Xixi had finished her work, they quickly came over to ask her what was wrong.

Zhou Dashan was chosen as the representative, while the others listened from the side. Zhang Dacheng and Zhang Wenhong came over with their tools and stood by to watch.

"Sister-in-law, how confident are you about this ratooning rice? Will it affect the next season's crop?"

"Actually, this is the first time I've done it this way. I learned it from a book. If you take good care of it and fertilize it properly, it will mature in two months and won't affect the growth of the next crop."

After saying that, Zhang Xixi looked at them and said, "Actually, I'm just experimenting. What if it succeeds? You can wait until my family's rice is successful next year before you try it."

Zhou Dashan thought to himself that Zhang Xixi usually wouldn't do something she wasn't sure of, and he guessed it was the same this time. He figured his family would do it the same way!

He made a decision in his heart. Moreover, their fields were exempt from taxes this year, so even if they failed, it wouldn't matter. If they succeeded, they could harvest half again as much grain.

The problem is that we don't have enough fertilizer at home.

Some people in the village thought the same way: let's give it a try!

Zhang Dacheng thought it was worth a try. "Daughter, this method is good, but the fertilizer is a bit of a problem!"

Zhou Dashan and the others also looked at Zhang Xixi, hoping she could come up with a solution!

Zhang Xixi was planning to use the soil conditioner and growth nutrient solution again, but with so many villagers, it probably wouldn't work, so she wasn't planning to change jobs at the moment.

"How about the village organizes people to go to the town and county to collect some night-blooming jasmine? Rotten fruits and vegetables would also work!"

Zhou Dashan thought about it and realized that this was the only way to do it!

"That's settled then. I'll go back and tell those who want to make fertilizer to come to my house tonight to discuss it."

Zhang Xixi then reminded everyone, "You can go to the cattle and horse market or ask around among brokers to see if there are any connections!"

"Okay, thank you, sister-in-law!"

After everyone left, Zhang Xixi looked at Zhang Dacheng and Zhang Wenhong, "Dad, I can provide you with some medicine, but we still need to make some organic fertilizer first, that will make it more effective!"

Zhang Dacheng nodded, "I know that. We'll go collect them together after the villagers discuss it. Do you still want them?"

Zhang Xixi said shyly, "Yes, we do, but we don't have enough people at home to go. Could I contribute more money?"

"We still need to discuss this with the villagers to see how to distribute the harvest. If it's distributed per person, your second brother and I will both go and give one share to your family!"

"Thank you dad!"

"Why are you so polite!"

Zhang Dacheng and Zhang Wenhong looked at the way Wang Daniu and the others were harvesting rice and followed suit!

This year's rice grains are plump and there are many plants; they are growing very well!