Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

Grandpa Ji pursed his lips: "Originally I didn't want to say it, afraid that people would spread rumors and affect the girl's reputation, making it difficult for her to find a husband in the future. But I thought about it last night, and it's the girl's achievement that belongs to her. If the girl is capable, why should she hide it? Only if the girl is capable will she not be bullied, especially a girl. Only if she is capable can she not be controlled by her husband's family."

Niu Gensheng nodded: "That makes sense. The worst thing is if the child isn't capable. If the child is capable, we old folks have to acknowledge it and let go. Don't worry, brother, I won't go around spreading rumors. Yongling is almost ten years old now, and in another three or four years he'll be able to find a husband. We elders all understand."

Grandpa Ji smiled and nodded in satisfaction.

Niu Gensheng picked up the small steamed bun and handed it to Grandpa Ji, saying, "These eggs are a little something from my wife, for Yongling and Manchuan's family."

Grandpa Ji declined, saying, "It's just a small thing, not worth it. You should take it back. You have children of your own, keep it for them to eat."

Niu Gensheng put the basket down at Grandpa Ji's feet, took two steps back, and said, "I'm busy, brother, just accept it. You can have Yongning or Yongzhou return the cage to me later."

Before Old Master Ji could say anything more, Niu Gensheng cut him off, saying, "Brother, if you need livestock for tilling and plowing this year, feel free to use my old buddy. Don't be shy, I'm off—"

Grandpa Ji picked up the cage and said, "We have a mule this year, so we don't need your ox."

After setting the eggs down, Grandpa Ji picked up his hoe and prepared to go to the fields, with Ji Yongling following behind, also carrying a hoe.

Grandpa Ji looked up at the sky, then turned to Ji Yongling and said, "I'm going to the fields. What are you going to do with me? The sun is too strong today. You stay home and make rope with your grandma."

Ji Yongling pulled the large straw hat hanging behind his neck forward and put it on his head, saying, "Grandpa, it's alright, I'll just go take a look and come right back."

"Alright then." Seeing that Ji Yongling was determined to go, Old Master Ji thought he would go and see if he could withstand the heat and would definitely come back.

The two arrived together at the edge of their own plot of land.

Ji Yongling stood at the edge of the field and saw a gentle breeze blowing, stirring up layers of green waves that spread across the fields and surged into the distance, merging with the blue sky and white clouds in the distance, creating a breathtaking scene.

I don't know if it's because of the high altitude, but the sky in Northwest China is always very high, and the clouds drift freely, just like the loess land, which is profound and healing.

But what use is beauty compared to being well-fed and clothed?

She once saw someone online say, "The Northwest is a paradise in the eyes of some people, it is vast and free; but it is also a desolate place in the eyes of others, it is barren, poor and low-yielding."

In her previous life, Ji Yongling was not from the Northwest, but from the first day she arrived here, she felt that she belonged to the Northwest and that this place should be her other hometown.

Looking out over this sparsely vegetated yellow land, whether you call it desolate or barren, it has truly nurtured countless people in the Northwest and guarded the gateway from the Central Plains to the Northwest and Southwest throughout history.

Although most of the Loess Plateau is characterized by continuous gullies, Ningping County is located on a plateau, so most of the arable land is on flat land, with some terraced fields cultivated on the hillsides, mostly planted with sweet potatoes, potatoes, and beans.

Grandpa Ji inspected the dark green wheat and rapeseed in his field, hoeed the weeds around the edge, and said, "This rapeseed will be ready to be harvested soon."

Ji Yongling nodded, carefully examining the wheat and rapeseed of this era. Although her family had never grown wheat before, they had grown rapeseed.

However, the rapeseed in front of him, which Grandpa Ji had carefully tended, was far inferior in growth compared to the rapeseed plants of later generations that were taller than a person. Not only were they short, but they were also sparse and scattered. Although they had formed pods, they were not very plump and looked malnourished.

Looking at the wheat in the field, it seemed to be growing only stalks, without producing ears, much like malnourished refugees from some continent in later times. However, even a layman like Ji Yongling could tell from the cracked yellow soil on the wheat ridges that this barren land was severely lacking in fertility.

Thinking about the accumulation of various chemical fertilizers in later generations, where wheat yields could reach up to a thousand catties per mu and rapeseed yields could reach four or five hundred catties, and then looking at this piece of land in front of him, Ji Yongling felt a chill in his heart.

With such sparse wheat fields, a yield of over 100 jin per mu would be considered a good harvest.

Grandpa Ji would sometimes bend down to pull weeds, sometimes look up into the distance, and finally turn back to Ji Yongling and say, "Girl, the sun is getting strong, let's go back."

Ji Yongling shook her head, looking at the wheat that was half a head shorter than her. Although the ears of wheat were not heavy, the stalks looked like they would bend over at any moment. She asked, "Grandpa, is our wheat easy to bend over? The stalks look very soft."

Grandpa Ji stopped what he was doing, picked up his hoe, rested his chin on the handle, and said, “Oh dear, it’s easy to fall over, how could it not fall over? You’re young and don’t remember, it fell over a couple of years ago. But this year, although there wasn’t much rain, there weren’t any strong winds or heavy rains either, so the wheat is growing well and hasn’t lodged, much better than in previous years. If it were a bad year, a whole field of wheat would fall over and you couldn’t even prop it up, and everyone would have to tighten their belts and go hungry for a year.”

Ji Yongling felt a pang of sorrow. In the agrarian era, when people depended on the heavens for their livelihood, a single misfortune could lead to widespread starvation. He recalled his history teacher's words: "The decline or demise of many dynasties in Chinese history was caused by natural disasters." Ji Yongling could only silently pray for favorable weather.

Ji Yongling looked across the road at the wheat of other people's wheat fields, which were all similar to his own. So he asked Grandpa Ji, "Grandpa, how long has it been since we changed our wheat seeds?"

Grandpa Ji continued weeding, saying without turning his head, "Sure enough, the kids aren't in charge of the household and don't know the value of grain. Everyone in the village harvests their own wheat and saves it for seeds, year after year. Who would bother changing seeds? If you keep changing them, aren't everyone's wheat seeds pretty much the same?"

Ji Yongling choked for a moment, then said, "But, Grandpa, these seeds will degenerate over time. We can find some short wheat that doesn't easily fall over and has large ears of wheat to save for seed."

Grandpa Ji continued working: "What is degeneration? Too old? Kid, you make it sound so easy. Where in the world are there such good seeds? I've lived this long and I've never seen a wheat variety that's not easy to fall over and yields a lot of wheat. If there really were such a wheat variety, wouldn't everyone be fighting over it? How could people still starve to death every year?"

Ji Yongling thought to herself, "I do have some, but I don't dare to take them out casually." She continued to silently pull weeds with her head down.

I don't know if it's because the land is too barren or because it's too dry, but the weeds in the field are dry and wilted, and it's quite difficult to pull them out. After pulling some weeds, you get covered in dirt.