Crossing Over to Yamada Love

That bag contained the shells of hickory nuts, which are a traditional Chinese medicine that can treat cancer.

However, the shells of hickory nuts are poisonous. She remembered that in her past life, her mother-in-law had told her that a family had thrown hickory nut shells into their fishpond to feed the fish, and all the fish died. If it could kill fish, it could also kill aphids.

Mo Lan dried and stored the pecan shells on a whim, thinking that since they were a medicine, she might need them sometime. Now she plans to crush the pecan shells, mix them with crushed oleander leaves to dilute them into water, and then spray the water onto the wheat field.

Oleander leaves are also poisonous, so she figured that putting these two together might help deal with aphids. Whether it works or not, she had to give it a try.

In addition, there are tobacco leaves. My grandfather smokes a pipe and has grown a lot of tobacco, which he has dried and stored. Soaking tobacco in water should also work.

She told Wang about this, and then everyone started to crush the walnut shells and oleander leaves with a mallet. The tobacco leaves were also crushed and soaked separately in water. After soaking, the water was drained, and the residue was discarded, for fear of being too toxic.

The Mo family used a car to take these people to the wheat field. In this era, there were no watering cans, so they could only use scoops to evenly spray the wheat into the field.

Seeing the plump ears of wheat covered in a layer of wheat worms, Mo Lan felt a pang of heartache. Too many worms meant a smaller wheat harvest, and if they ate the wheat, there would be nothing for people to eat. She hoped her method would work.

It took two days to finish sowing all the wheat in the field. After that, Mo Lan and Mo Quan came to check on it every day to see if the weevils had disappeared.

"Girl, take a look, aren't there fewer aphids?" Mo Quan looked through the wheat ears and saw that there were far fewer aphids. He was afraid that his old eyes were getting worse, so he hurriedly called to his granddaughter.

"Master, you're not mistaken, there really are far fewer. Our method worked!" Mo Lan beamed with joy. She truly hadn't expected it to be so effective; the worms were almost completely gone.

"That's good, that's good, I feel much better now." Mo Quan exclaimed twice, feeling a huge weight lifted from his heart.

"Uncle Lao Mo, what's so happy about this? This year's wheat has so many aphids, why are you so happy?"

Just as the two were having a good time, they heard Liu Dalaizi from the same village asking questions in another wheat field. Judging from his appearance, he was probably also worried about the aphids in the wheat field.

“Big Lai Zi, the lice in my field are almost gone. I’m so happy,” Mo Quan replied with a smile.

"What? The aphids in Uncle's field are almost gone? Let me see." Liu Dalaizi said as he walked into the Mo family's wheat field.

He looked through them carefully, his face filled with disbelief.

"What? What's going on? My wheat field is infested with aphids, but why don't you have any aphids in your field, Uncle?"

“Big Lai Zi, your uncle’s family has cured lice. Your uncle has a way.” Mo Quan stroked his beard and looked at Liu Big Lai Zi with a smile.

"What method? Uncle, please tell me. I've been so anxious and stressed these past few days. Uncle, look at me, my mouth is all rotten." Liu Dalaizi said to Mo Quan, pointing to his mouth.

“Yes, I told you. Go back and tell everyone, and have the clan chief tell each family to get rid of these parasites. If they are cured, we can harvest a lot more grain.” Mo Quan had no intention of keeping anything secret. The villagers all depended on the land for their livelihood, and harvesting more grain was of utmost importance to them.

The Mohists shared their method for treating aphids, and some were grateful, while others were distressed, as they had no hickory husks at home. Of course, a few families also spoke unpleasantly, saying that hickory husks and oleander leaves were poisonous, and even if the aphids were cured, people would be poisoned. After such talk, quite a few families dared not pour water that had been soaked in the soil into their fields.

The Mo family ignored these concerns. They believed that as long as they kept their word, it was up to others whether they listened. Mo Lan and the others then scattered wood ash into the wheat field again. Wood ash was a valuable substance, effective in preventing pests and diseases and killing bacteria. The Mo family burned a considerable amount of firewood daily, so they had no shortage of it. Except for what was needed for the outhouse, they scattered it all into the wheat field.

After the aphid incident, the wheat shoots gradually turned yellow, and once the wheat shoots turned yellow, they were not far from ripening.

There's an old local saying: "When the wheat turns yellow, daughters go to visit their mothers." This means that once the wheat ears turn yellow, daughters typically buy gifts and return to their parents' home to see their mothers.

Wang had no daughters and didn't need to entertain guests, but she still gave Qiu and Liu a day to go back to their parents' home.

While other families in the village were busy entertaining guests and visiting relatives, the Mo family started to harvest corn in the afternoon.

Planting corn in wheat fields is considered intercropping. By the time the wheat is harvested, the corn has also grown. When the time comes, the wheat stubble is pulled out and turned into manure, which is considered to provide nutrients to the land.

When it was time to plant the corn, the Mo family members all pitched in, pulling two bags of corn seeds to the edge of the field and pouring them into a cloth bag. This cloth bag was made of two pieces of cloth sewn together, with a rope on top that was hung around the neck. The cloth bag was in front, filled with corn seeds. You could reach in, grab a handful, and throw them into the pit.

Mo Lan and Mo Quan were in the same group. Mo Quan was digging a small hole with a small shovel, and he was facing Mo Lan.

After he dug the hole, Mo Lan would throw in two or three corn seeds, then fill the hole with her foot. After finishing one row, she would go back and dot the next. Once the corn seeds in her cloth bag were used up, she would run to fill it again. As for how many or how few she filled, it depended on the individual. As long as it wasn't too heavy, otherwise it would be too heavy on her neck. Of course, she could also wear it diagonally across her body. How she used it was up to her personal preference.

After two days of planting, the corn planting was finally finished. Mo Lan then asked us to plant three acres of peanuts. Peanuts are rarely grown here; people mostly use soybean oil. The soil isn't particularly suitable, but Mo Lan always felt that peanut oil tasted better than soybean oil, and besides, peanuts have many more uses and ways of being prepared. Planting some is a good idea.

The method for planting peanuts is similar to that for planting corn; both involve soaking the soil in pits before planting.

The Mo family spent two more days busy preparing peanuts, and finally got everything done. Before they could even catch their breath and rest for a few days, it was time to harvest the wheat.

The sickles were already gleaming, and the Mo family members, wearing straw hats, pulled their carts and headed into the wheat fields. Along the way, they encountered many villagers dressed similarly to them, who greeted them with smiles.

Upon arriving at the land, gazing at the golden waves of wheat, everyone felt a surge of joy. This was all grain to be harvested! With smiles on their faces, they lined up, each taking a row, and began harvesting the wheat.

First, cut two bundles of wheat, then pick up the wheat heads and tie a knot, stretching it out to both sides to make it appear long. Place the cut wheat on top. After about enough time to make a bundle, compact the wheat and then tie the two bundles together.

In this way, the bundles of wheat were left in the field in an orderly manner. Then Mo Quan went forward and carried the bundles of wheat onto the cart and put them away.

Mo Mei and Mo Lan were also responsible for carrying wheat. Mo Mei was alright, but Mo Lan often got her hands pricked by the wheat awns while carrying them. Getting pricked by wheat awns didn't hurt much, but it was uncomfortable and a little itchy.

The cart was full. Mo Quan took a rope and swung it from the back to the front of the cart, tying it securely so the wheat wouldn't be unstable and fall off. Then he slung the cart over his shoulder, and Mo Mei and Mo Lan pushed the sides of the cart from either side, and the three of them carried the wheat back.

They pulled it into the backyard and unloaded it. Because the Mo family's backyard was spacious, they didn't need to bring the wheat into the threshing ground. The threshing ground was for public use, and often one family hadn't finished before another was urging them to finish. Now that the Mo family had a large courtyard, they didn't have to compete with others for the threshing ground.

The wheat stalks were placed down and the ears of wheat up in the yard to dry. After drying for two days, they were laid flat on the ground. A large stone roller was prepared in the yard. The stone roller was pushed over the wheat and rolled over it several times until the wheat grains in the ears fell off.

The Mohist men picked up the wheat stalks and began to shake them off. After shaking them off, they piled the stalks into heaps. Those that were not completely flattened were grouped together, and the Mohist women took large clubs and began to pound them.

After cleaning out the wheat grains, they were also thrown onto the wheat pile. This pile was very compacted, large, and thick, and was also called a wheat straw stack. People often used it to start a fire, as it was very easy to ignite.

After cleaning the wheat ears, spread the wheat out to dry. After drying for half a day, use a scoop to gently scoop up the wheat grains, which is equivalent to turning the wheat grains over.

After drying for a few days, the wheat was completely dry, and then it was bagged. The grain handed over to the government was directly bagged.

For their own consumption, they would use a winnowing basket to remove any dirt from the wheat.

Winnowing is a lot of fun. You have to use different forces with both hands, one hand lifting up and the other hand lowering down. The wheat husks, small clods of dirt, and other debris are all shaken out of the winnowing basket. After cleaning them up, they are put into bags and saved for grinding into flour.

Mo Lan tried to winnow the wheat with a winnowing basket, but no matter what she did, she just couldn't get it right. Either she would spill the wheat out, or she would drop the winnowing basket on the ground, which made everyone laugh.

After the wheat was harvested and cooled, the Mo family breathed a sigh of relief. They got up before dawn every day and worked all day long. Everyone was tired, but the harvest made the tiredness worthwhile.

Mo Lan looked at the sprouting corn in the field and felt joy in her heart. The green color was pleasing to the eye. Other people's corn had only been planted for a few days, but hers was intercropped and it was already sprouting. How could she not be happy?

She looked up at the sky, her joy waning considerably. The sky was clear and cloudless, without a breath of wind. "Oh dear! It's time for rain. The fields need water, whether it's their newly planted crops or their own already harvested ones. Without rain, the fields will dry out, and the crops probably won't grow well."

Mo Lan was a little worried, but whether it would rain or not was not up to her; she could only wait a few more days and see.

Several more days passed, and still not a single drop of rain fell.

"Grandpa, what are we going to do if it doesn't rain? There's no water left in the fields, do we have to irrigate them?" Mo Lan couldn't help but ask her grandfather, who was frowning and smoking his pipe.

"Irrigate the land? How can we possibly irrigate all that land?" Mo Quan took a puff of his pipe, looking at his granddaughter. He thought that irrigating even small plots of land, like half an acre, would be manageable. But with so many acres, irrigating them would be impossible; even if people worked themselves to death, they couldn't finish.