Carrying a Jurassic on me
Chapter 737 - 371: Collective Grass Planting at Old Crow Slope_1

Chapter 737: Chapter 371: Collective Grass Planting at Old Crow Slope_1

"Cila...squeak..."

Accompanied by a burst of noise and harsh electrical sounds, a large loudspeaker hidden among the leaves of a tall poplar tree let out a few huffing sounds before a young man’s voice, feigning gravity, resounded: "Hello, hello... does everyone hear this? Huh?"

The loudspeaker had been squawking for a while, did he really need to ask if anyone could hear it?

Almost half of the residents of Guan Village would burst into laughter each time they heard this voice.

The one doing the shouting was the youngest son of the village secretary, nicknamed ’Village Chief Xiaoguan’ by the villagers. Each time this boy made an announcement through the loudspeaker, he had a habit of asking whether his voice was heard, and couldn’t form proper sentences without some lengthy preface.

He should have known better. Considering the age of the village’s old and rundown loudspeaker that he kept repairing, every time it was switched on, it would start by squawking for a while. Who in the village, other than the deaf, wouldn’t hear it?

Especially when the boy copied the Mandarin accent used by TV anchors, coupled with imitating the tone of leaders’ speeches on television, even throwing in random "ahs" and "ehs". His standard Sancha River local Mandarin would leave any newcomer doubled over in laughter, wouldn’t it?

"Uh? Everyone already knows about the announcement we made last night, right? The one about Boss Yan of the cattle farm on the town outskirts leasing some land to grow fodder in our village. Since you all know about it, I won’t dwell on it! Hmm, we’ll start working on this matter today. You all know about this, right? Boss Yan came to our village early in the morning with the grass seeds. Hmm, these seeds! You’ll have to sow them the way you sow wheat. Everyone knows how to do it, right? Ah? If so, I won’t speak further, I’ll quickly summarize..."

"Cila..."

A burst of noises came from the loudspeaker, followed by a voice resounding, "Shoo, you little brat, Boss Yan is waiting. If you keep babbling on, I’ll break your legs. Hurry up and say what’s important, talk about plowing, quickly..."

"Dad, what’s the rush? I have to explain clearly to everyone, hey, hey, hey... Don’t snatch my microphone!"

There was a squawk from the loudspeaker, followed by peals of laughter from the villagers as they watched the elder and the younger arguing. Many women in the village were laughing so hysterically they were shaking. It was absolutely hilarious.

Finally, the young man’s voice came to the fore again: "Well, we’re running short of time and have a lot to do, so let’s get to it. As for the grass, before sowing, one needs to plow and harrow the land once each, and then..."

"Slap!"

A slap sound came from the loudspeaker, accompanied by a surprised yell. The secretary’s angry roar could be heard next, "You little rascal...Stay away from me..."

Finally, the loudspeaker began addressing the main point, "Hello, hello, speaking of business matters, everyone should hold back on your personal tasks for today, don’t rush to work in the fields just yet. First, we need to measure the land that’s rented to Boss Yan. Plowing and harrowing of the land will start immediately. All the folks in the village should prepare your tools, gather at Old Crow Slope. Once we finish Boss Yan’s work, we can proceed with our own. Everyone who comes will get paid, those with cart or manure spreader should gather at the village entrance. Remember to bring your manure forks and spades, let’s get to work!"

Followed by a ’slam’, the voice from the loudspeaker stopped abruptly.

In the small room of the Village Committee, even after turning off the loudspeaker, the old man was still not done scolding, he shouted at his son, "Damn you! You can’t even make a proper announcement through the loudspeaker, what the hell are you good for? Go home now. Get our walk-behind tractor out here, hurry up..."

Village Chief Xiaoguan didn’t say a word, he just left with a bowed head, getting a kick in the butt from the old man in the process. Immediately afterward, the old man’s stern face broke into a wide smile, "I apologize Boss Yan, my worthless son loves to ramble when he gets a microphone. Let’s get going and prepare to start work, shall we?"

Yan Fei, who had been greatly amused watching the father and son, stood up laughing, "Alright!"

The old man opportunistically grabbed a small loudspeaker, the sort hawkers use to sell rat poison, before stepping out with Yan Fei.

The moment they stepped out, they saw Pang Fa and Old Gao have already arrived. Their task was to buy fertilizer and they were now hauling it towards them. They probably heard the loudspeaker announcement earlier, and they were rolling with laughter.

Surprisingly, the villagers are really efficient. One after another, people began to gather, pulling handcarts. Quite a few had even brought their oxen along. These commodities are in no shortage in the village. Soon, dozens of handcarts, a tractor, and a few small walk-behind tractors were gathered.

Before everyone could gather, the old man started shouting through the small loudspeaker, "Later, when you see the fertilizer that has been piled up well on the road, don’t care who it belongs to, just use it first. Haul the fertilizer to the fields and spread it immediately. We’ll plow and harrow the fields right away. Everyone knows what to do, so I won’t explain further. Let’s get going, get started!"

To be honest, Yan Fei had never seen such scenes of collective labor mobilizing men and women, young and old in the village before. The only time similar was when he gathered those raising cattle to work for him, but that involved only young people. This time, it was different. Just looking at it made him feel an itch to get down to business.

Fermenting manure is a rural tradition. Currently, chemical fertilizers are comparatively less used, with most being farmyard manure. Sludge, livestock manure, and so on, are piled together until it’s ready for use. Then it’s cleared out and neatly stacked on the side of the road, ready to be loaded onto carts and hauled to the fields when it’s time. After spreading the manure, the fields are plowed and harrowed, and finally sowed.

"Pao" is a dialect term meaning to sow seeds with a wooden tool.

Everyone clearly knows what they have to do, so there’s no need to assign tasks.

The old man was measuring the land with several others. Yan Fei wanted to help but they didn’t let him, telling him to just watch.

As soon as the fertilizer arrived on the tricycle, people asked how much was needed for an acre. Then they shouldered it and went off, scattering it on the land when they got there. In the blink of an eye, the fertilizer was all used up, and Pang Fa and his group just went back—after all, they weren’t needed here, there was still work to do at the cattle farm, and the big shed by the river also needed someone to look after it.

The same thing happened when the cart full of farmyard manure arrived nearby. People immediately went up to help and pushed the cart into the field. Then the people in front would unload piles of manure every few steps, followed by those who would spread the manure around.

There were also people walking around the field, picking up weeds and the occasional small stones.

A few tractors already fitted with ploughs were ready on the fumigated land, and they barged right in.

The rural area generally ploughed the land only after the autumn harvest, so the village was willing to let Yan Fei use the manure that had been prepared—they could prepare new one during the slack farming period, these were all free things, it just took some effort.

Yan Fei watched the land being measured on one side and those working on the other. At first glance, it might seem chaotic, with all sorts of tasks going on. But, in fact, everything was in good order upon close inspection.

When the land was measured, several large wooden stakes were hammered in as landmarks. By then, at least a few acres of land in the middle had already been ploughed.

The large tractor was already fitted with a spiked harrow—a rectangular wooden frame with spikes on it that was hung behind the tractor to level the ploughed land and break up the large chunks of soil.

Usually, two people need to stand on top of this spiked harrow to prevent it from bouncing up and not being able to go down.

After the tractor harrowed a field, some people followed along with small rakes to break up the unbroken clumps of dirt. Waiting for it to pass again, the land was almost completely levelled—this was based on the soil quality, some places required several passes, and some places only one or two.

Ploughing and harrowing were generally done in the autumn because there was a longer idle period for the fields at that time. Usually, they waited a few days after ploughing before harrowing. It was said that this could reduce pest diseases after sun exposure and made the soil more fertile. Of course, there was also a reason that the deep soil was sometimes too wet, and it was not easy to harrow directly.

However, Yan Fei was in a hurry, so this way was also possible. Anyway, the soil here was good, so it could withstand any kind of rough handling.

In addition to those revolving around the tractor, some people were ploughing the fields with old-fashioned cow ploughs. Although it was slow, with enough people and a few more oxen, they could match a small tractor.

While the work was in full swing here, women from the village gradually came over with kettles and bowls, pouring boiling hot water into the bowls, which contained tea leaves—stuff that Yan Fei had once prepared to entertain guests, Half Lotus.

Some were brewing willow leaves—freshly picked in spring and summer, washed and steamed, dried and made into drinks often consumed in the countryside.

In addition, there were mulberry leaf tea, bamboo leaf tea, dandelion tea, etc. The variety was indeed astounding.

Dozens of bowls lined up on the edge of the field, was a sight to behold.

The only thing missing was real tea leaves.

At least two or three hundred people were toiling in the fifty acres of land. The women at the edge of the field had towels and tea bowls ready and when the men would come by, they would hand over the cloths and the tea that had been brewed for half the day. Undoubtedly, there were also young people who had not been married for long, exchanging tender looks—old couples usually showed their love through teasing and bantering.

When a few people gathered together, someone would inevitably crack a vulgar joke, and a group of people would burst into laughter.

The old man, on the other hand, was running back and forth with a small loudspeaker in hand. He would scold those who got too caught up in conversation and those whose work wasn’t up to par. Anyway, this old man was probably a respected elder, so those who were scolded would quickly correct their mistakes with a smile.

As for Yan Fei, he was standing bored under a poplar tree, watching others work.

He had no choice, those who were working wouldn’t let him intervene, they wouldn’t even give him a tool.

While watching, he can’t help but think: The two thousand and five hundred dollars spent was truly a worthwhile investment. Just the scene of so many people collectively laboring was enough to get his money’s worth.

Originally, the annual rent for fifty acres of land was seven thousand and five hundred. Today, Yan Fei had directly given ten thousand to Old Guan. The extra over two thousand and five was considered payment for ploughing and sowing. But he didn’t expect that old man didn’t hesitate to call through a loudspeaker, everyone in the village, except for some elderly men and women, was mobilised to work.

The wheat stalks were still in the field, affecting both the ploughing and harrowing. They had to stop from time to time to remove the wheat stalks and mud wrapped around the plough and the spiked harrow.

With so many people, some directly took rakes to dig up the ground. As they all looked for work, no one was idle...