Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn
Chapter 101 - 73: The Seed Assembly (Second Night Watch)

Chapter 101: Chapter 73: The Seed Assembly (Second Night Watch)

The villagers coughed and gossiped as they always did. Ever since Secretary Qian became the secretary of our village, the opening remarks at the village meetings had been the same few sentences, and after over a decade, even Granny Zhao, who was the most hard of hearing in the village, could recite them from memory.

"After approval from the village committee and a collective signature by me and the village chief, we have decided to launch an imported rice cultivation project starting next year.

Anyone interested in participating in this project should come to the village chief after the meeting to press their fingerprint and sign a contract, one per family. Next spring, the rice seeds will be distributed accordingly." Secretary Qian finished his last few sentences, picked up his enamel tea cup, and took several loud sips.

The villagers seemed to not have fully grasped it yet, murmuring among themselves like a drizzle.

"What’s that? What is imported rice?"

"It’s the rice from foreigners."

"Do foreigners eat rice too?"

"Everyone, quiet down," as the leader of the village, Jin Dafu always stepped up at crucial moments: "Let’s not discuss this any further. We have already begun planting imported rice, you all have seen the few acres at the entrance of the village, right? After the harvest in the fall, it didn’t take long for another crop to grow, and in a couple of months, we will be able to harvest again. Those three acres of land have produced, roughly estimating, two thousand kilograms per acre this year."

People in Ge Village weren’t well-educated, but a lack of education didn’t prevent them from understanding basic figures, such as yield per acre.

Two thousand kilograms, this number, was more convincing than Secretary Qian talking for an entire day and night. The previous dissenting voices dissipated like pebbles tossed into the sea.

"I’ll plant it."

"Me too."

"My family has many members, can we get more rice seeds?"

That evening, the village chief was so busy taking fingerprints that his hand swelled up. Although his fingers hurt, Jin Dafu was delighted. After the meeting, he sat under the locust tree, gazing at the rice fields rustled by the night wind, envisioning another scenario for next year where every villager would be sitting on their heated brick bed, counting money in their hands.

Their Ge Village was no longer that poor mountain village that relied on subsidies from the town.

The night was as dark as ink, the village chief’s yellow teeth gleaming in the night.

After that day’s village meeting, Zhu Shijun went home and consulted Sister-in-law Lian thoroughly. He personally thought that Xiao Xian was fortunate to have gotten good rice seeds from India, but all the farming tricks and labor were from Sister-in-law Lian.

However, Sister-in-law Lian had been personally involved from the beginning of Xiao Xian’s farming—from using alfalfa to fertilize the fields to transplanting seedlings, she didn’t miss a single step, so when the old man asked, she really could explain everything clearly.

Master Shan Yin found Sister-in-law Lian’s seemingly bizarre new farming methods hard to digest initially; he even made a trip down to Bai Family Ancient Town to consult an old technician and returned to the mountain with a pile of new materials after several nights of reading by lamp light. Only then did he find that a foreign expert had also used a similar method to enrich the soil and was reassured to promote this method across the entire village. He then transcribed a "Ge Village Rice Paddy Operations Guide" in the simplest language based on the villagers’ farming habits.

With this guide, the village’s rice paddy operations became more standardized, but according to the operational standards, the whole village needed to plant alfalfa in their fields before winter. Village chief Jin Dafu was energized and broadcasted the guide with his robust Southwest-accented voice for over ten days.

That winter, there were fewer men and women idling at the village entrance; every household had planted alfalfa in their fields. The once withering fields soon sprouted greenery, significantly improving the soil fertility for the next year’s alfalfa.

Xiao Xian was initially concerned that the effectiveness of the rice seeds that hadn’t been soaked in "Immortal Liquid" would be greatly reduced, but when she heard from the village chief that next year’s yield goal was only one thousand kilograms per acre, her worries disappeared.

Improving rice varieties was only a temporary method. As long as they followed Xiao Xian’s method of enriching fields and maintained the stability of the seed quality, in five years, the soil quality of the mountains in Ge Village would greatly improve.

Once the villagers tasted the benefits, they would also change their backward production models. By then, the yield of rice seeds would gradually increase; even if it couldn’t reach two thousand five hundred kilograms per acre, reaching one thousand five hundred kilograms wouldn’t be a problem.

Xiao Xian’s second big year in Ge Village was approaching quickly. Due to the New Year’s celebrations, the usually quiet temple at the foot of Black Mountain also prospered. Master Shan Yin was busy all day blessing people, the temple’s school was closed, and Little Taozhi had no one to look after her.

After weighing his options, Master Shan Yin asked Xiao Xian, who had a good relationship with Taozhi, to act as a temporary caretaker. At first, Zhu Shijun was worried that Xiao Xian would be too busy, but Yezi’s mother mentioned that in the mountains, it was common for older kids to take care of the younger ones—seeing a seven or eight-year-old girl looking after her two or three-year-old brother was everywhere, so the old man had no objections.

Taozhi was more mature than the average baby; not even a year old, she could already crawl on the ground. However, Xiao Xian, not accustomed to the smell of candles and paper money in the temple, took Taozhi to Miao Village to wander around.

After the temple school closed for the break, Yezi didn’t idle either. After the New Year, he turned thirteen. Boys his age grew like wild grass—cut one stalk, and another sprouted.

In just a few days, fuzzy hair appeared around Yezi’s mouth, his voice deepened, and his Adam’s apple became more pronounced.

A thirteen-year-old boy from a Miao family was considered almost an adult head of the household. Li Quqi then began to teach him silver-making. The demand for new silver crafts in the Miao family was high during the New Year, and Li Quqi’s workshop was non-stop busy. This busyness lasted until the twenty-ninth of the New Year, and only on the afternoon of New Year’s Eve did they finally catch a break.

Thus, the second New Year in Ge Village arrived. (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian at qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)