Daily Life in the Countryside After Being Reborn
Chapter 158 - 2: Little Reunion (Third Watch)

Chapter 158: Chapter 2: Little Reunion (Third Watch)

Zhuo Feng would never have imagined that the girl in front of her, who looked like a teenage girl nearly one meter fifty in height, was Xiao Xian. Just as Xiao Xian would never have expected a stranger who casually walked to her doorstep asking for directions to have such a significant impact on her future life.

A new path branched off from the four-year river of life that Xiao Xian had been rushing through at this moment.

"Are you looking for something with Zhu Xiaoxian?" Xiao Xian preempted Yezi who was about to reply, and asked in return.

"I... You’re a villager from Ge Village, right? Then please help me find Zhu Xiaoxian and tell her, her aunt Zhuo Feng is looking for her," Zhuo Feng unconsciously uttered the words she had kept hidden in her heart for four years. Xiao Xian, your aunt has come looking for you, I’m sorry, it has taken me four years to find you.

Zhuo Feng noticed that the complexion of the young man among the two had changed instantly, and his gaze shifted to the girl beside him. As the wind blew, the bracelet on the girl’s hand made a clear jingling sound.

Mixed with the sound of the bells, the girl’s answer was not very clear, but Zhuo Feng still tried hard to make out the six words she said, "I am Zhu Xiaoxian."

The mid-afternoon sun was the most scorching, capable of peeling skin off one’s arms in just an hour. Village Chief Jin Dafu kicked away a pile of snake skins that had accumulated on the field ridge from snakes shedding during their winter hibernation and turned to look at Zhu Shijun who was busy working in the fields.

Ever since Ge Village officially became a provincial-level focus village for production yield, the village’s grain and rice work was divided into several parts. The village chief was responsible for mobilizing all the villagers to grow, harvest, and thresh grain, while the secretary San Gouzi was in charge of external sales. He previously ran a transportation business and knew drivers from all over the country. Without spending much effort, he was able to inquire about the national grain prices. The national policies have been relaxed in recent years, the village’s grain production has been increasing, part of it was sold to distilleries, and the other part was packaged as high-end rice and sold all over the country.

With improved sales and increased demand for rice, it was necessary to raise the yield per unit area. These words were all said by Zhu Shijun. The village opened up some wasteland, and the thirty-odd acres of land behind the mountains were freshly cultivated.

The person in charge of these lands was a young man just over thirty years old who had just returned from outside the village. Hearing that the rice sold well in the village and that there was a minimum grain price set by the village, many young people from Ge Village returned home to farm. With these young men returning, the village became even more vibrant. However, farming was not so easy for the young people.

When the new lands were first cultivated, they used the old method of using alfalfa to fertilize the soil. The seedlings planted in spring grew promisingly, just like the seedlings in other fields. But come summer, whether it was due to too much sunlight or insufficient irrigation, nearly ten acres in the rice fields developed small yellow spots on the leaves. Initially, it was thought to be insect damage, and the introduction of frogs was supposed to reduce the pest damage. However, after the start of summer, those spots spread across the rice like a wildfire.

On the narrow leaves or the leaf sheathes, spots appeared as dots, streaks, and patches. The lesions changed from their initial yellow to a grayish-white, and the sides of the leaves began to curl inward. From a distance, the fields appeared to be covered in a desolate color.

"It looks like it’s been afflicted with banded leaf and sheath blight," concluded Zhu Shijun. For the village’s rice fields, Mr. Zhu had embraced the knowledge from the ground up, even attending a technical training course for agriculture in the countryside organized by Guiyang, regardless of his advanced age. Now he could nearly accurately diagnose any disease of rice.

"How did it get infected? Haven’t we been planting according to the rice planting manual?" Jin Dafu frowned upon hearing that the rice fields were diseased. The rice from their village was welcomed by the market, largely because they didn’t use pesticides and provided two seasons of consistent and safe supply. The ten or so acres of diseased rice fields could only be abandoned for now. The most crucial thing was to identify the cause of the disease.

"It’s a problem with the soil; I need to go to the city to ask about the specific solutions," Zhu Shijun picked up a chunk of mud. The lecturer in Guiyang was a rice expert from the northeast of his age. Zhu Shijun was more knowledgeable about horticulture; his knowledge of rice was entirely based on what was accumulated over the years in Ge Village.

"Let’s go another day, Mr. Zhu. You’ve really worked hard these past few years," Jin Dafu rubbed his hands and glanced again at Mr. Zhu’s sunburned areas and newly sprouting white hair, feeling a twinge of guilt. Initially, they invited Mr. Zhu to the village to provide him with a place for recovery and convalescence, but now it turned out that he had to hustle everywhere. He also had to report to the Guiyang Police Station every month, wondering whether his body could withstand it all.