The villagers gradually dispersed.
Cheng Wanwan is also preparing to go home to unload the goods.
Li Zheng walked up to her and said with a serious face: "Da Shan Niang, ducks alone are not enough."
Cheng Wanwan knew that ducks were useful, but thousands of acres of farmland required at least 10,000 ducks, and they were adult ducks. If locusts came overwhelmingly, these little ducks that were less than a month old would be of no use at all.
"Before the locust plague last year, there were several small-scale locusts flying in. At that time, no one took it seriously. Who would have thought that in just a few days, all the farmland would be destroyed..." Li Zheng sighed. He said, "The drought has finally been solved. I'm really afraid that locusts will come and everything will be over..."
Because the harvest is about to come, the whole village has not been saving food recently. Anyway, new food will be delivered to the warehouse in ten days and a half, so there is no need to save.
If a locust plague suddenly comes and the whole village will be out of food within three days, what will we do then...
Cheng Wanwan also realized the seriousness of the problem.
The number of locusts today is small and we can get rid of them with luck, but what about next time? What about the next time?
She recalled what happened in her previous life, but she couldn't think of any key points. She had never been exposed to farm work and didn't know how to drive away locusts. The duck thing was probably because the locust-sweeping duck army became a hot topic, otherwise she wouldn't even raise ducks in advance. Know……
You still have to buy a book, modern agricultural technology should mention the locust plague.
She said: "Uncle Li Zheng, don't worry, there must be a way. Let's all think about it..."
Li Zheng really didn't know who to ask, so he chatted with Cheng Wanwan for a few words. He sighed and looked at the gradually plumping grains in front of him, and the wrinkles on his face deepened.
Cheng Wanwan returned home, locked herself in the room, and bought a book on modern agricultural locust control in the mall. After buying it, she realized that this book was too thick, with 700 or 800 pages, which was thicker than the Xinhua Dictionary. Be thick... She silently put the book under the bed board and read it slowly when she was done.
She started to work on lunch. Wu Huiniang wanted to help, but she sternly refused. Anyway, the boys were not picky eaters, so they just cooked it casually. She could also make wild vegetable pancakes, pimple soup and so on, and the taste was pretty good.
While cooking, Zhao Dashan came in and asked her: "Mom, how big a house are we going to build and how many rooms are we going to build?"
Cheng Wanwan said while cooking: "At least each person has a room, so that if he marries a wife later, he will have to build another house. There must also be a lobby, a kitchen, a study room, and yes, the most important thing is a toilet... "
The current latrine at home is just two wooden boards on top of a large pit. Every time she goes to the toilet, she has to do a lot of mental construction before she can go in. What she wants to improve the most is the toilet. How to improve it needs to be carefully thought out.
Zhao Dashan nodded, mentally calculating how much adobe he would have to dig.
However, with his little mathematical skills, he couldn't calculate how many adobe bricks were needed, but he knew that when the Li Zheng family built a house, the adobe bricks were piled up in front and back of the house before they started construction. Later, when it was not enough, they spent more money. I went to other people's houses to buy adobe bricks to make up the money... The house my mother wanted to build was about the same size as Grandpa Li Zheng's house, so I had to fill up the front and back of the house first.
After lunch, which was the hottest time of the day, there was no one in the fields.
The four boys in the family worked together to make clay bricks. The clay blocks were dried in the sun and then moved to the back of the house and stacked neatly.
Zhao Youyin, Zhao Youcai, and Mrs. Zhao also came over now.
Cheng Wanwan took the old lady to the temporary workshop at the back: "Mom, you are responsible for heating the hot water, and put the boiled water in the vent to cool..."
This work is not tiring at all. Sit on the stove, pay attention to the heat, and when the water in the pot boils and bubbles, pour the water into the bucket, and then start to boil the next pot of water.
Because she was not busy, the old lady had time to look around.
Her two sons, Li Zheng's two sons, and Loach's father next door, were all washing the ice powder seeds with their heads down, and they didn't even have time to be lazy.
The eldest daughter-in-law, who she always looked down upon, took the crushed ice powder seeds aside, put a piece of fine gauze across it, carefully filtered it, opened her eyes wide, and picked out the black seeds in the ice powder. Careful and detailed.
The old lady walked to the front yard. The four boys in the big house were busy making adobe bricks, and Xia Hua was sitting under the tree wrapping hay.
Even Wu Huiniang in the room is not idle. She is lying on the bed, using the rags left over from cutting clothes to make linings. She plans to use the shredded fabrics to make shoe uppers. After autumn, they will no longer be able to use them. If you are wearing straw sandals, you have to wear cloth shoes...
Mrs. Zhao stood at the door for a long time, and Wu Huiniang didn't notice her.
She finally understood why the eldest daughter-in-law had to find so many people for help. The family was really busy, and they didn't even have time to chat.
She thought the eldest daughter-in-law was just being lazy, and she had misunderstood the eldest daughter-in-law.
While she was sighing, Zhao Sanniu put down the farm tools, walked in and asked his mother, "Is there no water at home? I'll go pick up a few buckets of water."
Cheng Wanwan glanced at the woodshed: "We have to chop some more firewood and come back. Let's put aside the adobe work for now. You and Ergou go chop wood together."
She paused and continued, "By the way, Si Dan, the ducks in the field have to be driven back, the chickens need to be fed, and we can dig some wild vegetables back for dinner..."
One thing after another, she ordered them in an orderly manner.
Mrs. Zhao blamed herself more and more. The eldest daughter-in-law had taken care of the house in an orderly manner, but she was the one worrying about it day by day.
She felt that it was unworthy of her to show her kindness to her eldest daughter-in-law even though she had so much free time, so she took a handful of hay into the backyard, boiled water, and wrapped the hay around her.
At this moment, Zhao Sidan's excited voice sounded in the yard.
"Cousin, why are you here and you brought your luggage? You won't leave this time, right?"
He really likes this eldest cousin. He is better at reading than Tiezhu. He can understand it once he is told. His current goal in life is to become the second Cheng Zhao.
Mrs. Zhao, who was wrapping hay in the backyard, suddenly felt bad when she heard this.
Why is the eldest nephew of the Cheng family here again, bringing luggage, and not leaving anymore?
How can this be done? How can a boy named Cheng come to live with the Zhao family?
Even if I received subsidies from time to time in the past, how can I move here and live in the Zhao family's house? Is this the end of the world?
Mrs. Zhao put down the hay in her hand and quickly walked to the front yard.
Cheng Wanwan also walked to the front yard. When she saw the two large cages in front of Cheng Zhao, the smile on her lips became much deeper.
This box should be full of books. The four boys can learn one-tenth of it, and they have earned it.
Before she could say anything, Mrs. Zhao said anxiously: "Boy from the Cheng family, your second aunt's house is so small, why are you here to join in the fun? How can you, a scholar, live in such a shabby house? This is not an insult to you as a scholar. Identity..."
Cheng Zhao looked humble: "In ancient times, there were scholars who used the earth as their cover and the sky as their cover, and they wrote amazing works. Only in a difficult environment can one achieve perseverance. Cheng Zhao thanked his second aunt for taking him in."
If his second aunt hadn't asked him to teach his cousins how to read, he would probably have nowhere to go now.
The second aunt loves him very much. She used to use money to love him, but now she shows him a way.
No wonder a sage said that it is better to teach a man to fish than to teach him to fish. Today he finally understood this truth.
