It has been sunny for several days, and the rice in the fields has slowly turned yellow.
The growth time of ratoon rice is very short, and it differentiates very quickly. It usually matures within two months. The end of September and the beginning of October is the time to harvest.
Li Zheng was holding a meeting under the big locust tree in the middle of the village. Every household officially went to the fields to harvest rice. Secondary rice is different from first-crop rice. It is more complicated to harvest and the speed will be relatively slower, but it doesn't matter, as long as it can When food comes into the warehouse, the villagers will accept it no matter how troublesome it is.
Cheng Wanwan's whole family went out to work. Cheng Zhao and Shen Zheng, who read every day, also put down their books and followed them to the ground.
There is a lot of rain in autumn. If it rains during the harvest, the rice will easily become moldy and rotten in the field. The whole family was busy day and night, and it took four days to collect all the rice.
After taking it back, it doesn't mean that the work is over. There are still a lot of things to do next.
When Shen Zheng first came, it was the time of harvest in late summer. Now it was autumn. After two months, he no longer rejected these farming tasks. He followed Zhao Dashan to dry and thresh rice. Even Cao Yingying, the rich lady, She did not hide and be lazy. She followed Wu Huiniang's example and threshed the rice. Watching the golden rice grains fall into the wooden basin, she felt a sense of pride in her heart.
This time, the yield per mu of regenerated rice has reached 140 kilograms. Adding the yield per mu of the first crop of rice, it is an astonishing 340 kilograms! Moreover, the first crop of rice production was reduced due to the locust plague and drought. Based on previous years' production, one acre of land can produce at least four to five hundred kilograms of grain, which simply subverted everyone's imagination!
Cheng Wanwan herself was a little amazed. If regenerated rice were popularized, the lives of the people at the bottom would improve many times.
But these are not things she can decide.
She continued to worry about her family. Fortunately, the ground in her yard was now paved with blue bricks, and it was more efficient to use stone rollers to thresh the rice.
While she was busy, suddenly many villagers in the village came towards her door.
The leaders were Li Zheng's wife and Mrs. Zhao, followed by many women, each carrying a cloth bag in their hands.
Cheng Wanwan hurriedly came out: "What happened?"
It was the busy time of autumn, why did these people come to her house in groups?
Li Zheng's wife said with a smile: "Didn't we agree before that after the harvest of the second generation rice, each family in our Dahe Village would bring you ten kilograms of rice? If you hadn't proposed to leave rice stubble, who knew there would be another good harvest? The yield per acre is 130 to 40 jins, and my family harvested more than 1,000 jins, all thanks to you!"
Aunt Wang squeezed in: "You deserve these ten pounds, take it!"
Mrs. Zhao untied her cloth bag and said, "I brought you the driest rice specially. It weighs ten kilograms, so hurry up and put it away!"
Cheng Wanwan covered his face.
The old lady was obviously hinting to other people in the village not to use wet rice as payment.
Sure enough, she saw a few women in the crowd leaving quietly, probably going back to change rice.
Mrs. Zhu walked in carrying two cloth bags: "Dashan Niang, this is the rice for our family and Dashu's three children!"
Since Widow Zhang left, Mrs. Zhu has been living together with Widow Zhang's three children. Although they live together, they are still two households, so they gave a full twenty kilograms of dry rice.
Cheng Wanwan pushed the rice bag back: "Grandma Zhu, you don't have a son. Dashu and the three of you have no elders. It's not easy for you. How can you give me these for free? I can accept other people's, but the lonely old people and children in the village I will never accept your things."
Mrs. Zhu's attitude is also very firm: "Without you, there would be no second bumper harvest in our village. It is all thanks to you that we will not be hungry this year. These twenty kilograms of grain are far from enough to express our gratitude, but it can only You’ve taken out so much, you have to take it if you don’t want to!”
She tore open the rice bag, poured the rice onto the drying ground in Cheng Wanwan's yard, and then turned around and left. This old woman was old, but she walked very fast, giving people a feeling that she was getting younger as she lived. .
With Old Granny Zhu in front, the clever young people in the village have no excuse not to give them food. Even Granny Zhang, who has never dealt with Cheng Wanwan, came over with ten kilograms of rice, not completely dry rice. , with a little moisture, there will probably be about eight or nine kilograms left after drying.
After all the rice was delivered to the whole village, Cheng Wanwan's family had nearly two thousand kilograms of extra rice, which was equivalent to the family's total harvest in two years. Fortunately, the house at home is big, otherwise there would be no room to store it.
Her momentary thought allowed Dahe Village to have a good harvest again, and it also allowed her to gain the goodwill and gratitude of most people.
He Xiao was sitting at the door basking in the sun. Dahe Village was very busy during this period, but he was very free. After finishing the two wooden swords, he only had one thing left every day, and that was to take good care of his injuries.
He sat at the door and watched the people in the village busy harvesting and plowing rice. For some reason, the empty space in his chest seemed to be filled with something.
Even such poor people at the bottom are working hard to live a good life. Why is he so depressed?
Could it be that after leaving the He family, he would no longer be He Xiao?
He Xiao closed his eyes and continued to bask in the sun.
At the entrance of the school, Master Yu was painting. He had not picked up a painting for a long time, but after coming to Dahe Village and seeing everything prosperous here, he always had the idea of reciting poems, composing poems, and painting. In just a few days, he has drawn several pictures, including the picture of the whole village working together to catch pigs, the picture of swaying rice ears in autumn, the picture of the rising sun in the village, the picture of villagers busy harvesting, the picture of students reading... Every picture is full of meaning. It was full of upward vitality, infecting him and making his heart agitate.
The harvest was gradually coming to an end, and Li Zheng called every household to have a meeting at the big locust tree.
"I called everyone here this time to talk about tax payment." Li Zheng stood on a high stone and said loudly, "Our Dahe Village has a bumper harvest this year. Although this bumper harvest is not what everyone expected, it is not. It’s not what the court expected…”
Before Li Zheng finished speaking, Zhang Laiyi said loudly: "Uncle Li Zheng doesn't want us to pay one more tax. This harvest is an unexpected windfall. The court didn't say we have to pay taxes. How can we do it ourselves?" Give it away for free!”
Li Zheng's voice became more majestic: "The imperial court has expressly stipulated that as long as the grain grows in the fields, taxes must be paid. If the imperial court does not mention it, it does not mean that it is not needed. Instead of waiting for the government to forcefully harvest it, we should Why don't we take the initiative to pay it ourselves! Moreover, the county magistrate said that our village only needs to pay one-fifth of the tax, which is already much luckier than other villages!"
Mrs. Zhao said: "I heard that other places have not been able to survive the famine years, and they all rely on the court to open warehouses to release grain. If the court's grain is gone, those people will become refugees. Will we still have the peaceful days we have now?"
As soon as these words came out, many people around them nodded. If there is no food, they will become refugees. If there are too many refugees, they will become bandits. When the world is in chaos, the food in hand will not be preserved.
