Rebirth Farmhouse

Chapter 73

Qin Dafu said: "Father, it rained a lot, and there were two plots of land before, and it was almost there. Maybe it's a little less than we thought."

Old Qintou still couldn't let it go, "Then last year I estimated that our family, your third uncle's family, and Er Dada's family were not all that bad. Why is there so much difference this year?"

Xiuyao and Xiuli were twirling the rope under the light outside the window. She heard this and leaned over and said, "Grandpa, do you think there is something wrong with the bucket where they collect the grain?"

She knew that people here did not weigh the weight in catties like modern people did when harvesting grain, but directly measured it with buckets or dendrobium.Ordinary people basically use liters and buckets when measuring mileage on weekdays, and ordinary people may also have such utensils, but ordinary people definitely don't have it.

The dendrobium here is generally made of wood, with a narrow top and a wide bottom, with a protruding drum shape in the middle. One dendrobium is five buckets, which is half a stone.

Xiuyao has done some research before, and it is purely personal preference. After all, since she works in an ecological farm, she also specially presided over a project that combines tourism and experience. Naturally, she has to do some research on ancient life, such as Food, clothing, housing, transportation, mills, old measuring vessels, etc.

When the ancient landlords were collecting rent, if there were treacherous people, they could tamper with the dendrobium, for example, to block a board under it, and pull it down when collecting rent, so as to hold more grain, and when lending money, it would be Plug in the board, and there will be less food.In this way, one more and one less, sometimes a lot of food can be lost.Not only that, but if it is those who are more vicious, they will use different dendrobium, the big dendrobium for rent, and the small dendrobium for lending. The difference is even more than one-third.

Xiuyao just wanted to remind her grandfather that there might be something wrong with it.

Qin Sanshun scolded in the room, "You little girl, what do you know, the Zhou family is known for being kind, how could you do such tricks."

Qin Ergui disagreed, "Father, what if what Yaoyao said is possible?" If that's the case, then his heart is too dark, they are all neighbors and folks, and he is a little anxious when he talks about it. up.

Old Qin knocked on the cigarette pot twice, "Boss, what do you think?"

After paying the rent, Qin Dafu didn't say much. Just now, the old Qintou said that the discrepancy was too big with the estimate, and he replied. Now he heard the old Qintou asked again, he hesitated, "Father, if you want to talk about the Zhou family's , they are indeed very benevolent. In previous years, when disasters happened or something, the land rent was reduced as soon as possible. This year, everyone was caught in the rain, and they reduced the rent by [-]%, but the court did not reduce it. But one yard counts for one yard, if Dad’s estimation is correct, the food is indeed much less.”

The implication is that he also suspects that there is something wrong.

Qin Ergui yelled: "Father, Uncle Zhou may be fine, but I think that Zhou Papier has a problem with his designation. He is sneaky and sneaky. It is not a good thing at first sight."

Everyone said that the housekeeper of the Zhou family was not as kind as Uncle Zhou, and he often did things that went against Uncle Zhou's wishes.

Qin Sanshun snorted, "Second brother, you will read again, when will you meet each other?"

Qin Ergui said: "Then why didn't he allow us to get close to that Dendrobium, and didn't allow us to approach it when paying the rent, and let them pretend there. We should check whether there is any problem with his."

Old Qintou hummed, "If there is something wrong with the housekeeper this week, maybe Uncle Zhou doesn't know about it. He overcharged the food and then took it for himself. It would not be very good for the reputation of the Zhou family. I think we need to remind Zhou. uncle?"

He was a little uncertain. Although they used to have friendship with the Zhou family, it was a long time ago. They are old, and now they are just trying to save face. If it is a theory, why would they care about the Qin family? Woolen cloth.

It's just that if there is really a problem with the Dendrobium, Old Qintou is not willing to be cheated like this. Once the harvest is achieved, there is basically nothing wrong with it.But don't forget, the wheat in the field is harvested by their own hands, and what the harvest is, they also saw it when they were playing, and it is estimated that they are basically close to each other, and the difference will not be that much.

He knocked on the cigarette pot, "Tomorrow we will be collecting rent in the east field, let's go and have a look."

Xiuyao was also very curious when she heard it, and said to Old Qin through the window: "Grandpa, can I go and see?"

In fact, there is really nothing to pick up the wheat. The farmers here are generally poor. Who is willing to throw a lot of wheat in the field? Besides, it is all harvested with a sickle, followed by tying. It is not a modern combine harvester. How can there be so much wheat? The wheat is easy to fall, it is better to mow the grass and fertilize it.

Old Qintou said: "Okay." Then he said to Mrs. Zhang who was busy in the main room: "Let the girls not have to pick up the wheat, either follow them to the cotton field and the sorghum field to learn, or go to mow the grass and retting. Both the pigs have to be fed and the pigs have to be fattened."

Mrs. Zhang didn't object after hearing this, there are still many lands at home that need someone to keep an eye on them all the time, she said: "Then go mow the baskets of grass in the morning, rest at home at noon, and cut another basket at noon. "

In the early morning of the second day, Xiuyao took the basket and went to mow the grass by herself. Based on the lesson from last time, she hid from the Zhou family's land in Houzhen to avoid unnecessary troubles.

The riverside is rich in water and grass, so Xiuyao mowed the grass along the ditch. The ditch here is gentle, and it was dug purely for drainage. The flood season has not yet come, and there is no water in the ditch, but it is not dry, so the grass grows well. Very lush.

While mowing the grass, she observed the surrounding land and food crops, and found that the land was mostly wheat, sorghum, soybeans, and peanuts occasionally. Most of the stubble land was planted with millet, and if the millet could not be planted, most of the land would also be planted with beans.

There are quite a few lands that look very barren because of poor cultivation, or poor crop rotation, and little fertilizer. The crops inside are also dry, which makes people feel unbearable.The main reason is that there is a shortage of fertilizers here, so we can only rely on manure and livestock manure, and then there are manure and plant ash.Compared with the more popular green manure in the south, there is less here. Xiuyao's analysis may be that she does not want to let the ground grow white and grass or crops that are not harvested, so as not to rob the ground of fertilizer.Moreover, if green manure is planted, the production of serious crops may be delayed. After all, the temperature in the north is low, so either wheat is planted in winter or the next year's spring field is empty. It is impossible to plant green manure in winter.

While she was watching, she suddenly jumped up to her alone, and laughed twice, "Hey, what a coincidence!" Xiuyao was taken aback by surprise, she turned her head to look, but it was Liu Qing from her grandfather's village—— ——Is the grandson of my grandfather's six cousins.

Seeing the people in Grandpa's Village, Xiuyao was also very happy, "Brother Liu Qing, why are you here? My grandma's family is fine."

Liu Qing smiled and said: "It's all good, your brother is still studying with you." When Liu Qing said that Qin Yang was studying with him, Xiuyao was very happy, and Liu Qing said: "I will accompany Master Ning to check on you The river course of the village is coming."

Xiuyao asked in surprise, "Is there still a river in our village?" I used to watch TV and read books, and always heard that the rivers were being improved, and I thought they were those of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River. It's far away from here.

Liu Qing scratched her head, "I don't quite understand what Young Master Ning said, hey, he's here." He stretched out his hand and pointed to the west, and Xiuyao saw Gu Ning leaning on a stick, followed by two There were two servants, one of whom was carrying a pair of shoes, and the three of them walked over slowly.

When he was close to him, Gu Ning sat down on the stone by the water, washed his feet by the river first, a servant immediately took out a handkerchief to wipe his feet, and another servant put the shoe uppers on him.

Xiuyao had a lot of fun watching it. It was the first time she saw someone serving the young master when she came here. Since she was afraid of getting dirty, why didn't someone carry it on her shoulders? She smiled slightly and looked at it, wanting to take a closer look at the ancient What does the young master look like.

Although she had known Gu Ning for a long time, she hadn't looked at him carefully before. This time, she happened to see the servant serving her, which aroused her curiosity.

Gu Ning came ashore, looked up at Xiuyao's bright black eyes, and couldn't help smiling, "Xiuyao, you are mowing grass."

Xiuyao smiled and said, "Yes, Young Master Ning, you are investigating the river... have you told me?"

Gu Ning nodded, "My husband asked me to choose a topic for an article, so I'll come down and have a look."

Xiuyao became even more curious. Writing an article requires such a field trip. She is really a serious and good student. Could it be that he also needs an internship like she did back then?Don't they read the Four Books and Five Classics?
"Is there a river here?"

Gu Ning's eyebrows were a bit dignified, he nodded and said: "Of course, there is the Yellow River in the northwest, if the embankment is not solid during the flood season, the Yellow River may burst, and once the embankment breaks, it will flood At that time, Henan and our northwestern part of Shanxi will be affected. At the same time, here will also be affected and the river will rise sharply. If there are not enough river channels to dredge the rapids, it is likely to flood the cottages and farmland."

Xiuyao, who had experienced flood fighting in [-], knew the tragedy. She immediately became serious, and she respected and admired Gu Ning a little more, "Master Ning studied this at such a young age, it's really amazing."

Gu Ning usually received a lot of compliments and compliments, but he didn't expect that such a little girl would give such admiration for what she did, with a serious expression and a serious tone, she didn't look like a child at all. Joke.

He smiled, and said modestly, "You're flattering me, I'm just studying, I can't do real research." After he finished speaking, he felt that the explanation was not enough, and added, "Of course, I want to learn this, and after I finish this article, I can go to apprentice."

Xiuyao hurriedly wished him success, and then said politely, "Master Ning has done a good thing that benefits the common people. If you need help, just tell me."

Seeing that she said such kind words at such a young age, Gu Ning didn't despise her, but said solemnly: "Definitely." Then he said to Liu Qing: "You can catch up with your sister, just go back to Zhou's and meet up."

Liu Qing happily agreed, and Gu Ning said goodbye to Xiuyao. After walking a few steps, Xiuyao suddenly remembered something and ran over and said, "Master Ning, I have something to ask."

Gu Ning paused, turned his head and looked at her with a smile, "Say it."

Xiuyao asked: "Well, does the fanmai you mentioned last time have seeds?"

Gu Ning's eyes lit up, he had told several people about this wheat, but no one would be interested in it and asked again - except her, "Do you want to plant it?"

Xiuyao nodded vigorously, "Is that barley more productive than millet? We grow wheat and millet every year, sorghum is not suitable for food, it is too unpalatable, can that barley be eaten? Is it delicious? As long as it is not poisonous , the taste is not like sorghum, so we are willing to plant it." Gu Ning said that, it means that he has seeds, yes, Xiuyao is full of hope, if he can get the seeds, then the future life can be improved.

With sweet potatoes and corn, there is no need to eat black noodles every day. Raising pigs and buying land for money...

Anyway, she is still young, as long as there are seeds, even if there are not many, there will be more the next day.This kind of corn seed is not the kind of high-yielding corn cultivated by modern seed companies but cannot be kept for planting. It can naturally be planted from generation to generation. Even if the yield is slightly lower, it is much better than millet.

The yield of millet is too low, and it is not enough to eat. Old Qin's family has never eaten dry rice once. It is all porridge, porridge, and porridge, which makes her feel watery.

Gu Ning hummed and shook his head, "But I don't have any seeds here." Seeing the little girl Nong Li's big eyes flashed a little disappointment, he immediately smiled and said, "I know that there is a family in the county that has them. Fun in the garden."

Xiuyao thought to herself: What's so interesting, the body of a beauty is the essence of a gentleman, it's not a canna.She couldn't wait to ask; "Who's? Sell it?"

Gu Ning laughed, the little girl was anxious, he said: "It's not a rare thing, it's just for playing, if you want it, I'll write a letter to the county later and ask them to bring some."

As soon as Xiuyao bowed to thank her, she murmured in her heart that she didn't know whether it was right to salute, because at home, their peasant girls didn't pay much attention to their salutes, but they just looked like that. Mistakes are likely to change the meaning greatly, and there are auspicious and inauspicious rituals.She didn't care about it before, but at this moment, she was afraid that she would make a mistake and make people angry, so that the matter about the seeds would fall through.

Gu Ning was surprised to see her suddenly saluting herself so seriously. Seeing that she behaved neatly, she couldn't help smiling, "I'll let Liu Qing tell you if I believe it." gone.

Xiuyao was so excited that she turned around twice, she couldn't calm down, she said before that there were no sweet potatoes and corns, but it turned out that they were all there.The last time she inquired about the Great Xia Dynasty from the school at her grandfather's house, she concluded that it was a dynasty she didn't understand, but it looked similar to the Ming Dynasty, only there were some discrepancies.

She remembered that corn became popular in the north at the end of the Ming Dynasty, while sweet potatoes did not come until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty.It's great to be able to see these two crops at once!

She forgot that Liu Qing was still in front of her, and she couldn't express her excitement after turning around twice, and then jumped up and down with her fists together, Liu Qing was stunned and stunned, could this girl be crazy?

"Xiu Yao?" He tentatively called out.

Xiuyao groaned before she came back to her senses, and smiled embarrassedly, "Brother Liu Qing, have you been following Master Ning these days?"

Liu Qing nodded, "Yes, but we didn't come directly from home. We went to several villages first, and then transferred to here." s reason.

Xiuyao understood and smiled, "My brother Liu Fei is doing well in his studies."

Liu Qing said: "It's ok, Mr. Ren said, there is no problem with reading and writing, anyway, he won't take the examination for the number one scholar."

Xiuyao was happy in her heart, and she didn't have to take the exam for the number one scholar, but literacy was a must, "Brother Liu Qing, you won't come to our house to play when you come." , Isn't this self-inflicted humiliation, maybe Mammy will still think he's coming.

Liu Qing said with a smile: "Master Ning has a lot of things to do there, and I can't leave, or I will go on the first day." After all, working for others is not so free, Xiuyao also understands, and she is just being polite.

Xiuyao asked some more about Qin Yang, and Liu Qing told her if she knew, and if she didn't know, she could only apologize. He was only at home during the few days of wheat harvesting, and he followed Gu Ning around at other times. So it's not very clear.But Xiuyao is already very satisfied. Originally, she thought that her grandfather's house would harvest wheat and women would not go to the fields, and men would still have to work. With the addition of the mill, the third brother might not have much time to study. She didn't expect Liu Fei to be busy with work during the day, and to stay at Mr. Ren's house at night. Learn some new characters every hour, and bring Qin Yang along every time.Even though Qin Yang was young, he learned things quickly, sometimes surpassing Liu Fei.

Qin Yang is a material for studying, Xiuyao is very happy, and feels that there is some hope in the future. If a family wants to prosper, it must have scholars, otherwise even if it is rich, it may not last long.

When her grass was full, she went back to the village with Liu Qing. On the way, Liu Qing asked about the grievances between their family and Zhou Xiaoli's family. Uncle Zhou's family is concerned when they hear some news.

Liu Qing said angrily: "The father and son on Tuesday are really hateful. Even Master Ning doesn't like them. Fortunately, Uncle Zhou is suppressing them. Otherwise, they might become a local tyrant and bring disaster to the village."

Xiuyao also said yes, and she really had to be grateful to Uncle Zhou and Young Master Ning, they were the ones who made the rescue last time.

Liu Qing persuaded her: "You don't have to be afraid, Uncle Zhou and Young Master Ning will take care of it to the end."

Xiuyao hummed, and the two arrived at the field at the east end of the village. Gu Ning had told Liu Qing that he would come here to watch the river. Yao said goodbye and took the initiative to find Gu Ning.

Xiuyao said goodbye to him by the river, and then went to the studio with a straw on her shoulders to see that the butler Zhou of Uncle Zhou's house was instructing people to collect rent.Steward Zhou is a man in his 50s and [-]s, wearing a plain cotton shirt with his sleeves rolled up, gesticulating and gesticulating.

Xiuyao looked around and saw that grandpa and the others hadn't come yet, so she watched from the sidelines and heard Mrs. Zhou waving her arms and said: "Mr. It was hard for the neighbors, so some land rents were reduced or exempted, and everyone behaved very well. The grain paid for the rent was all sun-dried, not freshly harvested. It was very good. Uncle Zhou was very happy and specially praised Qin Si Uncle, praise them for growing their grain well. They rewarded them with a piece of fine calico and some seasonal fruits. We all have to think about our master and dry the grain a little. This way the grain will not be used when it enters the warehouse. In addition, if you dry it in the sun, you don’t have to worry about mold and germs attracting insects, right.”

(End of this chapter)