With Lady Wang’s secretly help, except appearing before Ling Jinghan alone in the morning, Wang Yunya never had a chance to see him again the whole day. Every time as she was about to sneak out, Lady Wang or Wang Jinyu would stop her. And only when eating, they would avoidably meet, but everyone was there, and Ling Jinghan and Ling Jingpeng purposefully avoided her, so she also had no chance to pick a talk with them, one could imagine her anxious but helpless expression.
On the side of the old Ling family, as Ling Jingxuan had expected, the old lord locked up Lady Jiang and her daughter after going back. After the whole family spent a horrible night, they finally realized they got fooled by Ling Jingxuan. He didn’t send someone to notify the yamen at all. While feeling much relieved, they also faced a new problem—whether Lady Jiang had really caught a plague. If she did, none of them could escape. But if not, why did she grow blisters all over? Someone in the family already suggested burning them. The old lord was anxious but could do nothing.
However, those things had nothing to do with Ling Jingxuan and others. Since they had just delivered the jam, it was not in a hurry yet. But in the afternoon, Ling Jingxuan didn’t stay home to make jam, but took the wolf daddy and the two cubs to that plum woods again. Their whole family and Zhao&Han couple, in two groups, one group was responsible for picking plums, while the other cutting branches. Thanks to the Crescent Spring water, even if it was a chopstick-long branch, it could live after he grew it in the yard, which also indirectly saved them a lot of time digging seedlings.
ραпdα nᴏνa| сom “Jingxuan, is this also used to make jam?”
Unlike picking wild grapes, they had to scatter around and work alone. To pick plums, one had to climb onto a branch to hit down those plums, while another picked them on the ground. Two working together could make it a lot quicker. So, over ten of them were working together, while the wolf daddy as their bodyguard lay aside sleeping with the two cubs.
“Yeah, most of it is used to make jam, and I also want to spare some to make fruit vinegar. I will show it to Shopkeeper Zhang some other day, maybe we’ll have another income.”
Everyone was either picking wild fruit or cutting branches, only Ling Jingxuan walked here and there to check around, and sometimes even hid in the grass to flip around, soon, the pack basket not far away was full of herbs.
“Hehe…Jingxuan really has a flexible brain, compared with him, we are like a bunch of stone heads.”
Hearing that, Han Fei couldn’t help joking, and others also supportively chuckled, Ling Jingxuan shook his head, no longer picked up the talk. The mountain with herbs all over was like his own private herb garden. Every time he would pick some by the way. For the convenience of the storage and the strengthening of the efficacy, he would clean them with clean water and then made into different kinds of pills using the Crescent Spring water. Of course, there was also some poison among.
“Oh right, dad, weren’t you supposed to take care of the land? Why did you come here with Zheng Da?”
After picking a basket full of all kinds of herbs, Ling Jingxuan stood up and stretched himself. With his split vision sweeping over Ling Chenglong who was working with Zheng Da to pick up the wild fruit on the ground, Ling Jingxuan had another doubt. That was eighty mu of paddy land, enough for his dad to be busy with. As far as he knew, now should be the best time of planting late rice. And by November, they could eat their own rice.
“There is nothing to be done. The fields that have just been harvested need to be well cared for until next year's harvest.”
Speaking of his own land, Ling Chenglong showed a simple and honest smile. That’s whole eighty mu of land! To village families, is there anything better than land for them? Now they should also be called substantial family.
“No late rice?”
Ling Jingxuan picked his eyebrows. Aren’t there supposed to be two seasons of rice, or even three seasons? Isn’t it a waste of one season only a year?
“What late rice?”
Ling Chenglong wondered. Having lived more than 30 years, he had not heard that it had early or late rice. Isn’t it always transplanting in March or April and harvesting in June or July?
“Well...”
Stoned, Ling Jingxuan was suddenly aware of what. Zhou Er on one side cut in, “In the south, they really have two seasons of rice, but the after manuring has to be in time. After the harvesting of the late rice, a large quantity of straw ashes has to be buried under the land. And when spring comes next years, those straw ashes would turn into the best manure to supplement the nutrition of the land and make it more fertile. Before, our family had been doing like that. But I heard that other regions only grow one season, which should be because of the weather thing.”
Zhou Er was a southerner, so he knew well about the farming methods of the South. He had heard a lot about farming in other regions of the kingdom all along the way.
“Really?!”
Ling Chenglong resolutely forgot to pick the wild fruit, excitedly rushed to Zhou Er’s side. If they can grow two seasons of rice, then their 80 mu of land can be immediately planted now?
“Well, my lord, the climate in the south is warm and the late rice harvest is just right at the end of October. I'm afraid it's a little difficult here?”
Nonsense! If it’s not difficult, how could it ever be their turn till now?
Ling Chenglong who had just been excited for a little while instantly got his shoulders collapsed, cursing himself for being too hasty in the heart. If it could really grow two seasons, someone had already done that! Even if it would be tired for the after care, no farmer didn’t expect two harvests. One should know, Qingyang county was known as having more people but less land. Who could resist the big temptation of two seasons of rice?
“It's not that absolute. Dad, if you want, we can have a try. Maybe we’ll succeed.”
Having no heart to see him so disappointed, Ling Jingxuan curved his lips. As far as he knew, in twenty-first century, even three seasons a year might be possible, let alone two seasons. As long as they could grow seedlings and take care of the land well, manure the crops in time to supplement the nutrition the rice needed, three seasons of rice might be an extravagant wish, but two seasons would be quite possible.
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