Chapter 169: Ruining the Crops
Editor: Atlas Studios
Although it was still a long time before the academy opened, many people would rush over early to wait in accordance with the principle of respecting their teachers.
Mu Yangling also wanted to leave a good impression on the teacher, so she brought Bowen here early. She didn’t expect him to not be the earliest.
As Brightminds Academy was not big, there were only two teachers. One had the surname Liu, and the other had the surname Qin. The two teachers were ex-classmates and good friends. After passing the Imperial Examination and getting the title of ‘xiucai1′, they set up this academy together. This way, it would be convenient for them to study while earning some income at the same time.
It had long been agreed upon that Brightminds Academy could at most only accept 50 students at any one time. When the time came, the two teachers opened the door and said to everyone, “First-time students, please stand to the right. Students from previous years, stand to the left.”
Mu Yangling quickly pulled Bowen to the right. When the two teachers saw that the students had separated, they nodded slightly. Mr. Liu walked over with a smile and said, “I’m your teacher. Now, come in with me to register.”
Actually, they had already registered and made payment before spring. This time, they were just taking attendance of the students who had confirmed their registration.
Parents were not allowed to enter the classroom, so Teacher Liu set up a table at the door. The parents lined up with their children and reported the students’ names first before reporting their own. Then, they handed the things to Teacher Liu. They could not help but tell the teacher to educate and scold their child as much as they deemed fit.
When it was Mu Yangling’s turn, Mu Yangling placed the basket at Teacher Liu’s feet and brought Bowen in front of her. Bowing slightly, she greeted Teacher Liu, “Teacher Liu, my brother has poor health. Please take care of him.”
This being the first person to beg him to take care of a student, Teacher Liu looked up and saw Mu Yangling. He immediately smiled. He had an impression of this child. Other families had fathers or elder brothers bringing students to register, but this boy from the Mu family was brought over by his elder sister. It was said that because their father had joined the army and their mother was weak and had to take care of their younger siblings to take care of, that was why the parents could not come.
Taking a closer look at Mu Bowen, he realized that he was indeed younger than his peers and his face was not rosy enough. He nodded and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye on him. You can go back first.” He then turned to Mu Bowen and said, “Go to the classroom and wait. Find a seat and sit down first.”
“Thank you, Sir.” Mu Yangling pulled Bowen to the side and stroked his head. She said gently, “Have you remembered what Sister instructed you in the past?”
Bowen nodded vigorously. “I remember everything.” Bowen looked at the class excitedly. This was the first time in his life that he had left his sister’s side to play with so many unfamiliar children.
Seeing that he was not afraid, Mu Yangling was relieved. She patted his shoulder and said, “Then go in quickly. Listen to your teacher and don’t bully your classmates or be bullied.”
Bowen nodded and ran into the classroom excitedly with his school bag.
Mu Yangling stood outside and watched for a while. Because parents were not allowed to stay in the academy, she reluctantly went back.
Worried, Great-aunt handed the stall to a familiar person halfway through selling the prey and ran over to take a look. When Mu Yangling saw this, she smiled and said, “Great-aunt, go back quickly. Bowen has already entered the school.”
Great-aunt stuck her head out to take a look and asked, “Is the teacher easy to talk to?”
“Teacher Liu is very gentle.” Mu Yangling had chosen this academy back then because she had found out about the two teachers’ character. She said, “Don’t worry. Won’t we know how things went when Bowen returns from school tonight?”
After some thought, Great-aunt agreed. She waved her hand and said, “Then I’ll go back and set up the stall. You should go back quickly too. Didn’t you say that you wanted to nourish the corn? Hurry up and go. I’ll look for you in the fields when I get back.”
Up until now, Madam Ma-Liu still did not understand where Ah Ling’s corn planting method came from. However, since she had already listened to her in the beginning, she could only continue to listen to her.
After 20 days, the corn in the fields had grown. In some pits not a single seedling had grown, but in others, three or four had grown. It was obvious that they had accidentally planted too many in the latter instance.
But now, looking at it, there were more that had not grown than those that had grown.
Mu Yang felt that there were three possible reasons for this. Firstly, it was because the seeds were not good. Secondly, it was because they did not use fertilizer. Thirdly, the plowing was not good enough.
After all, this was nearly 30 acres of land. Mu Yangling had only plowed once, but the clods of earth were still large. The land was not very good, so the corn naturally did not grow well.
Therefore, what Mu Yangling had to do now was transfer the seedlings from the pits with more seedlings to those pits with no seedlings, to balance them out.
Mu Yangling handed a two-foot-long sharp bamboo stick to Xiuhong and Xiulan and said, “Dig with this. Be careful not to hurt the roots when you dig. Just plant the seedlings in the pits. Remember, choose the small and inferior ones, and leave the big ones. Keep the good ones in the original pit. Do you understand?”
Xiuhong and Xiulan nodded repeatedly.
After searching for a long time, the two children said, “There are so few with three or four stalks. Cousin, can we dig up the ones with two stalks?”
After hesitating for a moment, Mu Yangling said, “We’ll dig the closer ones. It doesn’t matter if it’s not enough. Since there are still corn seeds left at home, we’ll fill the pits with seeds later.”
It was probably not good to just nourish the seeds. Therefore, this time, Mu Yangling directly added some fertilizer and mixed some cow dung with the ashes of the wood from the stove. Before dibbling in the seeds, she dug and threw down some fertilizer. This way, even if this batch grew later, its growth would not be too bad compared to the ones that grew earlier.
Mu Yangling and the rest worked for four days before they were done with the 28 acres of land. When they were done, Mu Yangling specially went to the east to see her rabbits and crops. When she approached, she realized that something had eaten a portion of the rice crops that her family had just planted.
Mu Yangling ran over.
The piece of land that had been gnawed on was near the river. Mu Yangling ran over to take a look and realized that it had been ruined. Anger surged within her. Without even wandering around, she saw the ox footprints by the river in the field. Gritting her teeth, she turned around and ran back to the village.
Seeing Mu Yangling’s gloomy expression, Great-aunt asked, “What’s going on? Is something wrong with the rabbits?”
“What can possibly be wrong with the rabbits? Those are Little General and Young Master Fan’s rabbits. Even the heavens wouldn’t dare to treat those rabbits unfairly.” Mu Yangling was furious as she asked, “Great-aunt, who’s in charge of grazing the oxen in our village?”
Seeing that she looked like she had eaten a firecracker, Great-aunt said in a daze, “Who else could it be? Hu Man became the section commander, so the oxen will naturally be distributed by the Hu family. Aren’t we going to start plowing the wheat fields soon? The oxen are all at their house.”
Mu Yangling turned around and ran to the Hu family’s house. Seeing that the door was closed, she kicked it open and shouted, “I want the person who grazed the oxen today to come out!”
The door slammed against the wall with a loud sound. The Hu family’s wives, who were preparing food in the kitchen, were shocked. Madam Hu-Fang ran out and saw that it was Mu Yangling. She immediately smiled awkwardly. “It’s Ah Ling. Why are you here?”
Old Hu walked out with a dark expression and looked at Mu Yangling gloomily.