Chapter 382: Achievement
Editor: Atlas Studios
Teacher Liu was guiding Bowen in writing his thesis. When he saw Mu Yangling nod slightly, he lowered his head and continued reading. He had already decided to participate in this year’s Fall Quarter Examinations, so time was tight.
Mu Yangling did not disturb him and bowed with Bowen before retreating.
Breathing in the fresh air, Bowen couldn’t help but pat his chest and say, “It’s so stressful studying with him now.”
Mu Yangling stroked his head with a smile, but Bowen shook her hand off and pouted. “Sister, I’ve already grown up. You can’t touch my head anymore.”
Mu Yangling retracted her hand readily. “I want to go home to take a look after I’m done checking on the situation here. Do you want to go back with me?”
“How many days?”
“I’ll be done in five days. I’ll probably stay for seven to eight days when I get home. Of course, you can choose to only stay for two to three days since you still have to study. I’ll get Cousin Lang to send you back then.”
Bowen thought for a moment and nodded. “Then I’ll tell Sir to hurry up with my homework since I’m going home for three days.”
Mu Yangling nodded with a smile. Bowen was going home to accompany his mother and younger siblings, while Mu Yangling was heading back to check on the experimental plots.
The weather in Xingzhou Prefecture still left much to be desired this year. This was unfortunate for Mu Yangling, but also fortunate. This way, the crops in the fields would definitely suffer a poor harvest. On the other hand, the fortunate thing was that they could test if those rice seeds could withstand drought.
When Mu Yangling returned to Chenggu Garrison, Liu Ting and Liu Yuan were also in the fields. They were fertilizing an acre of rice fields to contrast with the fields that were not fertilized.
When Liu Ting saw her, he said excitedly, “Ah Ling, the drought-resistant seeds from last year are indeed much better than the ones from before. Look at the comparison between the two sides. For last year’s seeds, 80% has entered the grain filling stage. As for the supposedly good seeds bought from the grain store like everyone else, only 30% has entered the grain filling stage. The difference is too obvious.”
In order to make it easier to observe, they had chosen two adjacent plots of land to experiment on. This way, one could tell at a glance.
Mu Yangling pinched the grains that had just entered the filling stage, and her eyes lit up. “You have to pay special attention to the pests here. The last time I came over, I realized that the grains here seem to attract more pests.”
Liu Yuan said nonchalantly, “Since there’s good food here, the pests will naturally come.”
Not sure if this was the reason, Mu Yangling felt that they had to test at another spot to confirm this hypothesis. At the very least, she had to make sure that the growth conditions on both sides were similar before she could compare them. She did not know when she would be able to reach a conclusion, but conducting such experiments required a long time to begin with.
“Regardless of this reason, we have to record it in detail. Although the crops have entered the grain filling stage, there’s still more than a month before they can be harvested. If anything goes wrong, these five acres of grains will be rendered useless.”
Liu Ting had a solemn expression. Liu Yuan looked at the two of them and said, “But they have entered the grain filling stage.”
Chen Sanzhu and Xu Jian also said with a smile, “Miss, although there’s still more than a month, we experienced farmers can estimate the harvest just by looking at the grain filling situation.”
Mu Yangling was puzzled. “Hasn’t anyone encountered a rice blast1 or an insect plague?”
In her previous life, when she went to the fields to play, she often heard the farmers complain. Just as they were about to harvest, they had encountered a rice blast or insect plague, resulting in zero harvest that year. Although she was young then, her memories became clearer as she came into contact with planting in this life.
Chen Sanzhu said, “I’ve encountered an insect plague before, but only once so far. It’s quite tragic—we couldn’t even harvest an acre worth of seeds. But we shouldn’t be so unlucky, right? Even my father only encountered it once in his life.”
However, Xu Jian asked curiously, “What is a rice blast?”
Liu Ting and Liu Yuantong were curious, too.
Mu Yangling didn’t know either. She tried her best to recall the rice blast that the farmer uncles had mentioned that year. She described, “Something like the grain stalk or bottom fell sick, so the nourishment and water couldn’t be transmitted to the top. Then, the grains that were about to ripen died. Haven’t you seen it before?”
Liu Ting and Liu Yuan shook their heads. As the oldest among them, Chen Sanzhu had never heard of it either. However, Xu Jian thought about it seriously and said, “I think I heard the elders in our village mention it before, but I don’t remember clearly. But Miss, be it pests or rice blasts, we usually don’t encounter them. It might not even happen once in ten years.”
So the insects in this world had a conscience? In her previous life, everyone could not kill them even with pesticides, but here, people were not particularly worried about the insects.
“Then estimate the yield, but you still have to record their growth status.” Mu Yangling paused before continuing, “Search the edge of the field for any male rice plants that grows especially well but doesn’t ear.”
The four of them widened their eyes. “There are male and female rice plants?”
Mu Yangling had come up with this name herself. She had never learned agriculture before, so she could only deduce it from some rough impressions. “The grains are usually hermaphrodite, but there are also some grains that are strictly male, so they only seem to bloom and don’t bear fruit. Such grains are very resistant to drought and disasters. I want them to mate with the grains we’re planting now. I don’t know what the outcome will be, but the premise is that we can find such grains.”
Mu Yangling’s idea opened another door for everyone. Liu Ting thought for a moment and said, “It’s similar to grafting fruit trees.”
Mu Yangling nodded. “The principle is similar. Both combine two varieties in order to obtain more outstanding varieties. Not only this kind of male rice, but also the wild rice that grows in the wild. In the wild, no one fertilizes and waters the plants, or removes the weeds, but they can grow tenaciously. In some aspects, they’re definitely better than the grains planted in our fields. Although I don’t know if the cross-bred grains will be better than the current ones, after a few more experiments, we might be able to find good rice varieties. At least, in the end, everyone will have a choice.”
When the four of them heard this, they were all eager to give it a try.
If they could cultivate a new rice seed, even if they weren’t highly educated, they knew that this merit would be enough to leave a mark in history.
These four people had thought that they would simply be mediocre all their lives. Hearing this, they couldn’t help but feel emotional.
Mu Yangling gave them directions and checked on the situation in the field before turning around to go back.
Chen Sanzhu, Xu Jian, and Liu Yuan wanted to continue fertilizing, but Liu Ting followed Mu Yangling back. The three of them did not mind. When the four of them were together, they also took Liu Ting as their leader.
Because Liu Ting was the eldest cousin, Liu Yuan had always listened to him at home and was used to it.
Chen Sanzhu and Xu Jian had no choice. They were Mu Yangling’s long-term workers, while Liu Ting and Liu Yuan were Mu Yangling’s uncles. Moreover, Mu Yangling had also told them to follow Liu Ting’s instructions, so when they saw Liu Ting follow Mu Yangling back, they thought that he had gone to report the situation.
Liu Ting had indeed gone to report the situation, but that was only one aspect. Besides that, he wanted to borrow an agriculture book from Mu Yangling to read. “Did you learn about those things from the agriculture book?”
Mu Yangling shook her head. “Some are, and some aren’t. Uncle, one needs to think when reading books. Only then can you open up a new path. Although we don’t know if that path leads to the abyss or a bright path, we have to discover it before we can walk upon that path. Only by walking on the path can we find out the situation behind. If it’s the abyss, we can always turn around and note down that path before taking another one. If it’s a bright path, we can see if we can discover more paths while walking forward, so that we can have more bright paths to choose from.”
Liu Ting nodded thoughtfully. “Then give me two agriculture books. Your Uncle Yuan and I will read them when we’re free.”
Smiling, Mu Yangling nodded. She returned to the house to retrieve the books and also handed him the “Three Character Classic”. “I meant to send to Cousin Lun and the others to study. However, they don’t seem to be too willing. Actually, it’s not that I’m asking them to take the Imperial Examination, but it’s always beneficial to recognize more words.”