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墨書 Inktalez
As the dull thunder of the Awakening of Insects rolled through the clouds, Lin Dahe knelt on the ridge, digging into the soil. The dirt slipping through his fingers was a healthy dark brown, the straw buried last year had already decomposed into a fluffy texture—this was the result of the compost he had improved according to the system's formula. In the distance, a clanging sound echoed; Cui Xiaoman was setting up new bamboo water pipes with several half-grown children, and the spring sun had reddened her arms as she rolled up her sleeves.
[Annual Task Released: Doubling Yield Plan]
[Goal: Average yield of four stones (approximately 240 kilograms) per mu in a three-mu test field]
[Reward: 10 pounds of drought-resistant wheat seeds, unlock "Intercropping" technology]
[Failure Penalty: Mandatory recitation of the annotated version of "Qimin Yaoshu" (Note: for 72 hours)]
Lin Dahe stared at the crying emoji on the screen, his mouth twitching. Ever since the Mad Old Woman went missing last winter, the system had taken on a particularly twisted sense of humor. He picked up a stick and drew six squares in the thawed mud, marking each with different symbols.
"Are you setting up a formation?" Cui Xiaoman asked, shaking her wet hands as she leaned closer, droplets still clinging to her hair. As she bent down, the handle of her sickle jabbed Lin Dahe's shoulder.
"Crop rotation between beans and wheat," Lin Dahe said, pointing at the soil map with his stick. "These two plots will plant soybeans after harvesting wheat, and those two will plant wheat after harvesting soybeans. The remaining two..." He suddenly paused, as the tip of his stick poked a small hole in the mud—farther away on the ridge, Old Wang's pipe was puffing out blue smoke.
The old man moved swiftly, showing no signs of having crossed sixty years. He grabbed Lin Dahe's harrow that was turning over wheat stubble, his veins bulging like old tree roots on the back of his hand. "What a waste! The fertility built up over winter in that stubble field, and you're using it to plant beans?"
"Wang Shu, let me explain..." Lin Dahe began, but before he could finish, the old man squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil. In his dark fingers, several white mycelia glimmered in the sunlight.
"Look! Look!" Old Wang's pipe trembled violently. "The symbiotic fungi from wheat roots provide the best fertility in the world!" He suddenly tore open his collar to reveal a scar as large as a bowl on his collarbone. "Back in my Wanli years in Henan, I witnessed firsthand the famine caused by ruining stubble fields..."
Cui Xiaoman suddenly interjected between them, holding out a ceramic jar. "Wang Grandpa, try this freshly brewed bean sauce!" She lifted the oilcloth covering it, and the rich aroma of fermentation immediately diluted the smell of gunpowder. The old man stared at the whole beans in the sauce, swallowing hard.
Seizing the opportunity while Old Wang was distracted, Lin Dahe quickly turned over the last row of wheat stubble into the soil. The system promptly popped up a notification: [Nodule bacteria efficiency for leguminous plants increased by 15%, indigenous strains recommended for inoculation]. He pulled out a small ceramic bottle—this was cultivated from herbs left by the Mad Old Woman mixed with last year's soybean nodules—ever since she went missing, these jars had become his most precious inheritance.
As the sun climbed over the willow tops, women gathered by the well to wash clothes. Aunt Ma's sharp voice cut through the sound of pounding clothes: "...Last night there was green light again! I saw it clearly through the fence; something was rustling under those bean sprouts!"
Lin Dahe exchanged glances with Cui Xiaoman. Ever since they began experimenting with bean-wheat rotation, Aunt Ma had been like a cat smelling blood, spreading rumors around the village every few days. Last week she claimed that locust gods were drawn to their test field; two days ago she spread rumors that soybeans caused infertility; today it escalated to "demonic light."
"I'll go."
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