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墨書 Inktalez
Three-Dimensional Planting is truly feasible!
Yezhi searched through all her memories about Three-Dimensional Planting, thinking about how to persuade Village Uncle to get the villagers to work hard on it!
“Leaf, this is just an idea of mine; if it doesn't work, it doesn't work…” Yezhi interrupted Village Uncle, smiling as she said, “Village Uncle, your method is great! It would be even better if we could raise some fish in the rice fields!”
“What fish are you talking about? There are plenty in the ditches and ponds! Besides, our village does winter fishing every year; why bother raising them ourselves?” Village Uncle disagreed.
Dogzi chimed in, “Sister Ye, if you want to eat fish, that’s easy!” One Egg wouldn’t let Dogzi show off and quickly added, “I’m the expert at catching fish, Sister Ye, starting tomorrow, I’ll bring you fish every day!”
Yezhi was speechless; don’t think of her so narrowly, okay? Ignoring the two bickering kids, she turned to Village Uncle and said, “Village Uncle, there are many benefits to raising fish. They will eat the weeds and water plants in the rice fields, and their waste will serve as natural fertilizer. When the rice is harvested, won’t the fish be a delicious addition to our table? We won’t even have to go out and catch them! We can also raise ducks, but ducks can be somewhat destructive; it’s more suitable after the ears of grain appear.”
Village Uncle scrutinized Yezhi with sharp eyes! Ever since Yezhi brought back seeds, he felt this girl was extraordinary! He welcomed Yezhi to Zhoujiatun with open arms; he had a feeling that Yezhi would be a blessing for Zhoujiatun!
Feeling a bit uneasy under his gaze, Yezhi said, “Uncle…!” Zhou Village Head withdrew his gaze and said, “Alright, I’ll listen to you. I’ll go to Commune to find out where we can get fish fry. As for the ducks, I’ll have Old Accountant tally up how many each family wants.”
“Village Uncle, have you considered vigorously developing aquaculture? The ducks and fish we raise can be sold at the Acquisition Station, or even in the city. Village Uncle, let’s go all out raising fish and ducks, what do you think?” Yezhi boldly expressed her thoughts. With the winds of reform blowing in, being poorer is no longer shameful; that fear belongs to yesterday's Yellow Flower. As a member of Zhoujiatun, she wanted the village to thrive and for Everyone to live well. She used to think that “Everyone being well off is truly good” was quite empty, but as she grew older, she found it made sense; at least everyone is on equal footing, with less conflict and more harmony.
As the village head and captain of Zhoujiatun, Village Uncle lacked neither vision nor courage. As the decision-maker, he pondered deeply over every choice. He rubbed his head for a while while Yezhi and the Kids dared not speak. Suddenly, Village Uncle slapped his thigh and resolutely declared, “I’ll announce to Everyone using a loudspeaker right away! First gather funds, then buy ducks and fish fry.”
Village Uncle hurried away. The Kids, after playing with Black Treasure for a while, also left in groups. These half-grown Kids could be considered half of the household labor force; they were quite busy.
With Black Treasure, Yezhi went to the backyard. After feeding the chicks and tidying up the vegetable garden—something she rarely did before except when picking vegetables for cooking—she watered and weeded. After finishing up, she rubbed her sore waist and looked up at the “Colostrum” oats she had planted three days ago; they were still bare patches of land.
Black Treasure was playing a game of chase with the little chick, while Yezhi watched the agile chick darting around to tease Black Treasure, who was blissfully unaware and hopping around happily!
“Everyone, listen up! I am the village chief, put down your work and hear me out…” The voice of Village Uncle came through the loudspeaker in the village as he talked to the villagers about raising funds to buy fish fry and ducks. Yezhi intended to see if the people from Zhoujiatun would let money affect their relationships and whether they could achieve common prosperity together.
Yezhi stirred the large jar of soy sauce that had been sunbathing and airing out. Yesterday, Aunt Zhou had specifically taught her how to make soy sauce and even let her add the sauce herself; this jar contained new sauce. She walked into the kitchen to start preparing dinner. In the past, Yezhi could cook however she liked, but now Aunt Zhou had certain expectations. Today, she wanted to eat the Cornmeal Pancakes that Aunt Zhou had taught her to make a couple of days ago. As Yezhi kneaded the dough made from cornmeal and soybean flour, she thought about how strange Aunt Zhou had been lately. After handing over the household responsibilities to her, Aunt Zhou had eagerly taught her many things that she had previously forbidden her from doing, which made Yezhi feel a bit uneasy.
After kneading the dough well, she set it aside to rest for a while and placed a large iron pot on the stove, adding three ladles of water. Once the water boiled, she shaped the rested, slightly sour dough into pancakes and lined them around the edge of the pot. Then, she added water up to the bottom edge of the pancakes and covered it with a lid. Sitting on a small stool, Yezhi stuffed corn stalks into the fire to heat it up. Aunt Zhou had said that using corn stalks would make the steamed corn pancakes taste better.
Outside the kitchen, Aunt Zhou quietly leaned against the wall, watching Yezhi make pancakes. She had been back for quite some time and hesitated to enter when she saw Yezhi frowning. Had she pushed her daughter too hard? Aunt Zhou chuckled at herself. If it weren't for her conversation with Barefoot, she wouldn't know how else to motivate her daughter; perhaps one day she would end up driving her away.
In her mind, Aunt Zhou recalled what Barefoot had said: “You worry about her suffering in the future but don’t care if she suffers now! Chunhua, I know you want Yezhi to be happy and joyful; do you really think Yezhi is unhappy now?” Aunt Zhou shook her head vigorously; heaven knows she never thought that way. “Since Yezhi is doing well now! Why are you making things difficult?” Madwoman, holding a leaf, chanted: “Yezhi is beautiful, hee~hee~hee, Yezhi… good!… good! Hee…hee!” Barefoot Aunt smiled and said: “See? Even Madwoman says Yezhi is good. Chunhua, children have their own fortunes; everyone has their own paths in life. Why rush?”
“Auntie, you’re back!” Seeing Yezhi smiling brightly made Aunt Zhou feel a bit shy. “Auntie, are you hungry? The pancakes will be ready soon! You should wash up first!” Taking the basin from her, Aunt Zhou wanted to say something but found herself unable to speak; after turning around with the basin, she walked out. Yezhi, scratching her head, wondered what was going on.
Sitting cross-legged at the heated table, Yezhi broke off half a corn pancake and offered it to Black Treasure, who was eagerly eating what was in its mouth while eyeing the half pancake on the table. It was just enough for a sweet treat; it scratched at the corner of the bed trying hard to climb up and share in this feast. Aunt Zhou took the initiative to feed half a pancake into Black Treasure's mouth. Watching this unfold made Yezhi delighted; this was a first! Blushing slightly, Aunt Zhou said: “Why are you staring at me? Just eat your food!”
“Auntie, I thought you didn’t like Black Treasure!”
“I just find it too plump; I don’t dislike it!”
“Really? Then I’m relieved!” The visible sigh of relief from Yezhi made Aunt Zhou feel even more embarrassed—what was she fussing about? It seemed like her daughter was now living according to her mood.
“Auntie, I want to go to the rice fields tomorrow!”
“Go wherever you want! It’s all fine!” To her surprise, it was so easy today; Aunt Zhou collected the dishes and ran out of the room but quickly turned back. “Daughter, live your life however you want in the future; do what you like without asking me!” With eyes closed, Aunt Zhou spoke firmly.
"Aunt Zhou, I will return the authority of the housekeeper and the financial power to you, if that’s okay." Aunt Zhou nodded vigorously. Seeing Aunt Zhou's sincerity, Yezhi felt happy, as if she had finally been liberated. Looking at the giggling Yezhi, Aunt Zhou realized that their home had been lacking laughter these past few days; it was nice to have cheerful days again.
The next day, Yezhi woke up late, stretching lazily before heading to the kitchen. Aunt Zhou was smiling as she sat on a small stool with Black Treasure in her arms. "Girl, wake up! This Black Treasure's belly just can't seem to get full; I've already fed it two bowls of Millet Porridge!" Yezhi served herself a bowl and drank while watching the interaction between Aunt Zhou and Black Treasure, feeling delighted. It seemed she wasn't cut out to be a strong woman after all; she preferred being her lazy self and enjoying life!
Arriving at the lush green rice fields, One Gun Brother was firing his gun into the sky while Aunt Ren Er was using a long pole to scare away flocks of birds. Scattered villagers were weeding in the fields. Since planting the seedlings, thirty villagers had been living in the horse shed by the rice fields, guarding the land.
Yezhi covered her buzzing ears and shouted towards One Gun Brother, "What’s going on?"
One Gun Brother walked over, visibly angry. "I'm trying to scare those water birds away; they keep circling around the rice fields, and I'm worried they'll ruin the seedlings."
"Then let's set up more scarecrows to prevent sparrows. As for the water birds, everyone shouldn't be too tense; they eat small fish and pests," Yezhi advised.
Hearing this, One Gun Brother's expression lightened up. "Yezhi, you're an expert! Now that you mention it, I feel relieved!" He then cheerfully called over Wednesday and Thursday Brother from the fields to help cut straw and make scarecrows. With such a big title as 'expert' now on her head, it seemed she needed to find some agricultural books to improve her knowledge.
After wandering around the rice fields and seeing that the seedlings were growing well, she waved goodbye to the villagers and headed back to the village.
Just as she reached the village entrance, she ran into Uncle Zhou. He said, "The village chief is waiting for you at Team." Yezhi hurried to Team's dam where there was now a wooden table set up. Village Uncle, Old Accountant, and Big Zhu were collecting funds from the villagers. As Yezhi approached, she saw Zhou Yezi opening a crumpled Cloth Bag filled with coins—some one-jiao coins and some two-jiao coins—several dozen in total. Suddenly, Yezhi felt that she had acted too impulsively without doing market research first; she had gotten carried away with ideas.
"Yezhi, Yezhi..." Village Uncle called out to her as she jogged over. "Yezhi, we've collected almost enough money; tomorrow I'll go to Commune for fish fry and ducks." Village Uncle extended his hand towards Yezhi. She stood there confused for a moment until he clarified, "Yezhi, your family's Five Yuan hasn't been paid yet." Feeling embarrassed, Yezhi rummaged through her pockets but remembered that Zhoujiatun was a place with money but no need for it on hand; who would carry cash around? "I'll go home and get it right away," she said before dashing off.
After paying the money and returning home, just as she was about to wash clothes, Xiao Fang notified her that there was Cosmic Express delivery. Recently Yezhi had been busy during the day and going to bed early at night; she hadn't even logged onto Cosmic Network—how could there be a delivery?
After a flash of white light, a Good Express box appeared before her. Opening it revealed half a box of moonlight white pebbles—half a box of Druva Miracle "energy." Yezhi was stunned by Red Bean's generosity!
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