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Xiao Cheng approached, having been intrigued when Zhou Village Head introduced the concept of Three-Dimensional Planting. The success of fish farming in the rice fields of Zhoujiatun was worth promoting in the three northeastern provinces and even nationwide.
“Yezhi, catch more so that Everyone can have enough!” With this remark from Village Uncle, Yezhi, who had been calculating in his mind, smiled and directed One Egg and the others to catch at least 100 fish weighing over two pounds each.
“Zhou Village Head, with such success in rice field fish farming, Zhoujiatun should summarize the experience so that other villages can learn from it!”
“This…” Zhou Village Head looked troubled. It wasn't that he was unwilling to teach others; it was just that their experience was limited. They hadn't raised the fish from fry; it could only be described as semi-artificial breeding. He wanted to make significant progress next year, but it also carried risks.
Xiao Cheng didn't expect Zhou Village Head to hesitate. He had been coming to Zhoujiatun for quite some time, and the people there were simple, kind-hearted, and eager to help. How could they be like this?
“Zhou Village Head, this is a great benefit for the country and the people!”
Yezhi could no longer hold back and exclaimed angrily, “What good is it?!”
Xiao Cheng was taken aback and sternly called out, “Comrade Yezhi!”
“Teacher Xiao, our village is still exploring! What can we teach them? We are practical people; we can't produce half-baked results!” Hearing Yezhi say this, Xiao Cheng relaxed. He thought he had misjudged someone! “Comrade Yezhi, if that's the case for Zhou Village Head, we can still summarize our existing experiences and let the experts from the Commune and county agriculture department review and guide us. Isn't that a more efficient approach?”
Upon hearing this, Village Uncle suddenly slapped his thigh: “Yes! I really am a blockhead; I almost made a mistake by just burying my head in work!” Yezhi, stroking her chin, thought that with expert guidance, she could step back after achieving success, and the villagers wouldn't have to keep groping in the dark. It was indeed a good thing.
After having spoken harshly earlier, Yezhi awkwardly smiled: “Teacher Xiao, then please help us summarize!” Of course, this was something Xiao Cheng felt obliged to do.
After Village Uncle and Xiao Cheng left, Yezhi joined the fishing team again. Soon, three large wooden barrels were filled with fish, and they carried the fish back to the cooking area where One Egg, Dog, and Er Zhu along with seven kids began to clean the fish.
"Sister Ye, all the fish are cleaned!" One Egg shouted while holding a basin of cleaned fish. Yezhi was busy shredding radishes, and Aunt Li helped by taking the basins of fish and placing them into a large pot to stew.
After a while, the aroma of Stewed Fish wafted through the air, enticing Black Treasure, who was originally transporting rice. Thud! Thud! Thud! It ran over to Aunt Zhou, panting with its long snout, its little black eyes constantly peering into the large iron pot.
"Oh, our capable Black Treasure is hungry!" Aunt Zhou affectionately patted Black Treasure's head. Aunt Li took out Black Treasure's special food bowl and filled it with a ladle of fish soup and two pieces of fish meat.
"Black Treasure, today you deserve a reward! Come! Eat up!" Aunt Li placed the food bowl in front of Black Treasure. Being familiar with everyone, Black Treasure wasted no time and eagerly dug into the bowl.
Yezhi smiled wryly; her Black Treasure lived like a human. Its habits were not like a bear but more like a person—three meals a day plus snacks. Even when food was scarce, it didn't matter if the portions were small, but the number of meals had to match theirs. It never ate raw meat; it loved fish but had no interest in it unless it was cooked. Sometimes Yezhi wondered whether she should let Black Treasure return to nature when it grew up, even though she would miss it dearly! But perhaps this little guy was considerate; it always looked foolishly greedy. If she let it go back, it would either be bullied or starve to death. Staying with them seemed like the best choice.
At dinner time, after having an early meal, Black Treasure was kicked away by Yezhi to continue transporting rice. Everyone gathered under the lights to eat dinner. The meal was still quite lavish, featuring Stewed Fish that had been simmering in the large iron pot for nearly two hours until even the bones were tender; refreshing and slightly spicy shredded radish; sweet and delicious White Vegetable Soup; and warm Sorghum Cakes. After a long day of labor, being able to enjoy a hearty meal was such happiness. Moreover, everyone was bustling about, making the meal particularly delightful!
After two days of harvesting, the villagers finally transported bags of rice to Team's dam, where stalks of rice stood upright. The golden stalks formed an orderly formation. Xiao Cheng said these stalks could keep Old Cow warm during winter. When Yezhi first heard this, she didn't understand and thought it meant that cows were afraid of the cold and needed straw for warmth; in fact, straw could be used as feed for cows.
Zhoujiatun still had no electricity; even if there were rice husking machines available, they couldn't use them. Everyone was well-prepared and engaged in the most primitive method of milling rice just like ancient people did.
Each household in Jiajia took their rice home and used sieves to sift out the grains before weighing them for return. With Black Treasure being such a hardworking and strong little guy at Yezhi's home, she and Aunt Zhou didn’t have to worry about dragging stone pillars for milling rice; they were responsible for sifting rice instead. When grains of Bilo rice appeared before them—plump and glistening with a faint green hue—Aunt Zhou picked up a small handful and chewed on it. "Sweet! Fragrant! Moist!"
"Auntie, you eat raw rice too? And can taste so many flavors!" After tasting Bilo rice, Yezhi felt very confident about it; even during the husking process with the grains still in their shells, there was a strong fragrance emanating from them. The rice was truly good quality; if raw rice tasted this good, Aunt Zhou really loved to perform!
"It’s really good! Girl, you try some!" Aunt Zhou stuffed some grains into Yezhi's mouth. Reluctantly accepting it, she chewed loudly. However, just as Aunt Zhou said—it was sweet, fragrant, and moist. Black Treasure dropped its work and became unhappy: What are they eating? Why is there none for it!
Black Treasure twisted its plump body and opened its big mouth, forcing its round head between Yezhi and Aunt Zhou. Aunt Zhou and Yezhi exchanged smiles, and Yezhi grabbed a radish from the basket used for making pickles and stuffed it into Black Treasure's mouth. Black Treasure hugged the radish with both paws and sat on the Big Wooden Platform to gnaw on it. Yezhi loved this about Black Treasure; as long as it was given by Aunt Zhou or her, no matter how bitter it was, Black Treasure would still be happy!
The whole village had been busy for a week and finally completed the task of turning rice into flour. Everyone weighed the rice that was returned to the granary. There were over 100,000 pounds in total, and when Everyone heard this number, cheers erupted, causing Village Uncle to jump up in excitement.
The rice was planted late, yet the yield per mu was still around six to seven hundred pounds, and this was achieved without using any Pesticide or chemical fertilizers, which was truly unexpected.
The rice variety itself was good, Zhoujiatun had good water quality and soil, plus the "energy" from stone powder contributed to the current yield, so Yezhi wasn't surprised at all. What she cared about more was the quality; she wondered if it would be better than that on **Lixing Planet**.
“Rice distribution is happening! I get to eat white rice!” The group of Zhou Xiaomu, the little ones known as Little Bean, were running around in the crowd without any organization or discipline.
Village Uncle pretended to cough a couple of times, shaking his hands as he took a piece of paper from Old Accountant and read aloud: “Fellow villagers, I will now explain how the rice will be distributed. We will sell 60,000 pounds of rice to the Acquisition Station for money. The remaining 46,000 pounds will be distributed among the 30 people who have been stationed in the rice fields long-term, each receiving an additional 100 pounds. Those with strong laborers at home will also receive an extra 100 pounds, as will those who have made special contributions. The rest will be divided equally among everyone. Do you all agree?”
At this moment, everyone was calculating in their minds how much rice they would get and how much money could be made from selling 60,000 pounds of rice.
Yezhi's family consisted only of her and Aunt Zhou. When no one spoke up, Village Uncle began reading the list of special contributors. When Yezhi heard her name mentioned, she had no reaction at first. However, upon hearing Black Treasure's name, she felt that Village Uncle was being too self-serving and didn't care if anyone had objections.
“Village Uncle, Black Treasure shouldn't count!” Upon hearing Yezhi's outburst, Zhou Village Head ignored her and instead asked the villagers: “What does everyone think? Should we count Black Treasure?”
“Of course it should count!”
“Black Treasure has worked hard; it deserves it! It deserves it!” With the villagers' enthusiastic support, Yezhi's family ultimately received 482 pounds of rice.
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