”Come here.” The grain registration officer called the village chief over and pointed to a column, “Did you make a mistake here?”

　　The village chief was so frightened that sweat broke out on his forehead. He read the record carefully three times in his mind, rehearsed his words again and again, and said carefully: “In reply to the official, the Li family has ten acres of paddy fields, and this year’s harvest is 43 dan and one dou. The registration is correct. I dare not fool you.”

　　”His family harvested 43 dan of rice from ten mu of paddy fields?” The grain registration officer didn’t believe it and said with a serious face, “Tell me the truth, did the village bully deliberately oppress Li Da?”

　　The village chief was so frightened that he fell to his knees and said repeatedly, “I dare not, I dare not, Li Da is here too, the official will know once he asks.”

　　”Get up.” Seeing the village chief was so frightened, the grain registrar believed him a little, but could ten mu of paddy field really yield forty-three dan? He had been registering for more than ten years and had never seen such a harvest.

　　Li Da stepped forward.

　　The grain officer saw that Li Da was tall and strong, even stronger than the village chief next to him, and did not look like a person who was oppressed. He asked him carefully about the harvest in his family’s fields, and Li Da told him everything.

　　”Is this fertilizer real?” the grain officer asked the village chief.

　　The village chief bent down to wipe his sweat and nodded, saying, “Yes, I dare not deceive you. This fertilizer was invented by Li Da’s son-in-law Gu Shulang from a book. Because it was used for the first time this year, other people in the village only dared to fertilize three to five acres of paddy fields, but Li Da fertilized all ten acres of paddy fields, so the harvest was good this year.”

　　The grain officer checked the ones he had just registered one by one, and found that it was indeed more than in previous years. Was the “fertilizer” mentioned by the village chief Li Da really so magical? If it was true, then reporting it to the superiors would be a great achievement. The grain officer was very excited, but he didn’t show it on his face, and said he knew it.

　　After that, the registration went smoothly without any errors.

　　Finally, it was all paid. The village chief was so frightened that a cold sweat broke out on his back. He wiped his sweat and said, “I was scared to death just now. I didn’t expect that I would be questioned even if I went to the front too much. Fortunately, the officials of our prefecture and county are fair-minded. The grain officials under them asked us clearly and let us go.”

　　”Go back, go back.” The village chief was frightened and didn’t want to stay in the town any longer.

　　Because they wanted to buy a mule, the Li family kept six dan of rice for themselves this year, and sold it at the official price of thirty-seven dan, earning fourteen taels, eight hundred coins. Li Da bought the mule from the livestock store in Shang Town. It was about two years old, with good teeth and smooth fur. Li Da liked it and the price was right, so he spent eight taels of silver.

　　After buying the mule and completing the formalities, Li Da took the mule and went to buy some wine, sugar, and big bones. The pharmacy took out the note written by Gu Zhao and handed it to the waiter, saying that the chicken was stewed with spices at home, and Li Da thought it tasted good.

　　After filling the basket, Li Da did not get on the mule on the way back. He just held the rope and let the mule carry the basket, and slowly returned to the village.

　　The Li family bought a mule.

　　Everyone in the village saw it, but few said anything sarcastic.

　　”Why not buy cows? Wouldn’t cows be better at farming?” The villagers were puzzled.

　　But the Li family can buy whatever they want, it’s not their family that buys it.

　　In mid-November, the village was completely free and lively. Ladies and uncles would visit each other and gossip when they were free. Xing Ge also loved coming to the Li family with Yuan Yuan in his arms. His family had a lot of paddy fields this year.

　　The eldest brother’s family was not happy about it, fearing danger, but the decision on the farm work was made by the father-in-law. Because it was the idea of ​​Li Zhouzhou’s son-in-law Gu Zhao, Xing Ge’er’s father-in-law carefully asked Xing Ge’er if he could do it.

　　How could Xing Ge dare to make any guarantees? He only said that Li Zhouzhou’s family used fertilizer from ten acres of paddy fields. He and Zhou Zhou grew up together and knew Zhou Zhou’s character. He knew that he was not the kind of person who would show off, but was very steady and honest. He also said that it was good for his uncle to farm, and both father and son agreed to use ten acres of paddy fields for fertilizer. It should be a big deal, right?

　　Originally, Xing’er’s father-in-law was also entangled and afraid, and thought about giving it a try with five acres of paddy fields. After hearing what Xing’er said, especially Li Da’s good farming, he thought carefully, it was true. When the old man of the Li family divided the family, the land he gave to Li Da could not be said to be partial. He really hated Li Da. The ten acres of dry land and five acres of paddy fields he gave were terrible.

　　Especially the dry land, which was cultivated by the Li family every year. The field was exhausted. Even after planting a crop of millet, such a easy-to-grow grain, they didn’t get even one stone. So the dry land was given to Li Da.

　　When Li Da had just separated from the family, he brought his five or six-year-old brother with him. In the first few years, he could not even fill his stomach. He did not dare to plant crops too quickly, and had to let the land slack off. If he took a break, he would go hungry.