Chapter 320: How Did We Lose a Few Pounds?

“I’ve watered all the rice in my hands with Lingquan water. These grains can be sold as seedlings.” She had been conducting experiments for the past few months. The seeds produced by plants watered with Lingquan water had some differences from those soaked in Lingquan water.

“How is the yield?” Su Yu asked after considering for a moment.

“The yield is twice that of the seeds produced by soaking them in Lingquan water,” Wang Jinhe replied.

Su Yu’s eyes lit up. If that was the case, this year’s rice from Xiaoxi could be sold as seeds to the court. This would increase everyone’s yield after being distributed, which would be a good thing for them.

“After we return to the capital, we’ll inform the emperor about this. It will make people’s lives much better next year,” Su Yu said happily.

“I still have too little land. Even if an acre of land can produce a thousand catties, I only have two hundred acres of rice fields, which is only two hundred thousand catties. It’s not enough to spread across the entire Xuan Kingdom,” Wang Jinhe complained, frowning at her insufficient land once again.

“I’ve already sent people to look for large areas of rice fields in the vicinity. We’ll have news soon.” Since they returned, he had been hearing Wang Jinhe complain about the lack of land.

He had instructed people to find rice fields, and now that he knew Wang Jinhe’s grains could be sold directly as seeds, more rice fields would naturally be needed.

“Really?” Wang Jinhe was pleasantly surprised, but then she thought of something and furrowed her brows slightly. If all the surrounding land had been sold, would this really be possible?

“All the surrounding land has owners. Can we really buy it?” It would be troublesome if they had to buy land too far away.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find something suitable,” Su Yu reassured.

Seeing Su Yu so confident, Wang Jinhe felt relieved.

“All right, I hope we can find it soon.”

Ten days later, Wang Jinhe went to the rice field with her workers, and there were twenty threshers on the side.

She picked a grain of rice, bit it open, and then nodded in satisfaction. “It’s ready for harvest.”

“Fortunately, we made it in time,” the governor said, catching his breath.

The county magistrate next to him was also exhausted.

Wang Jinhe looked at the two of them and couldn’t help but smile. “Why are you so anxious? Everything is here. Whenever you arrive, it’s fine.”

“We naturally want to see it with our own eyes,” the magistrate said as he walked over.

He couldn’t help but feel happy when he saw this vast expanse of golden rice. This was food, and there was so much of it.

“Start harvesting, Your Excellency.”

“Okay.”

Wang Jinhe looked at the people around her and instructed, “Start by harvesting one acre of land.”

“Yes, madam.”

The grain from one acre was quickly harvested. Wang Jinhe led the governor to the manor, cleaned up the rice leaves inside, and had people bring scales to begin weighing.

During this process, the governor was a bit nervous.

After weighing the grain from one acre, the magistrate anxiously asked, “How many catties?”

“One thousand two hundred catties. If dried, there should be around one thousand catties.” The worker reported the result.

The governor widened his eyes. “What… What did you say? How many catties?”

“One thousand two hundred,” the worker repeated.

The governor’s eyes turned red when he heard the number. “Such a high yield, one thousand catties, actually one thousand catties.”

He was so excited that his words became somewhat incoherent.

“The people of Xuan Kingdom are blessed.”

The county magistrate was also excited. “Great, this way, the people can have more grains every year, and we can store more.”

Seeing the two of them so excited, Wang Jinhe was not satisfied. There was still room for improvement.

“This matter must be reported to the emperor quickly,” the governor said, turning around to write a memorial, but he was stopped by Wang Jinhe.

“Your Excellency, wait until all the rice is harvested, dried, and weighed before reporting.”

The governor nodded happily. “Yes, let someone quickly start harvesting the grains.”

After the workers learned of this news, they worked even more energetically. With twenty threshers working together on two hundred acres of rice fields, it only took eight days.

After harvesting, Wang Jinhe had the grains weighed. There were a total of two hundred and thirty thousand catties of grains.

This number made the magistrate extremely happy.

With favorable weather conditions, the grains dried completely in three days.

After drying, the governor and the county magistrate watched as the workers weighed the grains.

It took a day and a half to weigh all the rice. After drying, a total of one hundred and ninety-nine thousand catties of rice were collected, with a yield of nine hundred and ninety-five catties per acre, not reaching one thousand catties.

Upon hearing this number, the governor felt uncomfortable. “Why is it five catties less? At least make it a round number.”

The county magistrate nodded continuously beside him, “Yes, why is it only nine hundred and ninety-five catties?”

Wang Jinhe looked helplessly at the two disoriented individuals. “Be content with doubling from four or five hundred catties. Don’t worry; next year, we’ll definitely break through one thousand catties.”

It’s time to study hybrid rice.

The governor sighed heavily, “If it were off by a few tens or even a hundred catties, we wouldn’t say anything, but it’s just five catties.”

Just five catties. How could these fields be so disappointing to lack just five catties?

Wang Jinhe was almost amused to death by the governor.

“Your Excellency, do you want to go and see the yield in our village? They use the same method as mine, but I’ve used a special method here. Their yield should be around seven hundred,” Wang Jinhe asked.

“Of course.” The magistrate nodded, ready to go back with Wang Jinhe.

Wang Jinhe looked at Liang, the steward, and said, “You must collect these grains well. This will be the seed for Xuan Kingdom next year.”

Liang, the steward, nodded hastily. “Madam, rest assured, we will take good care of them.”

The governor, upon hearing Wang Jinhe’s words, asked in surprise, “Madam, are you suggesting that if we use your grains as seeds, we can achieve such a high yield?”

“Yes, even without so much, it won’t be less than nine hundred catties after drying.” Wang Jinhe nodded.

The governor, finally relieved, said, “That’s great. These grains must be stored well, and this news must be reported to the emperor.”

Now the governor couldn’t wait to know the yield in Wang Jinhe’s village.

Wang Jinhe returned to Xie Family Village with her people.

Upon learning that the governor and the county magistrate had come, Xie Kui quickly went to Wang Jinhe’s house.

Knowing that the governor wanted to see the village’s rice yield, they immediately decided to start harvesting the rice the next day.

For the convenience of the governor and the county magistrate, they stayed at Wang Jinhe’s house.

With the threshing machines, Xie Kui’s ten acres of land were harvested in a single day.

With a yield of eight hundred catties per acre, the governor was quite satisfied.

However, the weight after drying made the governor extremely frustrated.

Because after drying, Xie Kui’s grains had a yield of six hundred and ninety-five catties per acre, still five catties short.

“No, can’t these fields strive for a bit more? How come they can’t produce an additional five catties?” Wang Jinhe’s household was frustrated because the yield per acre couldn’t break one thousand. Now, the shortfall of five catties per acre couldn’t break seven hundred for the common folks.

Wang Jinhe couldn’t help but burst into laughter, and even Su Yu was amused by the governor’s words.