Chapter 71: Rushing the Farming Season

The little girl smelled of fresh grass mixed with a strange, unidentifiable scent, but Zhou Yu found it endearing.

Because she had been active under the sun for quite some time, An An’s little face was flushed red, with a few glistening beads of sweat on the tip of her nose.

Zhou Yu took out a handkerchief and wiped her sweat before smiling and asking, “What are you playing that’s making you so happy?”

“Catching grasshoppers!” An An answered in her babyish voice, proudly showing him her fingers stained by the juice of the grasshoppers. “Feeding the chickens!”

Zhou Yu leaned over to look inside the small basket on An An’s back. There were already two strings of grasshoppers threaded through with foxtail grass. They were still alive—some flapping their wings, others kicking their legs furiously—but because the foxtail grass was knotted at the top, they couldn’t escape.

Zhou Yu’s brows furrowed slightly. He turned to ask Uncle Chen Jiu, who had followed them over, “We already have locusts around here?”

“Yes!” Uncle Chen Jiu couldn’t help but sigh. “These things are unbelievably hardy! As soon as the grass sprouts, these grasshoppers appear.

“But don’t worry, they won’t become a plague. We’re all catching them to bring home. After cooking, we bury them in an ash pile—soon they’re roasted. It’s still meat, after all.”

As he spoke, he squatted down, quickly caught a grasshopper, and threaded it with a foxtail grass stalk.

He even showed it to Zhou Yu: “There aren’t any really big ones left. We’ve already caught and eaten most of the big ones.

“I’m telling you, if we had more oil, frying them would make them even tastier!”

Zhou Yu gave a slight nod.

Afraid the big grasshoppers would all be caught by Uncle Chen Jiu, An An wriggled out of Zhou Yu’s arms and continued catching more.

The water jar Zhao Hu carried was left at the edge of the field, covered with a bowl. He had already gone back into the field to work.

Aunt Zhao and Qin Ying, hearing Zhou Yu’s voice, discussed briefly and then came out to greet him.

Zhou Yu noticed red marks on their arms and necks from being scratched by the corn leaves. He turned his face slightly and asked, “How’s the field?”

“Not bad!” Aunt Zhao replied cheerfully, taking off her straw hat to fan herself. “We’ve been tending to it diligently, so there’s not too much wild grass in the field.”

Zhou Yu pointed to the space beneath the corn. “These beans are growing well too.”

“Yes,” Aunt Zhao’s smile grew wider, “this was all Yingzi’s idea.

“She said since this is newly cleared land, as long as we can harvest a few more jin of grain, it’s a gain. Trying it out wouldn’t hurt.

“Who would’ve thought the bean vines wouldn’t hinder the corn at all? In fact, with the vines covering the ground, it shades the soil and conserves water when irrigating!”

Qin Ying added, “Actually, corn and soybeans are both fairly drought-tolerant.”

Zhou Yu offered a few words of praise. After all, not many people could come up with such clever ideas. He then asked, “How are you handling fertilization?”

“Well, we’re raising rabbits,” Aunt Zhao said with a loving glance at An An. “There’s plenty of rabbit dung. We mixed it with plant ash and spread it along the ridges. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than nothing.”

Zhou Yu felt helpless too—he truly couldn’t do much about fertilizer.

The village’s human waste was all processed centrally and used on the communal fields, and to be honest, even that wasn’t enough.

For newly cleared land, people had to find their own solutions.

Seeing Aunt Zhao and Qin Ying constantly glancing back at the fields, Zhou Yu realized he was holding them up. He quickly said, “Make sure you drink plenty of water and don’t get heatstroke. I’ll go check elsewhere.”

Aunt Zhao and Qin Ying agreed and quickly returned to their work.

Seeing that An An’s small straw hat had slipped off, Zhou Yu picked it up and put it back on her head, poured her half a bowl of water, and only then walked away with Uncle Chen Jiu.

After making a round, he found that the newly cleared lands of other households lagged far behind the Zhao family’s. Not only were they not intercropping, but the crops also grew poorly, and the soil surface had even begun to crack.

He couldn’t help but shake his head.

Perhaps because word had spread that he was coming this way, several villagers soon ran over—men and women alike. As soon as they saw him, they greeted him with smiles and asked if his recent trip had been tiring.

Zhou Yu exchanged a few pleasantries, then pointed to the fields. “Since you’ve already cleared the land, you need to manage it properly. The extra grain you grow can help improve your lives.

“Right now, not many people are opening up land. The land you’ve taken will be yours in the future.

“But if you don’t manage it properly, then no matter how much you claim, it’ll be a waste.”

The villagers became excited and scrambled to ask, “Sir, is that true?”

“The land we clear will really become ours?”

“What about taxes? How will that be handled?”

“No taxes during famine years,” Zhou Yu said loudly. “Even after the famine ends… starting from the first rainfall, there will be no taxes for three years.”

The villagers couldn’t help but burst into laughter, some even jumping in joy. Some hugged each other, and others wiped tears from their eyes.

After digesting the good news, a few people knelt on the ground to kowtow to Zhou Yu.

Zhou Yu quickly asked Xu Xia to help them up. “Alright, just do your best!”

After sending Zhou Yu and the others off, they hurried back into the fields, pulled weeds, fetched water, and even copied the Zhao family’s method—watering each plant individually.

As the sun reached its peak, Aunt Zhao told Qin Ying to go home, “You go cook, Huzi and I will work a little longer.”

Seeing that An An was dozing off at the edge of the field, Qin Ying grew uneasy and agreed. She walked over, carried An An on her back, and went home to make lunch.

Once they estimated the food was ready, the mother and child brought back edible wild vegetables and wild grass to feed the rabbits.

After her nap, An An woke up and immediately went next door to feed the chickens. She used the smaller grasshoppers, saving the bigger ones for her family to enjoy—after all, they were high-quality protein!

After she finished feeding the chickens, Zhou Yu called her over to wash her hands thoroughly, then handed her a small packet of pastries. “These were gifted to me. Try them out.”

An An earnestly thanked him, tucked the packet into her clothes, and said with a smile, “I’ll share them with Grandma and Mama.”

Thinking of her jealous uncle, she added, “And Uncle!”

Zhou Yu teased her, “What about Uncle Zhou?”

“Uncle Zhou hasn’t had any?” An An tilted her head. Was teasing little kids really that fun?

Zhou Yu chuckled and ruffled her hair. “Mm, Uncle Zhou already ate. You go ahead and take it home.”

An An bounced away happily.

Qin Ying had already set the table. When she saw An An arrive, she urged her to wash up. An An held her little hands up high. “Already washed! Uncle Zhou washed them!”

Aunt Zhao came over to inspect them in a mock-serious manner, then smiled and nodded, “Very clean, and they smell nice too!”

She picked An An up and placed her on a small bench, pushing her special little bowl in front of her. “Eat up!”

After the meal, the family heated water to soak their feet and then quickly went down for a nap.

Working under the scorching midday sun wasn’t advisable. Getting heatstroke would simply not be worth it.