Chapter 153: Sowing Grass Seeds
Editor: Atlas Studios
Mu Yangling opened the sack to take a look and rubbed the light brown seeds. She asked, “Are these grass seeds?”
Fan Zijin nodded. “These are enough for you to plant 60 acres of land. Take them back.”
Mu Yangling asked hesitantly, “How does one plant this? Can you just sprinkle them?”
“…” Fan Zijin looked at her seriously. “Do you think I’ll know?”
“… Then I’ll just scatter it casually. Anyway, it’s grass. It’s going to grow no matter what, right?”
Fan Zijin thought for a moment and said, “Grass can be seen everywhere. Even if it’s trampled, it can grow well. So I guess you can just sprinkle the seeds casually.”
Seeing that he thought the same way, Mu Yangling was instantly relieved. She carried the seeds and was about to leave. When she reached the door, she turned around and asked, “Where did Qi Haoran and my father go?”
Fan Zijin frowned. “This is a military secret. It’s not your place to ask.”
Mu Yangling sighed and turned to leave without asking further.
On the other hand, Fan Zijin looked at her back in surprise. He had thought that she would pester him until the end.
Mu Yangling had been to the camp twice, but not only could she not see her father, but Qi Haoran, who would definitely appear every time, was also nowhere to be seen. She was not a fool. She was still a soldier in her previous life, so she naturally knew what they would do after learning about that route from Zhuang Dawei. However, it was precisely because she knew that she could not help but ask.
Now that Mu Yangling had given up on asking, Fan Zijin felt uneasy. After some thought, he asked the person who had gone to help Mu Yangling plant corn last time to go along with her, to find out how Mu Yangling was feeling.
Since those veterans had never planted grass before, they did as they were told when Mu Yangling told them to casually scatter the seeds. Xiuhong also brought Xiulan and Bowen to help. These people scattered large handfuls by large handfuls and actually finished all the work in a day.
Mu Yangling waved goodbye to the veterans and started patrolling the fields. From time to time, she would kick some of the more densely scattered grass seeds to spread them further.
By the time Madam Ma-Liu returned from selling rabbits in the city and rushed over upon hearing the news, everything had already been settled. She could only stomp her feet and shout, “Why didn’t you wait for me to come back? Aren’t you ruining things?” Madam Ma-Liu ran over and pulled Mu Yangling’s ear to make her look at the sky. “Are you planting grass or feeding birds?”
Mu Yangling gaped. “Birds eat grass seeds?”
Madam Ma-Liu glared at her. Mu Yangling could only look at Xiuhong and the rest. The children retracted their hands and listened obediently as they were lectured.
Looking at the seeds on the ground and then at the pitiful children, even if Great-aunt was fuming, she couldn’t bring herself to scold them anymore. She could only think of ways to remedy the situation. In the end, she said, “Before the sky turns dark, follow me back and place a few scarecrows in the fields. You’re not allowed to go anywhere else tomorrow. Come over with a stick to chase away the birds that flow down.”
Looking at the vast 60 acres of land, Mu Yangling’s legs instantly went weak.
Xiuhong and the other two kids also looked at Mu Yangling pitifully.
Mu Yangling stammered, “Even if the birds eat seeds, they shouldn’t be able to eat much, right? There’s so much land…” Under Madam Ma-Liu’s glare, she couldn’t continue. Mu Yangling could only say that she would definitely come to chase the birds away tomorrow.
However, it drizzled that night. This was the first spring rain since the beginning of spring this year. Not in the mood to cook, Madam Ma-Liu stood under the roof and looked up at the dense spring rain. She said happily, “Excellent! After this spring rain, wheat and rice should be able to grow.” Then, she thought of the grass seeds that had just been scattered and said to Mu Yangling thankfully, “You’re lucky to have encountered this spring rain. You can leave aside the work in the fields first.”
Mu Yangling heaved a sigh of relief.
Mu Yangling finally understood what it meant by ‘spring rain is as precious as oil’. This spring rain lasted for two days intermittently. When Mu Yangling went to the fields to take a look again, the wheat seeds had already broken through the soil. Surprisingly, the grass seeds that had just been planted actually sprouted.
Meanwhile, the rice in the rice seedling field had already turned into a sea of green. According to Great-aunt’s estimation, they would be able to transplant the rice in another 20 days.
Then, before that, Mu Yangling had to irrigate the fields and harrow the soil again to prep it for farming. Since it was 13 acres of land, there was a lot of work to be done.
Moreover, Great-aunt felt that if they had the time, they could farm meticulously instead of going about it in a rough manner like when they planted the wheat.
“The 13 acres of fields have to be fertilized. Tomorrow, I’ll go into the city and ask around to see if I can buy enough fertilizer. Ah Ling, you just have to plow the fields. I will deal with the base fertilizer.”
“Fertilizer?”
Great-aunt glared at her. “Night soil. Didn’t I tell you last time that it costs 1.2 copper coin a barrel? I have to negotiate the price and see if it can be lowered to one copper coin a barrel.”
“Great-aunt, you won’t just pour it into the field directly, right?” Mu Yangling hurriedly asked.
“What else do you expect? When you pour it in, rake it again and let the fertilizer seep into the fields. This will allow the rice to grow better.”
Unable to accept it, Mu Yangling said, “Let’s just use the river mud like last time.”
“How will this do? Last time, I was just making do with the river mud. River mud is hard. It’s not even as good as the mud in the ground.”
Mu Yangling said seriously, “Great-aunt, river mud is made of mud clots and is very nutritious. It’s much better than the mud in the ground. This is what the books say. Let’s dry the river mud and night soil before sprinkling it in the field. This matter is decided.”
With that, Mu Yangling ran away.
Madam Ma-Liu could not stop her at all. Although she had never seen or heard of mixing fertilizer with river mud, she did not object when she heard Mu Yangling say that she had read it in a book.
Mu Yangling had just run out when she was stopped by Yanmo. “Miss Mu, my young master is looking for you everywhere.”
Mu Yangling said with a smile, “Nonsense. Isn’t it easy to find me? I’m either at home, in the fields, or in the mountains. There are only three places I can be found. Why would you need to search everywhere? Tell me, why is your young master looking for me?”
Yanmo chuckled and skipped over the previous question. He went straight to the point. “My young master said that there are already more than 100 little rabbits accumulated in the camp. He asked when you could take over. Our camp has to send a portion of our manpower to help you cut the grass every day. We’re a little short on manpower.”
Mouth opening slightly, Mu Yangling turned around and pointed at the half-finished shed in the courtyard. “Do you think this shed can hold rabbits? Back then, we agreed that I would only take over after my grass grows. Now, my grass has only germinated.”
Yanmo said with an apologetic smile, “Miss Mu, it’s because there aren’t enough houses in the campsite.” After saying that, he lowered his voice and said, “Just help us out. Eldest Young Master doesn’t know about what my Young Master and Fourth Young Master are doing. Tomorrow, Eldest Young Master will come to inspect the campsite. If he sees Young Master and Fourth Young Master doing these things in the campsite, won’t he be angered to death?”
Mu Yangling said in disbelief, “Didn’t Qi Haoran ask General Qi for many soldiers who know how to hunt? How could General Qi not know?”
“Fourth Young Master only said that he wanted them to bring people into the mountains to catch rabbits for the people in the camp to eat. He didn’t say that he wanted to do business. Since the food supply in the various camps is tight, Eldest Young Master didn’t stop them. Miss Mu, Eldest Young Master won’t agree to Young Master and Fourth Young Master doing business.”
Wouldn’t that be a huge loss for her?
No matter what, she had to help them cover it up. Mu Yangling agreed without hesitation. “But I’m only halfway through building this shed. How about this? Go back and tell your young master to send some people over to help me. It’ll be completed in four hours. Also, the skies will probably clear tomorrow. He has to help me build ten sheds in the pastoral area.” Seeing Yanmo’s eyes widen, she said, “I won’t take advantage of him. I’ll give him the rabbits from the first batch for free, and it’ll be counted as the 5th Division’s profits alone. How about that?”
“I still have to go back and ask Young Master for his opinion.”
“Go on, go on. I’ll wait here.”