Ba Zong's rural life [farming]

When Ruan Xishi's land was plowed, he was going to buy peanut seeds next. Unlike corn and rice, peanut seeds can be bought from vendors.The reason why rice and corn have to be bought from special vendors is because there are new and better varieties every year, and the seeds need to go through a series of processing, such as spraying powder and soaking in potion, which can prevent the seeds from being harvested after they reach the ground. Eaten by underground bugs.

But peanuts are different. Peanuts need to be selected.The batch of peanuts planted in spring, when harvested in summer, farmers will pick out the plump peanuts to make seeds, plant them in the ground in autumn, and harvest them in winter, and pick the best peanuts from the harvested peanuts. The good ones are saved as seeds for next year.In this way, the peanuts selected layer by layer will produce better and better fruits, and the oil production rate will increase.

These are all the experience that Teacher Ruan told Ruan Xishi. In the past, Teacher Ruan did the same thing. However, because Teacher Ruan suddenly fell ill in the peanut field last year, Ruan Xishi was busy taking care of Teacher Ruan. Later, Teacher Ruan passed away. After the work was over, the peanuts had been frozen to death and rotted in the ground.

So if Ruan Xishi wants to grow peanuts this year, he can only buy them from other people's homes. Some farmers' homes will grow some peanuts, because other farmers think their peanuts are good, so they go to their homes to buy peanut seeds.

However, Ruan Xishi has been decadent for a few months, and he doesn't know who planted peanut seeds last year, so he can only ask each family with the cheek.

He went to Aunt Li's house first, because Aunt Li's house was the closest to his house, and he had been a neighbor for so many years, so he had a deep friendship and it would be easier to ask for seeds.

Of course, it is impolite to go to other people's house empty-handed to ask for something. Ruan Xishi boiled half a basket of taro in the pot that morning, he picked some out, and ate the rest for Lu Ze's breakfast, and then went out to Aunt Li's house with the steamer .

Aunt Li opened the door for him, and seeing him carrying taro, she was surprised and said, "Ah, Shizai, there are so many taro."

Ruan Xishi smiled and said: "I cooked a little too much for breakfast, so I brought it here for you to eat. I remember that Pangpang likes to eat it."

Pang Pang is Aunt Li’s eldest grandson, a two or three-year-old child, when he is greedy, he wants to eat everything he sees, but his family is poor, and there are no rare snacks to eat, so he can eat sweet potatoes, taro and peanuts With relish.

While speaking, Pangpang ran out of the house, and when he saw Ruan Xishi holding a taro in his hand, he hugged his grandmother's thigh, arguing that he was hungry and wanted to eat, but his eyes kept looking at Ruan Xishi .

Ruan Xishi gave him a round taro, and said to him: "Brother, there is something to eat here, do you want to eat it?"

Now that it's all delivered in front of you, children don't pay so much attention to worldly sophistication, so they just take it and stuff it into their mouths.

Aunt Li laughed and scolded: "Why don't you thank brother after eating something from brother's house?"

With something in his mouth, Pangpang inarticulately said thank you to Ruan Xishi.

Only then did Aunt Li remember that she wanted to invite Ruan Xishi into the house, how can someone eat other people's food and let them stand outside the door all the time?Aunt Li enthusiastically pulled Ruan Xishi into the room and asked him to sit anywhere.

Ruan Xishi didn't see anyone else after entering, so she asked, "Where are Uncle Li and Brother Li?"

After entertaining him, Aunt Li went to the patio to wash her unfinished clothes. When she heard this, she said to him without looking back: "The two of them went to dig a canal on the mountain, and they probably won't come back until noon. Are they?"

Ruan Xishi quickly replied: "No, I just haven't seen them, so I'm curious to ask."

Aunt Li remembered and asked him: "Why are you the only one here? What is the name of the man who lives in your house? Where did he go?"

Ruan Xishi replied: "His name is Lu Ze, he should be washing clothes at home right now."

After hearing this, Aunt Li was surprised and said, "He can still do his own laundry?"

Ruan Xishi couldn't laugh or cry when she heard the words: "At first I thought he wouldn't know how to do it, but he insisted on me teaching him, these days he has been washing his own clothes."

Aunt Li nodded and said, "That's fine, you're still a bachelor, and you have to wash your own clothes. How can you help an old man wash clothes? It's shameless."

Ruan Xishi whispered: "It's nothing to help, it's just a little effort."

Aunt Li muttered, "You're not his wife, why should you wash his clothes?"

The concept of the people in the village is like this. Men do heavy and tiring work outside, and women wash and cook at home and take care of their children. Afraid of losing the man's face by spreading the word.

Ruan Xishi doesn't think so, he thinks that men and women are equal, women can work in the fields, and men should help share the housework, there is no rule that men must plow the fields and women wash clothes and cook.However, these are the customs of the villagers, and he can disobey them, but there is no need to refute them in a big way, so after hearing this, he just smiled.

Fat Pang ate Ruan Xishi's food, so he became close to Ruan Xishi. Ruan Xishi should be from his uncle's generation, but the village doesn't pay much attention to it. Unless there is a blood relationship, a child born in the same generation is called an unmarried man and woman in the same generation. Calling brother and sister, regardless of backup, only age and marriage.

Ruan Xishi played with Pangpang for a while, and only explained to Aunt Li when she finished washing the clothes.

"Do you want peanut seeds? Coincidentally, our family planted a field of peanuts last year. There are a lot of peanut seeds, which are big and plump. Wait, I'll get them for you. How much do you want?"

Ruan Xishi replied: "Probably enough to plant four or five cents of the land."

Aunt Li put two catties of shelled peanuts in a bag for him, and after handing them to him, she told him, "Put these peanuts away when you take them back, and keep them away from oily smoke and water, or they won't sprout. Also, after shelling the peanuts, plant them in the ground as soon as possible, they will go bad after a long time, you can plant them tomorrow, and shell them the night before."

Ruan Xishi carefully took the peanuts, thanked them and asked, "Aunt Li, what is the price of a catty of peanut seeds in the market now, I will give you the money."

Aunt Li declined and said, "Hey, what kind of money do you give for this little thing? You are really fussy, just like your grandfather, so you can take it home with peace of mind. Auntie doesn't want a penny from you."

Ruan Xishi shook her head again and again: "How can this be done? The peanuts you have worked so hard to grow require fertilization and artificial labor. How can I get them for nothing? Please give me the number so that I can feel at ease."

Aunt Li couldn't resist him, and when she saw that he insisted on giving money, she said straightforwardly: "Then you can just give Auntie two or three yuan to make sense of it. Who doesn't have these peanuts? It's not a treasure, so why don't you give it As for the money, I still see my aunt like this."

Ruan Xishi stuffed the prepared five yuan into Aunt Li's hands, before Aunt Li could react, she ran out of Aunt Li's house with the steamer in one hand and the peanuts in her arms with the other, letting Aunt Li yell at the back Don't look back.

When he got home, he opened the door and slipped in, then quickly closed the door, panicking as if some flood beast was chasing him behind him.Lu Ze, who was drying clothes under the bamboo pole in the courtyard, saw him in a hurry, and couldn't help asking him with a smile, "Xiao Ruan, what's wrong with you, you've been out for so long, and you're still in such a hurry when you come back."

Ruan Xishi confirmed that Aunt Li hadn't chased after her, so she leaned against the door and breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing Lu Ze was looking at him and smiling, his face was slowly burning, and he explained with a dry smile: "I went to Aunt Li's house to buy some peanut seeds. , I gave money to Aunt Li, but Aunt Li refused, so I gave her the money and ran away."

Lu Ze laughed when he heard the words, he felt that such Ruan Xishi had the cunning and liveliness of a teenager, and this kind of character should be what Ruan Xishi should have at his age.

While watching TV at night, Ruan Xishi found a clean bag and spread the shelled peanuts bought from Aunt Li's house on the tea table during the day, peeling the peanuts while the agricultural program was on.

Lu Ze also wanted to help, so he asked before doing it: "What are these peanuts peeled for?"

Ruan Xishi replied casually: "Tomorrow, I will plant it in the field. I have to prepare it now, and it can be planted early tomorrow morning."

Lu Ze nodded and said, "Then I will help tomorrow."

Ruan Xishi did not stop him this time, but nodded readily.

Early the next morning, Ruan Xishi went to the supply and marketing agency to buy a few catties of compound fertilizer, then mixed it with dried chicken manure, piled it into the small truck at home, and prepared to transport it to the ground for peanut planting.

Lu Ze couldn't breathe because of the smell of chicken manure, Ruan Xishi asked him to go back to the room to wait, but Lu Ze saw that Ruan Xishi was doing so hotly, but he hid in the room, a bit unkind, so he bit the bullet and went out Help with shoveling fertilizer.

After Ruan Xishi prepared the fertilizer, he took a shovel-shaped dustpan, a shovel, corn and peanut seeds, and called Lu Ze to set off.

Lu Ze insisted on pushing the cart because he felt that Ruan Xishi's small arms and legs couldn't do it, but Ruan Xishi thought that pushing the cart was fun, so he let him go.

Going to the field, Ruan Xishi used a shovel to loosen the plowed ground a few days ago, then dug a gully, roughly made several marks on the gully with similar distances, and put the peanut seeds on the marked marks. Then use a shovel to shovel some fertilizer, put it in the middle of the two seeds, then smash the soil next to it, and gently cover the seeds and fertilizer.

Ruan Xishi planted a row of peanuts by herself, clapped her hands and asked Lu Ze: "Brother Lu Ze, do you understand?"

Lu Ze saw the planting method for the first time, he thought it was not difficult, and he would be done after just one look, so he nodded eagerly.

Ruan Xishi gave him the shovel and said to him: "Then you are responsible for shoveling the soil, and I will plant the seeds. You are tall, and you will be very tired if you keep bending over."

Lu Ze happily took the shovel, and followed the sequence that Ruan Xishi demonstrated to him just now.

Ruan Xishi's plan is to interplant corn and peanuts, mainly planting peanuts, and plant one row of corn for each four-row row of peanuts. There is no other reason, because the purchase price of corn is very low. Generally, farmers grow corn to feed pigs and chickens or to eat by themselves. Yes, only farmers with a lot of sloping land will choose to grow a lot of corn for sale.

Because the Ruan family are outsiders, there are only two generations so far. The land they have been allocated is limited, with five parts of dry land and five parts of paddy fields. They need to be used rationally to maintain a year's rations.It is impossible to grow corn and sell it, and the peanuts are only edible oil for their family for a year.The corn planted in early spring is generally used for self-eating, and the excess is dried and ground into grains for raising chickens.In the second season, some cash crops can be grown and sold.

Ruan Xishi decided to raise more chickens and ducks, so he planted corn. When the corn was harvested, the ducks had grown up and could eat corn, and the feed problem could be solved.

The two men worked together in a division of labor, and the work efficiency was surprisingly high. Five cents of the land was planted in one day. Ruan Xishi felt a little incredible when he saw the fruits of their labor. Lu Ze said: "Thank you for your hard work, Brother Lu Ze, let's go to the town for a day tomorrow as a reward for you?"

Lu Ze smiled and said, "Okay."