0p0 Chapter 222: Of course, we need to secure this benefit for her family!
Chapter 222: Of course, we need to secure this benefit for her family!
Huangfu Qian had already found a valley.
There are five acres of farmland in the valley. These were farmlands that unregistered people had secretly cultivated in the past. Later, the government discovered this and forcibly seized the land. The unregistered people were arrested and exiled. These five acres of farmland were scarce and there were many wild beasts in the mountains and forests, so no one wanted them and they were left vacant.
Huangfu Qian needed a secluded place to test his new "Rice Cultivation Techniques," and it was found again.
At this time, the five acres of land had been tilled and irrigated.
After thinking for a while, Xia Mo arranged jade stones into different seasonal formations next to five acres of farmland.
Following that, it's about sowing grains and cultivating seedlings.
The workers found that when they entered the fields numbered A, it felt like entering a warm spring; but when they reached the fields numbered B, they suddenly felt a bit chilly... When they entered the last field numbered Mao, they suddenly shivered, feeling as if they had returned to winter.
Between work, they couldn't help but steal a glance at the sky; they remembered that it was mid-summer!
After leaving the field with the character "卯" (mao) in the last order, they felt that the temperature had returned to normal.
Although they didn't understand why the five fields felt so different in temperature, as loyal subordinates of Huangfu Qian, they didn't intend to say anything.
After sowing using traditional methods, the rice seeds were arranged according to the "Rice Planting Techniques" recorded in the book, and placed in one corner of each of the five acres of fields.
"Now, watch closely," Xia Mo said, making hand seals. The formation began to change, and time within the formation started to accelerate.
Using formations, the growth time of plants is accelerated, and you can see with the naked eye how the millet grows from sprouting to seedlings!
"This……"
Even Huangfu Qian's loyal subordinates, without raising any questions, were shocked.
Xia Mo glanced at Huangfu Qian with an expressionless face. She didn't believe him, and he wasn't curious.
Huangfu Qian personally went down into the muddy fields and compared the traditional planting methods with the planting methods in the book "Rice Planting Techniques".
"I couldn't tell the difference between the seedlings on both sides," Huangfu Qian said, retreating to the side of the field and casually rinsing the mud off his feet with water.
"Put these in the fields and see. Divide each acre of land into four sections, and build dikes in the middle to block them off..." Xia Mo drew the character "田" (field) on the ground with a twig, then pointed out different planting methods, suggesting combining the planting methods in the book with traditional methods, and so on.
Huangfu Qian's men followed orders, planting rice seedlings and preparing fertilizer and tools.
The five acres of land represent the temperature variations in five different regions.
As the rice matures faster, the weather also changes according to the weather in the five locations being imitated.
One hour later...
The rice in the five acres of fields has all ripened.
Cultivating rice using the "Rice Cultivation Techniques" method is more complicated, involving many steps and requiring manual intervention. This includes fertilization during the four developmental stages, and when the rice flowers, long bamboo poles are needed to manually pollinate it.
The results of the comparison are also very clear: artificial pollination is much better than waiting for natural wind to help with pollination. The heavy millet that bent the stalks is the best proof of this.
It has been proven that in areas with milder weather, millet seedlings do not need to be protected from the wind with straw or other materials and can still grow normally.
The fullness of the harvested millet can also vary depending on the amount of fertilizer applied.
Huangfu Qian personally took the pen and meticulously recorded all the differences in the booklet.
The five acres of land were divided into twenty plots, each with rice growing differently. After recording the details, Huangfu Qian put the plot back into his pocket.
"Didn't you notice?" Xia Mo reminded Huangfu Qian as he put the booklet away, not intending to say anything.
"What?" Huangfu Qian had also been involved in farming, but he couldn't say he was very familiar with it.
"Is the fourth plot of the 'Bing' field growing particularly fast?" Xia Mo reminded her.
Huangfu Qian thought for a moment and nodded: "Yes, you even adjusted the formation because that piece was growing too fast."
“A quarter of an hour is equal to a month. How many quarters will it take for the fourth plot of the Bingzi field to grow?” Xia Mo reminded him.
“It’s been less than four quarters of an hour, almost four months,” Huangfu Qian’s eagle eyes were fixed on Xia Mo, and he already understood what Xia Mo meant.
"Hehe, after this is over, I'll bring rice seeds home and plant them again, how about that?" Xia Mo's lips curled up.
In the past, the yield of rice per mu was only over 400 jin, but the improved rice yield reached over 600 jin, an increase of 200 jin per mu.
She took the rice seeds home, of course, to benefit her family.
Xia Mochong gave Huangfu Qian a playful wink.
Huangfu Qian immediately understood that Xia Mo wanted to take credit for planting rice for his family.
“Okay,” Huangfu Qian nodded.
Without Xia Mo's abilities, this improved rice cultivation method would likely have been developed by Wan Si Nong. If Wan Si Nong had developed it, it would have been tantamount to helping the alien invaders seize their chance to conquer this plane.
Only a small portion of the millet cultivated this time was used to husk and cook into rice for tasting; the rest was used as seed.
* * *
At the end of summer, I went with Huangfu Qian to Huangfu Qian's estate outside the capital.
Xia Mo looked at the three spirit-storing beads she had stored in the room. They only contained one-thousandth of the earth's vein energy. At this rate, it would take at least three years to fill the entire bead.
She put away two of them, leaving only one, which would speed up the time it took for the Spirit Storage Pearl to collect the earth's energy. Even with the speed-up, it would still take a year and a half.
She was still worried, so she left a spiritual imprint on the Spirit Storage Pearl and turned to Huangfu Qian to remind him: "Remember to protect this room and don't let any intruders find it."
Huangfu Qian nodded solemnly.
Xia Mo's advice was to prevent any external intruders from discovering this room. This didn't mean that the Spirit Storage Pearl couldn't be found; its significance lay in the earth's veins.
"I really want to visit the place where you served in the army," Xia Mo sighed, and then took out her disguise makeup to start disguising her appearance.
Huangfu Qian often lived in a manor because there were veins in the earth beneath his dwelling. So, was the place where he served as a soldier also...?
The moment Xia Mo analyzed this possibility, her eyes couldn't help but light up.
When the two returned to Yin Rou's side in the capital, they already had ordinary faces.
* * *
In the capital city, at the Han family residence—
Yin Rou stared at the two people walking towards her with a sullen face. Her gaze then fell on Butler Han, who had let them in. Her heart pounded, and her anger surged, but she suppressed it tightly.
She didn't want to see the Cao family head and Cao Kai, but Steward Han clearly let them in on purpose.
Butler Han advised, "Miss Yin, even if you dislike these two, it's a fact that the Cao family head raised you and you were once the Cao family's adopted daughter. If you deliberately prevent them from seeing you, what will others say about you?"
Butler Han even made it seem like "his unauthorized decision" was all for Yin Rou's good.
"Since when has the steward been able to make decisions for his master?" Yin Rou gritted her teeth and glared at Steward Han.
“What kind of attitude do you have? Butler Han is doing this for your own good,” the head of the Cao family sighed and said earnestly.
Xia Mo, who disguised herself as an ordinary person, never expected to witness this drama as soon as she returned to the capital.
Xia Mo stood beside Yin Rou.
The shivering Yin Rou instantly found her strength, and her uneasy expression completely disappeared.