Exile at the beginning: I rule the world by drawing cards

Chapter 42 What are terraces?

After lunch, Lu Ximing took the initiative to wash the dishes, washed the clothes he had changed into, and fed the small animals at home.

Seeing how diligent he was, Qin Mengshang felt a little fond of him.I went into the house and calculated the income from the stall in the past few days. After excluding the cost and daily food expenses, I made two taels and one penny.Now is just the beginning. If we can cooperate with Changxing Restaurant for a long time, we will make at least four or five taels of income every month.

The days are getting more and more promising, and the mood is naturally good.

She put away the money box, took the basket on her back and led Lu Ximing up the mountain to look for konjac.

"You should know what a konjac tree looks like since you were a primary school doctor. Our task today is to find konjac and count the number of trees we find."

"Yes, I recognize it." Although Lu Ximing didn't know what to do with the konjac tree, he just did what his cousin said.

"Don't go into the deep forest, be careful of getting lost," Qin Mengshang walked to the other side with his hoe, "We will meet at the foot of the mountain before sunset."

Lu Ximing nodded in agreement.

If someone helps you look for it together, the efficiency will naturally increase a lot.

Qin Mengshang climbed half of the mountain and dug out four large konjacs. He even dug up the roots and soil of the newly emerged ones.

Lu Ximing did not go into the deep forest, but only found two and three or four fist-sized ones, "Cousin, are these enough?"

"That's enough, let's go back today."

The contract signed with Changxing Restaurant is to supply at least thirty kilograms of konjac tofu every month. These konjac alone are more than ten kilograms, enough for Changxing Restaurant to sell until next month.

The sun is setting in the west, the weather has cooled down, and there are still many people in the fields weeding and watering.

It had been rainy and rainy the past few days, and there was too much water in the fields. Recently, it has been sunny and the sun has been very strong at noon, and the fields have begun to lack water again.The rice fields near the river are okay, and water can be easily diverted.However, fields in higher geographical locations require manual labor to carry water for irrigation.

Li Zheng stood on the ridge of the field with his hands behind his back. When he saw Qin, Meng and Shang coming back from the mountain, his eyes lit up: "Daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, you came just in time!"

"Uncle Li Zheng, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just want to talk to you."

Li was walking up the earthen ladder and saw Lu Ximing next to him, and asked curiously: "When did such a handsome guy come to our village? Where did you pick him up?"

Qin Mengshang twitched his lips and explained: "This is my cousin. Because of my relationship, my maternal grandfather's family was targeted. The family was expelled from Beijing and scattered... This child is also very lucky. He walked all the way to Yongzhou to look for me. Fortunately, I met him. If something happened to him, I would have no shame to explain to my late uncle in the future."

"It's really pitiful," Li Zheng sighed repeatedly, "You look about the same age as my brother Zheng, why is your life so miserable? Good boy, you have suffered a lot along the way, haven't you?"

Lu Ximing nodded, then shook his head: "It's not bitter anymore, my cousin is very good to me."

Li Zheng felt happy for Qin Meng Shang after hearing this, and turned to the business: "Daughter-in-law of the Zhou family, everyone said that the ditching method you mentioned last time is effective. Now the rice has grown in the fields, but Some fields on the hillside cannot retain water, and they have to carry water from the river every day to prevent the rice from drought. This is troublesome, and I can't think of a good way to solve it. You have a flexible mind, and you have Is there no solution?”

Qin Mengshang thought carefully.There were many methods of irrigating farmland in ancient times. Buckets, barrel trucks, and wind-driven waterwheels were all common irrigation tools, but these methods were not suitable for fields at high altitudes.
She looked at the rice fields on the opposite slope and frowned more and more.

Li Zheng saw her serious expression and couldn't help but worry: "What's wrong? Is there no way to solve it?"

"Yes, there is." But she is not sure whether it can be done with current technology.

"You talk first, let's discuss it together!"

I don't know if it was because he ignored Qin Mengshang's words once, but Li Zheng felt that if he didn't listen, he would regret it for the rest of his life!

Lu Ximing didn't understand farming, but he was a little curious at the moment.

Qin Mengshang said: "I have seen a special form of paddy fields in books, called terraces. The layers are stacked on top of each other, and the heights are staggered. When there is abundant rain in summer, the natural pressure difference can be used to replenish water in the rice fields, and then from high to low. Irrigate. Also store water so you don’t run out of water during droughts in the fall and winter.”

In ancient times, Lingnan was a place of exile, but in modern times it is a tourist attraction. The terraced fields are also a beautiful scenery, but it is difficult to achieve now.

Li Zheng didn't quite understand: "What are terraced fields?"

Qin Mengshang picked up a stick and drew a simple diagram of the terraces on the ground: "It looks like this." Li Zheng squinted his eyes for a long time and couldn't quite understand, but his intuition told him that this was a good idea.

"The village has a lot of land on the hillside. It will probably take the whole village to work together for a year and a half to repair it."

This is what Qin Mengshang is worried about: "Yes, building terraces is a big project, and I can't remember many details clearly. If Uncle Li Zheng has an idea, we have to discuss it in the long term."

The implication is that this year's rice fields can only be irrigated by hand-carrying water for the time being.

Li Zheng knew that this matter could not be rushed. He could not decide on such a large project. He had to report it to the government and obtain approval before starting construction on the fields.

"Let's put this aside for now. Anyway, this year's rice will be harvested at the end of the month. Then we will have some free time, so we can have a good chat."

"Okay," Qin Mengshang patted his clothes and stood up, "I'll go back first, uncle."

Li Zheng responded, and went down the earth ladder again, walking back and forth on the field ridge, with the little rice in his eyes and heart.

Qin Mengshang kept thinking about the terraced fields on his way back.

Seeing her serious expression, Lu Ximing said softly: "Cousin, are you still thinking about what Grandpa Li Zheng mentioned just now?"

"Yeah, but I haven't thought about it yet. There's no rush on this matter. I'll think about it later." It's not enough to just rely on the little knowledge about terraced fields in her mind. She has to look up information and read books.

Lu Ximing did not disturb her thinking and followed her quietly.

When he met several women who asked about Lu Ximing's identity, Qin Mengshang was still the same, sighing and repeating what he said to Li Zheng over and over again.

When I came back from solving the trivial matters outside, it was already dark.

Qin Mengshang put the konjac aside first and packed it up to prepare for cooking.Lu Ximing was not idle either and brought firewood over to light the fire.

Now that there are more people in the house, the atmosphere is obviously much more lively, and Qin Mengshang is also much more relaxed.

Dinner was more sumptuous, consisting of boiled white rice, a large plate of shredded pork, eggplant and stir-fried white cabbage, and a few scallion pancakes with the leftover batter from lunch.

Lu Ximing couldn't help but swallowed when he smelled the enticing aroma of food. Jinbao Yuanbao next to him also watched eagerly.

Qin Mengshang scooped up water to wash the pot. He turned around and saw three greedy faces that were about to drool. He couldn't help laughing and said, "We can start dinner when your brother-in-law comes back."

At that time, Zhou Lingqi, who was walking to the door, felt a little comforted when he heard these words.But as soon as I walked in and saw someone else at the table, that little bit of comfort disappeared without a trace.

Lu Ximing placed his chopsticks, raised his head to meet Zhou Lingqi's gaze, and smiled at him: "Brother-in-law, you are back."

"." The call was really smooth.

Qin Mengshang didn't pay attention to his face and asked him to wash his hands before coming back.

In the small kitchen, three people sat down around a small table to eat.

Zhou Lingqi was very particular about eating and sleeping without talking. Qin Mengshang used to like to watch TV dramas while eating, but now he doesn't have the conditions and can only have some fun by feeding the two little guys.

Lu Ximing traveled around with his grandfather, and he didn't have many rules. He took a bite of the green onion pancake and praised it for how delicious it was.

Being praised for your cooking skills makes you more motivated. Qin Mengshang smiled brightly and said, "You can cook it tomorrow if you like it."

There are a lot of wild onions in the fields, so you can harvest as many as you want.

"Well! Thank you, cousin."

Zhou Lingqi: "."

(End of this chapter)