"Today is already March 30th according to the Gregorian calendar, and in a few days it will be Qingming Festival, and it is indeed time to plant melons and beans. Can you guys plant them without the help of me and your second aunt?" Wang Chunmei said.

I asked after a while.

"Auntie, I have been planting with you for four or five years, and there is no problem in growing some melons." The second sister Li Xia said with a smile.

"Okay, you take A Ping and A Wen with you, and you three can plant melons and some cucumbers and cowpeas." Wang Chunmei made arrangements for a few people.

"Chunmei, you go to work. I'm here and I'm watching the children plant." The old lady came out of the kitchen and said with a smile.

Li Wen took out the cucumber and cowpea seeds that he had stored last year from the room next to the old lady. However, he did not use them and replaced them with seeds produced by Space.

The seeds in the space have higher yields and the vines have a longer lifespan. So Li Wen plans to use his own optimized seeds. The seeds left at home have deteriorated a lot over the years, have poor yields, and are prone to disease.

"Sister, let's plow the land again so that the soil is loose and the seeds can take root and germinate." Li Wen smiled at his second sister Li Xia and said.

"It's up to you to plow it again. The land that was plowed with manure last month has already grown a lot of weeds. Let's clean it up by the way." Li Xia nodded and said.

The brother and sister went to the utility room to carry out the family's plow.

This plow is not the long iron plow of later generations, but a simple curved shaft plow.

The entire plow is made of wood, and the front of the wood is wrapped with a shovel-like tip. This can reduce obstacles when plowing.

"This plow is really heavy. When will I get a light plow?" Li Wen looked at the fifty or sixty-pound wooden plow and said helplessly.

"If the plow is light, the plowed field will be shallow." Li Xia, the second sister on the side, said with a chuckle.

"Second sister, you hold the plow, A Ping and I pull it in front, and the three of us arrive at the end of the field." Li Wen looked at the two girls and said.

"I thought you were going to hold the plow. This plow is not easy to hold, so I'll do it. You two pull it in front, and walk slowly. Our family only has some private land and doesn't have much work." Li Xia said and lifted the plow.

Plow handle.

Holding a plow is a technical job and cannot be done by anyone who wants to. Because the plow goes deep into the soil, the person holding the plow needs to judge the depth of the plow and avoid colliding with rocks, which may cause damage to the plow.

On the contrary, Larry's people don't have to think so much and just pull hard.

"Okay, let's get started." Li Wen looked at the scattered weeds growing in the field, feeling very motivated at this time.

The second sister, Li Xia, seemed to be an experienced farmer at first sight, and she tied the rope to the plow shaft with deft hands and feet.

The third sister, Li Ping, is actually a good child. Although she has a mental disorder, she also knows that she can't do anything if she doesn't work.

Normally, she would just follow her family and work hard without saying a word for a day. At this time, under Li Wen's arrangement, she silently came to the front of the rope and picked up the rope. However, Li Wen took the responsibility behind her.

Most of the pulling force.

"This plow is so heavy!" Li Wen complained in his heart. He pulled the plow and walked in the field, but he didn't speak because talking easily discouraged him.

This plow was originally pulled by oxen to plow the fields. But if you have big livestock at home, you can't ask the village to borrow it. It is not free. Besides, the farming has been busy recently, and the village does not lend it to private individuals.

For more than two hours, the three of them plowed three-thirds of their own land back and forth.

"The strangulation on your shoulder really hurts. Ah Ping, can you strangle your shoulder?" Li Wen, who was sitting on the ground, asked Li Ping, who was sitting aside and said nothing.

"I prepared a cloth mat for Ah Ping. If it's thicker on the shoulders, it won't be too tight. Ah Wen, don't you have something to lay on?" Li Xia, who was sitting next to her, asked doubtfully.

"Hey, um, I don't have a pad." Li Wen scratched his head and said awkwardly.

"You are an idiot. You deserve the pain in your shoulder if you don't put anything on it. You are a great writer and you don't even understand this common sense." Li Wen was directly laughed at by the second sister.

Even Li Ping, who was sitting next to her, laughed quietly.

"It's not like I haven't pulled a plow before. It was all done by my eldest brother and others in the past. I can only do the weeding." Li Wen said directly.

"Okay, it's almost time to rest. Let's pick up all the weeds in the field and go back to feed the pigs." Li Wen got up and walked towards the field.

"Sister, when we grow melons, we have to dig ridges and plant the seeds on the ridges. This melon is drought tolerant but not flood tolerant." Li Wen said, looking at the soft land that had been plowed.

(The melon here is the old variety of melon mentioned earlier. The locals call it White Rabbit Pear Melon. It is written as White Rabbit Pear Melon here. Many people have never seen it, so the word melon is used.)

"No one has grown melons here before. Sister doesn't understand either. I'll just do whatever you say. I'll listen to you." Without saying anything, Li Xia picked up the shovel and started to raise the ridges.

The three of them shoveled the soil, raised the ridges, and finally finished the ridges in time for lunch.

"Xiaoxia, Awen, what are you doing in the fields? Why did you turn the fields into ridges?" Aunt Hua, who had already finished work and came to the fields to pull vegetables, asked in confusion when she saw a few people.

"Aunt, I got some seeds from my friend, and we are going to make ridges to plant melons," Li Wen said.

"I was just wondering why it's almost April at your house and you haven't grown vegetables yet. You are planning to plant melons! Are they the kind of green melons that our county supply and marketing cooperative sells in the summer?" Aunt Hua was stunned when she heard this and asked excitedly.

.

"No, it's the White Rabbit Melon from Kun County. It's white and fat when ripe, and it's very sweet." Li Wen said with a smile.

That's a good relationship. I'll ask my Sophora japonica to help you this afternoon. I'll give some to my aunt when I save seeds this summer.

"The price of melons purchased by the supply and marketing cooperative is very high, close to 30 cents per pound. It has even caught up with the price of raw meat." Aunt Hua was very happy when she heard that Li Wen actually got melon seeds.

"Auntie, there's no need to ask Sophora japonica to come. We've already finished digging the ridges. All that's left is to sow seeds in the afternoon."

"As for saving seeds, that's a small matter. I will save some more seeds this summer and distribute some to your family." Li Wen replied with a smile.

"Okay, Auntie, I'm just waiting for your white rabbit melon. Let's see what it looks like in the summer. I haven't seen it yet." Auntie Hua pulled out a few handfuls of green vegetables and left with a smile.

"Second sister, come here to carry the plow. Let's go home. After dinner, we will continue working. There is not much work left. It should be finished early in the afternoon." After Li Wen finished speaking, he walked to the edge of the field and started to pack away the farm tools.

The three of them carried the plow and farm tools and returned home. When they returned home, Li Wen saw his parents and his second uncle and aunt who had also just finished work and were washing their hands in the yard.

"Awen, you guys are back. How were you doing at noon today? I just said that I would go to the fields after washing my hands. I just came back and asked your dad to look at it. He was too lazy to move." Wang Chunmei smiled as she watched several people come back.

asked.

"The ridges have been dug, and all that's left is sowing in the afternoon. My second sister is a veteran in farming. If you don't trust me, don't you trust my second sister?" Li Wen smiled and reported the morning's situation.

What we had for lunch today was pumpkin, but it was a pumpkin quilt. It was cut yesterday, so it can’t be kept for a long time. It will take a day or two at most to finish it.

When they returned home, the old lady had already prepared the meal. The cornmeal and sweet potato flour were mixed together to make a dough, which was covered with the boiled pumpkin pieces and absorbed the pumpkin juice, making it delicious.

After eating, everyone rested for a while and started to work again.

"Sister, let's get some wheat bran and straw first. After sowing, we can sprinkle the wheat bran and straw on the seed nest to moisturize and preserve heat." Li Wen picked up the backpack and walked to the backyard.

(Wheat bran is not wheat bran. Wheat bran is the broken pieces of wheat straw and wheat husks. It is usually used to make fires in rural areas. It is very resistant to burning in winter.)
Chapter completed!