Chapter 133 - 133 Rice
133 Rice
The family was very concerned about the well-being of Gu Qingming and the fetus in her womb.
They went for the prenatal checkup on Monday as intended.
There was no appointment for this prenatal checkup, so various arrangements had to be made. This errand was handed over to his sister-in-law, Zhou Xiaoyu.
Grandma Shi and Grandma Gu accompanied them. With the driver, Shi Yaoqing, the car was full.
Grandpa Gu followed Grandpa Shi to the field. At first, he stood on the ridge and watched everyone work. However, when he saw Grandfather Shi, who was in his seventies, still planting seedlings in the field, he was tempted. Without a word, he took off his high-end shoes and was about to go down.
He wanted to experience the feeling of doing farm work.
When he was young, his father brought him to the fields to experience the hard life of a farmer. After that, he never went to the fields again.
“Hey, in-law, why did you take off your shoes?” Grandpa Shi was shocked when he saw Grandpa Gu take off his shoes. “Are you coming down?”
Grandpa Gu smiled and said, “Yes, I also want to experience the feeling of planting seedlings.”
He looked at an empty field that had been tidied up and asked, “Planting is all done manually. Are there no machines?”
Grandpa Shi smiled and said, “No, my family is thinking about it.”
Grandpa Gu said, “That seedling transplant is time-consuming and labor-intensive!”
“That’s true,” Grandpa Shi said. “Our family has planted so many fields. Every time we hire someone to plant the seedlings, it costs more than a thousand. This is even when we have a lot of family members.”
They had a lot of family members. Now that farming was busy, they all helped one another.
However, the mid-season rice needed to be rushed during the rainy season.
When it rained, they had to plant the seedlings. This way, the people would not be too exposed to the sun when they worked. The seedlings that were planted would also grow better.
Stoneback Village was located in the south. Due to the weather conditions here, two seasons of rice could be grown in a year.
As people’s standard of living improved, people were no longer obsessed with farming.
This was especially true with young people nowadays, they were all busy working to earn money, leaving behind some elderly and children, as well as a few other family members who stayed at home.
The purpose of these people was to farm. Some people just wanted to eat the food planted by their families and save a little money. However, there were a few people who relied on farming to maintain their family’s income.
Those in their prime who lived at home were in the minority. Their land was more than ten acres.
For example, other than Gu Qingming’s two cousins who were in university, everyone chose to stay at home.
When a family was together, that was true happiness.
Many of those who went out to work had no choice.
If they farmed at home, their family’s income would not be high. They would not be able to support their family at all. They would also have to buy a house, a car, and other places to spend money.
But Gu Qingming’s uncles were different.
They relied on farming to earn more than 100,000 dollars a year.
If one had such an income in the countryside, it would serve them very well.
Going out to work and keeping the elderly and children was a choice made reluctantly.
If possible, who wouldn’t want to be filial to the elderly at home? Who would be willing to be separated from their children? They could only get together during the New Year.
The young people in the family had all gone out. The elderly and children who were left behind did not have much time to farm. Moreover, basically every family did not lack food and clothing now. Their goal for farming was only to farm so the family could have enough food for a year.
Therefore, many people now chose to plant one season of rice, which was the mid-season rice.
Grandpa Gu looked at everyone bending down and lowering their heads seriously to plant the seedlings. He asked curiously, “Why are the southern seedlings being planted now?”
Grandpa explained, “The seedlings now belong to the category of mid-season rice. We’re in the south, so we can plant two seasons of rice. For the early-season rice, we choose the seeds in February of the lunar calendar to start breeding the seedlings. We can plant the seedlings around the Qingming Festival in March. As for the late-season rice, we usually breed the seedlings in the middle to late May. It’s best to plant the seedlings around the summer in June. As for the mid-season, we’ll plant the seedlings now. We’ll plant the seedlings in April and sow them in May.”
“Oh, I see!” Grandpa Gu nodded. “I thought it was to plant three seasons of rice.”
Grandpa shook his head and said, “It’s very difficult for us to grow three seasons of rice here. It’s mainly because there’s not enough sunlight. If there’s not enough sunlight, it will cause the rice grains to be lacking. At that time, the rice won’t be delicious to eat, and it won’t be easy to sell. It’s simply a waste of effort.”
Grandpa Gu looked at an empty field that was being filled and then looked at a green seedling not far away. He pointed over and said, “Is that early rice?”
“That’s right, it’s early rice!” Grandpa said. “These seedlings are already wrapped around the rice flowers and are about to bloom. The early rice will ripen a little earlier, and it will take about 110 days from seedlings to harvest. As for the middle rice and late rice, it will take about 120 days.”
“Only ten days away!” Grandpa Gu exclaimed.
With that, he pulled up his pants and prepared to get off the bed.
Grandpa said with a smile, “In-law, there are leeches, some dead earthworms, and ants in the ground. Aren’t you afraid?”
Grandpa Gu, who was about to get off the ground excitedly, felt a chill run down his spine and his hair stood on end.
He had a good family background since he was young. Even though he was forced to go to the fields by his father when he was young, it had been too long ago. He could not remember if he was afraid of these things at that time.
However, since he said that he wanted to go down, he had to go down. Otherwise, wouldn’t he be embarrassed in front of his in-law?
Grandpa Gu smiled and said, “I’m afraid. I’ve been to the fields before! These things are just child’s play!”
Fear of creepy crawlies probably ran in the Gu family.
Gu Qingming felt like crying after being bitten by an ant. It was unknown how Grandpa Gu would feel if he was bitten by leeches.
Grandpa Gu gritted his teeth and got to the ground.
Like Grandpa Shi, he grabbed a seedling from the ground.
Grandpa instructed him from the side, “Take two of them and insert the big one. The distance between each seedling is about ten centimeters. Then, make sure that each line and each row is neat.”
Grandpa Gu was a bit stumped.
He looked carefully at the seedlings, picked out two small ones, and tried to insert them.
Under his efforts, the entire seedling was about to be inserted, revealing only a little leaf tail.
Grandpa was speechless.
Grandpa Gu looked at the seedlings planted by others and asked, “Isn’t that so?”
Grandpa said, “This seedling doesn’t need to be planted too deeply in the ground. We just need to bury the roots and make sure it doesn’t collapse. In two days, it will grow on its own!”
With that, he plucked the seedlings that Grandpa Gu had planted and inserted them into the ground.
Grandpa Gu was speechless.
Then, he bent down and picked up a strong seedling before gently inserting it into the ground.
When the seedling fell, Grandpa Gu was stumped again.