CHAPTER 78: CHAPTER 78: SHARING GOOD FORTUNE

As Jiang Hu expected.

The constable collecting the grain tax came in the morning and left by noon. In the afternoon, Liu Yang arrived at their home.

After some small talk, he indeed asked how much Jiang Hu’s family harvested this year.

At that time, Jiang Hu was fixing a hoe. Although the corn and sorghum had been harvested, and the stalks had been brought back, the field hadn’t been tilled yet. Once the hoe was fixed, the work could be done quickly.

Jiang Hu generously and straightforwardly shared the amount, but he subtracted the four to five hundred pounds stored in the cabinet indoors, and casually pointed out that the rest was over there for Liu Yang to see for himself.

The room where the grain was stored wasn’t locked, in fact, it was half-open. Liu Yang didn’t hesitate and went in to take a look.

As he came out, he glanced a few times towards the entrance of the bedroom, although he didn’t go in.

His actions weren’t hidden; not only did Jiang Hu notice, but even Xiaomi noticed.

However, neither of them said anything; they just smirked, feeling lucky that they had prepared in advance.

It was actually good for Liu Yang to know, because once he knew, basically everyone in the village would know too.

The three to four hundred pounds Liu Yang saw, plus what the constable took away, would give people a rough idea of the total amount.

In the eyes of outsiders, the Jiang family’s land was small, but the yield was still quite good, not excessively so, which wouldn’t make others feel envious.

Jiang Hu’s second aunt started to prepare to till the land again, and the crops that could be used for oil, called rapeseed, were purchased.

The price of seeds was very high, needing ten copper coins for a tael of seeds.

Jiang Hu was reluctant to buy more, so he only bought a tael. When he placed them on the table, Xiaomi was curious and recognized the rapeseed, casually mixing in two handfuls.

Luckily, Xiaomi’s hands were small and she gathered only a little, so it wasn’t noticeable. However, with an extra two handfuls of rapeseed, they could plant a few more acres of land.

The family’s combined corn and sorghum fields were less than seven mu. This time, they planned to plant three mu of wheat, one mu of rapeseed, and leave the sorghum field empty for later tilling.

The sorghum knocked down by the previous heavy rain would sprout in a few days. The recent good weather meant they’d grow quickly, and in just a few days, they would reach quite a height.

Meanwhile, the rabbits in Jiang Hu’s family were starting to have their third litter of bunnies!

Rabbits take around half a year to mature, but after six to seven months, they can have another litter roughly every month!

Not only had the few initial bunnies grown into dozens of rabbits, even the wild chickens had hatched a dozen chicks!

Jiang Hu’s second aunt was plowing, while Da Wa and Er Ni were busy collecting wild grass and insects, especially wild grass, as autumn was here, and winter was approaching.

There wouldn’t be much wild greens in winter, but their rabbits would certainly increase, needing a lot to eat. However, some wild greens dried in the sun could still feed the rabbits in winter, which was what the siblings were busy with.

In October, Xiaomi and Iron Egg were nine months old, and the siblings were growing well. No matter who in the village saw them, they would only have good things to say.

Xiaomi no longer needed to hold onto a chair and was tottering along the ridges of the fields, with Iron Egg crawling behind her.

The land had been completely tilled. When Jiang Hu bought rapeseed back, he had also inquired at the granary about how to plant them. By now, they had been sown for seedlings, ready to be transplanted when they grew to palm height.

Jiang Hu specifically left an acre of land for rapeseed. Previously, due to rain, many sorghum shoots had sprouted in the sorghum fields. They didn’t pull them out but let them grow, as they could be harvested later for feeding cattle and pigs.

However, Xiaomi discovered a packet of seeds in the space, which was also sorghum but not ordinary sorghum; it was sweet sorghum.

Judging from the pattern on the package, it didn’t seem different from the sorghum they used to plant, but this sorghum could be sown in winter.

Xiaomi pondered silently, planning to wait another month or two, and then secretly scatter a handful of sweet sorghum seeds among the wheat when her parents were busy working.

Anyway, the wheat field was previously used for planting sorghum, so it would be normal for sorghum shoots to appear later.

And by then, it would already be winter, and she could persuade her parents not to pull them out and let the sorghum seedlings grow naturally.

With this plan in mind, Xiaomi casually mixed a handful of seeds from the space into the wheat seeds.

The wheat in the space had already been harvested; they were now planting rice, directly irrigated with water from the Spiritual Spring.

Come April or May next year, when the family would be planting rice, she would mix the rice seeds from the space into their seeds.

Previously, Xiaomi would have worried about whether her parents would recognize the mixed seeds, but now she was completely confident.

Talking about the ten or so corn stalks was one thing, but when saving seeds during the sorghum harvest, her parents had meticulously selected the best and fullest ears!

"Sister, sister." Iron Egg stumbled over and leaned on Xiaomi, trying to stand up from the ground.

The next moment, with a couple of thuds, both siblings rolled onto the ground.

"Careful!" An aunt quickly set her things down and reached out to pick up the siblings.

"What happened here? How did you both fall?" Second Aunt hurried over upon hearing the commotion and then said to the aunt, "Aunt Xie, why are you here?"

Aunt Xie, the village chief’s wife, and the village chief was about forty, so naturally, his wife wasn’t young either.

"Oh, I’m here to see Xiaomi and get some good fortune," Aunt Xie said, helping Xiaomi up and placing her on the ground, before picking up Iron Egg and letting him steady himself against a basket.

"Good fortune?" Second Aunt was dumbfounded, momentarily unable to respond.

Aunt Xie didn’t explain much further, she picked up the bamboo basket she had set aside earlier and handed it to Xiaomi with a smile.

"Xiaomi, these are Grandma Xie’s wheat seeds from this year. Touch them and see, they’re bound for a bountiful harvest."

Upon seeing Aunt Xie’s gesture, Xiaomi was slightly bewildered, but soon, she caught on.

This was practically an opportunity handed on a silver platter!

She then placed her hand into the basket, rifled through a few times, and innocently muttered to herself, "A bountiful harvest."

Her tone was entirely just repeating Aunt Xie’s words.

But Aunt Xie was utterly delighted, practically overjoyed: "Good, good, good, Little Lucky Star says it will be a bountiful harvest, so it surely will be!"

Saying this, she took an egg from her pocket and placed it in Xiaomi’s arms: "Here, this is from Grandma Xie, take it home and have your mother cook it for you."

She didn’t even give Second Aunt a chance to refuse, grabbing the wheat seeds and leaving cheerfully, oblivious to Second Aunt calling her.

Holding the egg, Xiaomi looked up innocently at Second Aunt: "Mom."

However, when her hand rifled through the wheat seeds earlier, she had also mixed in two handfuls of wheat from the space. So with the egg in her hand, she didn’t feel guilty at all.

Thankfully, Grandma Xie had brought plenty of seeds. If there had been fewer, she would have thought twice about mixing in anything else.

Second Aunt, with a laugh and a shake of her head, looked at the egg in Xiaomi’s hand: "Since Grandma Xie gave it, keep it. I’ll steam it for you tonight."

As for whether Aunt Xie’s wheat would end up yielding a bountiful harvest, that was beyond her knowledge.