The old cow in the field flicked its tail leisurely and dragged the small iron plough behind it lightly and skillfully. The man holding the iron plough waved his whip and shouted from time to time, and occasionally pulled the reins tied to the ox's nose to adjust the direction in which the old ox walked.

Groups 1 and 2 were each equipped with ten old oxen, and people in both groups were busy plowing the fields. A group of dry land is turned back and forth in a straight line according to the direction of the small ditch. The second group is ploughed in a hollow shape according to the ridges of a field.

Some people catch a plow and plow the ground a little, and some people take a shovel and use a shovel to turn over the corner where the iron plow cannot plow. Others are working in another field to raise seedlings in advance.

In the distance, a woman carried a burden, bringing food and drink to the big guys. In such a lukewarm weather, people who work outside the home, in order to save time and work more, generally do not go back to eat breakfast and lunch, and the women at home will prepare it and send it over. Everyone is a long-term worker in the Erya family, working together, and at the beginning, everyone did not have a overall plan, and they were all sent to each family. Later, the team leader saw that this was too much of a waste of the family's time, so he arranged for the people who delivered the meals to take turns to deliver them, which saved time and trouble.

When they saw the food deliverer coming, they each put down what he was doing and prepared to go ashore to eat. Erya and Xiaohu didn't plan to go over, they wanted to quietly go to the barren mountain next to them to see Li Daxing's livestock, and also to see if the land of the fruit grove had been sorted out. As a result, before the two of them had time to turn around, they were seen by Zhu Changming. He ran over in three steps and two steps: "The owner, the lady of the owner, why don't you come over?" Haven't you had breakfast yet?! Walk! Come with me for a bite! ”

"No! Go back and eat! Your host's lady hasn't been here for a long time. This time, while farming, I came with her to have a look. Otherwise, when the tea comes up, there will be no time to come. We're going to go and see the cattle and the fruit trees. Go back quickly! Xiaohu knew that his daughter-in-law didn't like to eat at other people's homes, so he refused directly.

The two of them turned to the orchard guarded by Xie Huozi next to them, which was very miscellaneous because it was a bit patchwork when they bought the fruit trees. There are peach trees, pear trees, apricot trees, persimmon trees, papaya trees, etc., and all the fruit trees that can be found in the surrounding area are tossed in. Now the orchard is one in the east and one in the west, high and low. Looks hilarious woods.

On the left hand of this orchard is another much larger barren mountain, which has been dug out by Xie Jiazhong's cousin (Xie Chuanfu) with a lot of tree pits. Even if no saplings have been planted, I can see rows of neat loess mounds spread all over the barren mountains. I can feel a little bit of an orchard.

The seedlings have already planted their seeds last year, and they are waiting for this spring to sprout in March. However, I heard from this fruit farmer that after the seedlings grow, they need to be raised again before they can be planted. As for how to raise seedlings, I don't know.

But. She remembers the original her, one year, she bought a few big white peach seedlings home, at that time her father did not directly dig a pit to plant trees, but put the seedlings in the seedling field to raise for about seven days, and then connected with the fertilizer in the seedling field to plant on the pit, I don't know if the seedling farmer said is the same as this? Ay! Forget it, I can't dig up the guy that others rely on to eat!

Erya thought that some trees were not good at fruit. I was a little worried that they would be cut down in a lot of things, so I explained: "Master Xie." The orchard that Xie Huozi is looking at next door also bothers you to help take care of it, and some of the larger trees are estimated to bear fruit this year. You see, if the fruit is not tasty, you can mark it, but you have to keep it and not cut it down. When the time comes, wait until all the other fruit trees have grown, and then pick the tree with better fruit and prune it and graft it onto the bad tree. "Let Xie Huozi look at the orchard, it's too miscellaneous. Some of the trees are dug up and sent by the neighbors who are about to bear fruit in order to sell the trees for a little money, and there is no way for such trees to follow the saying that you eat peaches in three years and eat apricots in four years.

When Xie Chuanfu was young, he worked on the orchard for a large family in Fucheng for more than ten years, and later the large family wanted to move his family to the south of the Yangtze River. Because Xie Chuanfu is not the main steward of the orchard or the master, it is of no great use to the master's family, so he was dismissed by the master's family with a little severance pay. After more than ten years, I didn't expect that I would have the opportunity to do orchard business! But he still couldn't help but suspect that since he was a young man learning to care for fruit trees with that old fruit farmer, he had never heard of such an incredible thing as pruning from this tree to grafting that tree.

There were two more vertical eyebrow lines on his already dense old man's folded face, "The lady of the owner!" If this branch is cut, it will not survive, and it will be impossible to live if it is connected to another tree. ”

Xiaohu said on the side: "You don't have to worry about this, just listen to the orders of your host's lady." No matter how bad the fruit of the sapling that has grown up, don't cut down the tree, and your host will arrange it when the time comes. ”

"Hey! Listen to the owner! Xie Chuanfu thought for a while and asked the owner: "Can the owner take some money out and buy some fruit saplings elsewhere?" ”

Erya was overjoyed in her heart, and asked in a somewhat pleasant tone: "Oops! Mr. Xie, do you know where to buy fruit tree seedlings? That's great, buy it! That's right! Why didn't you tell your nephew last year when we couldn't buy saplings everywhere? Erya remembered the frustration of last year when she was in a hurry to buy saplings but couldn't buy them anywhere. If he had said last year, his family would have opened an extra orchard last year, and the fruit would have been an extra year's income.

Xie Chuanfu replied very calmly: "Because it is too far away, if you buy less, it is not cost-effective to run." Last year, I saw that the owner was only going to make that small hill, and I thought you wouldn't want much, so I didn't mention it. I mentioned it today because the owner has set aside several hills for me to open fruit orchards as soon as possible, and I also proposed it because it is too slow to meet the requirements of the owner by relying on my own seedlings alone. It's just that I want to remind the owner and the winter lady that this fruit tree sapling is not cheap! If all these hills you have explained are planted, I am afraid that you will have to pay tens of thousands of taels of silver to buy saplings. ”

Xiaohu nodded, this number was when I made a budget last year. I already know. It's just that there was no place to buy saplings at that time, so they used the stupidest method. Prepare your own seedlings. Since there are places to buy now, then the reserves of this budget will eventually be taken out.

Xiaohu replied to him: "There is no problem with this, when do you plan to leave, I will arrange for people and cars to go with you when I go back." You can buy the saplings you need at the moment, and the saplings we grow can be kept for later use. ”

"The sooner the better, if the owner can arrange it, I can leave tomorrow. Saplings are currently needed. You need to bring about 5,000 taels of silver! ”

"Okay! We'll arrange it for you when we get back. There are a little more varieties, so don't buy a few things! ”

"Yes!" Xie Chuanfu responded.

The two of them went to see the livestock managed by Li Daxing and the barren mountains where the cattle were placed. It was still on a group of dry land, and it was almost impossible to use water artificially, so these few were assigned to Li Daxing to lead the people to graze.

Li Daxing is also a planned and organized person, and he did not put all the bees in the livestock of several barren mountains. It's a patch of grazing. This can not only ensure that the secondary grass can grow as soon as possible. Livestock are not easily lost.

Sheep and cows are in groups together, nibbling on the roots of grass that have just sprouted small shoots on the ground. Pigs are running all over the mountain, and there are always one or two pigs that catch a tree and scratch it on it. Standing far away, you can see that a few trees are shiny with oil. The donkey is also a member of the east and the west, because the four sides of the foot of the mountain are surrounded by honeysuckle vines planted by Er Ya last year, but they are not afraid that they will run out of the mountain.

Xiaohu pulled the reins of the horse with one hand and put the other hand around his daughter-in-law's shoulder, wanting to bring her back. He whispered, "Let's go back!" They've done a good job, to be honest. Even your own children are still lazy! I used to work in the fields with my father, and I was always trying to be lazy. Even when I go to the toilet, such a smelly place, I can squat in it and don't want to come out. My dad never pushed me, he just cared about his own work. Now, I really want my father and mother to be alive, so that they can live a good life like today, without having to work on their own. ”

Feeling that Xiaohu was about to cry, Erya hurriedly raised his hand and patted Xiaohu's hand on his shoulder, and comforted: "Do you think this is a good day?" And can you know that your father and mother have not lived a good life? Maybe they're having a good time in heaven! ”

Xiaohu couldn't cry or laugh when he told his daughter-in-law, so he had to put away the sadness of his discord in his heart, and hurriedly took his daughter-in-law back to the town, they also wanted to see the land in the town! Last year's income was not ideal, and this year we have to find a way to increase the income from this field no matter what.

The two of them returned to the town to arrange for Wu Fenggang, who had no task for the time being, to bring three people, pack up, and prepare to follow Xie Chuanfu to buy saplings tomorrow with a silver ticket.

The couple then went to see how busy they were with the spring ploughing of the 200 acres of land they bought from the Huang family.

The river that runs through this field has built several large reservoirs all the way, and Erya has not been able to understand it at first, but now when he stands on a high place and looks at it, he understands it all.

It turned out that this small river that ran through the whole field was the same as the river next to the house, and it was a seasonal river. The river is much smaller than its own river, and in the spring, when irrigation needs a lot of water, the river is about to dry up. Therefore, the Huang family built these reservoirs to store water in summer and autumn for use in spring for farming. From this point of view, this field has not been bought at a loss, and if it is well planned, it may be like Liujialing, and it is also a treasure land that can produce gold.

The people working in this field are all temporary odd workers, and they are also very active, but they are not as fine as the long-term workers in Liujialing. Around the corner, the plough passed, and no one took a shovel to turn over the unploughed land.

"Daughter-in-law! Let's ask a few long-term workers to take care of this field! It's not always a matter of hiring odd jobs. And I heard Huigui say that now every family around here is not short of those two small dollars, and it is not easy to hire someone temporarily. Just these few people still looked at the face of favors, and came to help, and told Huigui in advance that they didn't want to be paid. Can we take advantage of other people's little bit and make people gossip? ”

Erya nodded: "Okay!" Then please! If you want to invite people from afar, I think Luo Feng'er's mother's family can invite a few over. In the few days I have been there, I have secretly watched, and I have not seen such a dead skin, and there is no one who is too bad. If you think it's okay, go back to Hu Sanjin to understand and ask him to recommend seven or eight stable and diligent people to take over. By the way, tell him that you can bring your daughter-in-law and children with you. If any daughter-in-law is not of good quality, no matter how good this person is, you must make this point clear! Sometimes a woman with a bad character causes even more life. ”

"Hmmm! I know, just look for it in Luojiazhuang! They are indeed too poor, and it would be better to give them another way out! (To be continued......)