Lao Yutou shook his head while eating pork rib soup and said, "It's not that much to spend when you have money!" Save more money in your hands, and if you have anything in the future, you will have to deal with it! By the way, the sea, Ming'er, you go to the town to buy more food and come back. Looking at the weather, I don't know when it will rain! If the drought does not ease, food prices will certainly rise. ”

Yu Caifeng frowned and said, "This big Futian, the grain is easy to have insects!" If you buy too much, and it rains in a few days, won't the food be wasted? ”

Lao Yutou finished the last piece of ribs, looked at a pair of children and said, "When the time comes, buy more sorghum, wheat and the like." When it's sunny, pull it out to dry, and you won't lose much! ”

Yu Caifeng remembered what happened when his family was in the Northeast, and said worriedly: "Dad, do you think you should remind the village chief and let the people in the village store some food." Otherwise, only our family will have food at that time, and this one will borrow and that one will not last long! If people are hungry, they don't talk about anything! ”

During the drought in Northeast China last year, their family could have had food support until the beginning of spring, but later they were remembered, so they had to leave their hometown to join their parents' family. She didn't want her brother's family to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Old Yu thought for a while, nodded and said, "After eating, I'll go to the village chief's eldest brother's house to talk to him." ”

Yu Xiaocao eats fragrant boiled corn. That's right, boiled corn! In the previous life, when Yu Xiaocao came down with fresh corn, he would always buy a few ears, cook them soft and glutinous, and eat them in his mouth full of fragrance. She loves this one.

After wearing it, the corn has not yet entered the Central Plains, and I can't eat it if I want to. I finally got the seeds from the little county king and planted more than ten acres of corn, how could I not get a few ears to satisfy my hunger?

Taking advantage of the fact that in the past few days, the overseer of Xiaojun Wang was not there, Yu Xiaocao asked Xiao Zhutianshi to ripen a few corns, and today he picked more than a dozen ears of corn cobs and cooked them, and everyone tasted them together.

After all, corn is valued by the imperial court, and when Yu Xiaocao came back, the Liu family, who was in the kitchen for dinner, almost didn't faint. Stealing corn from trial planting is a felony to kill the head. Why is this girl so bold that she broke the corn back without a sound. Now she can't grow up if she wants to, so angry that she takes a fire picker and grabs the grass to beat her. Fortunately, Xiaocao's legs and feet are fast and more dexterous, so he is free from "poisonous hands".

Seeing Yu Xiaocao gnawing corn like a little squirrel, Liu gritted his teeth and said, "Eat!" You still dare to eat it in your mouth!! If you let the prince of the county know, it's strange if you don't beat you!! If you report it to the court, you may be beheaded! ”

Yu Xiaocao rolled her eyes disapprovingly, and said, "Don't you just eat ear corn?" As for it? It's the little county king, what does it matter if so many ears of corn eat a few ears? Besides, I've broken it all down, and I won't be able to go back for a long time, and it's a waste if I don't eat it. Auntie, uncle, Junping, you eat too! If you don't eat it, I'll eat it for you! ”

Yu Caifeng saw that Yu Xiaocao's expression was relaxed, and the tension in her heart was also resolved a little. My niece is right, it's already broken off anyway, just eat it! She took an ear and handed it to her man, and said with a smile: "How big is your belly, can one person eat more than a dozen ears of corn?" Not afraid to hold on? ”

Liu Junping saw that his mother and father had eaten it, so he also took an ear, followed Yu Xiaocao's example, and took a big bite. The unique fragrance of corn slowly spreads in the mouth, and it is soft and glutinous with a hint of sweetness.

To be honest, corn moistened by Lingshi water tastes better than waxy corn. Even Xiao Fangping gnawed happily. Yu Xiaocao reminded: "Xiao Pingping, chew carefully before swallowing." Otherwise, when you pull the poop, you will pull out the whole corn kernels! ”

Xiao Fangping chewed hard with his mouth, didn't care about speaking, and nodded vigorously to express his meaning.

Liu Yan'er also likes the taste of corn, she tasted it carefully, swallowed it for a long time, and said: "This corn is indeed a high-yield crop, three or four corns, just boiled such a big pot." I weighed it, a corn cob, to say the least, weighed half a pound. Uncle, how many corns do you say there must be in this acre of land, and how many catties of grain should be produced! ”

Xiao Fangping tried hard to swallow the corn in his mouth, and said with a smile: "That's it, that's it!" There is so much corn that you can't eat it every day! ”

Liu Junping knocked him on the head and said, "You snack goods!" I just want to eat!! The corn in the uncle's field was planted for the imperial court, and if they were all eaten, when the imperial court came to ask for it, what would they give to others? Don't go outside and talk about eating corn, or the government will arrest you and put you in jail! ”

As soon as Xiao Fangping heard that he would go to prison for eating an ear of corn, he immediately held the half-eaten corn in his hand, not knowing whether he should continue to eat it.

Yu Xiaocao saw his expression of not crying, he felt very cute, pinched his little face, and said, "As long as you don't say it, the government doesn't know, so naturally it won't arrest us!" We have planted so much corn, and there are one or two less trees, who can see it? Hurry up and eat, when you're done, my cousin has something delicious for you! ”

What Yu Xiaocao said was delicious was the stalks of corn. After picking the corn, Yu Xiaocao let the mending stone ripen the corn stalks, and the corn stalks irrigated with spirit stone water have a sweet taste, which is better than sugarcane!

After dinner, several children held a piece of corn stalk and smacked it with taste. Xiao Fangping smiled and said, "Big brother, don't you want to catch us if you eat corn stalks?" After harvesting corn in the future, let's cut the corn stalks back and eat them as snacks! ”

"When the corn stalks are dry, there is no moisture, and if you want to eat them, you can only eat them for a day or two. However, it is good to feed livestock with corn stalks. Our little gray and the horse's winter rations are here! Sun-dried corn stalks are also great firewood! Yu Xiaocao introduced the use of this corn stalk.

Xiao Fangping said happily: "Corn is full of treasures!" Let's be more diverse! ”

Yu Xiaocao estimated: "Our ten acres of land can produce at least 20,000 catties of corn." Corn is ground into flour, and it tastes better than millet noodles as a staple food, and it is not as heartburn as sweet potatoes. ”

Lao Yutou was dumbfounded, and said for a long time: "The production capacity of this corn mu has reached 2,000 catties?" Sure enough, it is a high-yield crop, no wonder the emperor sent the prince of the county to go thousands of miles to the West. If this corn can be popularized, the common people will not be afraid of hunger!! ”

Yu Xiaocao sighed: "Yes! The emperor is really a good emperor who thinks about the people! "At present, she is not bad as a fellow traveler, at least not a faint king. Perhaps, if she is exposed one day, in the face of such an opponent, the end will not be too miserable!

The corn cobs and corn leaves that have been gnawed off are put in the sun for a day and used to make fires. It wasn't until the corn cob and leaves were completely burned in the hearth, turned into ashes and destroyed the corpses, that Liu's heart relaxed a little—no one should know, right?

The drought continues. Every day, the Yu family went to the west mountain to fetch water and came back to water the cornfield. The scorching heat and the scorching sun seemed to roast the earth.

On this day, Yu Xiaocao wore a straw hat and helped water in the cornfield. The little golden cat came from the mountains and forests in the distance, like a golden lightning, and rushed towards this side. Xiao Mending Tianshi's voice was full of anxiety and a hint of joy: [Master, master! Big things are not good!! 】

Yu Xiaocao didn't take it to heart, what was the bad thing that made you so excited and happy?

【Master! I'm now back to being able to communicate with birds and beasts! The little golden cat jumped on Yu Xiaocao's shoulder, showing off a little.

"Congratulations, congratulations!" Yu Xiaocao said in his heart, you can communicate with birds and beasts, that's a good thing, what's wrong?

The little golden cat didn't seem to be satisfied with Yu Xiaocao's absent-minded reaction, and scratched her cheek with the meat pad of her paws, and said: [Be serious!!] What a big deal!! 】

"If you have something to say, let it go, don't sell it, okay?" Yu Xiaocao was so busy that she couldn't straighten her waist, so she didn't have time to play with it.

Xiao Tianshi snorted unhappily and said, "The birds in the forest are flying south, do you know why? 】

"Flying south? Isn't it time for the weather to get colder? Could it be that the drought has intensified and the animals have a predictable migration? Yu Xiaocao was a little nervous, after all, natural disasters are often accompanied by man-made disasters. Why don't you buy a bigger house in the town, and the whole family will move there? There are people from the government in the town, so it shouldn't be chaotic.

Xiao Tianshi shook his head and said: [No, it's worse than the drought!] 】

Yu Xiaocao became even more nervous, pinched the little golden cat's neck, shook it vigorously, and said anxiously: "Can you tell the whole story?" Don't just say half a sentence, hang people's appetite, okay? ”

The little golden cat rolled her eyes when she pinched her, turned into a golden mist in her palm, floated out of her fingers, and condensed into a golden kitten next to her again. Yu Xiaocao looked around like a thief, and didn't find anyone else, so he breathed a sigh of relief, and reminded Xiao Mending Heaven Stone in his heart not to change the sky and the earth in the future, so as not to be burned as a monster!

Xiao Tianshi rolled his eyes and gave her again: [Do you still need to say it? This divine stone has already been probed with spiritual power, and there is no one around! 】

Without waiting for Xiaocao to continue to ask, it said solemnly: [I learned from those birds that there is a swarm of locusts in the south that is flying towards us. The birds go south to have a feast! 】

Locust? By the way, she vaguely remembered that locust plagues are generally accompanied by droughts, and there are so-called sayings such as "locusts must come after a long drought" and "locusts after a drought". The drought in the south was relatively severe, so the locust plague started from the south.

Yu Xiaocao is not calm, the locust plague is not a joke. In the event of a locust plague, tens of millions of locusts will devour seedlings and trees, completely destroying crops and forests, and causing unpredictable losses to people.

Locusts tend to be water-loving and move in groups from arid areas to low-lying and flood-prone areas. This side of Dongshan Village is also an arid area, and these locusts should just be passing by. But after the locusts, all that was left was famine and disaster.