PCJ – Chapter 282 Harvest

In the blink of an eye, Meizi’ao had turned golden all over. The golden rice and golden rice stalks had become the most eye-catching scenery in Meizi’ao. The rice field next to Zhang Jiaohua’s house was already covered with a thick layer of harvested rice grains.

“Jiaohua, this rice needs to be harvested when it’s 80% ripe. If you wait until it’s fully ripe, most of the grains will fall into the field during harvesting. Your field is the first one in the village to ripen. Tomorrow morning, your uncle and I will come and help you harvest this field,” Zhang Manyin said, fearing that Jiaohua didn’t understand the right timing for harvesting, and hurried over to remind him.

“Grandpa, don’t worry. I’m about to harvest it. You don’t need to come. Wenrong and the others will help me, and we can finish it in a day,” Zhang Jiaohua shook his head.

“You silly child, wouldn’t it be easier with more people? Do you think Grandpa and your uncle would eat up all your food?” Zhang Manyin laughed.

“You’ve got plenty to harvest yourselves. You’re already too busy. With Wenrong and the others helping me, it’s enough,” Zhang Jiaohua didn’t want to scare his grandpa and uncle with the spells he was planning to use.

“We’re all family. Why are you being so distant?” Zhang Manyin knew that his grandson was sensible. Other kids his age didn’t even need to help in the fields yet, but Jiaohua was already shouldering so many responsibilities, which made Zhang Manyin feel a little heartache. No matter what, he still planned to come help Jiaohua the next day.

“Jiaohua, the late rice seedlings haven’t been planted yet, but I’ve planted them for you. Once you’re done with this, you can go to my seedling field and pull some seedlings. Hybrid seedlings only need one per hole, so I should have enough for you,” Zhang Manyin had already prepared extra seedlings for Jiaohua.

Jiaohua smiled, “Grandpa, just wait and see. The seedlings in my field will grow faster than the ones you planted.”

That evening, Zhang Jiaohua brought Jinhu and the others out. Scythes danced through the air, and the rice stalks in the field fell in swathes. The thresher hummed as the rice grains separated and fell into the machine.

Some people in Meizitang heard the sound of the thresher and came out to look, but the night was pitch black. Zhang Qianlong, holding a flashlight, ran over to check, only to find that all the rice in Jiaohua’s field had already been harvested. The thresher had been brought into the field, and two baskets of rice were placed by the edge.

Zhang Qianlong shone his flashlight around, “Anyone here? Jiaohua, are you harvesting at night?”

Zhang Jiaohua came out of the house with a flashlight, “Uncle Qianlong, is something wrong?”

“Are you harvesting at night?” Zhang Qianlong asked.

“Yes, it’s too hot during the day, so I thought I’d do it at night when it’s cooler,” Zhang Jiaohua replied.

“So that’s it… I was wondering who was harvesting so late. You’d better wait until daylight to continue. I’ll come over and help then. Harvesting at night may be cooler, but it’s easy to make mistakes, and once something goes wrong, you can’t undo it,” Zhang Qianlong advised, knowing that Jiaohua was too young to handle all the farm work alone.

“Okay,” Zhang Jiaohua agreed and saw Zhang Qianlong off.

As soon as Zhang Qianlong reached home and closed the door, the sound of the thresher started again outside.

“Who’s still harvesting so late at night?” asked Zhang Qianlong’s wife, Li Yujv.

“It’s Jiaohua’s family,” Zhang Qianlong replied, frowning at the sound of the thresher.

“How can Jiaohua handle all that work by himself? Could it be Wenrong and the others helping?” Li Yujv wondered.

“Maybe, but when I went over, I didn’t see anyone. It was just Jiaohua at home. He didn’t even have any mud on his bare feet. I didn’t see Wenrong or the others,” Zhang Qianlong shook his head.

“Ah!” Li Yujv gasped, wanting to open the door to take a look.

“Don’t. Jiaohua has the powers of the Meishan clan. He might be using spells,” Zhang Qianlong quickly stopped his wife.

“Ah, then I won’t look,” Li Yujv immediately pulled her hand back. The mysterious powers of Meishan still invoked fear among ordinary people.

For over an hour, the thresher hummed continuously. The harvested rice was soon piled up in Jiaohua’s house, forming a huge heap of at least 1,500 or 1,600 jin. In those days, 1,000 jin per mu was already considered a high yield, so the production from Jiaohua’s field would have shocked people nationwide. This field’s yield was well over 1,200 jin per mu.

Fortunately, Jiaohua had stored the rice in his house, so although people knew the yield was high, they didn’t know the exact figure. Plus, Meizi’ao was a remote place, so even if the yield was high, no one would be able to spread the news.

With the rice safely stored at home, Jiaohua had more work to do. He had already prepared one mu of seed for the late rice planting. Without even plowing the field, he used a hoe to dig holes in the dry land and dropped three seeds into each hole. Then, he sprinkled some ash mixed with soil to cover the holes.

Without flooding the field, Jiaohua stood with a bowl in his hand and recited a chant to summon spiritual water: “Disciple sets up an altar in the rice field, offering incense once, the Patriarch issues a command, offering incense twice, the Master issues a command…”

As he walked through the field, he flicked the water from his bowl, and it fell like fine rain over the field. Within moments, water had gathered in small pools, and the ash covering the holes gently shook. Gradually, the seedlings began to emerge, stretching lazily like young girls waking from sleep. By the time Jiaohua had finished, the bowl was empty, and the entire field had been watered. A thin layer of water covered the field, and all the seedlings had sprouted.

“Cock-a-doodle-doo…”

The new day dawned in Meizi’ao as a rooster crowed from a rock at the village entrance. Golden rays of sunlight shot up from the eastern ridge, heralding the start of a beautiful new day.

In front of Zhang Jiaohua’s house, six drying mats were already spread out, holding six baskets of rice. The mountain leopard and a pack of puppies guarded the area, ensuring no village livestock dared approach.

When Zhang Manyin arrived with his sickle, he was stunned to see that the rice field had already turned into a sea of green seedlings.