Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 137 - 135: Autumn Harvest

Chapter 137: Chapter 135: Autumn Harvest

That the main family and second branch routinely tried to stir up trouble for Xiao’er’s family over time had become disconcertingly common. Shen Chengyao was called to the fields by the long-term workers as soon as he got home, and he didn’t have time to wallow in his melancholy!

All Mrs. Liu did was ask, "Did your grandfather call your father to the main house for something?"

Xiao’er briefly explained the situation.

Mrs. Liu nonchalantly uttered a simple "Oh", then went back to fussing over the new toy design for the toy store that Xiao’er was making.

"Mom, why are you so indifferent?" Xiao’er found it strange. Shouldn’t Mrs. Liu’s reactions involve anger, fury, or at least a few choice words, to be considered normal?

It shouldn’t be this dull, like saying today’s food tastes good as usual!

Well, the food at their house is always good, so it’s ordinary.

"Isn’t this normal? I’m used to it! It’d be abnormal if they recommended that I close the miscellaneous store so your supermarket gets more customers, right? You’ve said before that we can’t agree to their unreasonable demands, so why bother about it? Leave them to it!" Mrs. Liu looked at Xiao’er in surprise. Weren’t these her words?

Xiao’er: ...

Indeed, getting used to something can be a terrifying thing!

Even this can become the new normal!

――

Lately, the villagers have been discussing a particular topic when they meet:

"Have you seen that 100 acres of paddy field owned by Shen Chengyao?"

"Haven’t seen it? You better hurry up and look! Big things are about to happen!"

~

"Did you see it?"

"I saw it! How could you miss it! The rice grains are so heavy, I could hardly lift a bunch!"

"I noticed earlier, I saw such a big bunch, I squatted there for half a day, specifically counting how many grains per stalk. Guess how many there were?"

"I can’t guess, just tell me, how many! You’re killing me with suspense!"

"276 grains! Do you know how many grains there are on one of my stalks? Just over eighty, which is nothing compared to his stalk! And their grains are even fuller! Their rice is maturing much earlier than ours!"

"My heavens!! Can’t be, that’s so many more! No, I also have to count mine!" Having said that, he sprinted to his fields.

...

Doctor Luo also heard about this, personally went to see it, and excitedly ran home to immediately send a message to Shangguan Xuanyi via Pigeon Post!

After receiving the reply, Doctor Luo immediately ran to Shen Chengyao’s house.

The gatekeeper, seeing it was Doctor Luo, let him in without announcing him. This man had three meals a day, two of which he often had here. Strangers might think he was Shen Chengyao’s father!

"Young Master Three, Young Master Three, are you home?" Doctor Luo ran along shouting.

Shen Chengyao hurried from the backyard to the front yard, "Yes, I am. Why are you in such a rush, Doctor Luo? Is there something wrong?"

"When are you going to harvest your rice?" Doctor Luo asked breathlessly.

"In a couple of days. Xiao’er said that harvesting after a couple more days of growth would be just about right!" Just for this? What’s the rush about!

But it seemed like the villagers were more anxious than him, as he had been pestered about it to the point of annoyance recently!

"The day after tomorrow then! Remember, don’t harvest privately. Wait for my notification! Understand?" With that, she didn’t wait to catch her breath and ran home.

The day Shen Chengyao’s family began harvesting the rice, the sky was lofty, deep blue, and their hundred acres of fertile land were all covered in a thick layer of golden crops, while the neighboring rice crops were still in the milking stage!

On this day, when the villagers learned that his family was going to harvest their rice, they all gathered around to watch, praises emerged! Everyone was very curious about how much this extremely flourishing rice crop would yield per acre!

They’ve been farming for a lifetime, and they’ve never seen such a spectacular rice crop. Yes, it’s spectacular! The grains are so abundant it’s awe-inspiring, pressing the rice stalks to bend under their weight! Look at those grains, they are almost touching the ground!

At the same time, they realized their mistake. When Shen Chengyao took an unusual path and implemented a strange rice planting method during the spring plowing season, who didn’t call him an idiot, who didn’t ridicule him as a fool?

Now, they were the ones who were wrong. It was they who were the fools, the idiots. It turns out this is how you should plant rice. Their ancestors were all in error, it was this method that led to higher yields!

The village chief looked at the field of rice with regret in his heart, he was so rueful that he could feel his intestines turning green. Initially, when Shen Chengyao offered the remaining seedlings to his and several other families, he didn’t dare to accept them. Only the families of Shen Chengzu and Shen Renfu accepted them and planted them, and now their crops... He didn’t have the words to express his feelings, he felt this was the most tragic thing in the world!

Xuan’er had suggested trying out the method on a few acres of land too, but he was too stingy... Ah, his stomach was full of regretful tears!

Shen Chengyao looked up at the sky. The sun was already up, and they had been waiting for half the day. "Doctor Luo, the sun is already up. When can we start harvesting?" The harvesting of crops really couldn’t be delayed. That’s why it was called a rush harvest. They needed to quickly harvest, thresh, dry, and store the crops while the weather was good. If it rained, a lot of the crops would spoil!

Doctor Luo glanced at the small path leading to the field, his heart was also on edge!

Finally, a party of people appeared on the path. Leading them was Shangguan Xuanyi, galloping on a white horse.

Xiao’er took a look at the people behind him, their movements were identical, those were soldiers, well-trained cavalrymen in plain clothes.

These men must have been given orders, as each one of them carefully looked after getting off their horses, being careful not to damage the crops.

When Shangguan Xuanyi arrived in front of Xiao’er’s family, everyone hurried to prepare a formal salute. Shangguan Xuanyi reached out his hand to stop them, "No need for such formalities! Then he pointed to a middle-aged man standing behind him, "This is Officer Li."

Just as Shen Chengyao’s family were about to salute, Officer Li hastened to prevent them, "No need for formalities, no need for formalities!"

He was joking. Even the Sixth Prince didn’t want their salutations, where would he dare to accept them?

Xiao Fuzi greeted Xiao’er’s family, which made Officer Li even more curious about this family.

"Let’s start! You arrange these people. I’ve brought them to help with the harvest!" Shangguan Xuanyi pointed to the ten people standing in a row.

After expressing his thanks, Shen Chengyao assigned each of them to a section of the paddy field.

"Brother Shangguan, are these ten people going to stay until the hundred acres of rice are harvested?" Xiao’er asked. If they were just helping out for today, then arranging for their meals would be enough. But if they were staying until the harvest was finished, then someone would have to notify the hotel in town to reserve ten rooms.

Shangguan Xuanyi nodded.

’Brother Shangguan?’ Officer Li felt like he was hallucinating! Since when did the Sixth Prince become so approachable?

After hearing that, Xiao’er sent Xie An to notify the innkeeper in town.

Shangguan Xuanyi squatted down, picked up a cluster of rice grains to inspect, indeed they were hefty! Yet the paddy field in the distance was not even turning yellow.

Today, Xiao’er also brought out thethreshing machine built by the iron shop!

She wanted to take this opportunity to advertise the threshing machine!

Xiao’er demonstrated first, how to place the cut rice stalks in a way that would make the threshing process easier.

"Father, after we cut a large bundle, we should stack them like this." Xiao’er cut two small stacks, then stopped and said to Shen Chengyao.

Shen Chengyao nodded, and then instructed everyone to do as she demonstrated.

Everyone nodded in agreement!

When a part of the rice field was cleared, Xiao’er instructed men to move the threshing machine into position, and then she climbed onto the pedal.