The Farm Girl’s Charismatic Fortune
Chapter 212 - 208 Sensation

Chapter 212: Chapter 208 Sensation

The rush to harvest was indeed urgent. Granny Lei had heard that it was going to rain in a few days, so in addition to the people already hired, she called upon several hardworking villagers from nearby to help with the cutting.

Together with those who came voluntarily to lend a hand, there were over a hundred people in total. Excluding children and the elderly, it could be said that there was one able-bodied laborer for each mu of land.

Those who were quick with their hands could finish harvesting a mu in a day and a half and spend the remaining half day threshing, so on average it took a person about two days to harvest a mu of land.

The Ruo Family had over one hundred mu of land planted with rice. United as one, the group tirelessly bustled about, completing the harvest in just two and a half days.

Now they only awaited for the rice grains to dry. After airing them through the winnowing machine to remove impurities, shriveled grains, and some small bits of straw, the rice would then be weighed to see the total yield.

In the following days, the weather remained clear and sunny, with the spring breeze sweeping across the land, drying out the rice grains quickly.

One evening while collecting the rice grains, Granny Lei picked up a grain and bit into it, then joyfully exclaimed, "It’s dry! It’s at least eighty to ninety percent dry. After half a day of sunning tomorrow, we can weigh them."

If the weather remained fine after the weighing, the grains could be sunned for another day or two. Rice that was completely dried out could be kept for a long time. If it wasn’t all consumed within a year, it could be taken out and aired again to continue preserving it, as long as it stayed dry and crisp.

Ruo Shui also picked up a grain to bite, seeing the white broken rice inside. Those who knew could tell to what extent it was dry just by looking.

"I’ll go inform the village head and the Xuanyuan matriarch right away."

Actually, there was no need for anyone to do so, as the village head had just come looking for them: "Sister-in-law, have your rice grains dried out? Can we weigh them tomorrow?"

It wasn’t just the village head; others had begun to flock over as well.

After all, they all had cultivated the rice together, sunning it for so many days, they were old hands at this, thus they also knew that the weighing could likely begin the next day.

Granny Lei responded to everyone, "We can weigh them. We’ll do the weighing tomorrow."

So the next day, the drying yard was surrounded by people—not just from their own village but also from others, and even the owners of some grain shops from the city had come.

Everyone was extremely curious about the yield per mu of this third-season rice.

The County Magistrate had also come. Although the official fields had rice as well, he felt that they weren’t managed as well as the Ruo Family’s.

So he left his secretary to keep an eye on things there while he himself came to see the Ruo Family’s yield per mu.

Weighing the rice grains was not an easy task as it needed to be done in batches, and it required two people to carry a huge balance beam with a shoulder pole, while a third person moved the scale weights to measure. One person couldn’t manage as a single batch of rice was too heavy.

The village had only two large balance beams, so weighing them batch by batch was exceedingly slow.

Seeing this, the County Magistrate sent his bailiffs running back to the city to fetch a few more large balance beams.

A proprietor of a grain shop, upon viewing this scene, quickly instructed his subordinate, "Go back to the shop and bring two large balance beams here, take the horse cart, and hurry."

People from other villages also rushed back to their own villages to fetch large balance beams.

Half an hour later, with more than twenty balance beams in operation, the weighing process sped up considerably.

The yield from the hundred mu of land granted by the Emperor wasn’t entirely weighed yet, but the yield from the Ruo Family’s original plots came out to a staggering high of one thousand six hundred thirty-six jin per mu!

The yield from the other plots was also no less than one thousand six hundred thirty jin each.

When this yield per mu was announced, the Xuanyuan matriarch clutched Xuanyuan Que’s hand so tightly, it was involuntary and her body shook slightly.

But as someone who had experienced many years on the battlefield, she quickly composed herself and said to Xuanyuan Que, "Xiaojiu, your grandmother has something to take care of back home. You stay and play with Xuanbao, and then go back up the mountain after you’re done playing."

After speaking, she hurriedly left with barely any delay.

This matter had to be reported to the Emperor’s son immediately.

This matter was huge!

It was indeed a massive affair!

The yield was so much better than she had imagined!

When the per-mu yield was announced, the scene instantly caused a sensation.

"Over sixteen hundred catties? Is there a mistake? Did you count too much?"

"This can’t be possible, right? This must be the yield of two mu of land, right? Was there a miscalculation?"

"Count it again, hurry! There must be a mistake. Even if it doubled, it couldn’t possibly be over sixteen hundred catties. At most, it would be eight or nine hundred catties!"

The accountant was the village head’s son, who worked as an account keeper at a restaurant in the city. He busily said, "There’s no mistake, I’ve counted three times! It couldn’t be wrong!"

For everyone, a yield of over a thousand catties was an astronomical figure.

How could one mu of land possibly produce over a thousand catties of grain?

At this time, the per-mu yields of the other villagers were also calculated.

The village head said excitedly, "It’s not wrong, it’s not wrong. My family’s rice wasn’t taken care of as well as the Ruo Family’s, but the highest per-mu yield was still one thousand five hundred and twenty-eight catties! The others are also around one thousand five hundred catties! Haha..."

"That’s right, the highest yield for one mu of my land was one thousand four hundred and six catties!"

"My land isn’t as good as the village head’s, but it still yielded one thousand three hundred and eighty catties!"

"My field is low-quality land, but it still produced one thousand and one catties! Haha, I knew this time the per-mu yield would definitely be over a thousand catties! Haha..., my family’s granary can’t even hold it all! I’ve never seen so much rice!"

"Neither have I. These past few days, I’ve been dreaming of rice. My entire house is filled with rice. Eating white rice every day, I couldn’t finish it even in a lifetime!"

"Me too! I dreamed I was literally sleeping in the rice. The rice wouldn’t even fit in the rooms of my house, it was spilling out onto the street, and my mom struggled to scoop it back!"

"We only have this one mu of land, and the total harvest of the last two years wasn’t as much as this one! I was just thinking of planting one more season of rice. Even if it failed, I would just waste a few catties of seeds and some effort. But if there was a harvest, if I could get a hundred or so catties, that would be a profit! I was dreaming of harvesting an extra hundred catties or so, and I would wake up laughing from my dreams! I never expected to harvest over thirteen hundred catties! Xuanbao, you’ve saved my entire family’s life!"

Actually, the Ruo Family and the villagers who followed in planting rice had guessed this yield earlier, but they didn’t dare to believe it could really be over a thousand catties until the figures were actually calculated, and then they felt at ease!

The households celebrating the bountiful harvest were exhilarated and gathered around the people of the Ruo Family and Xuanbao to express their gratitude.

The villagers who had failed to harvest anything were almost green with envy, feeling as if they had missed out on gold by the thousands!

The high-quality fields yielded between fourteen hundred and over sixteen hundred catties per mu, and even the poorest fields produced over a thousand catties.

This yield wasn’t simply doubled; it had multiplied by several times!

If they had followed suit and planted rice too, even if they had missed the first rice season, they would have made a fortune!

The landlords’ high-quality fields and the official fields in the city were considered the best, and even they yielded less than five hundred catties per mu at most, but now, even the worst fields yielded over a thousand catties. Weren’t they making a fortune now?

So, these people also crowded around, impatient to discuss buying seeds. Having missed out once, they couldn’t afford to miss out a second time.

"Granny Lei, are you selling these rice seeds? I want to buy two hundred catties!"

"Ruo Shui, I want a hundred catties for my family too!"

...

"Young Master Ruo, I’m from Qingfeng Grain Shop in the county town. I’d like to place an order for ten thousand catties of your seeds."

...

Suddenly, even the people from the grain shops showed up, and the scene became even more sensational.

Everyone was pulling at the people from the Ruo Family, eager to buy seeds.