Unlimited estates for rural beauty-Chapter 42: Greed Is Never Satisfying
A group of people headed for Nameless Mountain in a lively procession, chatting and laughing, drawing quite a crowd of villagers to watch.
About half an hour later, each person carried a small bamboo basket on their back, filled with lush and robust seedlings.
"Hey, hey, hey, look, they’re coming." Someone in the village shouted out, and everyone craned their necks to see a group of people approaching from a distance, talking and laughing. It was only when they got closer that the villagers noticed each person was carrying a bamboo basket on their back containing rice seedlings. The seedlings had sharp and erect leaves, thick and healthy stems; each and every one of them was so, making the villagers green with envy. These were all top-quality seedlings. If the harvest turned out well, it would surely be better than previous years.
"All right, I’ll start teaching you how to plant the seedlings now," Feng Xuxu rolled up her trouser legs and took off her shoes, taking the lead into the paddy field. Since ancient times, a woman’s legs and feet must not be shown to men other than her own husband, so Feng Xuxu had no choice but to roll up her trousers and enter the field in her socks. After soaking for a few days, the soil in the paddy had turned to mud, and stepping on it would leave a pit.
Feng Xuxu held the seedlings up with her left hand and announced loudly, "Hold the seedlings with your left hand and separate them with your right. Each time, take a small bunch, then quickly plant the separated seedlings with your right hand into the mud of the paddy. While planting, move backwards. Space each seedling a bit further apart, about fifteen centimeters between each, and about thirty centimeters between the rows. When planting, try to move as little as possible in the field. Too much movement means more footprints, more pits from stepping, and if a seedling is planted in a pit or on the edge, it might float to the surface due to the buoyancy of the water, leaving a missing plant at the spot of the footprint. Finally, remember that the planting must be uniform, both horizontally and vertically, to make it easier to manage the paddy later." Feng Xuxu demonstrated as she taught the villagers the details to pay attention to while planting.
"Come on, everyone, get into the paddy field and line up at the top. Squat down and begin to plant. Follow my instructions, and make sure to consider the people to your left and right. This way, we won’t waste any seedlings and won’t have any floaters," Feng Xuxu instructed, continuing to guide the uncles and older men in the field even after leaving it.
"Don’t worry, we’ve all understood," Feng Guang told Feng Xuxu loudly. Then he yelled to begin, and everyone bent down in unison and started planting.
Feng Xuxu stood beside the paddy field, throwing seedlings to those planting, so they wouldn’t need to go back and forth to fetch seedlings and increase the footprints in the paddy.
Shopkeeper Feng watched the whole process silently from the side. Most farmers would directly sow rice seeds, but Feng Xuxu introduced a step beforehand, cultivating the seeds into seedlings first, which saved a significant amount of time. The idea of two harvests in a year seemed very possible. Fo Yaobang, thinking this through, squinted his eyes, contemplating whether to cooperate with Feng Xuxu ahead of time and buy their new rice.
Some villagers, after watching Feng Xuxu farm, gathered in small groups and began to discuss in low voices, "It seems like Feng Xuxu knows what she’s doing with farming. Maybe she really can develop high-yield grains," Feng Cheng’s wife, Mrs. Feng Xiao, said to the women next to her after watching the planting.
"Who knows! It might look good but not be practical. Since ancient times, rice has always been grown on land, not in water. I’ve lived so many years and this is the first time I’m seeing something like this. It’s truly an eye-opener," Mrs. Feng Jia, wife of Feng Si, said dismissively.
"That’s true, hey, didn’t Feng Xuxu finish tilling all that wasteland? Who knows what she’s planted there?" Gao Family’s Feng suddenly interjected.
Feng Xiao Family and Feng Jia Family looked at each other, indeed ignorant about what was on that wasteland.
"Sister Gao, what do you know? Come, tell us about it," Feng Xiao Family asked Gao Family’s Feng with genuine curiosity.
"I heard from my sister-in-law’s brother’s cousin that Feng Xuxu is cooperating with a restaurant in town! They say she’s growing some vegetable called chili peppers," Gao Family’s Feng relayed the rumor, which she’d learned in a roundabout way.
"Oh, really? It seems we can’t underestimate Feng Xuxu. If she really can produce a high yield, won’t our days become rich immediately!" Upon hearing this news, Feng Xiao Family became even more convinced that Feng Xuxu must be growing high-yield rice and now regretted not having joined her to cultivate the land together. She was pondering when to approach Feng Xuxu to see if she could mend their relationship.
"So that means, if Feng Xuxu is going to plant vegetables on that land, she’ll need to hire people from our village, right?" Feng Jia Family’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Gao Family’s Feng.
"Last time she opened up the land, she used people from our village. I guess this time, it will be the same," Gao Family’s Feng thought for a bit before saying so.
"This time, we all need to negotiate properly. If she hires people from the village to farm the land for her, then she must raise our wages. How about thirty copper coins a day? What do you think?" Feng Jia Family licked her lips with a sly smile on her face.
"What’s wrong with you? How can you be so shameless? Feng Xuxu is already paying a daily wage of twenty-five copper coins, which is not low, and includes meals. Why do you want a raise? Have you thought about it, can your husband Feng Si even ensure that he earns twenty-five copper coins every day," Gao Family’s Feng said, utterly displeased. This felt like deliberately disparaging a young woman. If they really annoyed Feng Xuxu and she stopped hiring people from the village, they would be shooting themselves in the foot by losing out on a bigger opportunity. Moreover, the work was close to home and included meals, a fine job indeed. Gao Family’s Feng glared fiercely at Feng Jia Family, that vile creature.
"Hey, what are you saying, Sister Gao? I’m just thinking of the villagers, wanting them to earn more silver. And you’re upset? Are you jealous? Look at what you are, a shameless old hag." Feng Jia Family could not stand being called unscrupulous or being indirectly accused of having a husband who couldn’t earn silver; she thought it was just a matter of currying favor with Feng Xuxu. Feng Jia Family spat forcefully in the direction of Gao Family’s Feng with disdain in her eyes.
"Jia Yun, you’re the shameless old hag. You’re the immoral one. Don’t you see that your family can only eat pork because you earn those copper coins from Feng Xuxu? Yet you have the face to ask for a wage increase? Look at yourself, who do you think you are? All you know is to slap on rouge and powder. If I saw you at night, it would scare me to death or drive me mad, like seeing a ghost," Gao Family’s Feng countered, and onlookers started to gaze at Feng Jia Family, seeing the similarity Gao Family’s Feng had described. Her face caked in white, with bright red lips, a big red silk flower in her hair, wearing a pink floral dress. People were used to Feng Jia Family’s attire and hadn’t paid much attention before, but under the night, that sight could send shivers down someone’s spine.
