freenovelworld Chapter 301 Discovery of Sterile Rice
Chapter 301 Discovery of Sterile Rice
Aunt Zhang called out, "Wan Ning, come in and have dinner. You all should come and have dinner too!"
After all, they haven't seen each other for some time, and Aunt Zhang only has Wan Ning in her eyes.
"Hey, I'm here." Shen Wanning responded, and then said to Lin Dashan and the others, "Dad, Mingzhu, Xiaojiang, let's go wash our hands and eat!"
Shen Wanning hadn't been back to Daqing Village for almost two months. Although Lin Dashan and Aunt Zhang had gone to Fuzhou in the meantime, they were still very happy to see Shen Wanning back.
"Wan Ning, Lord He recently issued a notice asking us to look for rice without stamens. Did you know about this?" Aunt Zhang asked during dinner.
Shen Wanning nodded and said, "This is the notice I asked Brother He to issue. The rice yield is too low now, and I thought of a way to see if I can increase it."
"Several families in our village have already discovered rice without stamens, but they haven't reported it to Lord He yet. Why don't I go and talk to them tomorrow? You can go and check it out directly, saving them the trip to the county seat."
"Okay, that's great. We are the ones who pay for the ten taels of silver anyway, so I might as well just give it to them directly." Shen Wanning put down his bowl and chopsticks and said.
Then she asked, "Mom, do you know how many rice plants without stamens have been found in our village?"
"I haven't asked them in detail, but there are at least three families! When I was chatting with them today, they mentioned that they were planning to go to the county government office tomorrow to ask Lord He for the reward money!"
"Then tell them not to go to the county town yet. Take me there tomorrow to have a look. Oh, Mom, I want a small plot of experimental land to see if I can develop hybrid rice."
"Oh, no problem. We have a lot of fields at home, you can plant whatever you want. But now the fields are full of rice. Wan Ning, where do you want to plant it? I'll ask someone to pull out the rice in advance." Aunt Zhang said nonchalantly.
Shen Wanning forgot that although the family had a lot of land, they had always hired people to farm the land, so the fields were indeed full of crops.
"Forget it, I might as well ask the village head to buy another piece of land. It doesn't have to be particularly large, a small piece will do." He estimated that there wouldn't be too many sterile plants this year, so a small piece of land would be enough.
"If it's just a small piece, it's easy. Just dig out a small piece in the yard so that you can check on its growth at any time. The weather is getting hotter, so you don't have to run to the fields." Aunt Zhang suggested.
Shen Wanning thought about it and realized there was still some space in the backyard where she could plant rice. "Okay, then I'll dig out a small patch of water in the backyard, store some water, and plant rice behind us. After the rice is harvested this time, I'll leave a small plot of land so I can plant more rice."
"Okay, I'll ask the eldest brother to plow the land tomorrow. You can plant it directly in the yard. It's a small piece of land and it will be ready for you in a short while." Aunt Zhang responded.
After the discussion, Shen Wanning and Aunt Zhang went back to the village head and told him about the incident. He gathered the villagers and told those who had discovered the sterile rice to transplant the rice the next day and not to damage the root system. The villagers then realized that Shen Wanning was the one who had been searching for the sterile rice.
The sun sets in the west and rises in the east, and another day has passed in the blink of an eye.
Just after breakfast in the morning, some villagers dug up rice without stamens and came to Lin's house.
Shen Wanning carefully checked each rice grain and confirmed that they were all sterile rice.
There were seven sterile plants in total, and Shen Wanning gave each of them ten taels of silver.
The paddy field in the backyard had not been dug yet, so Shen Wanning had to put these sterile rice plants in a pot away from light and transplant them after Lin Jingce had plowed the land.
The survival rate of transplanted rice is still very high. In addition, there are many trees in the backyard, so even if a piece of land is dug out, it will be in a shady place. So Shen Wanning is not too worried.
At this time, in Baocheng County, some people had already dug out the sterile rice by themselves and came to the gate of the county government to receive their rewards.
After Fang Huai went in to report, Lin Jingyou asked them to line up one by one and give them the reward money after he finished checking.
The first person in line carefully handed the sterile rice in his hand to Lin Jingyou.
"Sir, can this one grain of rice really be exchanged for ten taels of silver?" the man asked fearfully, his hands and feet trembling.
Seeing his fear, Lin Jingyou forced a smile to make himself seem more approachable. "Yes, if there are no problems after my inspection, you can receive the reward of ten taels of silver."
After saying this, Lin Jingyou carefully examined the rice in his hand. Although he was a scholar, he still had to help with farming during the busy farming season. He had already seen this type of rice on Shen Wanning's phone many times and could clearly identify whether it had stamens.
"Yes, there are indeed no stamens." Lin Jingyou nodded, and then said to Fang Huai, "Fang Huai, give him ten taels of silver."
"Yes." Fang Huai responded and took out ten taels of silver from a box that had been prepared long ago and handed it to the commoner.
Lin Jingyou handed the rice to Xu Guangjun and asked him to plant it in a basin of water nearby.
The commoner wiped his hands excitedly, then nodded and took the silver. "Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir."
"No need, this is what you deserve. Go ahead, if you find rice without stamens again, you can exchange it for silver." Lin Jingyou said gently again.
"Yes, after I go home, I will take my family and children to the fields to look for rice." The man stuffed the silver into his arms and said happily.
Lin Jingyou waved his hand, signaling him to leave. "Next."
When the second person saw that the first person got the silver, he was very happy and handed his rice to Lin Jingyou.
Lin Jingyou carefully examined it. Suddenly, his face changed and he slammed the table. "How dare you secretly cut off the stamens and pretend that the rice is stamen-free to deceive me? What crime should you take?"
The man was startled by Lin Jingyou's majestic look and quickly knelt down. "No, I am innocent. I am innocent! Your Excellency! This rice is naturally like this. I didn't pinch it."
"Don't try to fool me. I've been farming at home for more than 20 years. How could I not even know what rice looks like?" When Lin Jingyou said this, the faces of the people queuing behind him changed, from excitement to fear.
They were just ordinary people and thought that Lin Jingyou wanted to use this excuse to avoid rewards and did not want to give them the reward silver.
Lin Jingyou waved to the people behind him and said, "You all have experience in farming. Come and take a look at this rice plant to see if anyone has pinched off the stamens."