Chapter 77: Six-Zero Farm System (43)

With the great merit of a thousand-catty yield per mu in the foreground, approving a plot of land for a house was nothing at all.

The Brigade Leader waved his hand, agreed, and said to Xie Yang, "Pick it yourself. Once you've picked it, I'll have someone go over to measure it, and then I'll have it registered in the ledger for you."

The Scorekeeper suggested enthusiastically, "Educated Youth Xie, what kind of good residential land is there at the foot of Banyue Mountain? If you want to build a house, choose that vacant lot to the east of the Threshing Floor! It has the village road in front and a river in the back; it's convenient for coming and going, and convenient for washing things. That is the most sought-after location in our brigade."

If his own son weren't still too young, he would have wanted to go apply for a plot of residential land at the east end of the Threshing Floor himself.

Xie Yang knew that place; it was indeed good, but it was precisely because it was too good that she didn't consider it.

Even the Scorekeeper, whose child at home was only eleven, had his eye on that place and wanted to apply for a residential plot there to build a wedding house for his child. Could there be few commune members with such thoughts?

She did not want the courtyard where she would spend her old age to be squeezed and crowded by houses on all sides.

In this day and age, you couldn't even get red bricks to build a house, so how could you use bricks to build a wall? A fence wall wouldn't be able to block the prying eyes of neighbors.

Banyue Mountain was better after all!

The commune members were wary of this place and generally wouldn't come over if they didn't have to.

She planned to fence off a piece of land with plenty of sunlight and high elevation at the foot of the mountain to build a small farmhouse courtyard.

Going up to the mountainside were the terraced fields where she worked, and following the foot of the mountain around to the back, there were plenty of dead branches and shrubs that could be used as firewood.

Both working and gathering firewood were extremely convenient.

As for daily water usage, she had climbed all the way to the summit a while ago to collect charred plant ash soil and discovered that the temple, which had burned down into ruins, actually had a well.

After moving aside the well cover, which was covered in a thick layer of dust, she found that the water in the well was as clear and sweet as a mirror, and the water quality was even better than Yuewan Lake.

Xie Yang planned to take the time to clean up the ruins on the summit, then dig a trench from the summit to the foot of the mountain, cut some bamboo to connect into pipes and lay them in the trench, and channel the water from the ancient well down. This would not only allow for irrigating the terraced fields but also solve the problem of daily water usage after she moved in.

Action speaks louder than words!

She didn't go to the Threshing Floor to accept the admiration and praise of the commune members, but instead focused on finding a blessed spot for her retirement and began running up and down, busy at work.

When Song Mingyu learned that she had chosen a location to build her house, he happily transported the stones he had previously collected over in a winnowing basket.

"Sister Xie, look! These are the stones I picked for you! They are all round, so when they are embedded in the adobe wall later, they will be smooth and won't hurt your hands."

Seeing the air with which he spoke, Xie Yang felt it was quite like—"Look! This is the empire I have conquered for you..."

She couldn't help but laugh: "Thank you, Comrade Song! Here! A reward for you!"

She pulled out a handful of White Rabbit Creamy Candy and stuffed it into Song Mingyu's pocket.

"You are not allowed to return it! If you don't like to eat it, give it to your grandfather; Lao Song will definitely like it."

"..."

Song Mingyu knitted his little brows and hesitated for a long while, but in the end, he had to accept it helplessly.

"Sister Xie, what are you planning to do next? I'll help you."

Although he wasn't old and wasn't tall, he was still a little man and could help the adults with a lot of work!

"Alright! You come along! Let's clean up the ruins early and use the clear, sweet well water early! Then Lao Song won't have to run so far to fetch water."

"Okay!"

The two of them carried their farm tools and went up the mountain to clean up the temple ruins.

They were completely unaware that the entire brigade was in an uproar because of the thousand-catty yield of late rice!

"The experimental field that Educated Youth Xie is responsible for had a harvest that broke a thousand catties per mu? Is that true or false?"

"The Brigade Leader and the Secretary personally verified it several times; how could it be false?"

"I said long ago that Comrade Xiao Xie is someone who does practical work! Ever since she came to our brigade, how many good things have we enjoyed following her!"

"Shh! Don't go spreading it! The Brigade Leader said that as long as the people in our brigade know about this, it's enough. All those thousand-plus catties of grain are to be kept for next year's rice seeds."

But it was already too late!

Someone's daughter-in-law, having returned to her maiden home after the busy farming season, let it slip without paying attention. It spread from one person to ten, ten to a hundred, and soon it was the talk of the entire Commune.

And so, the Commune Leader came to Yuewan Brigade in person to verify it.

The result of the verification was naturally that it was true.

They also heard the Brigade Leader's detailed explanation of the reasons for achieving the "thousand-catty yield per mu."

The story of the fire that happened at Banyue Mountain years ago, where everything above the mountainside was burned clean by the great fire, leaving behind a patch of charred black, had been heard more or less within a radius of a hundred miles.

They never expected that it was precisely this charred soil that had achieved the thousand-catty yield per mu for Yuewan Brigade this year.

But for other brigades to copy and imitate this, it was clearly unrealistic!

First, they had to get a barren mountain that they wouldn't feel bad about burning;

Second, this barren mountain had to be burned by a great fire for days and nights;

Finally, the charred plant ash soil would have to be left exposed to the wind and sun for decades to merge with the soil.

Even if the first two difficulties could be overcome, the last one could not be completed in a short time no matter what!

Who could afford to wait for decades!

Consequently, these leaders decisively gave up on copying the growth environment of the high-yield late rice and instead set their hearts on the rice seeds that produced a thousand catties per mu:

"Lao Zhou! Your Yuewan Brigade has gained face for our Commune this year. This merit will definitely be recorded for you, but the rice seeds..."

The Brigade Leader barely managed not to darken his face: "Commune President, aren't you making things difficult for me! For this experimental field, our entire brigade has been busy, and the responsible educated youth comrade is so dedicated she practically sleeps in the experimental field, and the commune members also try their best not to disturb her..."

Commune members: "..."

Brigade Leader, that sounds a bit dishonest.

Is it that we don't disturb her? It's that we don't dare get too close to Banyue Mountain.

But the Brigade Leader didn't change his expression or miss a beat, and continued to report to the Commune Leader: "In short, it is only because our entire brigade is of one mind that we have this bumper harvest. If you say to distribute it, you distribute it—how am I supposed to answer to everyone!"

"High-quality grain seeds are a major matter! How about this, the Commune will take three times the amount of ordinary grain to trade for your high-quality rice seeds. Lao Zhou, you also know the situation in other brigades; this is already the greatest sincerity we can offer."

Three times?

This was indeed beyond the Brigade Leader's expectations.

Moreover, since the Commune Leader had been so humble in negotiating with him, it wouldn't be reasonable to continue insisting on not trading.

However, the over 1,700 jin of plump, high-quality rice produced from the Experimental Field could not all be traded to the Commune.

Thus, he gathered the other Cadres to discuss it, and finally decided to keep 700 jin for seeds.

The remaining 1,000 jin would be handed over to the Commune, to be distributed by the Commune to other brigades.

This 1,000 jin of rice seeds was exchanged for 3,000 jin of late-season rice just harvested by the various brigades this year.

You have to say, when the high-quality rice seeds and ordinary rice grains were placed together, the difference between good and bad was truly clear at a glance.

The former was not only plump, but also a size larger than the ordinary grains. Rubbing off the husks to reveal the white jade-like, lustrous rice grains inside made even the members of other brigades, who had originally had many complaints about the three-to-one exchange rate, instantly lose their voices, no longer having any dissenting opinions.

Yuewan Brigade could be said to be the biggest winner of this year's autumn harvest.

Not only did they harvest a pile of honors thanks to the "thousand-jin yield per mu," but the grain they received was also more than in previous years.

Of course, Xie Yang, this great contributor, received more rewards and a larger share of grain than anyone else.

From here on, even if she ate dry rice every single meal, it would be enough to last her until the beginning of spring next year.

Hmm, after seafood freedom and egg freedom, she could also be considered to have initially achieved grain freedom.