Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 325 Harvest Season

"No, you can't go. Have you forgotten how many memorials were written by the censors to accuse you of going rabbit hunting with me last time? They said that you, a great Sima, were obsessed with love affairs and not doing your job properly..."

The more Gu Fengyue listened, the darker his face became. He turned around and glared at his elder brother.

"Brother! Didn't you agree not to tell Chunlin?"

Gu Fengyun didn't care when his own brother exposed him. Instead, he glared back.

"You have the nerve to ask me to keep it a secret for you. Chunlin not attending court doesn't mean that other people in the barracks won't attend court. Why do you think General Lin is so unwelcome in the court? It's because he's a big mouth. He can tell everything in the court. Do you think that's all you can do?"

Gu Fengyue finally felt a little guilty now. He looked at Song Chunlin, only to see a look of disapproval on the other's face. He knew in his heart that his chance of going out with his wife was gone this time.

Song Chunlin had not originally planned to take Gu Fengyue with him. After all, he was now the Grand Marshal of the court, and it was more important for him to do his job. He knew not only that someone had impeached Gu Fengyue, but there were also many people in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War who were dissatisfied with Gu Fengyue. They felt that since he was the Grand Marshal at such a young age, if he continued to run around outside all day without doing his job, there would probably be more people opposing him.

Song Chunlin never wanted to do such things that would hinder the opponent. Besides, it was not the first time he went out alone, so what could go wrong? At worst, he would just fight, and if he couldn't win, he would run away. However, he had not yet encountered a situation where he couldn't win.

If he wants to go out, Song Chunlin has to study all the files thoroughly first, or at least figure out the clues first.

After staying in the marquis's mansion for one night, Song Chunlin went to the shop early the next morning to check the usage of materials. He found that there were not many things left, so he replenished some. Song Chunlin also had the key to the warehouse. He often put things in the warehouse secretly, and the people in the shop were almost accustomed to his practices.

After replenishing the most basic fruits, Song Chunlin went to the kitchen and packed some freshly made cakes and breads and took them back to the Song family.

The Song family no longer needs to farm the fields themselves, as their three thousand archers line up to help with the work. This year, the Song family purchased a few more acres of land, and according to Song Chunlin's requirements, all of them were planted with soybeans. The seeds were improved in Song Chunlin's space, and if planted according to modern planting methods, the yield can roughly reach four to five hundred kilograms.

Song Chunlin wants to expand his family's workshop. This year, many small workshops making vermicelli have sprung up in the nearby villages. Grandpa Song and his family don't want to do the vermicelli business anymore. They just plan to make enough for their own consumption every year.

Song Chunlin expanded the workshop with the intention of making some soy products, such as dried tofu, bean skin, fermented bean curd, stinky tofu, etc. His family also planted several varieties of peppers this year, which he would dry and grind into powder to make the spicy strips he had been dreaming of!

God knows how much he craves spicy strips, but there are limited snacks in the space, and most of them are food that can fill the stomach. After eating these, there will be no more. Seeing that the spicy strips stock is already in jeopardy, Song Chunlin developed some sense of crisis.

No, he couldn't let the snacks die in his hands!

So spicy strips must be made, and soybeans must be planted. Not only must they be used to extract oil, but they must also be made into various soy products. The advanced version is to make various spicy strips snacks to fill the gap in snacks in Song Chunlin's space.

So this year, the Song family planted almost 20 acres of soybeans at one time. Not only did they plant soybeans on the newly purchased land, but they also planted more than ten acres of soybeans on the original land.

Because the Song family had focused on growing high-yield grains in the past few years, but suddenly changed to growing soybeans this year, everyone thought that the Song family was going to make another big move, and they made many indirect attempts to persuade the Song Dazhuang brothers.

However, they made a mistake this time. Song Dazhuang himself didn't understand what his son was trying to do. These people came to ask him, but they were really asking the wrong people.

After Song Chunlin returned home, he began to study the files day and night. When he came across some that were close and could be completed in one day, he would say hello and go out. After receiving the definite answer, he would rush back.

After working for nearly half a month, he visited all the surrounding villages and towns and found that there was indeed no trace of Sister Songsong. It seemed that it was just as the people from the Ministry of Justice said, the children were sold to a faraway place, and he didn't even know how many times they had been resold.

Today was the same, Song Chunlin returned empty-handed. Now he finally understood why there were so many abducted children in modern times who could not be found. Even if he used his supernatural powers to cheat, the clues he could obtain were still very few. He planned to go to a farther place to look for them.

Before leaving, you have to arrange things at home.

The crops in the fields were about to mature. In addition to the pregnant Zhou Ning, the youngest member of the Song family, Song Chunxiao, was assigned the heavy responsibility of taking care of her two younger sisters. Song A-mo, Song Qinshi and Chen Yuer were the main cooks at home. With more people working, more food was needed every day. They had to eat oily meals during the busy farming season. Song Chunlin had to stay at home to help. He was responsible for purchasing all kinds of food for the family.

Song Chunlin would go out every day pulling an empty carriage, and when he came back the carriage would be filled to the brim with all kinds of vegetables and meat purchased from outside.

Today is no exception. Last night Song Chunlin was craving for roast pork, so he pulled a slaughtered pig into the car, took it home, marinated it with spices, and put it in the oven to stew and roast it for a whole day. He can start eating it after finishing work in the afternoon.

Song Dazhuang and Song Dahao went to the fields to supervise the work. Song Chunsheng was responsible for leading everyone to transport the harvested grain back home. After a busy whole day, they only managed to harvest the last few acres of wheat.

"Brother, how much wheat is left?"

Song Chunsheng took the bowl of water handed to him by his brother and drank it all in one gulp: "No more, this is the last batch of wheat. Starting tomorrow, we will start harvesting corn."

Song Chunlin was surprised: "So fast? Didn't we plant the corn late this year? How come it's ready now?"

Song Chunsheng smiled and shook his head, then leaned over and whispered to Song Chunlin, "Dad said that this year we'll keep all the tender corns. By the end of the year, we'll make some corn juice for the children. Hehe, your eldest nephew will be almost old enough to eat corn by then, so the corn is for him."

Song Chunlin looked at his brother who was grinning foolishly with a complicated expression. It went without saying that these corns must be stored in his space.

Harvesting corn is not much easier than harvesting wheat. Song Chunlin was excited to try it out, but he said that night that he would not go again the next day.

Song Dazhuang looked at his second son, who was slumped in the chair, with disdain: "How old are you? How can you go back on your word? You said you would experience the whole process, but you didn't go on the first day? Why didn't you say you were tired before? I think you are just living too smoothly and you are getting too arrogant."

Song Chunlin turned a deaf ear to him. Song Yuanyuan and her sister Song Manman made embarrassing gestures towards Song Chunlin.

"Oh, my second brother is a lazy bum."

Song Chunlin made faces at his two younger sisters, making them scream.

The next morning, when Song Chunlin got up, everyone in the family got up too, and the family was preparing to have breakfast. After washing up, Song Chunlin quickly sat in his seat and grinned at Song Qinshi.

Song Qin shoved the bowl into his hand speechlessly: "Didn't you say you were going on a long journey? When are you leaving?"

Song Chunlin pouted and said coquettishly: "Mom, don't you want to see me so much?"

Song Qin rolled her eyes and said, "I beg you to come back quickly, don't miss your nephew's birth."

While eating, Song Chunlin assured Song Qinshi: "Mom, don't worry, I will definitely go early and come back early, and I will definitely not miss the birth of my eldest nephew."

"Just keep this in mind. By the way, you need to buy all the ingredients in the store first, in case you have nothing to sell when the time comes."

"Yes, yes, don't worry, mother. I will make sure to prepare for them."

After breakfast, Song Chunlin did not go out. He had been busy in the cornfield all day yesterday and his back and waist were sore. Even though he had the spiritual spring water to relieve his fatigue, Song Chunlin did not want to experience it again. He was thinking about whether he could make a machine that was convenient for harvesting corn.

After he spent a whole morning looking through documents in the study, he discovered in despair that it seemed that machines that could harvest corn were not something that could be manufactured in this era.

"It seems that we will have to rely on manual harvesting by humans in the short term." Song Chunlin got a headache when he thought of this, and began to think about whether he could let the Dajing Dynasty start the industrial revolution.

After thinking for a long time, Song Chunlin felt that now was not the right time. Even if he wanted to carry out an industrial revolution, he had to do it when everyone had enough food to eat. When materials were scarce, everything would be difficult.

However, this goal should be achieved soon. Song Chunlin has inquired from the Ministry of Agriculture that sweet potatoes and potatoes are now popular in most areas of Dajing Dynasty, and some areas are even trying to grow corn. In two years, when the high-yield grain seeds he has cultivated are flourishing in Dajing Dynasty, it will not be long before everyone can fill their stomachs.

At noon, Song Amao was the main chef, and Song Qinshi and Chen Yuer assisted her. During the busy farming season, the soldiers did not go home for lunch, and the Song family provided three meals a day, so the lunch dishes were extremely rich, with two meat dishes and two vegetable dishes, plus a big pot of mung bean soup to relieve the heat.

Amao Song started to get busy after breakfast. He kneaded two large basins of dough in advance to make steamed buns for lunch. Although Grandpa Song was old, he was still very strong. He helped Amao Song knead the dough, and the two of them made three full pots of steamed buns in a short time.

Song Qin and Chen Yuer brought the children to help wash and cut vegetables. After everything was prepared, Song Amao started to light the fire and cook. Today's dishes were braised pork with potatoes, chicken stewed with mushrooms, cabbage with vinegar and cold eggplant, all of which were good dishes to eat with rice.

Song Chunlin smelled the fragrance coming from the kitchen early in the morning. He followed the smell and came over, where Song Amao stuffed a chicken leg into his mouth.

"Well, thank you, little grandpa." Song Chunlin thanked him while gnawing on the fragrant chicken leg, his face full of satisfaction.

Song Qinshi couldn't bear to watch it and complained to her sisters-in-law in a low voice.

"Based on the way he eats, only Feng Yue doesn't dislike him."

Chen Yuer covered her mouth and laughed secretly: "Who knows, Fengyue might like this? How does the saying go? This is called true nature."

Song Chunlin wiped the oil off his mouth and said proudly, "Mom, you can't talk about me like that."

Song Qin laughed angrily: "You, go wash your face quickly and go deliver the meal to the field with your brother. You have been busy all morning and you must be hungry."

"Okay, got it, mom. I'll eat a few more bites." Song Chunlin said as he reached out and touched a steamed bun without any hesitation, then sat aside and started to eat it. Song Qin was about to roll her eyes, so he held the half-eaten bun and followed Song Chunsheng to deliver the meal.

In the cornfield, Song Dazhuang was mechanically breaking corn cobs. The sun was scorching and there were many small cuts on his arms caused by the corn leaves. He felt both painful and itchy.

This year, their family did not grow as much corn as last year. Song Dazhuang just wanted to keep enough for his family to eat, so he did not call many people to help. The others were busy working in other fields, and there were only him, his brother, and three soldiers in their area.

When Song Chunlin and Song Chunsheng came over, Song Dazhuang was taking a break. He saw his sons pulling the cart over from afar, so he quickly put down his work and called his younger brother to come over for dinner.

"Dahe, come here quickly, Chunsheng and the others have brought lunch, let's eat first before we work."

Soon Song Chunlin and Song Chunsheng appeared in front of them. The two brothers jumped off the ox cart and called everyone to come for dinner.

Song Dazhuang was very satisfied with today's meal. He ate steamed buns and braised pork with great relish.

Song Chunlin looked at the endless cornfield in front of him and sighed deeply.

"Dad, how much corn do we have left to harvest?"

Song Dazhuang said perfunctorily, "It's almost done. We're almost done harvesting this field. What's the matter? This isn't your first time harvesting corn. Can't you bear this little hardship?"

Song Chunlin really wanted to say no, but he felt a little guilty.

"Hey, I haven't worked for a long time. We have so many archers in our family, why do you still have to work in the fields by yourself, Dad?"

Song Dazhuang looked at his second son who had a puzzled look on his face and touched his head with a smile.

"You don't understand. Dad has been farming all his life. Farming is what he does best and what he is most skilled at. If you really want me to give up farming, I don't know what to do. Besides, before coming to the capital, I was a farmer through and through. After coming to the capital, I am still a farmer. What should a farmer do if he doesn't farm?"

"Although farming is hard work, look here, this field is full of food. I feel at ease when I see this food."

Song Chunlin seemed to understand, but he understood that his father had a deep love for the land. It was a relationship that he had for decades, and he probably couldn't let it go. He would feel strange if he really let it go.