Chapter 39: Sowing Wheat (1)

  As the autumn harvest comes to an end, everyone's work is gradually shifting towards plowing the fields. Because winter wheat planting is about to begin soon, all the fields need to be plowed as quickly as possible now.

  Yang Heng's field needs to be troublesome, that is, the field where his family wants to plant wheat this year has been used before, and if it is turned over, it will be more tiring. Moreover, Yang Heng plans to plant 30 mu of winter wheat, which requires Uncle Feng to use that yellow cow to plow the field.

  "However, young master, this ox hasn't been trained yet. If we use it to plow the fields this year, it won't be very obedient and might delay our work. Why don't I pull the plow instead, and let Xiaoda help with supporting it?" Fengbo was not confident in using that yellow ox for plowing. Although the ox hadn't reached its peak physical strength yet, it could still easily handle plowing these thirty mu of land."

  "Yellow cow, cow nose ring... Ah, Fēng Bó, I mentioned earlier that we don't have a cow nose ring here." "How can you not have a cow nose ring? Whether it's for plowing fields or pulling carts, you need to train them first. Otherwise, like the calf born in our house, nobody would buy it. I wonder why Láng Jūn bought this cow back home. Doesn't he know about these things?" "It's not that old dad doesn't understand, but if someone is familiar with cows, they definitely wouldn't buy a young calf. Just training it takes several years, and in the first few years, it can't be used at all."

  "Feng Bo, you don't know this, but our ancestors had a good way to use cows, it's just unknown why it was lost. This thing is to pierce the cow's nose, come on, Feng Bo, let's pierce the nose of this yellow cow."

  As he spoke, Yang Heng lit a small furnace and burned a thin iron rod inside. "Come on, Feng Bo and Da Ge, tie the cow to the fence, don't let it get hurt or its nose pierced when we pierce its nose, that would be a waste, really need training."

  Feng Bo and Da Ge listened to Yang Heng's words, tied the cow to the wall with a rope, and reinforced its head with several ropes. This was also a manifestation of Yang Heng's lack of confidence. You think, if you put a hole in a cow's nose, it won't hurt, is that right?

  Wearing a cow's nose ring is simple, especially when Yang Heng uses a red-hot iron bar. All that can be seen is a burst of white smoke and a savory smell, and a hole has been pierced in the cow's nose. Then Yang Heng takes another iron bar, applies some bean oil to it, and this doesn't even require anyone else's help - only Yang Heng himself can operate it. The iron bar passes through the new hole in the cow's nose, and with a bit of effort from both hands, a perfect ring is formed. At this time, the little yellow cow is still crying, apparently the piercing was too painful earlier.

  However, when everyone released the little yellow cow, Feng Bo took some clean hay over, and the calf ate it very obediently, without any aftereffects.

  "All right, Feng Bo, now tie a rope around the iron ring on the cow's nose and lead it for a walk to see."

  "Ah, it's amazing how simple this is. The little cow was led away so easily, unlike before when it had a stubborn streak and needed to be coaxed with green grass." Feng Bo felt a bit sorry for the little yellow cow, so he didn't pull too hard on the rope as he led it along. The newly pierced nose ring was still quite painful, even with just a slight touch, so the cow naturally followed Feng Bo.

  "Also, Feng Bo, get some ash from the bottom of our pot and apply it to the calf's nose. Don't let its nose get infected." Yang Heng was very angry with himself at this time, how could he not even know a little bit about herbal medicine? Otherwise, he wouldn't have used ash either, he would have asked Feng Bo to find some herbs for the calf to apply on.

  Next, the matter of plowing the fields was settled. Every day, the uncles would have one aunt come to lead the oxen and plow the fields, while Da Ge went to the uncles' place to help pull the plow and plow the fields.

  Aunts still have to work, yes, at this time women don't have the task of binding their feet, they naturally have to go down and work. If it were in a family with scholars, women would be considered the main labor force, but in families like Uncle's, aunts can only serve as auxiliary laborers. Because when doing chores at home, uncles are always at home and have nothing else to do, so they let aunts do the chores while they idle around, how is that possible?

  Aunts usually raise silkworms and spin silk threads or hemp threads after harvesting. This village doesn't have a loom, otherwise, the aunts would be even busier weaving or doing related tasks and wouldn't be able to help in the fields. Now they just spin threads, so when it's busy in the fields, they still need to lend a hand to speed up farming, rushing to harvest and plant, which is necessary.

  At this time, the calf's physical strength had not yet reached its maximum, so the aunts could still keep up with the calf's speed. They were the most suitable to lead the calf when it was young and didn't know how to respond to Old Man Feng's commands. When the calf grew bigger and learned to obey Old Man Feng's shouts, it would no longer need someone to lead it from the front.

  On the uncle's side, two plows were used to till the field, and a few people were idle behind them, pulling rakes to break up large clods of earth in the field and flatten the ground. After a while, they would use a rake to smooth out the ground again, which could help retain moisture.

  Feng Bo was the same, he would choose to use a rake or a hoe based on the dryness of the land after plowing, and his work was much better than that of his uncles, this is what a true master of farming looks like.

  Seeing this situation, Yang Heng thought that perhaps in the future, Feng Bo should arrange for him to be in charge of directing farming and plowing, and he wouldn't need to do these physically demanding tasks anymore. He was essentially an agricultural technician.

  "Master, our plow is too good to use. If I had such a good plow in the past, I wouldn't have ended up like this, selling myself into slavery." "Feng Bo, after you've been with our family for a few years, we can help you remove your slave status and restore your civilian identity." "Forget it, I'm just a single person, what's the point of removing my slave status? As long as Master doesn't look down on me, an old man, I'll stay with your family forever. Don't worry, I won't spread any of your family's secrets outside." Feng Bo expressed his determination, but if it were just him and Da Ge, he wouldn't have said this. However, he often heard Lian Jie talk about her previous master's stories, so they naturally felt that Yang Heng, the young master, and his family had treated them well. If they still had any other ideas, would they still be human? At this time, Yang Heng didn't know what Feng Bo was thinking.