Dominate the ancient academy

Chapter 301: Three Meals a Day, Every Meal Is Full

As for these useless people in the court, Lord Ye has already fed them food, but they don’t know how to swallow it. What’s the use of them? Emperor Jingming directly drove them to the fields to farm themselves. If they don’t know how to farm, they can go and learn. They can come back when they have learned it. It is a disgrace to the court.

For the sake of the court's image, this matter was not spread out, and the emperor blocked the news in time. After all, the court could not afford to lose such a big face. The common people did not know much, but those who knew it naturally knew it, and Master Chu was definitely one of the capable ones. He knew it, and Shu Xiaoxiao naturally heard about it too. So now that there was a new seed, the master and disciple could only discuss it, and the court could not be relied on at all.

"Master, you should think like this. I am studying agriculture! Planting these is the proper course. Learning martial arts is not doing the right thing. We are the only two students studying agriculture in the academy, so we must make a name for ourselves! Nothing else matters."

"To grow all these is better than learning a few tricks or memorizing a few words. In the future, we, the master and the disciple, will make sure that the people of Daning can have at least three meals a day and have enough food every time. This is better than anything else." Shu Xiaoxiao said seriously.

Principal Chu looked at the seeds on the ground. If this could allow the people to have three meals a day and have enough food every time, he would have no problem supporting this disciple in the future, not to mention asking for leave. But is it that easy?

"I will go and tell your teachers that you will officially be a student of the Agricultural University from now on. Your main job will be farming, supplemented by martial arts training. If you have time, go and practice. If you don't have time, just tell your teachers. You don't need to ask for leave in the future."

Principal Chu said directly that everything else was meaningless in front of food. Daning really did not lack a scholar or a military commander like his disciple. Although what his disciple said was difficult to achieve, he could not give up.

"Master, don't worry. I will never let you down." Shu Xiaoxiao said cautiously. To keep the people from suffering from hunger and cold is not only her master's expectation but also her goal.

"Well, Master believes in you, what are you going to do now?"

Shu Xiaoxiao stretched lazily: "Now we need to sort out all these seeds, classify them, and then plant them in batches. I promise that the crops we grow will surprise you."

Shu Xiaoxiao said confidently.

Then pour out all the seeds. After all, the seeds were at home and on the boat. Even if they were carefully preserved, many seeds had lost their activity.

For seeds that are larger in shape, Shu Xiaoxiao picked out those that have no signs of life. For seeds that are too small to be picked out at all, she just left them alone and ignored those that don't germinate.

Divide the seeds into two categories, one is to be planted now, and the other is to be planted next year. For the ones to be planted next year, sprinkle some ginseng water on them and expose them to the sun. After they are dried, collect them and store them in a dry place. For the ones to be planted now, Shu Xiaoxiao will prepare appropriate warm water.

When she was browsing watermelon seeds online, she saw that before planting, they could be soaked in warm boiled water at 40 to 60 degrees. She even searched for it specifically and found that the temperature was slightly higher than body temperature.

Since watermelon can be soaked, so can other things. Shu Xiaoxiao plans to soak all the seeds, and then transplant them to the fields after they sprout, so that it will be easier to observe them.

With Chef Fang in the kitchen, they never lacked hot water. After confirming the temperature, Shu Xiaoxiao put the collected seeds into the water. However, she found that the basin was not big enough. Well, there were indeed many types of seeds this time, so there were definitely not enough basins.

"Young Master, how about I go down the mountain to buy a wooden basin now?" Pearl asked from the side.

Shu Xiaoxiao took a look and realized that even if she put the seeds in a pot and squeezed them, it would not be enough. She was still waiting for them to germinate, and it definitely would not take just one or two days to soak them, so she really had to buy this wooden pot.

"Don't buy a wooden basin. Go directly to a carpenter and ask him to make a shelf. Each layer can hold six or seven wooden boxes, just like our medicine cabinet. The wooden boxes can be taken down at any time, but there must be enough space between each layer. Don't have a lid, and remember that it must not leak."

Making it into a rack is like modern soilless cultivation, which is convenient and does not take up space. When the seeds sprout, they can be transplanted to the ground by pouring out the water in the wooden box. Even in winter, you can grow some off-season vegetables in the house. With ginseng water, you can also eat fresh vegetables in winter.

As for soilless cultivation, don't even think about it. If she plants it alone, with ginseng water and good care, there will be no big problem and the possibility of growing it is very high. However, not everyone has ginseng water and knows the needs of the plant!

She herself had only seen soilless cultivation in videos, so she didn't understand anything about it, so there was no need to consider it at all.

"Well, I know. I will go down the mountain right now and watch them do it. I will bring it up when it's done and make sure it won't delay the young master's use." Zhenzhu answered quickly.

This does not require any carving patterns, and there are no complicated steps. Just add money when you get there, and the expedited process will be quick. They are not short of money. The only requirement is not to delay the young master's important business. She is familiar with this matter!

Master Chu watched his apprentice busy at work and asked in confusion, "Why do the seeds need to be soaked in water?" He thought the previous soaking of sweet potato pieces in water was a special case, but he didn't expect that the seeds also needed to be soaked in water?

"Well... it's to accelerate germination. At the right water temperature, seeds can germinate faster. Of course, not all seeds need to be soaked in water. Some seeds have harder shells. Soaking them in water can soften the shells and make the seeds germinate better."

"We don't recognize most of these seeds, and we don't know the specific planting time. Soaking them in water can increase the survival rate," Shu Xiaoxiao explained.

Of course, what she didn't say is that soaking in water can indeed promote germination, but ginseng water is still the most effective. Fortunately, she now has space, so she mixed ginseng water into warm water while no one was paying attention. In this way, as long as the seeds still have a little activity, they can survive.

In the next few days, Dean Chu, Fang Yuchu, Zhenzhu, Shu Xiaoxiao and others began to sort out the seeds, some needed to be dried in the sun, some needed to be soaked in water, and they also started collecting cucumber and tomato seeds. The seeds were carefully washed and dried in the sun, and together with the seeds from the manor, they prepared a lot of seeds. Because they would definitely be breeding at the manor next year, the seeds were placed at the manor after they were sorted out.

These are all easy to do. The more troublesome thing is the peppers. If you touch them for a long time, your fingers will feel burning. But there are so many peppers that you have to touch them with your hands whether you are going to crush them or take out the seeds!

Now there are no plastic gloves, so the only way to get better is to wrap cloth tightly around your fingers and have people take turns to do the work. Some old farmers with thick calluses on their hands are fine doing this.

Even though their hands were burning, they were happy to work because the pay was high! Working one day here was equivalent to their usual two-day pay, and the food was good, and they even gained weight after working.

Moreover, the master was considerate and bought so many good cloths for them to protect their hands. They took turns doing the job, and after they became familiar with it, they seldom got their hands burned, and they felt very comfortable.

In any case, this also made Shu Xiaoxiao more aware of the hard work of farmers. When doing this work, they sweat a lot, but as long as the wages are enough, these farmers are very satisfied no matter how tired they are, and none of them do a half-hearted job.