Chapter 278 Growing Rice (I)
Although Lin Luoran has expected that her space will be expanded with her advancement, she is still shocked when she slips into her space after all guests leave at midnight.
In front of her eyes, there are all kinds of plants, is it really her space?
Not counting the area of the small wooden hut, her space covers an area of 2,000 to 3,000 square meters. It reminds Lin Luoran that when she first took over the place, the cultivable area was less than one-tenth of the present one. It is her ceaseless cultivation and hard work during these years that enable the space to grow along with her. Calm as Lin Luoran is, she is so proud of herself.
Maybe the extra piece of land can be used to grow what she has already wanted to grow!
Well, half of the land can be used to grow rice, 20% of the land, wheat, and the rest, oilseed rape, which can be used to extract oil together with tea seeds intermittently harvested from the space.
The plan that she has been thinking for a long time can finally be implemented, which makes Lin Luoran very happy. In the past, space was small. She made the most of the land by planting herbs, vegetables, fruits and tea trees. There was really no space for her to grow staple food. Because people from Chuan are used to eat rice, no matter how delicious the fruits and vegetables grown by her family are, she feels uncomfortable if she doesn’t eat rice. However, getting used to the natural vegetables from the space or her family, she finds the rice bought from the market hard to swallow, no matter how good it is. After all, it can’t compete with homegrown rice.
It is also true of cooking oil. Without Reiki, even high-quality olive oil is not good enough to cook vegetables from the space. The poultry is OK. Ms. Lin keeps many chickens and ducks in the corner of the yard. They eat leftovers from the space, like cabbage leaves and water spinach sticks. Their meat is tender and harmless, which is high-quality.
Therefore, members of the Lin family are becoming less and less fond of rice. In this way, the food on their table will become western-style…Lin Luoran giggles while looking at her space. The wheat can also be ground and steamed. She remembers that Baojia likes cooked wheaten food very much. Baojia even praised the noodles that she cooked.
Baojia has been living on porridge during the days when she is asleep. Although the porridge is cooked with tonics and spirit herbs, it tastes bland. The intention of making delicious food for Baojia when she wakes up encourages Lin Luoran.
Unfortunately, her Spells of the Five Elements don’t work in the space. To grow rice, she has to work diligently by herself.
Mrs. Lin finds her daughter strange again for three consecutive days.
How strange? She stays in her room every day, but her clothes are stained with mud when she comes out for the meal. One day at the dining table, she even says that she will reclaim the lake bank in front of the door.
“What? You want to grow rice?” Mrs. Lin asks while staring at her daughter. How can she come up with the idea of growing rice by the lake?
Lin Luoran takes a piece of fish while saying, “Mom, don’t you think our vegetables taste better than rice? Let’s have a try. If we succeed, it will be good; if we fail, it doesn’t matter.”
This proposal arouses the interest of Mrs. Lin, who loves cooking very much. Anyway, all the people in the family are free when they are not cultivating. Why not ask them to take care of the rice field?
The soil beside the lake is both moist and fertile. Unfortunately, the huge semi-artificial lake belongs to Qingcheng Villa. The scenery belongs to Villa 18, but the lake does not. Lin Luoran has included the lake into the circle for protecting her family because she has long been planning to buy it.
People can’t see the Reiki Dome, but the property management company can see the rice that you grow. She must solve the problem once and for all.
Lin Luoran asks Zeng Tian to find out which company Qingcheng Villa belongs to so that she can discuss the purchase of the lake with the company.
A few days later, Zeng Tian tells her that Qingcheng Villa was developed by a multinational corporation. Even influential locals like Zeng Tian can’t get in touch with the boss of the corporation. Just as Lin Luoran decides to drop the idea of growing rice in front of her door, the owner of Qingcheng Villa shows up.
It is really a coincidence. When she chats with Master Mu on the phone, she mentions it casually. Then Master Mu laughs:
“You are a smart girl, but this time you are being silly. The villa was developed by one of my nephews. Now that we gave the house to you, no one would stop you from using that lake. Don’t worry about it. When you reap the harvest, remember to send me some rice.”
Lin Luoran really wants to pat her head hard. There was no need to ask Zeng Tian to ask about it. She should have asked Master Mu, because he would never have sent her a villa of unknown origin.
Before Master Mu hanging up the phone, he adds, “My nephew happens to be in the R City these days. I will ask Tiannan to take him to see you someday.”
Lin Luoran agrees. Since she gets a lake for free, it is reasonable to see its real owner. As for Mu Tiannan, it is said that he was assigned to take care of his family’s shares in the pharmaceutical factory in the R City. Because of the fight with the Blood Line, she hasn’t met him. She wonders if the dandiacal man becomes more mature after getting married.
Knowing that they can use the lake, all members of the Lin family begin to take action.
It is a daydream to ask Li Xi’er to wear Tang suit and level off the mud, so Lin Luoran asks her to go downtown and buy rice seeds. She has already prepared about 300 square meters of field in the space. For lack of rice seeds, the field is still vacant.
Lin Luoran is not the first one who grows rice by the lake. The soil beside the lake is soft and fertile, and there is no worry about water shortage. Besides, since it is a small lake, there is no risk of flood, so it is the most suitable place for growing rice. First, build a small ridge by the lake to separate the open space by the lake from the lake water, and then dig some mud at the bottom of the lake to fertilize the land. Mr. Lin enjoys the work very much. With the help of Yuan Ye and Zeng Tian, the unsolicited labor, the field beside the lake is prepared in two days.
The rice field is only two or three meters wide, but the lake is not small. Therefore, the total field around the lake is quite large.
There is another serendipity. When digging the mud, Mr. Lin catches many loaches and ricefield eels that are as thick as an adult’s thumb, which attracts Lin Luodong and Huang Weijian to go down the lake to catch loaches.
Mrs. Lin doesn’t criticize them. It is unusual if a country child has never caught fish or ricefield eels in rivers or fields. They will become adults in just a few years. There is nothing bad for them to have a rememberable time while they are still young.
By the time Mr. Lin finishes his work, the children have caught a small jar of loaches and eels. Mrs. Lin keeps them in the clear water, saying that they will enjoy a big meal after the fish spit out all the mud.
People closely surround Mrs. Lin, cheering and expressing their strong support for her decision. Not fed hormones or contraceptives, these wild loaches and eels are certain to be delicious.
Li Xi’er has bought back rice seeds. Lin Luoran levels a piece of land in the yard and plows it carefully. Then she sows rice seeds, waters them, inserts bamboo strips to form a dome, and covers them with a layer of transparent film.
“Master Lin, the rice fields have been prepared. Why don’t sow the seeds in the fields? It is troublesome to sow them here. We need to move them at last.”
Since she was a child, Li Xi’er has been apprenticed to Xi Heng, who indulges her every whim. Luckily, she doesn’t mistakenly think that rice is directly harvested from the field. To her credit, she knows that rice needs to be husked.
Lin Luoran knocks her forehead, saying, “It is called seedling raising. Read more books when you are free. Otherwise, in this way, you can’t distinguish the wheat from Chinese chives!”
Li Xi’er feels wronged. Isn’t her task cultivation? What is the use of knowing how to farm?
After thinking for a while, Li Xi’er posts a question on a forum. Then she is shocked. It turns out that there are quite a few cultivators who know how to farm, not because they love agriculture, but because they are very picky about the food they eat. It is unrealistic for ordinary cultivators to grow spirit rice or vegetables, but it is also impossible for them to eat the food watered by various pesticides and fertilizers in the ordinary world.
When people eat grains, there will be turbid air in their bodies. This is the real reason for cultivators to refine Bigu Bolus: keeping turbid air from affecting their cultivation. Now that there is no Bigu Bolus or spirit rice and vegetables, they have no choice but to eat natural food without being polluted.
It is not difficult for cultivators to secretly own some land. Not trusting other people, even if they hire farmers to cultivate for them, they often go to inspect the field to see if farmers secretly spray pesticides while they are cultivating. In cultivating families or sects, there are people to take care of these trifles. But individual cultivators have to inspect by themselves. So when Li Xi’er posts, individual cultivators respond actively. They explain in detail how to raise flowers and herbs, and grow vegetables and wheat, which blows Li Xi’er’s mind.
Li Xi’er is surprised that while she doesn’t have any hobbies except cultivating, eating and playing, other cultivators lead such a full life.
She tells Lin Luoran about her worry. The latter thinks for a while before suggesting that she learn to plant flowers.
Li Xi’er loves the Tang suit very much. Lin Luoran can’t imagine the scene where she wears a long skirt to collect herbs and do farm work, looking like rolling in the mud.
Seeing that Li Xi’er is hesitating, Lin Luo thinks for a while and then says, “It is good to grow flowers. Maybe you someday will raise a Peony Fairy!”
Li Xi’er looks at Lin Luoran in despise, seeming to say, “do you think I’m an idiot?”. Then she says, “Lin, my master said that when Tao of nature is in disorder, even Diliu Syrup will be gone, how can I raise a Peony Fairy?”
Lin Luoran is speechless. It is hard to cheat even a naïve girl like Li Xi’er.
Li Xi’er thinks for a while and then decides to take up flower growing as her hobby. Lin Luoran asks why, and she answers with a smile, “I have thought about it. My master said it was hard to Lay the Foundation, but you are soon reaching the middle stage of that. Now there is no Diliu Syrup, but maybe it will show up someday. I can grow some flowers now. Maybe I will really harvest a house of fairies then!”
Lin Luoran is greatly touched. Li Xi’er is right. Who knows what will happen in the future?
In the evening, the air in the mountains is fresh. After the Spring Festival, as the weather gradually warms up, the snow in the mountains melts a lot. The temperature at night is very low. Lin Luoran doesn’t care about the low temperature, but Li Xi’er, who is currently at a low level, has gone into the room to put on her rabbit fur coat.
After a while, Mrs. Lin comes out with a cloak that she recently made. Lin Luoran won’t refuse her mother’s care, so she takes it and puts it on.
Because Lin Luoran is tall and slim, the pure white rabbit fur cloak that just reaches her ankle doesn’t make her look puffy at all. With the white cloak and her black hair, she looks like a fairy in the Moon Palace.
Mrs. Lin sighs with emotion. As Lin Luoran tightly holds her mother’s hand, she finds them a little cold. After all, her mother is an ordinary person, which cannot be made up for by spiritual herbs.
If Mrs. Lin doesn’t have the Taoist root, the days when Lin Luoran and her families cultivate happily together will always be an illusion for Lin Luoran.
If the Dongting Dragon Palace exists, what about Mount Penglai?
Lin Luoran is in a trance. When the mountain wind blows, she pulls her mother into the room:
“Mom, shall we plant rice seedlings in a few days? I think the seedlings are growing very well. They are four or five centimeters tall.”
