Chapter 100 Planting Corn After the Wheat Harvest

Every day, the harvested wheat had to be taken to the threshing ground to be dried, threshed, and threshed. The Tao family was thus divided into two groups: one to harvest and the other to thresh. The old lady and young Tao An had the easiest job, but they still had to keep bending over to pick up the wheat and grains that had fallen on the ground.

Even with such hard work, working from dawn till dusk, the yield per mu is only about 100 jin, and the yield varies from year to year, depending on the weather and seed quality.

Their family of over ten people worked hard for a week and harvested a total of 1200 jin (600 catties). The registered population is nine people, excluding Cuihua and her three sisters. On average, each person harvests less than 130 jin (650 kg). Since the average person's harvest is less than 150 jin (750 catties), it is tax-free, so their family does not need to pay taxes.

There are twelve people in the family. On average, each person only gets 100 catties of wheat a year. If a normal adult gets 30 catties of grain a month, it won't last even half a year. So many families will try to replace flour with cheaper and coarser whole grains to make do.

Although the Central Plains region produces two crops of grain a year, after harvesting wheat in June, corn is planted. In some less barren areas, sweet potatoes, millet, and sorghum are also planted. As long as people are diligent, the total annual output value will be higher. However, the prerequisite is that there are no students, no sick people, and no elderly people in the family. Everyone should be a skilled worker to earn money so that they can have enough to eat.

But is that even possible?

It was obviously impossible. If a family had money to spend, they would have to find a way to sell grain, because most people didn't know how to do business. Families like the Tao family, whose ancestors were businessmen, were very rare in this era. So even though there seemed to be a lot of grain, if you spread it out evenly, it would only be enough to make ends meet.

In 1952, the yields of crops per mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.067 hectares) in China were as follows: rice 161 kg, wheat 49 kg, corn 90 kg, sorghum 79 kg, millet 78 kg, and sweet potato 126 kg.

Although rice yields more than three times that of wheat, the land here is not suitable for growing rice; it is mostly planted with wheat and corn.

Wheat is planted every October and harvested the following June. Then corn is planted and harvested in October.

With such overlapping planting, there's barely enough food to go around.

Given the Tao family's situation, if they hadn't managed to do some business in the county town, and if the family hadn't been so hardworking, with occasional subsidies from the family, and if their ancestors hadn't had some meager assets, let alone sending their grandparents to school, even if the grandparents were healthy, they wouldn't have been able to support so many people.

After the wheat harvest, corn is planted, and the seeds need to be purchased from the grain station.

Everyone is waiting for rain. Before the harvest, they are afraid of rain, and after the harvest, they hope for rain. After the rain, the land will have moisture, which is suitable for planting corn. At this time, even if their parents are not around, Xiao Jiu can still help.

With her grandparents, third sister, and herself around, while the others went to school or work, the four of them would go early in the morning. One of them would swing a hoe, and the other would plant corn. After digging a hole with the hoe, they would throw in two kernels of corn and then cover them with soil with their feet.

On their side, Grandpa was wielding a hoe, and she was eating some corn.

Over there, the third sister was wielding a hoe, and the grandmother was planting corn. If the grandfather got tired, the grandmother would take over. The father would also come back to help if he delivered vegetables early. The group of them finished planting ten acres of land in about three days.

"I hope there will be more rain this year so that the corn can grow vigorously."

In any case, the harvest is complete. After the wheat harvest, all the wheat straw from the fields was taken home. Whether to braid it or use it as kindling was up to them. Moreover, because the fields were cleaned up quite well, after a few rains in June, there were hardly any lush green wheat seedlings to be seen in the fields.

She has been in this world for two and a half years. From knowing nothing to appreciating the hardships of farmers, from being picky about food and clothing in her past life to cherishing every grain of food in this life, the environment can truly change a person completely.

After the busy farming season, the sweltering heat arrived, and the older brothers were all on vacation. 12-year-old Tao Zui finished his six years of primary school and was about to enter junior high school. The exam results were not yet available and would not be released until July. However, the older brother was quite confident that he should have no problem getting into the county's junior high school.

With the four older brothers on holiday, the grandparents had a much easier time. Even the father started taking the eldest and second eldest brothers to help out at the shop or to help him harvest vegetables. The work of weeding, watering, and fertilizing in the fields was handed over to the third brother and third sister. Even the youngest brother was assigned the task of catching cicada nymphs and cicada shells. Meanwhile, Ah Jiu obediently stayed at home with her grandmother, braiding her hair.

After the grain harvest came in, Grandpa went to exchange it for a lot of mixed grains and brewed over a hundred catties of liquor in preparation for any eventuality.

Xiao Jiu and her grandmother now frequently return to Xihe Village, always by oxcart, as they still grow a lot of vegetables in their yard. They never come back empty-handed, and to bring more vegetables, she secretly uses the warehouse to transfer a significant amount each time. After all, the grandmother and granddaughter have to pay 1,000 yuan for the round trip to the village, and the vegetables they bring might not even fetch that much money.

Sometimes, to save money, Grandma would want Xiaojiu to stay at home while she walked there herself. But Xiaojiu always followed, even walking with the old lady. She didn't know she could walk so far without getting tired, so her potential was discovered.

If the grandfather and grandson walk back to the village, they will stay there overnight and walk back after lunch the next day.

"Luckily, your brother and the others are all grown up now. With your sister around, they won't go hungry. Otherwise, Grandma wouldn't have time to do this!"

It's true what they say, having a daughter in the family is great. Although the grandsons can cook a little, the taste is really hard to swallow. The old man can brew wine, but after decades, he still can't cook well. The old couple has taken care of each other for most of their lives. They can be separated for a day or two, but if they are separated for a long time, neither of them can adapt.

After the Zhou family finished their farm work, they returned to open a shop. They had six acres of land, including the land belonging to their adopted son's family of four. However, after their falling out, the Zhou brothers forcibly kept the land. The adopted son did come looking for the land, wanting to leave, but the two brothers beat him up. Now, if they meet in the village, they really have to go out of their way to avoid it.

After severing ties, the Zhou couple also changed the keys to their old house.

Now the adopted son and his family of four have returned to their biological parents. However, they were treated well when they were of use to them, but now that they are no longer of use and have lost their land, they are naturally disliked when they go back. Even their older brothers, sisters-in-law, nephews, and nieces all dislike them.

Now they're in a bind, caught in the middle. They'll have to suffer later.

Serves him right!

Equally gratifying was the good news coming from Taoyuan Village: despite the lack of a marriage certificate and the fact that they were married in name only, Tang Youtian still forcefully drove Cao Amei out of her home. It is said that he beat her so badly that she couldn't get out of bed and threw her back to Cao Amei's parents' home, Yangshugou, overnight.