Secondary Name
Today's weather was fine, Uncle Xu and the other went to work early in the morning to weed and loosen the soil. Since they were all honest peasants, didn't need to be supervised. Shen Yanbei only took a look and went home after for a while.
Zhou Yu came to report on time. Gu Changfeng occasionally stared at Zhou Yu practicing basic skills while watched Shen Yanbei doing his work.
"What is this?"
"Picking up the seeds," Shen Yanbei said. He picked out the big corn seeds that spread on the ground and placed them in the dustpan on the side.
The family’s eight acres of paddy fields would be planted with rice, which produced enough stock for the two big men. He also planned to grow corn, beans, sweet potatoes, and peanuts on the six acres of dry land, which were delicious crops that did not require much effort to manage. As for green vegetables, their yard was large enough to raise chickens and pigs and to grow vegetables. When the parents of the original owner were alive, there was a vegetable plot in the backyard. Two days ago, his wife helped to weed and loosen the soil. Meanwhile, he sprinkled some seeds and planted some fruits and vegetables.
After hearing that, Gu Changfeng knelt to help pick up the seeds.
Zhou Yu looked at the two who were quietly picking up seeds, felt that his cognition had been refreshed again. After coming to Shen Yanbei's home, he found that Shen Yanbei and the Shen Xiucai in his memory were completely different. He felt that this person had his own way of dealing with ordinary people and also the magnates. It was not the way that scholars usually did by acting in undue confidence of their own ability and looked down upon others, but it was about dealing with reason first. He was not so impressed at first, but who should he blame if his Shīfu was so clumsy and was always bullied by Shen Xiucai. But this was not a bad thing actually. Shen Xiucai might love bullying his Shīfu but also knew how to cherish him. If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't believe that the gentle and handsome Shen Xiucai would have fallen in love with such a unique Shuānger, his Shīfu. Outside the village, he had never seen a pair of husband and wife who acted like them, sweet and playful but sticky and greasy.
However, if this was the temperament and interest between the two, he could quite understand...
"Enough." Shen poured the corn seeds inside into a jar with water.
"Soak them in the water?" Gu Changfeng was curious. He had no experience in farming, so he just directly buried the seeds in the soil.
"No, this is the urine of a boy." Shen Yanbei smiled slightly.
Hearing this, Zhou Yu, who was struggling to do horse stance, trembled and almost knelt down.
"Boy urine?" Gu Changfeng frowned. "What's the use?"
"The seeds are soaked before sowing to let the seeds absorbing enough water to speed up the germination rate, increase the number of seeds germinating, and ensure that the seeds germinate quickly and neatly. You can call it accelerating germination," Shen Yanbei explained. "While soaking them in the urine, It can make the seedlings of corn seeds stronger to increase the output.”
The land here was quite fertile, but the volume of production per mu was not that high. He thought about it, perhaps the problem was in the fertilizer and also in the seed quality. Without modern fertilizer applied during the growing period of crops, he could only use traditional methods to increase the competitiveness of the plants.
And also he didn't plan to use ordinary methods to grow corn.
Zhou Yu's eyes widened when he heard this. Wasn't Shen Xiucai a scholar? Why was he so proficient in farming all of a sudden?
Gu Changfeng didn't ask more, he only had to watch how Shen Yanbei did it.
The next day, the sights and sounds of spring were nice and warm. The fields were full of busy figures of villagers plowing in spring, the sowing and planting of seedlings were running smoothly.
In the dry land of the Shen's Family, Xu Dayong held a hoe with full of doubts on his face.
"The wide of the furrow for this kind of corn, doesn't need to be so wide right?"
"It's true that the furrow for the corn does not need to be so wide, but I plan to grow soybeans." Shen Yanbei showed to Xu Dayong a planting pattern. "Three rows of soybeans are planted between three rows of corn. The distance between corn is about two feet*, between corn and soybean was one foot, and between soybeans..."
*1 foot = 33.33 cm.
He never heard about this kind of method, Xu Dayong was doubtful and worried whether it would work. But the owner, Shen Yanbei, asked him to do so.
When the villagers heard that Shen Yanbei wanted to grow corn like this, they felt that Shen Yanbei turned to be stupid after not studying for a long time, acted recklessly. The village head Shen Dezhong came to him to talk about it.
"Shen Yan, if this kind of method will be a success?"
If Shen Yanbei did not look at people with this gaze as before, Shen Dezhong also suspected that Shen Yanbei trying to mess things up. But Shen Yanbei had been well behaved lately. He thought this young man was not prompted by a sudden impulse.
Shen Yanbei smiled. He poured a cup of wolfberry and red jujube tea for the village head that could nourish blood and strengthen the spleen and stomach.
Shen Dezhong took a look and thought that the tea of this Xiucai's Family was different. When you smelled it, there was a faint scent. When you took a sip, it was sweet!
"I won't hide it from you Uncle Zhong. I read this planting method from a miscellaneous book*." Shen Yanbei cleverly gave a reason with a panic expression and mentioned the author's name as an unknown scholar. "This writer travels north and south and records many anecdotes and fantastic stories. I happened to look through it, so I wanted to try it."
*zá shū: the imperial examination era, refers to books that are not directly related to the imperial examination.
"According to the book, this kind of planting method is more simple compared with the planting method that we're used to doing. For corn, it may not increase the quantity of production. But for the soybean, the output of the production can increase up to a hundred jin."
Shen Dezhong was a little startled. The farmers' hopes for a year were in the fields. Who didn't wish for their production to increase? Soybeans were indeed not expensive, But if you could get a hundred jin in vain, it was also money! Also, we could make bean curd to be tofu from these soybeans!
Shen Yanbei took a sip of tea and waited for the other party to calm down.
"Ahem, Shen Yan, don't you think it was still too risky?" Shen Dezhong asked cautiously. His heart might beat fast, but it was just a heartbeat. Before Shen Yanbei's land was harvested, he didn't dare to mess around.
Smiling disapprovingly, Shen Yanbei put the teacup down. "Just two mu of land. If we don't have a big crop, we won't plant them in the second half of the year."
Shen Dezhong was stunned, sighed inwardly for it in vain: he ate more salt than the other person ate rice, but couldn't compare to such a young man who always looked at the bright side of things*.
*xiǎng de kāi: does not always take unsatisfactory things into the heart.
"Whether the method does work or not, I'll know after I try it," Shen Yanbei said with a serious face. "If it works, let the villagers try this method."
The villagers took care of the original owner in the past. Otherwise, the original owner who led an easy life with everything provided would have been starving to death in his own home.
Now because he had taken up the body of the original owner, so in the future, teaching the villagers some ways to increase production would be the rewards for the villagers for taking care of the original owner.
Shen Dezhong was so excited. "If this is the case, then I will thank you on behalf of the villagers."
Shen Yanbei hurriedly said, "Uncle Zhong doesn't need to say that, it's as easy as lifting a finger."
The generation of his grandparents were farmers with their backs to the sky and feet on the loess land. Before his family started a business in the catering industry, his family was also farming. He deeply understood the experience of the hardship of farming. If he could help the villagers here, he was very willing to help.
"Good!" Shen Dezhong was relieved, but the things he had on his mind made his bright face faded, there was a sadness on his old face. He looked at Shen Yanbei and pondered. He tried to persuade. "Shen Yan, after you finish spring plowing, you should study hard. Just let your husband take care of these trivial matters in the field!"
"Whether having a successful career or passing an imperial examination and getting official rank, no one in the younger generation in our village has reached this achievement..."
There were several large and small villages in their area. Every year at the autumn harvest, the villages would unite to hold social dramas. This was a big event in the village. Unfortunately, their Shenjia Village had declined over the years, and the right to host social drama had not fallen to their village for a long time. Last year, the social drama was held in Lijia Village. Lijia Village, this piece of trash, suddenly turned out to be so lucky and they were now having a Master Juren. So this year the right to host social drama must fall into the hands of Lijia Village. Thinking of the good deeds done by the bastards in Lijia Village, Shen Dezhong was so furious.
Poor and be bullied! Who could he blame if the people of their Shenjia Village powerless?
But he was unable to stomach an insult!
"Shen Yan, everyone is counting on you!"
In the face of Shen Dezhong's eager gaze, Shen Yanbei kept to smile on his face, but felt tired and had no strength to love anymore.
He was Shen Yanbei, but everyone called him Shen Yan one by one. He still couldn't get used to it. If his wife called him like that at certain moments...
Just thought about it already making him depressed.
Seeing that Shen Yanbei remained unmoved, Shen Dezhong said with great heart, "Shen Yan, you are twenty this year. Although you haven't done the crown ceremony, you have had a family after all. As the head of the family, you have to bring honor to the family name! Your grandfather and great grandfather are amazing people, you..."
Shen Yanbei was stunned. He suddenly clapped his hands and laughed. "Uncle Zhong, you are right!"
The ancient man reached the crown at the age of 20. It meant that they truly regarded as an adult after the crown ceremony. For the convenience of addressing, he would take one alias to manifest the virtue and dignity. This was the reason why someone had the secondary personal name.
Even though farmers did not have this habit, he was a scholar after all! So It was normal for a scholar to have a secondary personal name!
"I understand what you said," Shen Yanbei said sincerely. "After I finish the spring plowing, I would like to ask Uncle Zhong to manage a crown ceremony for me."
As the village head, Shen Dezhong's status had enough weight to crown him.
After the crown ceremony, he could use his name back!
Yummy Yogurt's thought:
I'm sorry everyone... Because I've been back to my normal schedule, I may post the work so late... So I think it's better for you, Dear, to subscribe our site so you can get the notification as soon as I post it^^Thank you to everyone who is still waiting for My Fav Manly Husband... Chu~
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