191 Chapter 191 Drought?
“Pretty good, but it’s a little dry.
“It’s been half a year, and there’s only been one small rain. We don’t really have enough water.” Uncle Yan shook his head.
“The wheat has just been watered after the new year,” he added. “I don’t think it’ll take more than five days to water them again.”
Zhou Ying was shocked after hearing this. She had yet to pay attention to this before, and it seemed that she had to make preparations in advance.
For some reason, she suddenly thought of the nightmares she had while living in the Mother God’s temple. Was it an early warning for her?
At this moment, Uncle Yan said, “The year of the Ox and Horse was good for farming. I was afraid of the two years of the Rooster and Monkey and didn’t expect that we would survive these two years but struggle in the year of the Rat.”
After Zhou Ying heard this, she was stunned. She remembered that the year of the Rat in the modern era wasn’t good and took this hint seriously.
After that, she chatted with the old man for a while and asked him to help keep an eye on the manor. Then, she turned around and went into the wheat field.
The wheat had already turned green, but the seedlings weren’t strong. The main issue was that the seedlings were sparse and even died in patches. Her expression immediately turned grave.
After that, she turned around and went to the workshop. Zhou Ying found Chang Shun and asked, “Uncle Chang, I saw that the wheat is dying in small patches. What’s going on?”
“It’s dry, and the water can’t reach higher places. I was thinking of planting some green vegetables in the next two days, and maybe at least we will have something to harvest.” When Chang Shun said this, he sighed and continued, “Mistress, there hasn’t been a single drop of rain. The wheat can only be watered with water from the river, and I’m afraid it will wither after some more time…”
“No matter what, we must keep some of this season’s wheat even if we break our backs. Otherwise, what are we going to eat? Don’t you think so?”
“That’s for sure. I just hope it rains soon.” After saying that, Chang Shun looked up at the huge sun in the sky.
Why didn’t he notice how annoying the sun was before?
Seeing this, Zhou Ying did not stay any longer. After greeting him goodbye, she went home and began to look for a waterwheel drawing. If she could come up with the waterwheel, the irrigation of the fields would save a lot of effort.
In the evening, Gu Chengrui came back with Er Zhuang. Seeing that there was no smoke coming from the kitchen, he paused for a moment before tying Er Zhuang up and entering the house.
He saw Zhou Ying standing in front of the dining table and studying a drawing carefully. He walked over curiously, looked, and was surprised to find a waterwheel drawing.
He immediately thought of the dry weather and suddenly understood her intentions.
Gu Chengrui turned around and went to the kitchen. However, there was nothing in the kitchen except some rice and noodles. He had no choice but to come back and ask, “Babe, I’ll get you some vegetables.”
Zhou Ying put down the drawing and said, “I’ll go and cook while you study the drawing. Find Fourth Grandpa Qian to try making one; if we don’t think of a way to get the wheat fields in the manor to survive, I’m afraid we can’t even keep the wheat seeds for next year.”
“Alright, you can make something light for dinner. It’s easy to get heaty now that the weather is dry.” Gu Chengrui agreed, and he took the drawing to study it.
After Zhou Ying went to the kitchen, she cooked a pot of green bean porridge, five steamed buns, and then mixed cold side dishes made of silver ears, celery, and crisp lotus roots. She also fried a portion of bacon and some winter bamboo shoots.
After the meal, Gu Chengrui took the drawing and looked for the patriarch, and the two went looking for the village chief together. They knew this was a good thing; if it came to fruition, the entire village could plant rice easily.
As a result, the three did not waste time and went straight to find the Fourth Grandpa Qian.
Fourth Grandpa Qian also understood the importance of this matter. Since the village chief was here especially, he selected two people to focus on making the waterwheel.