Everyone in the village knew about the Rice Flower Fish he raised in his paddy field. The reason they hadn’t followed suit was that they were unsure of the outcome. Now, as Zheng Long harvested, the yield of rice would be known soon enough, and everyone was quite eager to see the results.
It was now time to harvest the rice, but there was still enough water in the fields for the fish to survive. The most pressing matter was to get the fish out first.
As Zheng Long, dressed in leather trousers and carrying a bucket, went down to the fields to catch fish, everyone came to watch the excitement, wondering how he could possibly eat all of those fish and asking if he should sell a couple to them.
Among the villagers, he was only familiar with the people from his own team. Since everyone wanted some fish, he felt embarrassed to charge them, so he gave two or three fish to each family, as a gesture of thanks for their regular care and attention to his family.
When people from the team heard that his family was giving away fish, they were very grateful. No one was greedy; they all lined up, waiting for Zheng Long to catch fish for them. They had planned to help him out, but Zheng Long declined, saying he could manage the one-acre field on his own and suggested everyone tend to their own plots first.
There were about thirty to forty households in a team, and giving away three fish each meant that about one hundred and twenty to one hundred and thirty were distributed. When it was time to clean the remaining fish, he found that there weren’t many left.
It just so happened to be getting dark, so he moved the rest of the fish into the space in the dark. When he counted them at home, wow, there were more than he had expected, at least seventy to eighty fish, and they weren’t small either. He kept twenty or so to marinate and sold the rest to the Space Mall, profiting seven to eight hundred yuan, which was about six yuan per pound – in line with the future prices of Crucian Carp and Carp.
After cleaning the fish, he had to let the pond water dry for a few more days to make sure it was shallow enough for people to enter. Then, still wearing his leather trousers and straw hat and carrying a sickle, he began to harvest the rice. Because he had to wade through the field, it delayed the process a bit, so it took him four days to gather all the rice and lay it out to dry in the threshing ground.
The rainfall in Chongqing was quite abundant, but fortunately, there were now plastic tarps available. Every household had one, and they would quickly cover their grains with it when it rained. Once the weather cleared, they would spread it back out to dry. After sufficient drying, they’d use a thresher to process the grains into small kernels, take them home, and continue the drying process.
Since Zheng Long’s family was only one person, everyone came to help him with the drying, which made him feel that his fish weren’t given away in vain.
The next half a month involved both drying and sowing simultaneously. The paddy fields had to be replanted with rice for the second season. After asking the villagers to help prepare the ground, he began to flood the fields. Seedlings were raised collectively by the brigade, which he would buy with money later. The water was also drawn from the well using a collective pump, distributed to each household. The villagers only needed to cover the cost of the electricity.
After harvesting wheat, some villagers planted corn in the wheat fields while others opted for different crops. Zheng Long planted corn on half an acre and sesame on the other half.
Once the wheat field was sorted, it was time to transplant seedlings in the rice fields. To prevent cold water from causing varicose veins or dealing with leeches and other troubles, he still wore his leather trousers. The villagers teased him for being overly delicate, but Zheng Long believed it was a form of self-protection. Although wearing them reduced his agility, he felt it was worth it, and so he maintained this practice throughout.
After the seedlings were planted, many villagers started to follow his example and scatter fish fry in their paddy fields. Zheng Long advised everyone, "Besides fish fry, you can also scatter some loach and eel fry. These can also fertilize and strengthen the soil."