Free Web NovelChapter 439: Chapter 231: Pigs’ Snacks
Zhang Huai hadn’t expected a single comment to provoke such a lengthy response from her. Glancing at Qingmu, who was trying to suppress a smile, he rubbed his nose sheepishly and said, "Juhua’s right. Your brother and I are trying to figure out how to plant two rice crops a season! I asked Changyu to buy me a few books on agriculture, and they describe the southerners’ experience with growing rice. But it’s much hotter down there. Some places can even grow three crops a year, so we can’t really compare or just copy what they do."
Juhua nodded. "You’re right, you can’t just copy them. You have to adapt to the local conditions."
Qingmu smiled and asked Juhua, "What’re you doing squatting there? I saw you staring at the rice as if you were in a trance. Got any ideas?"
Hearing this, Zhang Huai nodded again and again, looking at Juhua expectantly. That was exactly what he had wanted to ask her—what she’d noticed about the rice.
Juhua smiled. "I wasn’t looking at the rice. Well, I was, but I was also watching the little fish and frogs in the paddy. They look so happy and carefree, and I love seeing that. Once the rice is harvested, we can bring the ducks over. I’m sure they’ll eat their fill."
Qingmu and Zhang Huai were stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing in unison.
Juhua asked in confusion, "What is it? Am I wrong? After the rice is harvested, the paddy will be teeming with insects and frogs, and the ditches will be full of little fish and shrimp. I plan on letting the chickens in for a feast, too."
Zhang Huai couldn’t stop laughing, flashing a wide, toothy grin. It took him a moment to reply, "Nothing’s wrong. It’s just... what you said at first had this poetic, pastoral quality, and then in the next breath, you’re planning to let the ducks come eat everyone. It sounds a bit odd."
Juhua couldn’t help but laugh as well. Seeing her brother still chuckling, she said, a bit peeved, "Nature is just one big cycle. It’s nothing more than you eating me, and me eating something else. There’s nothing strange about it. Isn’t there a saying? ’Big fish eat little fish, little fish eat tiny shrimp, and tiny shrimp eat mud’! If things didn’t eat each other, an overabundance of anything would be a disaster! Of course, letting them get eaten to extinction wouldn’t work either."
Qingmu finally managed to stop laughing. "That’s a good idea," he told her. "We can do it like last year—tie hemp cords around the chickens’ legs before letting them into the paddy. It’ll be easier to find them later. As for the ducks, just let them be. I have a feeling that if you call, they’ll all come scurrying after you in a flock. You’ll definitely never lose them."
Juhua said confidently, "Of course! After we finish harvesting these ten-odd paddies, letting the chickens and ducks feed in them one by one will save us several days’ worth of feed. All this stuff in the fields is what you call ’live food.’ Actually, the proper way to raise ducks is to put them in the seedling paddies. They use their flat bills to poke all over the field, which is good for the seedlings. Of course, you can only do that before the rice plants have formed grain heads. After that, you can’t let them in."
Qingmu asked in astonishment, "Who told you that? How come I’ve never heard of it?"
Seeing both him and Zhang Huai staring at her in disbelief, Juhua’s confidence wavered. ’I’ve let it slip,’ she thought.
’I should just forget it. It’s better not to do it. In my past life, some people did put ducks in paddies before the rice formed grain heads, but I’m not actually certain if it’s beneficial. I just inferred from theory that it seemed workable.’
So, she explained sheepishly, "Well, this is what I was thinking: ducks don’t eat grass, so we don’t have to worry about them chewing on the seedlings. When they poke all over the paddy with their flat bills, wouldn’t that uproot the weeds? They also eat water insects, river snails, small fish, and Ni Qiu, so it’s like they’re cleaning the paddy for us. When we use a weeding rake, we have to get into the field, and our feet leave a lot of holes in the mud, which is never good. But ducks have flat, webbed feet, so they wouldn’t leave any holes."
She had concocted a long explanation and her throat was a little dry. She looked over at the two thoughtful country boys, who were frowning as they contemplated the feasibility of her words.
Not wanting them to puzzle over her wild idea, she laughed and said, "I was just spitballing, really. We only have a few ducks anyway, so don’t overthink it. Let’s just wait until after the harvest to let them in for a few days."
Zhang Huai smiled at her, his expression all-knowing, as if he could see right through her. To back her up, he said, "What you said actually sounds pretty reasonable. Why don’t we give it a try next year? It’s no big deal to just test it out. Like you said, ducks don’t eat the seedlings, so it probably won’t cause any major issues."
Juhua said gleefully, "Then let’s just test it in one paddy. That way, if something goes wrong, you can’t blame my idea. Oops! Listen to me jinxing it—I’m sure nothing will go wrong."
