It was the second night watch, as they sought the rosy hues of dawn.
...
At the edge of the field, Lian Manman and Wu Lang got off the cart with baskets in their arms. Lian Shouxin untied the Little Yellow Ox from the cart and began to harness the plow. Lian Manman walked a few steps into the field, crouched down, and grabbed a handful of soil. Due to the recent soaking rain, the soil was very moist.
Such moist soil was suitable for direct sowing. In the words of an experienced farr, it was like heaven was showing them kindness. If there wasn’t enough rain during spring planting, the tenant farrs would have to carry water to the fields bucket by bucket. Even a strong laborer would find such arduous work too much to bear.
Lian Shouxin finished harnessing the plow and drove the ox into the field. Then, inserting the iron plow blade into the center of the furrow and adjusting the depth, he cracked his whip and urged the little ox forward.
Handling a plow usually required two people: one to steady the plow and one to lead the ox or horse. However, there were those like Lian Shouxin who managed alone, steadying the plow while also driving the ox or horse. This latter thod often required an experienced and seasoned farr.
Lian Shouxin was an excellent farr, and they used an ox. So used mules, donkeys, or even horses with their plows. Oxen didn’t move as quickly as mules or horses, but they moved steadily. Thus, pulling a plow with an oxen demanded less skill from the operator, which allowed Lian Shouxin to easily handle both the plow and driving the Little Yellow Ox on his own.
As Lian Shouxin opened up the field with the plow, Lady Zhang hurriedly followed with several children. Lady Zhang was in charge of planting the seeds, dropping two peanuts into the soil at intervals roughly the size of a bundle’s length. Lady Zhang was also skilled at her work, carrying a basket of peanut seeds over one shoulder while the other hand scooped up peanuts and dropped them onto the furrow. Bending slightly at the waist, she stepped forward along the furrow as if taking one stride at a ti, and the peanut seeds naturally fell from her hand into the furrow Lian Shouxin had opened.
Every drop yielded exactly two seeds, neither too many nor too few, and the intervals were just right, as if asured with a ruler.
Lian Zhizhi, Lian Manman, Wu Lang, and Xiao Qi followed closely behind Lady Zhang, and they were responsible for hilling up the soil. That ant standing on both sides of the furrow and using their feet to cover the newly sown peanut seeds with soil.
The ox-driven plow was much faster than manually digging furrows with an iron hoe. Lady Zhang moved steadily, not even lifting her head as she kept pace behind Lian Shouxin, with the children closely following. Sotis, Lian Shouxin would slow down a bit to let Lady Zhang keep up with the plow. This was because freshly plowed furrows exposed soil to the air, causing it to lose moisture rapidly. To preserve the moisture in the soil as much as possible and ensure a high germination rate for the peanuts, they needed to sow and hill up the furrows as quickly as possible.
"Father, you keep going ahead," said Lady Zhang to Lian Shouxin after planting half a furrow, then she called out to Lian Zhizhi, "Zhizhi, co here, let’s divide and plant the seeds. Wu Lang can hill the soil behind you while Manman and Xiao Qi follow ."
"Alright," both Lian Zhizhi and Wu Lang responded promptly.
With arrangents like these, the family’s progress sped up even more.
Lady Zhang, who doted on her youngest daughter and son, occasionally multitasked by helping with hilling a section of the soil, making it easier for Lian Manman and Xiao Qi.
After Lian Shouxin finished plowing a furrow, he let the Little Yellow Ox rest at the end of the field. He then hurried back, planting seeds and hilling soil as he went.
In the nearby fields, others were hard at work too. The soil next to Nanshan was fertile and ideal for growing peanuts. Several other families, just like Lian Manman’s, were planting peanuts as well.
Tenant farrs’ children were all expected to work.
In a plot nearby, two children around eight or nine years old were helping the adults plant seeds. After showing the children how to do it, the adult took out two stalks of straw, giving one to each child. It turned out that the adult, concerned the kids might not be able to gauge the planting distance correctly, had purposely provided the straw stalks so the children could use them as a guide for the correct length when placing the seeds in the soil.
"Last year, you and Xiao Qi did the sa," Lady Zhang said with a laugh as she caught a glimpse of what Lian Manman was looking at. She continued, "Your sister and brother stopped needing it the year before last."
Hearing this, Lian Manman suddenly felt a kinship with the two little figures.
She and her siblings had started farm work when they were even younger, but at that ti, the able-bodied n of the family, Lian Shouren and Lian Jizu, did not work the fields.
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