The weather had turned cold . The air was humid but soon faded after the sun rose .
Shao Xuan brought his small pouch of grains down the hill in search of people to talk to at the designated farm plots .
He had talked to the old lady experienced in farming and today he was going to bring his grains to the old lady for her opinion .
Shao Xuan knew how to farm but there were many plants that he did not recognise in this world because they never appeared on the other side . He had spent the past few years working hard to memorise the herbs and plants of this world only to find himself a beginner once again after arriving on this side . Although he knew a few, the main crops and their characteristics differed from the ones on the other side . All he could do was talk to the experienced farmers .
The farmlands extended from the middle to the foot of the hill . These plots of land were divided, every square shared by several families . However, the tribe did not control who got what, it was up to them to decide .
Shao Xuan arrived at the plot near the foot of the hill . There was an old lady with a full head of grey hair called Qi Qi . Her mother was from the Taihe tribe, who specialised in planting crops . They had a vast knowledge of farming so Qi Qi was also good at it herself . Many people often came to her if they had questions .
“You’re here . ” Qi Qi hurriedly stood up when Shao Xuan came . Many people treated the leaders with respect, although it was a casual setting .
Qi Qi obviously thought it was more appropriate for her to stand up and bow but Shao Xuan stopped her once she stood up .
He did not say much other than showing her the pouch and poured a few grains out . “Could you take a look at these?”
Qi Qi looked at the dark golden grains . She had not seen anything like them before .
After studying them, she shook her head . “This is my first time seeing a grain like that . You said it’s called Thousand Grain Gold?”
“Yep, this is it . ”
Shao Xuan told her where he found this . After some thought, she suggested he find somewhere similar to the spot he discovered the plant to be safe . No one knew what kind of environment it liked . Some plants like sun, some liked the shade, some like humidity, some liked arid lands . They could not be generalised .
“But you can also plant a little in every spot . Then you can observe where it grows best . Then we will plant it there…” However, she remembered Shao Xuan told her they were precious and rare so she stopped .
They were rare, how could she waste them on experiments? However, she was curious too . She wanted to experiment, seeing as she hadn’t seen these before . She had been into agriculture all her life, these grains were very interesting to her . On the other hand, after observation and taking a whiff of its smell, she decided it was very, very attractive .
However, Shao Xuan was an Elder and these were rare grains . It was not appropriate to ask for them .
Noticing her gaze, Shao Xuan counted a hundred grains from his one thousand and gave them to Qi Qi . “If you have the time, could you please help me plant them?”
Qi Qi was an experienced farmer . With her help, it would save Shao Xuan a lot of effort . It would be much better than him experimenting on his own too .
When she heard him, she answered hurriedly, “Yes, yes! Don’t worry, I’ll do my best!”
As she spoke, she took out a cloth pouch and put the one hundred grains inside . She decided to talk to her farmer friends and make a plan . If it succeeded, Shao Xuan would definitely reward her . However, to her, the most important thing was the sense of accomplishment to be able to experiment on such rare plants .
After giving her the grains, Shao Xuan looked at the people busy working on the fields . They used many types of tools for raking the soil, watering the crops, harvesting etc . Many techniques were learned from the slave masters of the great six . They were useful for loosening the soil, planting, farming, processing etc . Most of these tools were a combination of wood and stone . They heard the slave masters were using metal tools but that was too expensive . Stone and bone were not bad replacements at all .
After a while, Shao Xuan got some materials to improve their farming tools, even making them plows for them to develop the land easier .
Due to limitations in materials, the plow was simpler than planned . It was made with wood and stone and after several rounds of modifications, the plow was made lighter and could twist its head . It was flexible and had many uses . The efficiency of farming would increase with its help .
After this, Shao Xuan demonstrated how to use it to the farmers .
Perhaps the slave masters already had something like that but this was a first for the people here . Other than curiosity, joy also brought them here as they huddled around him .
“Elder, what is this?”
“You use this to plant crops?” Everyone was curious .
Plows were used on farms and usually connected to farmed animals like cattle . However, there were no tamed animals suitable for farming here so it had to be pulled by humans .
At least the Flaming Horn people were as strong as bulls so it was easy for them to use .
“Just like that, it will break the soil into smaller pieces . This plow will make farming easier since you are all starting to plant seedlings . ”
After a demonstration, he let them try .
Many people wanted to try but in the end, Qi Qi’s granddaughter, Ji Ling, got to it first .
Ji Ling was about fifteen or sixteen . She was very young but her totemic power was already awakened . She had just returned from a hunt a few days ago and since it wasn’t her turn for patrol duty, she came to help Qi Qi during her spare time . Now that Shao Xuan was here with his plow, she had huddled over to watch . With everyone working together, she pulled the plow like how Shao Xuan did with another middle-aged woman helping from the back .
She must have hit a rock because she stopped in a moment . Without even a knife, she dug into the ground to fish out a rock as big as a winter melon . Without even a look, she flung it far away .
Shao Xuan watched as the rock as big as a melon flew in an arc over the river and into the forest ahead, scaring a few birds . He turned to see her sharing her experience with a few eager friends .
Shao Xuan was speechless .
The girls here were strong .
The people who worked on the farm weren’t just people without awakened totemic power- some of the laborious work was done by the totemic warriors too . They did not have to hunt or patrol every day so people like Ji Ling came to help out .
There were two kinds of people in the village-- the weaker individuals without totemic power and the totemic warriors with awakened totemic power .
Many people helped out during this season to plant seedlings . Other than the fields within the tribe, there were also crops planted on the other side of the river within the forest . They used a more primitive method of open burning and then planting on the burned piece of land .
As they spread the seeds, the person in front would dig holes with a tool while the people behind would put the seeds inside . They did not have to fuss over the crops too, merely observing it every now and then or chase away the birds . Their main food source was from hunting and the second source was the tribe’s inner farms . The crops planted in the forest were just something to kill time . Any harvest was a bonus . After they harvested, they would move to another plot of land .
Shao Xuan did not spend his time in the fields or outside the tribe . He built a fence around a seventy-meter-squared piece of land and started to plant one hundred grains .
The Thousand Grain Gold was found on a hill . Shao Xuan was now living on one, near the peak too . Although the altitude wasn’t high, Shao Xuan did not want to leave it on the peak of another hill . He did not have the time to watch for birds .
The weather and soil quality here was different but he did not think too much into it . It was just an experiment . He wasn’t too invested in it anyway . It would be great if it grew but if it didn’t, he could just eat the remaining grains . He hoped they were edible .
After a while, the seeds started to germinate . More than half of the grains had germinated . This was very satisfactory to him .
However, when Qi Qi called him over, he realised the grains they planted had already grown two or three leaves . More than 90 percent of their grains had germinated, a far better statistic than his own .
They were the experts after all .
Shao Xuan was delighted to see the seedlings . It didn’t matter who planted them, as long as they lived .
Qi Qi and the rest were even more excited . Every day, they would go check on the seedlings . They had found many different spots from the top to the bottom of the hill, planting ten seedlings per spot . Out of the ten places, the seedlings at the foot of the hill were in the best condition .
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