Reborn Ugly Girl Farming to Support the Family

Hearing Zheng Qingming's question, Yang Shuhuai nodded, "Well, I plan to participate in this provincial examination, otherwise I will have to wait another three years."

In fact, he was not too anxious. No matter when he participated, he could guarantee that he would pass the exam.

But he knew that Mr. Fang would be leaving soon, and he wanted to pass the imperial examination before that, so that he could stay in the village school to teach.

He looked at Zheng Qingming and asked, "Qingming, are you sure you can take the college entrance examination this time?"

Last time, Yang Shuhuai wanted him to take part in the college entrance examination directly, and he had even prepared the test questions, but was rejected by Zheng Qingming.

Zheng Qingming smiled and said, "I can't really say for sure, but I think I can give it a try now."

Two years ago, he knew his own strengths and weaknesses, so when Yang Shuhuai suggested that he take the exam, he refused.

He has studied very hard in the past two years and is confident that he can pass the provincial examination.

Scholar Fang smiled and said, "Qingming's knowledge is already very good now, so he should have no problem passing the provincial examination."

When Yang Shuhuai heard Scholar Fang say this, he knew that he would surely pass the Qingming examination this time.

Zheng Qingming felt a little embarrassed when the teacher praised him, "Thank you for your teachings, teacher."

Zheng Dashan and the others couldn't join in the conversation, so he and Yang Changqing chatted about some things in the fields.

Zheng Dashan said with some concern: "It's already July this year, and there hasn't been any rain today.

If there is no more rain, I am afraid this year’s harvest will be affected.”

Yang Changqing wiped the sweat off his head and said, "Yes, there is less rain this year, and the temperature is much higher than in previous years. I'm afraid there will be a drought."

Old man Zheng was also a little worried. He was really scared by the drought.

There was a two-year drought in their hometown, and the fields had no harvest, so the whole family had to flee the famine.

The days on the road were so hard that he didn't want to go through them again.

We have had good weather and good harvests in recent years. We must never let such natural disasters happen again.

Zheng Dashan sighed, "I think we should make preparations early. We are close to the Qing River, so we will not be without water for irrigation.

I’m afraid that the weather will get hotter and the river water will evaporate.

Even for the land at home, just pumping water to irrigate it is a big project.”

Yang Changqing agreed with him, "That's right, especially for those lands in the mountains. It's really hard to carry water up the mountain."

Zheng Xiaoman was listening at the side, and suddenly remembered that she had seen a waterwheel in her previous life.

She was very curious and even went to check how the waterwheel worked.

Water wheels are common in the south but rarely seen in the north.

If her father hadn't told her that fetching water to irrigate the fields was hard work, she really wouldn't have remembered this.

She would try to draw the waterwheel in the evening so that they wouldn't have to worry about watering the fields.

No one noticed that Zheng Xiaoman was distracted, and everyone was still talking about the previous topic.

Old Man Zheng said, "Well, this year we will keep all the sweet potatoes and not sell them.

If a drought really occurs, we can survive by relying on these sweet potatoes.”

Zheng Dashan nodded and said, "Why don't we talk to the village chief about this and ask him to keep everyone's sweet potatoes instead of selling them this year."

When Zhou Chunfeng heard that she was not allowed to sell sweet potatoes, she asked, "If we don't sell sweet potatoes anymore, what will happen to Xiaoman's vermicelli workshop?"

Zheng Xiaoman came back to his senses and said, "Mom, I still have a lot of sweet potatoes that I harvested last year. At worst, I can just sell less vermicelli this year."

She can stop doing business for now, but she absolutely cannot let everyone go hungry when there is a real drought.

In the past two years, she actually asked Cao Jun's team to help her find potato seeds, but there has been no news.

The yield of potatoes is no less than that of sweet potatoes, and the potato flour made from them tastes better.

What's more, potatoes can be cooked and eaten, and she really misses the taste of potatoes.

The matter was settled, and the next morning, Zheng Dashan went to see the village chief.

Wang Dehai had been worried about this matter for a long time, and what Zheng Dashan said coincided with his thoughts.

"I have the same idea as you. Sweet potatoes have a high yield. Let's keep them first. At least we can ensure that the villagers will not go hungry."

Zheng Dashan nodded in agreement. "Besides, sweet potatoes are more drought-resistant than other crops. If the drought continues next year, we can just plant all the land at home with sweet potatoes to avoid having nothing to harvest from other crops."

Wang Dehai agreed that there was nothing wrong with this.

Next, the village chief told this idea to all the families in the village. Now the villagers are very convinced of the village chief and the Zheng family.

Since both families have said so, everyone will definitely follow suit.

Every household in the village has made plans and will keep all the sweet potatoes harvested this year and not sell them.

Zheng Xiaoman plans to complete the previous orders and will not accept large orders for vermicelli for the time being.

She also wrote a letter to Cao Jun in advance to tell him about this.

After all, he is the biggest customer of their vermicelli workshop, and 70% of their workshop's income comes from him.

After arranging everything, Zheng Xiaoman began to think about drawing the waterwheel.

She first drew the general structure of the waterwheel. The three main parts of the waterwheel are the bracket, water wheel and water tank.

The bracket is used to fix the water wheel in the water, and the trough is responsible for transporting water to the fields.

The water wheel is made up of many spokes, and at the end of each spoke, there is a flat wooden board called a scraper.

In front of each scraper, there is a water bucket made of a bamboo tube.

The direction in which the waterwheel is placed into the water is parallel to the direction of the river.

The scraper at the bottom of the waterwheel must be submerged in the river water.

In this way, when the water flows, it will hit the scraper at the bottom, which can ensure that the waterwheel keeps turning.

When the water wheel rotates, the water bucket in front of the scraper will enter the water and fill up with water. When it reaches the highest point, it will be poured into the prepared water trough.

Of course, the prerequisite is that the fixed angle of the water bucket must be found well, so that the water will flow out only when it reaches a high place, and will not spill out halfway.

Zheng Xiaoman only had a vague idea about this, as for the specific angle of placement, he would have to find a carpenter to experiment with it later.

She drew a simple blueprint of the waterwheel and marked some precautions next to it.

There is an old carpenter in the village, but I guess his skills are not enough to make a waterwheel like this.

In the end, she had no choice but to ask Cao Jun for help to find a carpenter with good skills.

The carpenter came five days later. When Zheng Xiaoman heard the news, he immediately went there with his drawings.

When the carpenter arrived, he had no idea what on earth he was here to do.

It was not until I saw the drawings in Zheng Xiaoman's hand and heard about the working principle of the waterwheel that I became extremely excited.

If he could really make this waterwheel, he would have something to show off for the rest of his life.

The carpenter, who was originally a little tired, was no longer tired now. He pulled Zheng Xiaoman aside and asked carefully about the details of the waterwheel.

It’s just that it happened so long ago that Zheng Xiaoman can’t remember many details clearly.

The carpenter was not disappointed and took the drawings to study it himself.