Chapter 226: Chapter 228: Slash and Burn
After Uncle An spoke, the villagers who were just passing by and asking a casual question stopped in their tracks.
"What’s this? Is our village getting a supply and marketing co-op?"
"Something like that. My eldest son is opening it. The prices are the same as the co-op, and you won’t have to walk so far anymore."
Uncle An, holding a box, struck up a conversation right there.
An Ning, holding two boxes, watched her usually quiet uncle chat away with ease.
’Sigh, it’s all for the sake of the children.’
"Sis, why didn’t we drive?"
"If we drove, would anyone even ask? Would Uncle An have a chance to say anything? This is what you call silent advertising. Get it?"
After An Ning’s explanation, An Guoming, who was up ahead, turned back and said, "My little sister is clever."
"But of course. Cleverness is just one of my many basic talents."
An Ning quickened her pace, passing An Guoming.
An Guoping stepped up beside An Guoming, struggling to keep up. "There’s something about Sis’s attitude... why does it seem so familiar?"
An Guoming cleared his throat, a bit uncomfortable. He assumed An Ning had learned this from him; after all, Jiang Xia was never the type to act so proud in front of everyone.
Feeling a pang of guilt, An Guoming gave An Guoping a light kick. "Just walk faster. What are you dawdling for?"
"What’d you kick me for?"
An Guoping, utterly confused, hurried to catch up. All along the way, they were certainly the center of the villagers’ attention.
Especially when passing the Big Willow Tree, the members of the An family were surrounded.
Everyone chattered, asking questions, and the An family chattered back with answers.
"We’re opening in a couple of days."
"We’ll have all the usual stuff."
"Soy sauce, soybean oil, white sugar, things like that."
"Of course we’ll have salt!"
"Be sure to come by and show your support."
"No ration tickets needed! You can just buy things with cash."
While explaining, the An family members unlocked the door and handed the goods to An Guoyang and his wife.
The small shop would be run by the two of them, so while An Guoming offered some advice on arranging the merchandise, they did most of the placement themselves.
An Sancheng and Uncle An stayed by the entrance talking to everyone, while the others went back and forth, carrying goods.
By the time they were done, nearly the entire village knew that Uncle An’s eldest son was opening a small co-op in the village.
They say you won’t need ration tickets!
They say the prices are the same as in town.
More and more people gathered near the Big Willow Tree.
It was the slack season for farming, so anyone without much to do came over to see what was happening.
The word-of-mouth advertising had been spread. All that was left was the grand opening.
After they finished setting up for the day, An Guoming took An Guoyang out.
The production permit they had applied for a while back was due to be issued. Next, they needed to get a health permit, which required an inspection.
But An Guoming handled these minor affairs efficiently, without any trouble.
While he was taking care of the paperwork, An Ning also set her own plans in motion.
She was preparing to take a trip. This one would take ten to fifteen days, and after she had everything sorted, she didn’t plan on traveling again.
However, the timing coincided with the slash-and-burn preparation of the fields, so she decided to wait a couple of days and learn about it.
In the early morning, seeing that the air was still, An Sancheng called for An Guoqing to go with him to the fields.
An Ning, who was in the middle of her meal, asked in confusion, "Can we start planting already? Isn’t it still cold?"
"We’re not planting, but the fields need to be cleared."
"There’s a lot of work to do before you can plant."
An Ning listened, realizing there was so much more to it.
When she had first arrived, the seedlings were already sprouting, so she had missed this part of the process.
"Dad, I’ll go too."
An Ning quickly finished the porridge in her bowl in a few gulps and went with An Guoqing and An Sancheng.
"Little brother, stay home and do your practice problems!"
Leaving behind those words, An Ning quickly disappeared from sight.
An Ning shouldered a rake, as did An Guoqing, while An Sancheng carried a pickaxe.
The three of them, carrying their tools, headed toward the plot of land assigned to the An family.
It was only on the way there that An Ning saw that everyone else had also started working their fields.
Everyone was greeting one another, and An Ning was confused by what she heard.
’Burning the fields?’
’How are they supposed to burn them?’
Before they even reached their plot, An Ning could see small fires burning in other families’ fields, with thin columns of gray smoke rising straight into the sky.
Even before reaching the fields, the smell of burning wood filled the air.
If you ignored the scent, it almost looked like a scene from a fairytale.
An Ning didn’t mind the smell, though.
"We’re here. This is our land."
An Ning looked at the patch of earth before her and asked humbly, "Dad, how can you tell? Which part is ours?"
An Sancheng pointed to a furrow. "From here, count twelve furrows to the north. All of them are ours."
"How can I tell? It’s been assigned to our family. How could I not recognize it?"
’It’s entirely possible not to recognize it,’ An Ning wanted to say.
But while she didn’t understand how An Sancheng remembered it, she had her own cheat.
She used her spiritual power to take a mental snapshot, perfectly recording every single stone.
"Let’s go. We’ll start from the edges and rake everything to the middle. Then we’ll light it. The weather is perfect right now, so let’s hurry before the wind picks up."
An Ning copied An Sancheng and An Guoqing, and began raking the dry leaves and weeds in the field.
After a pile of leaves, dry grass, and stray bits of stubble was gathered together, An Sancheng took out a match and lit it.
The dry kindling caught fire quickly.
"An Ning, you watch the fire. The two of us will keep raking."
"It’s safe once all the embers are out."
"Got it."
Standing upwind, An Ning watched the pile burn down quickly, turning into a mound of ash.
After checking to make sure there were no stray embers, An Ning grabbed her rake and caught up with An Sancheng and the others.
"Dad, do we just leave the ash there?"
"Yep. That ash is fertilizer. It kills a lot of pests and helps disinfect the soil."
"Let me tell you, this is the wisdom of our ancestors. There’s a reason for slash-and-burn agriculture."
An Ning nodded in agreement as she raked. "You’re right, Dad."
"The main component of wood ash is potassium carbonate, but it also contains various elements like magnesium and potassium. The village chief was talking about buying chemical fertilizer to plant."
"I’ve read about it. Chemical fertilizers contain the same components, just in higher concentrations."
An Ning was becoming fascinated by the wisdom of their ancestors. ’It’s truly incredible.’
"By the way, Dad, are we buying chemical fertilizer this year?"
"I don’t know. We’ll see when the time comes."
An Ning didn’t press the matter. When it came to farming, she was just a novice.
The three of them worked for over two hours before heading home because the wind had started to pick up.
After getting back, An Guoqing changed his clothes and went to clean up the rabbit droppings.
In the countryside, all manure had a use—it was natural fertilizer.
「Two days later」
An Guoyang’s little shop finally opened for business.
An Ning attended the small opening ceremony and helped out inside the shop.
At the end of the day, she returned to her room to pack her things, preparing for her trip.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
"Sis—"
An Guoping called from outside. An Ning pulled the door open.
"What is it?"
