"I'm definitely going. But my brother just doesn't want to be with my mother all the time, so he said he'd take us with him to accompany my mother," Wu Xiu complained.
"Is Brother Fan's wedding also about time?" Lin Yan asked. Wu Fan was her second uncle's son.
The sons of the Wu family's next generation were named in order of prosperity, flourishing, national peace, and public contentment, which was quite easy to remember. As for Xiu Xiu, she was the only girl and was not ranked with them.
"Mm, Brother Fan's girlfriend is his junior high school classmate. She's so beautiful! Why didn't my brother find someone from his classmates back then!" Wu Xiu grumbled.
"That depends on fate."
They finished watering the plants and picked some vegetables before heading back.
Zhou Qi watched Lin Yan, who had been acting with Wu Xiu all the time, and didn't know how to strike up a conversation with her.
Every time Zhou Qi greeted Lin Yan, she would nod in response, but if he wanted to say anything more, he couldn't find an opportunity!
With no other options, Zhou Qi could only temporarily focus on how to improve his life. There was less farm work recently, so he planned to explore the mountains.
However, he overestimated his abilities. Not only did he catch nothing, but he also fell and injured himself.
After he finally recovered somewhat, he still couldn't think of any way to improve their meals.
He had memories of the future, but at this moment, there was nothing he could do.
"Host, the male lead is here again," the system's voice carried a hint of schadenfreude.
"No need to bother with him," Lin Yan was too lazy to deal with this male lead.
"The male lead went to the mountains earlier and fell terribly. I really don't know why he's so confident!"
"Perhaps that's the effect of rebirth! He feels like he can do anything after being reborn," Lin Yan said with sarcasm.
Lin Yan and Wu Xiu put the tools in the storage room and then placed the vegetables in the kitchen.
Today, their second aunt was cooking, and the rice was already cooked when they returned. Lin Yan and Wu Xiu helped by picking vegetables.
"In the original novel, the male lead wasn't that incompetent!" the system was curious.
"Because back then, the male lead was solely focused on pursuing the original owner. Readers saw their romance, so they naturally didn't see the male lead's intelligence!"
"When policies allowed later on, the male lead had the first-mover advantage, so of course, everything went smoothly!"
Lin Yan didn't think that a person would gain intelligence just by being reborn. The male lead in his past life was a nouveau riche who stood at the forefront of trends. Even after rebirth, he would at best be a nouveau riche who knew the future!
This book was originally a "feel-good" novel; as long as it was satisfying, logic wasn't that important. If the male lead lacked intelligence, then everyone else would be dumbed down!
The next day, when they went into town, Lin Yan couldn't find a complete set of high school textbooks at the scrap metal recycling station. She only found a few books from the first year of high school, which cost her two cents.
She also asked the staff there to keep an eye out for her and to notify her when they found them, for which she paid with a few pieces of fruit candy.
After mailing letters to the original owner's grandparents and maternal grandparents at the post office, she and Wu Xiu returned to the supply and marketing cooperative.
Their third aunt was already waiting there. Seeing the joy on her third aunt's face, Lin Yan understood that she had likely bought something she liked.
"Yanyan, do you want to go in and see if there's anything else you need?" the third aunt said, "We're not in a hurry to go back, so take your time looking."
"No, thank you, Third Aunt," Lin Yan refused. She really didn't need anything. "I still have enough things, so I don't need to buy anything."
When Lin Yan went to the countryside, the four elders had prepared her things very thoroughly. Moreover, a new batch had arrived a few days ago, for fear that she would suffer.
"Alright, I don't know where that kid Wu Fan has run off to again! We'll go back when he returns. While it's still early, we can still cut the cloth!" the third aunt complained.
Lin Yan didn't join in the conversation, but Wu Xiu followed suit, complaining about her brother.
"My brother is like this. He clearly promised to accompany us, but he disappeared. We're here to buy cloth for him, and he's not even concerned!"
Just as they were talking, Wu Fan also arrived at the entrance of the supply and marketing cooperative, carrying some things.
Lin Yan smelled a slight fishy odor from the things in Wu Fan's hands, guessing he had been to the black market.
"Mom, I'm back. Have you finished buying things? Let's go back once you're done!" He reached out to take the things from his third aunt's hands.
The third aunt didn't give them to him, afraid he would dirty the newly bought cloth. "Let's go, let's go back!"
The idle days quickly passed, and the crops in the private plot of land in the Wu family, which had been the subject of much gossip, grew better and better. Of course, this was also due in large part to the Wu family's diligent tending.
Fresh corn was shucked and boiled with the innermost layers of its husk, making it sweet and delicious. Lin Yan could eat two ears by herself.
The corn silk was also washed and boiled to make a drink, said to clear heat and relieve summer-heat. Those who went out to work all drank this, as the weather was too hot.
The corn from their own fields could be eaten in advance, but the corn from the collective fields had to wait until it was completely mature.
"Farmers have few idle months." As the rice in the paddy fields bowed its head, the autumn harvest began.
Harvesting rice, threshing, and drying. Not long after finishing this, they started harvesting corn. After harvesting corn, they began digging sweet potatoes.
This time, Lin Yan did not choose the easier tasks, but worked hard with everyone else.
However, the team leader did not let the educated youths do the sweet potato digging. After all, if the sweet potatoes were dug poorly, injured, or broken, they could not be preserved. This was related to everyone's food supply for the next year.
After a busy period, Lin Yan desperately wanted to change the current situation. Farm work was simply too tiring. Even with the large Wu family, she couldn't stand by and watch her relatives toil so hard.
She pondered all the books she had read in her mind, trying to find a solution. In her previous life, she had assisted with physics, but it had little to do with agricultural machinery.
Moreover, even if she could draw blueprints for agricultural machinery, she had neither the materials nor the machines to make them. Not to mention the need for fuel. Labor was cheap at this time, and people would naturally be unwilling to pay more for anything that could be done by hand.
This put her in a deadlock for a while, but the autumn harvest was nearing its end, and there was still a long way to go, so she could think about it slowly.
However, there were some ways to improve living conditions now.
Lin Yan had her intercropped private plot harvested. This planting method had led many people to gossip, but when it was time for the harvest, it silenced many of them.
Seeing the harvested corn and sweet potatoes, and then thinking of their own crops, everyone felt that this Lin Yan truly knew some things. They would try it next year as well.
Meanwhile, after the harvest, Lin Yan took the yield data and went to find the team leader. Of course, she wasn't just looking for the team leader for this one matter.
Not long after Lin Yan met with the team leader, everyone became busy again.
The corn stalks, which were not yet completely dry in the fields, were cut down. In previous years, they were kept for burning, and only children would chew on them when they had no snacks.
Now, all the stalks were chopped after being cut and uniformly stored in the cellar. Not only that, but the team also acquired some livestock.
Silage was the first step. By raising more livestock, everyone could eat more meat each year.
However, Lin Yan was primarily new to the area, and moreover, she was young, so not many people believed what she said.
Fortunately, the team leader was related to the Wu family, and coupled with the bountiful harvest from the private plot, the team leader saw Lin Yan's capabilities, which made him agree to let her try.
Besides, making silage from corn stalks didn't take much effort, only labor.
Lin Yan spent a lot of time and effort trying to persuade the team leader to buy more livestock. But if the silage worked and the livestock could be fed through the winter, she would be more convincing in this team.
After all, the people in the team were not members of the Wu family. While the Wu family trusted her without hesitation, it was different for the rest of the team; she had to achieve something!
In this era, she couldn't just take care of the Wu family alone. She couldn't remain aloof.
Therefore, to live a good life, she had to lead everyone to prosperity together. Although there were many restrictions, she believed she could find a suitable method.