Chapter 278 - Growing Rice (I) (2/2)

There is another serendipity. When digging the mud, Mr. Lin catches many loaches and ricefield eels that are as thick as an adult’s thumb, which attracts Lin Luodong and Huang Weijian to go down the lake to catch loaches.

Mrs. Lin doesn’t criticize them. It is unusual if a country child has never caught fish or ricefield eels in rivers or fields. They will become adults in just a few years. There is nothing bad for them to have a rememberable time while they are still young.

By the time Mr. Lin finishes his work, the children have caught a small jar of loaches and eels. Mrs. Lin keeps them in the clear water, saying that they will enjoy a big meal after the fish spit out all the mud.

People closely surround Mrs. Lin, cheering and expressing their strong support for her decision. Not fed hormones or contraceptives, these wild loaches and eels are certain to be delicious.

Li Xi’er has bought back rice seeds. Lin Luoran levels a piece of land in the yard and plows it carefully. Then she sows rice seeds, waters them, inserts bamboo strips to form a dome, and covers them with a layer of transparent film.

“Master Lin, the rice fields have been prepared. Why don’t sow the seeds in the fields? It is troublesome to sow them here. We need to move them at last.”

Since she was a child, Li Xi’er has been apprenticed to Xi Heng, who indulges her every whim. Luckily, she doesn’t mistakenly think that rice is directly harvested from the field. To her credit, she knows that rice needs to be husked.

Lin Luoran knocks her forehead, saying, “It is called seedling raising. Read more books when you are free. Otherwise, in this way, you can’t distinguish the wheat from Chinese chives!”

Li Xi’er feels wronged. Isn’t her task cultivation? What is the use of knowing how to farm?

After thinking for a while, Li Xi’er posts a question on a forum. Then she is shocked. It turns out that there are quite a few cultivators who know how to farm, not because they love agriculture, but because they are very picky about the food they eat. It is unrealistic for ordinary cultivators to grow spirit rice or vegetables, but it is also impossible for them to eat the food watered by various pesticides and fertilizers in the ordinary world.

When people eat grains, there will be turbid air in their bodies. This is the real reason for cultivators to refine Bigu Bolus: keeping turbid air from affecting their cultivation. Now that there is no Bigu Bolus or spirit rice and vegetables, they have no choice but to eat natural food without being polluted.

It is not difficult for cultivators to secretly own some land. Not trusting other people, even if they hire farmers to cultivate for them, they often go to inspect the field to see if farmers secretly spray pesticides while they are cultivating. In cultivating families or sects, there are people to take care of these trifles. But individual cultivators have to inspect by themselves. So when Li Xi’er posts, individual cultivators respond actively. They explain in detail how to raise flowers and herbs, and grow vegetables and wheat, which blows Li Xi’er’s mind.

Li Xi’er is surprised that while she doesn’t have any hobbies except cultivating, eating and playing, other cultivators lead such a full life.

She tells Lin Luoran about her worry. The latter thinks for a while before suggesting that she learn to plant flowers.

Li Xi’er loves the Tang suit very much. Lin Luoran can’t imagine the scene where she wears a long skirt to collect herbs and do farm work, looking like rolling in the mud.

Seeing that Li Xi’er is hesitating, Lin Luo thinks for a while and then says, “It is good to grow flowers. Maybe you someday will raise a Peony Fairy!”

Li Xi’er looks at Lin Luoran in despise, seeming to say, “do you think I’m an idiot?”. Then she says, “Lin, my master said that when Tao of nature is in disorder, even Diliu Syrup will be gone, how can I raise a Peony Fairy?”

Lin Luoran is speechless. It is hard to cheat even a naïve girl like Li Xi’er.

Li Xi’er thinks for a while and then decides to take up flower growing as her hobby. Lin Luoran asks why, and she answers with a smile, “I have thought about it. My master said it was hard to Lay the Foundation, but you are soon reaching the middle stage of that. Now there is no Diliu Syrup, but maybe it will show up someday. I can grow some flowers now. Maybe I will really harvest a house of fairies then!”

Lin Luoran is greatly touched. Li Xi’er is right. Who knows what will happen in the future?

In the evening, the air in the mountains is fresh. After the Spring Festival, as the weather gradually warms up, the snow in the mountains melts a lot. The temperature at night is very low. Lin Luoran doesn’t care about the low temperature, but Li Xi’er, who is currently at a low level, has gone into the room to put on her rabbit fur coat.

After a while, Mrs. Lin comes out with a cloak that she recently made. Lin Luoran won’t refuse her mother’s care, so she takes it and puts it on.

Because Lin Luoran is tall and slim, the pure white rabbit fur cloak that just reaches her ankle doesn’t make her look puffy at all. With the white cloak and her black hair, she looks like a fairy in the Moon Palace.

Mrs. Lin sighs with emotion. As Lin Luoran tightly holds her mother’s hand, she finds them a little cold. After all, her mother is an ordinary person, which cannot be made up for by spiritual herbs.

If Mrs. Lin doesn’t have the Taoist root, the days when Lin Luoran and her families cultivate happily together will always be an illusion for Lin Luoran.

If the Dongting Dragon Palace exists, what about Mount Penglai?

Lin Luoran is in a trance. When the mountain wind blows, she pulls her mother into the room:

“Mom, shall we plant rice seedlings in a few days? I think the seedlings are growing very well. They are four or five centimeters tall.”