The two of them lingered until the afternoon before leaving the hot spring establishment.
Facing the plot of land that had grown wild grass again, Tian Jing used her abilities to solve it once more. This time, even the roots deep within the soil had their energy absorbed, and the land turned completely dry and withered.
"Tomorrow, shall we borrow a hoe and come into the mountains to dig?" Li Zhengguo suggested.
"No need. When the time comes, I can use my abilities to till the land. Let's go 'chop' stones first."
This time, Tian Jing deliberately went to Wolf Mountain to 'chop'.
The wolf king, which was being 'chopped', whined at her and felt helpless.
"I'm just bullying you, what about it? If you dare to play tricks with me, who else will I bully if not you?"
The wolf king whined and left. As long as its den wasn't being 'chopped', it didn't care.
Li Zhengguo tapped her nose, "Such a petty little girl."
"So, you better be careful. If you provoke me, I'll get revenge endlessly too."
"I, will never, but I also welcome Sweetie to be endlessly with me."
Tian Jing glanced at him. An honest and pure old man wouldn't make suggestive jokes, right?
Li Zhengguo: "..." What did Sweetie's glance mean?
After descending the mountain, Li Zhengguo went straight to Captain Ou's house and exchanged work points for one qian of wheat seeds and one liang of corn seeds.
Even with so little, Captain Ou felt heartbroken, "Don't waste them. We don't have many corn seeds, and even fewer wheat seeds."
"I remember there were rice seeds too, right?"
"That was years ago? Gone long ago. The land in our mountains isn't suitable for growing it."
Li Zhengguo could only send a message to Wen Jianshe, asking him to bring some rice seeds.
If he didn't involve Wen Jianshe, Sweetie would definitely go find Ouyang Lei again.
Entering the mountains again, Tian Jing showed Li Zhengguo the power of her wood-elemental abilities.
First, she tilled the soil, large chunks of it appearing as if plowed by an invisible large machine.
One qian of wheat seeds was only a little over a hundred grains. Under Tian Jing's abilities, the more than a hundred wheat plants quickly matured.
Li Zhengguo harvested with a machete, Tian Jing used her abilities to dry them, Li Zhengguo threshed them with stones, and Tian Jing planted them again.
The two of them cooperated seamlessly, cycling through this process, and soon filled a wooden crate.
The corn seeds were operated in the same way.
When planting, Tian Jing controlled the scattering, ensuring the seeds were planted at roughly equal intervals.
After forcing them to sprout, Li Zhengguo forbade Tian Jing from using her abilities further.
"Occasionally spurring them is fine, but grain that is purely forced by abilities will surely have differences in shape and taste."
Tian Jing then turned to accelerate the growth of sweet potatoes. Two good ones were selected from their home, and under Tian Jing's acceleration, the seedlings grew visibly.
She pinched off the seedlings and planted them around the edges of the land, with Tian Jing urging them to spread their vines.
...
For the few days Li Zhengguo and his wife were in the mountains, they transported several large piles of stones down, making the other commune members extremely envious.
Having martial arts made everything so convenient.
When she had nothing else to do, Tian Jing would secretly use her abilities to dry out the trees.
Chen Suozhu followed his brother-in-law to peel the bark. Although he found it strange how quickly these logs were drying, he managed to restrain himself from asking.
On the thirteenth day of the first lunar month, the loudspeaker at the village entrance announced that a village-wide meeting would be held tomorrow at the team headquarters' open ground, and all commune members were required to attend.
Chen Suozhu was curious if work had started early this year.
Li Zhengguo, however, thought there must be something else to announce.
As expected, the person holding the village-wide meeting in Koushan was the commune secretary, Comrade Ji, who had visited Li's house twice before.
Seeing this person, Tian Jing knew the content of today's meeting would be explosive.
And so it was. When Secretary Ji announced that Koushan would implement a land adoption responsibility system, the commune members immediately erupted into noisy discussion.
Captain Ou shouted loudly for a long time before it quieted down. Su Dan Novel Network.
"Did you all listen to Secretary Ji's speech? Where is your discipline? I think you're all just idle. How about we start the literacy class tonight?"
The commune members fell completely silent.
Literacy class? Those who were to be educated fidgeted as if they had lice.
Secretary Ji read out each clause of the responsibility system, and the commune members were stunned. This was called adopting land? There was such a good thing?
Li Zhengguo raised his hand, "My sister cannot do labor due to her health. My mother has recovered. Our family counts as three people, and we will adopt five mu of land."
Sister-in-law Niu saw this and quickly nudged her husband.
Brother Niu also raised his hand, "My wife and I will adopt two mu."
Others who had helped at Li's house make sweet potato noodles with Sister-in-law Niu also rushed to raise their hands to adopt land.
Secretary Ji pressed his hands down, signaling the commune members to quiet down, "I know some commune members haven't fully understood yet. Today is just an announcement meeting. Registration will begin on the sixteenth. As for the amount of land adopted, it needs to be calculated uniformly by the team."
"Lazy commune members, you need to think carefully. If you work, you'll eat. If you don't work, not only will you not eat, but we will also take back the land if it is wasted in your hands because you were reluctant to cultivate it, and you will be fined according to the losses."
"And you must think clearly. Don't get carried away by the trend. The team doesn't have much land; each person averages less than two mu. You can also reclaim wasteland. Wasteland is exempt from grain tax for the first two years."
"I know, everyone has reclaimed wasteland at their doorstep for private plots before. You can still do so in the future, and of course, it will be tax-exempt for two years."
"After two years, half of the land will be returned to the production team, and half will be considered your private plot. Of course, ownership will still belong to the collective production team."
"However, you must reclaim land that is south of your doorstep. The half you hand over isn't necessarily the southernmost part."
"Because I'm worried that some commune members will be selfish and not cultivate the southernmost part diligently, and some will be selfish and not maintain it at all, just occupying the quantity. Then they'll hand over something to the production team to get by."
"Therefore, the half to be handed over will be chosen by the team. Of course, if the north and south are similar, the team will definitely choose the southernmost part. The northern part is closer to your home, right?"
"For wasteland reclaimed elsewhere, after paying grain tax for two years, the land belongs to you to cultivate, but its ownership still belongs to the production team."
"The most important point is, if you sieve the soil and need to add soil, you must dig on the mountain. You are not allowed to dig anywhere you please."
"The gravel sifted out can be taken to the mountain to be dumped, used to fill your courtyard, or to build your foundation, but you are not allowed to dump it randomly, nor are you allowed to make the village full of pits and mounds."
"And, you must remember, work points are gone. Don't think about relying on mixing work points to get grain anymore. Lazy commune members deserve to starve."
This time, it completely exploded.
Captain Ou no longer shouted for silence. The meeting's content had been fully delivered.
Tian Jing and Li Zhengguo exchanged a glance, and with a shared understanding, smiled. This secretary was quite cunning to have abolished the work point system.
Fortunately, the set yield per mu was only one hundred and fifty catties. Otherwise, a group of people would truly starve.
As for private plots, the land south of their doorstep was a large expanse of rocky wasteland, and it wasn't infinite. It would eventually be blocked by the Ku River.
It depended on whose homestead was suitable. The further towards the end of the village, the further the land south of their doorstep was from the Ku River, and the more stones were in the land.
After waiting for a while, when the discussion subsided, Captain Ou announced, "Meeting dismissed, meeting dismissed. Comrade Li Zhengguo, please stay behind."
Li Zhengguo looked at Tian Jing. Tian Jing shook her head, also puzzled as to why the captain wanted Li Zhengguo to stay.
"My mother-in-law and Li Min and I will go back first."
"Okay, I'll be back soon."
Li Zhengguo followed the secretary and the captain into the team office.
The branch secretary and Accountant Li also entered the office afterward.
Captain Ou got straight to the point, "Accountant Li wants to resign due to health issues. The commune has asked us to hold an internal election. We want to nominate you. We'd like to ask for your opinion first."
Li Zhengguo quickly shook his head, "I can't do it. I still have many things to attend to and no time to sit in an office."