Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 215 - 214: Collective Seed Breeding

However, to smoothly pass the assessment and enter Ding Clan School next year, they persisted through the pain.

Over time, the roles between the sisters were reversed.

In the past, Jinhua would lead her sister Si Niang to play everywhere; now, Si Niang constantly chases her back home to study characters.

After getting tired of it, Si Niang turned her little head and came up with a brilliant idea—let Sister Jin Hua teach her needlework, and they would take turns being the teacher.

Jinhua got interested very quickly, and in the evenings, she no longer wanted to run wild on the hills with the village kids. Instead, she learned new patterns from her mother seriously, waiting to teach Si Niang when she returned.

This way, Si Niang learned to thread needles and make small items, and Jinhua became interested in learning characters.

Occasionally, when she sees a beautiful pattern with characters on it, she would immediately go to Si Niang and ask, "What character is this?"

Some Si Niang recognized, and some she didn’t. She had no choice but to take the pattern to her older brother.

If the brothers didn’t know either, she’d run to the open area next to the ancestral hall to find Qin Yao.

"Mother, what character is this?"

Qin Yao was teaching several breeders selected from the village how to spread mud, her hands covered with dirt. She asked Si Niang to hold the pattern up higher, "Let me see... it should be the character ’福,’ meaning fortune."

The pattern, with its artistic embellishments, wasn’t easy to recognize.

Jinhua exclaimed in surprise, "So this is a character too!"

Si Niang was also intrigued, holding up the pattern to examine the embellished, ornate ’福’ character, exclaiming, "So characters can be written so beautifully, like flowers."

Qin Yao explained, "There are many ways to write characters. What you’re learning now is the simplest, the regular script. Beyond that, there are cursive, semi-cursive, and official scripts. Some, more skilled people, even create their ornamental characters, just like this ’福’ character you’re looking at now, which is likely a self-created style."

Jinhua and Si Niang admired Qin Yao, thinking she was incredible for knowing so much.

Qin Yao waved her hand, "Go play on the side. It’s all muddy here; be careful not to dirty your clothes."

"Yeah, yeah!" The sisters nodded obediently, got their answers, and happily ran back home to continue their role-playing teacher games.

Watching the two little ones walk away, Qin Yao cleared her throat lightly, reminding the people around her to focus and continue the lesson.

Because the village lacked enough hands for plowing and hoeing, and since it was the first time everyone was learning to breed plants, they feared that inconsistencies might impact the harvest. After reaching a consensus, they decided to send a few smart and able people to learn from Qin Yao, concentrating the breeding efforts for the entire village.

This way, just one larger breeding shed would suffice for everyone, solving the manpower shortage problem.

Most importantly, it was easy to manage, and the breeders would take turns looking after the shed.

So each household, based on its needs, sent its rice seeds. Qin Yao, along with Liu Qi, Liu Gong, Mrs. Qiu, Yun Niang, and other youths from the village, took responsibility together.

The quantity from each household was registered in advance and marked, so people could simply come and collect their share later.

Yun Niang, adept at woodworking, was in charge of all the seedling trays.

Mrs. Qiu, noted for her meticulous nature and patience, was assigned by Qin Yao to soak the seeds.

Liu Qi, being strong, was tasked with carrying the mud.

Qin Yao led Liu Gong to distribute the charcoal from each household into braziers, which would then be lit and placed in each corner of the breeding shed.

Since everyone was using the water mill from Qin Yao’s family, the previously idle manual mill was now used as the breeding shed, saving the breeding team a lot of effort.

The temperature had to be carefully controlled—not too hot nor too cold, with water buckets placed around so that evaporating steam could maintain the right humidity inside.

Without modern temperature-measuring instruments, everything was based on experience.

Qin Yao would place coarse yellow paper inside to test the humidity.

The temperature was easier to feel, and after a few times, the breeding team members could roughly estimate the conditions.

The human body temperature ranges from thirty-six to thirty-seven degrees, so if it feels slightly warm, the temperature is about right.

If it feels hot enough to sweat, it’s time to bury the charcoal a bit to lower the temperature.

This kind of breeding method taught Liu Gong and the others greatly benefited them. Not only did they learn how to breed, but they also stumbled upon some natural science lessons.

For example, the condensation of water vapor and the different phases of water—all these amazed them.

They thought this knowledge was some secret, but Qin Yao said, "It’s all in the books."

It’s just that modern and ancient descriptions differ, but essentially, they’re discussing the same things.

Initially, Mrs. Qiu thought sending her daughter Jinhua to the school was pointless, but since Qin Yao praised it, she was willing to give it a try.

Even if Jinhua failed to pass the assessment, there was no pressing belief that she had to attend school.

But after this breeding lesson, she suddenly realized that studying and taking exams was not the only way to gain benefit.

Anything learned from books could be beneficial for a lifetime.

So after all the seeds were successfully bred, Mrs. Qiu returned home and unexpectedly encouraged Jinhua’s studies.

"Next year, you must get into the school, got it? Don’t just run outside playing with those hooligans, stay home and practice your writing. Si Niang and Sanlang taught you a lot, didn’t they? Come, sit down, and show me."

Mrs. Qiu placed the sand tray made by Liu Zhong on the table, along with a brush made from chopsticks and pig bristles, waiting for her daughter to write some characters.

Jinhua, holding mud-made ’buns’ and ’dumplings,’ widened her eyes at her mother and meekly asked, "Mother, are you possessed?"

Mrs. Qiu took a sharp breath. As gentle as she was, she nearly couldn’t resist giving the little girl a smack on the bottom.

"What nonsense, get rid of the mud in your hands!"

Cradling her whimpering son in the wooden cradle, Mrs. Qiu lifted her clothing to nurse him, while watching over her older child, all in hopes for a better future for her children.

Jinhua reluctantly protected her ’dishes,’ saying, "This isn’t mud; these are buns I made for Si Niang and Sanlang. He said he wanted to eat dumplings, so I made a few more. I’ll cook them for them when they get back from school."

This made everyone cry and laugh.

Mrs. Zhang, passing by the door, handed her a sieve, "Just place them here. I’ll help you cook later."

Jinhua responded loudly, "Okay!"

Happily placing her treasures into the sieve for her grandmother to keep, she then sat down obediently to practice her writing for her mother.

At night, Qin Yao stood at the entrance of the house and shouted, "Liu Dalang! Come home for dinner!"

The sound carried far, far away.

The four Da Lang siblings heard the call and immediately left Jinbao and Jinhua behind, running home.

Sanlang and Si Niang excitedly rushed to Qin Yao, offering her the freshly cooked buns and dumplings as she arrived.

Qin Yao looked down and saw small leaf-wrapped, grayish, limp pieces of clay in the tiny palm of a hand.

How should I put it... they really looked like poop.