After finishing breakfast, Bai Yiling said to Cheng Xiaofan, "Xiaofan, the rice planted on the mountain has begun to sprout and flower. Will the cold weather affect the flowering?"
Cheng Xiaofan heard this and said, "These rice plants are growing fast! They've already started to sprout and flower in such a short time. That's great!"
"I'll go up the mountain to take a look later. It shouldn't be a problem."
Just as Bai Yiling, Shen Ruobing, and Tang Xiuwan were rushing off to work, Cheng Xiaofan got on his motorcycle and headed towards Nanshan.
Upon reaching the foot of Nanshan, he saw that the green rice paddies covering the mountainside had indeed sprouted.
The delicate rice flowers, like fine snow, covered the ears of rice.
A thick fragrance of rice flowers filled the air.
"Xiaofan, you're here!" At this moment, Luo Changsheng called out to Cheng Xiaofan from a distance.
Cheng Xiaofan looked in the direction of the voice and saw Luo Changsheng sitting on the stone steps leading up the mountain, smoking a cigarette and surveying the rice paddies.
He immediately ran over and said with a smile, "Grandpa Luo, with such cold weather, why did you rush here so early in the morning?"
Luo Changsheng sighed and said, "I watched the weather forecast last night. There's a big snow expected tomorrow afternoon. The rice is in its flowering stage. If the snow flattens these plants, all our hard work will be in vain, and we won't get any harvest!"
Cheng Xiaofan smiled and said, "Grandpa Luo, you're worrying for nothing."
"The rice I cultivated won't be flattened by accumulated snow. Its pressure resistance is very strong. Also, I've paid attention to the sprouting ears; the pollination and fertilization process during the flowering period will be completed this morning."
"Furthermore, this rice contains certain spiritual substances. Heavy snow won't be able to harm it at all."
Hearing this, Luo Changsheng's face lit up with joy. "Xiaofan, hearing you say that puts my mind at ease, Grandpa!"
"I hope we can harvest this rice before the New Year, so everyone in the village can have a good taste of the new variety of rice you've cultivated!"
Cheng Xiaofan smiled and said, "Grandpa Luo, don't worry, that definitely won't be a problem."
Luo Changsheng said with a beaming smile, "Xiaofan, since you returned to the village, how long has it been? The village has undergone earth-shattering changes, both inside and out. This is something we never even dared to dream of in the past!"
"Now, with the assistance of Yiling and Tang Xiuwan, Mei Xueyun intends to build our Zhuxi Village into a world-renowned food paradise, attracting people from all over the world to taste our cuisine!"
"You young people today are truly bold in your thinking and actions!"
Cheng Xiaofan chuckled and said, "Grandpa Luo, I think the idea of making our Zhuxi Village a world-renowned food paradise is excellent!"
"Because our Zhuxi Village has the capability to bear the title of a food paradise!"
Luo Changsheng nodded and said with a smile, "Now, almost no one in the village is idle. Everyone is working in the village company."
"I was happy to hear you say that the heavy snow won't harm the rice. But then I thought about the big harvest at the end of the year, and harvesting rice on the mountain will be another troublesome task!"
Cheng Xiaofan heard this and smiled, "Grandpa Luo, you're worried that we won't be able to spare enough people from the village to harvest the rice on the mountain, right?"
"Don't worry, I've already considered this. I plan to have Po Tianying train a group of monkeys in the forest to handle all the rice harvesting and threshing."
Luo Changsheng's eyes widened at this. "Can monkeys do that?"
Cheng Xiaofan smiled and said, "They certainly can."
"Letting monkeys harvest and thresh rice using traditional methods will not only attract a large number of tourists to watch but also increase the income of our villagers."
Hearing this, Luo Changsheng slapped his thigh and burst into laughter. "Xiaofan, that's a great idea, a brilliant strategy!"
"Grandpa knows that if you thought of this idea, you can definitely make it happen!"
Cheng Xiaofan smiled and said, "Grandpa Luo, you haven't had breakfast yet, have you? Hurry back. I'll take another look around here!"
Luo Changsheng smiled and said, "Alright, Grandpa will be going back then!"
After Luo Changsheng left, Cheng Xiaofan called out to Po Tianying and told it about training the monkeys to harvest and thresh rice.
"Jee!"
Po Tianying immediately responded, "Master, Er Huang has been idle lately. I'll let them go train that group of monkeys in the forest!"
The so-called Er Huang were two spirit eagles that Cheng Xiaofan had asked Hu Yougen to raise for the tree-climbing chickens. He had asked Po Tianying to find them to protect the chickens from other beasts.
Since both spirit eagles were entirely yellow, Cheng Xiaofan named them Da Huang and Er Huang.
Cheng Xiaofan heard this and said, "Isn't Er Huang helping Hu Yougen guard the tree-climbing chickens? Can they get away?"
Po Tianying said, "Master, Er Huang has already taught the surrounding beasts a lesson. No beast dares to enter the territory where Hu Yougen free-ranges the tree-climbing chickens!"
Cheng Xiaofan asked, "But will the monkeys obey Er Huang's training?"
Po Tianying said, "Master, please don't worry. In these ten thousand mountains, there isn't a beast that doesn't know Er Huang is my subordinate. Those monkeys wouldn't dare not listen to them!"
Thinking about it, Po Tianying was originally a famous overlord in these ten thousand mountains, and its words were not exaggerated at all.
"Good, you leave this matter to Er Huang!" Cheng Xiaofan thought that he often had to go out and couldn't leave Po Tianying, so it was best to hand this task over to Er Huang.
"Jee—"
Po Tianying let out a long cry and flew away, busy finding Er Huang to assign the task.
Cheng Xiaofan arrived at the mountaintop, sat down cross-legged, and began to perform a ritual. Spiritual energy gathered from heaven and earth, converging above his head.
Then, he spread his hands and drew a circle. The spiritual energy gathered above his head immediately spread over the rice paddies on the mountain.
He pushed his hands outwards, and gentle breezes stirred the green rice paddies, creating waves.
With the support of the spiritual energy and the action of the wind, the rice plants in the flowering stage would immediately accelerate pollination and fertilization. Once fertilization was complete, the rice would rapidly fill with grains, forming solid kernels.
Generally, rice plants are particularly sensitive to temperature during the booting stage.
Both high temperatures and cold weather can cause the rice flowers to degenerate, leading to poor pollination and fertilization and an increase in empty grains.
However, the rice cultivated by Cheng Xiaofan himself would not exhibit such phenomena.
When he withdrew his hands, the rice paddies covering the mountain had completed the process of pollination and fertilization.
By tomorrow morning, these rice plants would rapidly complete grain filling and form solid kernels.
When the heavy snow fell, these rice plants, with the blessing of spiritual energy, would not suffer any damage at all.