A Great Harvest

Autumn arrived.

The leaves in the forest turned yellow, and the pasture grass in the fields withered.

In the farmland, golden waves of wheat rolled like ocean waves under the gentle breeze.

The heavy wheat ears pressed the stalks down, almost unable to lift their heads.

Passing by this farmland and seeing the golden wheat field with its full, round grains, each stalk bearing thirty to forty kernels, none of the farmers from Rose Town could help but have their eyes drawn to it.

Gradually, harvest time was approaching, and more and more farmers gathered around to discuss this farmland. The lively discussions even reached the ears of the lord, Baron Connor. The lord, accompanied by his family and several knights, came to the edge of the farmland and looked at the scene in disbelief.

"Oh God, the yield of these plots must be at least 10 Taren (1 Taren ≈ 20kg)! There must have been some miracle on this land. Only the power of God could make this land grow so many wheat ears!"

A noblewoman wearing a cloak and a belted long dress, with a voluminous skirt supported by a large hoop, revealing her fair chest, exclaimed, covering her mouth.

"Mama, Butler Brunode said that this land might also have been cursed with black magic by a witch. Only a witch's black magic could make land that has never grown so much grain suddenly produce so much. So these grains are the devil's fruit and must be burned!"

A five or six-year-old boy with many small freckles on his face, standing next to the noblewoman, said loudly.

"Is that so, Brunode?" the noblewoman asked the butler with a look of doubt.

The short, stout butler, Brunode, bowed his waist and said with a fawning expression, "Respected Madam Madeline, I believe that is the case. This land hasn't grown so much grain in twenty years. Moreover, I heard that Clever Little Ryan, who planted this land, is only a six-year-old child. How could he do something that even adults cannot? Also, some time ago, Clever Little Ryan did many strange and absurd things in town. He actually collected all that dirty and smelly manure and took it to his home. The people in town suspect that it must be a witch who secretly used black magic to bewitch Clever Little Ryan!"

Brunode concluded with certainty.

"Is that so? Oh God, I didn't expect those evil witches wouldn't even spare a six-year-old child," Madam Madeline said, covering her chest with a look of fear and worry.

"Kyle, go bring Clever Little Ryan here. I have something to ask him," Baron Connor said to a blond knight beside him, realizing the seriousness of the matter.

"Yes, my lord."

Soon, Zhou Ming, looking bewildered and with "fear" in his eyes, was brought before Baron Connor by the knight.

"Clever Little Ryan, speak! Were these wheat fields you planted cursed with black magic by a witch? Have you been secretly controlled by a witch?" Baron Connor asked with a stern face.

Zhou Ming trembled and prostrated himself on the ground, constantly kowtowing and saying, "No, my lord, no, my lord! No witch cast black magic on me. I found a way to grow this wheat myself."

"You dare to lie in front of me? Tell me, who is the witch controlling you!" A hint of ferocity flashed across Baron Connor's face, and his right hand was already on the hilt of his sword.

"My dear, Clever Little Ryan is just a child. Don't scare him like that."

As a mother of three children, Madam Madeline, radiating maternal warmth, advised her husband. She slightly squatted down, pulled Zhou Ming up, took out a handkerchief to wipe the tears from the corners of his eyes, and said with a kind and gentle expression, "Clever Little Ryan, tell me, how did you grow this wheat field?"

Only then did Zhou Ming stop crying and explained, truthfully and in detail, the whole process of how he grew this wheat field.

"Cow dung?"

"Are you saying that after using cow dung on this land, the wheat grew like this?"

"Impossible, Clever Little Ryan is lying! No matter how potent cow dung is, one mu of land cannot produce four mu's worth of grain." Butler Brunode flatly denied it.

"It's true! I saw that in many places with cow dung, the grass nearby grew very tall and dense. So I thought: if I put this cow dung in the wheat field, would the wheat also grow as tall and dense as that grass? So I collected all the cow dung and sheep dung, broke it up a bit, and applied a little under each wheat seedling. Didn't the wheat also grow tall and dense this way?"

The people around listened to Zhou Ming's explanation and nodded. This explanation seemed to make some sense.

Several knights also searched the nearby grassland and indeed found the presence of cow dung or other animal droppings, more or less, in many overgrown areas.

"Clever Little Ryan!"

Madam Madeline picked up Zhou Ming and kissed him several times on the cheek. The freckled little boy of five or six years old standing nearby pouted and let out a heavy snort.

"Although what you said makes some sense, whether cow dung is useful or not still needs to be tested in the fields. If it's not useful, Little Ryan, do you know the consequences?"

Baron Connor actually already believed what the six-year-old boy said, but looking at this boy who seemed a bit too clever, Baron Connor felt a strange sensation in his heart. He always felt that this boy was different from everyone else in the territory, and he didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Thank you, Baron! Thank you, Baron!"

Knowing that he had been let off the hook, Zhou Ming immediately kowtowed repeatedly in gratitude... and also let out a long sigh of relief in his heart. This hurdle was finally over.

Soon, with the "enthusiastic help" of many townspeople, Zhou Ming's six mu of wheat fields were completely harvested, threshed, and bagged in just half a day.

When weighed on the scales, there were gasps of surprise. The six mu of wheat fields yielded a full 70 taren of grain, four times the yield of ordinary wheat fields!

Zhou Ming was quite satisfied in his heart: "The land in this world is not as barren as I imagined. I just slightly improved the planting method and applied a little more fertilizer, and the yield per mu can reach over 460 jin. The potential for yield increase is still very large. Farming in this world is definitely very promising!"

However, Zhou Ming also knew that a common man is innocent but his wealth makes him guilty. The lords in this world were not good people. It was fine to farm well as long as it didn't infringe upon their fundamental interests. If it did, and made them think of eliminating him as a "threat," then changing strategy and figuring out how to survive would become the top priority.

Right now, he was farming a few mu of good land mainly to solve the problem of food and clothing, and also to test the waters.

Of the 70 taren of barley, after handing over 42 taren to Tax Officer Dilak, the remaining 28 taren of barley belonged to him. Zhou Ming asked a few kind neighbors to help transport it to his house. Looking at the granary full of enough food for himself and his sister for a year, he felt much more at ease.

Not two days later, Madam Madeline of the lord's castle, hearing that Zhou Ming's family only had him and a three-year-old sister left, shed a few sympathetic tears and sent a large bag of flour and a piece of smoked meat over... While there was certainly some sympathy involved, it was also a small reward that Baron Connor tacitly allowed after Zhou Ming discovered the secret of increasing yield with cow dung.

Soon after, more people in the town started picking up cow dung, and even began digging manure pits by their doors, just like Zhou Ming's family.

As for the nickname "Shit Ryan" that the little kids called him, it had now changed to "Clever Little Ryan"