Although he had only spent a few days in the county town, when Li Long returned, he found that almost all the team's fields that had not been planted with winter wheat had already been sown. As soil moisture improved, the wheat had begun growing too. Patches of lush green dotted the fields, bringing life to the once-barren land.
Beside the roadside irrigation ditches, hardy reeds poked their pointed shoots out of the soil. Many children on their way to and from school broke off these tips to play with, using them as pens, darts, or stakes in bets. They soon tired of them, and those whose families kept livestock would gather them up and take them home for feed.
Li Qiang, for example, filled the spare space in his schoolbag with reed shoots on his way home from school, then tipped them out for Number 76 as an extra meal.
Meanwhile, Li Long dried watermelon seeds in the Big Courtyard. After a day in the sun, they would need another day of soaking before they could be planted. His new Big Courtyard did not yet have so much miscellaneous stuff in it. It was relatively level and spacious.
Several reed mats lay on the ground, with the watermelon seeds spread over them. The sun was not yet fierce at this time of year. Its warmth on the skin was far from unpleasant.
A breeze stirred, carrying the earthy scent of slightly damp soil. The wild grasses had not fully grown in yet, so strong winds could bring sandstorms, and even a light breeze stirred a little wind. In another month or two, once the grasses grew freely and covered the barren stretches, the wind would struggle to lift great clouds of dust.
That evening, he gathered up the watermelon