Driven by the hype and the shared dream of finding wives, the group had been training with exceptional focus over the past few days. Time flew, and a week passed in the blink of an eye.
The corn was ready for harvest. With thorough preparations, the gathering went incredibly fast. Every stalk bore two ears of corn, leaving the harvesters beaming with joy—a stark contrast to the past, when the girls had gathered far smaller yields, often with only one ear per stalk, or sometimes none at all. This success made them take my planting methods very seriously; they immediately began selecting the largest kernels to save for next year’s seed. Even Xiu'er had her people sorting through the wheat to set aside the best grains for the next season. It was hard, though—every grain looked like it was worth keeping. After all, I had planted only the largest seeds, and the soil was exceptionally rich, never having been farmed before. It was also pest-free, likely because I had cleared the land with a massive fire. Even the wildlife had thinned out significantly.
I suspect the departure of the wild boars and other creatures was related to that fire. I must have been too thorough, scaring the local fauna away for a long time. Half a month passed in this busy rhythm. Everything was harvested, and we had stored away tens of thousands of pounds of seeds.
Chapter 40