The wicked mother-in-law doesn't try to whitewash herself; she only abuses her awful children.

It seems that scientific farming is necessary both in ancient and modern times.

Gu Dahan naturally saw the effects of that one acre of land.

He kept an eye on the fields every day, wishing he could stay there permanently.

Seeing the results, Gu Dahan immediately became energetic and disinfected the corn in other fields.

After walking around the fields, Tong Huaqiong stopped at her own field to watch Gu Dahan sterilize the soil.

Just then, Liu Yue'e's mother, Zhao, and Qin Qingyou's mother, Aunt Qin, were also busy working in their own fields.

When Zhao saw Tong Huaqiong, she greeted her, "In-law, haven't you been to the shop these past few days?"

Tong Huaqiong said, "I've come to check on the corn's growth. Are you weeding or what are you doing in the field?"

Zhao and Aunt Qin exchanged a glance and smiled.

No wonder people say Tong Dajiao isn't good at farming; they're not weeding at all, they're catching bollworms.

Every year, bollworms swarm over corn ears, damaging them. At harvest time, one-third of the corn ears per acre are hollow. It's truly a case of working hard all year but reaping a disappointing harvest.

Aunt Qin said, "We are catching bollworms."

Tong Huaqiong said in surprise, "How can we possibly catch all these tiny insects?"

There are countless insects crawling on those corn cobs. Even if you worked day and night, you probably wouldn't be able to catch them all.

Moreover, these pests have a strong reproductive capacity; if you catch one today, a new one will hatch tomorrow, and so on endlessly.

The cotton bollworm is one of the important factors contributing to corn ear rot.

If the insects are not completely eradicated, the ear rot disease will not be eliminated.

Zhao said, "Who says otherwise? But we have to catch them all, as many as we can. We can't just let them run rampant and ruin the whole acre of land."

Aunt Qin sighed from the side, "Sister Tong, you've never worked in the fields before, you don't know how tough this kind of land is."

At this moment, Zhao and Aunt Qin couldn't help but envy Tong Huaqiong's business acumen.

If they had the ability to do business like this, they wouldn't need to be tied to the fields, working from dawn till dusk.

Not only them, but everyone in the village is busy in the cornfields now, either manually sterilizing or manually removing pests.

Tong Huaqiong saw it all clearly.

Tong Huaqiong took out the kettle and pastries she had brought from home and invited Zhao Shi and Aunt Qin to sit down and rest on the edge of the field.

At this time, the autumn heat was at its peak, and Zhao and Aunt Qin had been busy in the cornfield for a long time, their throats were parched and burning.

Seeing Tong Huaqiong's warm welcome, he didn't stand on ceremony and put down his tools to sit on the edge of the field to drink water and eat pastries.

Just then, a breeze blew in, and Zhao Shi and Aunt Qin felt so comfortable that they almost dozed off.

When Tong Huaqiong, Zhao Shi, and Aunt Qin saw Gu Dahan spraying pesticide in the Gu family's cornfield, they asked Tong Huaqiong curiously, "The corn is almost ripe, what is Dahan doing? Why is he spraying pesticide?"

In the minds of farmers in this era, topdressing and pesticide application are generally done during the seedling stage of corn, and rarely during the grain-filling stage, as it is generally believed that doing so will burn the corn and stop it from filling.

Tong Huaqiong felt there was no point in hiding anything from Zhao Shi and Aunt Qin. Their land was right next to hers, and if their cornfields weren't disinfected, it would ultimately affect her own.

Tong Huaqiong had originally planned to give them the disinfectant.

Tong Huaqiong said, "During the Great Cold, my family is removing bollworms and mold spots from the corn ears." Zhao Shi and Aunt Qin looked surprised.

Pesticides that cause bollworms and mold?

This was the first time they had ever heard of it.

Aunt Qin asked skeptically, "Is there really such a medicine? Where did you buy it during the Great Cold?"

Tong Huaqiong said to Aunt Qin, "Jingzhe from my family saw it in an agricultural book. He told me about it, so I mixed some myself. You know I don't work in the fields much, so Dahan didn't dare to try it too much. I forced him to try it on one acre of land at the foot of Xishan Mountain first. He found that the bollworms had decreased and the mold on the corn ears had also decreased. Only then did Dahan decide to apply it to all the land."

"If you don't believe me, go and see the land at the foot of West Mountain in my village."

Suddenly, Zhao had a thought. She remembered that her wheat leaves had turned yellow during the grain-filling stage. It was her mother-in-law who had sent Gu Dashu a fertilizer she had never seen before. Once applied, the wheat turned green again.

The reason our wheat yield was higher than in previous years was largely thanks to the fertilizer provided by my mother-in-law.

Could it be that the pesticides Gu Dahan is currently spraying can really get rid of bollworms and mold spots on cotton ears?

That would be wonderful; we could harvest at least a hundred more pounds of our own corn.

Zhao said, "My dear in-law, I trust you. I would be so grateful if this prescription could be used for our household expenses."

Tong Huaqiong smiled and said, "My dear in-laws, Sister-in-law Qin, the reason I came to the field to talk to you is because I wanted to let you try this medicine. I didn't dare to give it to you directly, for fear that you wouldn't dare to use it. That's why I told you that my family has already used it. If you still don't believe me, just wait until the Great Cold arrives and the land bordering yours is used up. After a few days, you can see the effect and then decide whether to use it or not."

When dealing with people outside the Gu family, Tong Huaqiong has to lie on the spot.

Gu Jingzhe's name is quite useful, after all, it's normal for a genius boy from Qinghewan to learn agricultural knowledge that others don't understand from books.

Zhao and Aunt Qin had no doubt about this.

Because of her experience with wheat, Zhao didn't hesitate at all and said directly, "Mother-in-law, I'm so happy you gave me the antibacterial medicine, what am I waiting for? If you give it to me today, I can use it today."

Aunt Qin hesitated a bit, because she didn't have much land and was hesitant to use it.

But thinking about it, Tong Huaqiong wouldn't harm anyone. Her own son and daughter-in-law have been helped to make money by Tong Huaqiong. Now that Tong Huaqiong has antibacterial and insecticidal medicine, the first person she would think of is her own family. How could she still doubt it? She's too ungrateful.

Or we could try it on one acre first.

If the effect is really that good, it's not too late to kill all the land again.

Aunt Qin smiled and said, "Sister Tong, I'm willing to give it a try too."

Tong Huaqiong said with a smile, "You should go to the foot of Xishan Mountain and see the situation of my land before deciding. Dahan is spraying pesticides in the fields now, so you can see how he sprays them and see if the bollworms can be killed. If you really need to use pesticides, just come to my house to get them."

Zhao and Aunt Qin didn't stand on ceremony with Tong Huaqiong and said, "Alright."

At this moment, Gu Dahan arrived at the edge of the field carrying a medicine bucket.

When Zhao saw that Gu Dahan had wrapped his mouthpiece in layers of cloth and gauze, she laughed and teased, "Other young wives wrap themselves up like this to avoid getting tanned when they go to the fields. Is Dahan also afraid of getting tanned?"

Gu Dahan removed the medicine tank and said, "My mother was worried that the medicine would go into my stomach through my mouth and nose when it was sprayed, so she made me cover my mouth and nose."

Zhao and Aunt Qin were impressed by Tong Huaqiong's thoughtfulness.

Taking the opportunity, Tong Huaqiong said, "Sisters-in-law, it would be good if you sprayed the pesticide like this in the future. When I was doing business in town, I heard that someone near my mother's house was poisoned after ingesting the pesticide."

Hearing this, Zhao and Aunt Qin dared not take it lightly and decided to cover their mouths and noses when spraying pesticides in their own fields. (End of Chapter)