An Ran had experienced Auditory hallucinations before, so she ignored it and continued chatting with her grandparents.
After lunch, she stretched out on the reclining chair beneath the courtyard tree. She had slept well the night before and was not tired, so she took out her phone to watch some television.
However, after opening the Video app, she searched for a long time but found nothing she wanted to watch. She had already seen the classic old movies several times and did not want to watch them again. In the end, she opened Douyin to watch some short videos instead.
She wondered whether the morning’s discussion of Grain Yield had influenced it, because everything she saw after opening the app was related to the topic. Then she noticed the date and understood. Seeing related information today was perfectly normal: it was the third anniversary of Grandpa Yuan’s death.
She still remembered how sad she felt when she learned the news several years ago. Everyone had been deeply grieved then.
We can eat our fill and no longer suffer from hunger because people like Grandpa Yuan worked so hard and made such great sacrifices.
【Grandpa Yuan Longping was born on September 7, 1930, in an age of war, turmoil, and Famine. He personally witnessed the suffering of countless people.
He once said, “A single grain of food can save a Nation, and it can also bring a Nation to its knees. During the Famine of the 1960s, people starved to death. Everyone went hungry.”
From then on, he made a silent wish: to ensure that the people of China could all eat their fill.
Grandpa Yuan’s parents were both intellectuals. Studying agriculture was not the best choice for him, but he chose it anyway and applied to study agriculture. After graduating, he began researching Rice.
He believed that solving the food problem required cultivating high-yield Grain Yield seeds, and Rice was a good choice.
One day, a special Rice plant caught Yuan Longping’s attention as he passed an experimental field. Its panicle was large and its grains plump. He planted its seeds, but the same plump Rice never appeared again.
However, Yuan Longping was not disappointed. He realized that the plant might be naturally occurring Hybrid Rice. Rice usually reproduces when its male flowers pollinate its own female flowers. If naturally occurring Hybrid Rice existed, then changing this Self-pollination process and crossbreeding two different Rice varieties could combine their superior genes and produce higher-yielding Rice.
This discovery set the direction of his research into Hybrid Rice. He believed that artificially cultivating Hybrid Rice would greatly increase the Yield per Mu. To achieve this, he had to overcome Rice’s Self-pollination.
Rice flowers at noon during the hottest part of summer. Under the blazing sun, he entered the rice field, which felt like a steamer, and examined the panicles through a magnifying glass, hoping to find a naturally occurring Male-sterile plant.
After persevering day after day, he found the first Male-sterile plant among 140,000 rice panicles, taking a crucial step toward his dream.
Over the next two years, he manually inspected several hundred thousand rice panicles, one plant at a time, and eventually found six Male-sterile plants.
To support his research, he used his own salary to fund cultivation experiments.
In 1968, the hybrid rice Yuan Longping had painstakingly cultivated for years was destroyed overnight. The damage was so extensive that it could not be restored.
Anger and despair swept through him, but he refused to give up. He kept searching and eventually found the five remaining seedlings in a well.
In early May 1970, the sterile-line seeds cultivated in the experimental field finally matured. Yuan Longping and his assistants used them in more than 3,000 hybrid rice combination experiments, but every one failed. After so many setbacks, however, each defeat only made Yuan Longping more determined.
At the end of 1970, he discovered a wild rice plant with an unusual form, known as wild abortive rice. After crossbreeding and cultivating it, he achieved a major breakthrough. Yet by the autumn harvest, the yield had not increased; instead, the amount of straw had risen by 70 percent. He did not argue with those who questioned him, but devoted himself even more intensely to research. In 1974, he cultivated “Nanyou No. 2,” whose Yield per Mu surpassed 600 kilograms—twice that of ordinary rice.
But he was still not satisfied. He wanted everyone not only to eat their fill, but also to have surplus grain.
Over the span of more than sixty years, rice Yield per Mu rose from an average of 400 kilograms in 1958 to 1,500 kilograms in 2020. Yuan Longping also shared Hybrid Rice technology with the world free of charge, helping hundreds of millions of people in China and around the world escape hunger.
“I have a dream called the ‘Dream of Resting in the Shade Beneath the Rice.’ Our rice will be as tall as sorghum, its panicles as long as brooms, and its grains as large as peanuts. I will be so happy as I look at it and sit beneath the rice panicles to enjoy the shade.” —Yuan Longping.
The dream had already come true.
“Sob, sob, Grandpa Yuan…”
“Elder Yuan has returned to Heaven to become an immortal.”
“It wasn’t easy! He failed so many times, yet kept persevering and refused to give up. That is how we have the prosperous life we enjoy today.”
“If Grandpa Yuan had applied for patents, he would have been the richest person in the world.”
“That is why he was a great man. We could never hope to match such a lofty character.”
“Thank you, Grandpa Yuan, for allowing us to eat our fill.”】
After finishing the introduction, An Ran’s eyes grew moist. She had never imagined the process would be so arduous. The destruction of the successful experiment alone made her feel utterly despairing just hearing about it!
The People of Ancient Times were crying as well. They envied the rice’s high Yield per Mu, but had not expected the process to be so arduous.
“There are so many particulars involved in farming?”
“Even the flowers have male and female parts?”
“I suppose so. Just like people, men and women must be together to have children. Flowers also need male and female parts to bloom and bear fruit. How did we never think of that before?”
“If you could think of that, you wouldn’t be farming here!”
“I never imagined that Male-sterile rice could be so useful! Should we go look for some too?”
“How would we find it? Do you know what a Male-sterile plant looks like? Besides, it took 140,000 plants to find one! Who knows how many years it would take us!”
“Those Scholars who went to school are amazing!”
“Hundreds of thousands of plants, inspected one by one—how long did that take? I’m deeply impressed!”
“I never thought Scholars would go into the fields too. It’s arduous. If it were me, I couldn’t endure that hardship.”
“Exactly. Once someone has studied, they should become an official. Who would return to the fields afterward?”
“Why don’t we have someone like that?” they said, envious and jealous.
Seeing the experimental results destroyed, the Common People cursed loudly. “Which wicked person did this? How vile! You accursed thing!”
“How could they be so wicked? I hope their children come into the world without an anus!”
“We should wish that they have no descendants!”
“How despairing it must have been, to have so many years of effort destroyed.”
“Fortunately, a few plants were still found. May Heaven protect us!”
“Exactly!”
Some poets and writers even composed poems and wrote articles to express their respect for Elder Yuan.
Qin Shi Huang watched the arduous research process and could not help admiring him. Yuan Longping had abandoned a life of wealth and honor to endure hardship, yet he refused to give up after repeated failures. That perseverance alone inspired awe in Qin Shi Huang. A person like that deserved the greatest honors.
Then he turned to the agricultural scientists beside him. “Did you all understand the processes mentioned on the Heavenly Screen? Can you research food seeds that will increase the Grain Yield?”
He had not understood it himself, but that did not matter. It was enough if someone under his command understood.
The agricultural scientists exchanged glances. To be honest, they had not understood it either. They dared not lie, so they answered honestly, then added, “However, we recorded everything. Certain parts inspired us, and now that we have a successful example, we should be able to follow this direction in our research. It may take a long time.”
Qin Shi Huang nodded. “Do your utmost. If you encounter any difficulties, report them without hesitation. Whoever can increase the grain yield will receive a substantial reward from me!”
“Yes!”
In Northern Wei, Jia Sixie’s eyes shone as he wrote furiously. He recorded everything mentioned on the Heavenly Screen, including Hybridization, Self-pollination, and Male-sterile plant.
Then he sighed. “What a genius! And I cannot compare with Elder Yuan when it comes to perseverance. He is truly a model for us all.”
✦✦✦