Chapter 261

Michael Stone didn't send David to fetch his father. Instead, he went personally to bring John Stone Sr. over.

"Dad, come take a look," Michael urged, his voice tinged with urgency.

John's eyes lit up when he saw the tender sprouts emerging from the rice seeds. Carefully cradling a handful, his fingers trembled slightly. "They've really germinated... We can plant these..."

"We'll start tomorrow!" John declared decisively. "But this isn't enough. We need to cultivate more seedlings."

Clutching the sprouted seeds, he hurried to the brigade office and called an emergency meeting with all the cadres.

"Look, last year's rice harvest has an excellent germination rate," John announced, placing the seeds on the table. "We're still short fifty pounds of rice seeds and a hundred pounds of corn seeds."

The room buzzed with excitement. In previous years, they'd had to spend money on new seeds because their saved seeds had such poor germination rates.

"Emily Johnson was in charge of the seedlings this time," John suddenly added.

"Emily?" Helen Carter, the women's director, widened her eyes in surprise. "She knows how to do this?"

"She's read many agricultural books," John explained. "I think we should let her continue overseeing this and credit her with work points."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

When Emily received the assignment, she sighed helplessly. She had no choice but to proceed, following the same steps to cultivate more seedlings.

Before she could finish, Richard Lopez, the brigade leader from the neighboring village, came knocking.

"Emily..." Richard rubbed his hands together, his face lined with worry. "We're short on seeds, and I heard you've found a solution..."

Meeting his hopeful gaze, Emily thought for a moment. "I can prepare a germination solution for you. It's something I developed through experimentation."

"Really?" Richard's eyes brightened. "That's wonderful!"

"This bottle can treat five hundred pounds of seeds," Emily handed him a small glass vial. "They should sprout in two or three days."

Just as Richard was about to thank her, Michael interjected, "Uncle Richard, this solution took a lot of effort to make. It'll cost ten dollars."

"Of course, of course!" Richard readily pulled out the money and left, cradling the vial like a treasure.

Once the breeding work was done, Emily could finally focus on her studies. Every day, she prepared practice questions for Michael. Olivia Parker and another educated youth often came by to copy test papers or ask for help.

Life seemed to settle into a peaceful rhythm.

Meanwhile, chaos erupted in the Johnson household back in the city.

After moving out, Victoria Johnson and her husband squeezed into a cramped rental apartment. Having grown accustomed to the spacious Johnson family home, the four of them now lived in just two rooms, making even private moments difficult.

What infuriated Victoria even more was that her husband's promotion had fallen through—another colleague had snatched the position.

"It's all your precious sister's fault!" Victoria hissed through gritted teeth. "If she had just helped, you wouldn't have lost out!"

She slammed a rag into the washbasin, sending water splashing everywhere.