Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 9 Warmth
After wiping their sweaty bodies with warm water in the evening, the three of them lay down under one blanket.

"This blanket is a bit warm; it will definitely keep you cozy in winter. Is it made of cotton?"

Li Hong really liked this clean cotton quilt; it smelled of cotton and fabric and didn't have much of an unpleasant odor.

Beijiwu was exhausted after a long day, having harvested at least ten acres of wheat. He lay on his bed, looking at the earthen wall window a meter and a half away, where he could see the moonlight streaming in through the cracks in the wood.

Arctic Martial closed his eyes, not wanting to speak.

Li Bing said softly, "Sister, he's asleep."

"Okay, go to sleep." Li Hong was also tired and quickly fell asleep.

Li Bing doesn't fall asleep so quickly. Looking at the moonlight and feeling the warmth of the man beside her, she felt particularly at ease.

It was the first time she had slept with a man who wasn't a family member, and she knew that this man was her man.

What a capable man!

Li Bing shrank down a bit, making sure her feet were always covered by the blankets.

The quilt won't let in any drafts, nor will it be so thin that it can't retain any warmth.

Kitada Village gets very cold at night, and even colder in winter.

Li Bing used to wear tattered quilts made of linen and straw as a child, or fur blankets made of sheepskin and rabbit skin through patchwork.

This place is close to the grasslands, and the surrounding Yinshan Mountains are lush and green. Because people often died here, there was no hunting for many years, so there are many animals.

Rabbits are often seen in the fields, but they're hard to catch.

When you're hungry, eat whatever's available; don't go looking for rabbits that are nowhere to be found.

If we really focused on catching them, we could easily wipe them out in no time.

You can survive here by farming and digging for wild vegetables, but you can't eat your fill every day.

We had to be very careful with our food rations at home, eating as little as possible, and sometimes we even had to shamelessly borrow food and freeload.

Li Bing has always wished to be able to eat his fill regularly, and even just a few more days of that.

The thick cotton quilt covering her and the warm body of the man beside her made Li Bing unable to resist moving even closer to him.

The three of them slept peacefully through the night.

I'm used to the sounds of mice squeaking, owls calling, or the calls of lynxes, insects, and wild birds, and I'm generally not woken up by them.

Early in the morning, a rooster from who-knows-who started crowing.

Before it was fully light, Beijiwu, Li Hong, and Li Bing got dressed.

They were wearing blue cloth clothes with side openings, the kind that old rural women wore.

Beijiwu determined that this era was not the era he knew. Its productivity and iron technology were all before the Song and Ming dynasties, but perhaps because it was close to the grasslands and mountains, it had all kinds of people.

The three began their busy day: Li Bing was in charge of starting the fire, Li Hong cooked, and Bei Jiwu went to fetch water.

The water needed had to be fetched from the stream near the village.

When the village was first established, it wasn't built wherever there was a flat area; instead, it was built in a place with rivers and streams.

The most worthwhile land to cultivate is definitely the land near a water source.

For mountain villages, wells are too difficult to obtain, and drinking water mainly relies on rivers.

Not all areas near rivers are suitable for farming; some places are rocky and lack soil, making it impossible to grow crops.

The farmland in the village had to extend along the direction of the river, so it was scattered here and there.

The rivers mostly flow from west to east, so the water at the west end of the village is cleaner.

After fetching the water himself, Beijiwu carried the two buckets home on a shoulder pole. On the way, he met the two daughters of the Zhang family, Zhang Xiulan and Zhang Xianglan, who were carrying an empty bucket on a wooden stick.

"Brother!" Zhang Xiulan and Zhang Xianglan greeted each other happily. The chance encounter in the early morning made them both happy.

Beijiwu didn't stop either, "I'm going back to eat first. I'll go to your field after I finish working at Old Li's house this morning."

"Okay!" After watching him easily carry the two buckets of water away, the two sisters also carried an empty bucket to the stream to fetch water.

For Beijiwu, carrying over 100 kilograms of water was a piece of cake, but the two sisters had to work together to carry 30 to 40 kilograms of water safely home.

Beijiwu went home for breakfast. In the morning, Li Hong cooked a pot of porridge and poured a full bowl for Beijiwu.

This kind of food, which even dogs wouldn't eat in the old world, is considered good now.

It doesn't matter what kind of food it is, as long as it fills you up.

Beijiwu first ate a mixed flour bun with some pickled vegetables.

Merchants from outside the county come to sell salt, and regularly someone will bring it back to the village.

The women in the village generally don't leave the village, but a small number of the men can go out to see the world because of their labor and the need to obtain resources.

Salt is not expensive, and ordinary families can afford it.

Beijiwu ate three mixed flour buns and drank two bowls of millet porridge with red dates.

The two girls were still holding half a bowl of rice porridge, not moving their chopsticks at all.

Seeing this, Beijiwu said, "Eat whatever you want, we'll make sure you're full. You should eat more so you won't get sick. Next time, I'll cook two more bowls of rice, twice as much as today."

Li Hong smiled.

"It's alright, I'm already full just hearing that. Now there are two more mouths to feed in the family, things are different from before, we have to be careful with our food."

Li Bing nodded, "We don't do any work, so we don't need to eat too much. Half a bowl is enough. We'll save the grain for winter."

Beijiwu has no shortage of food. "There's definitely enough to eat. I spent ten acres of wheat to buy the two of you. The remaining five acres of wheat will be enough for the three of us to eat for a year. I also have two acres of millet that I haven't harvested yet. Our family is a military household, so we're exempt from taxes for the past few years. We can just keep the rest for seeds."

"Once I clear a few acres of land this year, I'll definitely have enough to eat next year."

Li Hong and Li Bing looked at Beijiwu happily. Li Hong said, "Okay, then I'll make more at noon, and you should eat more too. You've been working hard, so I'll make you some flatbread after the wheat is ready."

Normally, we eat two meals a day, but these past few days, we've only been eating three meals a day while harvesting wheat. Every household is doing the same.

After finishing his meal, Beijiwu went outside to work in the fields.

The Li family of three was working in the field when they saw Empress Wu smiling obsequiously at her.

Li Niu called out, "Brother Wu, have you eaten yet?"

Arctic Martial glanced coldly at the family, then went straight to work on the unfinished tasks, completely ignoring the family of three.

Li Niu couldn't climb the social ladder, so he could only lower his head and awkwardly continue working. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, but he could only endure it.

Two of the four people cut the wheat, and the other two bundled it.

Around 11 o'clock, Beijiwu put down his sickle, but refused to take another step forward.

Arctic Warrior straightened his back, puffed out his chest, and shouted:

"You old fool, I've already finished harvesting ten acres of land for your family. The remaining wheat will be delivered to you within a month. Don't keep begging me. If I see you harassing my woman again, I'll beat your son!"

Several families were still working in the nearby fields. Soon, everyone in the village would know what had happened, and everyone would know that Old Man Li's two daughters had been bought by Beijiwu.

Old Man Li and Old Woman Li were red-faced and so angry that they wanted to hang themselves.

(End of this chapter)