Spring scenery in the fields

Ji Wenhe looked over and rinsed his mouth: "We won't sell the pheasants. We'll keep them for ourselves and cook them tonight."

"Okay, I'll listen to my sister-in-law."

Shen Wenshan put the pheasant outside and came back to deal with it in the afternoon.

After finishing their meal, they took their sickles and baskets, locked the door, and walked down the mountain.

When we arrived at the foot of the mountain, we saw Lan Qiuhua releasing chickens in the wasteland.

"Wen He, Wen Shan, where are you going? Are you going to find wild vegetables?"

Ji Wenhe took over the conversation: "Let's go cut thatch, find wild vegetables and dig bamboo shoots. Aunt Lan, do you want to go?"

Shen Wenshan dumped the chopped wild vegetables into the wasteland, let the chicks from the two families run around in the wasteland, and fed them together.

"Go, I'll go home and get the sickle and basket."

Having said that, she trotted back home.

The two walked slowly to her door, and soon someone came out.

"Let's go."

"Where's Xiaoya?"

"She was making knitting nets at home, and when she got tired she would go to play with her little sisters from the same village. Asking her to go out and look for wild vegetables was like asking her to die."

Ji Wenhe smiled and said, "You can make money by making nets, but there are many people looking for wild vegetables, so it's hard to find them."

During this period, the wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain have been almost all picked up, and few people from outside the village come in.

Lan Qiuhua carried the basket and put the sickle into it: "I don't expect her to go either. If she hurts her hands while digging wild vegetables, it will be difficult for her to weave the net."

Passing by a vegetable garden, I saw Zhang Qiu'e watering the fields and greeted her.

"Qiu'e, watering the plants."

When she raised her head and looked over, Ji Wenhe smiled faintly: "Aunt Zhang."

Zhang Qiu'e straightened up and said, "Go outside the mountain and look for wild vegetables."

"Yes, go take a look outside the mountain. You are busy, we will leave first."

She nodded.

When he reached the entrance of the village, a man came towards him and Shen Wenshan called him "Uncle Zhan Guo".

Shen Zhanguo, Zhou Xiaoyu's husband, is a lazy man.

It can be seen that he doesn't go out often. He has white skin, is thin, and looks a little sick.

Lan Qiuhua looked at the visitor with a smile: "Zhan Guo, it's a relief to see you go out."

"Why are you leaving the village so early in the morning? Your wife is watering the fields, and you don't even go and help her."

Shen Zhanguo is one year younger than her.

"I don't need to interfere with the housework. My wife is very capable. Where are you going?"

He looked at Ji Wenhe beside him.

"Uncle Zhan Guo."

"You...you are Rongshan's wife, right?"

I saw her from a distance when I entered the village, but I can't quite remember what she looked like at the time, so I didn't recognize her when I saw her.

Lan Qiuhua took over the conversation: "Yes, you stay at home all day and don't go out. You don't see her often. The village head Liuyun got married yesterday, why didn't you go?"

Logically speaking, he should go. In the past, he was the one who went whenever there was a banquet in the village.

Shen Zhanguo brushed off the non-existent dust on his clothes and said, "My father and mother have taken them back to the boat. If I go again, I'm afraid of what others will say."

"Oh, you are so shameless, and you are still afraid of what others will say."

If he was really afraid of what others would say, he wouldn't lie at home every day, doing nothing, and just waiting for everything to be provided for him.

"Okay, hurry up and go. If you're too late, the wild vegetables will be dug up by others."

After saying that, he put his hands behind his back, hummed a tune, and walked slowly into the village.

Lan Qiuhua glanced behind him and said, "Let's go, Wen He."

"Aunt Lan, I think among the men in our village, Uncle Zhan Guo is the only one with fair skin."

The whiteness of her face made her envious. She touched her own face, wondering when she would be able to become white again.

"He lies at home every day, never goes out in winter, and even less in hot summer. He never comes out to help with farm work. How can he not be in vain?"

Ji Wenhe asked, "Is Huizhou her youngest son? I don't think I saw Aunt Feng bringing her grandson with her during the banquet."

"He sat at the same table with his grandfather. He also has a daughter named Shen Zhuyue."

"The daughters of your aunt Li and aunt Zhou are good at embroidery."

Shen Zhuyue seldom goes out and embroiders at home.

Ji Wenhe nodded, she had heard her mention it.

The two of them went out of the mountain, but Shen Wenshan had already gone far away.

Lan Qiuhua looked at her sideways and said, "Why did your family suddenly think of building a shed? I heard from Xiaoya that the shed was quite large and covered the entire yard."

“No, I left an open space for drying quilts and other things.

When it rains, the yard is hard to walk in. It’s all muddy and you’ll slip if you’re not careful.”

“So I thought about building a shed in the yard so that we can go in and out without getting wet in the rain. The space is big, and we can also put some things outside.”

"That's true, but you live in the mountains, so you'd better not leave some things outside, as outsiders may come into the village."

"We don't know what kind of person he is. If something is lost at home, it will be difficult to find it."

There are so many people from other villages that even if there are marks on the farm tools, people will remove the marks and carve their own marks.

Ji Wenhe nodded: "Yes, I understand Aunt Lan."

At this time, Shen Wenshan waved at them from the front: "Sister-in-law, Aunt Lan, come quickly."

There is a small river in front, surrounded by weeds.

When the two walked over, he pointed down and said, "There's water celery there."

Ji Wenhe stretched his head and looked down: "Where is it? Why can't I see it?"

"It's blocked by weeds. It's just on the edge." Shen Wenshan walked down slowly with a sickle.

"Slow down."

The river bank is slippery and you can easily fall in if you are not careful.

"I saw it." Lan Qiuhua stood on a stone nearby. "Stir-fried water celery with meat is delicious. I've eaten it at a banquet before."

"Sister-in-law, look." He pushed aside the weeds.

Ji Wenhe looked at it and found it a bit like the celery she had eaten in her previous life, but also a bit different.

Just as she was about to go down, Shen Wenshan stopped her and said, "Sister-in-law, don't come down. Your shoes and clothes will get wet."

He took off his shoes, rolled up his trouser legs, and went down barefoot.

"Then be careful, we'll look for some wild vegetables up there."

Lan Qiuhua had already dug up some wild vegetables not far away.

Ji Wenhe walked over, lowered his head to look for wild vegetables, and asked, "Do many people eat water celery?"

"A lot. As long as it's edible, who cares if it's bitter or astringent, or if it smells pungent? What matters most is that it fills your stomach."

"In a famine year, let alone wild vegetables, even tree bark is eaten."

She suddenly felt fortunate that it was not a famine when she traveled through time, otherwise she might have starved to death.

"By the way, Aunt Lan, I noticed there are no elderly people in the village."

Ji Wenhe always felt that there was something strange in the village, but he just couldn't figure out what was strange.

Hearing her talk about chewing tree bark, I suddenly remembered that there are no elderly people over 60 in the village.

Lan Qiuhua sighed: "Many people died during the famine. The elderly didn't have enough to eat. If this continued for a long time, their bodies couldn't bear it and they died early."

"It's not just in our village, it's the same in other villages. Very few people can live to be 70 years old. If they are over 60, they are considered centenarians."