An orphan girl from a farming family: Everyday farming in the mountains during natural disasters

"Qingyue!"

The sudden voice interrupted Xia Qingyue's actions, and she looked up in surprise.

Ten feet away and diagonally below, stood a woman in her thirties or forties.

The woman stared at her, her eyes sparkling with joy.

After looking at it, Xia Qingyue recognized the woman in front of her who looked familiar to her.

This person's name is Chen Yuzhen. She was a neighbor of the original owner's family when they lived in Xiushui Village. In the past, the two families were close and often helped each other in times of crisis. They had the kind of relationship where they would visit each other every day.

When the original owner's family decided to move to the mountains, the original owner's parents found Chen Yuzhen and his wife to explain the situation. Of course, they did not say in detail where they moved to, but only gave a rough direction.

Chen Yuzhen walked up.

When going out, Xia Qingyue always dressed like a young boy for convenience. When she got closer, Chen Yuzhen saw her outfit and couldn't help but take a few more glances.

Heihei ran over and sniffed around Chen Yuzhen.

“Heihei!”

Having been recognized, Xia Qingyue smiled faintly: "Aunt."

"That's great!" Chen Yuzhen happily walked up to Xia Qingyue, shedding tears of joy and excitement. "After you moved to the mountain, Dasong came down twice in the first half of last year, and only met you today in the second half of the year. We were all worried that you might be in danger."

"Aunt, we are fine." Xia Qingyue laughed.

She didn't want to tell the original owner that her parents had passed away and she was the only one living in the mountains. She didn't dare to take the risk because she knew people were hiding their true feelings.

"Really? That's good, that's good!"

Chen Yuzhen happily put her arm around Xia Qingyue and asked them about how they were living in the mountains, whether they had enough to eat, and whether they were safe.

Xia Qingyue answered evasively. She saw Chen Yuzhen carrying a backpack.

"Auntie, you came all the way to the mountains to look for wild vegetables?"

Chen Yuzhen turned her head to take a look at the backpack, which contained some food that she wanted to give to Xia Qingyue.

The child is very sensible and I’m afraid he won’t accept it easily.

She rolled her eyes and continued speaking along with what Xia Qingyue said:

"Yes, all the wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain have been found, so we have to move to higher ground. Every household is having a hard time now, and they have to live off the mountain and wild vegetables. If they are lucky, they can have something to eat, but if they are unlucky, they may have nothing to eat after finishing the last meal.

The crops grown in the fields are not enough to pay taxes, and the lives of ordinary people like us are becoming increasingly difficult and there is no hope! "

Afraid that Xia Qingyue would feel burdened if she found out about the food she secretly gave her, Chen Yuzhen immediately added:

"We are lucky. We have three men who can go hunting in the mountains and earn money to supplement the family income."

In order to let Xia Qingyue know more about the situation outside, Chen Yuzhen told the story:

"Last night, a group of bandits attacked the village and stole our chickens, ducks, and food. The vegetable fields were not spared either. Anyone who resisted was killed by them. Several people died in our village.

Before dawn today, the head of the village and the villagers went to report to the officials. Instead of seeing the officials, they were driven away. I'm afraid this matter will not end well.

Alas, you live in the mountains and don’t know what’s going on outside. Recently, the relationship between the King of Xiang and the King of Yun has become strained because of some issues they couldn’t reach an agreement on. Two nights ago, soldiers went to the village to check the household registration from house to house.”

At this point, Chen Yuzhen looked around cautiously and said softly, "We all guessed that they were going to capture the men to go to war. Your uncle and I have already discussed it. We will clean up the house in the next two days and live in the mountains like you guys!"

"Ah?" Xia Qingyue was shocked by the successive news.

"Kang'er Sheng'er often goes up the mountain to chop wood. They say there is a nice cave over there, big enough for our family to live in. When we settle down in the mountain, it's not impossible to open up some wasteland to grow crops.

What we are worried about is that there are many ferocious beasts living in the deep mountains and forests. Also, if a fight really breaks out, the villagers will run to the mountains to survive. There are many people in the mountains, but there is only a little food. There are not caves everywhere, so food and living places will become popular. "

Chen Yuzhen had a worried look on her face. The Kang'er she mentioned was her eldest son Li Weikan and her younger son Li Weisheng.

Xia Qingyue knew that the direction Chen Yuzhen pointed out when she mentioned the cave was in the northwest of the tiankeng, and the two should be quite far apart.

"The mountains are high and the roads are long. Those people have nothing to eat or live in, so they can do anything." Chen Yuzhen's eyes showed deep worry. She suddenly remembered that it was too cruel for her to say this to a little girl like Xia Qingyue. She hurriedly smiled and changed the subject:

"Qingyue, when you go back, tell your parents to prepare more food."

"Thank you, aunt!"

It can be seen that Chen Yuzhen's persuasion and reminder were sincere. Xia Qingyue's eyes swept to the cassava that had just been dug out, "Aunt, these things can be eaten, but they are poisonous if eaten raw. As long as they are processed by soaking them in clean water and cooking them before eating, they will be non-toxic."

She explained the solution in detail.

Chen Yuzhen was shocked, "Can these really be eaten?"

She saw that there were many more on the hillside not far away.

"Yes, provided you remember what I just said!"

Xia Qingyue picked up a shovel and continued to dig cassava. Under her leadership, Chen Yuzhen also found some stones to dig.

In fact, Chen Yuzhen was looking for an opportunity to take out the food from the backpack and secretly put it into Xia Qingyue's bag of cassava.

After waiting for a while, she finally found an opportunity. When Xia Qingyue was digging cassava with her back to her, she quickly put the food in and covered it with a few cassavas.

After digging a sack and tying it to her backpack, Xia Qingyue filled two vegetable baskets and then stopped digging because there was too much for her to carry away.

"Aunt, I have to go back first."

Chen Yuzhen stopped what she was doing. She looked at Xia Qingyue's thin body carrying a backpack and holding something in her hands, and said hurriedly, "You have so much to carry and you want to walk on the mountain road. Do you want my help?"

"Thank you, Auntie. No, I'm used to walking. Please continue digging."

Seeing that Xia Qingyue really didn't need help, Chen Yuzhen smiled and said, "Okay, Qingyue, thank you, if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have known they were edible.

There are a lot of cassava here. I can’t dig them all. You can come and dig next time.”

"okay."

Chen Yuzhen watched Xia Qingyue leave.

On the way up the mountain back to the tiankeng, Xia Qingyue recalled what Chen Yuzhen said.

Considering the current situation, a war is very likely to break out. She has a hunch that in the near future, there will be more and more people on the mountain, and there will be more crises.

Xia Qingyue clenched her fists and looked at him with a sharp gaze, determined not to let anyone know the existence of the sinkhole.

In troubled times, hidden and safe tiankengs are like paradise, a place that everyone yearns for.

Next, she would stock up more mountain products and speed up the planting of crops and food. If the situation became urgent and she could not leave the cave, she would have to rely on these things to survive, otherwise she would starve to death.

We returned to the tiankeng early today, just in time for lunch.

Xia Qingyue rested for a while and marinated the meat and pig offal she had bought with salt.

For lunch, I cooked cassava rice, killed and cleaned the fish from yesterday, and fried them in lard until they were golden brown.

The chopstick-sized fish was fried until even the bones were crispy and had a particularly charred aroma.

The silver carp is not fried so deeply, so take one and make braised fish.

The braised fish was added with soy sauce and rice wine, which made it delicious and flavorful. Xia Qingyue ate a bowl and a half of rice with it and the fried fish.

After eating, I regained my strength.

Xia Qingyue took an hour's nap. When she woke up, the sun was shining brightly outside. She clapped her hands and said, "Good weather, good things to do!"

The goal for the afternoon was to water and plow the rice fields.

Before that, she remembered that the cassava she had dug in the morning was still in the sack, so she went to pour it out.

After pouring a little, something fell out: two shriveled, yellow and black chickens, four dried rabbits, and a small sack containing about five pounds of sweet potatoes.

"Where did these things come from?" she felt terrified.

After calming down and thinking about it, she could only think of one possibility: "My aunt gave it to me secretly!"

Under such circumstances, ordinary farmers had a hard time, but Chen Yuzhen gave her so much food.

No reward without merit. She looked at the dried chickens and rabbits, thinking that she would return them when she went down the mountain to dig cassava tomorrow.

The fields are some distance away from the water pond, and the terrain is uneven, so it is very hard to carry water back and forth.

Fortunately, the original owner's parents had considered this problem and prepared a solution.