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

With the cooperation of the two, five chickens were killed, plucked and cleaned.

"Okay, I'll take care of the rest. Go wash up and go to bed. I'll make you some chicken soup and fry a chicken. Two dishes, how about that?"

"Okay, I'll go find some dry goods to serve as a side dish." Han Zhibai used warm water and tea dregs powder, repeatedly washing his hands clean.

He went to the utility room and found some dried mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and dried vegetables.

It's raining heavily, so it's not easy to go out to pick vegetables.

Xia Qingyue asked Han Zhibai to go back to the house and rest while she started to prepare dinner.

There are three chickens stewed in an iron pot in the front stove for two kids to eat.

The chicken soup is stewed in a clay pot in the back stove, with nothing added, keeping its original flavor.

After cooking for about half an hour, the chicken in the iron pot was cooked. She took it out and scooped two large bowls of chicken soup to cool. The two little ones smelled the meat and were so greedy that they surrounded her.

She used the empty front stove and placed an iron pan on it to stir-fry the chicken. Considering the patients, she cooked it in a lighter way and threw in some mushrooms as a side dish.

Dinner was ready. The two little ones were full and had their bellies exposed. They lay side by side in the nest in the room, with their legs up in the air and fell asleep.

The chicken was of good quality and tasted delicious when paired with mushrooms. Xia Qingyue ate a bowl of rice with the dish and finally drank a bowl of delicious chicken soup.

Han Zhibai also had a good appetite. After the two of them finished their meal, there was still half a bowl of fried chicken left.

After eating, she collected the dishes and prepared to wash them and clean the kitchen, but Han Zhibai stopped her.

"I'll do the rest of the work. You cooked the meal, which was very hard work."

"It's not hard, it's easy, and it's a small matter, so it's no big deal. You lie down, and I'll bring you some medicine and then apply the medicine."

Han Zhibai took the greasy dishes and chopsticks from her hand and said, "Small things add up, and if you do more of them, they won't be considered small anymore."

He insisted on washing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen.

Not to mention, she was very methodical and cleaned up every corner so well that she felt a little inferior to him.

She lit a fire to boil medicine and heated water for washing.

After the water was boiled, Han Zhibai went into the bathroom next to the kitchen to wash up. After he came out and drank the medicine, she applied medicine on the wound again and bandaged it.

Everything was ready, and Xia Qingyue wanted to leave to wash up.

Han Zhibai raised himself up slightly and called her, "Qingyue, I found a new set of clothes. You can try them on. They are on the bed in your room."

"it is good."

After washing up, Xia Qingyue wore loose clothes that dragged on the ground. She rolled up her trouser legs to avoid tripping. Before entering her room, she went to see Han Zhibai, who was asleep with his eyes closed.

That night.

The sound of rain continued. Xia Qingyue lay in bed unable to sleep, thinking about home.

Before going out in the morning, she prepared enough food and water for the poultry. She was not worried about anything else but the heavy rain and the water in the canal would overflow and flood the house.

After much thought, she decided to go back and renovate the canal, and the excavated soil would be just the right amount to block the pond.

Her bed-recognizing problem made her fall into a drowsy sleep in the second half of the night.

In the early morning, she shivered and woke up.

Heihei ran into her room at some point and fell asleep beside the bed.

Looking at Heihei, she pursed her lips and smiled, got out of bed, dressed neatly, and rolled up her long-sleeved shirt and trousers.

The door to the main room was closed, so I couldn't see clearly whether it was light outside, but the sound of the rain had become much quieter.

There was a light flickering in the kitchen connected to the utility room. She walked over and saw Han Zhibai was making breakfast and it was almost ready.

He kneaded the dough, and there was rolled out dough on the chopping board, cut into noodles of neither wide nor thin. In the iron pot was boiling the chicken soup that was not finished last night, bubbling and the aroma wafting in the air.

There were a few golden fried eggs in a bowl next to the stove.

"Qingyue, you're up. You can have breakfast soon." He put the noodles into the pot and stirred them with chopsticks.

She fetched some water and washed up, and Han Zhibai brought the cooked breakfast to the large table in the main room.

While having breakfast, by the light of the oil lamp, she saw that Han Zhibai looked much better today and his eyes were bright.

He knew she was anxious to go home. "After dinner, I'll take you out. It's raining lightly. Put on your raincoat and hat. Your wound won't get wet."

The thought of going home made her heart leap with joy.

After we finished eating and cleaned up, the sky was getting light and a drizzle was falling.

There were white mists in the distant mountains. She stood under the eaves and couldn't help but stare at them in amazement. "It's so beautiful."

"Qingyue, is this what you brought?" Han Zhibai was holding the basket of gifts that she brought yesterday.

She nodded and reached out to take it. The silver ingot inside swayed and rubbed against the basket, making a creaking sound.

“I’ll keep the other things, thank you, Qingyue, but I can’t take the money.

You took such good care of me, you are my savior, I should thank you."

Xia Qingyue glanced at the backpack he was carrying and saw chicken and rabbit hairs in it through the gaps. She immediately thought that he had caught those specifically for her.

The two of them kept sending gifts back and forth, which made her a little overwhelmed, so she simply said, "I won't give you money, and you don't give me chickens and rabbits. It's not like we won't have any contact in the future."

He looked at her quietly, and finally said the word "good" with a smile.

The two little ones also put on slightly smaller raincoats, followed them, opened the wooden door leading to the outside world, and walked into the woods.

Xia Qingyue looked around the forest curiously. Due to the weather, the forest was gloomy and eerie. After looking for a long time, she could not tell the difference between this place and an ordinary forest.

There are clusters of green plants growing on the slope in front, with purple flowers blooming, which is breathtakingly beautiful.

It is said that the more beautiful something is, the more poisonous it is. She remembered what Han Zhibai said yesterday and asked, "Is that flower poisonous?"

"Correct."

On the way back, Xia Qingyue also saw some wild fruits and flowers. They looked ordinary but actually contained poison. She learned a lot from seeing them.

Halfway through the walk, Han Zhibai stopped and pointed to a crooked tree and said:

"Qingyue, if you come to find me later, remember to stop here. If you go deeper, it will be a formation. Keep this and blow it. Xiaobai can hear it."

He picked up an object with a slightly odd shape, black color, and a faintly shiny surface. There were two tiny holes on its bottom and a thin cut on the cross section of the top.

It looked like a whistle, and she asked uncertainly, "You give this to me?"

Han Zhibai nodded, feeling nervous inside, wondering if she would refuse it.

After thinking about it, she decided to accept it, just in case.

Seeing this, he felt relieved, secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and a look of joy appeared between his brows.

Edge of dense forest.

She stopped and said, "Okay, don't send me off. Go back and take good care of your injuries. Don't do anything big in the short term."

"I have thick skin and will recover in two days. Don't worry about me. It may rain frequently recently. You should be more careful. It's better not to go down the mountain for the time being, okay?"

That was exactly what she meant. After being washed by rain, the mountains became moist and prone to landslides. Some places looked good on the surface, but in fact they were hollow and soft inside.

"We'll go down the mountain when it stops raining later."