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

This little bit of brown rice was only enough for her and Heihei to have a meal, so she gritted her teeth and only took out half.

She threw the rice into the pot and scooped half a bucket of water from the water tank and poured it in.

The water for drinking comes from the mountain spring water that flows down from the mountains in the pit. The water flows down and gathers in a deep pool at the bottom of the pit.

The mountain spring water is little and flows slowly, and has never filled the pool. When the weather is hot in the summer, the water level will drop, and you have to tie a rope to a wooden bucket and lower it down to draw water.

There were flints next to the stove. Xia Qingyue picked up two pieces and rubbed them together. The moment the sparks came out, she immediately put them on the pine needles and the fire was lit.

These things are trivial for her who grew up in the countryside.

I added a whole dry piece of firewood and the fire became big. Soon I could smell the fragrance of rice.

After it was cooked, Xia Qingyue divided the porridge into two portions, half a bowl for her and half a bowl for Heihei.

There was no time to wait for the porridge to cool down naturally, so she held the bowl of rice and sank it to the bottom. She could only see the white rice soup in the porridge. She blew on it and it was no longer so hot, so she took small bites of it.

After finishing half a bowl of porridge, to be honest, I didn’t feel full, but I felt much better with food in my stomach.

After eating, Xia Qingyue washed the pots and bowls and tidied up the kitchen. She was injured and exhausted, so she planned to go into the cave and lie down for a nap.

Before entering the cave, she looked back at the tiankeng. At this moment, the light turned orange-yellow, and the light inside the pit was not as bright as before.

The sun is about to set.

Xia Qingyue entered the cave. It was not dark yet, so she could see the scene inside clearly without a flashlight.

Once you enter, you will find the cave is quite spacious, about 30 square meters in size. There is a stone wall in the middle in front of you, with two small openings on the left and right.

On the left hand side is the cave where the original owner's parents slept. It is more than 20 square meters in size and has a bed with bedding neatly folded on it. Next to the bed is a two-story bedside cabinet. Further on, against the other side of the stone wall is a wardrobe. It is not big, about two meters long and one meter wide, and is also divided into two layers.

Ever since the original owner's mother passed away, the original owner missed his parents and rested in this cave.

Walk in from the small hole on the right, there is another world inside. After walking about two meters, there is an entrance. The stone wall facing the sun was chiseled with two square holes by the original owner's father, and framed with wooden windows. The windows are wide open, and faint light shines in.

There are some farm tools piled up in here, and it is used as a storage room. The area is about ten square meters.

After coming out and walking forward for more than ten meters, there is another hole, which is the room where the original owner used to live. The area is also more than 20 square meters, and the layout is similar to the original owner's parents' room. There are two windows, and the light is good.

Heihei followed Xia Qingyue in and saw her sleeping on the bed. Heihei lay quietly beside the bed, gradually felt sleepy, and fell asleep with her.

After waking up, Xia Qingyue felt a little chilly. It was still a little cold living in the cave in April.

She went to find a thin piece of clothing to put on. The clothes had not been washed for a while and had a faint musty smell. She was afraid of catching a cold, so she didn't care about anything else for the moment.

She fell asleep yesterday and didn't wake up during the night. She had a good rest and felt refreshed. The wound didn't hurt as much anymore.

After a night's sleep, I feel the urge to pee.

The toilet was located hundreds of meters away from the cave. It was a small house specially built with wood by the original owner's father.

After coming out of the toilet, her stomach started to growl, and Xia Qingyue started to have a headache about another thing, which was that there were no paper towels or sanitary napkins in ancient times.

She grimaced and sighed, "This is such a daunting challenge!"

Looking up at the top of the tiankeng, the sky was just getting light, and the time should be between five and six o'clock.

Xia Qingyue thought about having breakfast first and then going out of the tiankeng to find some food.

The food reminded her that the original owner's family had cleared land in the tiankeng and planted crops on the land, right under the tiankeng, where they could get sunlight and avoid being washed away by rain.

There are not many good places like this. A total of more than two acres of land has been cleared, mainly for growing vegetables.

The crack in the ground under the sinkhole was formed naturally by the rainwater falling to the ground over the years due to the original owner's family not moving in.

Later, the original owner and his family moved in. In order to prevent rainwater from falling and flooding the bottom of the pit, the original owner and his family widened and lengthened the crack in the ground into a canal. The low-lying terrain was connected to the outside of the sinkhole, and several openings covered with grass and trees were opened to allow water to flow out.

You can use water from the canal to wash vegetables or other dirt.

On both sides of the canal, the original owner's parents reclaimed more than two acres of paddy fields for growing rice. At this time, there was no water in them, and the soil was similar to that of vegetable fields.

When Xia Qingyue arrived at the vegetable field and saw with her own eyes, she realized how desolate the field was and how overgrown with weeds it was.

The land had been abandoned since the original owner's mother passed away, except that some of the sweet potatoes planted last autumn were still left in the ground. Now that the weather has warmed up in spring, sweet potato leaves can be seen sprouting in the field.

"This land must also be renovated quickly to grow crops."

She remembered there were some seeds in the utility room.

These things can be left for later. What is most important right now is to fill your stomach and heal your injuries. Only when you are in good health will you have the energy to do things.

Like last night, Xia Qingyue cooked the remaining brown rice, and she, Heihei and the dog each had half a bowl.

After eating, it was dawn.

Xia Qingyue boiled a large pot of hot water, rinsed all the bowls, chopsticks and kitchen utensils with boiling water twice, soaked them for a while, and finally took them to a place where they could be exposed to the sun.

After finishing, she went to the utility room and got a backpack, two vegetable baskets and a sickle.

Iron products were very expensive in ancient times, and the original owner's family only had an iron knife, a sickle, a hoe, an axe, and a pair of scissors.

After packing up her belongings, Xia Qingyue called out to Heihei, and the man and the dog headed towards the entrance of the tiankeng. It was a cave that could only accommodate one person, and it was very hidden, covered with grass and vines.

The entrance to the cave was specially dug out by the original owner's father.

Their family originally lived in a village at the foot of the mountain. The original owner's father was a hunter and often took Heihei to the mountain to hunt. By chance, Heihei chased a wild rabbit to the outskirts of the sinkhole.

The hare drilled a small hole and slipped into the mountain pit. Heihei kept barking at it and refused to leave no matter how the original owner's father pulled it. Heihei found it strange and after some research he finally found the small hole and vaguely saw that there was another world inside.

The inside and outside of the cave entrance were covered with sticky mud of a similar color to the stone walls. There was a handle on the door inside. Xia Qingyue pulled back and the door opened silently.

As soon as she came out, her face touched the dew-covered weeds, which felt slightly cool and tingling.

The outside door was not equipped with a handle to prevent others from noticing anything unusual. The door was simply left ajar and covered by the surrounding grass and trees, so no one would notice anything unusual even if they got close.

After checking that everything was OK, Xia Qingyue, led by Heihei, crawled out of the weeds and walked onto a relatively flat mountain road.

After four months, Heihei came out for the first time. He was obviously very happy, jumping around and wagging his tail wildly.

The original owner had lost the desire to live because both his parents had passed away, and he had not come out once this year.

Xia Qingyue sniffed the fresh air and found everything strange, but she did not forget the main purpose of coming out.

She planned to find some edible mushrooms, bamboo shoots and wild vegetables. It was spring now, so it was easy to find these things.

In the forest, the trees were uneven. Xia Qingyue found mushrooms in the soft and moist fallen leaves. There were scattered morels, porcini, and chanterelles. She picked all she saw.

The people of Dayuan did not dare to eat mushrooms like this one with dark color and strange appearance. They only dared to eat shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms and other mushrooms.

There are many wild animals in the deep mountains. There are mushrooms, but not many, as if they were eaten by some animals.