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

Since there was no big basin, Xia Qingyue used two of the largest bowls to serve the pickled fish. The portion was very large, and this one dish was enough for her to eat.

She prepared a bowl of boiled fish without oil or salt for Heihei.

Dogs can't eat too much salt.

Night fell quietly, and a candle was burning brightly on the dining table. On the table were two large bowls of steaming, fragrant, and delicious pickled fish, as well as a bowl of rice.

The pagoda mosquito coil under the table was emitting smoke, and a cool scent was floating in the air.

There was a whole piece of wood burning in the stove next to her, slowly boiling the water in the pot over a low fire. That was bath water, and she always boiled it in advance before dinner.

The firelight was warm yellow and the halo was hazy. Xia Qingyue enjoyed her dinner in such a beautiful and warm environment.

The fish meat is tender and tasty, and tastes spicy, sour and salty. The hot oil poured at the end is the finishing touch, which brings out the aroma of pepper, chili, minced garlic and chopped green onion.

She doesn't like fish fillets that have a strong smell of alcohol or pepper. The fish is river fish, and she tries to retain the original flavor as much as possible while removing the earthy smell.

The fried and boiled sauerkraut is still sour and crispy.

The fried fish bones are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, without any bones, and taste especially delicious.

Eating a delicious dinner leisurely while enjoying the night breeze is truly an enjoyment that heals the body and mind.

In my previous life, I was busy with work and ordered takeout for meals. Not only was it expensive, but it was also unhealthy. Unscrupulous merchants used gutter oil and blended oil to cook, and it was unknown whether the vegetables were washed or not. The meat was all frozen, and a lot of seasoning was added to cover up the stale taste of the ingredients.

On a work day, I hurriedly ate takeout at noon just to squeeze out more rest time. When I got home from get off work in the evening, I was so tired after a day's work that I didn't want to move at all, so I had dinner at a street stall or a small shop outside.

Over time, the body will be unable to bear the burden.

Xia Qingyue couldn't help but sigh when she thought of her life as a social animal in her previous life. She was not an ox or a horse, but she had to do as much work as oxen or horses, running around and toiling just to earn a few measly fees, and enduring humiliation in silence.

She looked around, and smiled happily as she saw that this secluded little home was becoming better and better and full of vitality thanks to her continuous efforts.

In fact, living alone in a tiankeng has many advantages, such as privacy, freedom and security. With advantages and disadvantages, of course.

After living here for so long, Xia Qingyue has summed up several more obvious shortcomings.

The last time I fainted due to a cold was one of the disadvantages. When living alone, it is quite difficult and dangerous to have a headache, fever, or feel uncomfortable, especially in ancient times when medical conditions were underdeveloped.

Also, no matter what she does, if there are more people, it may be done in a few minutes, but it takes her several days to do it alone, which is time-consuming and laborious.

The last point is loneliness and boredom. It's okay during the day. I reclaim land and farm, run all over the mountains, collect mountain products, hunt for medicine, go to the creek to catch crabs and shrimps. There are many interesting things. But at night, when it's late and quiet, my body and mind are empty and I start to think about all kinds of things.

For now, she feels okay and thinks she is not a chatterbox. Sometimes when she can't sleep at night, she will tell Heihei some interesting things about her life with her grandmother in her previous life.

Heihei is her playmate, best friend, and also her relative.

Most of the time, she lies on the bed thinking and summarizing her recent daily life. Being undisturbed and quiet is the state she likes.

On the contrary, for someone who likes to talk and cannot bear to be alone for a long time, living in a tiankeng is a tormenting and painful experience.

All in all, Xia Qingyue likes this kind of living environment very much. Nothing in the world is perfect. Most things are mixed with advantages and disadvantages. What she wants to do is to improve the disadvantages on the basis of the advantages.

Life is like this, with sweetness and bitterness, and many flavors. What’s important is to be healthy and happy!

With the candle, it was much more convenient. Before, she had to grope her way into the room in the dark and often tripped over things.

Tonight, she held up candles for light so that she could see clearly. She placed two candles in the corridor outside the room so that she could light them when she got up at night.

Whenever there was a gain or something happy happening that day, Xia Qingyue would fall asleep quickly and sleep well that night, and that night was no exception.

Xia Qingyue left some of the pickled fish from last night. In the morning, she kneaded some dough, made dough balls, cooked them with the soup, and threw in some watercress.

Whether she is cooking dumplings, noodles, dough balls or anything else, as long as there is a staple food, she likes to cook some vegetables into it.

The dough balls are small and absorb the flavor of the sauerkraut fish soup, making them chewy.

She ate the entire bowl in one gulp, drinking up all the thick soup.

In the morning, they dug holes as usual. After working for several hours, Xia Qingyue was exhausted. She was hungry and wanted to eat duck meat, but she couldn't bear to kill the duck she had raised.

She hadn't been to the reed marsh for a while, so she thought about going there in the afternoon. If she was lucky enough to catch a few chickens and ducks, she would raise a few more and also find a way to catch rabbits.

In addition to looking for mountain products when she goes out every day, she also uses some traces to find out which areas are active for animals, such as hares.

According to her observation, the forest in the middle reaches of the stream was lush with vegetation and there were many traces of rabbit activities. After a careful search, she found several rabbit holes in the lush grass.

She guessed that there were interconnected rabbit holes underground, which were the rabbits' hiding place.

Wild rabbits are good at hiding. In such remote mountains and forests, Xia Qingyue saw wild rabbits twice when passing by the forest in the middle reaches of the stream. They are very timid and will explode and run away as soon as they see people, disappearing without a trace in a moment.

In this case, it is very difficult to catch the rabbit alive.

After deciding on the hunting range, Xia Qingyue also thought of a capture plan. At noon, she quickly fried some scrambled eggs with deer ears and leeks, cooked some cassava rice, and ate them hastily.

I also had some fruit prickly ash after dinner.

She took all her equipment with her when she went out, but the large basket used to catch pheasants and ducks was in the way, so she hid it in a secluded place.

Just as Xia Qingyue was on her way to the middle reaches of the stream, Zhu Sanbao's family was walking towards them from all directions downstream. They walked under the tall trees, and everyone had a bitter look on their face.

"We've searched both upstream and downstream of this creek. We've been searching for such a long time, but why can't we find that dead girl?" Zhu Sanbao was filled with resentment.

Zhu Manfu pouted and said dissatisfiedly, "Yes, the sun is so strong every day that it makes people peel off their skin. Mother, sister, did you really see Xia Qingyue by the stream that day?"

He was fat and afraid of heat, so he was sweating profusely.

"My dear grandson, you have worked hard." Old Lady Zhu felt pity for him and picked up the palm-leaf fan she always carried with her to fan Zhu Manfu. She turned around and glared at Wu Chungui and her daughter, saying unhappily:

"Fu'er is right. Maybe you two remembered the wrong place? We have searched this area thoroughly. If Xia Qingyue and the others live nearby, how come we have been unable to find them?"

"It's definitely this side!" Zhu Manzhen said with certainty.

Wu Chungui said: "Mother, you won't remember the wrong place, didn't we see the mulberry tree a few days ago?

The fact that Xia Qingyue hasn't been found for such a long time can only mean that their shelter is very hidden and safe."