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

Xia Qingyue first picked all the selfheal and put it in the backpack.

Perilla grows in clusters. She picked a few bunches and wanted to pry more with roots and soil when she came back in the evening to take back and plant.

It can not only be used as medicine, but also can be used for cooking.

It’s a pity that the snails are laying eggs at this time of year, otherwise we could eat the perilla snails with unique flavor.

I have to wait until I get back to dig up the yams, otherwise after digging them out, I have to carry them around and hide them somewhere, and I’m afraid others will find them and steal them.

She walked and walked for more than ten minutes, and then a familiar tree with a special fragrance came into her sight.

There are green fruits on the branches of the tree.

Gulp! Xia Qingyue swallowed her saliva and looked at the tree, her eyes sparkling. Wow, there are also some on the Litsea cubeba tree.

Litsea cubeba, also known as mountain pepper, is suitable for people with indigestion, stomach cold and abdominal pain. It is not suitable for people with excessive liver fire, yin deficiency and body heat.

It can be added with ginger and chili to make a delicious mountain pepper sauce, which is very delicious when eaten with rice.

The fruits of the mountain pepper can be dried when they are old and used as a seasoning for cooking, just like ginger, garlic and Sichuan peppercorns, to remove the fishy smell and enhance the flavor.

This thing is just like Houttuynia cordata. If you accept it, you will like it. Otherwise, you will avoid it.

Xia Qingyue belongs to the former. She quite likes the sauce made from mountain pepper, which is spicy and fragrant and especially appetizing.

She marked a nearby tree trunk and would pick more mountain pepper when she returned.

As she walked and stopped, she smelled the fragrance of flowers. Just as she was about to go over to take a look, she caught a glimpse of a few isatis roots not far away and picked some.

Following the scent, I found a patch of camellia trees growing on a slope. They were lush and green, and the trees were full of white, fragrant flowers.

The petals of the flowers are layered and gorgeous, just like a snow tower built in the ice and snow, sacred and inviolable.

Xia Qingyue was deeply attracted by the beautiful scenery in front of her. She walked forward and stroked a camellia with her fingers. It felt soft to the touch, and the scent became stronger as she got closer. It was not the kind that would make you dizzy and uncomfortable if you smelled it for a long time, but a refreshing fragrance.

She was just wondering what flowers to use to make a skin care cream, and this one is already available.

Also, they are so beautiful, and looking at them makes people feel happy and relaxed.

She wanted to dig some up and take them back to grow in the tiankeng. There were mostly green plants in the tiankeng, with a few small wild flowers, which looked a bit monotonous overall.

Without hesitation, she made up her mind to come back in two days to dig camellia flowers and plant them.

I don’t know whether this kind of camellia will bear fruit. If it does, it can be used to extract tea oil.

Camellia is a good thing. It can be used as medicine. It has the effects of stopping bleeding and reducing swelling, anti-inflammatory and coughing, and antiviral. It can be used for injuries, colds and coughs, and can also be used for beauty and skin care.

She was immersed in the dazzling and fragrant sea of ​​flowers. Heihei, who was lying beside her, suddenly stood up and rushed to the front a few meters away.

Seeing Heihei so alert, Xia Qingyue knew that either someone was approaching or a ferocious beast was coming. She looked cold, took out a slingshot and stones from her cloth bag, and was ready for battle.

"It smells so good, Dad, Mom, and Brother, I see a lot of white flowers over there."

A sweet female voice was heard, and the age of the voice sounded to be around fifteen or sixteen years old.

A family of four was walking over. They were chatting happily about seeing the sea of ​​flowers, but when they suddenly saw the dark Xia Qingyue, they were all stunned.

After seeing the slingshot in Xia Qingyue's hand and the posture of attacking, one of the older men hurriedly protected his relative and explained softly:

"Girl, we don't mean to disturb you. We came here because we were attracted by the scent of flowers. We were so happy to see so many flowers. We have no ill intentions."

Hiding behind the man, the pretty girl poked her head out with clear eyes, "Sister, did you also move from the village to the mountains with your family?"

Xia Qingyue slowly put down the slingshot, and the dagger in her sleeve quietly slid into her hand. Whenever the person opposite her made any unusual movement, she would take action.

There was a row of camellia flowers several meters long between my hands, so I was not afraid of them discovering my little action.

She blinked her eyes, looking innocent and harmless, "Are you from the village too?

Our village was robbed by mountain bandits. We lost our crops and couldn’t make a living. I had no choice but to move to the mountains with my family.”

After she said this, the family visibly relaxed.

"Yes, many people from our village have moved here, but I haven't seen your sister. You must be from another village, right?"

"Xiu Xiu!" The older man whispered to his daughter, as if he was worried that she would tell him all about her family's secrets in the next second.

Xia Qingyue wanted to take this opportunity to get some information from the outside world, so she continued, "We are from Xiushui Village. In addition to us, there are several other villagers who moved to the mountain with us.

Other villagers were reluctant to leave their homes and said they would wait and see, and only consider moving up if a war broke out.

We have lived in the mountains for almost half a month. We don’t know what the situation is like outside. I don’t know how my good friend’s family is doing.”

She lowered her eyes and sighed, her face full of sorrow.

Perhaps her words resonated with the family, and their faces were filled with an indelible sadness.

"Girl, we are from the neighboring village of Yingshui, and we moved to the mountain later than you did.

The night before yesterday, soldiers suddenly came to the village, searched for men from house to house, and arrested them all together.

The officers and soldiers said that Prince Yun and the deposed crown prince had come to attack our Xiangzhou, and there were not enough troops on the front line, so each family was asked to send males to join the battle. "Xiu Xiu Niang sobbed and choked as she spoke, raising her hand to wipe her tears with her sleeve.

His eyes were red and swollen, obviously he had been crying a lot recently.

Although she had guessed that the result might be bad and was mentally prepared, in order not to arouse suspicion, Xia Qingyue still showed a shocked and unacceptable expression.

Deep down, she secretly complained, my goodness, Xiangzhou is now like a sandwich, with Prince Yun and the deposed crown prince, and they both want to eat this big piece of cookie. In order to get it, there will inevitably be a bloody storm.

"Then how did you escape?" Xia Qingyue looked at the older man, Xiuxiu's father, and the young man beside him, Xiuxiu's brother.

Xiuxiu's father said in a low voice: "We live at the end of the village. I heard some noise in the middle of the night and ran to check what was going on. I learned that something was wrong and saw my neighbors running up the mountain. I hurried home to call my relatives and ran up the mountain."

After a pause, he looked at Xia Qingyue and said seriously, "Girl, there are quite a few people on the mountain now. It's dangerous for you to be alone outside. It's better to go out with your family in the future."

"Yes, sister, my parents said that it's very dangerous in the mountains now. We finally caught some fish yesterday, but they were snatched away by a few people in the village. They are all bad guys!"

Xiuxiu's cheeks puffed up and her whole face turned red with anger.

"You hurried up the mountain, so you probably didn't bring any food with you. There used to be some water chestnuts and some wild vegetables in that area. If you walk a little further, there is a stream with fish, shrimp, clams and mussels."