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

Xia Qingyue turned sideways and pointed in a direction.

Even if she didn't say it, Xiuxiu's family would come looking for her, so why not do them a favor.

"Thank you so much, girl."

The family was very grateful for this and sincerely thanked Xia Qingyue.

After watching the family leave, Xia Qingyue looked at the camellia with nostalgia.

My little darlings, wait for me to come back and take you home.

She continued walking forward and picked two wild peppers along the way. They were the same yellow chili peppers that she used to make pickled chicken feet in her previous life. They were hidden in the grass and could not be seen without careful observation.

The chili peppers have grown out, with small ones hanging on the branches. She is so happy to see them that she takes them home and plants them in the field for seeds, so that she will have a lot of chili peppers next year.

When we got to the middle of the stream, we saw several good locations suitable for placing fish cages.

Having been catching river shrimps in the upper reaches, Xia Qingyue had no idea what the situation was like in the middle reaches. She went over with the fish cage in her hand and stepped into the stream, feeling warm.

Looking at the stream, she was suddenly stunned.

The water in the stream seemed to have become shallower. It used to reach just below the knees, but now it was just above the calves.

There is a scorching sun overhead, and the light feels a little hot on the back of my hands. The temperature has been around 35 degrees recently, and it hasn't rained for a long time.

She raised her head slightly, the straw hat on her head shielding the light from her face, and prayed sincerely, "Please let it rain soon, and stop the drought."

She placed the fish cages in several places and blocked them with big stones. She lifted a few stones and caught six crabs and a dozen river shrimps, some big and some small.

She threw what she caught into the wooden barrel. She continued catching for a while. Her waist felt sore from bending, so she straightened up, twisted her neck, and raised her hands.

Hua Hua Hua——

Heihei was having a blast playing in the stream below her, panting with his mouth open.

When the weather is hot, whenever Heihei goes out and passes by a stream, he will run into the water and roll around a few times, or play for a while.

Xia Qingyue just let it go. Heihei followed her around everywhere every day, so it was inevitable that he would get dirty. It would be better to wash it.

"Heihei, you stay here and watch over the fish cage. I'll go to the shore and take a look."

She put on the backpack, picked up the shovel and walked away.

On the bank near the stream, there were clusters of plants with triangular leaves. At first glance, she thought she was lucky to find so many yams. But when she got closer, she realized that they were not yams.

Instead, it is a plant that looks similar to yam, called ginseng potato. Because its fruit looks like a big foot, it is also called foot potato.

The potato can be fried, cooked into soup, or made into dessert syrup, with a soft and glutinous texture.

"Wow, there are so many potato chips!"

After digging all this, she felt that she could fill the cellar to two-thirds of its capacity, and the remaining one-third would be enough to find some yam, cassava, etc.

She squatted down, picked up a shovel and started digging.

The shovel was too small after all, so it was difficult to dig with ease. By noon, she had filled a full basket, and her hands were sore and weak.

Exhaling tiredly, she waved her hand, "You have to bring a hoe and dig in the afternoon!"

Her stomach growling with hunger, she went to collect the fish cage, thinking that she had left it there for a short time and might not have caught anything.

But when she lifted it up, she found it was heavy. She looked inside and saw there were big fish in the cage, about four or five, as well as small fish and river shrimps.

There are also several big fish in another fish cage.

This is quite a gain.

She just happened to want to make some more dried fish.

The big fish and big river shrimps were picked out and thrown into the wooden barrel separately, and a few pounds of small fish and shrimps were left to take back.

The cleaned fish cages continued to be filled with earthworm bait. When they left and no one was watching the fish cages, they were placed in a hidden place covered by grass and trees.

Carrying potatoes and fish and shrimps, he returned to the tiankeng and planted two wild chili peppers and some perilla in the vegetable garden.

The fish and shrimp were crowded in a wooden barrel. There was too little space, and people were afraid they would die quickly, so they were poured into a wooden basin.

I'll see in the afternoon and tomorrow if I can catch more fish. I'll pickle and dry the big fish weighing several kilograms and the fish as long as chopsticks.

After a busy morning, she was tired, hungry and thirsty, so she drank a glass of cool honey water to moisten her dry throat.

She cooked more rice for lunch, and used the leftover rice to make porridge or fried rice in the evening to save herself the trouble of cooking another dish.

As time was tight at lunch, she made three quick dishes, two sides and a soup.

A vegetarian stir-fried potato.

The potato is purple and has slimy threads. It is cut into thin slices, stir-fried with lard, and some wild onion segments are added to enhance the flavor.

A dish of fried pumpkin vines with dried shrimps, the vines are peeled and are especially tender.

When it was the season for eating pumpkin seedlings, pumpkin vines and pumpkin flowers, she ate them all by herself, but still couldn't finish them all, so she picked up some leaves to feed the chickens, ducks and rabbits.

The last one is an egg drop and watercress soup, which is a clear soup that you won’t get tired of.

There were watercress growing by the stream where I visited this morning. I will pick some and plant them when I come back in the afternoon.

After lunch, she fed the chickens, ducks and rabbits, and carried the potatoes into the cellar.

After resting for more than half an hour, she went out to dig potatoes. There were traces of digging there, and she was worried that if someone passed by and saw them, they would dig them all away.

One afternoon, Xia Qingyue came back carrying potatoes.

It was almost five o'clock. After carrying the load back to the stream, she was exhausted. She sat on a rock to take a rest, scanning the scenery of the mountain.

Suddenly, Heihei, who was lying at her feet, stood up and stared at her left hand.

Suppressing her fear, she looked over and saw several moving figures appearing in the woods on the other side. They looked like a family, four boys and five girls. They were looking around in the woods, probably looking for food.

Realizing that one of them was about to look over, she hugged Heihei, and the two of them hid behind the plants.

After a while, she stuck her head out and saw the group of people walking to the other side.

"Huff, huff, huff..." She beat her accelerated heart and gasped for breath.

There are more and more people in the woods, so she has to be extra careful in the future. If she encounters a group of people, she has no chance of winning and it is very dangerous.

If she can avoid it, she will choose to avoid it.

After digging potatoes for half an hour, she went to collect the fish cages and carried them back.

The fish cage was quite heavy, so she walked and stopped frequently.

The four yams were still there, and she wanted to dig them after she finished digging the potatoes.

In the afternoon, we caught seven big fish. The small ones weighed three or four pounds, and the three big ones weighed more than six pounds. Together with the big fish caught in the morning and the fish as long as chopsticks, we sprinkled salt on them and marinated them with a few pieces of ginger.

The next day, Xia Qingyue spent the whole morning digging potato chips. When she went back after lunch, the remaining one-third of the potatoes had disappeared.

You can tell at first glance that he was poached by someone else.

She kicked the dirt she had dug out and looked around. "You guys are really quick. You found this place so quickly."

In fact, she knew very well that, as in the current situation, most of the people rushing up the mountain were villagers from the foot of the mountain. They came up in a hurry and did not have enough time to bring food from home. Even if there was food, there would not be much.

There are not only fish and shrimp in the streams and rivers, but the surrounding resources are richer than other places. They are the places they most want to find and where they will stay frequently.

She sighed, "The creek isn't safe anymore."