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

The old lady’s son and daughter-in-law are the two couples, and the boy and girl are her grandchildren. They are the masters among the group.

The remaining two men and eight women were carrying bags and were going to work. They were dressed simply, but the fabrics were better than those of ordinary families. They were servants.

This shows that this family is not just farmers at the foot of the mountain, they are either rich or noble.

Those people sat down to rest and chatted.

The eldest of the brothers sighed:

"I went through so much trouble to avoid conscription, but I couldn't avoid the war. I thought my family was there, so nothing would happen to them. But I didn't expect the defeated King of Xiang to be so cruel. He took his men and fled to the west. It would have been fine if he had just fled, but before he fled, he ordered the remaining soldiers to burn down towns and villages along the way. What kind of thing is that!"

"Yan'er, be careful with your words!" The old lady looked stern. She was so excited that she kept coughing and her face flushed.

The two daughters-in-law hurried over to pat the old lady on the back and offer comforting words.

"Brother, let's not talk about the past anymore. The main thing is that we fled all the way from Lianyuan to here just to find a safe place in the mountains to survive the difficult times. When things are stable outside, we will move back.

As long as we find the cave by the river, we can settle down temporarily. Yesterday we overheard those brothers saying that they had built a wooden house there. When the time comes, we will spend some money, prepare everything inside and outside, and live in the wooden house.

Although the conditions are difficult, we now have enough food and drink and a place to live, which is our greatest blessing.

Think about how many people we have seen on our journey here, homeless and starving."

Hearing this, Xia Qingyue looked solemn.

The scorched earth policy she worried about finally happened.

Lianyun County, the original owner had heard about this place from the villagers. This place is close to the state capital, has many rivers and abundant aquatic products. It is one of the counties with the best economic conditions in Xiangzhou.

Judging from their responses and her observations, the men in their family were not drafted into the war, most likely because they paid off their connections and avoided conscription.

While she was thinking, the family talked about the cave by the river.

As she listened, she thought of the place where the Li family lived. Why did it feel like the good place this family was talking about was that cave?

But on second thought, I might be wrong. After all, there should be many places like this on the mountain.

The family sat and rested for about twenty minutes and then set off.

After the hour of Chen, the sun was scorching and the cicadas were chirping one after another.

In the hot and scorching weather, Xia Qingyue carried water back and forth five times and watered the vegetables in the garden.

The weather was hot, and some of the watercress planted in the canal dried up and died, and also grew old, so she simply ignored it and let it fend for itself, and first saved the crops that were growing well, such as eggplant and pumpkin.

After taking down the shoulder pole and relaxing, she lay down on the big rock in the pit and gasped for breath. It was so comfortable lying there and she felt light all over.

Automatically ignore the fact that the stone is hard and hurts.

It's really tiring to fetch water again and again.

But if she doesn’t water the vegetables, the crops will not survive. What will she and the chickens and ducks eat?

No matter how hard or difficult it is, she has to persevere.

Xia Qingyue lay there for about five minutes, and her stomach started growling in protest.

I've been so busy that I haven't had breakfast yet.

She got up and washed a few handfuls of purslane that she had pulled back from the vegetable garden. It is a wild grass that grows in the fields and can be considered a wild vegetable that can be eaten and used as medicine.

Purslane has anti-inflammatory and bactericidal effects, regulates blood sugar, and prevents and fights cancer. It is not suitable for pregnant women with hypoglycemia and low blood pressure, and people with weak spleen and stomach.

Not only can it be eaten as a vegetable and medicine, it can also be used in skin care products. For example, people whose faces are easily red due to sensitive skin can use skin care products containing this ingredient or Centella asiatica ingredients to wipe their faces.

"Oh, that's right. Why didn't I bring back the Centella asiatica earlier?"

There are lots of Centella asiatica on the roadside on the mountain, but now the weather is so hot that there are probably not many good ones left after being dried in the sun.

I'll look for it later when I have time.

There are also a few wild amaranths growing in the vegetable field where purslane is growing.

She plans to keep it for seeds and plant some next year. Amaranth is delicious whether stir-fried or cooked into soup.

Cut the washed purslane into small pieces, beat an egg, add flour and mix well to form dough.

Roll the dough into a long strip, pinch it to the size of a steamed bun, put your thumb at the bottom of the dough, and roll it with your hand to form it into the shape of a steamed bun.

Purslane steamed bread can be said to be one of the foods that left the most profound impression on her in her childhood. At that time, conditions were poor and her grandmother often made it for her.

She put the rolled steamed bread on the grate to steam it. She chopped up some tender pumpkins and mixed them with snails to feed the chickens and ducks.

The rabbits were fed wild grass with a little bit of black bubble wild strawberries at the end.

What's more, since I started feeding the chickens and ducks with snail meat, they have stopped clucking and I can basically find eggs every day.

I came to the pen and poured food for the chickens and ducks, and they swarmed over to grab the food.

There were a few eggs on the dry straw at the back, three chicken eggs and two duck eggs.

The eggs looked different today, lighter to the touch and darker in color.

“It’s a fertilized egg!”

She smiled at the chickens and ducks that were eating happily, with a look of relief and joy in her eyes.

This feeling is like the feeling of seeing the child she raised grow up, get married and become pregnant.

At first, whether it was the chickens or ducks living in the pen, they disliked each other and would fight each other for two days or three days. As long as the fighting was not too excessive, she generally would not interfere too much.

Now, they have developed feelings for each other after fighting for a while and are familiar with each other.

She waited and waited, and finally a fertilized egg appeared.

With fertilized eggs, you can hatch chicks and raise more chickens.

She looked at the ducks and said seriously, "You have to work harder, too."

Just like the elders who urge us to get married and have children.

She put the fertilized eggs aside and waited to see if the hen would lay such eggs again and then let them hatch.

The steamed cornbread was steamed for more than ten minutes and had a sour and fragrant smell.

The purslane steamed bread tastes a bit sour when eaten in its original flavor. She made half a bowl of mountain pepper sauce as a dipping sauce, which made the taste richer.

She was very hungry, so she ate seven until she was full. After that, she gulped down half a cup of honey water.

belch--

After burping, she got up to wash the dishes and finished her breakfast simply.

She wanted to stew pig's trotters for lunch, but it would take too much water to clean them.

So when she first woke up, she roasted the cured pig's trotters in the tiankeng, then washed them in the stream and brought them back.

She washed the cured pig's trotter and cut it in half. Half was enough for her to eat, and the other half could be saved.

I also soaked some mushrooms and made a stew for lunch.

It was hot and she was too lazy to do anything.

Let's dig a pond. The sun is too strong to stand. She looked around and found that she hadn't cleaned for two days. She picked up the broom made of bamboo branches outside the cave and swept the floor inside and out.

The broom has been used for more than a year and the branches are badly damaged, so I need to make a new one.

By the way, she could also cut some more bamboo to make some cabinets to store things. Wooden cabinets should be made of wood, as she couldn't carry or cut large logs.

You still have to use it flexibly according to your own strength.