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

Those things were all useful, and Xia Qingyue was reluctant to part with them. "Why don't we hide them and come back tomorrow morning to get them?"

Li Benfu was thinking this, "Okay!"

"Uncle, I'll go back this way. Be careful on your way back. We'll meet here tomorrow morning."

"Can you go back alone?" he asked worriedly.

"Okay, no problem!" She said this with such certainty because she had been to this place before, where she had picked raspberries before.

Seeing that she was carrying the things easily, Li Benfu did not force her and said, "Then you should be careful when you go back. Heihei is following you. You have to pay attention to any disturbance."

She nodded, and suddenly realized something was wrong, "Hey, where's Heihei?"

"Yeah, why don't you see Heihei?"

Xia Qingyue put down what she was holding and looked around. "Dark, dark?"

Heihei was still there when she came out of the cave just now. When did it disappear?

After shouting several times, Heihei didn't come back.

Feeling uneasy, Xia Qingyue saw some black footprints on the ground and followed them into the woods.

Li Benfu followed her.

"Dark, dark, dark!"

“Heihei!”

The two men ran for a distance and their tracks were interrupted. Just when they didn't know what to do, strange noises came from several big trees a few meters away.

"There's something on the tree, Qingyue, be careful!" Li Benfu picked up the machete he had just found and tied around his waist, and strode in front of Xia Qingyue.

"Whoop whoosh!"

The sound of rapid breathing came from behind the trees, and the next second, a black shadow jumped out. It was Heihei who had disappeared.

Heihei ran under the tree, growled, raised his front paws and pressed them against the tree, trying to climb up.

“Heihei!”

Xia Qingyue's call awakened Heihei's reason. He turned his head to look at his master, put down his front paws, and hummed softly twice.

Something ran across the tree.

Xia Qingyue looked up and saw that they were three squirrels. They were climbing up the branches, as if trying to escape from this terrible place.

Heihei looked up and watched the squirrel running farther and farther away, kicking his feet anxiously.

"So you ran away because you were hunting. You made us so worried!

Heihei, why don't you come here quickly!" Xia Qingyue was angry, with puffy cheeks.

God knows how anxious she was the moment she found out Heihei was missing; her heart almost jumped out of her mouth.

“Mmmm.” Heihei noticed his owner’s mood and circled around her helplessly, his tail swinging like a propeller.

Xia Qingyue deliberately kept a straight face and ignored it, but in fact her heart had already softened. She sighed and touched her dark head, "Don't do this again next time. It's so dangerous."

After parting with Li Benfu, Xia Qingyue muttered to Heihei on the way back to the tiankeng:

“Heihei, things are different now. Maybe you used to be able to run around and chase prey as soon as you went outside, and you got used to it, but now it’s very dangerous outside.

Don't leave me easily anymore, okay?"

"We'll bring those things back tomorrow morning. Except for going out to fetch water every few days, we'll stay in the tiankeng and won't come out."

Walk for half an hour and you will arrive at the place where raspberries grow.

Things are different now. The lush vegetation of the past has turned into withered and yellow grass.

She didn't stop on the way and went straight to the tiankeng. She didn't go home last night, and the chickens, ducks and rabbits at home must be starving.

At about ten o'clock, Xia Qingyue and Heihei returned to the tiankeng. The noise of their return startled the chickens, ducks and rabbits.

cuckoo-

quack--

Amid the noise, Xia Qingyue hurriedly chopped up the weeds she had cut from outside, mixing half of them with beaten snails and the other half with pure grass.

When she carried the bucket into the pen, the chickens and ducks all flew towards her, as if they were reuniting with family members they hadn't seen for a long time.

The hares chirped behind the partition.

She picked up food for the chickens and ducks, and then went to the rabbit hive on the other side of the partition.

After finishing her work, she sat down and drank a glass of boiled water that she had made yesterday.

After finishing the boiled water, she boiled half a pot of new water and let it cool down.

The things she brought back from outside were randomly placed on the kitchen floor, and she took them out one by one and sorted them out.

Ropes, linen bags, sickles, machetes and other tools are placed in the utility room.

Vegetable seeds, fruit seeds and other seeds are placed in the sun to dry, and then put into the storage room later.

Plates, bowls, colanders, vegetable baskets, wooden basins, clay pots and clay pans are placed on the bottom layer of the counter. Although there is enough space, there are too many things and it looks messy.

"No, we need to make another bigger bamboo frame!"

After cleaning up, it was noon.

She hadn't eaten for the whole morning and was so hungry that she felt dizzy and dizzy. She wanted to cut a piece of pork belly to stew it, but when she thought about how much water it would take to wash the meat, she gave up the idea.

She first put the potatoes in a pot to steam them. She had already eaten two-thirds of the brown rice, so she had to eat it sparingly.

Then he found a large, long dried fish from the utility room and cut it in half. He also grabbed two handfuls of dried shrimps, washed them with a little water, and put them into the bowl.

The hot water boiled in the big iron pot is poured into several large bowls specially used for drinking water and left to dry. Water is then added to the pot again, and a large bowl with fish and shrimp is placed on top of the water.

Beat five eggs in a medium to large bowl, add some water, put them into the pot and steam them together.

In about twenty minutes, two cooked dishes were ready in one pot.

There are meat and eggs, but one vegetable is missing.

She cut a peeled gourd and made a bowl of stir-fry.

I gave Heihei two-thirds of the steamed egg and some potatoes to eat.

Xia Qingyue ate vegetables with potato chips. She was very hungry, so she gobbled everything up in one swift motion. The dried fish and shrimp were firm, salty and fragrant, and went especially well with rice. She finished all the food on the table.

After eating, I cleaned up and filled half a basin with water to wipe my whole body. The used water was collected in a wooden bucket so that I could use it to water the vegetables later.

After a quick wash, she changed into a vest and shorts as pajamas and lay down on the bed for a nap.

In her own home, she fell asleep quickly.

When I woke up, it was evening.

After a good sleep, Xia Qingyue was full of energy. She picked up the hoe and dug the pond for more than an hour, and moved the soil for more than half an hour.

Regardless of whether it rains before the pond is built, she will insist on getting it done, otherwise she will just sit there doing nothing.

In the evening, she fried some vermicelli and went to bed early.

The next day.

At five o'clock in the morning, Xia Qingyue woke up on time. She boiled some chicken and duck eggs for breakfast.

This time she only brought a shovel and some herbs, nothing else. There was a backpack over the hole for carrying things.

after an hour.

Xia Qingyue arrived at the cave and found that the tree was tied with the vines that had been used yesterday and hidden behind. She stood at the entrance of the cave and looked down cautiously.

It's light now and I can see clearly.

At the bottom of the hole, Li Benfu was digging sweet potatoes with something in his hand.

"Heihei, stay here and don't run around."

Heihei hummed a few times obediently.

She went down with a rope tied around her neck, just like she had done yesterday.