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

Li Benfu, who was busy working in the earth cave, heard some noise behind him. He stood up alertly and raised a modified simple hoe in his hand.

The hoe was made of a sharp, relatively thin stone, tightly tied to a thick wooden stick with a rope.

There is a small hill of sweet potatoes and a large pile of sweet potato vines around Li Benfu.

Li Benfu has dug two-thirds of the sweet potato field.

Seeing that it was her, the hostility in Li Benfu's eyes turned into a smile, "Qingyue, look, we dug out quite a lot of sweet potatoes."

Xia Qingyue took a look and said, "It's quite a lot."

The two of them worked together to dig out the remaining sweet potatoes.

During the process, Xia Qingyue asked about Chen Yuzhen's physical condition.

"Yuzhen is feeling much better today. She can walk on her own without anyone's help.

Thanks to the herbs you brought, I fetched several loads of water yesterday morning and met two groups of Liuzi on the way. They are still looking for us!

Qingyue, after today, we'd better not go out easily in the short term!"

"Yes, uncle, I know. I brought some herbs today. Just like before, I crush the fresh ones for external application and boil the dry ones for drinking."

With more people working together, the work progressed quickly. It only took them about ten minutes to finish digging.

The pile of sweet potatoes probably weighed thirty kilograms.

The vines look numerous, weighing several dozen kilograms.

Xia Qingyue symbolically asked for one-third of the sweet potato vines and half of the sweet potatoes.

After pulling the sweet potatoes and vines up, Li Benfu ran to take out all the things hidden in the dark that he had found yesterday and shared them with Xia Qingyue.

After distributing the things, Li Benfu said to Xia Qingyue earnestly, "The weather this year is unusual, I'm afraid there will be a drought.

Qingyue, if possible, put more water in there and be careful about everything."

"Okay, uncle, you too, I'm leaving now."

Xia Qingyue called Heihei and turned away.

"Hey, wait, Qingyue, if you have any trouble in the future, feel free to come to us. When the time comes, you can knock seven times at the entrance of the cave to indicate your presence."

She turned around, smiled and nodded.

Li Benfu looked at her and opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something. Finally, he pursed his lips, smiled and waved at her, signaling her to leave quickly.

After Xia Qingyue left, Li Benfu murmured, "She didn't take the initiative to explain. She must have some concerns. I shouldn't have asked her in front of her. When she wants to talk about it in the future, I will know it naturally."

She has her reasons for not saying anything.

-

Tiankeng.

Xia Qingyue first put the sweet potatoes in a cool place. Although there were not many, they were enough for the rabbits to eat for a while.

The sweet potato vines spread on the ground made her feel conflicted about whether to plant them or not.

She wanted to plant them, but she was afraid that they would not survive without water. After planting, the amount of water she had to fetch would increase every few days.

After struggling for a while, she made a decision. "I'd better plant it. The chicks will hatch soon, and there are more than ten rabbits. Their food consumption is getting bigger and bigger. At worst, I can take two days off to stagger the time and fetch water in the morning and evening!"

The sun is too strong at this time, so it is not suitable for cuttings. She has to wait until it is a little cooler in the evening and then plant the sweet potato vines in the land she has prepared.

During the day, she stayed in the sinkhole and tinkered with bamboo. She wanted to make a large bamboo cabinet to put in the room. The bamboo needed was much more than that required to make a bamboo frame.

She used charcoal to draw a rough outline on the ground, estimated what materials would be used, and started with the simplest bamboo strips and thinly chopped bamboo, leaving the complex drilling for the end.

It’s a pity that there is no paper. It would be more convenient if there was paper.

"Yes, I can make paper, out of papyrus."

She raised her hand and scratched her forehead, saying in distress: "I still have a lot of things to do. Let's talk about it after I finish them one by one."

At night, she used candles to light the way and used a hoe to dig rows of holes in the ground, digging sixteen at a time.

The soil was still a little warm to the touch, so she placed the sweet potato vines horizontally into the soil and covered them with it.

After planting, there were still a lot of plants left, so she fetched water from the tank and watered them.

This sweet potato vine is not as good as the one she planted. The leaves are slightly smaller and yellower, and the nutrients are insufficient. It needs to be fertilized in a few days.

It was already late when I finished.

Before going to bed, she grabbed her long hair that almost reached her waist, picked up a pair of scissors and started cutting it. There was no mirror to illuminate her, so she cut by feel until she reached her shoulders.

The back must have been cut into a mess.

Out of sight is pure.

I have to use a lot of water every time I wash my hair, and since the weather is hot, I just cut my hair short enough to tie it up with a cloth strip.

She put away her cut hair, washed up quickly and went to bed.

She woke up naturally. It was still dark outside, but she didn't stay in bed. She picked up a hoe and went to dig a pond.

Finish one thing as soon as possible so you can do other things.

The pond has been dug to a depth of six meters. There is no need to widen it. Ten meters in length is enough.

As for the depth, she planned to dig another two or three meters, and then she could make bamboo cabinets and dig caves to find clay to make earthen bricks.

A few days later.

It was time to go out and fetch water again. Xia Qingyue got up before dawn. She carried water seven times, carrying fourteen buckets of water, and first watered the very dry rice fields.

Picking so many was her limit.

When it got dark in the evening, she continued to go out to fetch water, and she also carried it seven times. She watered the vegetable fields and applied some dry manure to the newly planted sweet potatoes.

After a few days of growth, a new batch of crops such as cowpeas, eggplants, and gourds have grown.

The next morning, Xia Qingyue brought back hundreds of kilograms of picked vegetables and dried them as usual.

We picked a lot these two times, and after drying, we got more than 20 kilograms.

It is already mid-June, and the daily temperature is around 38 or 39 degrees.

The water in the pool has reached the bottom and you can clearly see the small stones below.

There is very little water in the stream, so you have to go towards the middle reaches. There are some places where the water is a little more, and it takes several minutes to fill a small bucket.

Every other day, Xia Qingyue went out early to fetch water.

As she had guessed, after the water level in the lower reaches of the stream decreased significantly, there were basically no people around.

The vegetation along the stream dried up or died, and the sweet potato bubbles were not spared.

Although she fetched water to water the vegetables, the crops were affected to some extent by the high temperature, and some of them began to wither and turn yellow.

For dying crops like this one, she picked the fruits from them, dried those that could be, and stopped watering them, instead giving the water to those that were more vigorous.

The rice in the field has reached the tillering stage, which means it has grown side branches, and in the future independent rice plants will gradually grow on them.

In about half a month, millet will bloom and then produce seeds.

That morning, she went out to fetch water as usual.

At the same time, in the woods on the shore, a big white dog was sniffing around, smelling something and finding his way to a bunch of lush bushes.

There was a bunch of inconspicuous black things lying in the bushes. The white dog came closer and sniffed them, with a look of confusion in its eyes. It opened its mouth and bit one of them.

With a scream, the black thing trembled violently, and a large area of ​​the surrounding bushes was crushed by it. It stood up, its body was huge.

The white dog's eyes widened instantly, and it turned around and ran away.

Over there, Xia Qingyue came back after carrying the water twice. When she was fetching water from the stream with a small bucket, Heihei, who was guarding beside her, suddenly roared towards the woods behind her.

Heihei jumped a few times and reached the shore, calling out to Xia Qingyue anxiously.

Xia Qingyue thought danger was coming and quickly put away the barrel.