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

She has devoted a lot of energy and time to the crops in the fields, no matter how long it takes them to grow, with the intention of making them thrive and eventually harvest the fruits.

Unfortunately, due to the bad weather, her wish was not fulfilled.

Ah, the rice is blooming and about to bear seeds, and it will be harvested soon, what a pity!

After a moment of distress, she clenched her fists and encouraged herself, "This is a natural disaster, not under human control. You have done a great job. Don't blame yourself for being consumed by internal friction. Everything will be fine. There are seeds, and we can plant them again later!"

She has come to terms with it and decided to start over.

The wild boar meat that was pickled some time ago has been smoked for a few days. It still feels a bit moist to the touch, so it needs to be smoked again.

As the stream's water became less and less, it began to become muddy and sandy.

To solve this problem, she plans to make several containers for filtering water.

Some time ago, she found several wooden barrels from a cave. She wanted to use the barrels as filtering containers. In fact, she could also use thick bamboo and hollow out the bottom, but the capacity would be smaller.

She first used the tip of a machete that had been sharpened in advance to chisel small holes in the bottom of the barrel. Because it was done by hand, the holes were of different sizes and extremely ugly in shape.

But it doesn’t matter, as long as it works.

I chiseled three wooden barrels at once, which took several hours from morning to afternoon.

A piece of cotton cloth cut to the size of the barrel is placed at the bottom of the chiseled wooden barrel, then a layer of charcoal is placed on top, covered with another piece of gauze, then a layer of fine sand is placed on top, and finally a layer of coarser sand and gravel is applied as a seal.

If there is cotton, the effect will be better if you fill the bottom with another layer of cotton.

Nevermind.

She followed the same method and made three filtering barrels.

After she was done, she couldn't help but give it a test, so she hung two filtered wooden barrels on bamboo poles used to dry clothes and poured some muddy water brought back from the stream into them.

Filtering water takes time, so she didn't just sit there and wait. Instead, she turned back to the open space next to the kitchen and fiddled with the bamboo.

There are many things needed to make a large bamboo frame. She has been preparing for more than half a month and still hasn't prepared everything. Drilling holes is the most troublesome part, which left her hands covered with scars. There were several times when she wanted to give up.

She thought again and decided to just do it. By doing more, she would gain experience and get better and better at it. With this belief, she has persisted until now.

About half an hour later, Xia Qingyue suddenly remembered the water being filtered and ran over to take a look.

Water dripped from the bottom of the filter barrel and fell into the clean barrel below.

There was a shallow circle of water in the clean wooden barrel.

She grabbed the barrel and tilted it slightly, and clear, pure water gathered at the bottom.

"Not bad, it's filtered cleanly."

It's just a little slow.

As evening approached, Xia Qingyue went out to fetch water with a shoulder pole and a wooden bucket, trying to bring back as much water as possible.

Now she carries water once in the morning and once in the evening, and brings back at most six buckets of water. If she uses it sparingly, the water is enough for two days.

After carrying water for several days, the amount of water in the middle reaches was too little to be pumped up, so Xia Qingyue had no choice but to go upstream.

This time she found that the upper reaches of the stream had changed a lot. There was still water, but not much, and there were many people living on the shore.

These people were stationed in scattered locations. There were several scattered camps. They formed a group of at least twenty people and at most more than thirty people. They each occupied an area and did not allow outsiders to fetch water from their territory.

When Xia Qingyue reached a garrison in the middle and upper reaches, she happened to witness the people in the garrison beating up two people who had stolen water from their territory.

A patrol leader punched the water thief on the head and said fiercely: "How dare you come to our Lord Niu's territory to steal water? Beat him to death!"

After a while, the two men were beaten to death and buried casually in a large pit by the people stationed there.

The patrol leader raised his chin proudly, poked the patrol's face with his index finger and ordered: "Be alert, if anyone sneaks in to steal water and is caught again, you will be held accountable!

If anyone says they are willing to exchange food for water, come and inform me immediately, do you understand! ? "

Xia Qingyue, who was hiding in the dark, quietly left and walked back.

There is no need to go any further, as the result is obvious. The further upstream you go, the more numerous and ferocious the people stationed there are.

She had originally planned to fetch water from upstream in the stream, but now that seemed impossible.

But there is no other water source nearby, so where can we find water for drinking in the future?

Xia Qingyue paused abruptly and looked towards a certain direction in the forest with sparkling eyes.

"There's nothing we can do but look at the water by the river."

"Let's go, Heihei."

after an hour.

Xia Qingyue came to the cave where Chen Yuzhen and his wife lived. She groped her way to the cave entrance according to her memory, put her hand on it, bent her fingers, and knocked several times.

Heihei looked at the forest, highly alert.

Inside the cave, the open-air pit bottom.

Chen Yuzhen, who was working, moved her ears. She listened carefully and a happy smile appeared on her face. "Brother Benfu, there is a noise outside. It seems that Qingyue is here!"

Li Benfu, who was busy with his work, stopped his work and said, "I'm going to go out and take a look. You don't come out yet."

He picked up the machete that was lying on the ground and walked out.

"Uncle, aunt, it's me."

Hearing this familiar voice coming from outside, Li Benfu's eyes lit up, and he quickly unbolted the wooden door blocking the entrance and opened it.

Li Benfu stuck half of his head out, "Qingyue, come in quickly."

After entering the cave, the light was dim. Although she couldn't see clearly, Xia Qingyue could clearly feel that it was different from before. It was much cleaner, there was no bumpy surface under her feet, and it didn't smell any more.

"Qingyue, how have you been lately?" Li Benfu asked with concern while blocking the cave entrance.

"Pretty good, how about you guys?"

The two of them walked around the corner one after the other while chatting, with Heihei following closely beside her.

"Qingyue!" Chen Yuzhen, who was squatting on the ground, stood up suddenly, ran forward a few steps, and stared at Xia Qingyue with a pair of eyes filled with tears and smiles.

"Aunt." Xia Qingyue was also very happy to see Chen Yuzhen.

As she shifted her gaze, she saw that the surrounding scene had changed drastically. She exclaimed in surprise: "Uncle, Aunt, you have made this place look so presentable so quickly!"

All the sand and rocks on the ground were cleared away and fields were formed, in which were planted rows of sweet potato vines and some seasonal vegetables such as peppers, eggplants and amaranth brought back from the holes.

There was a small patch of soil that was still empty, but had been turned over.

On the side of the earth wall directly opposite the bend, a cave about four meters wide and five meters high was opened up, with piles of earth piled on the side.

"We didn't do much. We just planted some crops and dug some holes. We plan to dig two more big holes so that Weikang and the others can have a good place to stay when they come back."

Speaking of her son, Chen Yuzhen was silent for a moment, but soon she returned to normal and said with a smile, "Qingyue, you haven't had lunch yet, eat first. Brother Benfu, go catch the rabbit and remove its fur!"