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

"Let's roast some sweet potatoes on the fire. Should we roast or fry the rabbit? Qingyue, which one do you like?"

After Chen Yuzhen finished speaking, Li Benfu turned around and walked to a place more than ten meters away, where in the dark there was a wooden cage about one meter wide and more than forty centimeters high, covered with several layers of worn-out clothes.

The bottom of the box was not covered by clothes, and through the wooden railings one could see a gray figure lying inside.

Xia Qingyue held Chen Yuzhen's arm and said, "Aunt, don't bother me. Just eat something simple."

“Your uncle doesn’t have any other skills. In his early years, he followed Brother Dasong to the woods behind the village and learned some hunting skills.

He was also lucky recently, and he caught a few rabbits and two pheasants outside. "

"After eating, you can go outside and catch more. The most important thing is to enjoy the food. Qingyue, can you tell me whether you prefer grilled or fried food?"

While talking, Li Benfu opened the wooden cage and took out two fat rabbits.

Xia Qingyue took a glance and saw five wild rabbits and two pheasants in the wooden cage. After catching two rabbits, there were only three left.

They had worked hard to catch these prey, and she felt embarrassed to not accept the reward without any merit. "Aunt, this rabbit is fat. If you take good care of it, it will get pregnant soon. It would be a pity to kill it."

"Let's not talk about that anymore. Come, follow me and see how the crops we planted are doing." Chen Yuzhen changed the subject, took Xia Qingyue's arm, and walked towards the fields.

"The land is small, so we can't grow millet or anything like that, but if we manage it well, we can grow some vegetables, like the pepper, amaranth and pumpkin seedlings we found in the hole. They will grow better and better after a while."

When Chen Yuzhen talked about this, her eyes sparkled and her face was filled with a smile.

Seeing that she cheered up so quickly, Xia Qing pursed her lips and smiled, "By the way, Auntie, how are your injuries?"

"Thanks to the herbs you brought, I'm almost fully recovered now."

The two men walked to the cave that had been carved out.

Chen Yuzhen expressed her and her husband's idea of ​​digging out a spacious cave to use as a bedroom.

"The cave outside is just right for living in the summer, as it is cool. In the winter, we have to live inside to get some sun and keep warm, so we are thinking of digging deeper and making a few more rooms."

"It's just that the tools are limited, so it's not easy to chisel. There's not only soil but also rocks on it. It takes a long time to chisel through the rocks."

It was noon, the sun was strong, Chen Yuzhen suddenly realized, "Come on, Qingyue, let's go to the cave outside, it's cool there, it's too hot here."

Li Benfu was processing a rabbit at the corner. He had just plucked the rabbit's hair and was now gutting it.

Xia Qingyue said she wanted to help, but Chen Yuzhen pulled her straight to the cave outside.

"Aunt, why aren't the rabbits and chickens kept outside in the cave?"

"They sometimes bark because they are afraid that people outside might hear them."

"Oh, we need to get a lot of water to feed them that day, right?"

"It's hot, so I feed you more than usual."

The two men walked to the cave in front. At this time, a fire was burning in the corner of the cave for lighting. It was lit by Li Benfu.

Inside the cave, near the bend in the earth wall, there was a straw mat on the ground, with two worn-out cattail-leaf fans on it.

Xia Qingyue took a look and guessed that it was the bed of Chen Yuzhen and her husband.

"Qingyue, sit down and drink some water."

There is a square wooden table in the center of the cave, which is neither too big nor too small, big enough for six people to sit around, and there are several low stools on each side.

The tables and stools have many damages and traces of repairs. They don't look good, but they don't affect their usability.

On the table was the bamboo water cup she had brought earlier, as well as several clean empty bowls, one of which was a large bowl filled with water.

Maybe it was because of the dim light, but Xia Qingyue seemed to see that the water in the bowl was a little yellow, and there was a shadow at the bottom of the bowl.

"Auntie, is there sand in the bottom of the bowl of water?"

"Yes, if you pour it slowly, the sand won't float up."

Chen Yuzhen picked up the large bowl and poured a bowl of water into it, then turned around and took out a clay pot from the wooden box on the other side, scooped a full spoonful of honey into the water.

She placed the honey water in front of Xia Qingyue and said with a smile, "It's just boiled water this morning."

"Oh, there's black water, too." Chen Yuzhen picked up a bowl on the table and filled it with water.

"Hey, auntie, you can use an old broken bowl."

"It's okay. Your uncle brought back a lot of bowls from the cave." Chen Yuzhen bent down and handed the water to Heihei to drink.

Xia Qingyue was thirsty, so she tilted her head back and took two gulps of the water, which tasted sweet.

I took a few more sips, and towards the end there was sand in my mouth, making a crackling sound.

Heihei drank more, and there was not much left in the bowl of water.

"Qingyue, your uncle went to a distant forest and got some honey yesterday. When he returns later, you can take two jars back." Chen Yuzhen walked to the wooden box and waved Xia Qingyue over to take a look.

Xia Qingyue walked over and saw four large clay jars in the wooden box. As Chen Yuzhen opened the lids one by one, a sweet fragrance wafted out.

She glanced at the yellow honey in the jar and said, "Auntie, honey is hard to find, so keep it for yourselves."

Thinking about the decreasing amount of beeswax for making candles, she asked, "Aunt, after pressing out the honey, are the lumps still there?"

"Yes, they were put into barrels by Benfu. There are more than two barrels. We are worried about what to do with them."

She clenched her fists and said, "Can you give me a bucket? I'll exchange it for something else."

Chen Yuzhen deliberately put on a stern face, without a trace of blame in her words, and said softly and dotingly: "This child, exchange whatever you want, take it all if you want it."

At this time, Li Benfu came over with two clean rabbits in his hands, "Qingyue, how do you want to eat it?"

"Just roast it." Frying is troublesome.

"Okay." Li Benfu turned and went to the open-air cave. When he came out, the rabbit was stuck on two thick wooden sticks.

He walked to the corner opposite the fire and moved away a few black stones. There was a hole dug into the ground there. He put some dry grass and firewood in it and borrowed fire from the fire to light it.

Chen Yuzhen, who had touched some sweet potatoes, saw Xia Qingyue looking at Li Benfu, so she explained:

"That's our kitchen. It's okay at night because the darkness can hide it. But during the day, burning a fire would create smoke, and it would be easy for people to find it if it floated outside."

She put the sweet potatoes she had dug out next to the fire and buried them back in when the fire was almost burning. The fire was too big at this time and they would easily burn.

Xia Qingyue nodded in understanding.

She saw Li Benfu move two high stools to both sides of the kitchen fire, and then place the wooden sticks with rabbits on them horizontally and let them roast over the fire.

"Qingyue, why don't you go inside first and close the wooden door at the corner. It's very smoky here."

Chen Yuzhen pushed Xia Qingyue over.

"The conditions are so simple, I'm sorry to embarrass you." Chen Yuzhen was a little reserved.

Xia Qingyue smiled and said, "Aunt, I'll go sit in the dark place inside for a while."

"Okay, okay, don't get too exposed to the sun. There's a palm-leaf fan. I'll get it." Chen Yuzhen turned and went outside the cave.

After handing the palm-leaf fan to Xia Qingyue, Chen Yuzhen closed the wooden door built at the corner and stayed in the cave outside with Li Benfu to roast rabbit meat.

As soon as the wooden door was closed, the smoke coming out of the tiny gap became much lighter and could not be seen without careful observation.

Although the Li family's move in brought a lot of improvements to the place, there are still many inconveniences in daily life due to the geographical environment.

Feeling hot, Xia Qingyue called Heihei and went to the wooden cages where chickens and rabbits were kept. She sat cross-legged on the ground and fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan.

After more than half an hour, the wooden door opened and smoke drifted out.

Li Benfu came out, carrying the wooden table outside the cave in his hand.

Xia Qingyue saw it and stepped forward to help lift it.

The table was moved to the dark place where Xia Qingyue had sat. On the table were a few gray roasted sweet potatoes, a bowl of wild vegetable soup, and two large bowls filled with steaming, golden brown, sizzling roasted rabbits.