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

The water came out slowly, and after waiting for another twenty minutes or so, the wooden bucket below received a shallow amount of water.

Although the amount of water is small, it is obvious that it has become clearer.

"Yuzhen, it's really clear now!" Li Benfu was so excited that a faint blush appeared on his dark face.

"I told you to trust Qingyue." Chen Yuzhen was also very happy to see the clear water.

She continued, "Let the dirty water sit there slowly. Let's go out and fetch some water so Qingyue can take it back earlier, before it gets dark."

Chen Yuzhen and his wife each carried a basket of vegetables on their backs and a fish cage and a wooden barrel in their hands.

Xia Qing was carrying a large backpack that he had borrowed from them. Inside it were three wooden barrels, one of which was full of beehives given by the Li family.

The other two buckets were used to fetch water. I put one bucket in the backpack and carried the other bucket back by hand.

Try to bring as much water as possible.

Before leaving, Li Benfu and his wife skillfully smeared some soot from the bottom of the pot on their faces and combed their hair, leaving their hands black.

After all the manipulation, he looked like a miserable refugee who had suffered a great disaster, and his original appearance was completely unrecognizable.

Chen Yuzhen took a handful of pot ash in her hand and said, "Qingyue, you should apply some too. It's a mess outside. There are not only refugees, but also Tan Xiaozhu's people and people in the village."

"Is the mountain stronghold the lair of bandits?" Xia Qingyue took the initiative to move her face closer.

Chen Yuzhen directly smeared the soot on Xia Qingyue's face, and said solemnly: "Yes, it's at the source of the river. You must not go to the forest over there."

After they were done, they set off, closing and covering the cave entrance tightly.

While walking on the road, Chen Yuzhen took the initiative to talk about some things about the village.

"During the time we were trapped in the mountain stronghold, we left the dungeon twice. One time was shortly after we were captured. We were taken to the activity area of ​​the stronghold along with other people. Some bandit leaders selected people from among us."

There was a cold look of hatred in her eyes.

"Most of those selected were young women, and they were all taken away and tortured by those beasts!"

"Like the elderly, they would just drag them up and behead them in public, kicking their heads for fun, just for their amusement!"

Xia Qingyue felt horrified when she heard this and glanced at Chen Yuzhen. She thought of the Zhu family. Old Mrs. Zhu was not young anymore and she wondered if she was among them.

It would be best if it existed. Evildoers should be punished.

As soon as she thought of this, Chen Yuzhen started talking about the Zhu family:

"At first, the Zhu family was imprisoned in the dungeon with our family. Tan Xiaozhu tortured them several times but failed. Not long after, the Zhu family was taken away.

A few days later, when we came out of the dungeon for the second time and went to the village to expand the houses, we moved wood, sand, stones and other heavy objects. It was at this time that we met the Zhu family again and learned a little about them and the situation in the village.

Old Mrs. Zhu was assigned to do odd jobs, while Wu Chungui and her mother were responsible for washing clothes and taking care of the chicken and duck pens.

Zhu Sanbao and his sons, like other men, had to go out every day to do things, either to bring people back to the village or to find food and daily necessities. If they did not do their job well, they would be beaten, scolded, or starved, or their relatives would be killed in public as a warning and punishment.

Xia Qingyue frowned. The situation was more serious than she had imagined. The bandits were eager to expand their territory, recruit people, and increase their strength. If they continued to develop in this way, wouldn't the mountains become even more dangerous?

Li Benfu added in a cold voice: "The bandits in the village rely on threatening relatives, holding their lives in their hands, and forcing those people to work hard for them!

Some people think that living there and having two meals a day is better than eating out and having no idea where to eat, so they just accept their fate!

Some people were disobedient or accidentally did something wrong, and were beaten half to death by the beasts. They were taken to the forest and hung on trees, using living people as bait to lure and capture prey!"

After these words were spoken, Chen Yuzhen and his wife looked heavy-hearted and remained silent.

The two of them witnessed with their own eyes the deaths of villagers they once knew, some surrendering and some dying tragically for resisting.

Those tragic scenes are still deeply engraved in their minds.

Xia Qingyue looked at the couple and sighed in her heart. They should be thinking of their relatives who were still trapped in the village and suffering.

No one spoke on the road ahead, and everyone continued on their journey in silence.

Li Benfu and his wife were already familiar with the surrounding environment, and they took the deserted roads with few people.

After walking for about half an hour, they passed through a forest and came to the river.

Xia Qingyue took a look and found obvious sedimentation in this section of the river.

As we all know, flowing river water has the effect of transporting sand and gravel in the river channel. Sand and gravel in the upper and middle reaches are easily washed down and accumulated in the lower reaches.

There is a saying that if you see a lot of sand in a river, there is a high probability that you are in the downstream of the river.

They went down the slope along the shore and into the river.

The river water was warm from the sun. Xia Qingyue bent down and scooped up a handful of water. It was light yellow in color and there was sand in the water.

The water flowing in the river looks clear, but it carries away mud and sand as it flows.

The amount of water is still pleasant. At the edge, the water is above the ankles.

Heihei opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue, then ran panting to the downstream of where Xia Qingyue and the others were, and happily dived into the water to play.

"In the past, in order to get water without sand, we always had to change places several times. Now with the water filter bucket made by Qingyue, it is not so troublesome and we don’t have to drink sandy water anymore." Li Benfu pressed the two buckets into the river water, and they were filled up in an instant.

Chen Yuzhen and Xia Qingyue also filled two buckets each.

"Just put the water on the shore and I'll carry it." Li Benfu went ashore first with the two buckets of water in his hands.

"Qingyue, let's put the fish cage in front and then go to the shore to find wild vegetables. Last time I saw wild spinach over there."

Chen Yuzhen and Xia Qingyue walked up, found two suitable places, and put down two fish cages.

When Heihei saw his owner leaving, he stopped playing and followed him, getting soaked and splashing water all the way.

The two walked along the shore. Some of the plants on the shore were withered or dead, but a few were still tenaciously alive. There were more plants near the water flow below.

Chen Yuzhen took Xia Qingyue to the place where she discovered wild spinach a few days ago. The plants there were quite lush.

Pushing aside the weeds, Chen Yuzhen pointed to one of the plants and said, "This is wild spinach. It tastes a bit sour."

After Xia Qingyue looked at it carefully, she recognized that it was actually sorrel, which looks very similar to spinach. It can be eaten as a wild vegetable and can also be used as medicine.

The root of sorrel is a bit like ginseng. It can be ground into powder and applied externally to treat eczema. It has the effects of cooling blood, stopping bleeding, and acting as a diuretic and insecticidal.

It has strong adaptability and quite a few of them are growing nearby.

Xia Qingyue also followed suit and dug with a shovel, taking it back for future use.

As she dug, she saw a familiar-looking plant with small pale yellow flowers on its crown.

She stroked the small flowers, smiled in surprise and said, "This is a good thing."

Chen Yuzhen, who was digging sorrel, saw it and asked curiously, "Qingyue, what is this? Can I eat it?"

“It’s edible. Its leaves can not only be soaked in water for drinking, but also made into jelly!”