Traveling through the mountains and farming

In the early morning, Lin Wan was awakened by the clear sound of birds singing outside the window.

She slowly opened her eyes, saw the thatched roof, and instantly woke up.

Everything she experienced yesterday was not a dream. She was indeed still in this unknown world, and she had two children to raise.

She glanced inside the bed and saw that the two children were no longer in bed. It seemed that they had gotten up.

Lin Wanqiang pulled herself together, threw back the quilt, then got up from the bed and prepared to go out to wash up.

But just when she walked into the main room, she heard Li Chongle calling her.

"Sister-in-law, the willow branches you need for washing your face have been soaked in the wooden basin at the door." Li Chongle was cooking porridge in the kitchen next door. When he heard the noise here, he came over to greet his sister-in-law.

Lin Wan was touched by this ancient version of a cute little boy. After thanking him with a smile, she walked towards the spring on the east side of the yard carrying the wooden basin.

As soon as she stepped out of the door, she saw the spring. Li Ke was squatting in front of a wooden basin, scrubbing clothes vigorously with both hands.

Maybe because she tried too hard, her little face turned red like a ripe apple.

Seeing this, Lin Wan didn't bother to wash up, and hurried over to take over the scrubbing work from the little girl, and asked her to be responsible for scooping water, and then the two of them worked together to finish washing the clothes.

Then she tied up the unfinished clothesline with the vines she had pulled from the roadside yesterday.

Li Ke sensibly said that she would hang the clothes herself and urged Lin Wan to go wash up quickly.

At this moment, Li Chongle packaged the cooked porridge and brought it out. After Lin Wan and Li Ke finished their work, he handed it to them.

So the three of them squatted in the yard and started drinking porridge.

Li Chongle held the wooden bowl and asked curiously, "Sister-in-law, you said last night that you knew a way to make money this morning. What is it?"

He had been waiting all night and was now eager to find out.

Before going to bed yesterday, Lin Wan had already figured out how to make money. She carefully looked through her original body's memories and found two kinds of fruits that could be used to make ice jelly.

One is the Ficus microcarpa fruit, which is called the scale fruit here, and the other is the lantern fruit.

The seeds of these two fruits can be used to make ice jelly after being dried.

The only difference between the two fruits is that the seeds of the ficus carica fruit do not require lime water when used to make ice jelly, but the seeds of the cape gooseberry require lime water or wood ash water to assist in solidification.

And now she has a magic weapon to reduce costs:

Stevia!

That way they don't have to spend money on that damn expensive candy.

This is really a great deal! Apart from the labor and time investment, there is no other cost.

Lin Wan replied: "Well, you will know in a moment, but you have to tell me first, where are the lantern fruit and the scale fruit?"

Because she rarely came to Quanshui Village before she got married, she was not familiar with the place.

"Yes, they are found in many places on the roadside and in the mountains, but these two kinds of fruits cannot be eaten."

Li Chongle nodded in response, but he was wondering in his heart, do these two fruits have other uses?

Lin Wan smiled mysteriously and said, "I know how to make food with these two kinds of fruits. We should set out early after breakfast. After picking them, we need to split the seeds and dry them in the sun."

She added: "This food is easy to prepare. We will sell it at the market in a couple of days. If it is popular, we can make money from it."

When the two siblings heard Lin Wan say that the new food could make money, their eyes suddenly lit up. They quickly finished the porridge and did not forget to wash Lin Wan's bowl.

Then the two of them completed their preparations to go out as quickly as possible.

They picked up the two baskets they had bought yesterday from the main room and prepared to rush out to pick fruit.

At the door, the two were stopped by Lin Wan.

Lin Wan took out the medicine powder given by Aunt Luo, first rolled up the trouser legs of the two siblings, sprinkled some medicine powder inside, and then tied them up with soft rattan instead of hemp rope, and also treated her own pants with medicine powder.

Then the three of them set out to pick fruit.

Before leaving, Lin Wan and the two siblings had a clear understanding of the distribution of these two fruits in the village:

The ficus carica fruits can be found on the hillside and in the mountains behind their house, as well as at the foot of the mountain, on the hillside and in the mountains on the other side of the small river across the village. There are also some in other places such as along the banks of streams.

Lantern grass can be seen everywhere, including on the edges of fields, grasslands, roadsides, rivers, ditches and in the mountains.

In short, these two kinds of fruits are quite common here. Usually, children pick them for fun, and no adults pick them on purpose.

So Lin Wan decided not to go far today, and just picked two baskets of lychee fruits outside the mountain behind her house to test the water first.

After determining the target, the three men took wooden sticks and hit the grass at their feet, heading towards the back mountain to search.

As soon as we arrived at the sloped area up the mountain in the backyard, we found a lot of fig fruits. When we got closer, we saw that the fig fruits covered the entire slope. The two children immediately ran over to pick them.

Lin Wan behind him hurriedly said, "This fruit is divided into male and female. Don't rush to pick them. We have to pick the female ones to be useful."

She called out to the two anxious children, walked over, picked two fig fruits, and began to explain how to distinguish between male and female fruits.

Lin Wan said: "Look, the one with a sunken bottom is a male Ficus microcarpa. I'll break it open and it's empty inside, without any seeds." As she spoke, she held up the fruit to demonstrate and broke open a Ficus microcarpa that she had just picked.

Then she showed another fruit to the two children and said, "This fig has a round bottom and looks fuller. This is a female one, and we should pick that kind." Then she broke the fruit open and let them see the seeds inside.

After figuring it out, the three of them started a frantic picking process and filled two large baskets in just half an hour.

Then the three of them returned home, Lin Wan carried one basket, and the two little ones carried another basket together.

Fortunately, it is located behind the mountain where they live. Usually there are almost no villagers coming here, so they don’t need to cover up specially. However, when they go to other places to pick fruits in the future, they must provide appropriate cover.

This is their way of making money, so they must keep a low profile and keep it confidential.

On the way back, Li Chongle also educated his sister about keeping secrets.

For example, you cannot reveal the purpose of these fruits to others, you have to avoid people when picking fruits outside, you have to cover them with wild vegetables on the way back, etc.

~

Less than half an hour after the three of them went out, they brought back two large baskets, and they felt a great sense of accomplishment.

After returning home, the two siblings immediately took out the wooden barrels and basins for washing the fruit, rolled up their sleeves and started to work.

The three of them discussed the division of labor. Li Ke was responsible for washing the lychee fruits, Lin Wan was responsible for cutting the fruits with a bamboo knife, and Li Chongle was responsible for digging out the flesh.

However, due to the large amount of water used, this pristine spring pit seems a bit small.

Because spring water flows along the mountain into small puddles on the ground, it is impossible to store too much water at one time. After storing water for a quarter of an hour, only half a bucket of water is left.

There was another problem: they had no tools for drying clothes at home.

As the saying goes, sharpening the knife will never make you chop wood.

Lin Wan made prompt adjustments and decided to stay at home and make some simple modifications to the water-using area.

Today, she simply stored the spring water that was flowing along the mountain, and then used bamboo to guide it out. As for the construction of the reservoir below, it could be left for later improvement.

Fortunately, she had already split the bamboo needed to collect water the day before, and all that was left was to install it, which shouldn't take too long.

At the same time, she arranged for the two siblings to go to Old Man Wang's house to buy two winnowing baskets.

~

When the two siblings came back carrying a round winnowing basket with a diameter of one meter, they saw Lin Wan using a wooden bucket to collect water. The water flowed from a newly dug reservoir on the mountain through bamboo.

After my sister-in-law's renovation, the water flow increased a lot, and there was no need to scoop water from the small puddle. In this way, their water use will be cleaner and more convenient in the future.

Everything is ready, and the three of them officially start working.

Lin Wan first demonstrated the entire process from washing the fruit, to cutting the fruit, and then to taking out the ice powder seeds with a spoon or other bamboo pieces. After the two siblings said they had learned it, the three of them cooperated according to the division of labor.

After they dug out all the seeds of the ficus pumila fruit, Li Chongle carefully packed the peels in a basket and carried them to a pit in the back mountain to bury them. The two siblings also carried the ice powder seeds to the backyard to dry.

Finally, Li Chongle did not forget that a fish basket had been put in the creek yesterday and had not been lifted up yet, so he and Li Ke went out with a basket, saying that they were going to lift the fish basket and pick some kiwifruit or fig fruit on the way back.