Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

Zhang Wenbo was frantically searching for Zhang Xixi, because everything was ready except for her tent.

Erbao ran over and saw Zhang Xixi still slowly cutting celery. He immediately said, "Mom, Uncle is looking for you!"

"What do you want from me?"

"Mother, didn't you say you were going to provide Uncle with a tent?"

Zhang Xixi laughed awkwardly, "Oh, I forgot. I'll go back right away."

The second child looked speechless. Was his mother's memory really that bad?

My memory has been a bit off lately, but since I came here, I haven't had an irregular sleep schedule or stayed up late playing on my phone. Is it because I'm not under any pressure and have been living too comfortably?

Forget it, it's fine if I have a bad memory!

Fish only have a three-second memory, yet they live freely and happily!

When Zhang Wenbo saw Zhang Xixi coming over, he quickly pulled her to an open space.

"Little sister, how is it!"

Zhang Xixi nodded, reached into her sleeve, took out a round ball, and handed it to Zhang Wenbo.

Zhang Wenbo threw the sphere on the ground, and it instantly transformed into a tent, just like before. He then called the villagers to bring in the mud, sand, and tools.

Seeing that there was nothing more for her to do, Zhang Xixi also took the celery back home, finally able to change her diet.

The villagers were very happy to learn to read and write for free. Although they were not charged tuition, they still brought food from their homes to Zhang Wenbo after dinner.

The next day, since school was only held in the morning and students could help with chores in the afternoon, almost all the boys under the age of 16 in the village went to Zhang Wenbo's temporary school. Zhang Xixi looked at the girls and found that only her own niece was there. It seems that the prejudice against girls studying in ancient times was still very serious!

Zhang Xixi didn't interfere, because this was a deeply ingrained idea that was impossible and difficult to change. She sent Zhou Yujie and the two children to school, told them to study hard, and then went to attend to her own business.

Zhang Xixi and her son Zhang Dacheng arrived at the riverbank, where other villagers also brought their tarpaulins. Since the number of people and the amount of tarpaulins had been registered the night before, they didn't waste any time and got right to work.

Zhang Xixi divided the team into two groups. One group, led by Zhang Dacheng, went into the mountains to cut bamboo, while the other group, led by Zhou Dashan, stayed here to clear weeds and reclaim wasteland. Zhang Xixi was the commander-in-chief.

By the time Zhang Dacheng and his men brought back the bamboo, the sun was already high in the sky. Zhang Xixi then explained to him how to build the greenhouse frame.

"Dad, do you understand what's going on?"

Zhang Dacheng laughed and said, "Daughter, don't underestimate your dad. As soon as you tell me, I know what to do. It's very simple!"

"Dad, you are so awesome!"

Upon receiving Zhang Xixi's praise, Zhang Xixi smiled slightly and said narcissistically, "Don't you know who I am? My daughter is so smart, how could her father be any less capable!"

The father and daughter looked at each other and smiled!

Zhang Wenhong was envious. "My little sister and dad are so narcissistic, why don't they include me?"

I have a clever brain of my own, how come no one notices!

Building the greenhouse frame takes time; Zhang Dacheng and his team worked on it all morning but didn't get much done. However, Zhou Dashan's team was much faster, turning over all the land around the river in just one morning.

Zhang Xixi grabbed a handful of soil, rubbed it, and said, "This soil won't do."

"Brother-in-law, let's go find some rotten leaves this afternoon to mix in!"

"Okay, this soil looks too barren!"

In the Zhang family kitchen, Chen Shi got annoyed by Zhang Xixi's constant nagging about spicy cabbage and decided to grant her daughter's wish.

Based on Zhang Xixi's description of the taste and appearance, she tried several times before she could make a similar kimchi. Because she was unsure of the recipe, she only made a small jar.

If Zhang Xixi knew, she would definitely shower Chen with even more praise!

In ancient times, farming relied entirely on manual labor. This day was truly exhausting, Zhang Xixi remarked as she returned home for dinner that evening.

Zhang Wenhong also remarked, "If we had brought plows and harrows, we could have used oxen to plow the fields!"

"Stop talking nonsense and eat quickly!" Zhang Dacheng interrupted.

"Eldest brother, there are no classes at school in the afternoon. Take a few kids to gather some grass and store it in case the livestock have nothing to eat after it snows."

"Okay, Dad!"

The next day, Zhang Xixi and the others continued building the greenhouse, while the others continued to collect firewood and also cut grass.

Zhang Xixi had already soaked the sweet potato seeds in nutrient solution last night, and was just waiting to prepare the land today.

After the sweet potatoes were planted, the greenhouse was covered, and then the nutrient solution and water were mixed together and poured onto the ground, thus completing the sweet potato planting process.

Of course, Zhang Xixi also secretly added some spiritual spring water to it, believing that these sweet potatoes would definitely taste sweet and soft.

The villagers were very curious about the greenhouse that had been built. They had never seen farming like this before, and many people came to see what was going on.

Even the wild ducks climbed ashore to watch. When Zhang Xixi saw this, she wondered if these wild ducks would mistake this greenhouse for their nest!

Although these ducks are their food reserves, they can't let these unripe sweet potatoes be harmed!

"Dad, these ducks will definitely come and take over the greenhouse!"

Zhang Dacheng looked at the plump ducks and pondered, "Why don't we just lock them up?"

“If we lock them up, we’ll have to find them food. We don’t even have much to eat ourselves. No way, no way!” Zhou Dashan waved his hand and said.

"Why don't we just kill them all? Anyway, we've been running low on duck eggs lately!" another villager said.

Zhang Xixi agreed to kill them. Anyway, these ducks wouldn't have a good winter, so it was better to complete their mission ahead of time. Stewed duck with radish is a delicious dish.

“Let’s kill them all. Each family here can only get about three ducks. They can be preserved by drying them,” Chen suggested.

In the end, sweet potato was the clear winner. Any normal person would know which choice to make! After all, although sweet potato doesn't smell as good as duck, it can save your life!

"Then everyone go catch ducks!" Zhou Dashan called out.

The villagers' eyes lit up as they looked at the ducks; they could finally eat them, they had been craving them for so long!

The riverbank was instantly thrown into chaos as villagers worked together to chase and intercept the wild ducks. Once they caught one, they tied its wings and legs with grass and threw it onto the grass.

Because these ducks were not afraid of people and kept coming close to them, the villagers caught them all in no time.

That evening, almost every household in the village had braised duck with Chinese cabbage on their dinner table.

Zhang Xixi was a little disappointed because there were no radishes, but she still ate just as many as she wanted!