Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

Zhang Xixi led Zhang Dacheng to their land. Zhang Dacheng dug up several patches of soil with a hoe and examined them. The soil had changed; it was no longer the reddish, heavy, sticky red soil it used to be.

He burst into laughter. He really had changed, he really had changed!

Wang Daniu and the others looked at Zhang Dacheng in surprise when they heard the laughter. What's wrong with the boss's father?

Zhang Xixi quickly said, "Dad, calm down!"

"I can't stay calm, I'm overjoyed!"

Fine, let's make Dad happy!

Zhang Xixi turned around and looked at the mountain next to her. It was covered with weeds and bushes. If she wanted to clear this land, she would have to burn it first before she could start cultivating it.

At noon, Zhou Fu went back to eat, covered in sweat. He probably had no experience with farm work before, as his palms were blistered. But he didn't say anything and went back to the fields to cut grass after eating.

The Zhou brothers adapted quickly, becoming familiar with the village children in just one morning. After lunch, someone even came to call them to go herd the livestock together.

After watering her vegetable garden and trees with nutrient solution, Zhang Xixi glanced at the empty space left against the wall and decided to make use of it, instead of letting it lie fallow.

She glanced at Sun Xiuxiu in the kitchen, who couldn't see her, and bought ten pounds of potatoes from the system.

"System, why are these potatoes so expensive!"

"Host, seeds of crops that haven't appeared in this era are more expensive."

"There's such a rule?!"

It's expensive, but as long as I can eat, it's fine. She really wants to eat potato chips, stir-fried potato shreds, braised beef brisket with potatoes... No, you can't get beef here, because all the cattle are registered with the government and slaughtering is not allowed. The system doesn't sell live animals either.

Since we don't have any cattle, we could buy a few sheep to raise sometime; roasting a whole lamb would be a good idea.

The next day after lunch, Zhou Dashan and his family came to visit again. The price of grain had risen again the day before, and the amount of manure they produced was far too little to make organic fertilizer. If they didn't find a solution soon, they feared they wouldn't even have any wild vegetables to eat in the days to come.

Zhang Xixi didn't buy anything valuable for this transaction; she saved the money to buy soil conditioner and exchange it for labor from the villagers.

It was Zhou Dashan who spoke to Zhang Xixi again, saying, "Sister-in-law, we want your soil conditioner. When can you provide it to us?"

"It can be done today, but the land must be cleared before the pesticide can be applied. The pesticide should be mixed with water before applying it."

Many of the families who came had just started cultivating the land, and it would probably take several more days to prepare it. So most of them went back to cultivate the wasteland, leaving behind Zhou Dashan, Zhou Dahai, and another clan elder.

Zhang Xixi called Zhou Fu over, handed him a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and asked him to write a note.

"Brother-in-law, please tell us how much medicine you need and who you want to come to my house to work. We'll write a note and put our fingerprints on it."

“Okay!” Zhou Dashan said first, stating his own needs.

Zhang Xixi went to the storeroom and bought fifteen barrels of intermediate-level potions from the system shop, which filled the storeroom.

After they came out, all three of them had registered. Zhang Xixi picked up the slip of paper and looked at it. It was well-written and the content was concise and clear.

"Brother-in-law, we only have fifteen barrels. Could you arrange for the medicine to arrive and then return the barrels to me so I can prepare the new medicine?"

After discussing it, Zhou Dashan and the others decided to work on it together, starting with Zhou Dashan's land and then the other two's. They took the medicine and went to the fields.

Zhou Fu, standing nearby, found it strange. When he went to that room to get farm tools that morning, there weren't that many buckets inside. Where did these buckets come from? He glanced at Zhang Xixi, thinking that this employer was hiding something.

Zhang Xixi felt Zhou Fu's gaze, but didn't say anything. If he stayed at her house for a long time, he would definitely find some problems. Let's just consider it a test for their family!

A short while later, Zhou, the carpenter from the village, delivered two wooden beds, which Zhang Xixi had ordered the day before.

"Third Aunt, where should we put this bed?"

"Place it in the back room."

Upon seeing this, Zhou Fu immediately came to his senses and helped carry the bed to their place.

After finishing, Zhang Xixi paid the bill and then asked Zhou the carpenter to make two more vats, the kind that could hold ten buckets of water, before seeing Zhou the carpenter off.

Zhou Fu also went out to continue gathering hay, leaving Zhang Xixi alone at home. Zhou Dashan and the others bought a bucket of soil conditioner and poured it into the container.

That evening, Zhang Xixi calculated that Zhou Dashan's family had twenty buckets, Zhou Dahai's family had fifteen buckets, and another clan elder's family had ten buckets. Each bucket was worth ten work points, so they had earned a total of four hundred and fifty work points. Her family's land reclamation team was growing larger and larger.

Two days later, Zhang Wenhong's fertilizer was ready, and his fifteen mu of land, like Zhang Xixi's wasteland, was fertilized and improved, and then pasture was planted.

Several families in the village have also planted pasture grass and plan to buy chickens and ducks to raise after the grass sprouts.

For the past month, Zhang Xixi has been at home preparing medicine. Villagers have been coming to exchange it one after another, but each time she would buy it, pour it into a vat, and then have a villager bring a wooden bucket to take it back. In the end, she exchanged about three thousand workers.

For the first half of the month, Niu Da delivered some animal manure, but later he stopped delivering altogether. Zhang Xixi settled the bill with him and told him not to deliver anymore.

Every time the materials arrived, Wang Daniu would lead his men to compost them, which would be ready to use once the land reclamation was completed.

A month later, the remaining two hundred acres of wasteland were finally reclaimed. Zhang Xixi made a special trip to the county town pretending to buy sweet potato seeds, and returned with a truckload of sweet potatoes.

The next day, Wang Daniu was sent to plant sweet potatoes. Of course, they used a growth nutrient solution before planting, and it took three days to finish.

Although the work is hard every day, the employer is nice, the food is good, and the wages are not low. Now that the work is finished, Wang Daniu and the others are reluctant to leave, but they can't stay here!

Wang Daniu brought two men to find Zhang Xixi, "Boss, can we go back now?"

Zhang Xixi paused for a moment before remembering that the wasteland by the river had been cleared. "Go home and rest for five or six days before coming back. I still have a lot of work for you to do, and you'll still get paid the same."

"There really is still work to do!" Wang Daniu said happily.

"Of course!"

Thinking of the increasingly expensive grain in town, Wang Daniu hesitated for a moment before asking, "Boss, could you exchange a small portion of next month's wages for grain, sweet potatoes will do!"

Zhang Xixi pondered for a moment and decided to switch to grain! The sweet potatoes in the field would definitely be ready for harvest next month, and she could use them as wages.

"Sure, three coins less per pound of sweet potatoes."

"Alright, then we'll take our leave!"

Wang Daniu and the others went back to pack their things with smiles on their faces as they received their wages. Now they were no longer worried at all!