Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

After arranging the reclamation of the mountain land, Zhang Xixi went home.

As soon as she entered, Zhang Xixi saw Sun Xiuxiu tending to the vegetable garden, and then she remembered that her own vegetable garden had not been sprayed with growth nutrient solution.

Although the vegetable has already grown into a seedling, it is still growing a bit slowly. She can't wait to eat new vegetables.

For more than a month, the only food available at home was wild vegetables, bamboo shoots, and toon leaves. Even if Sun Xiuxiu was very skilled, she would get tired of eating the same ingredients over and over again!

We should get the vegetables in the garden to grow as quickly as possible.

Zhang Xixi went to the usual storage room, bought a bucket of growth nutrient solution, and carried it out. "Sister Xiu, go feed the chickens and ducks something. I'll take care of things here!"

Sun Xiuxiu paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, boss!"

The chickens and ducks at home are all kept in the chicken coop. If they are let outside, the yard will be covered in chicken and duck droppings. So we've put them away. When we have time, we'll build a garden to raise chickens and ducks!

After mixing the growth nutrient solution with water, Zhang Xixi took out a spray bottle from her storage bag and sprayed the mixed nutrient solution into the vegetable garden, not even sparing the potatoes in the corner.

They also pulled up some of the watermelon seedlings because they were growing too densely and would affect the ripening of the later watermelons.

Zhang Xixi thought that next time she would spray some spiritual spring water to make the dishes taste better.

Around noon, Cuihua came again, and Zhang Xixi asked her to come in and talk.

"Third Aunt, there are only a few sweet potatoes and a few pounds of rice left over there."

Zhang Xixi was stunned when she heard the news. Since the price of grain rose, her family had stopped buying grain and had been buying rice from the system store.

The kitchen downstairs was only used to store some grain last time, and then it wasn't used again.

Seeing Zhang Xixi remain silent, Cuihua assumed she suspected her of stealing grain and quickly explained, "Third Aunt, I, I didn't lie to you, and I didn't steal any grain."

Seeing Cuihua's uneasy expression, Zhang Xixi quickly comforted her, "I didn't suspect you, I was just thinking about something. Come with me."

"Hey!"

Cuihua followed Zhang Xixi to the storage room. "There are sweet potatoes and rice here. Take some with you first. I'll have someone go to town to buy some this afternoon and send them to you."

"Okay, Third Aunt!"

Cuihua filled a cloth bag with more than ten catties of rice and more than twenty catties of sweet potatoes. Zhang Xixi also gave her a pheasant that Xiaojin had brought back yesterday but hadn't eaten. Although it was a little less, it was still good to have some meat.

After Cuihua left, Zhang Xixi bought three bags of sweet potatoes and three bags of rice from the system and threw them on the wooden board next to her.

This storage room is filled with many things. On one side, there is some grain, and on the other side, there are all sorts of miscellaneous items, such as wooden buckets, large vats, and unused bowls and chopsticks.

We still need to find a place to store the grain; it's not good to keep it all together.

Zhang Xixi thought for a moment, then carried two bags of rice to the kitchen and put them into the rice container. She then looked at the other rice container, which contained a small amount of flour and glutinous rice, but no millet.

We need to go to town to smuggle the goods out of the mall.

After lunch, just as Zhou Fu was about to leave, Zhang Xixi immediately stopped him. "Zhou Fu, wait a minute. Go to town and buy five catties of pork, two hundred catties of old rice, twenty catties of glutinous rice and millet, and a stone mill. If there are any pumpkins, buy a few too."

"Yes, boss!"

Zhang Xixi suddenly remembered the candied hawthorns that Da Bao had been longing for. She handed him five taels of silver and said, "If you see any candied hawthorns for sale, buy five skewers and take the carriage there. Go quickly and come back quickly."

After Zhou Fu responded, he went to the stable, led the horse out, harnessed it to the carriage, and went out.

In the afternoon, Zhou Jingyang and his brother went out to herd the mules again, and also took a vegetable basket to see if they could find any wild vegetables or fruits to bring back.

Zhang Xixi went to the Zhang family's house, while Zhang Dacheng and Zhang Wenhong each returned with a basket of hay.

"Dad, Second Brother, how are your pastures growing?"

"Not bad. The livestock at home can't finish eating it all, so I thought I'd cut it up, dry it, and keep it as fodder for the winter," Zhang Dacheng said with a smile.

Although the family only planted two acres of pasture grass, the grass grows back after each harvest, so they can store a lot of fodder.

"Great! We won't have to worry about it in winter!" Zhang Xixi thought that she could do the same with her own hay, otherwise buying rice bran from the mall in winter would definitely cost a lot of money.

Zhang Xixi looked around the room; Chen Shi and the others weren't there. "Father, where are Mother and the others?"

"Your mother and the others have gone to take care of the rice seedlings."

"They've already sprouted! So fast!"

"That's right. They've grown very quickly using the growth nutrient solution you gave us, but there are also a lot of weeds, so we need to clean them up every day."

This is probably the only downside of the growth nutrient solution, but there's nothing we can do about it!

Zhang Dacheng nodded and asked, "Girl, is there something you need?"

"It's nothing major, I just wanted to ask if you have time to go for a walk in the mountains and catch some pheasants or rabbits."

Zhang Wenhong said impatiently, "Little sister, I'll go with you in a bit. It's been so long since I've gone hunting, I'm itching to get my hands dirty!"

"Are you not busy anymore?"

"It's okay to be busy when you come back."

Finally, Zhang Dacheng and Zhang Wenhong dried the hay in the yard, then took their hunting rifles and went into the mountains with Zhang Xixi.

Not long after entering the mountains, Xiao Jin came running after smelling the aroma. "Master, why aren't you calling for a tiger now that we're in the mountains?"

Zhang Xixi patted Xiao Jin's head, "Xiao Jin, where can we find some bigger prey to take us?"

Xiao Jin shouted, "Okay!"

Led by Xiao Jin, Zhang Xixi and her two companions soon found several pheasants and rabbits, as well as a nest of wild eggs. While passing a small pond, they also spotted a lone wild boar.

Zhang Wenhong and Zhang Dacheng quickly dropped what they were holding, grabbed their hunting rifles, and rushed forward. Xiao Jin roared and charged fiercely as well. It couldn't handle a group of wild boars, but it could easily take down a single one.

Sure enough, under the combined attack of the two men and the tiger, the wild boar fell in less than fifteen minutes.

Zhang Xixi came over carrying pheasants and rabbits. "Let's hurry down the mountain to avoid the smell of blood attracting other wild animals."

"Okay, let's go!"

Zhang Dacheng and Zhang Wenhong carried the wild boar ahead.

Little Jin didn't follow, and roared a few times, "Master, I still have to go hunting, this stupid pig doesn't taste good!"

Zhang Xixi told Xiao Jin to be careful, and then quickly followed behind Zhang Dacheng and the others.

After arriving home, Zhang Dacheng and his son slaughtered the wild boar meat, and Zhang Xixi took a third of the meat, along with the pheasants and rabbits, back to her own home.

Seeing so much prey, Sun Xiuxiu happily came forward, "Master, where did this come from?"

"We caught it on the mountain."

"Boss, you're really amazing!" After praising Zhang Xixi, Sun Xiuxiu quickly took the pheasants and rabbits and began to prepare them.

Zhang Xixi placed the wild boar meat in a wooden basin on the ground and asked, "Has Zhou Fu returned?"