Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

"My husband is back. The things I bought have already been put in the storage room."

Zhang Xixi nodded, went to the storage room, and looked around, leaving two bags of stale rice untouched.

They carried the glutinous rice, millet, and five catties of pork to the kitchen. Since they had wild boar meat, they decided to keep the wild boar meat raised by this family for their own consumption.

Zhang Xixi came out and said to Sun Xiuxiu, "Let's marinate the pork in the kitchen first. We'll stew a pheasant tonight, and hang the rest with salt."

Sun Xiuxiu responded, "Yes!"

"Master, what should we do with this wild boar meat?"

"Just leave these here, we'll send them downstairs for the workers to eat later," Zhang Xixi said, looking at the wild boar meat.

"Master, you are so generous. I have never seen a master treat his servants as well as you do."

Zhang Xixi smiled and said, "As long as the people who come to my house work hard and are loyal to me, I will not treat them unfairly."

After speaking, Zhou Fu returned with a basket of hay on his back. Zhang Xixi saw this and quickly called out, "Zhou Fu, you can dry the hay in the yard. You can cut more hay in the future, and dry and store the leftovers for the livestock."

"Yes, boss!"

Zhou Fu came over with a basket on his back and laid the hay out to dry on the passageway in the yard. "Boss, there's still a lot of hay in the field. There probably isn't enough room to dry it in the yard. Why don't you dry it on the wasteland outside? The sun has been shining these past few days, so it'll be dry in a few days."

Zhang Xixi looked at the blue sky; it shouldn't rain for the next few days.

"Alright, then I'll leave this to you. Go and prepare the carriage now, we'll send some things to the kitchen downstairs."

After Zhou Fuxian reported the remaining silver and accounts from today's shopping to Zhang Xixi, he went to get the carriage ready.

Zhang Xixi and the others loaded three bags of sweet potatoes, two large bags of rice, and wild boar meat onto the carriage. Zhang Xixi then went to the kitchen to get some seasonings, which she actually bought from the system's shop, with salt being the most abundant item.

After loading everything onto the cart, Zhou Fu drove it out.

There's no need to worry about storing so much stuff downstairs. The kitchen downstairs has been expanded and is very sturdy by Wang Daniu and his team, and there's only one door. Wang Daniu and his team rest nearby at night, so generally no one will come to steal anything.

When Da Bao and the others came home in the evening, Da Bao was overjoyed to see the candied hawthorns. He kept saying, "Mom, you're so great! Mom is my favorite person!"

Ten days passed in the blink of an eye, and the rice seedlings were ready for transplanting. The villagers were busy planting seedlings for several days, and Zhang Xixi and Sun Xiuxiu also went to help the Zhang family plant seedlings for several days.

Although Zhang Xixi had planted rice seedlings before, it was in an experimental field where the row spacing and plant spacing were measured and planted by machine. Unlike now, with so many fields planted by hand, she felt her old back was so sore after planting more than ten acres of land.

Alas! The working people of ancient times really couldn't afford to suffer!

After resting at home for two days, Zhang Xixi and Sun Xiuxiu recovered. Zhang Xixi also decided that next time they planted rice seedlings, they would hire more people and their own family members would not need to go.

Zhang Xixi bought three health pills from the system shop and still had more than 10,000 luck points left.

Hmm! This luck stat isn't enough to spend, there are still so many things I want to buy but I don't have the money for!

Although my luck increased significantly after the hay harvest, I spent far more than that, but I still had to buy what I needed.

That day, Zhang Xixi took one health pill herself and then brought a bag of rice and the remaining two health pills to the Zhang family.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I saw Chen and her younger sister weeding the vegetable garden. "Mother, sister-in-law, you're busy!"

When Chen saw her daughter arrive, she threw the weeds she was carrying on the ground and went out of the vegetable garden to greet her, teasingly asking, "What good stuff have you brought this time!"

"This is top-quality rice, don't skimp on it!"

Chen took the rice and pulled Zhang Xixi to the kitchen. "I made glutinous rice cakes this morning. I was planning to bring them over to you later, but since you're here, take some back with you!"

Zhang Xixi picked up a piece of glutinous rice cake and put it in her mouth, "Mom, what you make is so delicious!"

Chen gave Zhang Xixi a playful glare before putting the rice into the rice jar.

After eating a few pieces, Zhang Xixi took out the health-preserving pills and handed them to Chen Shi, saying, "Mom, these health-preserving pills are for you and Dad. You've been working too hard lately, so you should nourish yourselves."

"I know, daughters are the best!"

Chen took the box and carefully placed it in her bosom.

As Zhang Xixi left the kitchen, she saw ducks wandering around in the yard and suddenly thought of a good way to raise ducks.

"Mom, I have something to tell you!"

Seeing Zhang Xixi's excited expression, Chen quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

Zhang Xixi quickly told Chen about raising fish in the rice paddies, and Chen was stunned when she heard it.

"Is raising ducks in rice paddies really as good as you say!"

"Of course, it can not only remove weeds and help ducks grow faster, but it can also prevent locust plagues!"

Chen rolled her eyes at Zhang Xixi, "Don't jinx it, what locust plague or what locust plague."

Zhang Xixi touched her nose. "Mom, I was just saying it's preventative. If the ducks eat all the locusts in the rice paddies, the locusts won't come and ruin the crops!"

After thinking for a while, Chen said, "Tomorrow I'll have your second brother go to town to buy some ducks to try. Once it's successful, we'll tell the villagers!"

"Mom, buy a few more and let me know when they come back so I can give them some medicine to prevent disease."

"Row!"

After finishing their business, Chen invited Zhang Xixi to stay for dinner, but Zhang Xixi declined, saying she had to go cut hay, and went home with a large plate of glutinous rice cakes.

Zhou Fu couldn't possibly finish harvesting 100 acres of pasture by herself. Since she was free anyway, she decided to take advantage of the good weather these next few days and use her strength to cut more pasture and dry it.

Zhang Xixi cut hay with ease. By extending the back of the sickle, it became a lawnmower, eliminating the need to bend over. After cutting a patch, she would then put it in the field to dry. Indeed, this kind of simple yet strenuous work suited her best!

By noon the next day, seven or eight acres of pasture had been cut, and several thousand luck points had been earned.

In the afternoon, Zhang Wenhong bought ducks and came to Zhang Xixi's house. Zhang Xixi took out the spiritual spring water she had bought in advance, returned to the Zhang family home, and fed it to the ducks.

The more than thirty ducks seemed to be more energetic after drinking the spring water. "Mother, you should keep the ducks at home for seven or eight days before putting them in the rice paddy."

"Why didn't you say so earlier? I should have waited seven or eight days to buy the ducks," Chen said angrily.

Zhang Xixi quickly explained, "We need to keep the ducks at home for a few days to get used to the new environment, so that if a few die, it won't affect the whole flock. Also, when we put the ducks in the rice paddies, we can decide whether to build a duck shed by the paddy field or bring them home at night."