Daily life of farming and supporting a family on the ancient Loess Plateau

"Fourth Uncle, come back to life!" Ji Yongling called out.

Ji Manqing mechanically turned his head, his eyes red as he looked at Ji Yongling, and said in a way that was both laughing and crying, "You silly girl, why did you agree to sell thread to your fourth aunt! Look at you, you've been making pancakes all night without sleeping, and you keep poking me, asking me if you can sell it, and what if it gets sold out and you have nothing left to sell."

That's not all. I finally fell asleep, before dawn, before the rooster crowed, I was dreaming of eating steamed buns when she kicked me awake. "Ouch, my goodness, my steamed buns!"

Hu Xirong carried over a basin of water, slammed it onto the low table, splashing water everywhere, and said, "Your mother is in that kiln. If you howl any louder, you'll definitely wake her up."

Ji Manqing threw the tattered cloth full of holes into the basin of water: "What? My mother isn't your mother? You're just like that cowhide lantern, all dark inside and out."

Hu Xirong was about to go inside to get the basket from the assembly line when she heard Ji Manqing say this. She turned around, glared at him, and said, "You think you're so great? All you think about is eating white flour buns. People say that women who love to eat are easily fooled, while men who love to eat will end up in debt! Don't sell your body just to satisfy your appetite!"

As Ji Manqing wiped his face, he retorted, "Who's selling ditch stuff! What nonsense are you spouting? The kids are watching, hurry up and steam some buns, everyone's going to the market today."

"Fourth Uncle, Fourth Aunt, you two stop bickering, or you'll start arguing with my grandpa and grandma and get scolded," Ji Yongling said with a laugh.

She was already used to Ji Manqing and Hu Xirong's way of getting along; they bickered and argued every day, and they would feel uneasy if they didn't. If it weren't for Old Master Ji or Madam Yang keeping an eye on them, their bickering would never end.

Ji Manqing wrung out a towel, rinsed his hair with water, and turned to Ji Yongling, saying, "What we're doing isn't arguing, it's exchanging views and opinions on things. In the words of our teacher, it's called debating classics. You little brat don't understand."

Grandpa Ji opened the door of his cave dwelling with a creak and said with a stern face, "What do you know, kid? I think you know more than I do! All you do is spout nonsense all day long. I hear you two loud voices first thing in the morning, like crows in a tree, cawing endlessly."

Ji Manqing shrank his neck, twitched his lips, and didn't say anything more. He quietly picked up the wooden basin and poured the water into the pig feed bucket at the entrance of the kitchen.

Hu Xirong glared at Ji Manqing with disdain, silently saying, "It's all your fault!"

Ji Yongling chuckled to himself, raised an eyebrow at Hu Xirong with a cheerful smile, and slipped into the kitchen.

Recently, Ji Manchuan and his colleagues have been hauling medicinal herbs to the county, which is all physically demanding work, and the Ji family's meals are too low in calories.

Ji Yongling could only secretly add some multivitamins to the earthenware pot containing boiling water and some energy powder to the dough for steamed buns. Anyway, the flour was so red that it was almost black, so you couldn't tell what was added.

As dawn broke, the wind chimes in Old Ji's kitchen began to rattle and swirl, while wisps of smoke drifted from the chimney on the roof of the yard.

Before the family could even get ready, Ji Mantun and his son arrived.

Several men loaded two carts and a mule cart with medicinal herbs before sitting down to rest.

After a simple meal, the group shouldered bundles of cornbread and water gourds, and set off pulling their cart, which creaked and groaned.

Because driving a mule cart was less strenuous, Ji Manchuan had his two brothers, Ji Yongbai and Ji Yonghua, take turns leading the mules, while he, Ji Manqing, and Ji Mantun took turns pulling the two carts behind.

Hu Xirong and Ji Yongling, both wearing straw hats and each carrying a basket for thread tucked under their arm, followed behind several vehicles.

Along the way, the cuckoo kept calling "coo-coo, coo-coo".

Hu Xirong was beaming, chattering away to Ji Yongling, who just nodded and occasionally chimed in.

"Ling'er, what do you think we should buy for the family if we sell all these threads? After all, this is my first time selling goods, and it wouldn't look good if we didn't buy anything for the family, right?"

Just as Hu Xirong finished speaking, Ji Manqing, who was taking a break, suddenly jumped over and said with a fawning smile, "Mother, if you sell all these threads, buy a few steamed buns to take home. I didn't have a good dream about them last night."

Hu Xirong rolled her eyes in disdain and said, "If you want to eat white flour buns, just buy white flour and steam them. Why waste money? If you ask me, we should just buy a bowl of pork fried noodles and share it with everyone."

Last time I heard Wu Qiaoxia say that the rich man in her village celebrated his mother's birthday with pork fried noodles, which made all the helpers drool. I heard that after eating the noodles, there was a thick layer of oil at the bottom of the bowl—tsk tsk!

As Hu Xirong spoke, she slurped her saliva, as if she could already see the noodles.

Ji Manqing said with dissatisfaction, "Look at your useless appearance. If you can't buy pork, go back and render the oil yourself. You can use the extra oil to make more meals."

"That's true. We can make the steamed buns and dough ourselves, so why buy them? We shouldn't buy any!"

"No, ma'am, you still have to buy it. If all else fails, just buy a piece of fatty pork. It's been a long time since we've had meat. We only ate two slices last Chinese New Year."

"All you ever think about is eating! Can't you think about buying something else that's useful?"

"Didn't you say you were buying food? How did it become that I'm the only one who wants to eat?"

Ji Yongling quickened her pace to help Ji Manchuan, who was walking ahead, push the cart.

Perhaps Ji Manqing and Ji Manchuan were too loud, because they were overheard by Ji Manchuan. He said loudly, "Some people just think about putting up couplets at the entrance of the pigsty, eating, drinking and sleeping all day long."

Ji Manqing and Hu Xirong exchanged a glance, then Ji Manchuan called out, "Third Brother, you can only criticize me, don't drag others into it."

"Whoever answers, I'll call them out. Why bring anyone else along!"

Ji Yongling couldn't help but smile. The banter among these people undoubtedly added a touch of fun to the tedious and tiring journey.

Inside the Xu Family Pharmacy.

"Second Uncle, are you looking for that old woman again? Finding someone at this market is like trying to scoop sesame seeds from a big water vat, it's too difficult!" Xu Shirong said to the old doctor Xu who was standing at the door looking out.

With his hands behind his back, Dr. Xu looked at the bustling market and sighed, saying, "Let's give it a try. The market has only just opened, and no one has come to see me yet. No rush, I'll look around a bit more."

Xu Shirong shook his head, feeling that his second uncle was a bit obsessed.

"Then, Second Uncle, I'll go in first. The Ji family father and daughter will be delivering the last few cartloads of medicinal herbs today. Manager Wang has returned to the prefectural city, so I'll go and check the accounts."

Dr. Xu ignored Xu Shirong and continued shooting at the crowd until someone came to the shop for treatment, at which point he reluctantly went inside.