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

As soon as Huang Daopo and her disciples left, the people at the door also dispersed.

Ji Yinqiao smiled awkwardly and said, "Manchuan, Huang Daopo is very effective. I'm doing this for the good of our Ji family and for your sake."

Why don't we send this second girl to my house to be raised temporarily? Firstly, it will save you food, and secondly, as you heard from Granny Huang, this girl needs to be sent away.

"Look at my sons, they don't have a granddaughter, but I will definitely dote on her!" After saying that, she went to help Yang Shi up.

Yang was also tired. She stood up, supporting her knees, and after thinking for a moment, said to Ji Manchuan, "Sending it to your Aunt Yinqiao's house is not out of the question."

Upon hearing this, Ji Manchuan immediately flew into a rage and shouted, "Whoever wants to give away their girl can go ahead! I, Ji Manchuan, would rather die than give away my own child!"

Jia Ronghua held Ji Yongling's hand tightly, her eyes brimming with tears: "My son, where did you go last night? You scared your mother to death."

Ji Yongling felt a little embarrassed, after all, she had taken over the body of the woman's daughter in front of her, and the original Ji Yongling could never come back.

Perhaps out of sheer bodily instinct, she unconsciously raised her hand to wipe away Jia Ronghua's tears and called out, "Mother."

In her previous life, Ji Yongling was raised by her grandparents while her parents went out to work and only came back during the Chinese New Year.

When Ji Yongling was six years old, it snowed heavily in her hometown that winter. Her parents happily told her on the phone that they would take her to the city to study after the New Year.

But on the day before the Lunar New Year, my parents' footsteps were forever frozen on the road a few kilometers from home.

When her grandfather brought her to the scene, her parents and the motorcycle were lying in a pool of blood. Except for the two tires, the rest of the motorcycle was in pieces, along with her parents.

Nearby, Ji Manchuan and Ji Yinqiao were still talking.

Ji Yinqiao smiled apologetically and said to Ji Manchuan, "Manchuan, what are you saying? I'm just worried that Er Yatou will bring trouble to everyone, after all, she was born on such a day."

Even Huang Daopo said she wanted to send the child away to be raised. With so many mouths to feed in your family, raising one child is so difficult.

Besides, you already have a daughter, you should hurry up and have a son.

Upon hearing Ji Yinqiao's words, Ji Yongling turned around and said, "Aunt Yinqiao, you keep saying that my sister's birth yesterday will bring disaster to the family. Aren't you afraid of bringing disaster if you send her to your house?"

Besides, why not say that my sister's birth date yesterday was to ward off misfortune for the family?

After all, given what happened yesterday, the fact that I was able to walk out of the ravine unharmed was surely thanks to my sister's help, wasn't it?

Ji Manchuan immediately glared at Ji Yinqiao and said loudly, "Yes, Aunt Yinqiao, you shouldn't say things like that. What if some important person was born yesterday? Would you dare to say such things?"

"Wah—" The baby in Grandma Chen's arms woke up, and the loud crying seemed to shake the cave dwelling down.

"Have you made enough noise?!" At that moment, a loud and clear voice came from outside the courtyard.

The deep voice belonged to Ji Yongling's grandfather, the second oldest son, Mr. Ji.

Old Master Ji was seen wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat made of wheat straw, a patched jacket with a pipe tucked diagonally into the back of the collar, his trousers rolled up high, and his worn-out straw sandals covered in yellow dust. He walked in, his hands folded behind his back, slightly hunched over.

Grandpa Ji glanced at Ji Yinqiao and said to Jia Ronghua, "The baby is probably hungry, take him inside and feed him."

Jia Ronghua quickly took the bundle from Sixth Grandmother Chen's arms and, with Chen's help, entered a cave dwelling on the west side.

When Grandpa Ji saw Jia Ronghua carrying the child inside, he turned to Ji Yinqiao and said, "Yinqiao, are your husband's family having too much free time? They're meddling in everything, even your own family! Are you not planning to acknowledge me as your second brother anymore, and not want to visit your family again?"

Ji Yinqiao pouted: "Second brother, what are you saying? I'm doing this for your family, for the sake of the third brother! Look at Manchuan's life, it wasn't easy for him to have two girls, and things will be tough from now on."

"Hmph!" Old Master Ji snorted heavily through his nose and continued with a long face, "Hold your own bowl tight, eat your own food, and don't reach out your hands!"

Then he turned to Manchuan and said, "Ling'er has been found! Aren't you going to check if the child is hurt?" Then he said to Yang Shi and Hu Xirong, "The adults and children who were searching for her haven't eaten a single bite of food since last night until noon. Are they trying to starve her to death?!"

Yang and Hu Xirong, mother and daughter-in-law, exchanged a glance and went to the cave dwelling used as a kitchen.

Ji Yinqiao glanced at the cave dwelling Jia Ronghua had gone into, then looked at Old Master Ji, still unwilling to give up: "Second brother, if you ever have a really tough time in the future, remember what I said today, bring the second daughter of the third brother's family to my house, and I will definitely treat her as my own granddaughter."

"Mind your own business and be a good head of the Zhao family. Even if the third son starves to death, the child will never bear the Zhao surname! In Niujiatun, you only need to take care of your old mother." Old Master Ji strolled towards his cave dwelling.

"Second Brother, look at what you're saying. Fine, whatever, just don't regret it later." Ji Yinqiao flicked her handkerchief, turned and left.

A few steps outside the gate, Ji Yinqiao glanced back at the old Ji family's courtyard, stomped her foot in anger, and muttered, "It's all because of that He Daxian!"

If he hadn't said that the girl in Niujiazhuang was an alien descended from heaven—though he couldn't discern what celestial phenomenon it was, he claimed her family would surely prosper—I wouldn't have gotten involved in this mess. Now, the matter hasn't been resolved, and I still have to offer sacrifices to Granny Huang when I get back. What bad luck!

Seeing that Ji Yinqiao had left, Ji Manchuan pulled Ji Yongling to go find Old Master Ji.

"Ling'er was found in the small dugout that my uncle used to dig in the western mountain gully."

Fortunately, there was a tree growing in that little dugout, and the dugout collapsed yesterday when the earthworm turned over.

"But the branches inside held it up a bit, preventing the child from being completely crushed underneath," Ji Manchuan explained to Grandpa Ji.

Grandpa Ji pulled out his pipe from his back, filled it with tobacco leaves, pressed down on the tobacco leaves with his thumb, and nodded: "Back then, Master He from Lotus Pond said that Ling'er was a very clever child and a blessed one."

Yesterday there was both a solar eclipse and an earthquake; that little dugout definitely wouldn't have held up and would have collapsed. Luckily, the child was somewhat fortunate; he must have been terrified!

As Ji Yongling looked at the cracks on the old man's large hands, his fingers grinding the tobacco leaves without lighting them, she suddenly thought of her grandfather from her previous life.

He was an old man who loved to smoke tobacco. As a barefoot veterinarian and barefoot doctor, he worked diligently throughout his life, braving wind and rain, visiting every inch of the county and every household, saving the lives of countless livestock and poultry, and also treating the illnesses of many villagers.

Back then, villagers would often joke, "Old Ji, you can treat animals like people, but don't treat us like animals."

Grandpa would always chuckle and reply, "What's there to be afraid of? They're all just cattle and horses. The medicine for livestock is given in large doses, so they recover quickly."

Back then, she would always tell her grandparents, "When I graduate, I will definitely take you to Beijing to climb the Great Wall, to the South China Sea to see the ocean, to the Greater Khingan Mountains to see the snow, and to Xinjiang to eat Hami melons."

But alas, her parents never got to see her graduate from university.

As time goes by, longing becomes blurred.

The seasons may cycle, but life itself does not. A glimpse of each other again can only occur in dreams.

Coming to his senses, Ji Yongling smiled at Grandpa Ji and said, "Back then, the celestial dog ate the sun, and it suddenly got dark. I was very scared, so I wanted to hide in that little dugout. But then the earth dragon turned over, and I don't know anything after that. When I woke up, I saw my father."

Grandpa Ji patted Ji Yongling's head and said, "Go find your mother. She was terrified yesterday too. Don't go cutting pig feed by yourself anymore. We'd rather not raise these pigs at all than let anything happen to you kids."

Then, after looking at the cave dwellings on the sides, he said to Ji Manchuan, "Manchuan, when your brother and the others come back, take a careful look at the top and edges of these cave dwellings again. Although the earth dragon's movement yesterday wasn't very loud, we still need to be vigilant. I noticed that there are a few abandoned cave dwellings in the village with cracks."

"Okay, Dad." After replying to his father, Ji Manchuan prepared to go into the cave to see his wife and children. Before he even stepped across the threshold, he heard a loud shout coming from outside the courtyard. He knew without even listening that it was Ji Manqing.