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

After walking for more than an hour and winding through more than a dozen mountain roads, they still hadn't reached Ji Shuicao's house. Ji Yongling asked, "Why did Auntie marry into this remote mountain village?"

Ji Manchuan sighed and said, "It was all because of poverty and hunger. In those years, there were frequent droughts, and the crops in the fields yielded almost nothing. There was no other way; we couldn't survive on the plateau, so everyone fled to these deep mountain valleys. After all, there are many mountains here, and we are close to the water. There are also many potatoes and sweet potatoes that can be grown. Moreover, the taxes on mountain land are less, so we could make do and barely survive. At that time, your grandfather and your great-aunt's father had a good relationship, so he betrothed your great-aunt to your great-aunt's family."

"So how did our family end up back on the plateau?"

“I was too young to remember anything then. I heard from your grandfather that it was your great-great-grandfather who insisted on returning to the plateau, where the land was flat and easy to grow crops, and the roads were smooth and easy to develop. At the time, my grandfather, who was also your great-great-grandfather’s brother, was vehemently opposed to it. In the end, your great-great-grandfather beat him up and dragged him back to the plateau with everyone. Your great-aunt’s family continued to live here.”

Ji Yongling nodded: "My great-grandfather was indeed farsighted."

Ji Manchuan agreed, saying, "Yes, otherwise our family would be stuck in this mountain valley, with only a narrow strip of sky visible when we look up. Unlike our plateau, where the sky is high and the land is wide."

The father and daughter talked until they finally arrived at Ji Shuicao's house.

Because Ji Shuicao's home was quite far away, the original owner had only visited once or twice when she was a child, and didn't have much of an impression of it.

Ji Manchuan called out a few times outside the courtyard, but only Yu Fengshou's weak voice came from the cave dwelling inside the courtyard; the others were nowhere to be seen.

Ji Yongling entered the courtyard and looked around at the courtyard with five cave dwellings dug against the mountain. The courtyard was very clean and tidy. There was an apple tree and a persimmon tree on the left and right sides of the courtyard. Some fruit had already been borne on the apple tree.

She looked closely at the apple tree and found that the fruit it bore was larger than the apples in her own yard. The fruit was clean and, although not yet ripe, its color was already quite vibrant.

Seeing his daughter watching intently, Ji Manchuan chuckled and said, "The apples on your aunt's apple tree are the best in the surrounding villages, probably even in the entire Ningping County. They're sweet, crisp, and juicy—just thinking about them makes my mouth water. It's just that they don't bear many fruits. Look, this tree only has a few on it, one, two, three, four..." He then looked up and started counting the apples.

Ji Yongling knew that Gansu apples would later become famous throughout the country because of the deep loess layer, abundant sunshine, and large temperature difference between day and night, resulting in large, crisp, and sweet apples that were not cloyingly sweet and had an excellent taste.

"Manchuan, bring the baby in and sit down. Your older sister will be back in a little while," Yu Fengshou said after coughing a few times.

"Yes—" Ji Manchuan replied, took the medicine from the mule cart and carried it into the cave, and Ji Yongling followed him in.

“Sit down, Ling’er, sit down too. Wangdi and the village kids went to catch scorpions, and one of the kids got stung. Your older sisters and the others go check on them, they’ll be back in a bit,” Yu Fengshou said, panting.

Ji Manchuan chuckled: "These kids are hopeless. Back when we were young, we would catch scorpions every summer and we never heard of anyone getting stung."

Yu Fengshou chuckled twice, his eyebrows and eyes relaxing a bit, and said, "When we were young, the elders often said, 'Each generation is worse than the last.' Now it's our turn to say that."

Ji Manchuan and Yu Fengshou were chatting about their youth when, somehow, the conversation drifted to Ji Manqing.

When Ji Shuicao got married, Ji Manqing and Ji Manchuan were still young and couldn't walk that far. In order to send their sister off to her new home and also to freeload a meal at the banquet, the two of them had to sit in separate cages and be carried over by their grandfather and their elder brother Ji Mancang in turn.

When he arrived, Ji Manqing was not yet old enough to own his own pants. In fact, they were poor; the family didn't have enough money to buy clothes for such a young child, so he usually wore his older siblings' hand-me-downs.

Ji Manchuan was only two years older than Ji Manqing. Ji Manchuan didn't grow very tall when he was a child, so he and Ji Manqing shared a pair of pants when they were young.

When Ji Shuicao got married, Ji Manchuan wore trousers, so Ji Manqing had no trousers to wear. Yang had no choice but to take one of her own trousers, tie the cuffs together with needle and thread, and give it to Ji Manqing to wear.

However, Yang's trousers were too big for Ji Manqing, so he had to tie them with straw rope up to almost his chest to keep them from falling down, and they had to be tied very tightly.

When they arrived at Yu Fengshou's house in Xichanggou, Ji Manqing needed to urinate, but the straw rope on his pants was impossible to untie, so Ji Manchuan had to find a tile to cut it open. But after he finished urinating, there was no rope to tie his pants anymore, so he had to hold up his big pants by hand and go to find Grandpa Ji.

It just so happened that it was the newlyweds' wedding ceremony, and Ji Manqing, as the youngest brother-in-law, was pushed out to stand in the center of the courtyard, waiting for the Yu family to present him with a wedding gift (one coin). But some mischievous child, seeing that Ji Manqing was clutching his pants tightly, went up and tugged at them forcefully.

And so, Ji Manqing stood in the middle of the yard, snot running down his face, his bare bottom exposed.

The whole courtyard burst into laughter.

Yu Fengshou's mother laughed until tears streamed down her face as she rushed over to hug Ji Manqing and helped him tie his pants back up.

Although everyone was roughly the same level of poverty in those days, some boys even older than Ji Manchuan would still run around the village naked in the summer.

However, Ji Manqing was a child with a strong sense of self-esteem. The laughter and jeers from the people in the courtyard severely hurt his young heart. As a result, he didn't eat at the banquet that day, but instead threw a tantrum on the ground, crying and begging his grandfather to take him home.

With no other option, Ji Mancang, as the eldest brother, had to carry his two younger brothers home first. Of course, once home, Ji Manqing inevitably got a beating from Ji Manchuan, who also missed the banquet, leaving his buttocks swollen high.

Recalling these amusing incidents from the past, Yu Fengshou said with a smile in his eyes, "So many years have passed, and you kids are all so grown up now. Even now, some elderly people still occasionally bring up these things from back then, and sometimes they will ask me, 'What's your brother-in-law from the plateau who showed his butt doing now?'"

Ji Manchuan also recalled what happened back then, slapped his thigh and laughed wildly, until he even made a donkey-like braying sound.

Ji Yongling carefully observed Yu Fengshou and noticed that his face was flushed, his nostrils were flaring, and he often gasped for breath when he spoke. This further confirmed her previous judgment that he probably had pneumonia.

Yu Fengshou laughed so hard that he became breathless, his chest vibrated violently, and he coughed so hard he couldn't catch his breath.

Seeing that Yu Fengshou was in great discomfort, Ji Manchuan quickly patted his back. Once Yu Fengshou stopped coughing, Ji Manchuan said anxiously, "Brother-in-law, don't talk, just rest. I'll go and brew you some medicine. This is from Dr. Xu in the county. You know Dr. Xu, right? His medical skills are among the best in Ningping County." After saying that, he grabbed a packet of medicine and headed towards the kitchen.