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

Seeing that everyone had left, Ji Yongning ran over and stretched out his dirty hands, saying, "Sister Ling'er, I've run all this way for you. Didn't you say you'd give us 'candy'?"

Ji Yongzhou also quickly stretched out his little black hand.

Ji Yongling chuckled and patted the two little black paws, then popped a "candy" into each person's mouth. Actually, it was sliced ​​licorice that she had recently prepared. There was plenty of licorice in the Northwest, and the sliced ​​licorice was sweet to eat, so she could use it as a sweet treat.

Ji Yongning and Ji Yongzhou exchanged a happy glance, then ran off laughing.

Ji Yongru, who was catching ants at the kitchen door, saw her two older brothers run away with their mouths bulging, and immediately ran over on her short legs.

"Sister Ling'er, what is brother eating? I want to eat too."

Ji Yongling gently pinched her little nose and stuffed a slice of licorice into her mouth.

The little girl immediately covered her mouth with her chubby hand, her eyes narrowed into slits, and she happily backed away.

Seeing Ji Yongling giving the younger children treats, Hu Xirong smiled and said, "Just keep indulging them."

"Fourth Aunt, the fun is only for a few years when you're a baby; it's not fun when you grow up."

"You little rascal, you're still a child yourself, but you talk like an adult, so profound. Come on, let's go see how my dyed threads are going, I'm waiting to sell them tomorrow." With that, he pulled Ji Yongling along and headed towards the abandoned cave dwelling.

Speaking of dyeing thread, it was a few days ago when she was making medicine pouches. Because she didn't have enough thread, Ji Yongling used the dye from the reserve warehouse to dye a few bunches of cotton thread at home.

At the time, Hu Xirong kept saying that this dye was good, with bright colors and not easy to fade.

Later, Ji Yongling poured various dyes and fixatives of different colors for Hu Xirong. In the past few days, Hu Xirong would go to dye and dry the thread whenever she had free time.

Later chemical dyeing techniques were already very mature, making dyeing simple and convenient. Just add the dye to boiling water, soak the clothes or cotton thread for ten minutes, add a color-fixing agent, and finally let it dry.

Looking at the colorful ropes drying on the ropes strung along the walls of the cave, Ji Yongling had the illusion of entering a spider's web cave.

"Fourth Aunt, you didn't dye all the yarn in the house, did you?"

"No, I kept a small handful. Hehe, mainly because I was afraid your grandma would scold me."

Hu Xirong turned the colorful threads on the rope with eyes full of affection, smacked her lips, and said, "I don't know how you caught Grandma Liu's eye. You've learned so much, even how to make dyes. These are all family secret recipes from the dye houses in the city."

"Is it not good?"

"Good, very good. It's a good thing you caught Grandma Liu's eye and learned so much from her. If it were another child who learned these things, I would be so jealous."

Ji Yongling smiled and said, "Fourth Aunt, you are really honest."

Hu Xirong said proudly, "That's right, you have good taste, unlike your fourth uncle, who's so blind he can't see any of my good points."

Ji Manqing, who was caught in the crossfire, sneezed twice on the way and said, "Who misses me?"

Ji Manchuan glanced at him and said, "First, you think about it; second, you scold it; third, you catch a cold. Don't you know that?"

Ji Manqing scoffed and continued on his way with his head down.

Hu Xirong continued to pull Ji Yongling along, pulling out a piece of cloth from the corner. Her eyes gleamed as she said, "Let Fourth Aunt see how this cloth is dyed. I just used this dye to dye it, and it looks really good. The color is definitely better than the cloth from the county."

Ji Yongling looked at the bright green linen in her hand, feeling both amused and exasperated. Perhaps due to material scarcity, women of this era preferred bright colors like bright red and green.

Ji Yongling knew that this dye could be used to dye cloth and clothes, but at the time Hu Xirong only said she wanted to dye thread, so she didn't say anything more.

Now Hu Xirong has actually dyed the cloth, and it looks pretty good. She nodded at Hu Xirong with satisfaction and said, "It's really good. The dyeing is very even, and the color is very bright."

However, upon further reflection, if Hu Xirong wanted to dye cloth to sell in the future, it would be better not to use dyes from later generations. She did not refuse to dye the thread this time, but she could not continue doing so in the future.

Hu Xirong proudly raised her chin, picked up the piece of cloth and gestured with it against her body, saying, "Of course, look who dyed it. Hehe, but the main thing is that the dye you gave me was good."

"No, no, no, it's because Fourth Aunt is skilled and dyed it well."

Hu Xirong put away the fabric, looking somewhat conflicted, and said, "Do you think I'll really be able to sell this thread tomorrow?"

"Yes, absolutely. I'll go with Fourth Aunt tomorrow."

Hu Xirong smiled with satisfaction, took the string off the rope, and neatly placed it into a clean basket.

However, before she could finish putting away all the threads, a voice came from outside the courtyard.

“Yongning’s father, Yongning’s mother, are you there? Your Yongning has blown up the old graves in the village!” Village head Niu Gensheng shouted.

"What?" Hu Xirong and Ji Yongling stared at each other, then quickly walked out of the courtyard.

Outside the courtyard, Niu Gensheng stood with his hands behind his back, frowning as he looked at the four children standing in a row, covered in dirt and looking like unearthed artifacts. He sighed angrily and helplessly.

Ji Yongning and the others were covered in mud, so much so that it was impossible to tell them apart. They were all nervously rubbing their clothes.

When Hu Xirong came out, she saw four mud dolls lined up together, completely covered in mud. She was furious and grabbed a fire poker that had somehow appeared at the gate of the courtyard. Without saying a word, she was about to swing it at the mud dolls. The dolls were so frightened that they quickly raised their arms to block their heads and jumped back.

Ji Yongling grabbed Hu Xirong's wrist and hurriedly said, "Fourth Aunt, don't hit her!"

Hu Xirong gritted her teeth and said, "Not fight? Not fighting would be a disservice to the clothes I'm wearing, a disservice to the pants I stayed up all night mending."

Ji Yongling tried to snatch the fire poker from Hu Xirong's hand, but Hu Xirong's strength was extraordinary. She tried twice but couldn't get it. She could only continue to persuade her, "Fourth Aunt, what I mean is that we should wash the child clean first before hitting him. Otherwise, what if we hit the wrong person when he looks like he just dug out of the ground?"

Seeing this, Ji Yongning and Ji Yongzhou, ignoring the dirt on their clothes, blinked their eyes and looked at their mother expectantly. Erdan and Tiedan quickly stepped back behind the two brothers, exposing them to the outside.

Hu Xirong roared, "Tell me, what kind of work have you been doing!"

Ji Yongning glanced cautiously at her mother and said, "I told you not to hit me."

Hu Xirong laughed in anger: "You've gone too far! You did something wrong and you still dare to bargain with me?" As she spoke, she picked up the fire poker again to hit them, scolding: "I see you two are really tough today! Are you going to talk or not? If you don't talk, I'll show you who I am today! I think you two are asking for a beating!"

Ji Yongning stepped back and pouted, saying, "I'll get beaten whether I tell you or not, so I won't tell you."

These words completely enraged Hu Xirong. She struck Ji Yongning on the buttocks with a stick, and Ji Yongning jumped up and down in pain, screaming and yelling.

Seeing that Hu Xirong was about to continue hitting, Ji Yongling quickly blocked her arm and said, "Fourth Aunt, calm down, my village head is still here. Let's ask what happened first."

Niu Gensheng also said, "Don't hit the child, the old grave has been destroyed by explosion, we need to discuss what to do."

Hu Xirong glared, gritted her teeth, and her face trembled as she said fiercely, "You two, tell me honestly, what exactly happened? How did the old grave collapse!"