freenovelworld Chapter 75 Plant if you want
Chapter 75 Plant if you want
"Here, here." Aunt Yao shouted inside, "Master, come out quickly, the scholar and his wife are here."
Old Man Wu was repairing the cabinet in the house. When he heard the shouting, he immediately came out in his slippers.
Lu Chengjing came over to talk about the disaster relief grain. When Old Man Wu heard this, he immediately asked his youngest daughter to find Old Man Liu and others.
He didn't mention Village Chief Lin, so Lu Chengjing naturally wouldn't mention it either. Anyway, the Lin family didn't participate in the reconstruction of the village, so it didn't matter whether Village Chief Lin was invited or not.
Aunt Yao brought hot water and a small basin of juicy red cherries to entertain the guests.
Lu Chengjing now has a wheelchair, which makes it much easier to move around and protect himself. Shang Wan sat with him for a while, then took Yuanyuan to say goodbye and drove the ox cart back home.
The house was the same as before he left. Xiao Hui heard the noise and came out to greet the Yellow Ox, which was scared to death.
Shang Wan tried to comfort them forcefully, put Yuanyuan on Xiaohui's back, and kept the two away from the yellow cow.
She unloaded the things on the ox cart, then removed the frame to let the ox loosen up.
Shang Wan found a stone to sit on, opened the space, and glanced at the cabbage seeds sown into the spiritual field in front of him.
The Chinese cabbage has already sprouted and grown leaves, which is indeed faster than when planted outside the space, but Shang Wan still lacks a reference for how much faster.
When she went to the Zhang family to borrow vegetable seeds, she asked Aunt Zhou. Under normal circumstances, it takes thirty to forty days, or more than a month, for the cabbage to grow from sowing to a size that can be eaten.
If you want to save the seeds, you have to wait for the cabbage to sprout and produce seeds, and it will take about two months for the seeds to mature.
Shang Wan planned to keep a small portion of the vegetable seeds so that he could continue to grow them himself and also give some back to Aunt Zhou.
Xiaohuan came back with three big round white radishes covered in mud. Seeing that Shang Wan seemed to be thinking about something, she did not disturb him and rolled up her sleeves to pack up the things she had bought.
Tung oil cloth is used to cover the roof to prevent rainwater from leaking in through the gaps when it rains.
Put away the chipped bowls at home and replace them with new ones to avoid scratching your lips while eating.
Throw away the chopsticks of different lengths and replace them with new bamboo chopsticks.
The rice and flour are packaged separately, and the salt and oil tanks are cleaned and dried before use.
Wash the radish, cut it into strips, and dry it on a clean stone slab. You can use it for cold dishes or stews later.
There were so many chores that Xiao Huan was busy all the time. Shang Wan wanted to help, but Xiao Huan said no and asked Shang Wan to sit down and rest for a while.
Shang Wan was busy and couldn't sit still, so he changed into a simple cloth shirt, took out the saw, and started sawing wood skillfully.
Before starting work, they have to build a wooden shed for He Sizhi and his three companions to rest.
Not long after, Shitou came back with four big white radishes in his arms, which were given to him by Aunt Zhou.
Xiao Huan was about to do the same, but Shang Wan brushed the sawdust off his sleeves and said, "Take two and make pickled radishes, like they do in noodle shops."
The pickled radish in the noodle shop is sour and spicy with a slight sweetness, crispy when you bite it, and is appetizing and goes well with rice.
Xiaohuan has never made pickled radish, but she can try it.
After cutting and pickling the radish, Xiaohuan took off her apron and walked out holding her purse. "Most of the spices for stewing meat at home have been used up. I'm going to go to the Yuan family and bring back my brother-in-law's medicine."
The spices she mentioned, which are Chinese medicinal materials, could have been bought at the pharmacy in the city, but Xiaohuan thought they were too expensive. Anyway, Doctor Yuan also had them at home, and they were cheaper than at the pharmacy.
Xiaohuan's father was a good cook and worked as a chef in a restaurant before he passed away. Xiaohuan grew up in the kitchen and was very familiar with it.
If her hometown had not suffered a disaster, her father had not been beaten to death by a young general, and her mother had not abandoned her and remarried with her brother, Xiaohuan would not have fallen into the hands of human traffickers, nor would she have found a chance to escape. When she was about to freeze to death, she was spotted by Lu Chengjing and bought into the mansion as a maid.
"Auntie Yi!" Yuanyuan rode over on Xiaohui and waved her hand at Xiaohuan, "Nest! Let's go!"
"You can go, but you can't take Xiaohui with you." Xiaohuan reached out and hugged Yuanyuan, and helped the little guy straighten the little tuft of hair on his head that was crooked.
"Okay." Yuanyuan nodded her head and waved her hand at Xiaohui who was looking up at her. "Go back and play!"
Xiao Hui stood there for a while and watched the two people leaving, then slowly walked to Shang Wan and lay down, swinging his tail to the other side.
Shang Wan stroked it and saw that its eyes were half-closed, as if it was about to take a nap, so he pushed it and pointed in the direction of the forest, "Now that there are people at home, you might as well go back and check on those wolf cubs."
Hearing this, Xiao Hui stood up, rubbed Shang Wan's leg with his head, spread his limbs, and ran towards the forest.
"Sister, why don't we buy a dog to look after the house?" Stone suggested. "Xiao Hui has such a big family of wolves to take care of. It would be tiring to run around on both sides."
Shang Wan put the wooden board on the ground and said, "It won't move even if you chase it away now."
Do you really think that her spiritual spring water is given to her for free?
Shitou silently admired Shang Wan's skill in taming wolves. Suddenly, he had an idea and asked, "Sister, can you tame tigers? I think tigers are more majestic than wolves."
"You are so impressive, I won't even spit out the bones if I eat you." Shang Wan threw a small piece of wood at his head without even looking up, "Don't think about it, just get to work."
"Oh." Shitou touched his head and said while planing wood, "Sister, everyone in the village has land. They grow food and vegetables. They grow whatever they want to eat. They don't have to spend money to buy it. Why don't we also buy two plots of land to grow crops?"
Shang Wan looked at him, "What did you hear again?"
Shitou chuckled, "I heard that we don't have to pay taxes on the wasteland we reclaim. Sister, the piece of land at the foot of the mountain is good. It's close to our home and convenient to take care of."
"Your brother-in-law is a scholar. As long as the land under his name does not exceed 80 mu, he does not have to pay taxes, regardless of whether it is wasteland reclaimed by his family." Shang Wan asked, "Who told you this?"
Shitou said, "I came out of Zhang's house and passed by Luo's house. I saw Brother Luo and a few other guys from the village standing together and chatting. I stood there and listened."
"After the earthquake, many wheat seedlings fell in everyone's fields. Everyone thought it was a bad omen and worried that the wheat they planted last year would not have a good harvest. They all planned to reclaim land on the north slope. They planted a few more acres of millet during the season to avoid having no food to eat in the winter."
"I think what they said makes sense. Sister, we live in the village. If we can manage a few acres of land well, we won't have to worry about having no food to eat in the future."
"You're talking about a good year." Shang Wan poured cold water on the hot-headed boy, "In a famine year, there's no harvest. Aren't there many people who sell their children just to have a full meal?"
There is neither greenhouse farming nor artificial rainfall in this world. Farmers rely on the weather for their livelihood. It is too naive to expect to live a stable life by relying on a few acres of land.
"I didn't think that much." Shitou lowered his head in frustration and asked, "Sister, should we still farm?"
"You can plant if you want." Shang Wan said, "But the land in the village has been divided up a long time ago, so we have to open up wasteland ourselves if we want to plant. I don't know the specific rules, so wait for your brother-in-law to come back and we can discuss it together."
"Okay." Shitou nodded happily, and the frustration he had just felt disappeared.