Chapter 79 Autumn Harvest in Full Swing

This news is really useful to me. Since there aren't many people in town, I'll have to go shopping for free when I have some free time.

"Thanks."

I didn't dare say too much, so I continued to express my gratitude.

"No need to thank me. Now for the important information I want to convey to you. The autumn harvest will be basically over by October 30th. A large market will be opened at the border between our town and Bai Town. People will come out to exchange their own goods. If you need anything, you can bring your own supplies and come over to take a look."

We've finally gotten to the point; this is the truly important information.

When I heard there was an open market, it sounded really good. I could go and exchange a lot of things I needed.

I asked one more question: "Where do these houses where several towns are gathered together?"

"It's in Bai Town. You can come anytime you want; it's only a half-day walk away."

When the man heard that I was inquiring about the base, he explained to me very enthusiastically.

"Okay, I'll consider it, thank you."

I need to think about this matter further in private.

After saying what he needed to say, the man turned and started walking towards the tricycle.

As they walked, they said, "If you need any help, feel free to come to us anytime. We'll be going now, so we won't bother you any longer."

It must be said that they were quite tactful; they said what they needed to say and then left.

I had just breathed a sigh of relief when the young man started walking towards me.

"Sister, don't you recognize me?"

The dark-skinned, thin boy stared at me with his two bright, sparkling eyes.

It did look somewhat familiar, and I tried hard to recall what I remembered.

Oh, it's the nephew from the family I bought groceries in Dapeng before.

"I remember now."

I said in a calm tone that I didn't want to get involved with anyone; his overly familiar manner made me a little uncomfortable.

"It's so good to see you're still alive. I'm the only one left in my family."

The boy was still as talkative as before, but you could see his sadness.

My condolences. Everything will be alright.

I couldn't help but offer him a word of comfort.

At this moment, the sound of the tricycle starting up began.

"Taozi, get in the car quickly!"

One of the men, who was in his forties, urged him to get in the car.

He waved as he ran toward the car.

"Sister, I'm leaving now. Remember to visit me when you have time."

I didn't say anything, and watched the tricycle and the people leave.

I only relaxed completely after everyone left.

My palms were covered in cold sweat, and my knuckles ached from clenching them so tightly.

The fur on Xiao Gua's back was still standing up, so I quickly squatted down to comfort Xiao Di and Xiao Gua.

She buried her face in their heads and whispered, "It's okay, it's okay, my babies, it's okay."

A wave of fear suddenly washed over me. If these men really weren't good people, even with Xiaodi and Xiaogua included, I probably wouldn't have been able to resist at all.

Holding the little melons, I tried to comfort them, but tears kept welling up in my eyes.

After a while, she calmed down, wiped away her tears, and continued with her farm work.

I've long been used to living alone, and even if something happens, I've already learned to comfort myself.

There's nothing shameful about being scared to tears; as long as you can heal on your own, that's fine.

While fiddling with the mushrooms drying on the ground, she processed what the man had just said.

I kept weighing the information in my mind, wondering whether it could be trusted.

Unable to come to any conclusion, I started wondering again whether these men were good people or not, and whether they would come back to kill me when I wasn't looking.

After finishing with the mushrooms at home, I went to the vegetable garden to pick ripe green beans and eggplants.

This batch of green beans and eggplants is truly intended for winter storage.

As I picked green beans and eggplants, I kept pondering the expressions and words of those men, and I finally categorized them as good people.

I trust my intuition.

The men who came today showed no signs of scheming; they were clearly simple, honest farmers, and one of them was an old acquaintance.

After I began to believe their words, I started to ponder the information they were conveying to me.

What shocked me was the issue of human survival. Although I was prepared to live alone for the rest of my life, that didn't mean I could accept that the world had really changed so drastically.

I thought that once we got through the extreme cold, society would return to normal, but I never expected that an epidemic would follow.

What I never expected was that now there are only a few people left in the entire town.

With such a small number of surviving humans, food, meat, and tools will become increasingly scarce in the short term. It seems I need to take some time to plan for the future.

Fortunately, we had enough furniture and tools, as well as plenty of vegetables, grains, and seeds.

By the time I had completely thought through these questions, it was already dark, and I had picked all the green beans and eggplants.

It seems that thinking about things is good; I don't feel tired when I'm working.

I picked three full sacks of green beans and three full sacks of eggplants and put them directly on the kitchen floor.

I simply cooked a bowl of noodles for dinner, ate my fill, and went to bed.

The next day, after waking up, the autumn harvest season officially began.

Pushing a small cart and carrying a burlap sack, they went to the field to dig out potatoes and sweet potatoes.

The potatoes and sweet potatoes grew very thick and plump, with the largest being as big as a palm.

When we planted them, we dug holes here and there, and I don't remember how many I planted.

It took three days to dig up all the potatoes and sweet potatoes.

I was truly amazed by the harvest; we got a total of eight sacks of potatoes and eight sacks of sweet potatoes.

They took down the two beds that had been set up in the basement and put them up against the wall, then piled all the potatoes and sweet potatoes in the basement.

After the previous supplies are almost used up, the basement will be used as a cellar.

After harvesting the potatoes and sweet potatoes, we started harvesting the corn.

Wearing gloves, I pulled out the corn and threw it on the ground, piling it into a small pile before collecting it in a bag.

After five days of harvesting corn, we collected a total of 30 bags.

Luckily I bought a handcart and a small cart, otherwise it would have been exhausting.

First, spread the corn out on the open ground of the threshing ground and let it dry for a few days.

After drying for a few days, the 30 bags of corn were piled directly in the shed where the chicken feed was stored.

We don't process it yet, there's a lot to do, we'll process it when we want to eat it.

Once the corn harvest was finished, there wasn't a rush or any particular fatigue.

I was exhausted a few days ago, and after harvesting the corn, I had no strength left, so I stayed home to rest for the next two days.

They call it a break, but it's really just sitting on a bench cutting string beans.

The mushrooms happened to be dried, so we put them in a burlap sack and put them in the basement.

Then, place the cut green bean strips on baskets and burlap sacks to dry.

After cutting the green bean shreds and resting enough, I started harvesting other green vegetables.

At this time, the cabbages, pumpkins, and radishes are still growing for a while longer, and they can be harvested before the frost.

Over the next few days, we harvested all the other green vegetables, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc., and then began processing them.