Du Jiang stood at the gate of the pigpen for a long time but Uncle Du didn't come back. Instead, he waited for the scorekeeper, whose surname was also Du. Du Jiang heard Aunt Du call him "Second Boy", but Du Jiang couldn't call him "Second Boy". Instead, he called him "Second Uncle" like other people in the village.

"Well, girl Du, let me take a look. Big brother said you are very suitable and can clean the pigpen very well." Uncle Du put his hands behind his back and strolled around the pigpen, well, no, the yard with satisfaction, nodding repeatedly, "You girl cleaned it very well, much better than big brother who is a sloppy guy. So you will be responsible for the pigpen from now on, and try to raise the fattest and biggest pigs for our village."

After saying that, Uncle Du looked at Du Jiang with burning eyes, "Girl, this is a very important job. Can you adapt to it? Don't worry, although there is not much pig grass on the mountain in winter, the village will go back to grind tofu in winter, and the residue will be brought here, as well as some grass chaff, wheat bran, etc. The most important thing is that this job is easy. If it weren't for Aunt Du and Uncle Du's recommendation, you wouldn't have gotten it."

Facing Uncle Du's words, Du Jiang had nothing else to say but nodded resignedly, "Uncle Du, don't worry, I will definitely raise the pigs well, even if these pigs have nothing to eat except pig grass. This is my first time raising pigs, so why don't you assign someone to me?"

Uncle Du knew that Du Jiang had never raised pigs. After all, he was a city kid and had probably never even seen a live pig. So he didn't think Du Jiang's request was excessive at all. Instead, he thought it was very reasonable. If Du Jiang agreed without even thinking about it, then he would think about it.

"Don't worry, I've already told my sister-in-law about this. Her daughter Tianniu will be back the day after tomorrow and will raise pigs with you. You can help each other out then. Tianniu will live next door to your educated youth camp, so it will be convenient for you to go back and forth to work." Then Uncle Du talked a little more about the habits of pigs and left. Before leaving, he did not forget to remind Du Jiang, "If you have any questions these two days, just come to the fields to find me or your uncle Du. You can even call me if we're just a few steps away."

"Okay, I got it. Take care, Uncle Du." After seeing Uncle Du off, Du Jiang realized what she had just agreed to. She couldn't help twitching the corners of her mouth a few times, and then she began to look around the yard. The yard was not big. Excluding the space occupied by the pigpen, there was only a palm-sized area of ​​about five or six square meters. The inside of the house was even simpler. There was a simple wooden bed on the west side and a stove on the east side with a big black pot on it. It seemed that the pig food was cooked here. Maybe it hadn't been cleaned for years, and the area around the pot was very sticky.

As for the inside of the house, it was very dirty with dead branches and leaves like pig grass scattered around, and there was even a faint odor. In order not to torture his nose, Du Jiang resigned himself to rolling up his sleeves and started cleaning.

huff huff huff huff

When his arms were no longer sore, Du Jiang finally cleaned the house and made it look brand new. However, the water in the water tank was almost used up. There were not many families in the village who had wells, but there was a shared well in the village square, which was a little closer than the educated youth site.

Du Jiang walked half a circle around the water tank next to the stove and found two wooden barrels and a shoulder pole standing on the wall inside it.

Du Jiang, who had never used such a thing, followed what he saw in the village. He put the wooden barrel on both sides of the shoulder pole, then carried the shoulder pole on his shoulders and walked out. Although there was no pig thief in the village, Du Jiang locked the gate carefully when he left just in case.

Du Jiang, who was carrying water for the first time, missed the well in the courtyard of the educated youth center and the faucet at home very much. Unfortunately, both of them were a luxury for Du Jiang.

The well in the village square was of the old-fashioned type. By turning the shaft on the well platform along the rope, the wooden bucket would fall down with a creaking sound. The bottom of the well was so deep that Du Jiang could only feel the water and then start turning it in the opposite direction to pull the bucket up.

Du Jiang was usually good at observation and didn't make any funny jokes, which made it less fun for the aunties and sisters working in the square to watch him laugh, but it didn't matter.

Under the gaze of everyone, Du Jiang filled two buckets of water and walked back slowly. Because the wooden barrels were too full, Du Jiang didn't dare to walk too fast, for fear that the water inside would spill out. However, even with such caution, when he returned to the pigsty, some of the water in the barrels was still spilled out, but fortunately there was still a lot left.

The water tank in the pigsty was not very big, and Du Jiang filled it up in two trips. Then, looking at the stone trough where there was still a lot of food left, Du Jiang thought for a while and decided to go to get pig food with a backpack. Fortunately, the backpack and sickle belonged to the pigsty, and Uncle Du did not take them with him when he left.

After closing the courtyard door, Du Jiang walked up the mountain with a backpack on her back and a sickle in her hand. Thanks to her knowledge of herbal medicine and her experience of seeing pig grass, picking pig grass was not a difficult task for her, not to mention that there were some children digging wild vegetables on the mountain at that time.

"Sister Du, are you going to pick pig grass?" Erya, who was digging wild vegetables at the foot of the mountain, saw Du Jiang's figure and the equipment on her body and quickly stood up. "I'll take you there. A little further up, there's the most pig grass there. That's where Uncle Du cut it this morning."

"Okay, thank you Erya, but won't it delay your digging of wild vegetables?"

"No need to delay, Sister Du, let's go. It just so happens that I want to go there too. The wild vegetables here have been almost dug up, and the remaining ones are a little old." Du Erya carried her small backpack and did not forget to say hello to her little friend as she led Du Jiang up the mountain. Compared with Du Erya's enthusiasm, the others were a little cold, but Du Jiang did not care. After Du Erya led her to the place, Du Jiang stuffed a fruit candy into her hand and said, "Thank you, Erya."

Looking at the candy in her hand, Du Erya smiled widely, and ran to the side with a chuckle. Seeing this, Du Jiang only had time to shout, "Don't go to dangerous places" and then he could no longer see her figure.

Looking at the figure disappearing in the bushes, Du Jiang shook his head, then took off his backpack, picked up the sickle and started cutting grass for the pigs.

Thanks to the training of cutting wheat, Du Jiang's sickle usage was quite good. After a while, she filled a basket with pig grass. However, she did not rush back. Instead, she squatted on the ground and began to pull up the grass. Looking at the bitter herbs and wild mugwort mixed in it, Du Jiang smiled and began to dig. In addition to these, Du Jiang also dug up a lot of rhubarb. It must be said that the mountains are really a treasure.

During the search, Du Jiang also found several lantern fruit plants and some black fruits the size of fingernails. Du Jiang couldn't remember the name, it seemed to be called nightshade fruit. They were densely packed on the branches, but some of them were ripe and rotten. However, this did not affect Du Jiang's mood at all, but made Du Jiang happier.