After entering April, the mountain forests, which were once filled with the gentle warmth of spring and tender willow branches, suddenly became vibrant and colorful.

The leaves have turned from light green to lush green, and the pink dandelions on the hillside are blooming in clusters, making it feel like stepping into a garden from an oil painting.

The vegetables and fruits in the fields have officially entered the fruiting period.

The tomatoes are already the size of cherries, greenish-yellow, and clustered together in groups of two or three. The cucumber buds are also multiplying, and the flowers that bloom are as big as a palm, bright orange, attracting bees constantly. Some of the earlier bloomers have already produced fruits the size of a fingernail.

At this moment, Jiang Xi was picking the hearts of sweet cabbages at the edge of the field. Ever since Yan Zheng finished harvesting them, the sweet cabbages had grown very fast. She had already harvested two batches since spring, and all the harvested sweet cabbages had been made into syrup by Jiang Xi, filling a whole jar.

These newly sprouted buds are at their best in terms of taste, and Jiang Xi picked out the tender ones to take home and stir-fry them for dinner.

The tender new shoots were snapped off, making a snapping sound.

Yan Zheng was stirring Jiang Xi's composted fallen leaves next to the wooden cart. It had no strange smell, but it was excellent organic fertilizer.

Jiang Xi hummed a heroic song while her hands kept moving, and soon she had picked half a basketful.

She glanced at the basket and said, "That's enough, that's all." Then she got up and stretched her stiff back.

Looking into the distance, seeing waves of wheat rippling across the fields, Jiang Xi felt a pang of disappointment and murmured, "If only I could eat steamed buns this year."

Of course, there's no hope this year. She went to the wheat field a couple of days ago, and now that it's April, there are only a few wheat stalks with ears of wheat. She'll be lucky to harvest a bowl of wheat this fall to save seeds for next year, let alone make flour.

Not to mention the corn, it hasn't even produced a single ear of corn yet.

Yan Zheng lifted the composted fallen leaves down, his arms and hands bulging with blue veins from the effort. He comforted Jiang Xi, saying, "Don't be discouraged, maybe it's a late-maturing variety."

"This round of fertilizer application might yield unexpected results. As long as we can save the seeds this year and plant the strong ones, we'll definitely be able to harvest them next year."

Although it was meant to be comforting, Jiang Xi felt relieved after hearing it.

Having hope is better than having no hope at all.

Yan Zheng took a shovel and carried all the waste materials to the field.

Earlier, I dug fertilization pits near the roots of the tomatoes and cucumbers, and now I'm going to put these fallen leaves into them as fertilizer.

So Yan Zheng was in charge of applying fertilizer, and Jiang Xi followed behind him, wielding a shovel to fill the holes to prevent the fertilizer from being lost.

While working, Yan Zheng asked her, "By the way, did you find anything when you took a walk around the field just now?"

When he first arrived, he was weeding, and Jiang Xi ran around the field with a basket on her back.

At this point, Jiang Xi's eyes lit up: "There really is."

"I found two more chili peppers in the southwest corner, just like the one we found last time. They've already produced fruits the size of soybeans."

"Well done, you're pretty good at this, you even noticed it." Yan Zheng praised her while applying fertilizer.

She definitely deserves praise. After all, it's dozens of acres of land, and she managed to find two chili peppers among the weeds. That's quite a sharp eye.

Jiang Xi said smugly, "Oh, it's not a difficult job at all."

Then, as if remembering something, she quickly added, "I also found about ten raspberry bushes, they look like the yellow variety, but the berries are still small."

She said, "It's good news, after all, the dozen or so trees that Yan Jing'an and Du Ling dug up are still half dead. Their flowering season is over now, so we might not be able to eat them this year."

During this period, Yan Jing'an and Du Ling went into the forest and dug up a lot of raspberry trees, which they planted at the foot of the mountain outside the yard.

It's been ten days to half a month now, and they're all withered and droopy. Not only have the fruits fallen off, but even the leaves are drooping. I'm afraid we won't be able to eat them this year.

Yan Zheng then comforted her, saying, "It's hard to say. Raspberries have a relatively long fruiting period. We picked a lot last autumn, and it's only April now. It's hard to say whether they will bear fruit later."

What else did you discover?

Jiang Xi said slyly, "We also found a chicken coop, you didn't even know it was there."

As she spoke, she pointed in a direction.

"There's a patch of termite mushrooms there, growing in clusters that are hidden by several short trees about the height of a person. I wouldn't have noticed it if I hadn't gotten closer."

Yan Zheng switched hands: "Alright, looks like we should hunt a pheasant today, otherwise it would be a disservice to this nest of chickens."

"Okay, then I'll go too. I'll hunt the pheasant today."

Her archery skills are getting better and better. She even shot a wild duck a couple of days ago, and she bragged about it for ages.

Yan Zheng smiled gently: "Okay, come on. Just make it clear, don't leave my sight."

In the afternoon, Jiang Xi had a good harvest and successfully hunted a pheasant.

Yan Zheng also caught two fish, and the fish trap he set also caught two fish.

Even the little black dog had an unknown bird in its beak.

It already knows its home, so Little Black always runs far ahead of the two of them, occasionally looking back at its owners. Sometimes it will put the bird down and wait for them.

Two men and a leopard, carrying three chickens, two fish and a bird, returned home laden with their spoils.

When they arrived at the village, Du Ling and Yan Jing'an had already returned.

Du Ling was lying next to the rabbit hutch watching the rabbits eat a sweet potato when Jiang Xi greeted her from afar: "Lingling."

"Xiao Xi".

Jiang Xi handed the bow and arrows she was carrying to Yan Zheng, then ran to the rabbit burrow and asked Du Ling, "What are you looking at?"

Du Ling looked at the little rabbits and said, "They're so cute eating."

Jiang Xi also looked over and saw that it was indeed very cute; the little rabbit was chubby and well cared for by its mother.

Jiang Xi looked at the baby rabbits who were fighting with their mother for food and said, "I was going to give you a baby rabbit. I'll just give you two, one male and one female."

Du Ling was initially overjoyed, her eyes shining brightly, but then that light faded, and she shook her head in frustration.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Xi asked worriedly, "What's wrong? Don't you like it anymore?"

Du Ling thought for a moment and said, "It's so cruel to separate them from their mothers."

Jiang Xi laughed and said, "You don't know, in our place, rabbits are the least rare thing, because rabbits reproduce very quickly, giving birth to a litter every month."

"Don't underestimate them just because they're small now. Maybe in two months, when the male rabbit gets a little bigger, the female rabbit will get pregnant again."

"Besides, our rabbit hutch is only so big. Sooner or later we'll have to split it up. I'll have Yan Zheng and Yan Jing'an build a rabbit hutch in your yard, and then we can move some of the baby rabbits out in a couple of days."

She was absolutely right, and if there are too many rabbits and the burrow is too small, they are more likely to get sick.

After hearing her explanation, Du Ling's eyes lit up again, and she looked at the little rabbit with obvious affection.