Chapter 33 Zhao Xiaoyong Helps with the Work

The temperature dropped again, and the north wind howled like wolves and ghosts.

Molly woke up early in the morning to find the house quiet. The four hens were hiding in their coop, and the pigsty was also quiet, with the dozen or so rabbits still sleeping. She walked around the house for a bit, then went into the kitchen.

There's still some pig feed left from yesterday's cooking, enough for the pigs to eat this morning. It just needs to be reheated.

Molly heated up the pig feed while cooking breakfast. For breakfast, she planned to make lean meat and vegetable porridge, and then fry a few potato pancakes. She would mash the boiled potatoes, sprinkle some flour on them, and add some minced meat; it should taste pretty good.

Mo An woke up late today and went to check on the mountain rats in the wooden tub as soon as she got up. "Second sister, are we just going to leave them like this?"

"Yes, they've already been pickled, so they should keep for a few days without any problem. Today, I'll take twenty to exchange for baskets, buckets, and basins, and also send two to the brigade leader's family to tell him I'm back. We'll have eighty left. We'll eat them ourselves for two or three days, and then smoke the rest. They should keep for a few months without any problem."

"Second sister, can we give two to Brother Xiaoyong?" Mo An asked hesitantly.

Molly asked in surprise, "Why give it to him?"

Mo An lowered his head, not looking at Molly's expression. "When the other kids in the brigade bullied me, Brother Xiao Yong stood up for me. In the few days you were away, he came to ask me to go out and play every day. He took me to the fields to look for sweet potatoes and potatoes."

The team has already dug up the sweet potatoes and potatoes once. The team members can look in the field to see if any have been missed. If they find any, they are theirs.

"We also went to the fields to smoke out the rats, but we didn't catch a single one," Mo An said, scratching his head sheepishly.

In the few days she was away, Mo An had found a playmate, something Molly hadn't expected.

Molly felt relieved and agreed to Mo An's request, "After breakfast, take two of them to him."

She originally intended to give four, but she could only give the brigade leader two, so it wouldn't be appropriate to go past the brigade leader's house.

Seeing that Molly agreed, Mo An smiled, "Second Sister, aren't you going out too? You go ahead and do your work. I'll go out after you're done."

"Okay. Come and have breakfast first."

After breakfast, Molly brought a basket and put twenty-two mountain rats inside.

"You just feed the pigs and chickens. Wait for me to come back in a bit, and I'll cook the pig feed." I cooked the pig feed at noon, and the pigs ate one meal at noon, one meal in the evening, and one meal the next morning. I cooked the pig feed again the next noon.

Mo An naturally agreed.

Molly went to her third uncle's house first, where her third uncle was chopping bamboo in the yard.

Third Aunt waved to Molly, "Molly's here! I haven't seen you for days. Your Aunt Guihua said you went to visit someone in the hospital. How's your relative? Is everything alright?"

Molly shook her head. "It's not a big problem, she just needs to rest for a while."

"It's good that everything is alright. So many people died recently, but we've made it through. Good days are just around the corner, so we can't afford any mishaps at this crucial time." Auntie San sighed.

A few months ago, her grandson almost couldn't hold on either. It was thanks to Molly that they always gave them extra food whenever she bought things from their family, which helped them pull through.

“I came here today to exchange for three baskets, two covered wooden buckets, and two wooden basins,” Molly said, opening the basket lids to show her aunt. Under her aunt’s shining eyes, she continued, “I’ll trade twenty mountain rats for them.”

“Okay, no problem, I’ll get you the largest size basket, bucket, and basin.”

"Then thank you, Third Aunt."

Bamboo is cheap, and so is labor. Making baskets is not difficult, but making wooden buckets and basins requires a lot of materials and labor. Without the skills, the finished products will leak. In the entire Xiaonan Village brigade, only my second uncle has this skill now.

Molly thought it was a great deal to trade twenty mountain rats; she got a huge bargain. Auntie San also thought it was a good deal to trade a few baskets, two buckets, and two basins for twenty mountain rats—that was over thirty pounds of meat!

Both were satisfied with the deal.

Molly needs to go to the brigade leader's house first, and then she'll come back to bring the things home.

As soon as Molly left, Auntie San exclaimed excitedly, "Honey, come quick! It's meat! Such fatty meat! We can finally have meat to eat again!"

Uncle San looked at the fat rats and said, "Where did she catch them? Many villagers have gone into the mountains, but they've had almost no success. The rats have run away and haven't come back yet."

Third Aunt: "Molly didn't say anything, she went to visit relatives, it must have been given to her by her relatives. Her relatives are really generous, just like Molly. Let's have two tonight, everyone in the family is craving meat."

Uncle San had no objection, "You can decide."

Third Aunt: "Then we'll eat two tonight, and save six for the New Year. As for the remaining twelve, we'll cook half for the children each day."

The brigade leader was at home repairing farm tools, his eldest son was chopping firewood, several women were washing radishes, saying they were going to pickle them, and the children were feeding the chickens and sweeping the floor. Everyone in the family was busy with their own things.

"Besides pickled radishes, we also need to pickle cabbage, cucumbers, and peppers. Molly, has your family started making pickled vegetables yet?" the brigade leader's wife asked.

Molly shook her head. "Not yet."

"Oh dear, the weather's been nice these past few days, we should get started preparing. If we wait until it snows later, the vegetables will freeze."

"Auntie is right, I'll go back and pull up the vegetables in the field."

"Did you come here today for something?" the captain asked.

Molly opened the basket, holding two mice by their tails, and handed it to the captain, saying in a serious tone, "I'm bringing you some local specialties."

Captain: "......."

I'm numb.

Whose specialty is rats?

The brigade leader's children rushed up, excitedly shouting, "A mouse! It's a mouse!"

"What a fat rat!"

"Auntie, where did you catch this mouse? Can you take us to catch it?"

"This must weigh more than a pound or two. I thought all the rats were dead."

"They weren't from here; they were arrested somewhere else."

Molly bought quite a lot of things, so her second uncle helped her deliver them back. He didn't go inside; he just dropped them off at the door and left.

Moan was pulling sweet potato vines in the vegetable garden when she heard the noise and hurriedly opened the door. Together with Molly, they carried the things inside.

"Didn't you say you'd wait for me to come back?" A lot of sweet potato vines had already been pulled up, along with several sweet potatoes, each weighing several pounds and strangely large.

"I can do these things anyway, they're not tiring. Second sister, the sweet potato vines in everyone else's vegetable gardens have almost all fallen leaves, but ours are still lush and green. After we pull out all these vines, will we continue planting?" No one plants sweet potatoes in winter, but Mo An saw that his sweet potatoes were growing so well that he couldn't help but want to plant more. The three pigs were getting bigger and bigger, and if he didn't plant more, he was worried that they would go hungry.

Molly thought for a moment, "Then let's keep planting. We'll continue planting sweet potatoes, potatoes, radishes, and cabbages, as well as garland chrysanthemum, peas, lettuce, kale... I also want to try planting pumpkins, loofahs, and gourds. We'll plant all kinds of gourds around the perimeter of the vegetable garden, letting them grow outwards so they don't take up space in the garden."

“But this isn’t the season for planting melons,” Mo An hesitated.

“Just scatter a few seeds of each kind, it won’t hurt.” Molly wanted to see if the melons could grow out of season under her influence.

Mo An felt it was acceptable to waste just a few seeds. "I'll go dig a hole."

Molly chops vegetables and cooks pig feed.

Mo An was hoeing in the vegetable garden when he heard that Molly was going to pickle radishes, so he went to pull up radishes, clearly forgetting that he was supposed to find Zhao Xiaoyong. By the time Molly came out, he had pulled up all the radishes in that patch.

After pulling up the radishes, he picked up a hoe and started hoeing the ground.

"Mo An, are you home?" Zhao Xiaoyong came to the door himself.

"Brother Xiaoyong, I'm hoeing the ground." Mo An went to open the door for Zhao Xiaoyong. "My second sister said she's pickling radishes today, so I have to stay home and help out. I won't go out to play."

“I know how to pickle radishes, let me help you.” Zhao Xiaoyong rarely visited Molly’s house, but seeing the lush vegetable garden, he couldn’t help but praise, “Your vegetables are growing very well.”

Mo An smiled and said, "Go and see my sweet potato, it's huge."

"Wow, wow, wow, it's really big, as big as my head!" Zhao Xiaoyong exclaimed dramatically. The next second, he dropped the sweet potato and grabbed the radish. "This radish is also huge, as big as two of my family's."

"That cabbage is huge!"

"Is this an eggplant? It's so purple it's almost black, and it's bigger than my fist!"

"What are those long, red things? Chili peppers?"

"Yes, it's chili peppers."

"This is the first time I've ever seen a chili pepper that looks like this! It's about the same length as a long bean. Mo'an, your vegetable garden is truly amazing."

Mo An hoeed the ground, saying modestly, "It's just so-so, I'm just a bit better looking."

Zhao Xiaoyong disagreed, saying, "If the vegetables in my family's garden could grow this well, my parents wouldn't have to worry about running out of food."

Mo An remained silent. His family was not short of food, but he could not give away the food they had.

"Who's here?" Molly started a fire, put a few large pieces of wood into the stove, and only needed to go back and add firewood from time to time; she didn't need to stay there and watch all the time.

“Sister-in-law, it’s me.” Zhao Xiaoyong waved to Molly.

Molly raised an eyebrow. "Come over to play with Xiao An?"

“Yes, Xiao An said he wants to help with chores at home. I’ll help you with chores too, sister-in-law. What can I do?” Zhao Xiaoyong said with a grin.

Molly took the hoe from Mo An's hand. "You and Xiao An go wash the radishes."

Zhao Xiaoyong readily agreed, "Sure. We'll pick them up and wash them by the river."

"No need to go to the river, just wash at home and draw water from the well." The river water is icy cold, but the well water is warm, so washing at home saves the hassle of going back and forth.

"Sister-in-law, you dug a well? Where is it? I'd like to go and take a look."

Zhao Xiaoyong's attention shifted to the well. He was in charge of drawing water, while Mo An was in charge of washing the radishes. The washed radishes were placed in a winnowing basket to dry, and then sliced ​​or cut into strips.

Molly hoeed the ground and dug up sweet potatoes. Zhao Xiaoyong followed behind her, picking up the sweet potatoes. In a small area of ​​a few square meters, she managed to pick out two large sacks of sweet potatoes, making Zhao Xiaoyong extremely envious.

“Here are six sweet potatoes for you, as payment for today’s work,” Molly said.

"No way, Brother Ji saved my life, it's only right and proper for me to help you with this little bit of work, sister-in-law." Zhao Xiaoyong puffed out his chest, not daring to look at the smooth, shiny sweet potato, afraid that he would regret it the next second.

Molly didn't press him. "No payment needed. Let's have lunch at your sister-in-law's house. After lunch, you can continue helping her with chores."

Upon hearing that he would have to work in the afternoon, Zhao Xiaoyong didn't hesitate and agreed, "Okay, I will definitely work hard."

Mo An and Zhao Xiaoyong continued washing and drying the radishes, while Molly returned to the kitchen to prepare lunch. She took out six mountain rats, chopped them into pieces, and planned to stew them with the radishes. She would also make a stir-fried cabbage with smoked meat; two dishes would be enough. The staple food was sweet potato and mixed grain rice, which she steamed in a large pot.

When the rice was almost cooked, the pig feed was also ready.

Molly went to feed the pigs first, carrying two full buckets of pig feed into the pigsty. After not seeing them for a few days, the three pigs' appetites had increased, and the two buckets were not enough, so Molly added another bucket.

More than five months have passed since early autumn, and these three pigs have changed every day. They now look to weigh about 120 jin (60 kg).

Was it influenced by her, or because he ate vegetables from the garden? Or perhaps it was both.

Molly thought that by the end of the year, the three pigs should have grown to about 160 or 170 pounds.

"Xiao An, what is your sister cooking? It smells so good!" Zhao Xiaoyong asked, swallowing hard. He wondered if his sense of smell was playing tricks on him, but he thought he could smell meat.

Seeing Zhao Xiaoyong swallow hard and peer into the house, Mo An suppressed a laugh and replied, "I don't know either. Brother Xiaoyong, are you hungry?"

Zhao Xiaoyong rubbed his stomach. "I wasn't really hungry, but the food your sister cooked smelled so good that it made all the roundworms in my stomach come out."

Just then, Molly called from inside the house, "Xiao Yong, Xiao An, wash your hands and come back for dinner."