Zhao Fen planted vegetables in the corner of the fence around the house. Since there was a lot of open space, Zhao Fen found some stones and randomly divided it into several plots. She sowed some cabbage seeds in one plot and some chili seeds in another to grow seedlings. The cabbage and greens have already grown two or three leaves, and they will be ready to eat in ten days or half a month.

When the weather gets warmer, we can also plant eggplants, cauliflower, and cucumbers.

Plant scallions and ginger as well, and take advantage of the spring to grow them. Scallions grow quickly, and you can pick the leaves and add them to your dishes for seasoning after half a month.

Qin Xiaozhou carried a hoe and cleared a patch of dry grass by the stream. First, he used a rake to dig out the large stones and piled them around. Then he hoeed the ground and removed the weeds. Chickens at the foot of the mountain followed behind him, digging for insects to eat. The ground was barren and digging was hard work. Fortunately, the ground was damp, with lots of wild grass and insects. It took him half a day to dig out two or three square meters.

As they dug, they threw stones into the stream, hoping that if it rained and the water level rose, they could use the stones to hold back the water.

Before the sun had set, Wang Lan brought her grandson back and then went to wander around the duck pen in Qingzhugou. Fortunately, the Lu brothers soon came out of the gully, having caught three rabbits and found a nest of wild eggs and a pheasant.

These things are all real money-making opportunities. The two brothers were delighted to have made another trip to the mountains and their hearts were filled with joy. Lu Yunxing plucked a beautiful feather from a small bird, which made the bird chase after him in the yard, giggling.

Wang Lan seemed to have just come back to her senses. When she was eating, she served the stir-fried bamboo shoots with cured pork to her two grandsons and asked, "You haven't gone far, have you?"

Lu Yunfeng kept his head down and ate without answering. Lu Yunxing ate a piece of bamboo shoot, "We didn't go far. We dug two holes in the bamboo forest at the mountain pass, not even reaching Wild Boar Pool."

Wang Lan sighed, "That mountain pass isn't close to here anymore. From now on, we can only go there. We're not allowed to go any further. I've been watching the water in Qingzhugou all day. It's always murky. There must be wild boars rolling around in it. My heart has been pounding."

Actually, she exaggerated. The distance from Wild Boar Pool to the duck pen in Qingzhugou is four or five kilometers. Even if the wild boars muddied the pool, the water would have cleared up long ago as it flowed into Qingzhugou. The water in Qingzhugou would only become muddy if there was a flood in the mountains.

Zhao Fen ate two slices of cured meat. "This meat is easy to preserve, and the way it's prepared is also novel. It's neither boiled nor fried."

Qin Xiaozhou was barely satisfied with her cooking skills. In the past, when her grandmother was in the kitchen, she always liked to wander around, occasionally taking a bite and commenting on it. Her grandmother would always laugh and scold her for being greedy.

"This is called cured meat. The cooking method is called stir-frying. First, put oil in the pan. After the oil is hot, put the vegetables in and stir-fry them for a few seconds. Then add a little water and stir-fry until cooked. The stir-fried food has the aroma of oil-fried food, but it is not as dry and brittle as deep-fried food."

Wang Lan also picked up a couple more pieces of food, saying, "You're a quick-witted person."

Being a shrewd and quick-witted daughter-in-law is not good; one must be honest and upright to be popular. However, after a month of seeing Qin Xiaozhou's efficient and conscientious work, Wang Lan finally felt at ease.

The next morning, the rabbit was taken to the street to be sold, the pheasant and eggs were kept at home, and Lu Yunfeng bought some melon and peanut seeds.

Wang Lan also dug the ground with Qin Xiaozhou. The two of them dug out forty or fifty square meters in a day, found dry bamboo and dead branches in the withered grass and bamboo forest, laid them on top, then dug soil to cover them, and lit a fire.

Thick smoke rose from the ground. In spring, when the southeast wind blew, the smoke drifted with the wind over the mountain pass to the north and towards the fields at the foot of the western mountains, without disturbing anyone.

Lu Yan had just finished covering the soil and was leaning on her hoe when she said, "Sister-in-law, you really like setting these things on fire."

Qin Xiaozhou smiled, "It's nice to see everything burned clean."

The fire slowly smoldered along the branches and dry grass, taking a full day and night to burn out.

Qin Xiaozhou soaked the peanuts in water to make them sprout more easily. After the fire in the field had been extinguished, he leveled the soil and prepared to plant the peanuts.

Peanuts are a good thing, and only well-off families can afford to eat them often. Growing peanuts will definitely fetch a good price. However, Qin Xiaozhou wasn't growing them for money; it was just for her family to eat and for the children to grow. She hadn't originally decided what to grow, but she was just bored and couldn't bear to see this wasteland go to waste. Lu Yunfeng was very thoughtful; flowers grow well in sandy soil.

Digging and weeding, and collecting firewood, Qin Xiaozhou was sweating profusely day and night. When the sun was strong during the day, he would roll up his sleeves and trouser legs and go to the river to wash himself.

After washing it more often, and unlike before when I was in the pork shop every day and exposed to the grease, the meaty smell on my body seemed to have dissipated a lot.

Lu Yan was tending to the chickens and ducks nearby, and digging up earthworms for the pheasants to eat. The pheasants were currently incubating their eggs and couldn't be allowed to go hungry. "Sister-in-law, why are you burning these things in the field?"

Wang Lan sat on the side picking wild water celery and replied with a smile, "This land was only dug up a couple of days ago. There are a lot of grass roots and insects. Burning it will kill them all. The ashes can also be used as fertilizer. The peanuts will grow well if planted here."

Qin Xiaozhou planted melon seeds along the fence of the vegetable garden, along with a few pepper trees. They grew very well, and the peppers would be ready for harvest in a year or two. Suddenly one morning, Wang Lan stood at the door and exclaimed, "Oh my! This pomegranate tree has survived! Come and see, come and see, it's sprouted!"

The Lu family all knew the significance of this pomegranate tree to Wang Lan. It was said that after Wang Lan married Lu Ji, she suffered from severe morning sickness during her pregnancy. It wasn't until she ate a pomegranate in the autumn that her morning sickness subsided. Therefore, she always cherished it. Even later, when Lu Ji became wealthy through hunting and built a new house in the middle of the village and moved there, Wang Lan still came to visit every few days and took good care of it.

Since Lu Ji left, this pomegranate tree had been old and dead, but unexpectedly, new buds have sprouted from its roots.

Everyone gathered around the pomegranate tree to look at it. The old branches had withered and died, but new buds were growing from the roots. Wasn't this also a kind of inheritance and rebirth?

Lu Yunfeng took out a machete and went to cut the bamboo. "The new shoots are tender, so we still need to fence them off."

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