Of the ten people, Bonnie was the fastest. She was strong, and the effort required to dig was child's play for her. Shovel after shovel, they had already cleared a large area.
Second on the list were Ge Honghua and Duan Xiaocao, a sister-in-law and aunt. They had only recently joined the army and were still skilled in farm work. Together, they turned over about the same amount of soil as Bao Ni.
The slowest were Zhao Yuan and Fu Anran. They had never done farm work before; this was their first time doing real farm work. Previously, the men had mostly tended to their yard. Their hands were blistered, and they were already grimacing in pain.
The remaining sisters-in-law were about the same speed, each one rubbing their hands together eagerly. Every now and then, you could hear a "spit, spit..." sound, which was the sound of spitting on their hands. No one knew the reason behind it, and neither did Bonnie.
By the time the sun was directly overhead, Bonnie had dug out about an acre of land. She was hungry and needed to replenish her energy, otherwise the machine would have to stop.
"Sisters, I'm hungry, I need to eat something. What about you?"
"I'm hungry too. Let's eat first. We can't rush things. Health is the foundation of everything."
The women in the family were also pushing themselves to the limit. They hadn't worked in so long; they weren't like Bonnie, they didn't have that much strength. They'd managed to keep going only by competing with each other. Sure enough, the moment Bonnie stopped, they couldn't keep up.
The group of people took out the dry food they had brought, and Bonnie quickly built a stone stove with stones and took out a small iron pot.
"Bonnie, you've prepared everything so thoroughly! Are you getting ready to boil water?"
Zhao Yuan really wanted a sip of hot water; she was so tired that her arms felt numb, as if they didn't belong to her anymore.
“It’s our first day on the job, so we should have a little ceremony. I brought some lard, so let’s make a soup. Let’s pick some wild vegetables, and there’s a pond up ahead. I’ll go get some water, and you guys gather some firewood. Let’s split up and get to work.”
Bonnie carried a large earthenware jar and walked towards the pond. Along the way, she picked some shepherd's purse. When she arrived at the pond, Bonnie washed the shepherd's purse, filled the jar with water, and searched along the edge of the pond.
There were tall grasses by the water. Last time they caught pheasants, and Bonnie wanted to see if there were any wild eggs. She found two pheasant nests, took four eggs, and left. She couldn't keep them all; she had to save some for breeding. A good haul! She happily went home.
"Bonnie, we picked some wild onions and shepherd's purse, and washed them clean."
The women were extremely excited. They had never had such a leisurely time playing in the wild in their lives, and even their fatigue from earlier had disappeared.
"Then I'll add another dish. I picked four wild eggs, let's make shepherd's purse and egg drop soup. Which sister-in-law is good at cooking, please help? I'm not good at it."
"Bonnie, take a rest, we'll take care of it."
Zhao Yuan was terrified; she had no intention of drinking the soup that Bao Ni had made, given this rare opportunity.
"As for my moral character, I am well aware of it."
Bonnie wisely walked away, then wandered off to see if there were any other unexpected surprises.
As you walk, observe the terrain to see what you can do in different places, and mentally draw a map so that it will be easier to operate later.
On a small hillside, they found wild yams. Bonnie painstakingly pulled out five or six, each over a foot long and quite thick. "Alright, I can't be too greedy. Let's hurry back."
"Bonnie, come quick, the soup's ready, let's eat!"
"They're here."
Bonnie came over carrying a small bundle of yams, which surprised everyone again.
"Alright, we'll put it in the fire later, so we can have a snack if we get hungry in the afternoon."
They all brought their own food in lunchboxes, so there were bowls for soup. Bonnie took out the vegetable dumplings and flatbread her mother had made, placed them on the cloth bag that held the lunchboxes, and filled half the lunchbox with shepherd's purse and egg drop soup.
"Whose cooking is this? It's delicious!"
Bonnie blew on it, took a sip, and exclaimed, "It's so fresh!"
Following Bonnie's example, everyone served themselves soup, drank it, and ate the dry, hard cornbread. They had never thought that cornbread could taste so good.
Ten people, one pot of soup, and they drank it all up.
"It feels so good. I haven't eaten this much since the kids grew up. I even had a few bites of egg drop soup. The few eggs we have at home aren't enough for the kids and the man. How much can we eat?"
The other women felt a pang of sadness at what Sister Huang said. These days, which family isn't like this? As long as there's food, they try their best to feed the men and children. What's left for themselves?
"Alright, it's just a few eggs. Look how touched you are. Let's work hard this year and hope that the Goddess Mazu will bless us with good weather and a bountiful harvest. By autumn, when the grain is plentiful, we can eat as much as we want, until we're stuffed to the brim, so you won't dare to bend over."
"Yes, let's work hard. We all have the strength. If it doesn't work this year, there's always next year. There will always be a good harvest. Goddess Mazu will bless us."
"Yes, let's get to work!"
The sisters-in-law were energized. Bao Ni carried her pot and lunchbox to the pond to wash them clean, as she would need them again tomorrow. The other sisters-in-law also washed their lunchboxes, tidied them up, and prepared to dig.
Silence fell for a moment; no one spoke, only the shovels moving up and down. The black soil was constantly being turned over, forming a patch of black earth.
As the sun slowly set, Bonnie and the others straightened up and prepared to go home. They needed to cook dinner that night and couldn't stay out too late.
Today, Bao Ni dug about two acres of land, the most of all the sisters-in-law. Ge Honghua and Duan Xiaocao also dug almost two acres, while the other sisters-in-law dug less than one acre. Zhao Yuan and Fu Anran dug about half an acre.
Whether they dug a lot or a little, everyone was happy. Perhaps decades later, when they think back on this day, they will feel a sense of joy.
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