Wang Ergou's wife, Zhang, glanced at him and said irritably, "Who isn't? There are only wild vegetables in the mountains. If we don't cook porridge, we only have that little bit of food. After a few meals, we'll just wait here to die."
If she hadn't been tricked by this scoundrel, how could she have married into Xinghua Village? This lazy bum has been lazy by nature. If it weren't for his mother working in the fields, their family would have starved to death long ago. They wouldn't have survived until now.
My mother-in-law passed away a few days ago, and the crops in the fields were left unattended. They were probably either eaten by sparrows and insects or died. They didn't have any extra food.
They had planned to steal some of the crops from others once their crops had grown, but before they could even grow any crops, war broke out. They rushed up the mountain, but their food supplies were meager, and being lazy, they could only survive on wild vegetable gruel.
The thought of having to live on wild vegetable porridge for the rest of her days filled her with rage. How could she have been so blind as to follow this lazy bum?
Seeing his wife's bad expression, Wang Ergou suddenly thought of something and quickly tried to coax her, "Good wife, don't be angry. If there's no danger down the mountain in a few days, I'll go and dig out the silver hairpin my mother hid. We'll exchange it for some food, and you won't suffer."
Zhang snorted coldly and said irritably, "Who knows what's going on down the mountain? Do you dare to go down? What if you run into some refugees or rebel soldiers? You'd be lucky to escape with your life."
Although she wanted to eat her fill, she wasn't heartless enough to ask her man to take risks.
The area down the mountain must be in chaos. The village has been deserted for the past few days, with no sign of human life. It's quite eerie.
Wang Ergou was at a loss for a moment and said, "Then what do you suggest? I don't want to eat this wild vegetable porridge anymore."
If he ate any more, he felt like he was going to turn into a mushy mess of wild vegetables.
Zhang looked towards several nearby shacks.
Several families were eating in the shack. Although it was impossible to tell what they were eating, you could clearly smell the various aromas, unlike theirs which were just watery porridge with no flavor.
She thought for a moment before lowering her voice and saying, "Our family is out of food, but others must have some. You can borrow some, and you can always pay it back when things settle down!"
That's what they said, but both of them knew that it was hard to say when things would settle down. Right now, it was a time of food shortage. After a winter, every family's granary was empty, and they were just waiting for this year's harvest.
Unexpectedly, war broke out, and it was uncertain whether the surplus grain from last year could even sustain their own survival, let alone be lent out.
Wang Ergou, reminded by his wife, suddenly had an idea.
Whether those people would lend him the money or not was uncertain, and he was too lazy to invite their scolding. Since he was going to lend it anyway, he would just do it secretly.
Thinking about it, he relaxed a lot, stopped eating the wild vegetable porridge, and started wandering around under the sun.
Gousheng was chopping bamboo to make a bed in the open space in front of the shed, his heart filled with joy at not having to sleep on the cold ground that night.
He looked up and saw his mother walking out of the woods with a worried look on her face. He quickly went to meet her and asked anxiously, "Mother, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"
These days, my mother hasn't been eating or sleeping well, and my baby must be feeling unwell too.
Liu Xiaoyun just shook her head, sat down on the tree stump, and sighed, "There are no more wild vegetables around here. It's only been a few days since we came up the mountain, and it's already like this. What will we do if it goes on for a long time?"
I originally thought that by saving money at each meal and eating more wild vegetables, I could survive peacefully on the mountain for a few months, but now that situation is probably going to be difficult.
After a winter, the family's food reserves were already low, and in addition, they had sold a lot of grain to treat Tiezhu's leg injury, so now there was even less left.
If the war continues, they will starve to death on the mountain.
Gou Sheng was also a little worried. He knew his family's situation well. They didn't have much food left, and if they just sat on the mountain and ate their savings, they wouldn't last long.
After thinking for a while, he hesitated and said, "Mother, how about I go down the mountain in a few days and bring back the seeds from home? We can plant some vegetables, so we won't really starve to death here."
He was in a hurry when he went up the mountain that day, so he only took the food and necessities from home and left everything else behind. There should still be a lot of seeds in the cellar.
If they could farm on the mountain, they wouldn't have to worry about food.
Liu Xiaoyun then nodded.
It wasn't just them who were thinking about farming; Jiang Yimian was also pondering it.
During the few days she spent on the mountain, besides digging for wild vegetables and finding food, she was thinking about farming.
Although there is still a lot of food in the space, it is ultimately limited. Moreover, the wild vegetables and various foods on the mountain are basically only available in spring and summer. When autumn arrives, the leaves wither, the wild grass disappears, and even the animals hibernate.
The best thing for them to do to get through the winter is to stockpile food.
Summer is almost here, the perfect time to plant crops. If we delay any longer, we'll miss the opportunity.
Unfortunately, the reality was far from what was expected. The area around the shack was surrounded by dense woods and various types of gravel, making farming virtually impossible.
Farming is really not easy.
This realization disappointed her, as someone who was born with the genes for farming.
Jiang Yimian sighed helplessly and continued searching around the mountain.
After walking for an unknown amount of time, and passing through a dense forest, Jiang Yimian discovered a small ditch overgrown with water celery.
The dense stems and leaves intertwined, barely concealing the small ditch. The green stems and leaves were inconspicuous in the grass, and if one did not look closely, one might mistake them for ordinary weeds.
Jiang Yimian was somewhat happy.
Water celery thrives in moist conditions and typically grows along the edges of ditches and paddy fields where the soil is damp. Such soil is also the most suitable for growing rice.
She didn't bother picking the tender green water celery, but followed the ditch downhill, and sure enough, she found a large flat area overgrown with weeds.
Roughly estimated, it's about twenty square meters, not too big, but finding such a large, flat piece of land in a mountain full of gravel is really not easy.
Having decided to farm, Jiang Yimian didn't delay any longer. She picked up a sickle and started cutting the weeds on the ground. By the time it got dark, she had cut about half of the dense weeds.
Looking at the remaining weeds, Jiang Yimian didn't feel tired at all; on the contrary, she was full of energy.
After noting down the location and picking some tender tips of water celery, Jiang Yimian carried her basket home.
As darkness fell on the way back, the already difficult mountain path became even more challenging. Fortunately, Jiang Yimian was experienced in navigating mountain trails, and even without a torch, she made it home safely.
At this moment, a small fire was lit outside the shack. Wang Fengqin and her two children kept looking around the fire, and only breathed a sigh of relief when they finally saw a figure appear in the woods.
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