Chapter 120 Midsummer Summer Life, Abnormal
Lai didn't hide the matter of buying the land from Guge, after all, he needed Guge, an expert in fruit cultivation, to give him some advice. It was also after Guge's reminder that Lai came up with the idea of buying the low hill.
Given their relationship, Lai naturally told Gug the truth.
Rye didn't hide it from Hagrid, but only Hagrid and Linda knew that Rye had bought the mountain.
Hagrid strongly disapproved of Ray's unilateral decision-making, but since the deed was already in hand, he had no choice but to accept it. However, he couldn't help but grumble at Ray, saying that he was young and impetuous and acted too rashly.
Although they were all relatives, Hagrid and his wife knew that their eldest daughter-in-law was a troublemaker, so they tacitly kept the matter a secret from their children.
If anyone asks, Lei and his group have agreed beforehand to claim that they paid the mayor to rent the right to use the property for ten years as a cover-up.
The road from the small village to Aishan is quite far. In the future, when fruit trees are planted there, the fruit will inevitably need to be guarded on Aishan after it ripens. Therefore, it is very necessary to build a temporary residence at the foot of the mountain.
Gug was too old to travel far, but when he heard that Lai had bought the hill, he insisted on going to see it. So, taking advantage of a good day, Lai got up early and drove Gug, Haig, and the three Haig brothers to the hill.
The presence of a water source near the low hill pleased Guge greatly. However, the hill was covered in rocks, especially on the side where the mine was discovered, which caused Guge and Haige to frown deeply.
Fortunately, the situation on the other side of the mine was better. After removing the rocks and clearing the area, there were about a hundred acres of mountain land available for planting.
Upon discovering this, Guge exclaimed that Lai had been deceived and made a decision without proper investigation.
"Sigh, since it's already like this, we can only try to salvage it later. Judging from the situation, it seems we can't plant any fruit trees this year. It's only thanks to the blessings of the gods that this hillside was cleared out this year."
Lai bought the low mountain mainly because of the energy stones buried at its base, so he wasn't worried about missing a year's worth of fruit trees or having too little arable land.
But what Gug said was true, and Lai accepted Gug's criticism sincerely without the slightest anger. It can be said that he was very calm.
"Okay, I'll definitely pay attention next time."
There will be a next time?
Gug and Hagrid both turned their gazes to Lai, unsure whether to say that Lai was overconfident or that he was a bit wasteful.
"While clearing the mountain, temporary housing should also be built as soon as possible. Ray, be sure to let me know when you decide to start building the house."
Hagrid was worried about Rye being alone, so he tried his best to help wherever he could. Besides, he had three able-bodied men at home, so why not use them? It would save him three jobs.
Brian, Reese, and Lamb readily agreed, and Ray thanked them one by one.
It was getting late, and the journey was still quite long. After reviewing the basic conditions of the low hill, everyone decided to leave.
As Lai reached for his whip, he touched his pocket and remembered the little magical item he always carried with him.
That little thing also had instructions for use, a small, sparsely written note that read: "Hide the item in a secret location to activate it."
Although Ray was completely baffled, he still took some time to bury the object in the pit and then activated the device.
With a soft hum, an intricately patterned magic circle popped out of the prop.
A blue magic circle floated above the magical artifact, then gradually rose into the air, and something like an energy shield enveloped the entire low mountain from the center of the magic circle.
Ray was amazed; it was the first time he had ever seen a magic circle appear so concretely before him.
What was that just now?
Neil asked Rhys.
"It should be a magic circle. I've heard that nobles in the city who own large tracts of land use magic circles to protect their land."
The energy shield formed by the magic circle had completely closed, and with a flash of blue light, it disappeared from everyone's sight, no longer visible to the naked eye. Lai could sense that it was still in its original position, but for some reason, it had hidden itself again.
Everyone looked at Lai Yi in confusion. He had only been gone for a short while, and no one expected that he could cause such a commotion in those few minutes.
"It was given to me by the steward at the mayor's residence. I never expected it to have this effect."
Lei explained.
"That's good, that's good, at least safety is guaranteed."
Gu Ge smiled and tried to smooth things over.
After the little incident, the group set off on their journey back to the village.
Brian was a fast and good driver. He was in charge of driving while Ray and the others sat in the back of the truck, eating and chatting. The journey didn't end until evening. Most of the time was spent on the road, and everyone was quite tired.
The Leylius ate the hot noodle soup with vegetables and meat before leaving. A bowl of washed vegetables and scallions dipped in green pepper and meat sauce was devoured by the group, and Hagrid and his three sons exclaimed how delicious it was.
With the height of summer approaching, the vegetable gardens are getting busier.
The pods of the green beans gradually swelled up. At this time, the green beans could not be sold for much. They were mostly kept for family consumption, or simply left to hang there to be harvested in the fall.
The cowpeas in the vegetable garden had a bumper harvest; in fact, Lai had already bought a large batch about two weeks earlier.
The cowpeas are just ripe, and the beans inside the pods haven't fully grown yet. Wash them, cut them into small pieces, and stir-fry them on their own or with meat. They have a chewy texture and taste quite good.
Lai aligned their stems, arranged them neatly, and then tied them together in a bundle using the old method, once they were about the thickness of a wrist. This made them easy to store and easy to take out to buy.
Newly ripe cowpeas are perfect for making pickles or preserved vegetables, but Lai has been busy picking and selling vegetables and hasn't had time to process them yet.
Fortunately, legumes like beans generally have a long growing season, so there's no rush.
The pig's ear beans at home are also growing very well; Lai picked them once. After shredding them, we stir-fried them with shredded meat, and Neil's feedback was very positive.
Needless to say, potatoes, after several months of growth, have grown to the size of half a fist and are ready to eat.
Lei didn't rush to harvest the potatoes; they weren't fully mature yet and could continue growing. The potatoes harvested then would be at least twice the size they were now!
Although we don't plan to harvest them now, the potatoes are definitely ready to eat.
The first batch of freshly harvested potatoes had very thin skins that could be easily scraped off with a small spoon. Lai, a potato lover, was finally able to eat potatoes again after several months.
This is truly cause for celebration!
Moreover, these were all grown by my own hands, and the taste of them goes without saying.
We hunt our own meat in the mountains, and occasionally buy some lard to render into oil. All the vegetables we eat are grown in our own garden. Aside from buying flour and seasonings, there are no other major expenses.
Every now and then, Lai would pick vegetables and take them to the market to sell. He didn't earn much, but it was better than nothing.
The rainy season passed quickly; the rain was light but frequent. Lai stayed home for about ten days, only selling vegetables twice in the rain during that time. The prices were a bit high, but quite a few people still came to buy.
After the rainy season comes the sweltering summer, and the temperature quickly soars to its highest point of the year. The small mountain village is dressed in a new look, with lush greenery everywhere.
Brightly colored flowers adorned the villagers' courtyards, and the seeds that Leisa planted outside the yard also blossomed into various flowers, especially the sunflowers he planted around the vegetable garden, which grew very tall in a short time.
Surrounded by yellow petals and featuring a large brown disc in the center, it looked incredibly appetizing. It also perfectly preserved the privacy of the vegetable garden.
The berries and various wild fruits in the woods near the small mountain village are beginning to ripen. With little farm work to do for the time being, the villagers have added picking wild fruits to their daily routine, in addition to mushroom picking. Apart from the heat, life is easy and carefree.
Most wild fruits are sour and astringent, but that doesn't stop the hardworking villagers. After picking them, the women in the family add sugar or honey to make them into fruit preserves, jams, or dried fruits, all of which are good choices.
Lay didn't have many clever ideas, nor did he have the energy to specifically pick wild fruits, so he focused his attention on other things at home.
The chicks that Lai bought had already grown up and molted. After their feathers were clipped, they were kept in a fenced area on the grass. They dug in the soil and ate insects. They only needed to be given some water and fed once a day.
The puppy was very lively and would run all over the village if you weren't careful, so it wasn't appropriate to keep it indoors anymore. Lei built a new doghouse and tied Little Black to the yard with a rope.
Lamb has already taken the yellow-black one with some white fur; the black-and-white one is still at home.
It ate a lot and became more lively, often chasing after the red rockbirds, making a mess in the yard. Neil named it Little Black.
Fearing that he might steal poultry from Hagrid's house and cause unnecessary family conflicts, Ray gave Lamb the more obedient and well-behaved one.
The radishes planted in the field would rot if they weren't eaten soon, so Lai cut off all the radish leaves and fed them to the livestock. Then he used a fork to dig all the radishes out of the ground.
Half a row of bright red radishes lay in the soil. After picking out the good ones, thirty or forty were picked out. The smaller ones, or the less desirable ones, were washed clean with water and chopped up to feed the red-billed ravens and mules.
The radish was covered in dirt, and Lai washed it four or five times before it was finally clean enough to eat.
If you break one open at random, you'll see that the innermost part of the radish has turned white and lost moisture. It's a bit late to remove the radish from the bottom. Making pickles with radishes like this will affect the taste.
They were just turning white, and there were so many radishes that we couldn't just throw them away. After thinking about it, Lai decided to make them into kimchi. With such a large quantity, there was bound to be a few good ones.
We have radishes, cowpeas, peppers, and cabbage at home, but we're still missing ginger and garlic.
Before the rainy season arrived, Lai had pulled up all the garlic in the field, afraid that the rain would cause it to rot in the ground, wasting the garlic and filling the garden with the smell of rotten garlic. That smell was indescribably sour and pungent, and it would linger for two or three days if you weren't careful.
Among these garlic cloves, the smaller, fresh garlic was peeled and cleaned by Lai and Neil, then made into salted garlic and pickled in small jars.
The larger garlic cloves were braided directly onto the garlic stems and dried in the sun.
Lai made a mistake in her calculations when planting vegetables; she planted too little garlic, and in the end, she only produced a small jar of salted garlic and three garlic braids.
This amount of garlic is fine if it's just used as a seasoning, but it's definitely not enough for making other dishes that require garlic. The only solution is for Lai to buy some from the farmers at the market in the morning.
Compared to fresh garlic, ginger is easier to find. Lai still remembers the location of the wild ginger he found last year.
At the time, the idea was to reuse them, not to wipe them all out at once, so a lot was left. After a year of rest, they should have grown quite a bit more, and when needed, we can just dig them up—they're tender and fresh.
Without hesitation, Lai, a man of action, grabbed a hoe and went into the woods. In just a few hours, he returned with a considerable amount of wild ginger and wild fruit.
With all the vegetables prepared, washed and dried, the two large kimchi jars in the storage room were quickly filled.
Although kimchi is known to contain high levels of nitrites, which are carcinogenic, under these circumstances, Lai didn't have the energy to worry about these issues.
He still has a lot to do, and he hopes to finish building the cabin on the hillside before next spring. He also wants to build a larger storage shed in addition to the temporary dwelling to store ripe fruit.
"Brother, I'm going upstairs to sleep."
"good."
After finishing his day's work, Lai tidied up and lay down on the bed, closing his eyes and thinking about what he needed to do next.
Building a house entirely in wood over there would save a lot of money, but it wouldn't be very safe. Building a stone house, on the other hand, would take too much time…
After much thought, unable to come up with a good solution, Ray finally decided to ask the building craftsmen for their opinion.
As night deepened, the crickets outside gradually stopped chirping, and Lai fell asleep.
Suddenly, Ray woke up with a start, his heart pounding and cold sweat pouring down his face. This state gave him a feeling of palpitations, leaving him somewhat at a loss.
"Could it be a heart condition?"
Lei muttered to himself.
His heartbeat gradually stabilized, and he fell asleep again.
Unbeknownst to the villagers, on this utterly ordinary summer night, a momentous event occurred in their small mountain village that would change the course of history...
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Inside the mage tower of the royal city of Bersudun, an old man dressed in white robes slowly opened his eyes, his azure eyes seeming to hold the entire starry sky and the sea.
The intricate patterns and iconic designs on his white robe highlighted his distinguished status and position.
Noisy footsteps echoed in the corridor, and a moment later, there was a knock on the door. Although the situation was somewhat urgent, the visitors remained respectful and polite.
The door opened silently without any wind.
"Teacher, something seems amiss in the East."
The white-robed magician waved his hand, indicating that he already knew.
"Such star trails have appeared once before, five hundred years ago. There's no need to worry; it's a good thing."
The visitor carefully chose his words and asked tentatively.
"Teacher, should we send someone to check on this?"
"It's optional."
"I won't disturb the teacher's rest."
"Um."
The door opened and closed again, leaving only the old man in the white robe inside.
He sighed softly, fiddling with a small gadget in his hand, lost in thought.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 07:52:06 on March 5, 2024 and 23:41:38 on March 9, 2024!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Ruyou (20 bottles); Duoduoduo (5 bottles); Wanwan (2 bottles); MoonCake (1 bottle);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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