Chapter 97 New Members Planting Seeds, Cubs, Cellar
A few days passed quickly. Lai went to town to retrieve the pre-ordered butter and made the latest hot pot base.
This time, Mu left him a lot, so he made a lot of hot pot base. Some of it was given to Mu, Temuji, and Hagrid's family, while the rest was preserved in the storage room using a more ancient preservation method.
Upon learning that this was the last batch of hot pot base for the next six months or so, Temuqi ate it with extra care.
Iru has already given Barnett a clear reply.
Including Iru, there are a total of sixteen goblins willing to accept this job. Kai will stay at home to take care of his mother and younger siblings.
Barnett also promised that the villagers would protect their safety. Once spring planting is over, they and some able-bodied men from the village will form a construction team and head to Yinping Village, dozens of kilometers away.
Lai expanded his garden little by little with a hoe, while his pet red tarantula, whose wings had been clipped, followed him in the backyard, digging and picking up earthworms to eat.
The physical exhaustion paled in comparison to the psychological satisfaction; life was peaceful and fulfilling.
After several spring rains, the wild vegetables in the fields grew and were ready to eat, and many children were digging for wild vegetables in the fields and along the roads.
Lai only recognized dandelion, wild onion, and sow thistle.
Dandelion, also known as "Po Po Ding," is believed to have cooling properties. Back in my hometown, after washing it, we often eat it with dipping sauce.
The taste of sow thistle and dandelion are similar, and they also look very alike.
Wild onions, also known as "big brains," taste almost identical to regular onions, except that they are smaller and have roots that resemble garlic bulbs.
Actually, this is also a good time to eat toon sprouts, but Laiyi has only seen them in the market. She doesn't know if they are available here or where to find them.
Although it was a bit of a disappointment, we ultimately gave up on finding this delicious ingredient.
Besides the few types of wild vegetables he recognized, there were many other varieties here. Although Lai didn't recognize them, seeing that the children's baskets were full, he followed suit and picked some to bring back as well.
"Brother, did you go to dig for wild vegetables?"
Neil looked at the wild vegetables and weeds in the basket with a sense of helplessness.
"Yeah, I went to the fields today and dug some up. I didn't recognize some of them, but I saw other people were digging them up, so I dug some up too."
"Can't we eat it?"
Seeing Neil's expression, Ray realized that there might be something wrong with the wild vegetables.
Neil nodded.
"These large leaves are usually used to feed livestock at home. It's okay, you can feed them to mules."
Neil carefully picked out the inedible weeds one by one.
"These are all edible. Brother, you're amazing! You dug up so many wild vegetables!"
Neil smiled broadly and began praising her, his eyes full of genuine admiration, without a trace of perfunctoriness.
Lai could only facepalm at the sight.
"Brother, you can teach me how to dig wild vegetables from now on. I can also cut some wild grass to feed the mule and save some grain."
"Okay, let's go together."
For dinner, Lai made wild vegetable and egg drop soup with wild vegetables, and also made some pumpkin pancakes with the pumpkin that was stored from last year and not yet finished.
Pumpkin pancakes are a bit of a hassle to make, so Lai made a lot at once, enough to last for several days. Even when they get cold, they can still be eaten as a snack.
The vegetable garden in the backyard of the small building has been tidied up and made neat after Lai took care of it for about ten days.
After digging up the wild vegetable roots from the field, drying them in the sun, piling them up in a small heap, and burning them clean, they were replaced by rows of neat furrows.
A simple fence made of wooden stakes and planks was built around the vegetable garden to prevent livestock from some villagers from wandering into the garden and damaging the seedlings.
All that's left to do at home is cultivate those few small plots of land. Hitching the mules with farm tools is all that's needed. Even if it's just Lai doing it all by himself, it'll be done in a few days.
Hagrid would never allow Rae to manage those fields by himself.
In fact, the Black brothers and Rye finished all the farm work in just over two days.
There were no modern seedling cultivation techniques, nor were there any chemical fertilizers to enhance growth. The entire process consisted of simply preparing the farmland and planting the seeds in a straight line.
It's simple and straightforward; it all depends on the seeds themselves.
Ray felt this method was inappropriate, but every household here used it. He had no choice but to focus his attention on increasing the nutrients in the black soil.
The pit, left to sit for a winter, accumulated a lot of kitchen waste and livestock manure. After natural fermentation, its original appearance was no longer visible; it had turned into nutritious compost.
Lai mixed the fermented fertilizer with dry soil and took some to the farmland to experiment by spreading only a small patch.
There was no other way; supplies were limited.
We can only wait and see what the situation is and whether it will work.
Another portion of the watermelons were planted under the tree given by Gug and on the plot of land where watermelons were planned to be grown.
Except for not having planted vegetables yet, the housework at home is basically done, and Lai is temporarily free.
But he didn't intend to rest. Whenever he had free time, he would go to Guge's house to help out with chores and learn planting techniques.
The weather was getting hotter every day, and people had changed from thick coats to light shirts. Lai returned from working at Guge's house, carrying a hoe; he was alone at home.
He put down his hoe, washed his hands, and then added water for the red rockbird and the mule.
When he returned today, the big yellow dog didn't come out of its kennel to wag its tail and greet him.
Lai vaguely saw that Dahuang was curled up in a ball in its bed, but didn't think much of it. It wasn't until he heard faint whimpering while adding water that he realized what was going on.
Big Yellow blocked the entrance to the doghouse with its body. Lai carefully approached the doghouse and saw two soft, whimpering puppies lying on the inside of Big Yellow's body.
One was yellow with black fur and a bit of white, the other was black with white fur. Their eyes were not yet open, and they were wriggling under Big Yellow's belly, looking for milk.
Its pink and tender little paw pads pressed around randomly, while its two little hind legs drooped limply on the ground because it had no strength.
Big Yellow glanced at the approaching Lei, then focused all its attention on the two puppies. Its expression was incredibly gentle, radiating maternal warmth as it carefully licked their bodies.
Why did it suddenly have puppies? We haven't let Dahuang (the dog) have any contact with the village dogs in the past few months.
Lei pondered with a puzzled expression.
Big Yellow is old, already in his teens, equivalent to a human entering old age, and hasn't had any offspring for several years.
Now, two puppies have suddenly been born, and the father is unknown. He couldn't help but think of the time when Big Yellow went missing.
She must have been in contact with other dogs during that period, but the pregnancy timeline doesn't quite add up.
Dogs usually give birth after about 60 days of pregnancy, and it's been almost four months since then, and Da Huang has finally given birth to puppies...
"well."
Lei sighed, feeling a mix of emotions.
There's the joy of a new family member suddenly arriving, and the melancholy of not knowing which one has taken your cabbage.
Logically speaking, rhubarb is no longer suitable for production, but since it has already been produced, what else can be done? We can only take good care of it.
Resigned, Lai went back inside to cook a meat and bone soup. The meat was given to the little foodie Tata, and the soup, along with other vegetables and bones, was made into a postpartum meal for Dahuang.
Tomorrow I'll go to town again to buy some cheap trotters and minced meat to give my dog, Dahuang, who just gave birth, a treat.
They were all scraps; Lai had seen Mu throw them all into the scrap meat bin many times.
They don't look very appealing, but they're all fresh, so generally no one would buy them.
Neil came home from school dragging a bundle of wild grass. He put the grass in the mule pen first, washed his hands in the yard, and then went into the house humming a nice tune.
"Brother, I'm back!"
The newly painted living room is clean and tidy.
Because of the warmer weather, the fireplace is no longer burned much, and the house no longer smells of burning wood.
The makeshift vegetable garden inside the house for winter had long been dismantled by Lai, leaving a large open space where he placed his handmade wooden clothes rack.
There were no clothes hanging up there, but there were quivers and some other tools.
And that solid wood dining table that we've used for many years.
Lei used a plane to clean the original wooden surface of the tabletop, revealing the clean interior, and then applied wax and other coatings for preservation. After airing it out for a few days, it was moved back in for use.
Some fresh decorations were also hanging on the walls. Some were handmade by Lai, some were pretty stones and feathers that Neil had picked up, and there was also a whole nice animal skin.
"Okay, dinner will have to wait a little longer."
A muffled sound came from the cellar.
Neil put down his book and looked into the cellar, where Rye was cleaning with the glass lamp on.
"Brother, do you need my help?"
The outer walls of the cellar were constructed of stone, and because they were dark, the walls were somewhat damp.
There were also many potatoes and sweet potatoes inside, which Lai had saved for seed. He had placed a lot of lime around them to absorb moisture, so they were preserved fairly well, except for the side against the wall where the sprouts were quite severe and were no longer edible.
The lime did a pretty good job; at least Lei didn't find any rotten potatoes or sweet potatoes in it.
Lai sat on a small stool and, with the bag open, separated the sprouted and unsprouted potatoes into two different small bags.
"Use a rope to lower a basket down, pull these sprouted potatoes up, cut them into pieces tonight, and plant them in the next few days."
"OK!"
As soon as Ray heard Neil run off, he lowered his head and continued sorting the potatoes. A moment later, he heard Neil's voice again from above.
"Brother, stay away. I'm taking the basket down, but I'm afraid it might hit your head."
Ray looked up and saw Neil squatting by the cellar, carrying a small basket tied with a rope.
"Put it down."
The basket was lowered little by little. Lai lowered his head and made room for it, afraid that the dust falling from the cellar entrance would get into his eyes.
The basket was put down, only half-filled, before Neil picked it up.
After a few trips, they had carried half of the potatoes upstairs, along with some other small pieces of trash. Working together, the two of them cleaned it up in no time.
Ray handed the small stool to Neil, then pushed himself up with both arms, inevitably getting some dust on his body.
Compared to before, he is now more agile and his physical strength has improved significantly.
The potatoes that Neil brought up were neatly piled up on the canvas, without making the floor dirty at all.
The cellar was covered with wooden planks, and the rolled-up carpet was laid back down.
Ray dusted himself off and asked Neil what he wanted to eat today.
Neil remembered that he still had a lot of sauerkraut at home, so he ordered a sauerkraut stew with potatoes, and Lai readily agreed.
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Author's Note: It's okay, I'll secretly update in the dead of winter nights to mourn the hair I've lost from anger.
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