With the family now twice as large, the next day Zhou Laoda and his wife, along with their five sons and Mo Tianzhu's family, went to the land previously designated by the village chief to begin clearing the wasteland.
Chen Shunping was in poor health and could only stay at home. Zhao Guizhi was sold to the Chen family as a maid when she was ten years old. She was not used to doing farm work, so she was responsible for cutting pig feed and rabbit feed. The family raised two pigs and more than twenty rabbits.
Xingxing and Chen Yueru followed Zhao Guizhi. The two little girls were responsible for digging earthworms. The chickens and ducks in the house grew faster and laid more eggs because they ate more earthworms.
When the sun was very strong, they went home first. Xingxing couldn't stay still, so she took Ruru to the vegetable garden in the backyard and wandered around in the garden.
Chen Shunping was cooking lunch in the kitchen when he didn't hear the two little girls' voices for a while. He quickly went out to check and found that they had run into the vegetable garden.
"Xingxing, Ruru, what are you doing? Don't play in the vegetable garden. These vegetables are for eating, don't step on them." Chen Shunping had a proper appearance and always smiled before speaking, making him seem easy to get along with.
“Uncle, we didn’t trample the vegetables to death. Look how long this vine has grown! It was only this tall when we dug it up.” Xingxing gestured to her chest.
"Now the vines have climbed up the trellis and are as long as several uncles. Look, it's blooming! Soon it will bear fruit, and then we'll have big melons to eat."
Chen Shunping looked at the vines on the trellis and found that he did not recognize the plant. However, he did not think much of it. He had grown up in the Chen family and it was normal for him not to be familiar with the plants in the ground.
However, he still went into the vegetable garden, stared at the vines, and asked, "What kind of melon are these vines? What do the melons taste like?"
Xingxing rolled her big, round eyes, and said in a slightly hesitant voice, "We've never eaten one before, but this melon can grow really big, bigger than... bigger than the three of us combined."
Chen Shunping: "..." This analogy doesn't sound quite right.
"That's really big, probably bigger than three watermelons. I just don't know if it tastes as sweet and delicious as a watermelon."
Xingxing tilted her little head up and looked at him expectantly, with a suspicious drop of liquid dribbling from the corner of her mouth. "Uncle, is watermelon delicious? Is it very sweet? Why has Xingxing never eaten it? Ruru, have you ever eaten it?"
After thinking for a moment, Ruru affirmed, "I've eaten it. It's delicious, very sweet and juicy, and very thirst-quenching."
Xingxing pouted, looking a little aggrieved. "When did you eat it? Why didn't we know? Xingxing and my brothers didn't eat any. Did you secretly eat watermelon behind our backs? Waaah!" She was about to cry by the end.
“That’s what we used to eat. We haven’t eaten it since we fled. We didn’t see anyone selling watermelons in town either. Xingxing, don’t cry. Your uncle will go to town and ask if they sell them. If they don’t, we’ll go to the county to ask.” Chen Shunping coaxed Xingxing gently.
"Sister Xingxing, don't cry. Ruru hasn't eaten any since. If we could buy watermelons in town, we definitely wouldn't have eaten them behind your backs." Ruru joined in the comforting gesture.
Xingxing wiped away her tears, her long eyelashes fluttering like fans. "So you didn't eat watermelon behind our backs. I'm relieved. When our watermelons grow, we won't eat them behind your backs either."
Hearing this, Chen Shunping was both amused and exasperated. This little girl really held a grudge. Judging from her words, if they ate watermelon behind her back, she wouldn't let them eat any more watermelons that grew in the garden.
"Then I'll just wait and see," Chen Shunping said with amusement.
"Hmm, Xingxing is very generous. She'll definitely give Uncle and Ruru lots of melons to eat." After praising herself, Xingxing took two small sticks to pick up the green caterpillars on the vine leaves.
Chen Shunping felt a chill run down his spine. "Xingxing, aren't you scared? Why are you playing with bugs?"
"We're not playing with bugs, Xingxing is catching bugs. If we don't catch these caterpillars, they'll eat all the leaves off the vines. If they eat all the leaves, the vines might die. Let's catch the bugs and feed them to the chickens and ducks. They love to eat them." Xingxing wasn't afraid of these wriggling, soft-bodied bugs at all and caught them without any trouble.
Chen Yueru was quite afraid of those soft-bodied animals, but she often followed Xingxing. Xingxing was very bold and would always catch earthworms with his bare hands and use sticks to pick up green caterpillars in front of her. After seeing it so many times, Ruru had become somewhat numb to it and was no longer so afraid.
Chen Shunping had heard people from Chenfuzhuangzi say that sometimes there would be a lot of insects on the vegetable leaves. The green caterpillars could be caught directly, but there was no way to get rid of the smaller insects.
Actually, catching bugs isn't a big deal. But looking at Xingxing's delicate pink face and her snow-white little paws, and her clean and tidy clothes, she doesn't look like a farm girl who's used to doing farm work. Yet, the things this girl does are very down-to-earth.
Catching insects and digging up earthworms is a piece of cake.
Even Ruru became more and more cheerful because of her influence, and her mental illness was cured.
"The weather is getting hotter and hotter, and there are a lot of weeds in the vegetable garden. Be careful, play for a little while longer and then go inside." Chen Shunping was going back to the kitchen to continue cooking, and he had to keep an eye on the fire in the stove.
"Uncle, don't worry. Dad sprinkled lime powder around the vegetable garden this morning. The snakes won't dare to come near, so there's no danger." Xingxing had a "don't worry" look on her face.
Chen Shunping was relieved to see how thoughtful Zhou was and turned back to the kitchen.
Xingxing, as diligent as a little bee, helped catch bugs on the pumpkin leaves and kept urging Chen Yueru to join in, "Ruru, come and catch bugs with us! Bugs are like earthworms, they won't bite. Just use a stick to catch them, they're easy to catch."
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