The next day, Ye Wenxue got up early, stretched, picked up the little Yuanyuan who didn't sleep much, found a wooden bucket, and went to the vegetable garden to fetch water.
The sweet potato vines, corn, and peppers planted in the vegetable garden have been harvested several times, and the cabbages, radishes, soybeans, and other vegetables are also ripe. The only thing that is growing slowly is the winter wheat planted later, which needs to be watered several more times.
Besides sweet potatoes, corn, and chili peppers, Ye Wenxue's space also contained fruit seeds such as tomatoes, strawberries, and watermelons, as well as crop seeds such as rice, coriander, and pumpkins, and even a few saplings of plums, peaches, grapes, and cherries.
She planned to plant everything she could when she had some free time, both to give the children something to do and to ensure they could eat fresh vegetables and fruits when they were ripe.
After watering several vegetable plots, Ye Wenxue went to check on the ducks that had been put into the fenced enclosure the day before.
She was worried that the ducks would be bullied because the geese were too fierce.
To everyone's surprise, when they arrived at the duck pen, all the ducks were perfectly fine, while the goose sat in a corner with its rear end sticking out, looking withdrawn and neither picking up grass nor making a fuss.
Ye Wenxue felt that this was not something a goose could do, and guessed that it might have been injured, so she couldn't help but speak up and coax it a couple of times.
"quack!"
The goose squatted in place, motionless.
Ye Wenxue chuckled: "We're going out of the valley to find mountain produce today. Do you want to come along?"
"Quack!" The goose flew out of the duck pen in a flash, snatched two bites of the turtle kept in the wooden bucket, and quacked in response.
Ye Wenxue understood; this was someone who had been holding back for too long and was now throwing a tantrum, wanting to eat fish and shrimp.
"Shall I catch some small fish and shrimp for you to change things up?"
The goose was satisfied and stomped its feet far away into the pile of weeds to eat.
The little rabbits in the rabbit enclosure have grown quite a bit, and their white fur has grown out. They're round, chubby, and quite cute.
After a quick inspection, Ye Wenxue made breakfast. Today, she would have to walk a long way to find mountain produce in the valley, and she needed to eat well to have the energy to walk.
In the morning, I made braised winter melon and stir-fried green beans with minced meat. The dry rice was mixed with the minced meat sauce, and the children could eat a big bowl of it.
When Ye Wenxue was eating, she told the children about going to find mountain products today. Shuangshuang, Sanyuan, and Siwang had all heard about it from Dazhuang last night, so they weren't surprised. Instead, they were excited that they could go out of the valley to play.
No matter how big the valley is, staying inside every day will make you feel suffocated and annoyed. It would be best to go out and get some fresh air.
Da Zhuang carried a bow and the wooden arrows he had sharpened the night before in his basket. He then went to look after the younger children, telling them not to bring anything else, so they wouldn't be tired and uncomfortable carrying it on the way back.
Ye Wenxue used the coarse flour she bought to make steamed buns, which she would save to eat with sauce at noon.
Speaking of which, all the chili peppers we harvested are drying, and we plan to use them to save seeds. We can use the next batch of chili peppers to make a few dishes to try them out.
After working for most of the hour, the family left the valley in high spirits.
Ye Wenxue carried two new bamboo baskets on her shoulders. One basket contained Xiao Yuanyuan, and the other contained a kitchen knife, steamed buns, and other items.
Little Yuanyuan enjoyed a treatment her older siblings never had, sitting peacefully in the basket, occasionally peeking out from the edge.
Fortunately, Dazhuang was walking beside her, teasing Yuanyuan from time to time, and managing to stuff her back into the basket when she tried to run away.
Shuangshuang and Siwang chattered away the whole way, while Sanyuan carried a small hoe and dug up any plants that looked like herbs and put them into the small basket on his back.
In late autumn, many mountain products in the old forest have ripened.
Siwang, who was at the front, spotted the tree full of bright red hawthorns at a glance. He stood on tiptoe, climbed a branch, and cheerfully called to Shuangshuang to pick them.
They picked one, wiped it vigorously, and then brought it to Ye Wenxue's lips, their eyes full of anticipation.
Ye Wenxue took a bite. Perhaps because there hadn't been much rain this year and the plants relied entirely on groundwater, the hawthorns were few in number, small, sour, with little flesh and large pits.
She swallowed it whole and ate the entire hawthorn, saying tactfully, "It's a little sour."
Dazhuang immediately stepped back a few steps, refusing to accept the hawthorns that Siwang had brought. Even his mother said that the hawthorns were sour, so how sour must they be?
You know, my mother could eat sour and astringent wild kiwifruit without batting an eye.
He didn't want to experience toothache from the sourness.
Siwang refused to believe it, stood on tiptoe to pick one, hesitated for a moment, took a bite, and instantly his whole face contorted in pain.
Shuangshuang shook her head regretfully: "I'm afraid they're inedible, so let's not waste time picking them."
Ye Wenxue suddenly remembered that she had bought some candy this time. She hesitated for a moment and said, "Zhai, Mother, let's see if we can make some hawthorn candy skewers when we get back."
What is candied hawthorn?
The kids stared at each other, wide-eyed, at Dazhuang, the only one who had ever been to town.
Dazhuang shook his head; he hadn't heard of it either, perhaps it was something his mother had made up.
Filled with doubt, Siwang quickly finished picking the few hawthorns on the tree and continued walking deeper into the old forest.
I hadn't been to the old forest for a month or two, and it looked completely transformed. Mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, and other things were growing on many dead trees.
Looking around, chestnuts, persimmons, wild kiwis, and pomegranates are not exactly everywhere, but they are also easier to find than before.
Ye Wenxue then told the children to pick wild mountain produce around them and not to run around.
The children all ran off at once, it was unclear whether they had heard what she said.
Ye Wenxue picked up Yuanyuan, tied her behind her back with soft strips of cloth, and made a long pole with a knife, attaching a burlap sack to the top to make it easier to pick persimmons, chestnuts and other fruits from the top of the tree.
It was the golden autumn season, a time of harvest. Before long, Da Zhuang, who was quick and nimble, had picked a full basket of mountain produce. He returned, poured it into a hamburger, greeted Ye Wenxue, and then dashed off again.
"Big brother, there are more over there, but I'm not tall enough to reach them!" Siwang tried his best to stand on tiptoe, his face turning red.
Dazhuang stopped walking, picked up Siwang and made him pick some wood ear mushrooms from the higher ground. He also peeked into the basket of wild vegetables on Siwang's back and asked, "Is that all? You're not going to eat them while you're picking them, are you?"
Sanyuan, standing nearby, shook his head and tried to explain for Siwang: "He can only pick mountain produce from the lower parts of the mountain, and he refuses to pick wild vegetables and herbs with me, which has delayed us a bit."
Dazhuang patted Siwang on the head, encouraging him to keep going.
The children must have been cooped up in the valley for too long, because as soon as they came out, they ran around like wildflowers, and before noon, all the baskets and crates they had brought were full.
Even the cloth bags used to hold steamed buns and sauce were full.
Ye Wenxue found a place to sit down and called out, "Stop picking them, rest for a while and have something to eat."
“Okay!” Dazhuang and Sanyuan responded immediately.
Dazhuang dragged Shuangshuang and Siwang, who were still trying to run away, back with them. Not afraid of getting dirty, they sat down on the spot and ate the steamed buns that Ye Wenxue gave them.
After dinner, Ye Wenxue forced Shuangshuang and Siwang to leave, and slowly strolled back to the valley with the children.
As they walked along the valley path, Ye Wenxue noticed that Sanyuan kept looking back as they went, and said with a smile, "What's wrong? Missing your master?"
Sanyuan shook his head and pointed to the sky behind him, which was faintly red: "Mother, look, it's so strange, the sky is red."
Ye Wenxue was taken aback and subconsciously turned to look at the place Sanyuan was pointing to.
A few scattered remnants of red dotted the hills in the distance.
As time passed, the red dot expanded rapidly, the sky turned gray, and thick smoke billowed straight into the clouds.
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