Xu Lin spoke up again, embarrassed: "Lan Qing is indeed not my daughter. I am only twenty-seven years old, how could I possibly have a daughter this old?"
Ye Wenxue looked him up and down several times, thinking that it wasn't impossible for people in ancient times to be precocious, but she was busy and not interested in other people's family affairs for the time being.
"Oh. Anyway, be careful, don't run out of the valley, and don't let outsiders stay overnight."
Even with Xu Lin and Grandpa Xu's combined vigilance, they couldn't compare to her Dazhuang.
Ye Wenxue sighed helplessly, and considering that Cheng Xiucai and Old Master Xu could earn money for her, she gave them another reminder.
The Xu family was bombarded with warnings, so much so that their heads were spinning. They could only watch as Ye Wenxue made arrangements at the entrance of the valley and then left on her own.
Grandma Xu happily carried the rice bag to the kitchen, while Grandpa Xu asked Lan Qing to help Xu Lin to the table to sit down and wait for dinner.
“What Miss Ye said makes a lot of sense. You should be more careful when you travel in the future, so as not to be misled by evil people again and hurt your eyes.”
Xu Lin raised his hand to touch his eyes and nodded silently.
Not all of his acquaintances were cunning individuals; some were kind-hearted and had their own bottom line, like Cheng Dingfang.
Just like Ye Wenxue.
Even though Ye Wenxue kept saying it was for the money, they also benefited from it and even found another way to make a living. How could he not be grateful?
*
The valley remained as quiet as ever.
After Shuangshuang, Sanyuan, and Siwang finished their work, they leaned on the fence and looked at the four ducks playing with the geese, the two hens jumping around, the little wild boar squawking, and the two sheep munching on grass. The three of them silently drooled.
"Second sister, third brother, I want to eat chicken and duck."
"No, we need to save them for laying eggs. Don't you want to eat eggs?"
"Hmm... I want to eat mutton." Siwang tilted his head. "I don't think I've ever eaten mutton before."
The last time I saw a sheep was in Shanqing Village. A ewe appeared out of nowhere and ran straight into the village head's house.
"That won't work either; we have to keep them to have lambs."
Siwang, feeling resentful, mustered his courage to look at the incredibly strong goose that could take on four opponents at once.
It's the only one in the family that does nothing but eat and do nothing.
"Quack quack!" Noticing Siwang's gaze, the goose spread its wings and suddenly flew up, plunging into Siwang's arms and quacking fiercely at him a few times.
Shuangshuang and Sanyuan quickly helped, pulling the goose down and coaxing it with grass.
After the goose was taken away, Siwang cried bitterly, even disturbing Yuanyuan who was sleeping inside. This startled little Yuanyuan, who also started screaming.
Seeing the commotion, Dazhuang, who was working in the fields, couldn't help but sigh and called out, "Hungry? Big brother, go cook some food?"
Sanyuan went back into the house to hug Yuanyuan, shaking her head obediently: "Let's wait a little longer, maybe Mother will come back soon."
Before my mother went out, she said that there wasn't much to do today, and that I should come back early to plant chili peppers and pickle sauerkraut.
"Oh dear." Shuangshuang slapped her forehead. "I almost forgot. Before Mother left, she told us to take all the cabbages out of the cellar, peel off the rotten leaves, cut off the roots, and put them away properly. Siwang, don't cry, come with me to the cellar to get the cabbages."
Shuangshuang shared a similar idea with Ye Wenxue: if they did more work, they wouldn't have time to cry and make a fuss.
Siwang was shocked that Shuangshuang not only didn't come to comfort him, but also made him do chores. He was overwhelmed with grief and cried uncontrollably.
"Who messed with our Siwang?" Ye Wenxue walked to the front of the earthen house, carrying a basket of bamboo shoots on her back and a large jar on her shoulder. She put the jar down heavily and took a deep breath. "Everything has been discussed. Mother will pickle all the cabbages these days, so we'll have sauerkraut to eat in the winter. Hmm, sauerkraut stewed with pork, do you want some?"
Siwang stopped crying immediately and clung to Ye Wenxue's leg hesitantly, saying, "I want to eat... Mother, I want to eat meat."
Ye Wenxue thought for a moment: "We can't eat the ones we raise at home for now... How about I cook you some rabbit?"
A litter of rabbits, eating one or two isn't a big problem.
"Anything is fine." Siwang is easily satisfied; as long as it's meat, he'll be happy.
Ye Wenxue then asked Dazhuang to go to the rabbit hutch to catch a rabbit and prepare it. After resting on the rocking chair for a while, she began to cook the rabbit meat with great energy.
While her mother was busy, Shuangshuang quickly called Sanyuan and Siwang to go to the cellar to move cabbages.
Dazhuang brought only a few cabbage and radish seeds; they were enough to fill a small vegetable patch when planted together with soybeans.
But the cabbages and radishes were all big, with many leaves, and the leaves were lush and green, so they looked delicious.
While Siwang was in the cellar, he couldn't resist secretly taking a bite of a white radish. His tongue was suddenly stung by the spiciness, but then came a sweet taste.
He quickly flattered Shuangshuang and Sanyuan, saying, "It's so delicious!"
They both rolled their eyes at him, but still took a bite: "Mmm!"
Sanyuan looked at his second sister, then at his fourth brother, and shook his head: "...Eat less, or you won't be able to eat rabbit meat later."
Siwang hesitated, "Then we can eat the radish after the meal."
After they peeled off the rotten leaves and trimmed the muddy roots from each cabbage, the rabbit meat was just cooked.
Ye Wenxue was worried that it wouldn't be flavorful enough, so she added three spoonfuls of chili oil, which made the kids' eyes water. They couldn't bear not to eat it, so they could only eat a bite of rabbit meat and then shovel down a few mouthfuls of rice.
After the meal, Ye Wenxue took some time to chop the Chinese cabbage, blanched it, rubbed it with coarse salt, and stacked it layer by layer in a large, washed and dried jar, then weighed it down with a large stone.
They took out some radishes and damaged bamboo shoots, peeled them, cut them into small pieces, and put them in a jar to soak.
While Ye Wenxue's family was busy stocking up on vegetables for the winter, the He family in the town at the foot of the mountain was almost in dire straits.
"What did I tell you? We were going to Longxing Prefecture! Now look what's happened! We've run out of money, we've run out of food, and we even killed and ate the last sheep. What are we going to do tomorrow?" He Laosan couldn't hold back any longer and exploded at He Laowu, who was crying out in pain.
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