After taking a half-hour nap, Yan Xia woke up her four children and went to the foot of the mountain to collect fallen leaves and dry branches to burn into ash. There was no straw available at this time; it was usually available after the autumn harvest. So, she had to cut out this item. But where was she supposed to get the fertilizer?
Each household in the village has its own outhouse.
They value excrement and urine more than their own lives.
After all, the crops in the field depend on this fertilizer.
This is a major issue concerning production output.
Oh, right!
She could steal from the Chen family's land; she and her children also have a share in the latrines there. Why should the Chen family benefit from it?
Yan Xia suddenly understood.
She instigated her two sons to borrow two manure buckets from Aunt Zhao.
They poured the Chen family's fertilizer into their own newly dug manure pit.
This back and forth directly reduced the composting time by one month.
It's perfect.
It was late afternoon, around 4:30 PM. At the edge of the wasteland at the foot of the mountain, Chen Jinfu put down the carrying pole on his shoulder, while Chen Jinlu beside him held a wet manure ladle in his hand. Both of them were covered in sweat from exhaustion.
"Mother, there's only about half a bucket left in the Chen family's latrine. Do we still need to go and fetch more manure?" Chen Jinfu asked his mother.
"You weren't seen stealing manure by the villagers, were you? That's enough, that's enough. Take these two buckets of manure and mix them. Don't pour them into the latrine. Leave the rest for them. Your mother isn't that heartless." Yan Xia looked at her family's latrine, which was full of farmyard manure, and felt very satisfied.
The two trolls were speechless with displeasure.
Is Mom pretending to be innocent after getting the benefit...?
But they only thought about it in their hearts; they wouldn't dare say it out loud.
"No, their farmland isn't far from our wasteland, and everyone in the village was busy working, so they didn't notice us. Mother, are these two buckets of manure mixed with the wood ash? What are you doing, Mother? We haven't even planted any vegetables, and you're already fertilizing us?"
Chen Jinfu finally voiced his doubts.
He simply couldn't understand his mother's actions.
“You silly child, your mother knows more than you do. You’re still so young, just follow your mother and learn. Don’t ask too many questions. You and Jinlu go and dig a shallow pit, then pour in the manure and wood ash, mix it together with a manure ladle, let it ferment for three days, and then return the manure bucket to your Aunt Zhao. Your two sisters and I will go to the low hill to dig for some wild vegetables and mushrooms, otherwise we won’t have anything to eat tonight. Guihua, Lamei, let’s go, the three of us.”
After giving instructions to her two sons, Yan Xia left with her two daughters.
Guihua was also carrying a basin, which Yanxia had asked her to take with her when she left.
"Mom, why don't you and my sister go dig for wild vegetables? I'll go to the village to borrow an axe. We don't have any bamboo baskets, which is very inconvenient. Luckily, my older brother knows how to weave bamboo baskets. I'll cut some bamboo and have him weave a few for us, so we won't have to carry wooden basins around everywhere."
"Okay, then be careful. If you can't cut it anymore, call your eldest brother or third brother to help you cut it."
"Yes, Mother."
After Guihua finished speaking, she handed the wooden basin to her younger sister Lamei and then walked towards home.
Yan Xia led La Mei around and around, climbing all the way to the other side of the low hill. There was no land there, and a big river flowed at the foot of the hill. If you were not careful, you would fall into the river. So this area was particularly damp, and many women and children from the village came to pick mushrooms.
They arrived at dinnertime, when there was no one else around.
The mother and daughter split up, their eyes scanning the ground like eagles.
"Mom! I found some mushrooms! They're not very big, but they're really fresh. Shall we make soup with them tonight?" Wax Plum's excited voice came from the side.
Yan Xia walked over and saw that her daughter was carefully holding a creamy white mushroom in her right hand. It looked a bit like a miniature version of a modern chicken leg mushroom. She wondered if it tasted similar.
If you slice this thing thinly and stir-fry it with pork belly, it's so delicious you'll want to swallow your tongue.
"Great, put it in the bowl, let's keep looking."
After a well-chosen compliment, Lamei became even happier.
The petite girl darted around like a monkey, and after half an hour, the mother and daughter had only found about ten mushrooms of all kinds, but none of them were large.
It's estimated that the villagers picked them all.
"Alright, let's go back. It'll be dark if we stay any longer. We'll make soup with these mushrooms when we get back, but it won't taste very good without salt." Yan Xia smacked her lips, wishing she had stolen the salt shaker from the kitchen when she left the Chen family.
We've lost a fortune.
"Mother, I wanted to ask you something. Didn't you say that stealing is wrong? Then why did you make my eldest brother and third brother steal manure? Isn't that stealing too?" Lamei is ten and a half years old this year. Long-term malnutrition has made her look like a twelve-year-old elementary school student. At this moment, she opened her innocent big eyes and looked at her mother.
"Forehead..."
Yan Xia was embarrassed.
She seems to have completely ruined her public image, damn it.
Raising children is really difficult; it's definitely not something a young girl like her can handle.
“Because we have a share in that cesspool. Look, there are so many people in our family, and we all need to poop and pee every day. The cesspool can only be filled up because of us. So what’s wrong with us taking what belongs to us?” Yan Xia racked her brains before she could find a way to put it.
"But Mother, shouldn't Father's pension money also be ours? Why can't we ask Grandma for it?"
Wax Plum continued to ask.
"Do you think your grandma would give it to us? Asking her for even a single copper coin is like asking her for her life. Forget it, Lamei, don't think about it anymore. It's just money. We can earn it ourselves in the future. Your father and I are divorced, so your father's money no longer belongs to me. Go back and cook, I'm a little hungry."
Yan Xia quickly changed the subject, and sure enough, as soon as food was mentioned, La Mei instantly forgot what she wanted to say.
The mother and daughter hurried home.
They encountered many villagers along the way, all of whom looked them over. Some familiar faces greeted them, and Yan Xia could only smile and nod in response.
His face was frozen from smiling.
"Mother, Lamei, you're finally back! The sun has already set. If you hadn't come back, I would have been looking for you." Jinlu stepped forward and took the wooden basin from Lamei's hands.
"Mother, I'm going to wash these mushrooms." He carried a wooden basin to the river to wash them clean and fetch some water on the way back.
“Go ahead,” Yan Xia replied.
Inside the dilapidated temple, Guihua was lighting a fire on the left, while her eldest son squatted beside the fire, scraping the outer layer of bamboo with a sickle.
The temple was drafty and dilapidated, but Yan Xia felt very warm because her son and daughter were so well-behaved and quick-witted.
This kind of life seems pretty good. Compared to her lonely life in modern times, where all she does is go to work and go home to sleep, her greatest pleasures are sitting in the square after get off work watching free TV and eating free samples at the supermarket.
At this moment, Yan Xia's dissatisfaction with the system had largely disappeared.
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