As we entered late July, the rain gradually decreased, and the sorghum and corn on the hillside all sprouted ears, while the cotton gradually turned white!
The rice in the field has started to tiller, and the originally sparse seedlings have gradually increased in number of leaves, filling the reserved row spacing.
After the wheat was dried, it was divided equally between the two families, with Xiaoman's grandfather's family receiving 100 jin (50 kg).
Now, a bountiful harvest is in sight.
Thinking that he could get another hundred catties of rice without paying taxes, and that he could eat white rice and white flour in the future, Xiaomanye couldn't stop smiling every day, and even his hunched back straightened up a bit.
Jiang Zhi is even busier now, as this is the season with the most fruits and vegetables, and also the best sunny days of the year.
The pumpkins, green beans, and winter melons in the field are growing so fast that we can't eat them all even if we eat them every day.
So the hillside was covered with dried melon slices, dried vegetables, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, wood ear fungus, and medicinal herbs.
Several women spent their days meticulously checking and airing the food and medicine they had stored for the winter.
The cotton in the field has started to be harvested, and we can pick twenty or thirty cotton bolls every day.
Holding the soft cotton balls and looking at the plump cotton bolls, I was happier than if I had seen gold or silver. I dared not lose a single one.
This was something that could save lives. Jiang Zhi picked it with unprecedented devotion, and was so moved that she almost cried.
She never dreamed that one day she would live such a humble life.
He couldn't help but vow that if he could return to the modern world, he would eat well, dress properly, and never again throw away clothes that were just not his style.
Xiaoman and Xu Errui have a new task: they start searching for wild cotton all over the mountains.
It's the time when wild cotton flowers are in bloom. The flowers are beautiful, possessing the allure of roses, the elegance of lotuses, and the unique freshness and refinement of the mountains and fields.
However, this beauty is worthless in the eyes of ordinary people, and is not as important as its seed.
With the addition of Chunfeng and a baby on the mountain, there wasn't enough cotton for winter clothes, so some other stuffing had to be added.
Wild cotton fruits are fluffy and white, resembling cotton, but they have no fibers and cannot be spun into yarn or woven into cloth.
wild cotton
It can only be used like cattail fluff to padded jackets, barely enough to keep out a bit of the cold wind.
In addition to collecting wild cotton, Xu Errui and his group also dug up plant roots and stems to use in medicine.
The fresh roots of wild cotton can be mashed and applied externally to treat bruises and sprains, and boiled in water for internal use to expel roundworms.
Xu Dazhu's back injury has been treated with a different formula; now it uses Ueno cotton.
In addition, Xu Errui and Xiaoman have an even more arduous task: playing mahjong.
The idea of men tilling the fields and women weaving in the countryside, living a carefree and self-sufficient life, sounds romantic, but in reality, it's incredibly tough.
Here, you have to rely on your own two hands to get dressed and eat.
Besides planting crops, they also had to harvest kudzu vines in May and June, and thresh hemp in July and August. Diligent women needed to spin thread and weave cloth in their spare time to make hemp and kudzu cloth for their families to wear.
There are many steps involved in the process from harvesting hemp stalks to sewing clothes.
Peel the bark, dry it in the sun, tear it into thin threads, then hand-twist the hemp threads, boil them in stove ash to remove the gum from the hemp threads so they become soft and fine. They also need to be repeatedly rubbed, washed, and dried before finally being dyed and woven into cloth.
Of course, these tasks were still interspersed among other farm work; we couldn't let clothing interfere with our food production.
It takes about half a year to make a single garment from various materials and processes.
Playing mahjong under the blazing sun is dirty and tiring. The hemp leaves are prickly, and the long hemp stalks are heavy, so you have to wrap yourself up tightly before you dare to go into the ground.
The hemp seedlings grew on a relatively concentrated gentle slope. Although they were wild, they had been intentionally cultivated by the people of Xujia Village for many years and were growing very well.
In previous years, villagers would rush to harvest the crops, but this year no one is vying for them.
In the spring, in order to fill their stomachs, they dug up too much kudzu root on the mountain, so in June they only cut a small amount of kudzu vines. Now they rely entirely on hemp stalks to make clothes for everyone.
Four people went to the fields this time: Jiang Zhi and Chunfeng cut hemp stalks, while Xu Errui and Xiaoman carried the fresh, heavy hemp stalks back.
At home, Xiaoman's grandparents and Qiaoyun quickly peeled and dried the skins, while Xu Dazhu and Nini scraped off the remaining green skins with a knife.
No one in a farming family is idle; even the chickens are busy finding food to lay eggs for humans.
Because chickens that don't lay eggs can only be cooked.
Life on the mountain was peaceful and uneventful, but things were changing in the village at the foot of the mountain.
Under the close surveillance of Jiang Zhi and others, the greenhouses had already been set up.
Many people have arrived, but most of them were carried in, along with some medics whose arms were tied with red ribbons.
As everyone already knew from Chunfeng, those greenhouses in the village were a camp for wounded soldiers built by the new army.
"New Army" was the name the rebels gave themselves.
Jiang Zhi had been feeling uneasy for the past few months, as she had been unaware of the plot developments on the male lead's side for a long time, and was also unsure of the current situation.
He just wanted to avoid the chaos of the army, he didn't want to live like a wild man on this mountain for the rest of his life!
Fortunately, the wounded soldiers' camp was built at the foot of the mountain, and they were all in bed, so there was no need to worry about them being refugees who would wander up the mountain.
Moreover, one can also glean some information from the outside world from it.
For example, right now, we can see that the number of wounded being brought in is gradually increasing, and there are also several more graves in the fields outside the village.
Even if these people knew there were villagers on the mountain, they probably wouldn't have the time to manage it.
Despite the fierce fighting outside, it didn't affect the two families on the mountain who were doing everything they could to solve their basic needs.
Things are never smooth sailing; the same thing happened again—competing with rabbits and sparrows for food.
Actually, it's not so much a second time, but rather that it has never disappeared.
As August approaches, the corn cobs are about to plump up, and the sweet potato roots planted in the crevices and along the mountainsides are also beginning to swell.
Even the animals that cause the most worry and fear arrive upon hearing the news, ready to begin their feast delivered to their doorstep.
On the hillside, several pairs of eyes watched as a group of wild boars swaggered into the fields in broad daylight, wantonly munching on corn, sorghum, and sweet potatoes.
There were more than a dozen of them, including a sow, a boar, four or five half-sized pigs, and seven or eight small wild boars that were over a foot long and had yellowish-brown stripes on their bodies.
Xu Errui pounded the ground in anger: "It's over. Once this group of wild boars has ravaged the place, there will be nothing left."
Xiaoman was an impatient person. She picked up her machete and was about to jump up, shouting, "I'll fight them to the death!"
Jiang Zhi sternly stopped her: "Xiaoman, don't be reckless! Your life is more precious than that grain, you need to use your brain!"
As the saying goes, the ranking of the fiercest wild animals is: first, the pig; second, the bear; and third, the tiger.
It's not about their fighting strength, but the extent of their damage.
The most powerful fighter is undoubtedly the tiger.
Tigers don't leave their territory easily, and they are naturally wary. They will avoid people when they encounter them and rarely have direct conflicts with humans.
The second is the bear.
Aside from mother bears with cubs, they often have short-distance encounters with humans, and their first reaction upon seeing humans is to flee.
But pigs are different; pigs are simple-minded and not afraid of people.
Adult boars can weigh up to 400-500 pounds, possess immense strength, and are also known for their irritability, unpredictable mood swings, and tendency to go berserk at the drop of a hat.
Like the rooster and the white goose in the three rural bullies, they are fearless.
This group of wild boars now includes not only boars, but also sows with piglets.
That wasn't a herd of pigs; it was a powder keg ready to explode at any moment, a place even tigers would avoid.
Once a conflict breaks out, the humans on their side will have almost no chance to fight back.
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