So we chose three connected hilltops, mainly for this piece of land—a suitable place to build a house.
Fan Jin nodded obediently. His dark, moist eyes and fair skin looked so soft that Shui Qing wanted to reach out and pinch them to see if they were as soft as cotton candy.
Unaware of her thoughts, Fan Jin unloaded the items from the cart while explaining, "I've always wanted to move out and have my own little home, away from the gossip in the village and from my mother and sister-in-law."
His brows furrowed slightly. Thinking of how it was ungentlemanly to speak ill of someone behind their back, he stopped and gave Shui Qing an apologetic smile.
Shui Qing didn't really care.
She argued with Fan's mother and Sun Jinhua because they used to live together, which genuinely affected her. Now that she has moved out, she has neither the time nor the inclination to listen to their gossip.
Fan Jin pursed his rosy lips and quickly unloaded everything from the cart. Then, pulling the empty cart, he said to Shui Qing, "Now that everything is unloaded, I'll return the cart to Uncle Li."
Shui Qing replied, "Okay, you go ahead, I'll tidy up these things." The cart is very useful; someone might need it, so it's not good to borrow it for too long.
Fan Jin then instructed his five children one by one: "Yanqiu, Xinghui, come and help your mother tidy up the chores."
"Jiang, He, and Hu, the three of you go and cut thatch. That stuff cuts your hands and makes your skin itchy. Don't let your sister and mother do it. Wait for Father to come back and we'll cut it together."
The five children responded loudly and got to work.
Fan Jin pulled the cart to return it.
Jiang, He, and Hu went to cut thatch, and Daya and Erya came running over. The three of them quickly and efficiently organized the items.
Actually, although the items are heavy, there aren't many of them.
The bamboo bed was placed down, and clothes and bedding were put on it as well to avoid getting them dirty.
The family had very few clothes; each child had only two sets of coarse linen clothes covered in patches.
Fan Jin wore two sets of coarse cotton long gowns, which were slightly neater, presumably because he was going to work in the city and needed to dress presentably.
The original owner's clothes were also made of coarse linen, but fortunately they weren't hand-me-downs. Besides two sets with patches, there was one set without patches.
Farm tools are placed on one side, and kitchen utensils on the other.
Five bags of grain: one bag of corn, one bag of millet, more than half a bag of rice, more than half a bag of flour, and one bag of wheat bran.
Wheat bran is made by grinding wheat husks into powder, adding a handful of flour to increase stickiness, and mixing them together to make dark-colored steamed buns.
Shuiqing felt a sore throat just thinking about the taste of dark-colored steamed buns.
Da Ya and Er Ya looked at the five bags of grain, which were not very full, and felt a little worried.
"Mom, I'll go build a chicken coop first and put the chickens in it. Later, I'll go to the village to ask my friends for some vegetable seeds."
It's late August now, so let's plant them before early September, plant more so the family will have vegetables to eat during the winter.
The thought of her carefully tended vegetable garden, dried chili peppers, dried eggplants, dried cowpeas... all left at Lao Fan's house made Er Ya feel a pang of heartache.
Daya looked around at the bare surroundings and had an idea. She turned to Shuiqing and said, "Mother, I'll go to the bamboo forest to pick some bamboo mushrooms to make a soup."
With limited grain, we have to supplement our diet with plenty of wild vegetables.
It rained yesterday, and there were a lot of mushrooms in the bamboo forest. Although they were a bit old now, it didn't matter. Mushroom soup is delicious and is the best of all wild vegetables.
Shuiqing was delighted to see her two daughters managing their lives so well.
Hearing that Daya was going to pick mushrooms, he asked worriedly, "Yanqiu, some mushrooms are poisonous, do you know them?"
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