Since Jiang Anliang's death and Song's disappearance, the family's fields have been left unattended.
Five mu of land, three mu of paddy fields and two mu of dry land.
In front of Jiang Bai were the paddy fields of his family.
Nearly a month has passed, and the water in the fields has long since dried up. The rice stalks look as if they have been hit by frost, all drooping and lifeless.
The grass in the field was taller than the rice seedlings.
The old house itself has twenty acres of land, so it's definitely going to prioritize its own farmland.
Standing on the edge of the field, Jiang Bai could almost hear the mournful cries of the rice stalks.
She raised her hand to her forehead, somewhat helpless. When the rice was filling out, there was a lack of water and fertilizer, and weeds were also competing for nutrients, so weeding was also a physically demanding task.
None of the family members were able-bodied; they had to carry enough water for three mu of fields and protect the dikes to prevent water loss.
There's going to be a lot of work ahead of us.
The villagers fetched water from the river to irrigate their crops, carrying loads on their shoulders, sweating profusely from the effort.
Along the riverbank, one can still vaguely see the figures of people from other villages.
Even at dusk, the sky remained clear and bright, with no sign of rain.
Squatting on the edge of his own field, Jiang Bai spotted a slightly flattened hole, took out a stick and poked it into it. Feeling the force, he pulled the stick out.
A crab, about a quarter the size of a palm, was tightly gripping the stick, dangling in the air.
"So it really is a crab?"
Jiang Bai casually plucked a few blades of grass, tied the crabs together, and then, along the paddy field ridge, poked the crabs into the ground with a stick. In no time, he had caught about ten crabs.
They're all small; the largest is only about half the size of a palm.
"Ha, isn't this Jiang Daya?"
Jiang Bai was picking up a crab, intending to take it home, when an annoying voice came from beside him.
"What are you doing? Catching crabs?"
"I don't remember you raising chickens at home. Are you catching crabs to take home and eat?"
"Oh dear, how pitiful! Your third uncle and aunt are gone, and you're all going to eat crabs. I have a wild vegetable pancake here. Why don't you kneel down and beg me, and I might give you some to eat."
The girl wore a light yellow cotton dress and had a cloisonné silver hairpin in her hair. Her hands were slender and well-maintained, but her skin was slightly dull and yellowish-black.
His features weren't particularly attractive, and his face had a somewhat mean look.
"Please? It's not impossible."
Jiang Bai put down the crab and walked towards Jiang Qian. Jiang Qian's lips curled up slightly. Her older brothers said that Jiang Bai had changed. How had he changed? He was still the same Jiang Daya who was bullied by everyone.
She could already picture Jiang Daya kneeling before her, begging for a piece of cake to eat, and her smile grew wider and wider.
Suddenly, a burning pain shot through her face, followed by a sharp pain in her abdomen. Her body flew out and crashed into the field.
"Ah, Jiang Daya, you dare to hit me! My eldest and second brothers will not let you get away with this!"
Shock, confusion, humiliation.
Jiang Qian's anger burned away her reason, and she got up from the ground and reached out to grab Jiang Bai.
The result was obvious. If he wasn't afraid of kicking her into the field and damaging the crops, Jiang Bai would have kicked her a couple more times.
Jiang Qian ran home crying to complain, while Jiang Bai hummed a song in a good mood and carried crabs home.
"Wow, sister, you caught so many crabs?"
"We don't raise chickens or ducks at home, so what are we going to do with these crabs?"
“I remember that the old hen at Third Grandma’s house just brooded a brood of chicks. I’ll go to their house in a little while and bring back a pair. I’ll chop up this crab and feed it to the chickens.”
The crabs are small, weighing at most an ounce or two, and don't have much meat.
Besides, they are observing mourning and cannot eat meat.
Unfortunately, there were many crab holes in the field. If these crabs were left in the field, the water couldn't be contained, so it was a good opportunity to catch them and raise two chickens.
Before it got too late, Jiang Bai took a handful of wild vegetables that Jiang Lu had picked and went to Third Grandma's house to exchange them for a pair of chicks.
The two little guys are only the size of a palm, with bright yellow fur. They've only been hatched for a month or so, and they look incredibly cute.
Jiang Lu was extremely excited and, together with Jiang Songwen, made a small nest for the chicks. They also chopped up a few crabs with a knife to feed the chicks, hoping that the two chicks would grow up quickly.
For dinner, Jiang Bai cooked a pot of porridge, adding some salt and vegetable oil.
Having not had a full meal in a long time, Jiang Lu ate with great satisfaction.
"Damn it, they've ruined all the vegetables in the dry fields."
Jiang Bai looked up at the sky, pondering his next plan.
The next day at dawn, Jiang Lu stayed home to prepare breakfast, while Jiang Bai took his homemade tongs to the fields, walked around the ridges, and brought back a small bucket full of crabs.
After breakfast, he took his younger siblings to the fields, picked up some soil, blocked up the crab holes, and then carried buckets to fetch water into the fields.
A bucket of water goes in, wets the ground, and then it's gone in the blink of an eye.
"Sister, let me choose with you!"
All three mu of paddy fields require carrying water, and Jiang Bai alone simply cannot manage it.
"No need. Go to the other field first and catch all the crabs. I'll have a plan then."
Jiang Bai only fetched water to irrigate the fields first, so that the rice seedlings wouldn't dry out and die if it took too long.
After watering once, they moved on to the next field.
There are so many crabs in the fields. After catching them from several acres of land, we have a whole tank full of crabs at home, enough to feed the chicks for a month.
After watering all the fields and protecting the embankments, three days had passed.
A few days later, the temperature rose significantly compared to the previous days, and even the people at the old house were busy with work and didn't have time to cause her trouble.
I wonder if Jiang Qian didn't go back to complain?
Jiang Bai was extremely busy. Because of all the work, he ate his fill every day, and the food at home was visibly decreasing. When Jiang Lu cooked rice, she started to reduce the amount.
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