Jiang Xi originally wanted to pack some red dates and her homemade pickles for the child, but she didn't expect Yan Zheng to scare him away.
It was clear that Lin was still afraid of Yan Zheng and Yan Jing'an, and deliberately came to find him when they were not around.
Yan Zheng stared at the departing figure and asked, "Why did you let him into the courtyard?"
Taking the hat from his hand, Jiang Xi said, "That child came on an empty stomach, so I got him some food."
As they spoke, Yan Zheng led the fawn into the courtyard.
As Jiang Xi cleared the table of dishes, she said to Yan Zheng, "Go wash your hands and eat."
There was still a large bowl of root and potato rice left. Jiang Xi took two bites for herself and then shared the vegetables with her.
She's used to eating breakfast and dinner, and since eating too many potatoes can cause bloating, she usually doesn't eat much at lunchtime.
Because they were busy, they sometimes didn't go home for lunch. Most of the time, Yan Zheng and Yan Jing'an would just eat a sweet potato to tide them over.
Today is just the day I'm cooking for Lin.
Yan Zheng had worked hard all morning and was exhausted. Looking at the full bowl of food, he felt a surge of appetite.
He moved some of the eggs in the bowl to Jiang Xi, and Jiang Xi finished the rest in no time.
Jiang Xi took out a few champagne fruits that the child had given her, washed them, and handed them to him: "These are what he brought today."
"He also told me about a place nearby where there are sweet potatoes. I'll have Yan Jing'an check it out later. If there are some nearby, we won't have to travel so far in the future."
Yan Zheng listened attentively to her and nodded in response.
Then he handed her a champagne fruit, and picked up another one and popped it into his mouth.
He nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Tian, it seems you get along well with him."
Jiang Xi thought for a moment and said, "He seems to be quite kind to me. He doesn't dare to come when you're at home."
Then, Jiang Xi told Yan Zheng about the photos Lin had shown him that day.
The fact that Lin is a girl was simply omitted.
Yan Zheng was silent for a few seconds, then said, "He does seem like a pitiful child, but you should be more careful if he comes again in the future."
After all, they weren't there, and she was all alone in the house, so she was always a little worried.
Jiang Xi knew she was soft-hearted and easily swayed by sympathy, and she took Yan Zheng's words to heart.
Five or six truckloads of clay were brought back, and the two of them spent the afternoon pressing out the tiles and bricks.
Xiao Hei had been locked inside the house. Hearing Yan Zheng's movements, it scratched at the door with its still-grown claws, making a screeching sound.
Jiang Xi had no choice but to let it out, and as a result, the little guy left its paw prints on every single brick.
It seemed tireless, darting around the yard, catching insects and sprinting, with inexhaustible energy.
Jiang Xi even refilled the water basin twice for it, and the little guy drank it down with gulps, kicking its hind legs.
Looking at it, Jiang Xi felt that this drowsy afternoon wasn't so tiring after all.
As evening approached, the previously cloudless sky began to gather more clouds.
A cool breeze rose in the woods, and Jiang Xi felt a bit cold, so she put on a cardigan.
Yan Zheng looked at the sky and frowned, saying, "It might rain."
This startled Jiang Xi, as the yard was full of dried mushrooms and wild vegetables that she had been drying.
So, without paying any attention to Xiao Hei, Jiang Xi, fearing that they would step on it while they were busy, simply locked it in the inner room.
So she started collecting the dried goods, while Yan Zheng carried the bricks that had been pressed that day into the house.
Before Yan Jing'an even entered the courtyard, he saw the two people busily going in and out of the courtyard.
Jiang Xi noticed his eyes lit up; the labor force had returned.
So Yan Jing'an took off his hat and backpack and followed Yan Zheng to carry bricks into the house.
The ending was perfectly timed; just as the last person entered the house, a light drizzle began to fall in the yard.
Within minutes, the light rain turned into a heavy downpour, with a constant pattering sound outside.
Yan Zheng lit the clay stove under the eaves.
Jiang Xi placed a few red dates on the edge of the clay stove to roast, then threw the roasted dates directly into the pot to brew a pot of red date tea.
Red date tea has a rich aroma of red date paste, a flavor that raw red dates don't have. It's Jiang Xi's favorite, but she doesn't dare to drink too much of it on a regular basis because it's easy to get a sore throat.
I drank some today to ward off the cold.
After a couple of sips of hot tea, Yan Jing'an began to recount his discoveries of the day to everyone.
“If you keep walking south from the woods, near the mudflats from last time, I found some breadfruit trees. There aren’t many fruits on or under the trees right now. That’s how it is in the woods; if you’re slow, you’ll go hungry.”
He then added, "Two of them look like they've only grown in the last few years, and they might have been transplanted."
Jiang Xi's eyes lit up when she heard this.
"Moreover, on the way back, about seven or eight kilometers from here, I found two wild apricot trees, but I couldn't find any saplings. If we can't find any more, we'll consider planting them ourselves."
Jiang Xi nodded and said, "I happen to have some almonds left over from last year. I'll plant them in the next couple of days and start with seedlings."
As she spoke, she went to the shelf in the corner to find the seeds she had saved last year.
Immediately afterwards, she heard Yan Jing'an say, "I also discovered a great place today."
He looked mysterious.
This piqued Jiang Xi's curiosity, and she listened intently to what he had to say.
Yan Jing'an paused for a moment and said, "I've found another area with lots of root potatoes."
What a coincidence!
Jiang Xi asked, "Is it in the mountains next to our farmland?"
Yan Jing'an looked surprised: "How did you know?"
Jiang Xi smiled and said, "That kid came again today. I saw that his sweet potato looked very fresh, so I asked him where he dug it. He pointed in that direction. Is it far?"
Yan Jing'an curled his lip: "Here we go again, trying to curry favor."
"It's not far, but the road is not good. After all, it's all mountain roads. It's okay for people to go, but it would be difficult for cars."
Yan Zheng thought for a moment and said, "If the distance is manageable, we don't need to pull the cart. We can follow the deer up and carry them down. That way, we won't have to go all the way to dig them up when we need to store root potatoes in winter."
Now I go back to that cave every week and waste a whole day digging up potatoes.
If there are potatoes nearby, they can use the time saved to hunt more meat or even collect more duck eggs to bring back.
**
The heavy rain yesterday didn't stop until midnight.
Upon waking up in the morning, Jiang Xi would first engage in physical training and fencing practice, as usual.
The air was slightly cool in the morning after the rain. After a workout, Jiang Xi was covered in a thin layer of sweat.
After changing her clothes and washing up, she went to check on the vegetable garden in her yard.
The soil was soaked through after a night of rain.
After pulling out the newly grown weeds, Jiang Xi dug a shallow pit and carefully surrounded it with a few square bricks.
Then I put in the apricot pits that I had soaked yesterday, and covered them with five centimeters of soil.
When Jiang Xi went to put the hoe by the window, she was pleasantly surprised to find that the wildflowers under the window had actually sprouted flower buds overnight.
It grew even faster than her vegetables.
She thought, no wonder the ancients always said that spring rain is as precious as oil.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com