After the cow finished eating grass and drinking water, Yan Xiaoqiang led it to his third uncle's house. As the old ox stepped out of the gate, it turned back and mooed at Yan Xiaonan before reluctantly leaving.
Grandma held Yan Xiaonan and watched the old ox's departing figure, sighing that old age makes people wise, and so do oxen.
When Yan Xiaoqiang returned, pine resin had already been lit in the house, the heated kang (a traditional heated bed) had been set up, and Cuihua was washing her little girl's face and hands.
On the way back, Yan Xiaoqiang was thinking about building a better chicken coop so he could catch more chicks to raise at the beginning of the year and lay more eggs to make money.
With that thought in mind, Yan Xiaoqiang said, "Mom, let's raise more hens. We can eat the eggs at home or sell them for money."
Grandma Yan glanced at Yan Xiaonan, and seeing that Yan Xiaonan nodded, she said, "Okay, after winter, we'll go to town again and bring back some chicks."
Yan Xiaoqiang was overjoyed and quickly said, "Mother, after the snow melts, I'll take Dongnan to the mountainside to chop some firewood and then make the chicken coop a little bigger."
"Okay, you handle it. Take care of that wild beehive and make sure Nan Nan drinks a cup of honey water." Yan Xiaoqiang nodded, turned and left, with Xinan and Bei Nan quickly following him out.
Cuihua and Xuemei smiled at each other and went to the kitchen together to prepare lunch.
Life returned to normal. Yan Xiaonan ate and slept every day, and gradually turned one and a half years old. At one and a half years old, Yan Xiaonan walked quite nimbly, but her speech was still not fluent.
In April, the weather had warmed up, and it was time to sow spring wheat. Every household went to the fields to plant spring wheat. Yan Xiaoqiang, Cuihua, and Yan Dongnan, three strong laborers, could work ten centimeters a day.
Those from the north, south, and southwest didn't work in the fields, but they still carried baskets and went out early and returned late every day, following the village children to dig for wild vegetables, catch pheasants and rabbits, and fish and turtles by the mountains and rivers.
Even with such diligence, the baskets were mostly empty. Due to the failure of the winter wheat harvest, the villagers were short of food, and the children had used up almost everything edible outside the mountains and in the water.
The village chief was frantic, running back and forth between the commune and the town every day, but he only managed to get a few jin of cornmeal. Each man got one jin, each woman got half a jin, and most of the children aged ten to sixteen got half a jin each. Children under ten only got two liang each.
Yan Xiaonan's family received 4.7 jin (approximately 2.85 catties). When cooking rice, they always had an extra ladle of water and a handful of grain, so each person could only eat half full. Even so, many households in the village had already run out of food.
In mid-April, Cuihua and Yan Xiaoqiang took Dongnan to the fields. Xuemei, holding a bag, said to Grandma Yan, "Grandma, we only have this much fine grain left. The grain station is out of grain too. What should we do?"
Grandma Yan frowned deeply as she looked at the white rice that was only enough for Nan Nan to eat for two days. Yan Xiao Nan, who was walking much more nimbly now, came running over and pointed outside, saying, "Grandma, go out."
Grandma Yan had an idea and said to Xue Mei, "Go and call your mother back. I want to take Nan Nan to the mountains to see what food they have."
Xuemei nodded, and Grandma Yan immediately dressed Nannan, brought a water bottle and a handkerchief, lined the basket with a small blanket, and put Yan Xiaonan into the basket.
Grandma Yan carried a basket on her back and walked into the mountains. Halfway there, Cuihua rushed over and asked, "Mom, what's wrong?"
Grandma Yan whispered, "Nannan wants to go to the mountains to take a look. I'll see if there's anything I can bring back."
Cuihua was a little worried. Was it dangerous in the mountains? Grandma Yan shook her head. "Nannan is here." Cuihua handed the hoe to Grandma Yan, took the basket, and ran up the mountain.
Yan Xiaonan's consciousness was expanding, and she finally found the field she had seen last time. Yan Xiaonan did not recognize what kind of crop it was, but the soil was black and frozen into clods.
Following Yan Xiaonan's directions, the two arrived at the field. Grandma Yan and Cuihua exclaimed in surprise, "This is a rice paddy!"
Yan Xiaonan looked at her grandmother and asked, "Grandma, rice?"
Grandma nodded: "My dear child, this is the rice paddy, but unfortunately they've all died. We need to replant them."
Cuihua said, "Mother, we don't have any seeds. Even if we did, we wouldn't know when we'd harvest them. Besides, we can't plant them here; wild animals will eat them."
Grandma Yan nodded and was about to leave with Nan Nan when she saw Nan Nan sitting on the ground with her eyes closed. Startled, she quickly looked at the rice paddy.
The black soil was being turned over, loosening the soil layer by layer from bottom to top. Slowly, green seedlings sprouted, and soon, a lush green rice field was visibly growing strong.
A gentle breeze blew, birds sang, and Cuihua seemed to hear frogs croaking. In the blink of an eye, the green rice turned into golden ears of rice, and it was completely ripe.
Grandma Yan could no longer stand, and her tongue trembled as she said, "Cui Cuihua, quickly go and call Qiangzi. Be careful, don't let anyone know."
Cuihua's legs were trembling, but she managed to stand up and run down the mountain, almost tripping and falling.
Grandma Yan went up and plucked a rice stalk, peeled off the rice inside, and tasted it. What good rice! Looking around, there were at least two or three acres of rice paddies, all golden yellow.
Grandma Yan finally felt relieved; her family would no longer go hungry. But how could she get the food? It was grain, and it grew on the mountain; anyone could come and take it.
Grandma Yan squatted down: "Nannan, can you take these back?"
Yan Xiaonan had never farmed before and didn't know what to do next. Tilting her head, she asked, "Grandma, chop? Okay?"
Grandma Yan has become Yan Xiaonan's translator, explaining, "Nannan, first you have to cut it down with a sickle, then dry it in the sun and thresh it, and finally mill it."
Yan Xiaonan nodded, silently chanting "Cut it down, cut it all down." One by one, the rice ears fell down, and in a short while, all the rice in the paddy field lay flat on the ground.
Yan Xiaonan looked at Grandma Yan and asked, "Grandma, can I take it off?"
Grandma Yan's heart had already turned into Iron Man's; she showed no excitement whatsoever and resolutely nodded, saying: Take it off.
The entire rice paddy turned into a madman's world, with rice stalks constantly flying up and falling down. Grandma Yan could only see a yellow mass flying around in front of her.
Just as I was wondering what was going on, the straw and white rice were already neatly arranged on both sides, as if someone had specially arranged them.
Grandma Yan's mouth is so big that when she felt the sourness, she couldn't close it on her own. She could only subconsciously push it with her hand to close her mouth.
Wow, so much white rice! There must be at least three thousand catties! My goodness, this is truly divine land! One mu (unit of land area) can yield a thousand catties! Our family will never have to worry about food again.
"My dear, what are we going to do with all this rice and straw?"
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