Except for a few young children, there were dozens of children from the two villages. The others were very persevering and persisted for nearly a month.
At the end of September, the autumn harvest began. The strong laborers in every household went out early and came back late. Even at noon, they had no time to rest. Lunch was prepared and delivered to them by the elderly and children who did not work at home.
Every morning at five o'clock, Shen Anyu would lead forty or so children to do horse stance at the gate. For half an hour, at half past five, everyone would climb up the mountain and each would pick up a bundle of firewood for the winter. Then Shen Anyu would lead a group of people to line up and run to school.
The effect of this exercise is very good. At least every child's spirit has changed, and there is a light in their eyes.
In the morning, after Shen Anyu and Shen Anxuan went to school, Shen Anning was responsible for picking the vegetables from the vegetable garden, drying them in the sun, and pickling them. There were a lot of tomatoes, so she made tomato sauce and put it in canning bottles. She also cut cucumbers and eggplants into slices and dried them so that they could be eaten in winter.
At noon, we would take out two pots of herbal medicine to relieve heat and fatigue, and then arrange someone from the team to deliver it to the field. Everyone would drink a bowl. In the afternoon, when the children came back, they would go to the field to help pick wheat ears, dig potatoes and sweet potatoes, and move corn. Everyone was busy.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one went up the mountain at this time in the afternoon, Shen An Ning ran into the mountains alone every day. Anyway, she had a space and could hide when encountering danger. She put all the wild grapes, wild pears, hawthorns, wild blueberries, trays, and wild kiwis she found in the mountains into the space, filling about twelve large round baskets. She did not move the ones near the mountains and the periphery, leaving them to the villagers.
She didn't dare go too deep. It was too dangerous to go to a place where no sunlight could penetrate. She didn't dare to venture into the jungle for the time being.
She strolled in the mountains for several days, marking the places where hazelnut trees, chestnut trees and pine trees were densely populated, planning to come back after the autumn harvest.
For the entire month of October, everyone was busy. Rice, corn, and sweet potatoes were ripe one after another. At the end of the month, autumn radishes and cabbages had to be harvested to store for the winter. After finishing the work in the village, the strong laborers had to go to the farm to help.
After the autumn harvest, everyone who participated in the harvest lost a lot of weight, but when they saw the firewood for the winter neatly stacked against the wall of the house, they felt happy again. Even the parents who didn't know how to express themselves praised their children, which made the group of children very happy.
After a month of training and autumn harvest work, the children from the two villages visibly grew taller, became stronger, and ran faster.
Shen Anning has now retreated to the second line, with Shen Anyu as the commander-in-chief. Shen Anxuan also joined the running army after the autumn harvest, as well as several of her younger sisters.
At the end of October, after the autumn harvest, the aunts and sisters from every household began to go out early and return late to look for mountain products in the mountains. Shen Anning did not compete with them. Her goal was to go deep into the mountains.
The twins climbed the mountain to collect firewood in the morning, and went up the mountain to look for mountain products in the afternoon after school. The boys were much faster than the older aunts, and the aunts could harvest almost the same amount in a day as they could in an afternoon.
Moreover, they were divided into different teams and knew how to work in a team. Some of them explored the way, some looked for mountain products, and some climbed trees. Shen Anxuan and a few girls were responsible for picking up things. Their quick eyes and hands made the aunts jealous.
The children in every household have become men who can support their families.
The old men and women who were enjoying the cool air at the entrance of the village were always very happy when they saw a large group of children going up the mountain. Each of them carried a backpack and a sack, and they were divided into two teams, looking very neat.
The educated youth at the educated youth point followed a group of children every day, picking up things that the children could not take, but they still gained a lot.
What was worth celebrating was that after the autumn harvest, Shen Anning finally hired a skilled well digger from the village to dig a well in the yard. The labor and material costs totaled twenty yuan, and she also asked the carpenter to make a well cover. Now she didn't need to be shy about using water.
On October 28th, Shen An Ning was taking care of his private plot of land. He had almost harvested all the vegetables in the vegetable garden. Except for the ones for seeds, which were placed on the seedlings and waited for them to age naturally, most of the others were stored in the garden and dried. The watermelons were also eaten. Shen An Ning pulled out the watermelon vines in the field and prepared to plant some green onions and garlic.
This summer, there was a bumper harvest of watermelons. There were more than twenty watermelon vines in the yard alone. Five were given to Grandpa Shen to help their friends in the cowshed, two were given to their parents and eldest brother, and the rest went into the stomachs of the three siblings.
He took out a watermelon from the space and said that he had picked it a few days ago and saved it. He put it on the table and waited for Shen Anyu and Shen Anxuan to come back and eat it.
In the evening, the group of people who went up the mountain came back and took down Shen Anyu's backpack. A basket of chestnuts was poured into the yard to dry for two days. The watermelons were from the space and were sweeter than those grown outside. After all, the variety was improved.
It just so happened that Xu Hongxia came over to play with a few female educated youth. The group sat in the yard, dreaming about the future, eating watermelon, and living a happy life.
This year, with the help of Chen Anning and the small team of children from the village, the mountain products and wild fruits were collected more thoroughly than ever before. Those who picked up more kept enough for themselves and sold the rest to the supply and marketing cooperative, making a small profit.
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