It took half a month to finally finish the autumn harvest. Tang Baozhu was very fortunate that there wasn't much land in Xiaosang Village.
The remaining work in the field is just finishing touches, including turning the soil over again. It's up to everyone to do this voluntarily. If you want to earn more work points, you can continue working. If you don't want to earn work points, you can rest.
Everyone in the village went to work, but none of the educated youth went. They were all bedridden and didn't want to go, no matter how many work points they were offered.
Tang Baozhu slept in the house for a day. When she got up, she felt particularly cold. She quickly took out the fire crystal. Fortunately, the fire crystal was not very big, about the size of a thumb, so it was not easy for anyone to notice it when she carried it on her body.
I made a pouch for holding fire crystals using silkworm silk from the cultivation world, then threaded a red rope through the pouch, hung it around my neck, and tucked it inside my clothes so that no one would notice.
As soon as I hung the fire crystal around my neck and then pressed it against my chest, I instantly stopped feeling cold, but it didn't feel hot either. It was like having a protective shield, which was very warm, and I didn't feel cold even when wearing thin clothes.
It seems like the fire crystal can automatically regulate its temperature. It looks like we could have more of this rare and precious material. It's just that we haven't had enough time to get the red envelopes yet. If we had more time, we could probably get more treasures.
She was wearing a thin cotton-padded jacket, which she had made herself. Her embroidery skills from the last century hadn't gone to waste. A thin cotton-padded jacket was enough for this weather; she would need a thicker one if it got any colder.
After opening the door and stepping outside, Tang Baozhu wondered if it was just her imagination, but the wind seemed particularly strong. It wasn't even the coldest time of year yet, and she wondered if she would dare to go out then.
"Baozhu, you can really sleep! You slept all day yesterday and slept so late today."
"All of you who just arrived are in the same boat; you're all still adjusting. It'll get better after a year or two once you get used to it."
Li Feifei recalled the year she first arrived. After the autumn harvest, she lay in bed for three or four days. Having been pampered at home since childhood, she fell ill as soon as she arrived. At that time, she felt that she had suffered enough in her life.
Fortunately, Comrade Zhang Jianguo was there to comfort them, which helped them get through that low period, and the two of them slowly began to grow closer.
There was no other way; very few people came to such remote rural areas during that period. It was just the two of them, and they supported each other through it all.
"I also felt extremely tired, but after a good night's sleep yesterday, I feel much better."
Actually, it was because she used fairy water to make some spirit beast bone soup in her space yesterday, and she got a nosebleed after drinking it.
The bones of spirit beasts already possess spiritual energy, and with the addition of immortal spiritual water, it would be strange if they didn't overdo it.
So now her complexion is rosy and radiant from the tonics, making her look like she's in great health.
“Baozhu, your health is probably quite good. During my first autumn harvest, I was bedridden for three or four days. Lili and Xu Man are still in bed now.”
"Maybe it's because I'm physically strong! I heard we're about to have to pay our taxes. Anyone want to come and see what's going on? I'd like to see it for myself."
Tang Baozhu had never witnessed the scene of delivering public grain before, and felt that since she had come all this way, she should at least see it.
“Baozhu, why don’t we just forget about it? Paying grain to the state isn’t a good look, and you have to carry the grain to the queue, which will take up a whole day, and you won’t see anything, plus you can’t leave.”
Xu Feifei had a hard time explaining herself, because she was the same when she first came here, curious about everything, and then she witnessed the scene of handing over grain to the state.
Just imagine carrying over 100 pounds of grain, walking for two or three hours, then slowly queuing for hours, and then walking back from the commune—that kind of arduous experience is something she never wants to experience again in her life.
After hearing Xu Feifei's description, Tang Baozhu felt miserable just thinking about it. She thought it best to give up and not go through the suffering instead of enjoying a good life.
"If the educated youth in the educated youth compound don't help pay the grain tax, won't the village have something to say?"
"No, because everyone in the village knows that we educated youth are too weak to carry anything, so they won't count us. Even if we went, they would complain that we educated youth are just causing them trouble."
These are all things Xu Feifei experienced firsthand. The following year, when it was time to hand over the grain tax, a few male comrades who had come to the countryside came and she thought of helping them hand over the grain tax. However, she was looked down upon and deemed useless, so no one went to help them anymore.
"Oh, okay, so we don't have to work anymore. What are you all planning to do?"
Tang Baozhu figured that since there weren't many work points to be awarded when the grain was distributed, she had no expectations for it. She was just thinking about how to pass the time.
"We have a lot to do. We need to prepare vegetables for the whole winter and go to the mountains to collect wild vegetables. These are our snacks for the whole winter. We can only rest for a couple of days. Once we've recovered, we'll start making sauerkraut."
"There really wasn't any free time, and the weather here gets cold quickly and the snow falls early, so there really wasn't much time to prepare for everyone."
Tang Baozhu didn't plan to make sauerkraut. There were so many vegetables in her space; she could just take out a little dried vegetable to make a show of it later.
Seeing that it was still early, Tang Baozhu decided to go up the mountain to hunt and get some exercise. She hadn't forgotten to ask someone to help her find ginseng. She didn't know if the villagers could pick ginseng, but if not, she would have to try again.
"Feifei, are you guys planning to go up the mountain to pick wild produce? If so, let's go together! I think everyone in the village is probably heading up the mountain in droves right now!"
“The villagers are used to farm work, so they don’t feel tired at all. Unlike us, we can’t get up without lying down for a few days. So every time we go up the mountain, all the mountain produce on the outside has already been picked, so we can only go deeper into the mountains to look for it.”
"Let's go now. It's still a number, and it'll be enough for us to eat."
"Okay, we'll prepare two sacks then, we won't be able to carry any more."
Tang Baozhu took out a large woven basket from the house, then found two burlap sacks in the warehouse, and then took a wood-chopping knife.
With so many people going together, she dared not take out a sword; she could only use a wood-chopping knife for self-defense.
Finally, Tang Baozhu, all the new male comrades, and all the old comrades walked up the mountain together. There was no way to stop them; all the new female comrades collapsed, and even the new male comrades could only barely manage to get up.
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