Chapter 55
In spring and summer, plants grow wildly, and insects abound.
Since the arrival of four fluffy yellow chicks at the beginning of summer, Shu Wanxiu has had an extra daily task to do—feeding the chickens.
The chicks were barely bigger than an egg when we bought them, and they were less than a month old when they hatched.
At this time of year, chicks are the cheapest, costing only a few cents each, making them a great deal. However, there are always drawbacks. They are too small and delicate, and have high requirements for food, so you can't give them inferior food.
Food at home is precious, and there's not much that can be used to feed the chickens.
Shu Wanxiu has been racking her brains lately to figure out how to feed the chickens.
When we first bought them, we fed them the chaff from the rice harvested during the relief food program a few months earlier.
So far, they have only received rice once, and the chaff they received was quickly eaten up.
Not wanting them to go hungry, Shu Wanxiu went to Aunt Chen's house again to exchange for some bran, which she mixed with tender grass to feed them.
Knowing that she was feeding them this way, Chen Sanhe said that feeding the chicks like this would make them grow slowly, and they wouldn't lay eggs for more than half a year. It would be best to catch some caterpillars or similar things from the vegetable garden or fields and feed them to them.
Shu Wanxiu raised chickens just to collect eggs to eat.
After listening to Chen Sanhe's words, even though he hated insects, he took Shu Shouyi to the vegetable garden every day to catch insects.
At first, the aunt and niece used twigs as chopsticks, picking up the insects together and wrapping them in large leaves.
Later, as I got used to it, I even dared to use my hands to grab some branches that were hard to grasp.
The two of them have been catching insects very diligently lately, completely overcoming their fear of insects. The insects in their vegetable gardens can't reproduce as fast as they catch them.
Today, Shu Wanxiu spent quite a long time catching only three or four small insects. After feeding them to a few chicks, it was already quite late when she went down the mountain.
The sun was shining brightly, its light dazzling the water's surface.
Shu Wanxiu took off her straw sandals and stood in the field. She squinted and wandered among the rice seedlings for a long time, feeling that these annoying weeds were practically sentient.
She searched for ages but couldn't find a single one!
That's so weird.
Just as she was getting dizzy, her eyes were blurry, and her ears were ringing, Shu Shouyi, who was on the edge of the field, called out, "Grandma Chen."
One sentence gave Shu Wanxiu her savior.
She disregarded her embarrassment and shielded her eyes from the light to look towards the shore.
Seeing that it was indeed Chen Sanhe passing by, he quickly asked for help.
"Auntie, could you please help me identify which ones are barnyard grass? I woke up this morning and can't tell them apart at all!"
My feet have been in the mud for half a day, but my hands are still clean, without even getting wet.
Shu Wanxiu was anxious because this was such a waste of time!
Chen Sanhe was standing on a ridge in the shade, but she didn't squint. She scanned the field from near to far, taking in most of the acre in just a few glances.
"There are no more barnyard grasses in your field."
"Where is it that you can't tell the difference?"
"No?!" Shu Wanxiu was utterly astonished.
"Didn't you say the other day that the barnyard grass in my field was very tall and needed to be removed as soon as possible?"
It happened just five or six days ago. That day, Chen Sanhe even picked a few barnyard grass stalks to teach Shu Wanxiu how to identify them.
When she had only studied it for a short while that day, Chen Sanhe thought she had completely figured it out.
He tossed the few weeds he had pulled out to teach her to identify them into the ditch.
Shu Wanxiu was too embarrassed to admit at the time that she hadn't learned it all, but
After that, I couldn't get a good job of weeding in the fields. I was afraid of accidentally pulling up the rice seedlings, so I had to remove the weeds on the field ridges first.
I pulled weeds, but I only did it occasionally for two or three days.
It's all gone so quickly?
But she only pulled up such a small amount of weeds each day?
Is that much grass?
She was almost dumbfounded.
"You've removed them very cleanly!" Chen Sanhe walked around the field with his hands behind his back, and after carefully inspecting it, he affirmed, "There's not a single one left."
"How about... you take a look at the other acre for me too?"
When Chen Sanhe had free time to stroll around the fields, besides looking after his own land, he would also help Shu Wanxiu look after her two acres of land. So when Shu Wanxiu said that, Chen Sanhe did not refuse.
She stood on the edge of the field, waiting for Shu Wanxiu to walk out from the middle of the field before taking a step.
Just like when she was going to the county town for the first time and was stopped by the soldiers guarding the city gate to check her identity certificate, Shu Wanxiu felt nervous about being inspected and followed closely behind Chen Sanhe.
"This acre is clean too."
Anything that comes out of Chen Sanhe's mouth is very convincing, but this time Shu Wanxiu carefully looked at Chen Sanhe's expression and realized that she was not being sarcastic.
So, it's always a happy thing to have the weeds cleared away.
Otherwise, she would be on tenterhooks every time she started weeding.
Shu Wanxiu's life returned to tranquility; she did business occasionally but didn't go out too often.
After all, there are things to do in the fields, and at home there are also things to gather firewood, cook, and feed the chickens. There are things to take care of everywhere. Most importantly, with the frequency of selling dried fish, it is difficult to sell out all the goods every time.
It hasn't rained much lately, and Shu Wanxiu occasionally waters the fruit trees that were newly planted behind the house this year.
In the spring, she planted the tangerine seeds she had saved from last year, intending to plant more. Shu Shouyi, recalling the sour taste, frowned and objected.
In the end, we dug three or four holes and planted some seeds in the ground.
This plant, whose fruit is not tasty, is very resilient and has produced all of them.
Shu Wanxiu discussed with Shu Shouyi, suggesting they keep them all.
Shu Shouyi shook his head repeatedly.
Having no other option, I asked if any other families in the village wanted to grow tangerines.
It was just a casual question asked during a casual chat, without much hope, but unexpectedly someone was willing to plant it, and in return, they received a peach tree, a plum tree, and a jujube tree.
Although it was a trade of seedlings for seedlings, Shu Wanxiu and her partner were still overjoyed. After all, exchanging inferior seedlings for delicious ones was a huge profit no matter how you looked at it.
Now, not only is Shu Wanxiu living a good life, but Xun Yi is too.
Since he started secretly going to the fields from time to time to help Shu Wanxiu pull weeds and do other chores, he has rarely had those bad dreams anymore.
Occasionally, I would dream of a bountiful harvest, with Shu Wanxiu's two acres of land yielding an exceptionally large amount of grain.
He never mentioned that he helped Shu Wanxiu weed, but in his dream, Shu Wanxiu seemed to know everything.
After the harvest, Shu Wanxiu made a special trip to his house, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him, blushing as she softly thanked him, "Thanks to Brother Xun, our family was able to have such a good harvest."
Well... although the second half is still a bit absurd, at least the first half is perfect, which can be considered a good omen for a bountiful year.
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