After Ji San ran away, Cheng Yue and Chen Lin didn't stay in the shop for long. They said goodbye to the craftsmen and went straight home.
Before leaving the city, I stopped by the woodworking stall owner to pick up the small wooden sword that I had remade for Chen Tong.
After two days of rest, Chen Tong and Chen Ning's legs were fully recovered. Once they got the wooden sword, Chen Tong started running around excitedly at the jujube tree in the yard.
Cheng Yue sighed, rubbing her forehead. Why is he acting like a tomboy?
That's fine. As long as the child is well-behaved, she doesn't want to interfere with anything else. Personality and preferences are not limited to boys or girls.
Boys can like dolls, and girls can like playing with knives and guns.
Each of the three children has their own strengths, and we can plan their future paths gradually.
The next day after breakfast, Cheng Yue took out the seeds. She used a damp cloth to nurture them, and they have now sprouted.
We'll be opening in a few days, and I'm afraid we won't be able to keep up with the pace. We need to get all the seeds planted in the next few days.
"Mom, how come there are still so many seeds?" Chen Ning asked in surprise when she saw Cheng Yue arranging the seeds on the table.
Previously, Dad had brought out a lot of seeds that they had never seen before, and the small vegetable garden in the yard was already full of them.
This huge garden of vegetables is more than enough for their family of five to eat.
Chen Tong laughed and said, "Silly sister, isn't it good to have a lot of seeds? Even if we can't finish them all, we can dry them into vegetables, so we won't have to worry about not having vegetables to eat in winter."
A couple of days ago, Mom dug up a patch of land next to the vegetable garden and now she's taken out a bunch of seeds; she's definitely going to plant vegetables.
Winters here are cold, and every year there is heavy snow. Apart from pine and cypress trees, there is no greenery to be seen, let alone vegetables to eat.
In previous years, my uncle said that only wealthy families had vegetables to eat in winter, which were said to be transported from the south.
For poor families like theirs, the only food they had in winter was a few white radishes and cabbages, which they buried in pits in the ground.
Besides the small vegetable garden in the yard, the fields outside are all used for growing grains, so there aren't many vegetables.
The cold weather lasts a long time, and for families with large populations, there isn't enough food. Being able to eat dried vegetables is already considered a blessing.
Before they separated from the family, they didn't even have the chance to eat dried vegetables. Now that they can grow so many vegetables, she's overjoyed!
"Xiaotong is right. Besides making dried vegetables, we can also make pickled vegetables and sauerkraut. We'll definitely never have to worry about vegetables in the future."
The space can also keep things fresh, so fresh vegetables are nothing special. It's hard to say, so Cheng Yue could only go along with what Chen Tong said.
Salt is expensive now, and ordinary families can't afford to make pickled vegetables. They can only dry them and eat them, which is indeed monotonous.
This year I can make some pickled vegetables to eat with rice, as well as sauerkraut, and I can also make dumplings, cook hot pot... Just thinking about it makes my mouth water.
Cheng Yue pulled herself back to reality and continued, "But these seeds aren't all vegetables; there are also a few kinds of fruit, which are sweet and I guarantee you'll like them."
Chen Lin chuckled, "Fruit? Mother, do you mean fruit? I've only ever eaten plums, dates, and sour apricots. Only dates are sweet."
Cheng Yue was afraid that she couldn't explain it clearly, and the children wouldn't understand, so she could only say, "These are all sweet, I guarantee they won't be sour. Let's plant them first, and we can eat them in the summer."
"Mom, I'll go get the hoe!"
"I'll go fetch water to irrigate the fields!"
The three children licked their lips, beaming as they ran off. They really wanted to try the sweet fruit.
However, if they wanted to eat, they had to work first; they weren't like the Zhao family, who were all very lazy.
I went to her house a couple of days ago and saw that the vegetable seedlings in the yard were all wilted, which means that no one was willing to carry water to irrigate the land.
"Ah Yue, how do you plant potatoes?" Chen An asked about potatoes when he saw the children had all run off.
Cheng Yue had only taken out the vegetable and fruit seeds; the potato seeds were still inside.
"Potatoes are a bit more complicated; they need to be cut into pieces for planting. Just wait and you'll see."
Cheng Yue took out a basket of potatoes. Fearing that she couldn't explain it clearly, she had no choice but to start working with them by hand.
Since the family will be growing potatoes in the future, Chen An's training will save her a lot of trouble.
All the potatoes had sprouted. Cheng Yue picked out the ones with the thickest sprouts and cut them into chunks, explaining as she cut.
Chen An knew farming better than anyone else, and he understood it in no time.
Cheng Yue handed over the task of cutting the potatoes into pieces to Chen An, then ran to the kitchen, dug out a basket of wood ash from the stove, poured it onto the already cut potatoes, and then turned each potato over a few times to make sure that each one was coated.
"Ah Yue, what's this?" Chen An asked, puzzled. He knew that wood ash could be used as fertilizer, but he was confused as to why it was stuck to the potatoes.
Cheng Yue smiled and said, "This will allow the cut surfaces of the potatoes to dry quickly, preventing rotting and pests."
"It's really just cleaning and sterilization," Chen An nodded and smiled, "I didn't know it could be used like this."
The two chuckled and continued cutting potatoes. The three children gathered around to watch for a while, finding it incredibly fascinating and asking a bunch of questions.
Cheng Yue said she bought it in the county town. The three children, especially Chen Lin, felt that their minds were becoming increasingly unclear.
Every time Mom goes to the county town, she takes him with her. How come he doesn't remember buying potatoes at all?
The villagers say that only fools and old people can't remember things, but he's not old, so could he really be a fool?
Chen Tong and Chen Ning also felt that something was wrong, but their mother often bought things when she went home, so maybe she bought them a few days ago and they just didn't see them.
To prevent them from overthinking, Cheng Yue asked them to go to the vegetable garden to work, and left the remaining potatoes to Chen An.
The potatoes won't be planted until at least tomorrow, so let's finish planting these seeds today.
In the afternoon, Cheng Yue took the three children to clear the weeds from the dry land outside the yard and turn it over.
This dry land was previously used for growing sweet potatoes, but there are no sweet potato seeds this year, and there aren't any in the space either. Even if there were, it would be too late to start seedlings, so it's a good time to plant potatoes.
Potatoes and sweet potatoes need similar types of soil, and this dry land is perfect for them. Plus, it's not far from their house, so it's easy to keep an eye on them.
The only problem is that carrying water is a bit of a hassle. Although it's not far, carrying water back and forth is still quite tiring.
Cheng Yue thought about it and felt that she had to find a suitable time to tell the children about the space. It was really inconvenient for only her and Chen An to know.
For example, with things like potatoes, she was always worried that explaining things would confuse the children's memories, and even the brightest ones wouldn't be able to understand.
And now, regarding the water supply, we can clearly take it directly from the space, but we insist on picking it ourselves. Isn't that going the long way around?
The main thing is that the children are very sensible, and I believe they won't say anything reckless; we're just waiting for the right opportunity.
"Cheng Yue, what's this?" The Chen sisters, Chen Tong and Chen Ning, were squatting down weeding. Cheng Yue and Chen Lin were engrossed in digging and didn't notice anyone approaching.
Hearing the voice, Cheng Yue looked up. "Uncle Village Head? What brings you up here?"
The village head, holding a potato in his hand, grinned, his face crinkling with wrinkles. "I've come up here to supervise, to see if they're working properly. What are you planting? It's all black, is it edible?"
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