Summer Farming on the Clouds
As the morning light pierced through the thin mist, five adults and one child climbed up the stone ridge.
Ling Zhan had a small stone tied to his waist with a leather rope, and his steps were like nails.
Tiger and his three companions followed closely behind, carrying seeds, salt, iron, medicine packets, and cloth.
The mountain wind was biting, making clothes flutter. The rocky ridge was slippery, and the wind felt like a knife cutting through it.
"Step firmly."
Ling Zhan's feet were firmly planted on the jagged stone edges, remaining motionless. A small stone was tied to the other end of the leather rope around his waist.
Tiger followed closely, panting heavily: "Mother... how much further?"
"It'll be ready soon." Ling Zhan parted the hanging vine curtain.
"Mother, is Yuntian Maizi really getting impatient?" Da Niu asked, panting heavily.
“Hmm. If it gets any later, the ears of grain will fall, and the birds will eat them,” Ling Zhan said briefly.
She pushed aside the last thick rattan curtain.
In an instant, a warm golden light, accompanied by an even more surging rustling sound, rushed in!
A hundred acres of gentle slope unfold before your eyes.
The wheat waves rolled, a golden sea! Only on the edge of the ten acres, the heavy ears of wheat bent low, swaying in the wind, like a solidified golden ocean.
The remaining 90-plus acres are still lush with green grass and have not yet been developed.
"My God..." Bean Sprout was stunned.
"Jinbao—!" Hu Zi shouted first, and all the children followed suit with excitement.
Little Stone broke free of the rope and rushed like a small cannonball towards a log cabin built against a huge rock at the edge of the wheat field.
There is a flat stone-paved courtyard in front of the house, and in the center is a large stone-built hearth.
"Squeak!"
Jinbao darted out from the canopy of a large tree next to the house like lightning and landed precisely on Huzi's shoulder.
The little golden monkey, Jinbao, nuzzled his cheek affectionately, and the children cheered with delight!
"Awooo!" Two tender wolf howls rang out.
A pair of wolf cubs, one as white as snow and the other as gray as a shadow, leaped nimbly out from under the wooden porch.
All the children were instantly terrified!
"It's alright, they are Frostblade and Storm Shadow, and also the little masters of this place."
Upon hearing Ling Zhan's explanation, Xiao Jinbao quickly jumped back to comfort the little wolf.
The little wolf, as if understanding human nature, excitedly circled around Ling Zhan and Xiao Shitou as they returned, its tail wagging like a windmill.
The white wolf cub, Frostblade, rubbed affectionately against Ling Zhan's leg, while the gray wolf cub, Lan Ying, curiously sniffed at the trouser legs of Tiger and the others.
"Where's the black ball?" Ling Zhan looked around.
"roar…"
A low growl came from behind the house. A round, glossy black bear cub slowly strolled out, its black nose twitching, heading straight for Ling Zhan's large backpack, its target clear—the honey jar!
"go!"
Ling Zhan gently patted the bear's outstretched paw, then unloaded the backpack onto the stone table in the courtyard, allowing the children to have a chance to learn about it.
Although it had been introduced on the way, seeing this black bear, which had grown even bigger, in person must still be quite a shock.
The wooden house is spacious and sturdy, with two floors.
The lower level is a spacious hall that also serves as storage, with a stone stove and several large wooden tables and benches.
The upper level consisted of several shared sleeping areas covered with thick layers of hay and animal hides, as well as Ling Zhan's own private room.
All the foundations and plans have been completed last time. Now that there are more people, we can continue to add to the buildings.
Ling Zhan put down his luggage without pausing for a moment.
"Tiger, Bean Sprout, sharpen the sickle. Big Girl, Big Girl, clean the hearth and boil water. Little Stone," she pointed to a small vegetable patch behind the house, "pick eggplants and pull up scallions."
"Why!"
The children immediately sprang into action. The whetstone whirred, the firewood crackled, and Little Stone, carrying his little basket, ran towards the vegetable garden.
Ling Zhan then walked towards a few plants with thick leaves and small purple spike-like flowers at the edge of the wheat field.
She carefully dug up several plants by the roots with a special small wooden shovel, shook off the soil, and found that the roots and stems were thick and plump, emitting a spicy medicinal aroma.
It was the Ziyun ginseng that she had specially transplanted, and it was old enough.
Jinbao squatted on the fence, watching curiously. Shuangren and Lanying sat on either side of Ling Zhan, like loyal guards.
Black Ball clung to its backpack, groaning anxiously.
Ling Zhan led them to the free-range area.
The duck and goose pens scattered along the lake reproduced particularly quickly, becoming so fat that people were too lazy to move when they walked by.
At home, the children's meat intake is limited.
Once they arrived, Ling Zhan no longer wanted to restrain them—a few pebbles flew out, and four or five large, fat geese instantly died.
"Roast goose cooked over a fire pit."
The sun rises higher.
The sumptuous lunch consisted of baked wheat cakes, roasted eggplant, roast goose, and a soup made with freshly picked tender scallions, wild vegetables, and fungi.
The children ate with gusto, their mouths drooling, wishing they could stay here forever!
“In the afternoon,” Ling Zhan finished the last bite of his pancake and pointed to the wheat field, “we will take a nap, and harvest the wheat after sunset.”
The children responded loudly.
She continued to give instructions: "Tiger, Bean Sprout, come with me to cut. Big Girl, Big Girl, bundle them up and pile them up in the drying yard behind the house. Little Stone, pick up the ears of grain."
"Mother, what about... Xintian?" Tiger looked at the vast expanse of fertile yet barren land outside the wheat field, his eyes burning with desire.
"When the wheat is gone, we'll clear the land," Ling Zhan said succinctly. "We'll plant cotton, millet in the fall, and vegetables for winter. This place will be our home until the cotton ripens down the mountain."
The children's eyes lit up!
I want to spend the whole summer on a mountaintop that's like a fairyland!
The sickles flew, their "snap-snap" sounds never ceasing.
Ling Zhan remains the most efficient harvester, neatly felling the wheat stalks under her hands.
Tiger and Bean Sprout followed closely behind, their movements becoming increasingly skillful. Big Girl and Big Girl bundled and carried the wheat, and Little Stone's small basket was soon half full of golden wheat grains.
Jinbao leaped among the wheat fields, helping to scare away birds that were stealing food. Shuangren and Lanying patrolled the field ridges, their ears perked up warily.
The black ball lazily lay dozing under the shade of a tree by the field.
The sun was high in the sky. Ling Zhan stopped wielding his sickle: "Let's rest."
The children sat slumped on the piles of wheat, drenched in sweat.
Tiger leaned against the tall stack of wheat, panting heavily, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Just as I was about to close my eyes and rest for a while, I felt a furry touch near my legs.
Looking down, he saw a bluish-gray Lan Ying. Unlike Shuang Ren, who always clung to Ling Zhan, this little guy seemed particularly curious about Hu Zi.
Lan Ying tilted her little head back, her wet, black nose gently sniffing Hu Zi's trousers, which were covered in mud and the scent of wheat. She made a soft "woo-woo" sound in her throat, as if she were greeting him.
It tentatively nudged Tiger's hand, which was hanging by its side, with its head.
Looking into those clear yet slightly wild eyes, Tiger remembered how it had sniffed his trouser legs before, and how his mother had called them "little masters." The lingering tension in his heart completely dissipated.
He grinned, reached out, and carefully and gently touched the top of Lan Ying's fluffy head.
Lan Ying seemed to be enjoying herself. She immediately narrowed her eyes, twitched her ears contentedly, and even nuzzled her head against Hu Zi's palm. Her tail also swayed gently, sweeping across the wheat stalks on the ground and making a soft rustling sound.
"Hey, you little fluffball..."
Tiger's palms itched from being rubbed by it, and he couldn't help but laugh, gently scratching Lan Ying's ear with his fingers.
Lan Ying purred even louder in her throat, then placed her front paws on Hu Zi's legs and snuggled up to him, like a warm blanket filled with the scent of grass and sunshine.
A man and a wolf, under the shade of golden haystacks, enjoyed a moment of peace after their work and each other's company.
The sunlight shone on Lan Ying's bluish-gray fur, giving it a soft sheen, and also warmly shone on Hu Zi's sweaty back.
Ling Zhan walked towards the edge of the forest and, a moment later, dragged back a cleaned yellow muntjac.
As the campfire blazed, she sliced off pieces of charred meat and distributed them to everyone, then broke open a honeycomb: "For dipping sauces."
"Sweet!" Little Stone licked the honey off his fingers.
"Mom, this meat is amazing!" Bean Sprout wolfed it down.
In the shadows at the edge of the forest, several pairs of eerie green eyes emerged.
"Wolves!" Daya exclaimed. The alpha wolf growled, and the pack stirred.
Ling Zhan stood up, faced the alpha wolf, uttered a few short syllables, and pressed his palm down.
The alpha wolf pawed at the ground, growled a few times, and slowly retreated and lay down.
"Give."
Ling Zhan tossed a piece of bone with flesh still attached, which landed precisely in front of the alpha wolf. The alpha wolf picked it up and retreated back into the pack.
"Tiger Boy".
Ling Zhan's gaze was piercing: "Remember the syllables, make hand seals. Keep your mind calm and your eyes steady. They are the guardians of the mountain. Obey the rules and you will be fed; cross the line and you will die."
Tiger nodded emphatically: "Understood!"
Night fell, and the campfire crackled.
Ling Zhan unfolded the book of tree bark and marked the characters "wood" and "forest" with charcoal.
“Wood is trees.” She pointed to the dark shadows of the forest in the distance. “Many trees make a forest. Houses and firewood are both made of wood.”
Little Stone held a charcoal pencil and drew crookedly on the wooden board: "Wood... Forest..." with a furrowed brow.
Tiger and the others were twisting straw ropes, the firelight illuminating Ling Zhan's calm profile and Xiao Shitou's focused eyes.
After several busy days, the wheat fields are almost ready to be harvested.
Ling Zhan left Hu Zi and Daya to finish up, and led Douya, Daniu, and Xiaoshitou deeper into the stream.
The stream is swift and the cliffs are steep.
Suddenly, Da Niu pointed to the scree slope on the opposite bank: "Mom! It's all white and fluffy!"
Ling Zhan lightly touched the stones with his toes and darted across the stream like a hawk. Among the low shrubs, the cotton bolls were large, with long, thin, and supple fluff at the cracks.
"It's cotton!" Douya exclaimed in surprise as Ling Zhan pulled her across the stream with vines.
The young girl carefully picked a flower: "So soft! So long!"
Little Stone tiptoed to reach the lower branch: "Mom, look!"
"Pick ripe peaches, collect the seeds, don't mix them up," Ling Zhan ordered. Bean Sprout and Big Girl busied themselves opening their cloth bags.
Ling Zhan looked up at the snow-covered cliff shrouded in mist above; it seemed he would be able to get cotton seeds again.
"You guys pick them, and watch over the little stone." She handed the rope that was tied to the little stone to Da Niu, "I'll go up."
"Mother! It's too dangerous!" Douya cried out urgently. Ling Zhan had already climbed the slippery rock face like a gecko and disappeared into the clouds.
Little Stone sat on a rock, resting his chin on his hand as he gazed at the cliff: "Mother, come back soon..."
Silence followed. Just as Douya was about to call out, a figure slid down from the clouds. Ling Zhan's hair was disheveled, his robes were torn, and there were bloodstains on his cheeks.
She opened her hand, revealing several ivory-white cotton seeds in her palm, as large as sparrow eggs, warm and lustrous.
"this…"
Da Niu held her breath. Ling Zhan carefully wrapped the jade seed in cloth and put it into the leather pouch in his bosom.
She glanced at the ordinary high-quality seeds in the bag, then looked one last time into the depths of the snow cliff.
Another busy day has come to an end.
As night fell, the huge fire pit roared with flames, dispelling the chill from the mountaintop.
The pot was filled with stewed muntjac meat, mixed with freshly dug yams and wild mushrooms, and the aroma was irresistible.
"Mom, Frostblade chased away a big eagle today!" Little Stone said excitedly, gesturing as he gnawed on a meat bone.
"Lan Ying found a nest of wild eggs!" Da Niu added.
Ling Zhan was carving a new wooden-handled hoe with a sharp knife when he heard this and looked up at the two wolf cubs nestled at her feet.
"good."
"Jinbao! Don't steal the honey!" Bean Sprout reacted quickly, swatting away the little monkey's paw that was trying to pry open the honey pot.
Jinbao squeaked and jumped onto the roof beam, making a funny face.
"Black Ball, here you go!" Little Stone broke off a piece of meaty bone and tossed it to the eager little black bear. Black Ball immediately hugged it, humming contentedly.
After the meal, the embers of the hearth provided warmth. Ling Zhan took out a book of tree bark and a charcoal pencil.
"Today we learn the characters '田' (field) and '力' (strength)." Charcoal pencils drew square characters on the rough board. "田 (field) produces the five grains. 力 (strength) refers to muscles, bones, and energy, the foundation for cultivating the fields."
Little Stone, holding a charcoal pencil, his face serious, traced on the wooden board: "Tian... Li..."
Tiger, Bean Sprout, Big Girl, and Daya took out their precious little notebooks to record the key points of the day's work as dictated by Ling Zhan:
Wheat harvesting techniques, bundling skills, the impact of weather on wheat grains, the harvesting season for purple ginseng…
Shen Yan taught them basic writing, but it was very basic; they had to draw diagrams to understand half of their notes.
"Mother, is the spring water warm yet?" Daya asked, thinking about the hot spring behind the house. Ling Zhan led some of it to the backyard.
"Ying Nuan," Ling Zhan stood up, "The girls should go first."
A warm summer breeze is blowing! The ten acres of wheat fields have been harvested, and the stubble is fresh and bright.
In the wooden courtyard, the embers of the stone hearth were still warm, and the people who had been busy all day were exhausted.
Frostblade and Storm Shadow dozed off beside Ling Zhan's legs, Jinbao curled up on the beam, and Black Ball slept soundly in the corner, hugging a bone.
On a night with few stars and moon, the mountain wind whistles through the treetops, carrying the distant howls of wolves. Instead of instilling fear, these howls become a lullaby for this secluded paradise atop the clouds.
All the new wheat was piled up in the large threshing ground behind the house.
The air was filled with the sweet aroma of new wheat and the scent of sunshine.
Ling Zhan stood on the edge of the field, looking at the ten acres of fertile land in front of her that had been harvested, and the nearly one hundred acres of fertile land next to it that was even more expansive and covered with dense weeds and low shrubs. The children were even more excited than she was, clamoring to clear the wasteland so that their father wouldn't have to worry about not having enough food to store for the winter.
“Tiger, Bean Sprout,” Ling Zhan nodded, pointing to the prepared land, “Deep plow, break up the soil, and make ridges. Sow autumn millet.”
“Da Niu, Da Ya,” she pointed to the new land, “clear the weeds, remove the roots of the bushes. Little stones, gather firewood.”
"Yes, Mother!" the children replied enthusiastically.
Black Ball, the greedy little bear, has another great opportunity to earn honey.
Driven by Ling Zhan and fueled by honey, they tirelessly and frantically plowed the land.
After plowing the cultivated land, it would rush to the wasteland to continue plowing. Eventually, as long as there was honey, it could even command small stones.
The hoe flew, cutting through the tough grass roots that had been plowed out.
Wielding a machete, he chopped down the low, plowed bushes.
Little Stone, holding the honey, led Black Ball to drag the cleared weeds and dead branches to the designated spot and pile them up, ready to be dried for firewood or compost.
Ling Zhan personally planned the route of the irrigation ditches in Xintian. She took Shuangren and Lanying with her, and used sharpened wooden stakes and tape measures to measure the land and mark the water diversion path.
Jinbao hopped among the treetops, chirping as if supervising the work.
During breaks, Ling Zhan would guide the children to identify medicinal herbs and teach them how to collect them without damaging the roots.
Little Stone, carrying a small basket, followed behind with an air of importance. He dug up a small Bupleurum chinense plant and his face turned bright red with excitement.
The learning under the cover of night expanded its scope. It included the shapes and characteristics of characters related to crops such as "millet," "beans," and "sorghum," water conservancy-related words such as "canal" and "irrigation," and more complex agricultural records.
Ling Zhan even began teaching Hu Zi to identify simple star charts in order to determine the changes in the solar terms.
Life flows by amidst sweat and harvest.
The newly reclaimed land gradually revealed its dark brown skin under the hoe.
The soil was fertile, and the seeds of autumn millet were carefully planted in the furrows of the cultivated field.
The dried wheat grains were ground into flour, enough for them to make steamed white buns with the aroma of wild wheat on the mountain. The ginseng and other herbs were properly dried, sorted, and stored in the cool, shady place of the wooden cabin.
Frostblade and Storm Shadow were noticeably larger, with sharper and more composed eyes, clearly becoming an important force in protecting their homeland.
Jinbao is still mischievous, but he can help by handing over some small tools.
Black Ball became an "expert" at cleaning up leftovers and loosening the vegetable patch.
The cotton seeds that are sown grow the fastest.
I thought they would mature later than those at the foot of the mountain, but thanks to the hot springs, they grew cotton bolls that were beginning to ripen within a month.
That's how farming works.
After a period of frantic busyness and once the seeds have been sown, things become much easier.
The mountaintop is cool and comfortable in summer.
Whenever he had some free time, Ling Zhan would take the children on a mountain tour and give them on-site explanations.
That day, the children were digging for herbs in the woods when Douya suddenly stopped digging and his nostrils twitched.
"Mom! There's so much moisture under this mound of soil! It's like...like a little river is making a muffled sound!"
Ling Zhan glanced at where the bean sprout was pointing: "Dig."
After digging a foot or so, wet mud gushed out! A stream of clear, cool spring water bubbled forth.
"A spring vein!" Daya exclaimed in surprise.
"Draw a canal." Ling Zhan carved a piece of wood as a marker, marking the new canal's course. Bean Sprout closed his eyes, concentrating, and gestured with his fingertips: "Eastward...around the old tree roots!"
His eyes gleamed, and his face was full of excitement, as if he could see into the earth's veins.
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