Chapter 83 Taking Xu Hexiao to visit the planting area
On a winter morning, the sun rose later than usual. Lin Qi got up and started cooking breakfast, while Xu Hexiao was practicing boxing outside in the yard.
The two of them had breakfast, put the breakfast left for Grandpa Xu on the fire to warm it up, and then ran into the mountains together.
It was still dark, and Xu Hexiao could only see the vague outlines of the surrounding objects. But Lin Qi seemed unaffected. She grabbed Xu Hexiao's arm and quickly jumped through the forest.
There was the sound of wind whistling in his ears. Xu Hexiao had never experienced such a fast speed before. Even when the Xu family had horses in the past, the horses could not run so fast.
No wonder she said it only took her less than ten minutes to get in and out of the mountains, he believed it now.
When the two arrived at the cave, it was still dark.
"You make a fire in the cave, and I'll go pick the fruits." Lin Qi said.
"Can't I go?" Xu Hexiao asked the question that had been suppressed in his heart for a long time. If he didn't ask, would she never take him with him?
"You can go. But it's too dark now, and you won't be able to see clearly." Lin Qi explained, "I'll take you to see it when it's daybreak."
"Okay." Xu Hexiao agreed, and a long-lost excitement and excitement surged in his heart.
Lin Qi went and came back, and in less than ten minutes, both baskets were full.
Xu Hexiao was a little stunned. Not only did she run fast, but she could also pick the fruits so fast?
Lin Qi took two baskets and went out again, while Xu Hexiao started to boil water and wash the fruits with warm water. As for the fruits that did not need to be washed, they were directly placed in a wide flat winnowing basket to dry.
There is a strong wind in the mountains, but there is no sun. After a few days of wind, the fruits will dry up.
After Lin Qi filled all the baskets, it was still dark.
She squatted beside Xu Hexiao and washed the fruits with him. "I made a lot of preserved fruits, jams, and dried a lot of persimmon cakes. I also have a lot of dried hawthorns and grapes. Why don't I sell some of them to Brother Tan first?"
"Keep the ones you want to send home, and sell the rest to Brother Tan." Xu Hexiao said.
If we don’t sell all the fruits, there won’t be enough containers.
"Won't you leave some for you and grandpa?" Lin Qi asked.
"No. We just want to eat the fresh ones. Besides, we will continue making it later, so it won't be too late to keep some then." Xu Hexiao said.
"Then send some back home, sell some to uncle, and sell the rest to Brother Tan." Lin Qi said.
At dawn, Lin Qi took Xu Hexiao to the planting area.
The planting area is only a dozen meters away from the cave and there are no thorn bushes separating it. If Xu Hexiao wanted to go, he could go by himself, but he didn't. He waited until today, until Lin Qi agreed.
Coming out of the cave, the first place you arrive at is the vegetable garden. Although it is called a vegetable garden, in fact, vegetables are planted in every corner of the entire planting area, but this is the first place to be planted.
The vegetables in the vegetable garden were crowded together without any gaps. It was the first time Xu Hexiao had seen vegetables growing so densely and in such good quality.
"Aren't you worried about the lack of nutrients?" Xu Hexiao asked the question in his mind, but as soon as he asked it, he felt stupid, "You are growing so well, but you don't look like you are lacking nutrients at all."
Lin Qi didn't comment, "There is a rabbit hole under the vegetable field, you should pay attention to it."
Xu Hexiao looked down and saw a flash of gray. "Are there many rabbits in the plantation? How many are there?"
"I haven't counted them for almost two months, so I'm not sure exactly now, but it should be no less than two hundred," said Lin Qi.
"So many!" Xu Hexiao said in shock.
Lin Qi nodded, "Yes, there are a lot. They eat well and reproduce quickly. And their reproduction cycle is short, on average they can reproduce about six times a year."
After eating the plants created by supernatural powers, the reproduction speed will probably be even faster.
Xu Hexiao nodded. No one in Anliang Brigade raised rabbits, so he didn't know that rabbits could give birth six times a year.
"Over there are grain crops." Lin Qi pointed in a direction, where there were green corn stalks, each with two or three corns on it, and several wild boars were feasting on the food.
"How come this wild boar is so big!" Xu Hexiao was dumbfounded. The one Lin Qi brought back last time was big enough. Even if it was dead, it would still weigh nearly 300 kilograms. But the one in the distance was about the same size as a cow.
"They eat all day long, eating corn, pumpkin, melon, watermelon... In short, they never stop." Lin Qi said, her tone speechless.
However, Xu Hexiao's focus was elsewhere. "Wild boars eat watermelons? I haven't even eaten the watermelons you planted yet, but the wild boars ate them first!"
He is worse than a pig!
Looking at the heartbroken Xu Hexiao, Lin Qi felt helpless. "The food was grown here, so these animals must have eaten it first. They were the first to eat it, and I was right behind them."
Xu Hexiao looked resentful and was not comforted.
Lin Qi continued to persuade, "They ate those melons, you eat them. They are the priority, you are the highest."
Xu Hexiao stopped talking and said, "That's right."
The two continued to go deeper into the planting area, where they met a hen with her chicks looking for food, flocks of sheep, deer, roe deer... and some animals whose names they could not remember.
In addition to animals, Xu Hexiao also saw all kinds of melons, covering the ground and even growing in the cracks of the rocks. He also saw all kinds of fruit trees, because Lin Qi picked a lot of them this morning, and there were not many fruits left on the trees at this time.
"Hey, bees—"
Xu Hexiao looked at the bees flying around among the fruits. There were quite a few of them. "There are still bees at this time."
"It's probably because there are so many flowers and fruits here, so bees come here to build nests." Lin Qi said. She didn't notice it before, but when she looked closely, she found a beehive in a small house she made with vines.
"These things that are shaped like houses, are they homes you made for the animals?" Xu Hexiao looked around and found that there were dozens of such houses, large and small, spread throughout every corner of the planting area.
How much time did she spend doing this? Was it tiring?
But on second thought, with her incredible speed, it might not take much time.
Xu Hexiao pushed the houses and found that he used 70% to 80% of his strength, but the houses only moved slightly. Their sturdiness was better than the straw hut he and his grandfather lived in before.
"It was windy and rainy at the time, so we went into the mountains to build houses for them so they would have a place to shelter from the wind and rain," said Lin Qi.
"That room is big enough for living." Xu Hexiao pointed to the largest room and said, "It actually has two floors."
"It's not two floors, the house is just raised up, not directly on the ground. It's for sheep to live in. Being higher off the ground can reduce the risk of disease." Lin Qi said.
"I also want a house like that." Xu Hexiao looked at Lin Qi dimly.
Lin Qi turned her head and the two looked at each other. Lin Qi saw seriousness and desire in the other's eyes. Xu Hexiao really wanted it.
"Then I'll make one for you?" Lin Qi asked tentatively.
"Yeah." Xu Hexiao's face blossomed into a big smile, and his white teeth made Lin Qi's eyes a little dizzy.
Xu Hexiao is getting more and more handsome, Lin Qi thought dazedly.
Finally, Lin Qi took Xu Hexiao to see the pond and paddy field she had dug.
Water has accumulated in the paddy field, and green grass has grown around the pond. Part of the grass extends into the water, and fish can be seen pecking at the grass.
"When was it dug?" Xu Hexiao found that he was more frightened today than in the previous few years combined.
"Yesterday." Lin Qi said.
Xu Hexiao looked at the grass. "So they grew in just one night?"
Lin Qi neither admitted nor denied that it was not a night, but a while. She was afraid that the time was too short and would scare Xu Hexiao.
But if she doesn’t grow vegetables, how can she attract the fish outside into her pond?
"Next year we will have fish and shrimp to eat." Lin Qi said with anticipation.
Xu Hexiao nodded slowly. Even if she said she could eat it tomorrow, let alone next year, he would believe it.
After walking around the planting area, Xu Hexiao had to go back as he still had to herd cattle.
"Shall I take you out?" Lin Qi asked.
"No need. I want to go out for a run as a way to exercise." After seeing her speed, he should work harder.
"Then go to the fork in the road and wait for me that night. I'll deliver the things there."
"I'll come help you move after I finish herding the cattle."
"No need to come. You can cook dinner here and have dinner with grandpa. If you don't come, I can finish moving in half an hour. If you come, I will have to wait for you for two or three hours."
“........”
When Lin Qi cooked lunch, she cooked a little more on purpose, so she didn’t need to cook dinner and could just heat it up directly.
In the afternoon, she made bayberry jam in the cave. For others, shelling bayberries is difficult and laborious, but Lin Qi does not have this worry.
Thousands of thin vines work together, and hundreds of kilograms of bayberries are successfully shelled in less than half an hour.
There were many more earthenware jars in the cave, some of which she brought and some of which Xu Hexiao brought. Lin Qi heated five earthenware jars at a time and added bayberries to them. Five vines controlled five cleaned sticks and stirred them continuously in the jars.
As for Lin Qi herself, she was lying on the bed not far away, drowsy.
Lin Qi spent the entire afternoon making bayberry jam until all the bayberries were used up. In total, she made three large clay jars of bayberry jam.
After making the jam, Lin Qi started to heat up the food. By the time she finished eating, it was getting dark.
Only then did she carry the basket and walk towards the place where sweet potatoes and taro were planted.
"Grandpa, I'm going out tonight." Xu Hexiao put down the bowl and said to Old Man Xu.
"I can see that." Old Man Xu laughed, "You can't even concentrate on eating, and you're going to look for Qiqi again?"
"Yes. She has a batch of sweet potatoes to sell to Brother Tan." Xu Hexiao did not hide it.
"The sweet potatoes she grows are delicious." Speaking of sweet potatoes, Old Man Xu found that he, who had a poor appetite, actually wanted to eat some.
"I'll steam it for you tomorrow, or do you want to roast it?" Xu Hexiao asked.
Old Man Xu thought for a moment and said, "Let's bake it. Steamed ones are so delicious, so baked ones must be even better."
"Okay, I'll bake it for you tomorrow. Did you have enough for dinner? Do you want me to make you two spoonfuls of milk powder?" Lin Qi took two of the eight cans of milk powder from Brother Tan, and the rest were all with him. He didn't drink it himself, but left it for Grandpa. But Grandpa's appetite was getting worse day by day, and once he drank milk powder, he vomited.
He was so scared that he wanted to ask Doctor Ma for help, but his grandfather stopped him and said that he was too full.
But he clearly remembered that his grandfather didn’t eat much!
Xu Hexiao thought of what Doctor Ma had said before, and considering his grandfather's increasingly pale complexion in recent days, his heart felt as if it was suddenly squeezed by a pair of large hands, and the pain was so severe that he almost couldn't breathe.
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