Chapter 23
Collecting Vegetables, Burning the wasteland
After Ah Qing and Laidi returned, the two families began to eat. Liu Changmin looked at the big pot of chili fried hare on the table, as well as stir-fried vegetables and fish soup. He smiled and sighed. “Sigh! My appetite has been spoiled at Ah Qing’s house. What if I can’t get used to eating at home in the future?”
Li Yu laughed when she heard that. “Uncle, don’t worry. There are plenty of wild rabbits on the mountain. There are several in a nest!”
Liu Changmin chuckled. “Alright, I’ll eat freely then.”
Laidi looked at Li Yu and asked, “Cousin, can you help me get a few live hares? I want to try raising rabbits myself.”
Li Yu agreed readily. “Alright, I’ll go to the bushes at the back of the house tomorrow and raise a few for you.”
After the meal, Li Qing did his homework. Li Yu, Li Mei, and the others took off the chilies, washed them, and poured them into the flat bamboo to dry on the bamboo rack.
Li Yu took out the peas and poured them into a wooden bucket. She scooped a basin of warm peas from the pot. Everyone removed the rotten peas with bug eyes. After Li Qing finished his homework, he came to help. With more people, they worked faster. The few of them picked all the peas and washed them before drying them on the bamboo board.
When they were almost done, they cleaned up and took turns washing up before returning to their rooms to sleep.
Li Yu and Zhaodi slept on the same bed. Li Yu thought that fortunately, they were both thin, so it didn’t feel crowded. Otherwise, she really couldn’t stand the heat.
After Li Yu lay down to sleep, she entered the space to check and discovered that the items inside were stored in different categories. There were two wild boars, six mules, nine wild goats, more than 20 wild hares, and wild chickens. There were also a few turtledoves and wild ducks. Including the money from the Zhang family, there were already more than 200 taels.
Li Yu came out of the space and narrowed her eyes. She thought that after the grains were collected, she should buy more food so that they could get by in times of famine.
The next morning, Li Yu woke up and saw that the two sisters were still sleeping soundly. After Li Yu got up quietly, she took the rope and machete to the bushes at the back of the mountain.
When she walked into the forest and stepped on the soft ground, Li Yu smiled. Now, she didn’t have to worry about fertilizer. There was plenty of natural organic fertilizer in the forest. After finding a few spots to set up a rope, she turned around and came out of the forest. On the way, she found more than a dozen soapberry trees. The trees were already filled with soapberries.
Li Yu sighed in her heart. In her previous life, she had seen her grandmother pick soapberries for washing hair and laundry. There were actually more than ten of them here. Now, she didn’t have to worry about bathing and washing clothes.
Li Yu trained in the forest for a while and practiced two sets of punches before returning home. When she reached home, she saw that everyone had woken up. Li Qing was standing at the door with a book and reading loudly at the rice paddies. Li Mei and her daughter were cooking.
Li Yu looked at the beancurd soaked in the bucket. When she scooped it up, she saw that the skin of the bean was already swollen. She took a stool and sat down to peel the skin.
After the beancurd was soaked, the skin fell off with a gentle rub. Li Yu used her strength and nimbly peeled a basin of beancurd not long after. After dinner, Li Qing went to school. Li Mei and her husband asked Li Yu to collect the vegetables at home while they went to the wasteland behind the house with hoes and sickles.
Li Yu hurriedly stopped the two of them. “Aunt, how long will it take for you and Uncle to cut such a large patch of wild grass? There’s no wind at home today. I’ll go with you. I have a way to clean up those wild grass.”
Li Mei looked at Li Yu’s confident expression and said with a smile, “Alright! Aunt will see what good ideas you have.”
Li Yu picked up the hoe and went to the wasteland behind the house with Li Mei and her husband. She cut five feet wide around the wasteland. She pointed at the place and said to Li Mei and Liu Changmin, “Aunt, you and Uncle cut off the wild grass around the place I cut.”
Li Mei and Liu Changmin nodded and bent down to cut. Li Yu used a hoe to dig a fire divider in the middle of the wasteland.
Halfway through the digging, Laidi came running to say that someone had brought vegetables and peas. Li Mei took the hoe from Li Yu’s hand. “Yu’er, go back quickly. Leave this to me.”
Li Yu pointed at the square she had drawn and instructed, “Aunt, cut according to what I’ve drawn.”
“Go quickly!” Li Mei smiled and agreed. Li Yu quickly ran home and saw a few women standing in the courtyard with chili peppers and peas. “I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”
“It’s alright. I’m not busy now,” one of the women replied brightly.
“Zhaodi, watch me teach you.” Li Yu took the scale from her. As she weighed it, she taught her how to calculate. Then, she weighed the peas, head vegetables, and chili that they had brought.
Li Yu paid the money. Seeing that they could really sell it for money, the women happily carried their baskets and bamboo baskets back.
Zhaodi pointed at the tofu leaves that had been peeled, washed, and left to dry. “Cousin, are you going to dry the tofu?”
“No, go get the bamboo out.”
When Zhaodi heard this, she took the bamboo and flattened it. Li Yu went into the house to take out the pumpkin leaves that Li Mei had brought back. The two of them poured the tofu slices onto the bamboo. Li Yu spread the tofu slices evenly and covered the tofu with the pumpkin leaves one by one. She carried them into the room and placed them on the bamboo rack.
Zhaodi looked at the bean petals covered with pumpkin leaves and looked at Li Yu in confusion. “Cousin, will you spoil it if you cover it like this?”
“It won’t. It’s fermenting. I’ll be able to start making bean paste in a few days when white stuff grows on the bean flap.”
Zhaodi felt that she still didn’t understand, so she nodded obediently. “Cousin, go ahead! I’ll clean up the ones I just collected at home.”
After Li Yu agreed, she took the lighter from the backyard to the wasteland to cut out the isolation tape with Li Mei and her husband. Li Yu took out the lighter and prepared to light the fire. When Li Mei saw this, she was so frightened that she quickly stopped Li Yu. “Yu’er, you can’t do this. It’ll be troublesome if it burns.”
Li Yu pointed at the isolation tape and smiled. “Aunt, there’s no wind at all today. We even cut off an isolation tape. The fire won’t burn over.”
“Really?” Li Mei and Liu Changmin looked at Li Yu skeptically. Li Yu nodded solemnly. “If you’re worried, take the hoe to the forest and watch over it!”
Li Mei and Liu Changmin hurriedly ran towards the forest. Li Yu blew on the fire and lit the weeds. As soon as the hay was lit, it started burning.
The fire stopped when it reached the isolation zone. Only then did Li Mei and Liu Changmin feel relieved. They ran over and said with a smile, “Yu’er, this is a good idea. The wild grass will be burned clean in a while. Even the grass seeds will be burned clean, but the grass ashes can still fertilize the ground.”
Li Yu instructed the two of them, “Aunt, if you want to burn the wasteland in the future, you have to cut out the isolation belt first. It’s best to cut the isolation belt wider. You also have to choose a windless day to burn it. You have to guard there just in case.”
Li Mei and her husband hurriedly agreed. Li Yu waited for the remaining wild grass to be burned and said to Li Mei, “Aunt is going to the market tomorrow. Let’s go buy an ox and a handcart. Then, we’ll buy a plow and hoe. We’ll use them in the future.”
After hearing this, Liu Changmin advised, “Xiaoyu, in my opinion, let’s forget it! An ox costs at least ten taels of silver, and a plow costs four to five taels of silver. We just need to spend more effort.”
“Uncle, you can’t save on these things. Oh! We need clay pots to make pickled vegetables. Do you know where there’s a clay kiln for burning clay pots?”
“There’s one in East Mountain Village. What size do you want?” Liu Changmin looked at Li Yu and asked.
Li Yu thought for a moment. “Let’s buy 20 soy sauce jars with 50 catties first. We’ll buy other 10 jars with 50 catties each.”
Li Mei was worried that Liu Changmin would not bargain. “Yu’er, we have to discuss the price with the boss if we buy so much. Let me accompany your uncle!”
Li Yu smiled and agreed. “Alright, go with Uncle!”
When the three of them returned home, Zhaodi had already prepared lunch. After Li Qing came back for dinner, Li Yu gave the money to Li Mei and her husband and the couple went to East Mountain Village with Li Qing.