amaotonovel Chapter 266: Heavy Storm
Chapter 266: Heavy Storm
Xia Qingyue had some experience in catching pheasants and wild ducks in this environment. She shared with Han Zhibai how she had caught them in the past. In fact, the method she used was almost the same as the one she used to catch the pheasants yesterday.
Today they carried two backpacks, both of which were camouflaged with reeds. They placed them in places with many duck footprints, propped up them with wooden sticks as a trap, and placed cooked fish and shrimp underneath as bait.
Han Zhibai made an improvement to the trap. As long as a duck entered and touched the thin wire on the stick, the stick would be pulled away and the backpack would instantly fall down to cover the duck.
This way, there is no need to keep someone on guard at all times.
They found some places with a lot of duck droppings, dug holes and set traps, and accidentally found some wild duck eggs.
Xia Qingyue remembered that last year she found a lot of chicken and duck eggs in the reed marsh with the help of Heihei.
It's full of memories.
She grinned.
"There are so many reeds here, there must be a lot of duck eggs hidden in them. When Heihei and the others come back later, let Heihei lead them to look for them."
Speak of the devil, and here comes Heihei and Xiaobai.
"Hey, you guys came back pretty quickly today. Come, Heihei, smell the duck eggs and take us to find them." She held the duck eggs for Heihei to smell.
After smelling it, Heihei quickly locked onto her target. At the root of a nearby clump of reeds, she pulled aside the numerous leaves and saw two eggs inside.
With Heihei leading the way, they found more than 30 duck eggs in more than an hour, nine of which were fertilized eggs.
She thought about incubating the fertilized eggs when she got back, and the ducklings would hatch out of the shells soon.
At 3 p.m., they went to check on their harvest at the several places where they had set traps. Two backpacks covered three ducks, and twelve ducks fell into the four pits they had dug.
Great harvest.
It takes about an hour to go back, so we have to hurry back.
As soon as they got home, the two little ones ran to drink water.
After drinking, Xiaobai went back to his nest and lay down, his eyelids opening and closing.
Heihei was very energetic. When he saw them finish drinking the water, pick up the farm tools and go to the fields, he followed them happily.
The soil in the fields was dry after being exposed to the sun all day. Han Zhibai came to fetch water to water the vegetables while she weeded and turned the soil.
All the vegetables were poured with water. It was so dark that one could only see things within two meters.
The rice seedlings have grown to be as long as a palm. They will be ready for planting after a while. They plan to start diverting water to the paddy fields tomorrow, plow the land, and make preparations.
In the evening, Xia Qingyue made rice rolls with peeled shrimp, crab meat, duck eggs, and mung bean sprouts, and also prepared the sauce.
Xiaobai has been sleeping since the evening and has not woken up yet. She stroked its hair and called it softly, asking it to get up for dinner.
It smelled the fragrance, and its eyelids, which had been drooping due to sleepiness, gradually opened. It stood up from its nest, put its hind legs on the ground, stretched out, and slowly walked over to eat.
Heihei stayed by the rice bowl without eating, waiting for Xiaobai to come over and eat before he ate.
The rice rolls made with seafood are very fresh and fragrant. The whole family enjoyed the delicious food with relish.
After the meal, they ate some mangoes and chatted about family matters.
The thing that is most abundant here is fruit.
The next day, before dawn, the two of them got up quickly, made breakfast, and went to the fields to draw water to the paddy fields.
The paddy fields are located in low terrain, on the same level as the canals. There is a thick earthen wall between the canals and the fields. It took them some time to clear it so that water could flow into the fields.
When the water has almost flowed away, cover it with soil to block the earth wall and stop the flow of water.
Most of the morning was wasted in this busy work.
It was already the beginning of June, and the weather was getting hotter day by day. Xia Qingyue dug out the two sets of vest and shorts she had made the year before last. She thought that if the heat continued, she might as well just wear these at home. After all, there was no one else living here, so she could be free.
She also wanted to make a few sets of similar shorts for Han Zhibai. She brought a lot of cloth from the valley, enough for them to use for several years.
She got down to work right away. When she had free time, she found the fabric and started working.
Han Zhibai went to plow the paddy field in the evening, and he plowed the field once in the morning and evening of the next day before finishing the work.
On the second day after plowing, after noon, the sky suddenly darkened, dark clouds covered the sky, strong winds blew, and flowers and leaves flew all over the sky.
The two people who were sitting in the main room to rest saw the wind of flowers and plants blowing in from the door. They immediately stood up and walked to the door to look outside. A hot wind blew in their faces, blowing their hair back, revealing their smooth foreheads.
Countless petals and leaves were swirling in the sky above the yard, and the branches and leaves of the fruit trees planted outside the fence were shaking continuously, and the leaves were falling like rain.
She said solemnly, "I'm afraid it's going to rain."
"Yes, at this time of year in previous years, it rained a lot in Wei Hai."
They ran out to put away the clothes, and hung up to dry the uneaten seafood that they had caught some time ago, such as sea cucumbers and fish, and took them all home.
Han Zhibai ran to close the door of the poultry room and the small side door of the kitchen. The wind was so strong that the door rattled.
In a moment, drops of rain fell and landed on the ground, leaving marks of darker color wherever they wetted.
Xia Qingyue, standing under the eaves, stretched out her hand, and a few drops of rain dripped into her palm.
She was looking at the raindrops in her hands. Suddenly, the raindrops turned into rain and began to fall down.
Some rain splashed on her body, and she hurriedly retreated to the main room, closed the door, and propped a chair against it, leaving a gap for air to flow in.
The heavy rain started suddenly and gradually subsided at the hour of You. By then they had finished their breakfast and dinner, washed up, and went to bed early.
The rain lasted for five days on and off, and it rained for several days in a row. It was finally cooler in the morning and evening, and I didn't have to go to the fields to water the vegetables every day.
Recently, Han Zhibai and Xia Qingyue have both discovered that something is wrong with Xiaobai. It has become more and more sleepy. Except for eating and playing for a while, it spends the rest of the day sleeping.
Its appetite was sometimes good and sometimes bad, its belly was getting bigger and bigger, and it had little energy. It didn't play and fight with Heihei as often as before.
Crouching in front of the nest, Xia Qingyue was filled with worry, "Could it be that Xiaobai is sick?"
Han Zhibai glanced at her lying on the side, his eyes clear and dark, "Xiaobai should be pregnant."
"Pregnant?" She was a little surprised, but quickly regained her composure. "From its reactions, it looks like it is pregnant."
They had had such suspicions before in the valley, but for the sake of caution, they did not jump to conclusions and kept a close eye on Xiaobai's situation.
After the rain stopped, it was cloudy, so they got up early to plant rice.
It took two people three and a half days to plant several acres of land.
The land was moist after the rain, and the seedlings that had been planted grew rapidly, reaching a considerable height in just a few days.
Seeing that the vines of cucumbers, pumpkins and other vegetables were growing, Han Zhibai went to the woods to cut some thin wooden sticks so that he could use them as a rack for them to climb.
Xia Qingyue stayed at home and made vests, shorts and short-sleeved shirts.
In the middle and late part of the month, Xiaobai's belly became bigger. Perhaps after a certain period of time, its appetite became better. It ate more than Heihei at every meal. It was not so sleepy, and it had recovered some energy. It was able to play with Heihei. However, when playing, it often protected its belly and would not let Heihei get close.
Taking all these factors into consideration, they determined that Xiaobai was pregnant!
After confirming this, they were first happy that Heihei and Xiaobai had grown up and were going to be parents, and there would be a new member in the family. Then they discussed how to take care of Xiaobai, and finally decided on a corresponding plan.
For animals, just like humans, pregnancy and childbirth are big events that cannot be taken lightly.