An orphan girl from a farming family: Everyday farming in the mountains during natural disasters

Chapter 188: Busy Planting

"When she comes over later, she always can't see Youmao. With one person missing, I'm afraid she can't keep it secret and it will be exposed." Fang's mother was worried.

Chen Yuzhen: "We told her about the mountain stronghold and the reward for finding her, and she wouldn't come over for a long time."

Fang's father and mother said in unison: "That's good."

From beginning to end, Fang Xiaoyu said nothing, staring blankly at the patched toe of her shoe with her eyes lowered.

The other three saw it and looked sad.

Chen Yuzhen took Fang Xiaoyu's hand and comforted her, "Xiaoyu, Youmao's arrest has nothing to do with you. Don't blame yourself too much. Those bad guys had planned it all along."

"Aunt, I understand everything. The most urgent task is to rescue Brother Youmao... wuwu... I'm worried that I don't know what means the bad guys will use to torture him, wuwu." Fang Xiaoyu covered her face with her hands and cried bitterly.

Li Benfu, who came in after hearing the news, and Chen Dawei, who heard those words, stopped in shock, with a sad expression.

After a long while, Li Benfu said, "When Weikang and the others come back, we will discuss the plan carefully."

Since Chen Youmao was arrested, the Li family went to the outskirts of the village every day. During this process, they noticed that several villagers from the same village were also wandering around outside the village to investigate.

After secretly observing for a period of time, they found out that these villagers had the same goal as them, which was to rescue their relatives who were captured by bandits from the village.

In order to speed up the expansion of manpower, Guan Jianshan failed to recruit people, so he began to use force to kidnap people, mainly young men and women.

Those who lost their loved ones gradually came together and wanted to work together to save others. After discussion, the Li family joined them.

That day, Han Zhibai met the Li family and a group of people appearing in the dense forest because the group's camp was in a forest outside the edge of the dense forest. Coincidentally, on that day, he accidentally met the Fang family in the forest.

After the Li and Fang families met, the Fang family first told the Li family about their own situation. Only then did the Li family suddenly understand the reasons and details of Chen Youmao's arrest.

The Fang family, feeling guilty, volunteered to join the rescue effort and moved back to the shelter with the Li family.

Half an hour later, Li Weikang and his brother returned.

"How is it? Did Qingyue say anything?" Chen Yuzhen was still a little worried.

The two brothers shook their heads and said that she probably didn't notice anything unusual.

In the open-air cave, the two families sat in a circle on low stools.

"So far, there are 28 people participating in the rescue plan." The people Li Benfu mentioned do not include women and children, but strong young and middle-aged people.

Chen Yuzhen: "We have to pack up and move to their camp in the next two days. It's not good for us to live alone. Both sides are afraid that the other party will have second thoughts and cannot fully trust each other. Living together, we can know everything in time."

"I think we can select a few people to infiltrate the village and look for opportunities to poison their food. That way the rescue plan will be easier to advance." Li Weisheng's eyes flashed with eagerness.

Li Weikang said, "I'm afraid few people would be willing to do something this dangerous. It's too risky. Besides, an important place like the drinking water kitchen must be heavily guarded by people Guan Jianshan trusts. It's not easy to do it."

"..."

"..."

While the Li and Fang families were discussing, Xia Qingyue was still on the way. The sky was full of gorgeous clouds, and she estimated that it should be past five o'clock.

On the way here, she saw newly grown mugwort in several places, so she pulled them all out. Because there were so many people on the mountain, there were almost no medicinal herbs to be seen.

Thinking that Guan Jianshan and his gang were looking for her, she didn't even go to the stream to take a look. She hurried to the tiankeng, took the things hidden in the dark, and returned to the tiankeng to close the cave door.

I immediately poured a jar of salt and put the rest in the utility room and kept it properly. If the weather is good tomorrow, I will pour it out and dry it in the sun.

Then I sat at the dining table in the kitchen and peeled a pear to eat. The crispy and sweet pear quenched my thirst and relieved some fatigue.

"I'll go out in a few days and tell Han Zhibai about the situation on the mountain. I won't be going out in the short term." Fortunately, there are vegetables planted in the fields, so I'm not too worried.

She then thought of a serious problem, "If the bandits are still here, won't we have to hide indefinitely and won't be able to move freely in the mountains?"

It’s so frustrating.

But there is no other way around it, just hide, the most important thing is to stay alive.

After returning from digging wild onions from Han Zhibai, the sun had already set. She took a hoe to the field and planted all the onions. She watered the fields and also picked a handful of pumpkin vines and deer ear chives to take back.

The tip of the pumpkin vine is very tender, so you can just pinch it off. The outer skin of the vine is relatively rough, so you can tear it off by hand and feed it to the sheep. You only want the tender inside.

She brought back several pounds of river shrimps and snails that were caught by fishing nets in the valley.

Han Zhibai wanted to catch a few big fish for her to bring back, but there were too many things for her to bring back, so she caught a few fish as long as chopsticks.

Smash the stone snails and feed them to chickens and ducks. Remove the heads and shells of river shrimps, put the heads and shells in a pan and fry them. After they cool down, they will be crispy when squeezed by hand. Powder them into a black bowl and mix them with boiled fish and vegetables for the baby to eat.

Shrimp shells are rich in nutrients, which are good for the body. If conditions permit, she would like to get some to eat occasionally herself and feed them to chickens and ducks.

There was not much oil left, so she used the corner of the spatula to scoop up a piece of oil the size of a plum and put it into the pan. After it started to smoke, she stir-fried the shrimp meat. She then put in the chopped leek, added appropriate amounts of salt and soy sauce, stir-fried until cooked through and removed from the pan.

The same amount of oil was used to sauté a dish of pumpkin vines.

There was little oil or water, but the taste was not bad. She made a bowl of fried noodles and ate it as a staple food.

Early the next morning, Xia Qingyue finished her morning exercise, carried water to water the vegetables, then went to the sweet potato field to turn over the sweet potato vines, cut off excess branches, and planted the cut branches in the field beside the pond.

squeak-

Amid the noisy cicadas' chirping, the sun rose higher and higher, and the light it emitted was filled with scorching heat.

Xia Qingyue, wearing a straw hat, raised her sleeves from time to time to wipe the sweat dripping from her forehead, and her face turned slightly red due to the heat.

After transplanting the sweet potatoes, she went to the vegetable garden to cut off the excess branches of cowpeas, cucumbers and other vegetables.

At this time, they all bloomed, delicate and beautiful, with the pumpkin flowers being the largest, like small trumpets. The industrious bees smelled the fragrance of the flowers, buzzed their wings and flew to the flowers to collect nectar. After collecting nectar from one flower, they flew to another, pollinating the flowers invisibly.

Pumpkin flowers are also edible. While she was cutting, she was thinking about picking some pumpkin flowers to cook for lunch.

It’s a pity that there is no fresh meat. If there was, I could chop it into minced meat and wrap it in pumpkin flowers, which would be delicious and juicy.

She was drooling just thinking about it.

After cutting, she was sweating all over. She picked some pumpkin flowers and carried the hoe back.

Walk to the bottom of the tiankeng and shake the salt in the winnowing basket so that it can be dried more evenly.

The mugwort that is also being dried, as well as last year's dried mint, will be turned over and made into pagoda mosquito coils after they are dried. It is estimated that there should be several hundred of them made. I will bring half of them to Han Zhibai in a few days.

At noon, Xia Qingyue lit a fire to prepare lunch, and the place where the firewood was originally piled was empty.

There were only three whole sticks and a small pile of twigs and pine needles left, and she felt very sad.