ESWHYMY 44

Chapter 44. Open up the wasteland


Each of them put away what little clothes, shoes and socks they own away. You Zhu rolled around on the three's kang with more than enough room and looked at the surrounding environment with great satisfaction: "This will be our home from now on! How wonderful!"

You Yin, who just came back after changing the basin to clean water, saw how overjoyed she was and smilingly remarked, "That's right. And we have our own room and cabinet too!"
The two sisters merrily chatted. They were filled with longing toward their new life. Outside, You Luo and You Ling were playing in the mud in the yard. In the main room, Mrs. Su was coaxing the twins to sleep. In the east wing, You Bao and You Ling were cleaning the tables, chairs and benches. In the kitchen, You Jin was busy preparing for their first meal in the new home. Su Family's new life was beginning.

On the first day of moving into the new home, You Jin stewed a large pot of roast meat with potatoes and steamed a large pot of coarse grain rice. The family heartily enjoyed the flavorful fatty meat juice to their fill. After dinner, they took the hot water from the kitchen to the shower booth and had a refreshing bath. Only then, they went back to their rooms to sleep.

In the east wing, You Ling slept next to You Jin. At the age of five, she followed a large family from Liutun Town to Wuli Bridge. She hadn't gotten accustomed to it: "Third Elder Sister, we really aren't going back home?"
She had called You Jin Third Elder Sister for so many years. For a moment, she wasn't used to changing the addressment.

"You Ling want to go back?" You Jin didn't answer her question. Instead, she asked her this: "Does You Ling not like it here?"

You Ling's eyelids felt a little heavy. She thought for a while before shaking her head slightly: "This place is very good. There is no Father and Grandmother. No one beats us..."
Although You Ling was still young, she was also very reliant on You Jin. Although there was some anxiety and fear in her heart due to the completely unfamiliar environment. As long as Mrs. Su and others were by her side, the anxiety and fear have dissipated a lot.

"Then we won't go back. Here will be our home from now on." You Jin patted her lightly and coaxed her to sleep. The already very tired You Ling fell asleep peacefully within a moment. You Jin covered the quilts for the little ones beside her and fell asleep soon after.

In the dream, You Jin saw a young woman about 23-24 years old with a wicker-like body and a pair of almond eyes that looked very gentle. She gracefully bowed to You Jin: "Miss Su, thank you!"
Then she turned to walk into the distance. Gradually her figure disappeared into the vast white mist.

The golden light spilled into the house through the window. It was already bright outside, but no one in Su Family got up yet. You Jin rolled over comfortably before lazily opened her eyes. Looking at the dust flying happily in the sunlight in the room, she felt an inexplicable satisfied sense of idleness in her heart. She hadn't been free from the fear of someone suddenly rushing in to scold and beat her for so many years and can sleep late until the sun rises?

Thinking of the woman she dreamed of last night, it must be the miss from Qin Family who fiercely stabbed her husband. She recalled that there was absence of the gloomy air on her face last night. Instead, it was peaceful. After thanking her, the other turned around and left. She must have been reincarnated? Sitting on the kang, she pondered for a while. After a while, she sat up from the kang and gently covered the little ones who kicked the quilt. Only then, she got up, put on her shoes, and quietly walked out of the east wing to the kitchen. She have to prepare the family's breakfast.

While You Jin busied away in the kitchen, You Yin and You Zhu got up. The three sisters worked together. It didn't take long for breakfast to be ready. You Yin brought Mrs. Su's share to the main room. You Jin had said yesterday that Mrs. Su wasn't out of the postnatal confinement period yet and wasn't allowed to come out. So Mrs. Su had to stay in the main room until the confinement period was completed.

After breakfast, You Jin carried a hoe and led her younger sisters to the wasteland in front of Su Family's house for opening it up.

"Eldest Sister, what are we going to plant here? Are we planting grain?" With a sickle in her hand, You Yin looked at the wasteland overgrown with weeds. She couldn't help but worry a little: "When will we get all this grass sorted? Once we tidy it up, I'm afraid the peak farming season is over."

You Yin and You Zhu were cutting the weeds in the front, while You Jin was wielding a hoe and digging the soil on the ground where the weeds had been cut. You Ling and You Luo followed behind her and picked up the grass roots in the soil and piled them at the side. The five sisters cooperated very well. Seeing You Yin asking this question, You Jin briefly explained her plan: "We will not grow grain this spring. Currently, there are no livestock at home and the few of us can't bear the brunt of farming. I want to grow some vegetables and fruits. These grow fast. Once it's ready, we can bring it to the city and sell it for some money. Then we can exchange it for food."

When You Jin came out of Cuifeng Village, she had already brought dried garlic seeds from Cuifeng Mountain. In addition, she also bought a lot of vegetable seeds in Luohe Prefecture yesterday. Planting some vegetables and sell it in the city in exchange for money could work. After all, there was no strong labor force in the family right now. So it was definitely difficult to grow food. It would be faster to grow some vegetables and bring them to Luohe Prefecture to exchange for some money.

You Zhu was a little worried that they wouldn't be able to get money: "Every family has this kind of food. We can sell it, then others can too. Eldest Sister, what if it can't be exchanged for money?"
They were a family of ten after all. The cheapest coarse grains they bought from Luohe Prefecture yesterday cost one silver liang and three penny. That money can't withstand the spending!

You Jin put the hoe on the ground, stood up straight, and took a break for a while. Smilingly, she comforted the worried younger sisters: "Don't worry. Since Eldest Sister can bring you out, I can definitely make everyone full. Right now, the top priority is to clear the land and then quickly plant vegetables. If not, let alone having vegetables to sell to the city, we won't even be able to eat them ourselves."

When the children heard this, they were all very worried that they would have no food to eat. Their hands picked up the pace. After half a day, two ridges were made. You Jin piled the weeds that had been cut and dried two days ago on the ground and burned them into ashes. Then she mixed it to fertilize it.

The older children of Su Family spent four days in a row before they finally cleared out one mu of wasteland. Because it was used for planting vegetables, the ground was mounded into multiple ridges. Su family's land wasn't far from the Wuliqiao river. You Jin brought running water from the river for irrigation. After the land was all wet, the wild garlic brought from Cuifeng Village was split one by one and planted in the ground the next day. Then one wen was used to buy few load of straw to spread in the field where the garlic seedlings were planted. After watering enough, the three rows of garlic were planted in the field.

The rest of the land was planted with vegetables and fruits such as potatoes, cabbage, small greens, pumpkins, and the likes. One mu was completely used up.

After planting vegetables, they only need to divert water to irrigate every one or two days. These were all small things. You Yin and You Zhu can handle it. You Jin, who was finally able to get spare time, had to start thinking about finding some ways to eat meat and make money for her family.

The first thing to solve was Mrs. Su's diet. Because the food hadn't been good, Mrs. Su's breastmilk can't keep up. The two little babies who were waiting to be fed hadn't grown these days. Instead, they have lost some weight. You Jin was anxious from this sight. She remembered that she had heard people say crucian carp can produce milk in her previous life. So she went to the ground to dig earthworms out. Then she bent a few thick needles to make a curved fish hook. Afterward, she went to go fishing on the west side of Wuliqiao River.

The river surface of Wuliqiao was about three or four meters wide and the water flowing through the river in front of Su's house was slow. In summer, Wuliqiao's children liked to play in the river and fish. Right now, it was only spring. It went without saying there was no people in the river. The fish that had been hungry all winter smelled the scent of earthworms and naturally got hooked one by one. Within half an hour, You Jin caught three adult-palm-size crucian carps and two red carp weighing nearly two jins.

After one afternoon, she caught half a bucket of fish. A few women who passed by after returning from the field noticed You Jin, an unfamiliar half-grown girl fishing, and felt it was new. They got closer and had a look. They had thought it was a kid messing around. Unexpectedly, they found a nearly full bucket of fish when they were closer. The three of them enviously eyed it: "You're the girl who moved to the new house in the west of the river, aren't you? You have caught a lot of fish!"

Seeing how kind-hearted the three women looked, You Jin pulled a few rattan, quickly skewered three fish, and handed them to the three: "Three Aunties, we are new here. Everyone will be neighbors from now on. Please take good care of our family."

You Jin chose carps that weighed about a jin. Although the three women were a little shy, they still accepted them as it more or less had meat. As the saying goes, it was hard to bite the hands that feed you. After the three women received fish from You Jin, their smile became even warmer. In a short while, they became familiar with each other.

The four of them chatted for a while. Then the three women went home with a big carp. And their impression of Su Family was good: "Must say, this little girl really know how to act. She don't feel bad about giving us three such big fishes at once!"

"Yeah! You must know that if you sell such a big fish in Luohe, you can earn 20 wens!" A phoenix eye and big mouth woman widely grinned. Her mind was on how to eat this fish tonight. Spring had just started. There wasn't much to eat. The children at home were craving for meat. Now they easily got a fish. The fish got to be cooked up nicely.

The other woman was a little embarrassed: "This twenty wens aren't a small sum. Why don't we send some vegetables to Su Family tomorrow? Didn't You Jin say that her mother is still confinement? From what I see, they just moved here. There must be nothing to eat." The other two women also felt that it made sense. Even if they gave the other party half a basket of potatoes and cabbage, they would still profit, no?

That night, everyone in Su Family also had a full meal. You Jin caught a total of eight carp and six crucian carp. For dinner, two crucian carp were stewed in soup for Mrs. Su to drink first. Afterward the sisters ate carp that was grilled with salt sprinkled. The remaining six carp and four crucian carp were kept in the kitchen in clean water. This way, they can eat fish every day. It can last for three or five days!

The author has something to say: Qing Shan, who is crying and begging for library add, is here again. Won't little cuties give me an add? [Crying up a storm sob.jpg]

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