Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12112

Those fields belong to someone in the village, and right now they are overgrown with weeds and dormant. But when you come back in the summer, you'll see that none of the reclaimed land at the foot of the mountain is left to lie there overgrown with weeds.

Sweet potatoes, potatoes, mung beans, peanuts, buckwheat, and the like were all planted in abundance. Farmers would never allow their fields to lie fallow; it was an unacceptable custom ingrained in their very being!

It's something that everyone in the neighborhood will talk about behind their backs; it's the biggest waste of things!

“I’ve heard my mother complain a lot before, saying that the bean pods in the two plots of land we reclaimed were all eaten up by rabbits, and the sweet potatoes we planted had their leaves eaten up by rabbits before they even grew!”

"I'm going to put some rabbit snares in that patch of newly cleared land with lots of tall grass over there. See it? It's the one I'm pointing to."

"I saw it, I saw it," Xiu Hong nodded quickly. "Then you go up and set the rabbit snares later, where will I stand and wait for you?"

"Just stand here on the threshing floor and wait for me. We're only about ten steps apart. If you need anything, just shout and I'll hear you. I can also see you when I look up."

"Alright, then you go ahead. Here, take this stick with you too. The grass there is really tall. Before you step into it, tap it a few times in the grass to scare away any snakes or insects!"

"It's alright, you can use the stick for self-defense. I have a wood-chopping knife, it'll work just as well!"

"Okay, then you go quickly! I'll watch over you here."

"Okay, I'll do it as soon as possible!"

So, under Xiu Hong's watchful gaze, Sixi, carrying a hemp sack on his back and a machete in his hand, headed straight for the patch of wasteland ahead, overgrown with grass up to his thighs.

The moonlight was very bright, casting his shadow long and thin on the threshing floor behind him.

A mountain breeze was blowing and it was a bit chilly. Fortunately, Xiu Hong had come out wearing a hat and scarf. She stood there, her eyes following Sixi's figure.

I saw him walk into the wasteland overgrown with tall grass, I saw him put down the bag, start choosing a spot, then take out a rabbit snare and squat down.

When he crouched down, Xiu Hong couldn't see him, but she could hear the sound of the hammer hitting the rivets on the rabbit trap.

The rivet was made of sharpened bamboo strips, with the sharp end driven deep into the ground, leaving a little finger-length tip visible above the surface.

There is a groove at the top, and a thin iron wire is wrapped around the groove. The wire is twisted into a loop and is almost flush with the ground.

According to the hunter who shared his experience with Sixi, never underestimate this seemingly insignificant trap; it is specifically designed based on the rabbit's jumping habits and point of leverage.

If a rabbit steps into the snare while hopping, it will be trapped when it leaps again.

Because it's a live snare, the wire loop will continue to tighten as long as the rabbit struggles, making it impossible for it to escape.

Some might ask, what if the rabbit is a large, adult male? What if it struggles and pulls the rabbit snare and bamboo strips out of the ground?

Therefore, when Sixi nails the rabbit snares into the ground, he needs to drive them deeper and use more force with the hammer.

Ding ding ding, clang clang clang...

Xiu Hong could hear intermittently the sound of Sixi nailing rabbit snares in her ears. Every now and then, after he finished nailing one, he would stand up and wave towards Xiu Hong not far away.

Xiu Hong raised her hand and waved to him a few times. The two greeted each other silently. Then Sixi squatted down and disappeared into the grass to continue his work.

Xiu Hong watched him work quietly, a satisfied smile curving her lips.

During my time setting up a stall in town, I've become quite familiar with the other vendors at the nearby stalls.

Everyone only knew that the couple came from Changping Village, which was the most famous village in the surrounding area because it had produced several prominent figures.

The vendors who chatted with her mostly inquired about the Yang family and the Luo family in Changping Village. In their imaginations, the Luo family was a force to be reckoned with: the head of the family was the Great General of the Nation, a renowned businesswoman in the Great Qi Dynasty, a son who had recently passed the imperial examination, a son-in-law who had just been recruited as the third-ranked scholar, and a legitimate son named Chen'er who was shrouded in mystery and was said to be both scholarly and martial, a young hero.

Therefore, the existence of the Luo family was something that these vendors could only dream of, and there was no need for them to discuss it further.

In comparison, they were more interested in the large and multifaceted Yang family.

For example, if the Yang family has produced a governor, then all the fields, houses, and tiles in the entire Changping Village must belong to the Yang family, right?

Do all the sons and grandsons of the Yang family not have to work and yet still have food to eat? Are they all waited on hand and foot?
Xiu Hong was speechless whenever she heard these people's fantasies and exaggerated speculations.

She really wanted to say that although the Yang family produced a governor, it wasn't the governor who supported the entire family for nothing.

Everyone else in the other rooms should just go about their business. Take myself for example, just because Uncle Da'an is the governor, does that mean I've suddenly become a delicate young lady with maids and servants by my side?
Don't we still have to earn a living with our own hands?

However, it would be wrong to say that the governor did not take care of his family, or that the general's wife did not take care of her maternal family.

The herb-gathering and transportation teams not only took care of their relatives and friends at home, but also the villagers.

As for the restaurant, it only caters to a few branches of the Yang family.

Xiu Hong's fifth grandfather, Xiu Hong's father, third uncle, and younger uncle... all of them were able to live a wealthy and comfortable life thanks to Aunt Qing'er's care.

However, many things are like a slap in the face, but by the next generation, the support will be much weaker, unless you are very capable and have the value to be supported.

For example, on New Year's Eve, Uncle Da'an made a promise to his great-grandfather and the whole family.

As long as Uncle Tiedan and Hong'er can pass the imperial examination, Uncle Da'an can take care of them. Now, the two of them have gone from the town school to the county academy to study and enjoy better educational resources. This is all part of Uncle Da'an's arrangement.

But when it comes to myself... I really don't have any value in being taken care of!

Are you suggesting we ask someone to take us to the government office to sell rice balls? That's not helping them; that's embarrassing Uncle Da'an.

So, after Xiu Hong and Sixi had been setting up their stall in town for a long time, almost none of the other vendors knew that the young wife in the couple in front of them was actually a member of Old Yang's family...

"Xiuhong, I've finished sewing. Let's go somewhere else and finish the rest before going home!"

Xiu Hong didn't come to her senses until Si Xi's voice reached her ears.

She looked at the hemp sack on Sixi's shoulder, which was clearly half empty, and nodded with a smile, "Okay."

For the first seven or eight days, the rice ball business was quite popular, perhaps because of the novelty, especially among the students at the school gate, who loved to patronize their rice ball stall.

But as time goes by, the novelty wears off, and even the most delicious food can become tiresome.

Besides, rice balls are not a rare thing, and the chewy texture of glutinous rice is not something many people like.

Seeing how well their rice balls were selling, several other stalls in town started selling rice balls as well. They not only copied the ingredients from Xiu Hong's stall but also expanded upon them. For example, they used wooden molds to press the rice balls into fun shapes. They still had the same sticky texture, but the change in appearance immediately attracted customers. Especially in the last few days, a bucket of sticky rice taken out in the morning could only sell a little less than half a bucket. Seeing the business declining, Xiu Hong had to give in to Sixi and ask him to learn hunting techniques from the hunters in the mountains.

If they can learn it, at least the family will have another way to make a living, instead of having to rely entirely on rice balls for their livelihood.

The two then went to a nearby grove of trees. As usual, Xiu Hong stood at the entrance of the grove while Sixi went in by himself.

"Don't go too deep into the woods, I'll lose sight of you and I'll get anxious," Xiu Hong warned Sixi.

Si Xi smiled and nodded, "I won't go too far in; I'll just stay on this path at the entrance to the forest."

Another half hour passed.

The clanging and banging finally stopped, and Sixi returned to Xiuhong's side, taking her slightly cold hand: "Come on, let's call it a day and go home."

"Ah."

The two returned along the same route. On the way, Xiu Hong couldn't help but ask Sixi again, "When are you coming to pick up the rabbit trap tomorrow?"

Si Xi thought for a moment and said, "Come pick it up when it's just getting light. Not too early, not too late."

It's too early; the rabbits aren't even in the trap yet. We need to give them enough time to come out and forage for food.

It's too late. By then it will be broad daylight, and people will be out working or going into the woods to chop firewood. If they actually catch a rabbit, wouldn't that be doing all the work for someone else?

"Let's prepare the rice balls first tomorrow, and then I'll take half an hour to come and pick up the rabbit trap before heading back. That way, we can go to town to do business together," Sixi added.

He had mentally marked the locations where the 30 rabbit traps were placed, so he could quickly scan them tomorrow without wasting any time.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Xiu Hong asked again.

Si Xi shook his head decisively: "No need, it'll be dawn by then. I'm fast on my feet, so it'll save me more time than if two people went back and forth by myself!"

"Hmm... alright then! Hurry home, wash up and go to bed. I'll have to get up again to cook glutinous rice in the middle of the night, so I won't get much sleep."

Although both of them knew that time was tight at night and they needed to get to sleep as soon as they got home, perhaps because it was their first day off the rabbit trap, the young couple were very excited after washing up and getting into bed.

"Sixi, do you think we can catch a rabbit if we go first thing tomorrow morning?" Xiuhong asked curiously.

Si Xi grinned. "I can't say for sure. I hope I can catch one, but it's not certain. If it were that easy, everyone would be catching rabbits."

Moreover, although he followed the experience taught by the old hunter, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't make a mistake in the actual process.

These are things that still need to be done more of. Practice teaches us, and we need to identify and fill in the gaps in our knowledge through repeated practice and summarize our experiences. You can't become an expert overnight!

"I can't wait for dawn to break, just to see if there's any progress," Xiu Hong said.

Si Xi scratched his head and chuckled twice, "Me too!"

"Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep quickly, and go when you wake up!" Xiu Hong urged.

"Hmm! Can I hold you while I sleep?" he asked again.

"You idiot, I'm your lawfully wedded wife! You can do anything to me!"

……

The next day, before dawn, the young couple got up. These days, there are no alarm clocks to remind them, but their biological clocks are more reliable than alarm clocks.

"Leave the cooking of the sticky rice at home to me, you go get the rabbit trap first!"

"Okay, I'll be right back!"

"Bring your machete and stick."

"it is good."

After watching Sixi leave, Xiuhong stood at the courtyard gate in a daze for a moment, then hurried back to the kitchen, lit the oil lamp, unfolded her apron and tied it around her waist, and began to cook glutinous rice. But her heart was not in the kitchen; it had already flown away with Sixi...

The glutinous rice was soaked several hours in advance, and all that's needed is to rinse it again, put it in the pot, cover it, and simmer.

The firewood in the stove wasn't the kind that burns extremely fast like pine needles and thatch, but rather scraps of wood left over from when they were used to make new furniture.

Wood shavings were filled to the brim in hemp sacks and placed in the woodshed to be used as fuel for the fire pit this winter.

Those pieces of hardwood were all used as fuel, as they burned for a very long time.

Just put a few sticks in the stove and they can burn continuously for half an hour, which is no problem at all for cooking a meal.

Xiu Hong put the lid back on and left it alone. She then started washing her hands and preparing the ingredients for the rice balls.

Peel the potatoes, soak the bean curd sheets, and prepare chili threads. Add minced ginger and garlic, stir-fry the potato shreds and bean curd sheets, fry the eggs, and prepare the secret sauce.

The dough has risen, and Xiu Hong is kneading it and frying the dough sticks. If a person selling rice balls doesn't know how to fry dough sticks themselves, and all the dough sticks wrapped inside the rice balls have to be bought from breakfast shops outside, then the cost of the rice balls will be high, and the rice balls will not be easy to sell.

So you also need to learn how to make fried dough sticks, and they have to be fried beautifully.

By the time Xiu Hong finished doing all of this in one go, the glutinous rice was already cooked, and the kitchen was filled with a mixture of various aromas.

"Why hasn't Sixi come back yet? He should be back by now!" Xiu Hong stood by the door frame at the kitchen door and looked towards the courtyard gate several times.

"If we don't come back soon, it will be broad daylight, and it's still seven or eight miles from home to town..."

"He clearly said it wouldn't interfere with his trip to town to set up his stall... What's he doing? Oh my god, did he run into a wild animal?"

Just as Xiu Hong was getting anxious and even starting to overthink, the familiar footsteps finally came from outside the courtyard.

Immediately afterwards, Sixi's figure turned into the courtyard from the gate.

"Sixi, you're finally back!" Xiuhong rushed over.

"Xiuhong, look what I brought back!" Sixi put the hemp bag behind her at her feet, bent down and opened the bag.

Xiu Hong bent down to look, and was so shocked that she covered her mouth.