Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 11 Rainy
Early in the morning, Beijiwu went out of his house and looked around; it was still raining outside.

This area is in the north where it rarely rains, but it rained at this time of year both last year and this year.

Two consecutive years of rain and reduced yields would have been a sign of rebellion or uprising decades ago.

Things are different now. There are hardly any people left. Apart from the military, there are military families and a small number of immigrants. There is no basis for rebellion.

Even the grassland tribes outside have suffered heavy losses in the past century due to fighting each other.

Even Beiji Wu wasn't sure what era it was in. In any case, dozens of dynasties had been established over the past hundred years, and not only did the common people not know who the wise ruler was, but Beiji Wu himself didn't know either.

There was no need for rebellion or fleeing the famine in the village. Last year was even worse than this year. Not only wheat, but millet also suffered a reduction in production, but we still managed to survive.

Firstly, there is plenty of food to be found in the mountains and rivers; secondly, the imperial taxes are not heavy, and there has long been no fertile ground for bandits and refugees to rebel here.

Each household has dozens of acres of land, and there is also a lot of land outside that can be cultivated, which is enough to make ends meet.

Li Hong and Li Bing were squatting near the door of the house. The largest of the three rooms was the main room, while the sleeping area and the area that was originally used as a cowshed were smaller.

The main room and cowshed were piled with wheat straw that had been protected yesterday, while some that hadn't been moved in yet stood at the doorway, covered with bamboo mats and broken bamboo strips.

Beijiwu walked over and asked, "How's the wheat?"

When Li Hong saw Bei Jiwu coming over, she touched the ears of wheat in her hand and said, "They've softened quite a bit. We can just take them to the threshing ground to dry them when the sun comes out."

Li Bing said, "If it's not sunny this morning, the wheat in the fields will suffer this afternoon."

Unharvested wheat won't be completely destroyed by a little rain; the wheat grains themselves have a protective layer, and the husk covering the grains is the best umbrella.

A rain shower is usually fine. If it rains in the morning, the sun will come out in the afternoon and it won't have much of an impact.

If the rain is short-lived and the wheat isn't piled up on the ground soaking in water, the wheat standing upright won't get much water. It's like a person standing with an umbrella; as long as they don't lie on the ground, they won't get too wet or catch a cold.

All of this is based on the premise that the rain lasts only a short time.

After more than sixteen hours of rain, raincoats and umbrellas become useless, and you're likely to get sick.

Even if the weather clears up in the afternoon, the wheat that is harvested will probably be black and sprouted. It may be edible, but it's hard to say what problems it might cause.

Arctic Wu washed his face and prepared to eat.

Today we'll have two meals, one around 10 am and the other around 4 or 5 pm.

While we were eating, the sun started to clear up the day after we finished eating, but the sun wasn't as strong or hot.

When the sun came out in the afternoon, the village became busy again.

The yard of Beijiwu's house was made of mud, which was not as useful as a dedicated threshing ground.

The threshing ground is a drying ground that the village collectively opened up. It is specially used to repeatedly roll the soil with stone rollers to make the soil hard and flat.

It won't dry in the sun if it rains; the grain will only dry when the sun is out, and the soil underneath will naturally be dry as well.

Kitada Prefecture has a dry and cold climate. After it rains, the ground dries easily as long as the sun comes out.

Beijiwu stood on the ladder and touched the thatched roof with one hand.

"The thatch is almost dry; let's dry all the grain today."

Li Hong and Li Bing asked, "The yard already has enough space, do we still need to put the straw on the roof to dry?"

Arctic Martial replied, "Use."

The two girls didn't ask any more questions and began to hand the wheat straw to Beijiwu, who then threw it on the roof to dry.

Drying grains is a long process that takes several days to complete.

Even in such situations, Arctic Martial's strength remains useful; it can pull rolling stones to crush wheat straw. Anything that oxen and horses can do, Arctic Martial can do as well.

Drying wheat requires handling it nearby, ideally with someone watching over it constantly to prevent the low-probability event of sudden rain. Agriculture is repetitive work, and Bei Jiwu and the two girls worked together without feeling tired.

In the evening, Li Hong looked worried as she cooked, seeing that the food was almost gone.

The food eaten by one person is different from the food eaten by two people, and the food eaten by three people is different from the food eaten by five people.

Li Hong glanced outside the door; Beiji Wu had disappeared somewhere that afternoon.

"Bingbing, where did Brother Wu go?"

Li Hong didn't see Li Bing either, so she called out.

"It seems they went out, just a short while ago," Li Bing's voice came from the courtyard.

The house isn't big, so we can communicate by shouting; we don't necessarily have to talk face-to-face.

Li Hong had some things she needed to discuss with someone, so she went out to take a look.

Most of the yard was filled with drying grain, some piled up to a height of over a meter. Under the grape trellis, there was an open space where Li Bing was sitting, looking at the gourd vines.

Not only were grapes planted, but there was also a gourd vine that had already borne gourds.

Gourds take six months to grow before they can be harvested, while wheat only takes four to five months.

Gourds are a by-product. In rural areas, gourds are mainly grown for their use as tools, secondly for eating, and thirdly for playing with.

Li Hong walked over and said softly, "The food is almost gone. If the two from the Zhang family come over for a meal again, we won't be able to control them."

The two sisters came here to eat, so they should know how difficult it is for young women to get a full meal.

But with so little food available, there's not enough for the three of them, so how could they possibly put themselves in the shoes of two big mouths?

In particular, yesterday's unexpected rain caused some households to experience reduced grain production, and some of the grain became moldy and spoiled, making it impossible to sell or store for long.

These water-soaked grains are indeed still there; matter doesn't disappear into thin air. But it's like food stored in your refrigerator getting moldy and spoiled—a reduction is a reduction.

At most, they'd be used to feed chickens and pigs, or eaten quickly to minimize losses.

Li Bing remained silent, also pondering this very real matter.

A person has only one mouth, and needs a place to eat and sleep.

When people are able to work, they won't have so many complaints, but most of the time the problem facing rural areas is still the problem of food.

During the century of chaos, many women were captured and eaten.

Men fared even worse; they would be conscripted into the army at the age of twelve or thirteen and die without a complete corpse.

Even those who didn't join the army were slaughtered; there wasn't a single county in the entire world that hadn't experienced war.

The number of men who died was still far greater than that of women. Li Hong and Li Bing experienced being watched by a group of men with knives as they crawled out of their little house and knelt on the ground with their parents and brothers to beg for mercy when they were young.

Their parents moved them from one country to another, and after living there for a year or two, they were forced to come here. The older brother died on the way.

Over the past century, people have not only learned to surrender and submit, but also to protect their own food supply.

We are willing to help each other, but we don't want others to always come over for meals.

One meal is enough; if they keep coming over for meals, they'll become annoying.

"Li Hong! We're here to play!"

As expected, Zhang Xiulan and her younger sister Zhang Xianglan arrived again during the meal.

(End of this chapter)