Reclaiming Wasteland: Carefree Mountain Farmer

Chapter 13 Food Consumption
Xianglan carried the fish and ran home.

Many people on the road were still drying wheat straw and busy collecting grain.

The damage caused by rainy days needs to be repaired immediately. This time, the damage was not significant; it was only partial.

The more people there are, the faster the work can be done, and the stronger the ability to cope with crises will be.

Zhang Xianglan, carrying the fish, ran home quickly and was seen by several people at the door of each house.

"Xianglan, where did the fish come from?"

Uncle Qian, who was winnowing wheat at the village entrance to remove dust, asked Zhang Xianglan a question.

Uncle Qian's wife, Aunt Qian, said, "Where was it caught? I'll have my eldest and second sons go and see."

Fishing isn't a proper job; everyone's busy harvesting wheat right now, so there's no time to go fishing.

But if we can catch it, that would be a good thing, especially now that it's time to pack up and things aren't so busy anymore.

As Zhang Xianglan ran, she said, "Brother Wu gave it to me and told me to take it to my dad."

The whole village now knows about Beijiwu buying women, and they also know that this guy is a fast worker.

In the past few days, Beijiwu has helped harvest his own 15 mu of wheat, Li Laotou's 20-odd mu of land, and Lao Zhang's 10-odd mu of land. Yesterday, when it was raining, he even pulled a cart weighing several hundred kilograms to help transport a large amount of wheat straw back.

Watching Xiao Xianglan, who had already run off with the fish, disappear from sight, Old Qian thought to himself, "If only our Er Ya were a little older."

Aunt Qian continued to gather the wheat grains on the ground. "If only Daya were still here. That girl had a cheap life. She died as soon as she got sick. We raised her for thirteen years for nothing."

For thirteen years, eating only one meal a day, the savings were enough to buy half a cow.

In areas where land needs to be reclaimed, cattle are definitely more expensive than women.

Zhang Xianglan, who hadn't eaten five bites of food all day, ran straight to her own yard.

"Dad! Mom! Brother Wu asked me to bring over a fish. My sister and I are staying at his place for dinner tonight, and we'll be helping out at Brother Wu's house tomorrow!"

After running four or five hundred meters, Xianglan still had the energy to shout loudly.

When Old Zhang saw the fish Xianglan was holding, he came over from the cart and looked at the big, fat fish, his face beaming with joy.

"Good!" Old Zhang reached out and grabbed the fish by the gills to hold it steady. He said calmly, "This fish is quite heavy. It will last us seven or eight days. Dog's mother, take it inside and clean it up."

Dog's mother and her four boys approached, especially the four sons who were starving. They stared longingly at the big, fat fish, their eyes fixed on the fish soup.

Aunt Zhang smiled as she accepted the large, fat fish, praising, "These two children from the Beiji family are truly accomplished. The eldest works in the county, and the second is also very capable."

Xianglan knew very well that she wouldn't get enough to eat at home, so she looked up at her parents and said, "Dad, I went to help out at Brother Wu's place. Brother Wu told me to take a bowl over and eat at his place today."

"Go."

Old Zhang couldn't stop smiling as his two daughters, who had been losing money, finally found their meal tickets.
It's practically impossible for someone to accept money when marrying off their daughter, because the people around them are also poor.

They either arranged a marriage or sold their daughters to the city. There were no wealthy families or landlords in the village who would take in female servants, so they couldn't get a good price for them.

Children don't need to buy women to get married. The nearby grassland tribes have a long tradition of exchanging men and women with them. Beigong Dingbian's sister is a grassland woman with a round face.

A disabled son cannot survive in chaotic times, while a healthy son can easily find a woman.

Especially now that production has decreased for two consecutive years, not only the Zhang family, but other families have also begun to reduce the food rations for their young girls.

Two consecutive years of production cuts have already foreshadowed the possibility of famine in the future. For my grandparents, parents, and grandparents who grew up in a chaotic world, there are certain things that, if done, will result in the death of one or two people, but if not done, will result in the death of everyone.

Xianglan, the youngest and not yet capable of bearing children, is the easiest to be abandoned. On the other hand, Xiulan can be raised for a year or two and then sold to a county with many merchants, military households, and officials to earn money.

Although Xiao Xianglan couldn't comprehend this cruel reality, she had lived in such an environment since childhood, and subconsciously knew that her family wouldn't give her an extra bite to eat.

With food on her mind, Xiao Xianglan ran back to the Beiji Wu family's courtyard in one breath.

Fish were still being killed and fires were being lit, and the aroma of cooking wafted from the kitchen. Beijiwu sat under the grape trellis, eating wild peaches and watching the grapes grow.

"Brother!!" Xiao Xianglan came over carrying two stacked rice bowls, panting and grinning foolishly, looking at Beijiwu.

Beijiwu turned around and looked at Zhang Xianglan, who was coming towards him. The girl was wearing tattered clothes that had been patched countless times, and she was holding two very shallow wooden bowls in her thin hands.

"Here's a peach for you." Bei Jiwu smiled and handed Zhang Xianglan a peach that he had already taken a bite of.

Zhang Xianglan held the bowl in one hand and took the peach with the other, immediately taking a bite and eating happily.

Beijiwu looked up at the grapes and said softly, "These grapes will be ripe in two months. After they ripen, we can make them into raisins to eat in the winter."

Zhang Xianglan finished the peach in a few bites, wiped her mouth, and looked at the grapes on top.

"We can't eat them in winter; they're gone in a day once they're cooked."

Beijiwu laughed and said, "That's your family. We don't have that many people in our family."

Upon hearing this, Li Bing timely reminded him, "Brother, there are quite a few people in our family now."

“That’s true.” Beijiwu realized he had taken in a bit too many women. “Next year, we’ll find a place to plant more grapes, and we can also build another place in the yard to store things. The three rooms aren’t enough right now.”

Arctic Martial is planning for next year. There are many things to do next year, but the most important thing is land reclamation.

The land that has been reclaimed belongs to the individual; whoever's reclaimed land has ripe wheat, that land belongs to them.

Land grabbing requires skill, but Arctic Martial Arts isn't afraid to use force to reason things out.

Because these were all places in turbulent times, fights in rural areas went unchecked, and even if someone died in a village brawl, no one would consider reporting it to the authorities. In small mountain villages like these, no dynasty would send a large army to the countryside; their main target was the county seat. These rural areas, not on major transportation routes, were only considered after the county seat had been captured.

Arctic Martial had ample time to prepare and surveyed the nearby roads and mountains, so that if trouble arose, they could take their men into the mountains.

Too many people can be a burden, but there are also advantages to having a large number of people.

At dinner time, the five of them ate under the grape trellis.

Beijiwu said he was going to cook two fish, but he actually only cooked half a fish.

Because the pot wasn't big enough—one person doesn't need a very big pot to eat—it couldn't cook enough rice for two large fish.

A large bowl of fish soup, a jar of rice porridge, and eight yellow steamed buns.

The Li and Zhang sisters happily inhaled the aroma of the fish soup; even without taking a sip, just smelling it was delightful.

Beijiwu kept four steamed buns for himself and gave one to each of his two older sisters and two younger sisters.

"Eat."

Beijiwu picked up a piece of tender white fish with his chopsticks, blew on it, and then put it in his mouth.

The fish was seasoned with nothing but salt, but for the already hungry Arctic Wu, the taste was still pretty good.

Xianglan took a big bite of the sticky yellow steamed bun and stuffed it into her mouth.

Arctic Wu eats very slowly and doesn't seem to be in a hurry.

After eating a few bites of fish, Beijiwu took a bite of a steamed bun.

Before long, Beijiwu noticed that Xianglan had already finished her steamed bun and was licking her fingers.

Seeing this, Beiji Wu smiled and said, "I'll make four more steamed buns tomorrow, two for each of you."

Xianglan quickly looked at Beijiwu, her eyes filled with affection.

The oldest woman, Li Hong, advised him with some worry, "One is enough to fill you up. Eating too much is bad for your health. The rice jar at home is almost empty. If you keep eating like this, you won't make it to the day when we have to exchange wheat for grain."

Arctic Martial asked, "How many more days can we eat?"

Li Hong sighed, "If we eat sparingly, it will last for ten days. We're so grateful for the fish you brought back."

Li Bing's younger sister, holding a small piece of bread that was still half full, suggested, "Tomorrow, let's dry the wheat and put it away, then catch the rats and eat them."

Xianglan looked curiously into the house. "Brother, you still have mice in your house? We never see mice in our house."

Arctic Martial's strength wasn't meant for catching mice; the mouse wouldn't appear in front of him, and Arctic Martial didn't have time to look for it.

"Catch the rat and kill it."

Beijiwu handed over the task of catching mice to the children, and then pointed to the fish soup with his chopsticks, saying, "Each of you take three pieces of fish and a bowl of soup. Li Hong, you distribute them."

Li Hong was a little annoyed by Bei Jiwu's wasteful habit, "You can save it for tomorrow."

Beiji Wu arrogantly picked up a piece of meat, "No need! We'll finish eating and drinking today. It's too hot to keep it out. We'll feel at ease once it's in our stomachs. We'll eat the other half of the fish tomorrow morning! We'll also make four more steamed buns to dip in the fish soup. I'll figure out how to get food."

Li Bing asked, "Brother, where are you going to get the food?"

Beijiwu laughed and said, "I'll go harvest wheat for people. I can harvest ten acres of wheat a day. It's not unreasonable for me to ask for one acre of wheat. It's easy to exchange one acre of wheat for two acres of old grain with chaff. You can just stay home and watch the yard."

Li Hong felt relieved after hearing this. "Then I'll make a few extra pancakes for breakfast. You can take them with you on the way. Eat more; the family is counting on you."

"Hmm." As the core of this family, Beijiwu naturally deserves the treatment of the head of the family, eating the best and most.

Xiulan and Xianglan waited until Beijiwu had eaten his fill before sharing the fish soup with Li Hong and Li Bing, even chewing up the fish bones and swallowing them.

For growing girls, taking calcium supplements is a good thing.

After finishing her meal, Xiao Xianglan took the initiative to find a sharp branch.

"Brother, let me look for the mouse hole."

Beijiwu was grilling fish in the house when he heard this and said, "Have you ever caught a mouse?"

Xianglan nodded. "We caught them, and my brother and I dug up the mouse hole. There was wheat inside, and we took it all out and ate it."

Arctic Martial, focused on grilling half a fish, said, "You can find food hidden by mice, so why would you look for food hidden by birds?"

Xianglan shook her head, "I don't know where the birds are, they're too high for me to climb."

Xianglan spoke her mind freely, adding, "When my grandma and I were fleeing famine, we used to pick up horse manure to eat. There were beans and grass in the manure, and we could pick them out and still eat them."

Beijiwu asked, "Is your grandmother still alive?"

"Grandma froze to death." Xianglan didn't feel too much sorrow for her grandmother; death is a normal thing.

Beijiwu said, "Go catch your rat. If you catch it, I'll share some grilled fish with you."

"Hmm!" Xianglan picked up the wooden stick, rubbed her full stomach after drinking soup and porridge, and started looking for the mouse hole.

The big rat didn't come out. At night, Beijiwu slept inside, while Xianglan and Chunlan slept on the outermost side. One quilt couldn't cover so many people, so they used a tattered leather blanket to simply cover their bellies.

Fortunately, it was summer inside, so after eating and drinking our fill, we weren't bothered by the slight chill.

(End of this chapter)