The weather is getting warmer day by day, the mountains are turning green, and all kinds of wild vegetables are popping up. A layer of fine wild vegetables has grown in the area in Old Li's yard where the chickens usually like to frolic, and the chickens are happily pecking at them every day.
"Li Mingzhong!" Zhenzhen called out in a baby voice, and a little black dog immediately jumped out of the doghouse, wagging its tail and circling around Zhenzhen.
"Alright, alright, stop turning around. You're going to trip me soon." Zhenzhen patted Li Mingzhong's head. Li Mingzhong rubbed his hand contentedly in Zhenzhen's small palm, and pressed tightly against Zhenzhen's calf, looking very happy.
"Let's go and see the chicken soup and braised pork." The chickens have grown up a lot now, and they are no longer fed millet. Wang Sufen chopped a lot of wild vegetables and mixed some cornmeal into chicken feed to feed them. Although the food is already good, in order to make the chicken more delicious, Zhenzhen privately adds wild game to them from time to time.
This group of half-grown chicks have just grown their feathers and have passed the ugliest days of being "hairless chickens". Old Mrs. Li carefully identified them and found that eight of the ten chicks were hens, which is a very large proportion.
It was the best time of the morning when the sun was shining brightly. Three old hens were leading the chicks to eat grass in the yard. Zhenzhen took Li Mingzhong over there, and the chickens, both big and small, stopped pecking at the grass and stood still obediently.
Zhenzhen started the daily roll call again: "Stewed chicken!" "Chijiji!" "Chicken stewed with potatoes!" "Chijiji..."
After reciting the dishes she wanted to eat, Zhenzhen wiped her saliva and looked at them eagerly: "Eat more grass and insects, so that the eggs they lay will be more delicious and the meat on their bodies will be more fragrant, understand?"
"Chirp, chirp..." The brains of these chickens are only as big as the tip of their little fingers. Except for the time when they were frightened by the picture sent by Zhenzhen when they were named, now after being lectured day by day, these chickens have actually gotten used to it. They look like they have been brainwashed. The only thing they refute is the radish stewed with chicken, which is their daily routine: "I don't like the taste of radish!"
"Why are you making so much trouble?" Zhenzhen glanced at it and said, "I also know that stewed radish with chicken is not very delicious." She looked around to see if there was anyone around, and then lowered her voice and said, "But I can't name you spicy chicken, right? No one eats this dish here, wouldn't that give me away? Just make do with it, it's just a name, and you don't necessarily have to be stewed with radish. Maybe you are just braised chicken nuggets."
"Braised chicken nuggets are good, delicious!" The stewed radish and chicken kept chirping, looking very approving.
"Okay, okay, from now on you can call it braised chicken nuggets." Zhenzhen waved at it: "A rooster can't lay eggs, there are still many things to do." The braised chicken nuggets looked at Zhenzhen aggrievedly, and stood back in its seat, waiting for Zhenzhen to give it a snack.
Several earthworms crawled out of the ground and automatically divided themselves into ten parts. The chicks rushed over and quickly swallowed their share. The three large laying hens raised at home saw the chicks eating so sweetly and they all tilted their heads waiting for their share.
At this time, a dozen grasshoppers appeared from nowhere, and they flew and jumped in front of the three old hens. The old hens called out, pressed one with one foot, and ate the remaining one with their mouths. The chickens next to them were jealous. The braised chicken looked at the remaining two grasshoppers that had not yet lined up, and tried to step on one and take a bite of it. Unfortunately, its mouth was too small, and it pecked for a long time but didn't eat much. In an instant, a group of chickens came over, pecked at it, and soon the grasshopper was eaten up.
"Woof woof, it looks so delicious." Li Mingzhong's voice appeared in Zhenzhen's mind.
Zhenzhen looked at Li Mingzhong in shock: "You want to eat grasshoppers too? How come you have such a wide variety of food?"
Li Mingzhong looked at Zhenzhen aggrievedly: "I want to eat chicken."
"That won't work." Zhen Zhen stood up and took Li Mingzhong to the backyard: "Grandma said that puppies can't eat chicken. Chicken bones can easily get stuck in their throats."
"Can't I eat meat?" Li Mingzhong licked Zhenzhen's little hand ingratiatingly and wagged his tail vigorously.
"I heard that eating chicken will make dogs' bones soft?" Zhenzhen said uncertainly, "Anyway, grandma said you can't eat chicken." Li Mingzhong suddenly became a little depressed. Zhenzhen felt a little sorry for him, so she patted his back and pointed at the braised pork that was eating pig food and said, "When we stew the braised pork at the end of the year, you can eat that one. It's more delicious."
The Braised Pork was eating happily with his head buried in the pig trough and didn't notice someone coming. Suddenly, a familiar voice and familiar lines reached his ears. The Braised Pork then realized it belatedly and fell to the ground in fright.
"How come this braised pork is still so cowardly after being raised for two months?" The little Zhenzhen raised her feet to look inside, and when she saw the cowardly look of the braised pork, she couldn't help but sigh.
"Then don't scare it all the time. What if the meat loses its flavor after being scared?" Li Mingzhong looked at the braised pork with an eager face. He ran to the pigpen and looked at the braised pork through the fence, as if he wanted to take a bite first. The braised pork was so scared that it cried out and rolled and crawled back on all four legs.
"Li Mingzhong, come back!" Zhenzhen shouted, "Tell me who scared it. Look how scared you are." Li Mingzhong came back happily, looking very happy.
After patting Li Mingzhong's head, Zhenzhen led him back into the tomato field. The braised pork looked around and saw that no one was around. He instantly forgot the reason for his fear and immediately put his head into the pig trough and started eating.
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At the beginning of this year, with the melting of ice and snow, the weather gradually became warmer, and the supply of grain and various non-staple foods in Beicha gradually showed signs of recovery. The Li family no longer relied too much on the supply of grain for food. The family had plenty of white flour, rice, corn flour and sorghum rice, and even a cellar for cabbage and potatoes. When supplies came, they always hoped for some pork and fresh vegetables to change their appetite.
Trucks loaded with grain came in one after another, and Li Muwu could no longer stay idle at home. His job was to carry the bags of grain to the warehouse, and then carry them to the store when it was time to sell the grain. He was paid by the piece, and he could earn at least 40 yuan a month, which was more than enough to support his family.
When Li Muwu was busy, he had no time to take care of his family. The four boys in the family were all in school. Mingdong came back once every six months from Bingcheng, Mingxi came back only once a month from Yidong, and the remaining Mingnan and Mingbei came home every day, but it was already dark by then, and they could not help with the work in the mountains. Therefore, the family's land could only be managed by Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen.
At first, Mrs. Li and her daughter-in-law were a little worried. Apart from other things, the land had been frozen hard after a winter, and it would not thaw in a short time even if it was warm in spring. It was very laborious to dig the land. But no matter how difficult it was, they had to do it. In the past two years, thanks to the land and Zhenzhen's tricks, the family had not starved. They could not be lazy just because they had some food in stock.
Leaving the housework to Guihua, Zhenzhen also asked Guihua to look after it. Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen each took a pickaxe and carried dry food and a water bottle to prepare to go up the mountain. Zhenzhen got anxious when she saw them, and immediately hugged Old Lady Li's thigh, shaking her head and acting cute: "I want to go too, I want to go too."
Wang Sufen hurried forward and took her hand, coaxing her in a gentle voice: "Baby, grandma and mom really have a lot of work to do this time. There is nothing on the mountain at this time, so we really can't take you with us."
Zhenzhen blinked her eyes and showed an aggrieved look: "I promise I will be good."
Wang Sufen looked at Old Lady Li helplessly. Old Lady Li smiled helplessly and said, "This girl is a wild girl. She can go up the mountain or down the river. She just doesn't want to stay in the house."
Zhenzhen was delighted, and ran to the front with her legs stomping, and she didn't forget to shout, "Li Mingzhong, follow me!"
Seeing her granddaughter, who could not run steadily, left with the dog first, Grandma Li hurried to catch up. Wang Sufen also quickly packed her daughter's belongings for going up the mountain, and then she followed them in big and small steps.
Besides her eloquence, what impresses the whole family most is her endless energy. Other children of her age would start crying and asking to be carried or hugged after walking for a while, but Zhenzhen rarely asks to be hugged after she learned to walk, and her little legs move faster than anyone else.
Three generations of a family went up the mountain. Wang Sufen was worried that the mountain road was difficult to walk on and Zhenzhen would fall. Unexpectedly, Zhenzhen's walking up the mountain was just as good as going down the mountain. It was almost as good as walking on flat ground. But Zhenzhen had been walking for nearly half an hour. Wang Sufen was afraid that she couldn't keep up with the pace, so she persuaded her to carry her on her back and walked all the way to her own field.
After the harvest last autumn, the whole family was busy drying the grain, pickling cabbage and making soybean paste. In addition, they had to prepare for Mingdong's wedding, so they didn't tidy up the field. At this time, the half-cut corn stalks and sorghum stalks were still sticking out of the ground. After a winter of wind and snow, they had completely withered and turned yellow. Wang Sufen looked around, found a wooden stake, spread the small mattress she brought on it, and then carried Zhenzhen down and put it on top.
Old Mrs. Li had already reached the field by now. She stamped her feet to test the hardness of the soil, then swung her pickaxe and dug down with all her strength. She thought she could dig at least four or five centimeters deeper, but she used up all her strength and only brought out a little bit of the soil, and she almost fell over.
Wang Sufen stuffed the kettle into Zhenzhen's arms, turned around and saw it, ran over and supported Mrs. Li: "Mom, are you okay? Did you sprain your waist?"
"It's okay! It's okay!" Old Lady Li waved her hands. "Last year it was even colder than usual, and the ground is too frozen. Let's let the ground thaw a little, and we won't be afraid of planting later."
Wang Sufen helped Old Lady Li to Zhenzhen's side, and reluctantly picked up the pickaxe again: "Mom, please sit down and take a rest. I'll go and try to see if I can turn it over."
Wang Sufen had just taken two steps when the ground beneath her feet trembled slightly. Li Mingzhong shuddered in fear, arched his back towards the ground, and roared. Before Wang Sufen could come to her senses, she saw her own land being turned up from under the ground, and corn stalks and other things that had not been cleared fell to the ground one by one, instantly turning into ashes and blending into the ground, becoming fertilizer.
In just one or two minutes, the ground returned to calm. Wang Sufen was stunned for a long time before she threw down her pickaxe and ran to the field. She grabbed a handful of black soil and rubbed it with her hand. The fine soil fell through Wang Sufen's fingers.
"The soil is too fine." Wang Sufen used a pickaxe to test the depth, which was just right for planting crops.
Old Lady Li looked at Zhen Zhen who was sitting next to her with a smile on her face and couldn't help asking her, "What's going on?"
"Aren't we plowing the soil?" Zhen Zhen said innocently, "The soil is already plowed, grandma, let's go up the mountain to play."
"It's all done already?" Wang Sufen threw away her pickaxe and ran over. She looked back twice, feeling that everything in front of her was not real enough. "This is too fast. If it was just me and my mother before, it would have taken us at least a month."
With the ability to control plants and animals, it seems that they can also accept turning the soil automatically. Under Zhenzhen's wave after wave of stimulation, Mrs. Li and Wang Sufen have become extremely strong mentally. They have gone from being shocked at the beginning to being numb now.
Old Mrs. Li forgot about her back pain and walked around her land again. She looked back at Zhenzhen and said, "Why do I feel like our land is a little bigger?"
Zhenzhen grinned at Old Lady Li, untied the snack bag that Wang Sufen had sewn for her, and grabbed a handful of dried blueberries to eat. Just as she stuffed two or three into her mouth, Zhenzhen suddenly remembered something, she stood up and jumped down from the wooden stake. Before Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen could react, she saw a blueberry branch next to her own field quickly sprouting and bearing fruit. Zhenzhen ran over and just picked up the ripe fruit.
Putting the blueberries in her mouth, Zhenzhen took a mouthful of blueberry juice: "Delicious!"
Zhenzhen picked a handful of blueberries and stuffed them into the hands of Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen, then threw one to Li Mingzhong who was staring at the blueberry branch in confusion. Li Mingzhong subconsciously opened his mouth and took the blueberry in his mouth. After swallowing it, he forgot what he was struggling with before. He just stuck out his tongue and circled around Zhenzhen, waiting to be fed again.
After a winter of eating cabbage, potatoes and sauerkraut, they were able to eat fresh blueberries. Not only was Zhenzhen happy, but even Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen found it appetizing and shared the blueberries happily. Wang Sufen took out her handkerchief and poured some water from a kettle. The three of them washed their hands and wiped their mouths. Old Lady Li was a little worried again. It had only been less than an hour since she came out and the soil had been turned over. There was nowhere to go. She couldn't sit in the field all day.
Zhenzhen touched her belly, tugged at Old Lady Li's hand, and said in a baby voice, "Let's go up the mountain and play."
Subconsciously looking into the deep mountains, Old Lady Li hesitated: "What's so fun in there? What if we run into a black bear?"
"Let's go!" Zhenzhen firmly pulled Old Lady Li's hand and pulled her out.
The temperature on the mountain is slightly lower than outside. At this time, wild vegetables and mushrooms have just begun to emerge and are not worth eating, so there are not many people on the mountain at this time.
Zhenzhen led Li Mingzhong and jumped in front. From time to time, a few beautiful wild flowers would suddenly grow on the roadside. Zhenzhen would pull them down and hold them in her hands. This was the first time Li Mingzhong had come out since he was a child. He ran in the front, shaking his head and looking more happy than Zhenzhen.
Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen didn't know where to go, so they could only follow Zhenzhen. Fortunately, Zhenzhen didn't walk too far up the mountain before stopping. She sensed that there was no one else in the red pine forest at this time, so she walked to the back of a red pine tree with Old Lady Li. Old Lady Li saw the ginseng leaves emerging from the back at a glance, and was stunned: "Oh, there are six leaves, it seems to be an old ginseng."
Old Mrs. Li looked around, picked up a branch with a smooth surface, and then walked carefully towards the ginseng leaf.
The author has something to say: I'll correct the typos first and post it here. I'm so sleepy. If there are any mistakes, I'll correct them tomorrow morning. Good night.