The pastoral life on the Internet is poetic and romantic.
In reality, rural life is like a spinning top.
It was just past five o'clock when 71-year-old Song Youde got up.
At daybreak, he had already put on his old army green shoes, carrying a large basket in his hands, and went straight to the fields in the distance.
In the early morning, the astragalus grows particularly vigorously and freshly, and the lush green is also stained with crystal dewdrops. There is a thin mist in the low-lying fields, and even in the dim morning, it is still a romantic scene.
However, the old farmer Song Youde was used to seeing this scene all his life, and this moment he had no intention of appreciating it at all. Instead, he bent down and picked handfuls of sweet clover quickly and accurately.
Handfuls of sweet clover were put into the basket, and when the basket was about to be full, it was pressed down hard by the old hands.
Only when the basket was full did he straighten up with satisfaction, carrying the basket and slowly walking home.
It was only six o'clock now.
There is smoke from the cooking stove and birds singing at home.
Wang Lifen is old and now has a slightly hunched back, but it does not affect her agility.
At this moment, she was sitting in front of two large stoves, had lit the fire, and had half a pot of pig feed cooking in the pot.
Pumpkin, sweet potato, corn, rice bran, etc. are all tumbling inside, and the air is filled with a sweet fragrance.
These pig feeds are used to feed the five little pigs on the mountain.
Originally, these chores were not the old couple's turn to do, but their son and daughter-in-law were busy every day. They thought that they were old and slept little, so they could not fall asleep early, and cooking pig food did not take much effort.
So I took over this job.
Song Youde came over, picked up a large shovel and started stirring it for a while. When it saw that it was almost cooked, he then mixed a handful of sweet clover directly into the pot. Just from the heat, the fragrant aroma wafted into the air.
The piglets are still young, and it is cold in the morning, so Song Youde doesn't dare to let them eat plants with dew on them.
Wang Lifen turned off the fire in the stove and couldn't help but twitching her nose:
"Our Tantan should go home and farm. God, please be so kind!"
"When she comes back, everything growing in this field will be delicious."
"During the Chinese New Year, I felt a lack of taste in my mouth and had no appetite for anything. Now, I don't know if it's because I've worked too hard or the food is too delicious. I have a good appetite every day, but I get hungry at a certain time!"
The old lady sighed and laughed, "What a poor life! I have no work to do and I can't enjoy happiness."
Song Youde also nodded: "I think so too. I used to cough a lot when the weather was cold, but I feel better now."
Wang Lifen's smiling face disappeared:
"If you throw away the pipe on your waist, I promise your lungs will feel more comfortable."
Song Youde: …
What is the purpose of living a lifetime? Right
There are some hobbies he can't give up.
The old man held such a stubborn and irresponsible idea and pretended not to hear it.
He scooped the cooked pig food with a gourd ladle and poured it into a bucket beside him. While the pig food was cooling down, he took out the remaining sweet clover in the basket, squatted in front of the chopping board in the yard, and started cutting it.
After the sweet clover was chopped into small pieces and mixed with corn crumbs and a little millet, Song Sancheng also came over.
He was carrying a shoulder pole with a large pig feed bucket on each side, and then he put the cut wild vegetables on top.
He also warned:
"Dad, can you spare some time this morning to go to the back hill and take a look at the chicken and duck sheds to see if there's anything missing?"
"Tan Tan bought about a hundred ducklings yesterday. They will be kept at home for a few days and then released into the mountains."
Wang Lifen also remembered: "There are ducks? That's great. My chicks have also hatched. They look pretty strong after being raised for a few days. There are about 70 or 80 of them. I'll ask your dad to bring them to you later."
Song Sancheng was not polite at all. He picked up the shoulder pole and told the old lady, "Mom, go home and make breakfast later. Someone from Tantan wants 100 kilograms of Astragalus. The three of them went to the fields early in the morning, so they probably won't have time to make breakfast."
One hundred pounds!
Wang Lifen couldn't help but exclaim: "Life is different now than before. There are more rich people and they are willing to eat."
But think about the taste of this sweet clover - just look at those pigs on the mountain grunting every day, fighting for food as if they haven't eaten for 800 years, and you will know how delicious it is!
But the old lady was not content to stay at home around the stove, and now she was quite arrogant:
"Then let's just have something to eat in the morning. I'll cook some dumplings and make some vegetable cakes with some astragalus. Then I have to eat quickly because I have to go up the mountain to pick tea!"
This tea leaf is so thick, completely different from the previous ones!
Each of the four people we invited yesterday picked more than five kilograms.
The old lady was old, her eyesight was blurry and her hands were slow, so she only picked less than four pounds and came back feeling very upset.
One hundred dollars a day!
The old lady treats this seriously as a career.
Song Sancheng was also helpless:
"Look at you, Mom. You don't have to work so hard for your own housework. Tan Tan said she would pay you two wages, but you both refused..."
Song Youde snorted: "I just do some farm work, why do you want a salary? What if I can't eat the things you grow?"
The older they get, the more childish they become. Sometimes if you say something wrong, the old couple will get angry.
Song Sancheng simply stopped talking. He picked up the carrying pole and staggered towards the back mountain.
Oh, otherwise how can I say that this period of time was not wasted!
Because I am old, I used to feel a little tired when carrying a load. But now, I feel like a young man with a breeze every day!
The road leading to the back mountain has been slightly smoothed by them during this period of time, and it is now stable to walk on.
The little pigs seemed to have heard the sound from far away. The sound in the pigpen became louder and louder, so heartbreaking that if you didn't know what was going on, you would think they were being tortured.
Song Sancheng could remember that when he used to raise pigs, when it was time for meals, the pigs would also squeal, but the way they squealed was completely different from how they squeal now.
This is also the reason why every time they cook pig food, they have to let it cool to the appropriate temperature at home before sending it to the mountain.
These pigs eat as if their lives depend on it, totally ignoring the temperature.
Song Sancheng poured the thick pig feed into the trough and watched the five little pigs scramble for the food. He couldn't help but smile with fascination.
He stared at it for a while, then went to walk around the chicken and duck coops that had been built nearby. He didn't find anything else to do, so he decided to let the old man take a look later.
Just wait until the chickens and ducks grow a little bigger and you can drive them up the mountain at any time.
But before that, it’s not enough to just fence off the mountain with a fence, we need to find two dogs to watch over it.
With only Dabai and the three new puppies in the house...
Ouch, it’s not even enough for one dish!
Just as I was thinking about it, I heard someone shouting from the bottom of the mountain: "Sancheng! Are you home?"