Farming for Three Meals a Day [Farming Life] 8

Chapter 8

“Summer Solstice, three ‘geng’ periods, count to the first ‘fu’,” marked the beginning of the hottest period of summer, amidst the scorching sun and sweltering heat.

The rice in the fields grew lush and green. Cicadas clung to the trees, chirping tirelessly, adding a touch of restlessness to the already hot summer. Groups of children, unafraid of the heat, ran and played in the fields and mountains.

Ye Xi was afraid of the heat. He always felt listless in the summer, staying indoors and refusing to go out. His appetite also decreased significantly. Liu Xiufeng called him to join her under the shade of the tree in the courtyard to sort mung beans.

The beginning of the hottest period meant the weather was getting even hotter. Every household started making mung bean soup, cooking a large pot and chilling it in the well. A large bowl after a day of work could relieve the summer heat. Summer would be unbearable without this refreshing drink.

Ye Xi sat cross-legged on the bamboo bed, feeling drowsy. His movements gradually slowed down, and Liu Xiufeng laughed at him. “So lazy, what will you do?”

Ye Xi yawned, a faint blush appearing at the corners of his eyes. “My family loves me and lets me be lazy.”

Liu Xiufeng looked at the veil on Ye Xi’s face and advised, “It’s hot. Since you’re at home, you can take it off. Covering your face will only make you sweat more.”

Ye Xi shook his head. “It’s fine wearing it.”

Liu Xiufeng didn’t press further and told him to go to the vegetable garden to pick some cucumbers and tomatoes later when it was cooler, soak them in the well, and in the evening, take them out, mix them with sesame oil, and it would be a refreshing and delicious cold dish.

Ye Xi agreed and lay down on the bamboo bed to escape the heat.

After a while, Liu Xiufeng finished sorting the mung beans, and Ye Xi got up to cook mung bean soup in the kitchen. He was good at controlling the heat and could always cook the mung beans until they were soft and mushy. With a little honey added, it would be the same as the sweet soup sold in town for three wen a bowl.

Ye Xi stuffed the stove with firewood and slowly simmered the mung bean soup. As the steam rose, the aroma of mung beans gradually spread. Liu Xiufeng stood at the threshold and yawned. She felt sleepy from making shoe soles, the summer heat inducing drowsiness. People always felt particularly sleepy in the afternoon.

She called out, “Xi-ge’er, I’m going to lie down in the room for a bit.”

Ye Xi responded and stayed by the stove.

After Liu Xiufeng left, Ye Xi sat in the kitchen, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, listening to the cicadas chirping outside. He also started to feel drowsy. The dry firewood in the stove crackled, snapping him out of his drowsiness.

He stood up and lifted the lid of the pot. The mung beans inside were cooked and soft. He stirred with a spatula, and the soup became cloudy, indicating it was almost done. Ye Xi took a clay pot and filled it with the soup.

Then, he put the pot in a bamboo basket and lowered it into the well. The well water was icy cold and could chill the mung bean soup in just an hour.

Ye Xi calculated the time and went back to the main room to embroider handkerchiefs. This was how he earned his pocket money. A shop in town would buy them. An embroidered handkerchief fetched fifteen wen. If it was a large or full embroidery, the price would be even higher. However, this was strenuous on the eyes, so he usually only embroidered to pass the time.

When the sun started to set in the west, Ye Xi put down his needlework and went out of the main room. He pulled up the hemp rope attached to the basket in the well and touched the clay pot with his hand. It was indeed icy cold.

His father and brother had been working under the scorching sun in the fields all afternoon and must be parched. He would bring them a pot of mung bean soup.

Ye Xi closed the door and set off with the basket. The sun was scorching, and he was sweating profusely after just a few steps. He stood under the shade of a tree by the woods to cool off, the breeze providing some relief from the heat.

A group of children ran out of the woods, holding sticky poles, two of them carrying bamboo baskets.

Ye Xi called out to them, “Did you catch any cicadas?”

Niuwa-zi, one of the children, smiled. “Xi-ge’er, we caught a lot today, half a basket full!”

Ye Xi exclaimed, “Then each of you can exchange them for two strings of candied fruits!”

“Mm-hmm, Xi-ge’er, we’re going!”

The group of children ran off.

Ye Xi smiled, finding them adorable.

Children could exchange caught cicadas for copper coins or candy. Summer cicadas, whether fried or stir-fried, were delicious. Many wealthy families in town loved to eat them, so there were people who specifically bought them. However, catching cicadas wasn’t easy. They had to search through the woods. Some cicadas clung to high branches, out of reach of bamboo poles, so they had to climb the trees. They couldn’t catch many in a day, only experienced hands who relied on this for a living could fill a basket every day.

Ye Xi stood under the tree for a while longer, then picked up the basket and prepared to go to the fields to find his father and brother. Just as he was about to leave, he saw a tall and strong man walking towards him, carrying a hoe.

It was Lin Jiangshan.

He naturally saw Ye Xi under the tree, his eyes dark, and walked over.

Ye Xi didn’t know why, but he felt inexplicably nervous when he saw him, unsure of what he was apprehensive about. He gripped the handle of the bamboo basket tightly.

“I was just passing by. Are you going to the fields?” Ye Xi softly greeted him.

After several encounters, Lin Jiangshan wasn’t as cold as before and was finally willing to say a few more words.

He nodded. “I just bought new land, going to turn the soil and see what to plant.”

Ye Xi said, “Land isn’t cheap. You can actually afford to buy land, better than many people in the village.”

Lin Jiangshan grunted and said indifferently, “If you don’t farm, you don’t have food. I can’t always buy rice from the shops.”

Ye Xi offered him advice. “The rice in the shops is marked up, probably five or six wen more expensive per liter. You can ask around in the village and see if anyone has surplus grain, that would save you some money.”

Lin Jiangshan didn’t mention that almost no one in the village was willing to interact with him, and probably no one would sell him rice. He just nodded and said, “Thank you.”

“I chilled some mung bean soup, would you like some?” Ye Xi remembered the pot of mung bean soup in his basket.

Lin Jiangshan looked at his basket. It was a hot day, and the gourd of spring water he brought had long been finished. His throat was parched. Hearing Ye Xi mention chilled mung bean soup, he felt even thirstier.

Seeing his expression, Ye Xi knew he wanted some, so without waiting for his reply, he squatted down, placed the basket on a rock, took out the clay pot, and then an empty bowl.

He poured a bowl of thick mung bean soup. It was icy cold, and when he handed it to Lin Jiangshan, the bowl was even frosted.

Lin Jiangshan didn’t hesitate and drank the entire bowl in one gulp. The cold liquid flowed down his throat and into his stomach, soothing his internal organs and dissipating most of the heat in his body.

Seeing him drink so quickly, Ye Xi filled another bowl for him. “I brought a lot, there’s enough for another bowl.”

Hearing this, Lin Jiangshan drank the second bowl with confidence. He drank this bowl a bit slower, tasting the sweetness. It was delicious and not too sweet.

“Your skills… are very good,” he praised awkwardly.

Ye Xi smiled, his eyes curving. “It’s just some common farming skills, nothing special.”

Lin Jiangshan said, “The pickles you made last time were also very good.”

Hearing this, Ye Xi remembered that he had promised to give him pickles in exchange for the fish but hadn’t delivered them yet. He quickly said, “Oh dear, I actually forgot to bring you another jar of pickles these past few days. I’ll bring them to you when I’m free.”

Seeing his embarrassed and apologetic look, Lin Jiangshan’s eyes softened with a smile, and he said in a low voice, “No rush, I have other food, I’m not in a hurry for the pickles.”

Ye Xi said, “It’s not a time-consuming task. I’ll bring them to you as soon as they’re ready.”

Lin Jiangshan agreed. Seeing a few villagers approaching in the distance, he knew that men should avoid being too close to young men, so as not to cause gossip for Ye Xi. He didn’t say anything more, picked up his hoe, and left.

Ye Xi looked at his figure under the scorching sun and smiled. This man was outwardly cold but inwardly considerate, more thoughtful than many men.

He carried the bamboo basket to the fields. Father Ye and Ye Shan had just finished clearing the ditches in the rice paddy and were sitting under a tree to cool off.

Ye Shan was tanned and his cheeks were flushed from the sun. He wiped his sweat with his clothes and said, “It’s strange this year, it’s already so hot and dry even before Major Heat.”

Ye Xi handed a bowl of mung bean soup to Father Ye, who said, “There’s still half a month until the harvest season. It’s hot and dry now, we can’t harvest yet.”

The rice grains weren’t fully plump yet, still a bit flat when squeezed. Not only would the yield be reduced, but the price at the shops would also drop by two or three wen.

Ye Shan finished a bowl of mung bean soup. “I’ll ask the village chief tomorrow when we can open the irrigation channels. If we don’t water the fields soon, they’ll really dry up.”

Father Ye said, “I’ll ask tonight.”

Ye Xi cleaned the bowls, then heard his brother say, “That good piece of land below has been bought. I was planning to buy it after saving enough money this year, but someone beat me to it.”

Father Ye sighed. “That land below is flat and fertile, next to the irrigation channel, it’s good land, much better than ours. It’s just that we don’t have enough money.”

The family had wanted that piece of land for a long time, but it was three taels more expensive than other land, so they hadn’t been able to save enough.

He realized this must be the land Lin Jiangshan had just bought.

Ye Xi looked up and said, “It seems like the stranger from the mountainside bought it.”

Ye Shan was a little surprised. “Wow, he bought two acres of land just like that? No one in the village is as wealthy as him.”

Ye Xi said, “He must have saved up a lot before.”

Ye Shan exclaimed, “Maybe he did something shady before. He looks about my age. Even if he carried sandbags in town, he wouldn’t be so wealthy.”

Ye Xi glared at his brother. “Stop talking nonsense. He earned the money himself, don’t be jealous and make things up.”

Ye Shan looked at his younger brother. “Hey, why are you speaking up for that stranger? I was just guessing. Xi-ge’er, why are you defending him?”

The tips of Ye Xi’s ears turned slightly red. He didn’t know why he subconsciously defended Lin Jiangshan. He was at a loss for words.

Father Ye, seeing that the two were about to argue, interrupted, “It doesn’t matter to us whether other people are wealthy or not. Hurry up and rest, then go and clear the weeds from the field ridges.”

Since his father and brother had to go back to work, Ye Xi quickly packed up and prepared to leave. He couldn’t help but glance at the good piece of land as he passed by.