Farming for Three Meals a Day [Farming Life] 88

Chapter 88

It was the hottest time of summer, the scorching sun beating down mercilessly, even the weeds by the roadside wilting. The summer wind rustled the leaves. Ye Xi, his belly slightly rounded with pregnancy, sat on the cool bed in the courtyard, his sister-in-law, Li Ran, beside him, gently rocking her baby to sleep.

It was hot, and the baby wore only a carp-patterned bellyband, his chubby arms exposed. After the baby was born, Ye Shan had racked his brains for a name, finally settling on Ye Yulai, nicknamed Lei Zi (Little Thunder), because he was born on a stormy night. Little Lei Zi had been plump and healthy since birth, and now, a hundred days old, he was even more adorable.

Ye Xi touched his nephew’s smooth cheek and smiled. “Sister-in-law, your milk is good, the baby is growing strong.”

Li Ran’s face glowed with maternal love. “It’s thanks to the goat milk you gave me, I didn’t have enough milk before, and after drinking goat milk and peanut stew for a while, I have plenty now.”

Ye Xi said, “I won’t be able to breastfeed him when my baby is born, thankfully we have the goat. But babies raised on goat milk are also healthy.”

Li Ran patted the baby and nodded. “That’s right, you were raised on goat milk, Xi-ge’er, and you’re so handsome. If you have a son, he’ll be handsome too.”

Ye Xi smiled just as Ye Shan and Lin Jiangshan returned, carrying hoes, their skin tanned and their foreheads sweaty from the scorching sun.

Li Ran, holding the baby, couldn’t get up, so Ye Xi quickly got off the cool bed and went to the kitchen to fetch hot water for them.

After they washed their faces and wiped their sweat, feeling slightly refreshed, Ye Xi brought them bowls of chilled artemisia tea from the well.

Ye Shan drained his bowl in one gulp and sighed. “This weather is scorching, the rice seedlings in the fields are all wilting.”

Lin Jiangshan handed his empty bowl to Ye Xi, who refilled it. “It’s going to be a drought this year, I’m afraid.”

Ye Xi calculated the days. “It hasn’t rained for almost half a month. It’s the hottest time of year, and Nanchuan Prefecture usually has a lot of rain in summer, thunderstorms every few days after the hottest period begins, but it’s been dry this year.”

Li Ran, rocking her baby, said worriedly, “What about the crops in the fields? The seedlings need water to grow.”

Ye Shan and Lin Jiangshan had already discussed it, they would drain the fishpond to water the fields, harvesting the fish two months early. If it still didn’t rain, they would dig irrigation ditches in two days.

Ye Shan said, “Although the fish aren’t as big as they would be after the rice harvest, they’ve grown quite a bit. The crops are more important. Thankfully, we have the fishpond, otherwise, the seedlings wouldn’t survive.”

Farmers relied on their crops, and if the autumn harvest failed, there would be no food for winter.

Liu Xiufeng returned from the village mill, carrying a jar of freshly ground chili peppers, the back of her shirt damp with sweat. “This weather is scorching, the river ditches are almost dry, the villagers are worried and went to the village chief and elders, asking them to pray for rain.”

Ye Xi said, “I hope their prayers work, otherwise, there will be a famine.”

Li Ran said thankfully, “It’s a good thing we didn’t sell our winter wheat, we stored it all, if there’s a drought this year, and the autumn harvest fails, we won’t starve in winter.”

Liu Xiufeng sighed in relief. “I just came back from the village mill, many families sold half of their wheat after the summer harvest because the price was high, thinking it would be enough until the autumn harvest. Now, with the drought, and the rice seedlings wilting in the fields, they’re worried.”

Lin Jiangshan analyzed the situation. “With the impending war in the north, the price of grain has already increased significantly, if there’s a drought in Nanchuan Prefecture, and the harvest is poor, the price will skyrocket, the money from selling a catty of wheat won’t even be enough to buy two taels back.”

Everyone was worried about a potential disaster.

Ye Xi and Lin Jiangshan returned to their courtyard, and Lin Jiangshan carefully checked the sweet potatoes and potatoes stored in the cellar, adding sand to prevent them from sprouting.

“We need to get two dogs, we’ve been putting it off, we need them to guard the house and the livestock.”

Ye Xi nodded. “Yes, we do, and they have to be fierce.”

Lin Jiangshan checked the gate, worried about people stealing their food during a famine. The gate was sturdy, but he still reinforced it with two more wooden planks.

He also added broken porcelain pieces to the top of the courtyard wall to prevent people from climbing over.

Ye Xi was still a bit worried, he had never experienced a famine or riot, but he had heard stories from the older generation, how people would loot and steal food when they were starving, and the government would send troops to suppress them, killing many.

Lin Jiangshan, seeing his worry, held his hand and said, “Don’t worry, husband, our house is secluded, far from town, the chaos won’t reach us, we just have to protect our home.”

Ye Xi nodded, reassured by his husband’s presence.

Without delay, the next day, they went to the village and bought two three or four-month-old puppies: one pure black with a white spot on its forehead, and the other a light brown, square-faced dog with large ears, both with strong legs and loud barks.

Their courtyard was truly lively now, with a cat, dogs, a goat, a deer, and even a cow.

Ye Xi cooked a pot of sweet potato and oil soup for the dogs and smiled. “Our courtyard is so lively now, we might even add a mule in the future.”

Lin Jiangshan built a small shed for the dogs. “When our baby is born, he can play with these animals in the courtyard.”

Two days later, the village chief invited a Taoist priest to pray for rain. The villagers all went to worship, they even slaughtered a few chickens and used their blood in the ritual, everyone taking two yellow talismans home to paste on their doors.

But it still didn’t rain, the scorching sun making them dizzy, even the river drying up, revealing the riverbed.

Seeing the dwindling water, the villagers carried buckets to the river to water their crops. Lin Jiangshan also went to irrigate their fields, a strenuous task, requiring him to water the fields every two or three days.

Ye Xi dug up a lot of wild vegetables, to dry and store, in case of a famine, when even wild vegetables would be gone, and people would resort to eating tree bark.

He blanched the bracken ferns, soaked them in cold water for a day, then dried and stored them in a jar with water and salt. They would keep for over half a year, ready to be eaten as a cold dish with chili oil.

He also dug up a large basket of purslane and shepherd’s purse, also to be dried and stored.

The bamboo shoots in the bamboo grove had also sprouted after the summer thunder, thin and long, requiring a lot of effort to peel, but he collected several baskets, to dry or pickle, enough for many meals.

Life in the mountains was good, as long as one was resourceful, there was food everywhere, no need to worry about going hungry.

Ye Xi carried water to the vegetable garden, the drought had withered the plants, and even after watering them several times, they hadn’t grown much. He would have to water them every other day, or they would die, and they would have no vegetables to eat.

While he was watering the garden, Li-ge’er came to visit. Since opening the butcher stall, he and Li Xi had been busy from dawn till dusk, rarely visiting Ye Xi like they used to.

They had finally saved enough money to buy their own stall, a great relief.

Li-ge’er called out from behind the fence of the vegetable garden, “Xi-ge’er, are you watering the garden too?”

Ye Xi, watering the vegetables with a long ladle, saw him and smiled. “It’s been a while, how’s the butcher stall business?”

Li-ge’er sighed. “We’re managing, but live pigs are hard to come by recently, the price of pork has increased, Li Xi is worried, working from dawn till dusk every day.”

Ye Xi asked, “Is it because of the drought?”

Li-ge’er nodded. “Yes, it hasn’t rained for a month, the scorching sun has dried up the land, the crops are almost withered, everyone in the surrounding villages is worried, afraid of selling their pigs and not having enough to eat, so they’re keeping them for themselves. Live pigs are scarce, and naturally, the price of pork has increased, even the families in town are reluctant to buy meat now.”

Ye Xi sighed. “Life is hard, farmers are always the ones who suffer during famines.”

Li-ge’er, seeing him watering the garden with his pregnant belly, said, “You’re pregnant, let me do it.”

Ye Xi finished pouring the last half bucket of water and smiled. “I’m still strong enough for this, the baby is stable.”

After watering the garden, Ye Xi took Li-ge’er back to the courtyard, offering him a plate of deep-fried sweet potato fritters.

He had shredded sweet potatoes, mixed them with batter, and deep-fried them. They were crispy and fragrant.

Li-ge’er ate a whole piece. “Your family is living a good life. With this drought, my family, not relying on farming, only has three or four acres of land, if the harvest is poor, we’ll be short of food in winter, my mother is worried. We’ve been eating coarse grains mixed with wild vegetables these days, those vegetable buns are not filling at all, I’m so hungry I grind my teeth at night.”

He used to eat wild vegetable buns and coarse grain steamed buns when he was young, but their life had improved, and he hadn’t been hungry for years. Eating those again made his stomach uncomfortable.

Ye Xi went to the kitchen and brought him some chili sauce and pickled vegetables. “Take these home, it will make your meals more flavorful.”

Li-ge’er said happily, “Thank you, my pickled vegetables are not as good as yours, they’re not as fragrant.”

Ye Xi was always busy with food, afraid of running out, they had seven or eight jars of pickles and several jars of chili sauce at home, even after sharing some with Li-ge’er, they still had plenty left.

Li-ge’er continued, “You probably haven’t heard, the price of grain in town has increased a lot, and now with the drought, no one is willing to sell, the price at the grain shops has skyrocketed, the women and young men in town are all buying coarse grains, even sweet potatoes, potatoes, and pumpkins, which no one used to eat, their prices have doubled, and it’s still increasing. I’m afraid there will be a famine after the autumn harvest.”

Ye Xi nodded. “There might be chaos, I don’t know what the government will do, we should just stay in the village and not go anywhere.”

Li-ge’er was also worried. “I told Li Xi to sell meat for a while longer and then close the stall, I’m afraid there will be chaos in town, if the price of grain keeps rising, many people won’t be able to afford food, and there will be riots.”

As it was getting dark, Li-ge’er went home.