Farming for Three Meals a Day [Farming Life] 93

Chapter 93

The village chief’s son worked as an accountant at a rice shop in town, literate and numerate, not needing to work as a farmer in the fields. He earned two qian of silver a month. The night before last, a group of outsiders, speaking an unfamiliar dialect, had stormed into town, looting grain shops and fabric stores. The local government sent officers, but they were outnumbered, so they closed the city gates to prevent the looters from escaping and sent for reinforcements from the county government. The village chief’s son, Zhou Hai, bribed the gate guards, slipped out of town under the cover of night, and hurried back to Shanxiu Village to warn his father, in case the chaos spread.

Hearing the news, Village Chief Zhou immediately gathered the strong men in the village. This year’s harvest was poor, and every family had only stored enough grain to survive the winter, if looters came, they would starve.

The men gathered at the village entrance.

Village Chief Zhou frowned. “Although those outsiders are causing trouble in town now, there’s no guarantee they won’t come here, they could easily reach our village if they follow the official road.”

“Village Chief, just tell us what to do, we’ll listen to you,” the men said.

“Yes, we have to defend our village!”

“We can’t let them steal our grain!”

Village Chief Zhou said, “I’m thinking of blocking the road at the village entrance with stones and thorny bushes, and we’ll also have a dozen men guarding the entrance every day, to warn us if anyone comes.”

“How long do we have to guard the entrance? If the road is blocked, we won’t have any news from town.”

Lin Jiangshan said, “The autumn harvest is over, and every family has stored grain for the winter, we can stay in the village for ten days or half a month, there will be news from town eventually once things calm down.”

Everyone agreed, and they worked through the night, piling stones and weaving thorny bushes, until dawn.

Ye Xi tossed and turned in bed, worried about Lin Jiangshan, wondering what was happening in the village.

After a couple of rooster crows, he heard a knock on the door and hurried to open it for Lin Jiangshan, who was covered in sweat, dust, and mud after a night of hard labor.

Ye Xi was relieved. “What’s happening in the village?”

Lin Jiangshan locked the gate after entering and replied, “We’ve blocked the road, no one can enter or leave the village for now, and we’re also taking turns guarding the entrance at night, in case any looters come. We’re prepared now, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Ye Xi was relieved. “It’s good that we’re not going out, who knows what’s happening outside, we’re safe here in the village, with food and clothing.”

He brought hot water for Lin Jiangshan to wash up, and they quickly went back to bed.

For a while after that, Lin Jiangshan and Ye Shan took turns guarding the village entrance, and Ye Xi and Li Ran brought them food.

The men stood guard with axes and plows, each family sending food to their men.

Ye Xi made rice tofu and baked sesame seed pancakes today, the pancakes split open and filled with the rice tofu, and also braised chicken legs with potatoes. Knowing that the men were working hard day and night to protect the village, every family prepared better food than usual, always with meat and oil.

Several days passed without incident, occasionally a peddler would pass by, see the blocked road, and leave.

Some villagers became restless and went to Village Chief Zhou, demanding that he open the road.

“We can’t stay cooped up in the village forever, I have to visit relatives, and we also need to go to town to buy supplies.”

Village Chief Zhou didn’t say anything, they had to wait a few more days.

More and more villagers became restless, wanting to leave the village, there had been no news for days, the riot in town must have been resolved, and the county government must have captured the looters.

They couldn’t stay in the village forever, some had to visit relatives or go to the market, each with their own reasons.

Ye Xi and Lin Jiangshan, passing by the village chief’s house, saw a crowd of people at his door, pleading with him.

“The village chief said we have to wait a few more days, what do you think, husband?” Ye Xi asked, holding Lin Jiangshan’s hand.

Lin Jiangshan carefully supported him and told him not to come and deliver food anymore, his sister-in-law would bring his share when she came for Ye Shan. He was worried about Ye Xi walking up and down the mountain in his condition.

“I think it’s better to wait, we can listen to the village chief, if looters really come, our life will be over.”

Ye Xi nodded. “Who knows what’s happening outside, with the drought and famine, it’s chaotic out there, it’s better to be safe.”

Back in their courtyard, they tended the vegetable garden and then went to the mountains to collect wild pears, good for making tea to relieve dryness and coughs, adding loquats for extra benefits. They collected a basket of pears and, on their way back, saw a field of golden wild chrysanthemums on the mountainside and picked half a basket.

Their autumn harvest was abundant, and they sat in the courtyard, processing their foraged goods, storing food for winter.

Ye Xi smiled. “Husband, I found two wild yams in the mountains today, let’s slaughter a chicken and make soup later, very nourishing.”

Lin Jiangshan nodded. “I’ll catch and slaughter one later, our chickens are plump this year, the soup will be rich and fragrant.”

“I also pickled a jar of mustard greens and bamboo shoots. There were a lot of spiny bamboo shoots on the hillside, perfect for pickling, crisp and tender, Li-ge’er and I collected a whole basketful, ready for stewing duck soup later.”

With their improved finances, they no longer had to be stingy with poultry, and Ye Xi hadn’t sold any of their chickens or ducks this year, saving them for their own consumption.

After processing the foraged goods, they had several trays of dried pear slices.

Ye Xi went to the kitchen to prepare the yams, the two wild yams longer than his arms, too much for just chicken soup, so he steamed them and mashed them into a puree, adding red dates and rock sugar, mixing it with flour and shaping it into small cakes with a mooncake mold.

Lin Jiangshan quickly slaughtered and cleaned a chicken, plump and fatty, and helped chop it into pieces.

Ye Xi simmered the chicken with red dates and chestnuts in a clay pot, the aroma filling the kitchen, the two puppies waiting eagerly by the stove, wagging their tails.

After steaming and mashing the yams, he added red dates, rock sugar, and flour, shaping the mixture into small cakes. Seeing the two puppies, he opened the lid of the pot and gave them the chicken head and neck. The puppies happily took the meat and ran off, and Ye Xi continued making the yam cakes.

The night in Shanxiu Village was peaceful and quiet, under the starry sky. Ye Xi and Lin Jiangshan enjoyed the delicious chicken and yam soup in their house.

Just after dinner, the dogs started barking, and the fawn, its ears perked up, looked towards the courtyard gate.

Ye Xi, coming out of the kitchen after washing the dishes, asked nervously, “Is someone there?”

Lin Jiangshan grabbed the axe from under the eaves and went to the door. “Who is it?”

It was Zhang Da from the village, and he said urgently, “Someone came to the village entrance, a group of them, over a dozen strong men! The village chief asked us to gather more people!”

Ye Xi’s heart skipped a beat. “Someone really came?!”

Lin Jiangshan comforted his husband. “I’ll go with Zhang Da to the village entrance, if you’re scared, go to your brother’s house, don’t stay home alone and worry, I’ll handle it.”

Ye Xi nodded. “Be careful!”

Lin Jiangshan agreed and left with Zhang Da. Ye Xi couldn’t stay home alone, so he called the two dogs and went down the mountain to his parents’ house.

His brother and father had also been called away, only Liu Xiufeng and Li Ran were there, and the three of them huddled on the kang in the main room.

Li Ran, after putting the baby to sleep, smiled. “Don’t worry, the men are guarding the village, we just have to sleep.”

Ye Xi nodded, touching his belly. “It’s been years since something like this happened, my heart is pounding.”

Liu Xiufeng placed a cushion behind Ye Xi’s back. “This is nothing, the famine years ago were truly terrifying, not just people looting food everywhere, but also bodies floating in the river, those who starved to death, swollen and bloated, I didn’t dare to go to the river to wash clothes after that.”

Ye Xi said, “Although our life as farmers is hard, and we’re not wealthy, at least we won’t starve during a famine, every family in Shanxiu Village has enough food, our simple life here, sheltered from the outside world, is actually a blessing.”

They chatted for a while and then turned off the lights and went to bed. The men didn’t return until dawn.

Ye Shan and Lin Jiangshan were cold and damp from a night of guarding in the dewy mist. They drank two bowls of ginger tea and two bowls of warm porridge to warm up.

Ye Xi quickly asked, “Did looters really come last night?”

Lin Jiangshan, chewing on pickled radish, nodded. “Over a dozen outsiders, they saw the blocked road and said they were just passing through, going to the mountains to collect herbs and hunt, so we showed them another path, but they refused to leave and asked to stay the night. We chased them away.”

Li Ran, patting the baby, asked, “Did they really leave?”

Ye Shan touched his son’s face and smiled. “Of course not, they wanted to enter the village and loot, but seeing the blocked road, they threatened us with weapons, demanding we open the road. Fortunately, the village chief had us build a sturdy barricade, so it wasn’t easy for them to break through, we confronted them for a long time.”

“Then what? Did they leave?” Liu Xiufeng asked anxiously.

Lin Jiangshan nodded. “They must be part of the looters in town, somehow they escaped, their eyes fierce and vicious, they must have killed people, they thought Shanxiu Village, with its fertile land, must have grain stored, so they were reluctant to leave, but they were also wary of the men in our village, they were probably planning to come back with more people. But the village chief had a clever plan, he found a few children from the village and told those looters that we had blocked the road because of a plague, a deadly contagious disease, and every family was staying indoors, no one allowed to enter or leave.”

Ye Shan smiled. “The village chief had the children smear red dye around their eyes and purple grape skin on their lips, making them look pale and sickly, like they were dying, those looters were scared, afraid of catching the plague, so they quickly left.”

Ye Xi and Li Ran smiled. “No wonder he’s the village chief, he’s resourceful! We can finally relax now.”