Summer Farming

“Hey, Old Yang, why are you here?”

Mrs. Yang was feigning ignorance. If she had bumped into someone who didn’t know her well, the person would definitely not notice the guilt in her eyes.

Xiaoguo followed beside her with a poker face and was pulled forward by her.

Yang Feng looked at her from head to toe, then greeted Xiaoguo. “I was waiting for you.”

Mrs. Yang quickly pushed him home. “Then let’s go back quickly.”

Before Yang Feng could ask anything, Mrs. Yang pushed him into the house. As she turned to close the door, she winked mischievously at Xiaoguo.

Xiaoguo smiled and nodded gently before walking home.

Pregnant women were indeed cute.

“Mother…” As soon as Zhuang Zhuang saw Xiaoguo enter, he immediately ran out of the house. He smiled and tried to look into the basket.

Xiaoguo suppressed a smirk and lowered the basket to show him the contents.

As expected, Zhuang Zhuang took a look and felt the acids in his stomach rising. He quickly pushed the basket away and took a few steps back in disdain. “Why did you pick so many?”

“Of course it’s for you. I’ve decided to let you eat one every day to help with your digestion.”

“Huh?!”

Zhuang Zhuang’s mouth fell open as if the sky was falling. “No way!”

“Of course not,” Xiaoguo said with a smile. “This is Auntie Yang’s. We’ll keep them for now.”

“Then I’m relieved.” Zhuang Zhuang patted his chest. As long as it wasn’t for him, it didn’t matter who ate it.

“Shall we eat something?” Zhuang Zhuang touched his stomach. He was starving.

“Let’s go and cook!”

Xiaoguo took the lead and walked towards the kitchen. Zhuang Zhuang skipped behind her. The two puppies were also hovering around her feet, making it difficult for her to move.

The puppies might be hungry. Xiaoguo asked Zhuang Zhuang to feed them while she went back to the kitchen to make lunch.

In the morning, she had taken out a bag of pork ribs from the fridge and soaked them in water. Now, they have completely thawed out.

Before the pork ribs were frozen, they had already been chopped into pieces.

She had previously promised to make sweet and sour pork ribs for Zhuang Zhuang, but she wanted him to lose weight, so she delayed making it. It had been a month since she made the promise, and Zhuang Zhuang had been pestering her all this while. Zhuang Zhuang was going to school tomorrow, so she would make him something he liked today.

First, she steamed the rice that had been pre-soaked. Then, she prepared the dishes for lunch. In addition to the sweet and sour pork ribs, she would also make stir-fried spinach and a soup. Actually it was more appropriate to call it a beverage. The snow pear white fungus soup was refreshing and sweet. It was the right season to consume it now.

By the time Zhuang Zhuang was done feeding the dogs, Xiaoguo was just about to serve the dishes.

“What took you so long?”

“I have fed the cows, donkeys, chickens, and ducks. I also gave them some water.”

After Zhuang Zhuang finished feeding the dogs, he saw that the other animals’ troughs were empty, so he fed them all again.

Xiaoguo nodded and placed the dishes on a few plates. Recently, the little animals were eating a lot. They had just been fed this morning and the troughs were empty before noon.

“It smells so good…” Zhuang Zhuang leaned forward and inhaled the fragrance of the pork ribs.

“Bring it to the room.”

Zhuang Zhuang responded and left steadily.

Now that the weather is getting warmer, they have started taking their meals in the main room. After all, it was too hot to eat in the kitchen now. The heat from the stove and the hot air outside made the kitchen feel like an oven. One would be drenched in sweat after staying there for a short while.

At this moment, the rice was cooked. Xiaoguo brought it back into the house and brought out the snow pear soup. While it was cooling down, Xiaoguo returned to the kitchen to stir-fry the spinach.

Two dishes and a soup. This was their lunch.

After lunch, Zhuang Zhuang had just fallen asleep when Mrs. Yang came over. She took two sour apricots and went back. She said that she had no appetite and wanted to have an appetizer.

Not long after she left, in about ten seconds, Brother Yang came again.

When the discerning two made eye contact, Xiaoguo understood. She passed him the basket of apricots.

It wasn’t her intention to betray Mrs. Yang, but at the rate she was going, it just didn’t seem right. Besides, Brother Yang definitely wouldn’t throw everything away. At most, he would just keep it aside and give some to Mrs. Yang when she couldn’t take it anymore. It was good to have someone control her intake.

At night, Xiaoguo made some fried rice for Zhuang Zhuang. She diced some carrots and cucumbers, beat two eggs, and stir-fried a plate of rice.

Xiaoguo really didn’t have much of an appetite. She made some porridge and ate it with pickled vegetables.

Only Zhuang Zhuang could have such a good appetite when the weather was so hot.

The next morning, Xiaoguo sent Zhuang Zhuang back before dawn. As Mr. Kong had added morning classes recently, Xiaoguo did not want Zhuang Zhuang to be late.

Zhuang Zhuang was slowly getting used to this life. Even when he was about to leave Xiaoguo, he didn’t kick up a fuss anymore. At most, he would feel unhappy initially and get over it after a while.

Everything was back on track.

—-

The annual spring plowing had begun. Every family had started to plow the land and sow seeds again, but there was still no sign of Xiaoguo.

At this moment, when she heard the voices coming from outside, she was not in a hurry. The main reason was because she did not know what to plant.

This year, the village did not distribute any seeds. After all, it was not a special year. Now that everyone was back on track, most households were buying their own crops except for a few who still received seeds from the village.

“Sigh…”

Xiaoguo sighed again. She looked at the two types of grain seeds on the table with a troubled expression.

“Corn and wheat, should I plant one or both?”

Mrs. Yang was counting on the other side. Xiaoguo had sighed countless times. Hearing her say this, Mrs. Yang replied, “If you can’t decide, you can plant them all. Anyway, you have two plots of land.”

“I can’t. I still have last year’s grains at home. How can I finish everything? It’s just Zhuang Zhuang and me. Now that Zhuang Zhuang has gone to school, I can’t consume all of these by myself. Besides, there’s nowhere to store them.”

Those who didn’t know better would think that she was deliberately saying these words to anger them. After all, there were many people who were still starving. This would be the least of their worries. If they heard her words, they would definitely roll their eyes at her.

“… Sister-in-law, help me think of a solution.”

“I haven’t been thinking straight lately. Are you sure you want me to come up with ideas?”

“Forget it,” Xiaoguo replied quickly without thinking.

“Hey you!” Mrs. Yang smiled and pushed her. Then, she thought of something.

“Your plot isn’t big. You can see the entire plot at a glance. There’s a limit to how many crops you can plant. Just go ahead and plant everything. If you really can’t finish them, you can sell the rest.”

Xiaoguo was speechless when she heard her description. But she was right. Compared to their land, her plot was smaller in comparison.

“Shall I continue planting corn and wheat in one plot?”

“Sure!” Mrs. Yang nodded. Her family had finished planting the fields while having fun.

Xiaoguo looked at the sun outside and made up her mind. So be it. She was going to give it her all!

Now that she had money in her pocket, although food was expensive, it was not like she could not afford it. Therefore, she was a little lazy about planting food. In addition, the sun was hot, so she was even more unwilling to go out.

Last year, she had no choice but to start planting. At that time, she had just arrived and didn’t have a single copper coin in her pocket. Having Zhuang Zhuang with her, she had to plant the crops. Otherwise, they would have both starved to death.

On second thoughts, she should really go ahead and plant everything. It was a waste to leave the land empty. These days, one should not complain about having too much food. Anything could happen overnight. She should not be lazy!

After hammering herself, Xiaoguo set off for the fields energetically.