pastoral fragrance

Chapter 31
After those people left, the yard calmed down.It was getting dark, and the children didn't delay any longer. They hurriedly brought round wooden basins, filled them with water, washed and scrubbed the roots of these mud-covered medicinal herbs, spread them out by category on the dustpan, and carried them to the yard. , let the wind dry.

There are two rounds of going and going, and the herbs and these add up to four baskets, and the total weight is about forty catties.The siblings didn't finish washing until Yue'er showed her face in the sky.Han's made dinner, stir-fried shepherd's purse, soybean paste, houttuynia cordata, corn cakes, corn paste, and the eggplant and loofah that Liu's brought in the afternoon. They also fried two plates each.There was still some snake soup left at noon, so Han filled it up in a large bowl and served it to the dinner table.

Everyone has done a lot of work that day, and the children have been hungry for a long time.There is no field in this family, and even eggplants and loofahs are rare.Qiu He looked so greedy that he reached out to grab it.

Qiuyue quickly grabbed the chopsticks and hit the back of Qiuhe's hand with the chopsticks, "Have you washed your hands, just scratching like this, hurry up and wash your hands!"

Qiu He withdrew his hand in a daze, and ran to the stove to wash his hands before sitting down again.

Taking advantage of the gap, Qiulin drew up the straw curtain to see Ah Huang again.Ah Huang's energy seemed to be better than at noon, and he looked at Qiu Lin with wandering eyes.Qiulin only felt that there seemed to be deep meaning behind its eyes, but he didn't take it to heart.He took out his hand in his pocket, and actually took out a bunch of red raspberries, each of which was plump and fresh. Although some places were crushed and the skin was torn, it still easily aroused Ah Huang's appetite.Qiulin saw Ah Huang's shiny black eyes staring at the raspberry in her hand.Qiulin laughed happily, "Open your mouth, and I'll feed you."

As expected, Ah Huang opened his mouth obediently, and Qiu Lin was overjoyed.Quickly picked up one and put it in Ah Huang's mouth.

A sweet fruity aroma hits the nostrils, and the mouth is surrounded by sweet taste.This kind of aroma seemed to wake up Xia Yan's taste buds at once, and he found sadly that he hadn't eaten such a sweet thing for a long, long time.Two words suddenly popped up in his mind - sad.

"Ah Huang, what's the matter with you, is the wound hurting again?" Seeing the hurt look in A Huang's eyes, Qiu Lin also felt distressed in his eyes.This Ah Huang really has a very ill-fated life, even a dog has such many disasters.

Xia Yan had a full view of Qiu Lin's nervous and pitiful expression, and his heart was inexplicably up and down.He seemed to dislike seeing such emotions in Qiulin's eyes, he didn't like it, but he was reduced to this place, his parents didn't recognize him, his eldest sister asked someone to beat him, only this family would never leave him and take care of him , the girl in front of her is even better for her, nothing to say.His heart seemed to be picked up by something, and the sweetness in his mouth suddenly became slightly bitter.

"Little sister has eaten, you are the one who dawdles every time, your third brother and I are so hungry that I can't straighten up, so hurry up." After the room fell into silence, Qiu He's voice was particularly loud.Qiulin stood up and hurriedly put a handful of raspberries aside. "Ah Huang, I'm going to eat first. If you're hungry, eat some of these things to fill your stomach." After Qiulin finished speaking, she suddenly felt a little nervous again. Can she understand what she said to A Huang?With a light laugh, he kicked his feet and beat the straw curtain and went out.

This girl... Xia Yan was lying on the bed, looking at Qiu Lin's leaving back, and finally opened the corners of her mouth, bending upwards a little, suspected to be a smile.

These days are slack days for the peasants in the village. During the dog days, the crops seem to be growing upwards, and the rice gradually bends down and swaggers in the wind in the field dams.Peasants only sit at home smoking big cigarettes and playing cards at this time of year, and they don't get busy until the autumn harvest season.And these days, some Qiuyue are busy.

Early the next morning, Qiuyue got up to cook, and Qiusong quickly put on her shoes and went to have a look at her fish pond.Qiulin Qiuhe sat up sleepily, yawning again and again.After the sewage from the fish ponds is drained, it is time to dig the diversion canals.Moreover, Qiu Lin was still thinking about where to get some mulberry trees to transplant to the fish pond, and it would take half a day to do it.The children had to go to the woods to dig medicinal roots and pound walnuts, so they had no time to spare.Now they even take up the time to pick wild vegetables.The whole family is so busy that their feet don't touch the ground.

When it was time to eat, Qiu Song brought back good news. The hole they dug yesterday was so big that the sewage from the fish pond flowed out along the hole.In about a day, the sewage will flow clean.

In other words, they can start digging ditches tomorrow to divert water into the fish ponds.Qiuyue and the others were all happy, and Qiulin picked up a chopstick of green vegetable leaves, and said: "This is not enough, and the sludge in the fish pond must be cleaned up. If it is just changing the water, it will be changing the soup but not the medicine. Fish are the most clean, and I'm afraid it won't work."

The sludge has not been cleaned up for many years, and the pollutants in the water have all adhered to the sludge after a long period of precipitation.Not to mention whether the fish can survive or not, even if it can survive, it must have toxins in its body.

It's just how to clean up the silt in this fish pond is a problem.

Since the silt is polluted, direct contact with the human body will definitely affect health. In this era, no one has invented rain boots and gloves, so what should we do?

Qiu He grinned, "Little sister, you really think a lot."

On this day, Qiuyue and the others ate and went to the woods with their baskets on their backs.At this time, the sky was still hazy and bright, and a faint mist shrouded the forest, adding mystery to it.Several children went into the woods like monkeys, only the young Qiulin with short legs fell behind.

Following the elder sister's example, Qiulin picked up a wooden stick and held it in her hand. Every time she took a step, she tapped on the bushes beside the road, lest something frightening would pop out later, and her whole heart would hang in shock.In this way, she has fallen behind by a long way.

"Come on, little girl, can't you walk anymore?" Qiu He stood on a high place and waved to Qiu Lin, with a triumphant smile on his face.

Qiulin sighed helplessly, she also wanted to hurry up, but the ability of her little arms and legs was limited, and she was afraid of encountering that thing again, so she walked naturally and evenly, and only set her feet after seeing clearly.

After everyone arrived in the woods, they started looking for herbs and digging.Qiulin picked up walnuts on the ground as usual, and threw them into the basket.At the end of the day, the siblings came to the forest four times in total. Qiu He picked all the walnuts on the tree, and Qiu He couldn't reach the walnuts on the high places. Afraid of danger, Qiu Yue stopped. Let Qiuhe pick.The roots of the grass in the woods have been almost dug up by them.At this moment, the brothers and sisters directly piled up the grass roots they planed and piled them up in the main room, and they were not in a hurry to wash them.After the previous batch of herbs was dried and sold in the market, this batch of herbs was washed and dried.Anyway, if this thing is piled up, it will not go bad.

As for the picked walnuts, they were put in the granary for grain storage.The Xu family can't do without corn every meal, and the corn in the family last year has been eaten up to now.Other families are only looking forward to the autumn harvest now, but their family has no such hope.In the days to come, there is not even a staple food, how can we live in these days?Han looked at the few corn bracts, and couldn't help frowning her slender brows.

"Mother, don't worry about it. You may get a lot of money selling these herbs. The price of corn is cheap. Let's buy more corn when we go to the market tomorrow." Qiuyue persuaded Han carefully.Now these grassroots walnuts are the hope of their family.But can these things last until next year's autumn harvest?Qiuyue put a question mark in her heart.But the current situation is always better than the previous few days at home.It can't be said that after that, there are other incomes.

In the early morning of the second day, Qiu Song went to look at the fish pond again, and the water in the fish pond was indeed drained.Qiu Song hurried home to tell his parents the good news.

Qiu He bluffed that the diversion canal could be opened, but Qiu Song thought about what the younger sister said yesterday, "My younger sister's words are not unreasonable. The fish pond is not used all the year round, and the silt in it has never been cleaned much. I don't know how many pickles have been hidden. The sun is hot these days, so let the fishponds stay in the sun for a few more days, and then the water can be diverted.”

Qiulin blinked, "Second brother, how do you know this?" Qiulin was annoyed secretly, why didn't she expect that the small amount of silt at the bottom of the pond would become relatively dry and loose when exposed to the sun and wind. Kill all pathogens and parasite eggs, improve the ecological environment of the pond, and increase the fertility of the pond. In this way, it can lay a good foundation for high yield and harvest in the next spring.

Qiulin sighed secretly, hey, she has such a brain!
"This is recorded in the agricultural book borrowed by Mr. Shen. That book is really useful." Qiu Song realized the benefits of reading for the first time, otherwise he would not be able to understand this book. There are still many words he doesn't know, but after thinking about it for a while, it's probably almost the same.

Qiuyue's eyelids twitched when she heard this, "It's amazing that people who read books still pay attention to these." Qiuyue has never read a book, and she has an attitude of reverence and respect for the contents of the book.It's just that she never thought that the book also recorded how to breed. It's really puzzling how people who read it can study this.

Qiulin talked nonsense with her, "Sister, isn't there a rule in this dynasty to select scholars through the imperial examination, which promotes the children from poor families to a certain extent. These children from poor families may have been farmers before they became officials. In my spare time, I recalled the hard work I had done when I was young, and I felt itchy, and I couldn't help but record my experience to pass on to future generations."

Qiuyue was confused, she didn't know anything about reading and reading.Although there is a student in the family, but the things in the past were taken care of by parents.

(End of this chapter)