The mulberry life of a small peasant girl

Chapter 25

In mid-May, the wheat began to enter the grain-filling period. Since the newly purchased field was at the foot of the mountain, there was no waterway nearby, and it hadn’t rained, Zhang Deji’s mouth was blistered, and he would murmur in dreams when he fell asleep at night. What to do.

During the wheat grain filling period, the young and strong laborers of each family were busy tending their own fields, so they had no spare time to help Zhang De.It is not realistic to borrow human hands or animals.At this time, it shows the benefits of having more brothers in the family.Although Aunt Zhang helped Zhang De take care of the marriage matters, she still complained about Zhang De marrying a widow.First, Mrs. Zhong is a widow, while Zhang De is the first marriage.Second, Mrs. Zhong doesn't seem to be able to work. Could it be possible to marry a woman and come back to support her?Third, Mrs. Zhong's natal family is too far away, and she only has one brother. Zhang De has no brothers and sisters to help her. Aunt Zhang naturally hopes that Zhang De can marry a daughter-in-law with many relatives in her natal family.

Knowing that Zhang Denong is too busy and not enough manpower, Aunt Zhang once again sighed that Mrs. Zhong's family is not strong enough.

Although Zhong Caixin has been working hard to adapt to life in the countryside during this period, she can't bear to carry water and irrigate the wheat fields like a strong peasant woman for a moment.

Nuanbao is a small person, and besides pulling weeds in the fields, he can't do the work of carrying water.

Everyone in the family frowned, except for the ignorant Xiaofu.

"Isn't it enough to dig a well without water?" Xiaofu said innocently.

"Wells can't be dug casually, there must be water in the bottom." Nuan Bao said perfunctorily.This field is the guarantee of their livelihood. If there is no time to water it when the grout is filled, the wheat yield will definitely decrease.When the tax is paid, the remaining food will not be enough for them to eat for a year.

"There must be water, my sister will take me to have a look. When I find water, we will dig a well." Xiao Fu hugged Nuan Bao's arm and shook it.

"Fool! The water is in the ground, how do you find it? And if you find water, you don't need to dig a well." But she is fine at home, so she might as well go to the fields. My uncle and aunt go to the stream to pick water every day. Water, although she is small, she can pick a little bit, which is much better than sitting around doing nothing.

"Xiaofu, let's send the rice to the field to eat with uncle and aunt."

"Okay. I'm still looking for water."

Nuan Bao felt that what Xiaofu said was a joke, she must have been impatient with keeping her at home recently.Also, since that incident, Erniu, Xiaofu's only playmate, was also sent to school by his parents. Although Xiaofu met a new playmate, there was no one who was willing to be driven by her like Erniu. In contrast, Xiaofu felt that Er Niu is her good friend.As for Zhao Xiaohu, Nuan Bao suddenly remembered that he had never visited their house again, if she hadn't remembered the resentful look in Zhao Xiaohu's eyes when he left that day, she would have thought that nothing had happened.

But it's just right if he doesn't come, and it would be bad if some more troubles happen.

The green wheat in the field is connected one by one, except for the surrounding green hills in the distance, it is really impossible to see the edge.The height of the wheat seedlings is below the knees, and they are lush and lush. One can imagine what a bumper harvest it was in July.

As soon as Xiaofu arrived in the field, he was like a fish in the water, running around happily, "Little uncle, Xiaofu has brought food, come and eat."

Zhang De put down the bucket, washed his hands, and walked out of the field together with Zhong Caixin.

The four of them ate under the shade of the tree, and got busy again without touching their feet.

Nuan Bao spread out the sackcloth under the shade of the tree, let Xiao Fu take a nap under the tree, and she picked up the bucket and went to fetch water from the stream.Since you can't afford a bucket of water, why not carry half a bucket?Although it was a waste of time, what she had now was time, and it would be nice if she could save some seedlings.

The three of them devoted themselves to carrying water, and no one noticed that Xiaofu sneaked into the field.

Avoiding the eyes of several people, Xiaofu walked deep along the gap between the ridges of the field. Most of the three-acre field was at the foot of the mountain. Xiaofu lowered his head and looked while walking. The soil was dry, and there was really no water. .It's just that she knew that there must be water in the field, but she couldn't tell why.

The closer to the foot of the mountain, the more broken stones under the landslide. The stones hindered Xiaofu's walking, so Xiaofu simply kicked while walking, and slowly cleared a path.Because Zhang De hadn’t eradicated the weeds at the foot of the mountain in order to reduce the time for hoeing, and the height of the weeds reached Xiaofu’s waist. Xiaofu felt that there was no water outside, and the water must be covered by the weeds, so she pushed the weeds and continued. go forward.The weeds became more and more dense, even blocking Xiaofu's sight. There was a big rock lying in front of her, but unfortunately she couldn't see it. The sad Xiaofu tripped over the stone and fell to the ground, crushing the nearby grass.

The pain in his toes made Xiaofu gasp, "This damn stone! Let you trip me, I'll kick me, I'll kick you to death!"

Xiaofu was still angry after kicking, so he dug up the soil next to the stone with his hands, trying to dig out the whole stone, but the soil next to the big stone was compacted, Xiaofu found a small branch and walked slowly along the stone wall. Slowly picking loose soil clods, the surface soil is dry, and the outside and inside quickly loosened after digging, but she kept digging and digging, but the stones became bigger and bigger, and they couldn't move at all.Unwilling to give up, Xiaofu continued to sit on the ground and compete with the rocks. The further he dug down, the sandy soil became much finer, and it still felt a little moist in his hands.

Nuan Bao came back from fetching water and found that there was no sign of Xiaofu under the tree at all. Remembering that Xiaofu joked that he was looking for a water source, he shouted loudly at the wheat field: "Xiaofu, where are you?"

Only a piece of wheat seedlings swaying in the wind responded to her.

Zhang De and Zhong Caixin also hurriedly put down the bucket when they heard that Xiaofu was gone.The three of them searched for Xiaofu along the periphery.

Xiaofu dug more and more vigorously, completely forgetting that he had sneaked out for a long time, and suddenly heard a distant shout before raising his head in a daze, "Xiaofu, Xiaofu..." It was my sister's cry!
"elder sister"

Nuan Bao was overjoyed when Xiaofu responded, and ran in the direction of the sound, scraping away the thigh-high weeds in front of him, and finally saw Xiaofu in the big pit.

"Xiaofu, hold my sister's hand, and my sister will carry you up." This pit is so deep, how could Xiaofu fall into it?And why is the big rock in the middle so strange.

Xiaofu said happily: "My sister and I got this stone out, let's move it home and make a stool!"

It was only then that Nuanbao discovered that there was a circle of soil piled up next to the pit, could it be "Xiaofu, is this the pit you dug?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got stuck on this stone. I wanted to dig it out, but I didn't know it was so big. The deeper I dug, the deeper I was in the pit."

sweat.This sister's destructive power can be called superhuman level.

Nuan Bao called the little uncle and aunt to carry Xiaofu up together, Xiaofu pointed at the stone and refused to go, and must dig out the stone and carry it home.Zhang De had never seen such a big stone, and he didn't know how big the stone was, but he could really ask a mason to make a stool and put it in the yard.

Zhang De picked up the hoe and turned the soil out, but he kept digging without end.Zhong Cai touched the excavated soil suspiciously and asked, "Why is this soil much wetter than the one in our field?"

"The soil at the foot of the mountain is usually like this. The rainwater flows down the mountain, so it will be a little moist." Zhang De replied indifferently.

As soon as he finished speaking, his feet felt icy cold. Xiaofu pointed to the water flowing out of the pit and shouted: "We have dug water!"

Zhang De was stunned, it was obviously not well water, but where did the water come from?
"Little uncle, did this big rock block the water source?" Nuan Bao asked.

After thinking about it, it is very possible, "Dig out this stone first and then talk about it."

The water moistened the soil, making it easier to dig. Zhang De finally dug out the stone with all his strength. When the stone was lifted up, a stream of water gushed out from the ground, and soon the water filled the pit. , and has been penetrating outward.

Now I'm not afraid that the wheat field will not have enough water!
Zhang De picked up the clear water and grinned excitedly.

"Sister, Xiaofu knew that there must be water in the fields." Xiaofu raised a smile, and shook his two braids.

Nuanbao remembered the previous rabbit incident, this little blessing must have special powers, right?

Zhang De wanted to plow a ditch to bring water to the field. Nuan Bao felt that plowing was a waste of time, and was afraid that it would not be able to catch up with the wheat filling. After all, the three-acre field was so big, how many criss-cross ditches would have to be plowed to fully water it.Moreover, there should be no water when the wheat is harvested, otherwise the roots of the wheat will be flooded and will soon be necrotic.

"Uncle, it's better to use bamboo to divert water to the fields, and remove the bamboo when not in use." Nuan Bao suggested.

What Zhong Caixin thought of was another aspect: the water source is not in the field now, and the foot of the mountain is still unowned. If someone finds out and buys it first, then his family will not be able to use it in the future.In order to irrigate the fields in the future, we must not allow people to know that there are too many plowing projects, so we may not be able to hide it. We should do as Nuanbao said, and hide it for a while. After a few months, we will sell the grain A piece of land was also bought.

When Zhang De heard this, he realized that there were these trails. Although the villagers were honest, they discovered the water source, so they would be concerned about saving face.But if you really meet someone who is unreasonable and greedy for wealth and honor, you may buy this wasteland and turn it into a fish pond to raise fish and ducks.At that time, they will experience the crisis of water shortage again.

On the second day, Zhang De cut bamboo on the mountain in the morning, and put the chopped bamboo at the foot of the mountain, so that Zhong Caixin led the two children to tie the bamboo.The gap between the two bamboo breaks was wrapped layer by layer with old cloth and tied up with hemp rope. Although there was still a little water leakage in the middle, it was still very practical.The water from the water source flows along the bamboo to the wheat fields, and the wheat is full of water, and the taller strings are more vigorous.

With the new water source, everyone no longer has to carry water.The wheat is well-moisturized, and the grains are very full. The uncle puts the manure stored for several months into the field. With the arrival of June, the wheat gradually turns yellow, and the golden waves roll, heralding a new year. The sight of a good harvest.

(End of this chapter)