Wu Mei and Liu Qing returned to cook at noon, while the rest of the party started chopping bamboo on the mountain. They needed a lot of bamboo to create a new home. There were seven of them, and they were all working together.
They agreed not to return to rest at noon because getting enough bamboo would take at least two or three days. Wu Mei and Liu Qing would return home and prepare the food so that everyone could eat together on the mountain.
At home, Wu Mei raised chickens, ducks, and pigs. Dahu was responsible for the chickens and ducks, so whenever he had free time, he would cut some green grass for them to eat. Pigs' feed had to be heated first, then taken into the pigsty in barrels. However, the pigs were grunting loudly there at the moment because they had been starving for the whole morning.
Xu Ran went to help Wu Mei carry the pig feed, thinking he had recovered.
Xu Ran, despite his age, had been a fool for a long time and had been spoiled by Liu Tong. Obviously, he couldn't work as well as Wu Mei.
Wu Mei thought Xu Ran was curious and did it for fun when he saw him rush over to help him bring some pig feed. He didn't laugh at him because he couldn't carry the barrel. Xu Ran, on the other hand, was a little ashamed. To demonstrate his ability to help, Xu Ran preferred to help Wu Mei in scooping the feed from the pot into the bucket.
Xu Ran recognized that he couldn't do hard physical labor at the moment, but this kind of simple task was always a breeze for him, and he felt relieved that he could finally do something.
Outside, it was still sunny. The adults forbade their children from going outside because they were afraid that they would bathe in the river at the village's entrance. If something went wrong in the end, it would be a disaster.
The children from Wu Mei's, Wu Lan's, and Liu Qing's families were in the same boat. They were not allowed to leave the house.
Tangtang and Guoguo, on the other hand, had never considered going out to play.
Xu Ran asked Tangtang and Guoguo to arrange the other children to sleep on the bed after Wu Mei and Liu Qing left to prepare the meal, saying that they were going out to play after waking up..
Of course, what Xu Ran meant was that he was going out to help get the pig grass, not that he was going out to play. Wu Mei and other adults climbed the mountain to help in the bamboo chopping.
They still had a lot of household chores to complete at home, such as feeding the children, chickens, and ducks... They didn't have time to help with all of these until they returned from the mountain at nightfall. Xu Ran felt bad for it and wished he could do more to help. After all, all of the adults were busy working for his family at the moment.
Xu Ran rarely interacted with the other kids. He normally only spoke with Tangtang and Guoguo. As a result, the two obedient children became effective messengers between Xu Ran and the other children.
As Xu Ran awoke again, it had been about two hours, but he didn't know the exact time. Tangtang and Guoguo were both soundly sleeping beside him, snorting and sweating, so it was just his assumption.
Xu Ran went out to the yard to get a water basin. After that, he took a towel and wiped the sweat from the two children. He awakened them after completing all of these.
Despite their sleepiness, the two children followed Xu Ran to wake up the other kids.
Wu Lan, like Wu Mei, had two children: one was a Xiaozi (a man who couldn't bear children, like Xu Ran) and the other was a Ge'er (a man who could give birth, such as Liu Tong). For Liu Qing, he had three children, two Xiaozis and one Ge'er. Xu Ran helped the two Ge'ers wipe their sweat. As for Xiaozis, he didn't want to bother them, so Dahu took them to the yard to wash themselves.
Xu Ran asked Guoguo to gather all the children to go out for the pig grass after everything was ready.
Dahu was well-versed in the location of all the sickles and baskets at home. He was eight years old at the time. He was typically the one who did the housework. Xu Ran, on the other hand, refused to let him work today. He intended to cut the grass himself.
Growing up in the countryside gave him the benefit of knowing what pig grass was.
Xu Ran set out with the group of children, carrying baskets. Outside, however, he couldn't guess which way to go, so he asked, "Dahu, where can we get pigweeds?"
"I know, I know. Come along with me. I'll show you how to get there." Dahu rushed to the front, ready to assist them in their search for Green feed* for pigs.
The kids played around outside like wild horses with no reins. Tangtang and Guoguo were similarly enthralled and couldn't help but follow them. Fortunately, there was no one on the road at the time, so they didn't have to be worried about colliding with any pedestrians. As a result, Xu Ran simply left them alone.
Xu Ran was secretly measuring how much pigweed he wanted this time in his mind. He also wanted to support two other families in addition to Wu Mei. He seemed to have a lot of work to do this afternoon.
Dahu brought them to a location that was hidden behind a mountain, blocking the sun. It was a desolate area with a lot of wild grass. Xu Ran also came across a number of wild vegetables. He couldn't keep the other kids under hand, so he told Tangtang and Guoguo to take care of them.
Xu Ran had no intention of allowing the kids to work with him, but the kids were rational. They all worked together to find pig Green feed around Xu Ran.
Xu Ran was a fast worker. After all, he'd done it before when he was younger. Despite the fact that his body had changed, he recalled the working technique.
He also divided the edible wild vegetables from the others.
Xu Ran also came across houttuynia cordata, a plant that was beneficial to people's appetites. Its leaves and roots were both edible, but the leaves were past their prime and the roots were nearly identical. The leaves were cut as pigweeds by Xu Ran. "Tangtang, come here," Xu Ran said to Tangtang about the roots.
Tangtang was on the lookout for pigweeds. When he heard Xu Ran calling his name, he dashed over and asked, "Father, yes?"
"Return with Dahu and get a hoe here, Tangtang. I've figured out what we'll eat for dinner."
Despite the fact that Tangtang had no idea what his father was talking about, he ran to find Dahu and returned with him carrying a hoe.
Xu Ran sped up his work on the pigweeds in order to have more time to dig cordate houttuynia. They'd brought two baskets with them. Xu Ran reasoned that three families would require more than two baskets of pig Green feed. He, on the other hand, was unconcerned.
He attempted to fill both baskets first, then proceeded to cut a significant amount of pigweeds and set them aside. If they couldn't bring them back, he figured, they could wait until Liu Tong returned in the evening to carry the others.
It had taken him three hours to get three large baskets of Green feed for pigs, and his hands were tense and aching. However, Xu Ran didn't say anything in front of the children.
He began digging cordate houttuynia with the hoe Tangtang and Dahu had given him. As he worked on digging, he asked the older children to pick them up and put them next to him.
"You're going to pick up the tender ones, Tangtang, Dahu. Toss the rough ones into the pigweed bin, please."
"Got it, dad."
"Yes, Uncle Xu, I got it."
The two children replied in a crisp voice.
The sun had already set by the time they got a ton of cordate houttuynia. In the summer, though, it was getting darker later. And if the sun went down, it would take a long time for it to become dark.
They did not, however, bring anything to transport cordate houttuynia. As a result, Xu Ran went out in search of some longer grass and tied them up one by one. He then told each kids to carry a bunch of cordate houttuynia while he held a basket full of pigweeds.
Guoguo offered to stay and keep an eye on the left pigweeds because Xu Ran was concerned that they would be carried away by someone else.
Xu Ran reasoned that as long as he returned soon, everything would be fine, so he decided and left Liu Qing's dog to keep Guoguo in company.
03.18.21
Here are the words to remember ig:
Xioazi = a man who couldn't bear children, like Xu Ran.
Ge'er = a man who could give birth, such as Liu Tong.
Green Feed = any crop, such as barley, used directly as fodder for animals.
Houttuynia cordata = is a Southeast Asian flowering herb. It's a leaf vegetable that's also been used in traditional Chinese medicine for a long time. However, houttuynia cordata extract has a lot of promise in the cosmetics industry.