Her Cultivation Diary-Chapter 54 - : 54. A dish_1
Chapter 54: 54. A dish_1
Online, the pastoral life is poetic and romantic.
In reality, the rural life spins like a top.
71-year-old Song Youde got up just after five o’clock.
As the sky was just beginning to brighten, he expertly slipped into his old-style army green shoes, grabbed a large basket, and headed straight for the distant fields.
The milk vetch in the early morning grew exceptionally lush and vibrant, its verdant greenery also dappled with glistening dewdrops. A light fog hung over the low-lying fields, and even during the dimly lit morning, the scene was still romantic.
However, as an old farmer, Song Youde had seen this sight all his life, and at this moment, he had no inclination to admire it, focusing instead on bending over and swiftly, accurately, and fiercely picking large handfuls of milk vetch.
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Handfuls of milk vetch were packed into the basket, and just when it was about to overflow, those aged hands pressed it down hard.
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Not until the basket was heavy did he straighten up, satisfied, and slowly make his way home with the basket slung over his shoulder.
By now, it was just after six o’clock.
A wisp of smoke was already rising from his home.
Wang Lifan had aged, her back now slightly hunched, but this did not affect her efficiency.
At this moment, she was already seated in front of the large stove, having lit a fire and cooked a large pot of pig feed.
Pumpkin, sweet potato, corn, rice bran, and wheat bran churned together inside, releasing a sweet fragrance into the air.
This pig feed was intended for the five little pigs up on the mountain.
Normally, it wouldn’t be the old couple’s job to do this, but their son and daughter-in-law were also incredibly busy every day, barely touching the ground with their feet. Considering they were old and slept less, finding themselves awake early, they thought cooking the pig feed wouldn’t be too much effort.
And so, they took over this task.
Song Youde came over, picked up a large shovel, and stirred the feed, watching as it neared readiness, and then mixed in large handfuls of milk vetch directly into the pot. Just a quick blanching released an enticing aroma.
The piglets were still young, and since it was cool in the morning, Song Youde didn’t dare let them eat plants wet with dew.
Wang Lifan put out the fire in the stove and couldn’t help but give her nose a little wrinkle:
“Our Tantan should just come back home to farm, look at the good fortune from the heavens!”
“Everything grows better when she’s back.”
“During New Year’s I felt like nothing had flavor, I just couldn’t get excited about anything I ate, but I don’t know if it’s because I’m working more or the food is just that delicious, I’ve been having such a good appetite every day, always hungry on time!”
The old lady sighed with a smile, “It’s the fate of the poor, not able to enjoy the comforts of life even when there’s no work to do.”
Song Youde nodded too, “I feel it as well, I used to cough a lot when it got cold, but I’ve been noticeably more comfortable lately.”
Wang Lifan’s smiling face faded away:
“Throw away that tobacco pipe around your waist, and I guarantee you’ll feel even more comfortable in your lungs.”
Song Youde: …
What’s the purpose of living a life, right?
There are some habits he can’t give up.
The stubborn and irresponsible old man pretended not to hear her, holding onto such thoughts.
He ladled the cooked pig feed into a bucket nearby using a gourd dipper, and while waiting for the feed to cool down, he took the remaining milk vetch from the basket and squatted in front of the chopping board in the courtyard, chopping it vigorously with a “swish swish swish.”
After the milk vetch was finely chopped and mixed with crushed corn and a bit of millet, Song Sancheng also came over.
He shouldered a carrying pole, with a large bucket of pig feed on each end, and then added the finely cut wild vegetables on top.
He also cautioned,
“Dad, could you find some time this morning to go around the back mountain and check if the chicken and duck coops need anything else?”
“Tantan bought over a hundred ducklings yesterday. They’ll be cooped up at home for a few days before we let them out on the mountain.”
Wang Lifan also remembered, “We have ducklings now? That’s great, my chicks have hatched too, and after raising them for a few days they seem pretty robust—about seventy or eighty of them. I’ll have your dad bring them over later.”
Song Sancheng wasn’t the least bit shy. He picked up the carrying pole and even instructed the old lady, “Mom, make some breakfast later, Tantan’s party went into the fields early in the morning to gather Milk Vetch; they probably won’t have time for breakfast.”
One hundred pounds!
Wang Lifan couldn’t help but be astounded: “These days, life is really different from before. There are more wealthy people, and they’re willing to spend on good food.”
But thinking about the taste of Milk Vetch—just looking at those pigs grunting hungrily in the mountains, fighting over food as if they hadn’t eaten in eight hundred years, one would know it must be delicious!
However, the old lady wasn’t content to stay home tending to the stove; she put on some airs:
“Let’s just eat something simple this morning. I’ll boil some dumplings and make a vegetable pancake with this Milk Vetch, then I have to eat quickly; I need to go up the mountain to pick tea leaves!”
The tea plants have grown so well, incomparably stronger than before!
The four people they hired yesterday each picked over five pounds.
But the old lady, being advanced in age, with failing eyesight and slower hands, had harvested less than four pounds, which left her privately chagrined.
That’s one hundred yuan a day!
The old lady was seriously making a career out of this.
Song Sancheng was helpless:
“Mom, look at you working so hard at our own family chores. Tantan has long said he’d pay you both a salary, but neither of you will accept it…”
Song Youde snorted: “Just doing some farm work, why the need for a salary? What, can’t I eat the crops I helped grow or what?”
The older they get, the more childish they become. Sometimes, a single wrong word could lead to a quarrel between the old couple.
Song Sancheng decided it was best to keep quiet. Right now, he picked up his carrying pole and off he went to the back mountain, swaying leisurely.
Ah, how can one say these days haven’t been fruitful!
Because of his age, he used to find carrying a pole somewhat strenuous on the back. Now, it’s a different story; he’s spry and quick-footed like a young man!
The path to the back mountain had been slightly smoothed out by their frequent use these past days; it’s now steady underfoot.
The piglets seemed to have heard him from a distance; their cries from within the pigpen grew even louder and more piercing, as though they were undergoing some unbearable torment.
Song Sancheng could remember how, in the past, the pigs would also cry around feeding time, but their cries were nothing like the clamor of today.
This is also why they cooled the pig feed at home to the right temperature before carrying it up the mountain.
It’s simply because the pigs eat as if they’re starving, totally disregarding the feed’s temperature.
As he poured the thick feed into the trough and watched the five little pigs jostle and compete, snorting as they ate, a look of fascinated amusement spread across Song Sancheng’s face.
He watched for a while, then wandered around the already-well-built chicken and duck coops nearby, not noticing anything else that needed doing. He would wait for the old man to have a look later.
The chickens and ducks just needed to grow a little bigger, and then they could be moved to the mountain at any time.
But before that, it wasn’t enough to just enclose the mountain with a net; they also needed a couple more dogs as guards.
Reliance on Big White and the three new local pups they’d recently taken in…
Ah, they wouldn’t be enough for a decent meal!
As he pondered, he suddenly heard someone shouting from the foot of the mountain: “Sancheng! Are you home?”
