Chapter 16

After the Awakening of Insects comes the spring rain.

A misty drizzle falls silently, covering the entire field and mountain top in a faint, misty green color, fuzzy and damp.

Song Sancheng has just finished settling the wages for the villagers, and smelling the scent of rain and soil outside, a smile finally appears on his face.

"This rain comes at just the right time."

It's been over half a month; they have been busy every day. Until Wu Lan has to cook for a large group of people and tidy up inside and outside the house.

Song Sancheng has to lead people to weed the fields, weed the hillsides, cut trees, trim trunks, and find time to build pigsties, chicken coops, and duck sheds...

The mushroom spawn delivery only arrived this afternoon, and he planned to stay home tomorrow to inoculate the spawn. He just settled tens of thousands in wages.

Looking again, Heaven is taking care of them: it's raining!

Until Wu Lan sighs while holding the account book: "Tan Tan, your sixty thousand yuan is gone."

"If you need to spend money later, that will be supported by your dad and me; you have to listen to our arrangements." Otherwise, she's really afraid that if she loosens her grip, she'll arrange it all away again.

Song Tan calculates in her heart—

The piglets haven't been brought back yet, but the pigsty is built; her mom has to pay this money whether she wants to or not. Ducklings need to be bought, so she has to pay for that too.

She won't buy chicks this year; Grandma's place is hatching them!

The hillsides and woodlands are all cleared, the seeds are all bought, and the next step is to pay for the labor to inoculate the mushroom spawn; there are no other expenses!

She nods and asks the key question: "Mom, what are we eating?"

Until Wu Lan feels stifled: "No money left, what are we eating? Go, take Qiao Qiao and go dig wild vegetables on the hillside!"

"Alright!"

There are really too many hillsides with wild vegetables in the countryside. Not to mention anything else, in the low-lying land on the hillside behind their house, they are layer upon layer.

However, the season most suitable for digging wild vegetables hasn't arrived yet; I'm afraid the quantity isn't large now, just enough for them to eat for one or two meals.

Song Tan returns to her room to tidy up, thinks for a moment, and brings her phone stand: "Qiao Qiao, let's go dig wild vegetables!"

Song Qiao has already rushed out of the courtyard impatiently: "Oh oh! It's raining! I want to step in the water with Mother Pig!"

However, this rain is misty, and the ground only feels a bit damp; where is the rain?

Qiao Qiao is silent.

The siblings dash into the mountain forest like monkeys, with Until Wu Lan shouting from behind: "Pull a handful of wild onions, come back and stir-fry eggs for you!"

Both grew up in the mountains, so the siblings move quickly. In the middle, Song Tan goes to take another look at the rough pigsty on the back mountain—

A large shed built with wood, the top pressed tightly with branches and rainproof cloth, the inside padded high with stones; the straw hasn't been spread yet, but it already looks quite fresh and clean.

Raising pigs like this means a lot of activity, so the pork will definitely be delicious. But there is also a problem: the pigs will definitely poop and pee everywhere every day, and the range of activity in the mountains is too large, so there's no way to enclose a manure pit for them. Song Sancheng has been pondering this for a long time.

However, he finally thought of something.

When the piglets are still small, don't let them run around everywhere, otherwise, there are grass, tree roots, and stones on the hillside, making it easy to get injured.

At this time, first make their enclosure a bit smaller, dig a shallow pit, and slowly throw the pig manure into it. Slowly, the pigs will know where to poop.

Once the habit is formed, expand the range step by step as they get bigger...

Whether it works or not, Song Sancheng is raising pigs on the mountain for the first time, so let's try it! At worst, it will take more effort to shovel poop on the mountain every day, and it can be used as fertilizer when it ferments.

Bypassing this forest, they reach a gentle slope halfway up the back mountain, where small green grasses have already begun to sprout all over the ground.

Qiao Qiao is already pointing at a large cluster of green wild onions: "Sister! Stir-fry eggs!"

Wild onions, also called sand onions or mountain garlic. They are much thinner and smaller than ordinary onions and garlic, not even as thick as chives. Every time the family eats this, Qiao Qiao's task is to pick and wash them, so he has a deep impression.

Song Tan looks at them and is also a bit hesitant: "These wild onions are growing so well, should we stir-fry eggs for lunch? Or stew crucian carp?"

But regardless, pull them first.

Not only are there wild onions, but there is also a cluster of newly sprouted shepherd's purse by the forest edge. They are a bit small, but they will definitely be enough for a plate.

Next is shepherd's purse; there is quite a lot of this, big and small. Qiao Qiao is already happily shoveling them with a trowel.

However... the stuff is just too little, and the phone equipment was brought in vain; there is nothing worth filming.

She sighs and suddenly thinks of another thing—

Wild vegetables, what is the price for them now?

The siblings go out for a trip, tossing about for an hour or two. Until Wu Lan takes the vegetable basket and asks puzzledly: "Did you go to the pond side too?"

"Yes, yes!"

Qiao Qiao's sleeves are more than half wet; one look and you know he had a great time playing in the water.

Until Wu Lan flips through the wild vegetables brought back: "This watercress is quite tender, don't tell me you pinched them all just as they sprouted—how do we eat this?"

Song Tan thinks for a moment and makes a decisive choice between shredded chicken salad and fish soup: "Shredded chicken salad!"

Shredded chicken needs chicken breast; who sells chicken breast separately in the village?

Until Wu Lan ignores her: "That's fine, I'll fry some Sichuan peppercorn oil, and we'll have a cold salad at noon. We've been serving big fish and meat to guests these past few days, so it's good to have something light."

"Why is there purslane here too? Just this handful? Then we'll mix it together later."

There are quite a lot of wild onions; looking at their neat appearance, it must be that Qiao Qiao cleaned them while playing in the water by the pond.

Until Wu Lan looks basically satisfied:

"It just so happens that the crucian carp caught last time has thawed, so let's stew a soup, and stir-fry the rest with twice-cooked pork, otherwise eating only cold dishes in this weather is too cold."

Finally, there is a thick layer of shepherd's purse at the bottom. Until Wu Lan makes a decisive arrangement: "Just right for making dumplings tonight!"

Song Tan, who doesn't cook, has no right to be picky, and besides, she is quite looking forward to it.

She brings up another matter:

"Mom, the weather is warm recently. I see that after this rain, the wild vegetables will definitely grow like crazy. Why don't I dig more tomorrow and take the bus to sell them in the city?"

This time, Until Wu Lan is truly impressed: "You're going to set up a street stall? Have you ever been to a vegetable market?"

Song Tan understands what she means—if it were the old her, she would definitely be thin-skinned and unable to let go.

Now, well...

She's been back for half a month, and the money is all spent. If she doesn't achieve some results, who knows how much effort it will take to apply for funding next time?

Moreover, taking advantage of this spring rain, she channeled quite a bit of spiritual energy to the hillside pond; she should be able to harvest tens of jin tomorrow no matter what!

Isn't this just testing the market first?

So she pats her chest: "Don't worry! I'll definitely be fine tomorrow!"

Song Sancheng hasn't said a word, but hearing this, he adds: "The bus leaves at six in the morning and has to go around the town, so it's almost nine by the time it reaches the city. How many people will be buying vegetables then?"

"How about this: Tan Tan, you tidy up the vegetables tomorrow afternoon, leave early in the morning, and I'll ride the motorcycle to take you to the intersection, where you can catch a van, just in time for the morning vegetable market."