After the Awakening of Insects, came the spring rain.
A misty drizzle fell silently, shrouding the entire countryside and hilltops in a layer of faint green mist, fluffy and damp.
Song Sancheng had just finished settling the wages for the villagers, and at this moment, smelling the scent of rain and soil outside, a slight smile finally appeared on his face.
"This rain couldn't have come at a better time."
For more than half a month, they had been bustling about every day. Wu Lan had to cook for a large group of people and take care of domestic chores both inside and outside the house.
Song Sancheng had to lead people to weed the fields, clear the hillside, cut trees, trim tree trunks, and also find time to set up the pigsty, chicken coop, and duck shed...
The supply of mushroom spores had just arrived this afternoon, and the plan for tomorrow was to stay home and inoculate the spores without venturing out, which is why he had just settled tens of thousands in wages.
And when he looked again, heavens were looking out for them—It was raining!
Wu Lan sighed with the account book in hand, "Tantan, your sixty thousand yuan is gone now."
"From now on, any expenses will be supported by your dad and me, and you'll have to follow our arrangement." Otherwise, she was really afraid that her daughter would relax her grip and arrange for the money to be spent again.
Tantan did some calculations in her mind—
The piglets hadn't been brought back yet, but the pigsty was already built, so her mom had to spend that money whether she wanted to or not. They needed to buy ducklings, which would also cost money.
They wouldn't buy chicken chicks this year, since grandma's house was incubating them already!
The hillside forest had been cleared, and seeds had been bought. Next, they needed some labor cost for inoculating the mushroom spores, but there shouldn't be any other major expenses!
She nodded and asked the essential question, "Mom, what are we going to eat?"
Wu Lan felt frustrated inside, "No more money, so what to eat?" Go on, take Qiaoqiao with you, and dig up some wild vegetables on the slope!"
"All right!"
The countryside had plenty of slopes with wild vegetables everywhere. Not to mention anything else, just the hollows on the slope behind their house were layered with them.
However, the best season for foraging wild vegetables had not arrived yet, and the quantity might be small at the moment, probably enough for just one or two meals.
Tantan went back to her room to get ready, thought for a moment, and decided to bring her mobile phone stand, "Qiaoqiao, let's go dig up some wild vegetables!"
Song Qiaoqiao had already dashed out of the yard impatiently, "Oh oh! It's raining! I'm going to step in puddles with Pig Mommy!"
However, with the rain misting down, the ground only had a slightly damp feel. Where was the rain?
Qiaoqiao fell silent.
The siblings darted into the woods like monkeys, with Wu Lan shouting from behind, "Pick some wild onions, and when you come back, I'll cook you scrambled eggs with them!"
...
Having grown up in the mountains since children, the brother and sister moved swiftly. In the midst of this, Tantan went to take another look at the rudimentary pigsty behind their hill—
A large shed constructed of wood, covered securely at the top with branches and tarpaulins. Inside, the ground was elevated with stones and, though the straw hadn't been laid yet, it was already looking quite clean and fresh.
Pigs reared this way, with plenty of exercise, would definitely produce delicious meat. But there was a problem: pigs would inevitably defecate indiscriminately every day. With such a large range of movement in the mountains and no way to confine them to a manure pit, Sancheng pondered this issue for a long time.
In the end, he came up with a solution.
While the piglets were still young, they wouldn't be allowed to roam about. The slopes had grass, tree roots, and rocks, which could easily lead to injuries.
At that time, they would make their enclosure a bit smaller, digging a shallow pit into which they would gradually throw the pig manure. Over time, the pigs would learn where to relieve themselves.
Once they adapted to the habit, the area could be expanded step by step...
Whether it would work or not, Sancheng was raising pigs in the mountains for the first time and was willing to try. If nothing else, it just meant a bit more effort spent shoveling manure daily. Eventually, it could be fermented and used as fertilizer all the same.
They passed through the stretch of woods to a gentle slope on the middle of the back hill where sprouts of lush little greens were beginning to emerge.
Qiaoqiao was already pointing at a large bunch of lush wild onions: "Sis! Fry them with eggs!"
Wild onions, also known as sand onions or mountain garlic, are much finer than common onions and garlic, even more delicate than leeks. Every time their family ate this, Qiaoqiao's task was to select and wash them, hence the strong impression.
Song Tan looked at them and also hesitated: "These wild onions are growing so well, do we fry them with eggs at noon, or do we stew them with carp?"
But no matter what, the first thing was to pluck them.
It wasn't just the wild onions, there was also a cluster of newly grown shepherd's purse by the side of the forest, still small but definitely enough for a dish.
Next was the shepherd's needles, there were plenty of those, both large and small, and Qiaoqiao already took off happily with the shovel.
However... in the end, there was too little to show, the mobile device was useless, there wasn't anything worth capturing.
She sighed, then suddenly thought of something—
What was the going rate for wild vegetables these days?
...
The siblings went out and after one or two hours of hustle, Wu Lan took the basket of vegetables and puzzledly said, "Did you guys also go to the pond's edge?"
"Yes, yes!"
Qiaoqiao's sleeves were half wet, which clearly showed that he had had a good time playing in the water.
Wu Lan flipped through the wild vegetables brought back: "This watercress is tender indeed, hope you didn't pick them just as they sprouted—how are we going to eat them?"
Song Tan thought for a moment, decisively choosing between mixing with shredded chicken and stewing in fish soup: "Cold mixed with shredded chicken!"
Shredded chicken required chicken breast, and where could one buy just the chicken breast in the village?
Wu Lan ignored her: "Okay, then I'll go fry some Sichuan pepper oil, we'll have it cold mixed at noon. These past few days we've been treating guests to rich dishes, it'll be good to eat something lighter."
"How come there's purslane? Only this handful? Then let's mix it together later."
There was a good amount of wild onions, and seeing how neatly they were arranged, it must have been Qiaoqiao who cleaned them up while playing in the water by the pond.
Wu Lan looked quite satisfied:
"Just right, the carp we caught last time has thawed, let's make some soup, and the rest we can stir-fry for a pork dish. Otherwise, eating only cold dishes in this weather is too chilly."
Finally, there was the thick layer of shepherd's needles at the bottom, Wu Lan decisively made arrangements: "Perfect for making dumplings tonight!"
Song Tan, who wasn't cooking, had no say in the matter, and she was quite looking forward to it anyway.
She then brought up another matter:
"Mom, the weather is warming up, and after this rain, wild vegetables will surely grow like crazy. What if I dig up more tomorrow and sell them in the city on the bus?"
This time, Wu Lan really saw her in a new light: "Are you planning to set up a street stall? Have you ever been to the vegetable market?"
Song Tan understood what she meant—her past self would certainly have been too shy and reserved to go through with it.
But now...
After mucking about for half a month since her return, all the money had been spent. If she didn't produce some results soon, who knows how much talking she'd need to do for the next grant application?
Besides, she had channeled quite a bit of Spiritual Energy to the hillside pond taking advantage of the spring rain; she should be able to harvest dozens of pounds tomorrow at least!
Isn't this a chance to test the waters of the market?
So she patted her chest: "Don't worry! I'll definitely manage it tomorrow!"
Song Sancheng had been silent throughout, but at this, he finally chimed in: "The bus leaves at six o'clock in the morning, and it'll take a big round through the town before reaching the city, almost nine o'clock. Who would be buying vegetables at that time?"
"How about this, Tantan, you pack the vegetables tomorrow afternoon, leave early in the morning, and I'll take you to the road junction on my motorbike. From the junction, you can catch the van right to the market, just in time for the morning rush."