Chapter 2 Digging Taro
Liujia Village is built in a small river valley. It is flat in the middle and surrounded by gentle slopes. The slopes are all fields cleared by the villagers.
A small river runs across the village from east to west, and high mountains and dense forests stand around it, forming a natural barrier.
It is not easy for outsiders to come in, and it is also difficult for people inside to go out.
Liu Ji's land can only be seen by going upstream and over a hillside.
Qin Yao walked upstream along the river bank, came to a valley mouth, turned around and went into the mountain.
After surviving in the apocalypse for many years, finding food has become Qin Yao's instinct. In her eyes, the vast forest in front of her is a natural granary.
In autumn, wild animals are at their fattest in order to gain weight for the winter. Moreover, in this mountain, she doesn't have to worry about mutated animals or plants suddenly attacking, nor does she have to be afraid of zombies suddenly rushing out.
However, Qin Yao overestimated her current physical condition. After she had walked into the mountains for just ten minutes, her legs began to become uncontrollable. They trembled with every step, as if they could not support her body and she was ready to fall down at any time.
Qin Yao was startled and quickly found a big tree to lean against. She put down one of the two heavy pottery jars in her hands and picked up the other one to drink.
Her stomach was sour and her brain could hardly think. Looking at the yellow leaves on the branches, she wanted to pluck them off and eat them.
Qin Yao was frightened by her own thoughts. If she continued like this, she would become so hungry that she would lose her mind. She had to find something to eat quickly.
Realizing this, Qin Yao drank all the water in the two small pottery jars in one breath. Although she still couldn't withstand the raging burning sensation, she regained some strength.
There was a rustling sound in her ears. The dim vision could not stop Qin Yao. She immediately grabbed the hoe beside the tree and followed.
However, the other person ran much faster than her.
When the sky brightened, Qin Yao could only watch a fat pheasant fly away from her feet, leaving behind a colorful feather, as if mocking her.
Qin Yao once again cursed Liu Ji in her heart.
If it weren't for this bastard husband who emptied the house and didn't leave a grain of rice, why would she be so hungry that she couldn't even catch a pheasant?
On second thought, if it was so hard for her as an adult, wouldn't it be even harder for the four children at home?
Qin Yao's eyes appeared in the morning mist. The thin necks of the twins and the expectant eyes of Si Niang.
In an instant, strength burst out of her body. She threw away the chicken feather and continued to chase forward.
Fortunately, she didn't catch the pheasant, but she found a large bush of taro.
The villagers here don't know how to deal with it. They will feel itchy all over their body when they touch the taro mucus. They think it is poisonous. Unless it is a famine and people are extremely hungry, no one will dig it up and eat it, so Qin Yao gets it at a bargain.
The bunch of boat-shaped taro leaves grew wide and dense. Qin Yao picked up the hoe and dug a few times, and rolled out several taro the size of a child's fist. They were a variety of multi-seed taro with a better taste.
She was delighted and continued digging. She dug out a lot of taro, and gathered them up with a hoe. It weighed almost twenty pounds.
Not caring about the rest that had not been dug up, Qin Yao picked up firewood on the spot, dug a hole and roasted taro to eat.
Without flint, you can make fire by rubbing two pieces of wood together.
Qin Yao's advice is that ordinary people should not try to make fire by rubbing two sticks together easily, because people without skills will only poke their palms into pieces.
But in the apocalypse when lighters and matches have become scarce resources, making fire by rubbing two sticks together is a necessary skill for the survivors in the base.
The original body's palms were covered with thick calluses. Qin Yao stretched out the sleeves of her linen shirt and wrapped them around her hands for protection. She placed pine needles in the grooved wood as ignition material and quickly turned the pointed wooden stick in her palm.
Soon, under the huge friction, the pine needles began to smoke.
Qin Yao chose the right moment and blew a breath, and the pine needles were ignited with a whoosh.
Put the fire starter on the firewood pile prepared in advance, and the fire started.
This is the outskirts of the forest, with lots of weeds and short trees. To prevent a fire, Qin Yao dug a circular fire-prevention ditch with a hoe and watched it carefully.
The taro was roasted next to the fire, and soon a unique food aroma wafted out.
Qin Yao swallowed her saliva and relied on her strong willpower to wait until the taro was completely cooked. She couldn't wait to pick it up and eat it.
When the skin was torn open, the aroma became stronger. Qin Yao didn't care about the burn and took a bite. The texture was crunchy and soft, with a slight sweetness. It was so hot that tears came to her eyes.
After eating five or six in one breath, the burning stomach felt much better and Qin Yao slowed down.
Twelve taro were roasted, and Qin Yao ate eight of them herself. She didn't dare to eat the remaining four. Her stomach couldn't take it because she had been hungry for a long time and suddenly ate too much.
Put the four roasted ones aside first, dig the soil to put out the fire, and Qin Yao picked up the hoe to continue digging taro.
After filling her stomach, her original strength was restored to about 70% or 80%. She also vaguely felt that her strength ability was slowly recovering.
With a swing of the hoe, the whole handle sank deeply into the soil. With another pry, a large piece of taro with roots and leaves was easily dug out.
If there were someone else here, they would be shocked.
The strength of a weak woman is not inferior to that of a strong adult man.
Qin Yao dug up all the taro and piled it into a small hill, which weighed about 50 to 60 kilograms.
The sun rose, and there were many poisonous insects, mosquitoes and flies in the mountains. Qin Yao didn't dare to stay any longer as she was unprepared.
I found a few vines nearby and made a makeshift net bag to put the dozens of pounds of taro in. I used the hoe as a shoulder pole, carrying one bag on each side. I also tied the pottery jars to the net bag with vines and walked down the mountain towards home.
On the way back to the village, she met villagers working in the fields. When they saw her carrying taro, their eyes were full of sympathy and they sighed in their hearts.
This new Yao Niang is so pitiful. Such a good girl actually married that bastard Liu Lao San and she was so hungry that she ate this poison.
Too miserable!
Qin Yao didn't care about these expressions of sympathy or contempt. She just wanted to go home quickly to see what happened to her four stepchildren.
Although they have survived until now without anyone caring about them, Qin Yao is still worried.
Even in the end times, she had never seen a child so thin. The base had a welfare policy, and although children under the age of six did not have enough to eat, they did not have to worry about starving to death.
Qin Yao took the time to touch the four taro in her arms that were still warm, then quickened her pace and headed towards Liu's house according to the route she remembered.
However, he didn't expect that before he reached the door of the dilapidated thatched hut, he heard angry curses and the frightened cries of children from afar.
Qin Yao's expression was startled. She looked up and saw many people gathered at the door of her house. She could vaguely see the bastard who had disappeared for many days, being chased by several villagers with hoes and sticks.
The eight-year-old Liu Dalang and the six-year-old Liu Erlang wanted to protect their bastard father. The two children rushed to Liu Ji and tried to stop these fierce villagers.
No matter how bad a dad is, he is still a dad after all. Children's love is pure, and their actions are understandable.
But the father's behavior is really puzzling.
Not only did he not stop the two children, nor did he worry about whether they would get hurt, but he suddenly jumped up and hid behind his sons with great skill, asking them to help stop the villagers, waving flags and shouting for them:
"Da Lang, Er Lang, come on, Daddy!"
But this was like hitting a rock with an egg. The two thin boys were pushed away and fell heavily to the ground, twitching in pain.
The twins stood at the door of their home and cried loudly, crying and shouting: "Don't hit my brother, wuwuwu. Don't hit my brother!"
(End of this chapter)