On the Li farm, Mei and Mingde worked hard under the sun, unwaveringly planting and taking care of their crops throughout the day. When the evening came, they would go home to their cozy hut, which by now had her touch as she spent the evening rearranging the home and preparing delicious home-cooked meals. After finishing that, they would each have a shower, followed by a restful night's sleep.
During the day, they made the small shed on the farm into a temporary kitchen, where Mei cooked lunch and as soon as she started cooking the fragrant smell of the food filled the air and Mingde, as usual, sat next to her, helping around the kitchen with small tasks like cutting the vegetables for her and fetching water for he was a good assistant and after a while all the meals were ready and cooking was finished.
Mei never skimped off food as both of them were teenagers and had an enormous appetite, and the hard work of the day made them more hungry.
They had their lunch as that was the favorite time for Mei because they were starving and possibly because the food was very delicious. Mingde stuffed his cheeks, grateful for his sister's sudden magical culinary skills; he was also happy that his sister now involved him in the decision-making for both of them not as before as she just used to do everything without telling him anything. Life has been good nowadays, and he was grateful for his sister's care of both the home and farm and vowed to always do his best to help her.
As she has been saving all the money, she gave him for sweets nowadays. to buy her a hairpin, as she had to sell their mother's hairpin for them.
They threw the kitchen waste into their homemade compost, hoping they would recycle the nutrients into the soil so that their produce would be even healthier
Mei planted her very first row of rice and tuber, as she knew she would soon have a good harvest. To celebrate this, Mingde sent him to town to buy some ingredients and every time she sent him she also gave him coins for sweets and some for transportation while he had to use the cart he saved the sweet money, his sister thought of him as a small boy still but he was now old enough to take good care of her and with that thought he reached the market bought all the items his sister sent him he rented a cart and went back home and once he was back, she prepared delicious rice and pancakes and meat with soup and vegetables. That evening, they ate a variety of meals while sharing stories and laughter and under the stars.
The siblings had a hammock under the enormous tree with a good shed. They made the hammock from their old clothes and a net from a previous farm work. The cozy shelter was their favorite place to take a nap one after the other as one of them had to be awake to look after the plant, and that is how they avoided the scorching afternoon sun as well as closely monitoring their precious crops, keeping the pesky birds and rodents away from their crops.
When birds began pecking at their delicate seedlings, Mei quickly acted, instructing Mingde to string bright tin cans along their garden—a clever method of pest control. With the months passing, the farm kept them extremely busy with both labor and joy.
A quiet evening they saw the weather suddenly change to stormy clouds gathering and Mei, noticing that a rainstorm was on its way, acted straight away. With Mingde, they dug drainage ditches, bracing for the worst, and her instincts proved correct as the rain poured relentlessly throughout the night.
Early the next morning Mei work up and walked out of her room, she inhaled deeply the as scent of petrichor was in the air that was her favorite scent she walked to the kitchen to prepare some meat bun for breakfast as she made all the ingredients last night's , Mingde was wake almost all the night unable to contain his worry and the first thing he he did in the morning was to rush to the fields to check the situation. Relief washed over him as he saw their seedlings thriving, safe from the barrage of last night's rain, thanks to the elevated ground and the ditches they thoughtfully dug. He silently praised Mei for her foresight and protection of their crops.
As the seasons passed and the days went by, Mei devoted herself to creating a herb bed and a rainbow-coloured flower garden. She took care of her plants with love and care, and soon, tiny green sprouts had erupted, a testament to their labor and hard work. She obsessively cared for the delicate saplings, creating a scarecrow of patchwork and bamboo to keep away birds and mice. The routine was nothing but plain, sweet, full of warmth and simple beautiful routines , and filled with warmth.
The daily routine was a harmonious blend of simplicity and purpose. mornings began with breakfast, followed by hours spent tending to their flourishing plants. Throughout the afternoons, they repaired their old hut, restoring its charm. In the evenings, Mei would teach Mingde. Though she wasn't a master of calligraphy, she possessed a wealth of knowledge in other subjects, from history to arithmetic, and loved sharing that with him. Mingde, with his eyes sparkling with curiosity, was always eager to learn, often reminiscing about how their family had once hired a tutor before life had become a struggle.
As the seedlings thrived, Mei recognized pests posed the greatest threat to their budding farm. To combat this challenge, she concocted a potent spray from garlic and chilli nature's remedy, readily available in their surroundings. While their own crops flourished, they prepared to harvest the millet that the original host had planted previously, ready to gather the grains in the coming days, while the stalks later becoming beds for their growing plants.