Accidentally-Born-C28

Chapter 28

The weather gradually warmed up, and the mountain began to show green. Various wild vegetables started to sprout. In the old Li family’s yard, where the little chickens usually liked to play, a layer of fine wild vegetables grew. The little chickens were happily pecking at them every day.

“Li Mingzhong!” Zhenzhen called out in a sweet voice, and immediately a little black dog jumped out of its doghouse, wagging its tail and circling around Zhenzhen.

“Alright, alright, stop spinning, you’ll trip me up,” Zhenzhen said, patting Li Mingzhong’s head. Li Mingzhong, satisfied, rubbed against Zhenzhen’s little hand, tightly pressing his body against her small leg, looking content.

“Let’s go and check on the chicken soup and braised pork,” Zhenzhen said. The little chickens had grown a lot by now and no longer ate millet. Wang Sufen had chopped up a lot of wild vegetables and mixed them with cornmeal to make chicken feed. Although the food was already good, Zhenzhen occasionally gave them a little extra wild game to make the chicken meat even tastier.

The chickens, now with full feathers, had passed the ugly “bald chicken” phase. Grandma Li carefully examined them and found that out of the ten chicks, eight were hens, which was a very high proportion.

It was the best time of day, with the sun shining brightly. Three old hens led the little chicks, pecking at the grass in the yard. Zhenzhen walked over with Li Mingzhong, and as soon as the big chickens and little chicks saw her, they stopped pecking and stood still in place.

Zhenzhen started her daily roll call: “Stewed chicken!” “cluck cluck!” “Radish stewed chicken!” “cluck cluck…”

After listing all the dishes she wanted to eat, Zhenzhen wiped her mouth and looked at them eagerly. “Eat more grass and bugs, this way the eggs will taste better, and the meat will be more delicious, understand?”

“cluck cluck…” The chickens, with brains no bigger than a fingertip, had been somewhat scared when they were named initially by Zhenzhen, but after days of talking to them, they had become accustomed to it. They had been completely brainwashed, except for the occasional rebuttal from “Radish Stewed Chicken,” who would protest, “I don’t like the taste of radishes!”

“Why are you so picky?” Zhenzhen glanced at it. “I know Radish stewed chicken isn’t that tasty.” She looked around to make sure no one was listening, then lowered her voice and said, “But I can’t name you ‘Spicy Chicken,’ can I? No one here eats that dish. We can’t have it exposed, right? Just deal with it, it’s only a name, I might not even stew you with radishes. Maybe you’ll end up as braised chicken pieces.”

“Braised chicken pieces are fine, smells good!” “Radish Stewed Chicken” clucked enthusiastically, clearly in agreement.

“Alright, alright, from now on, you’ll be called Braised Chicken Pieces.” Zhenzhen waved her hand. “A rooster who can’t lay eggs, and you’re still so troublesome.” “Braised Chicken Pieces” looked at her pitifully and then returned to its position, waiting for Zhenzhen to feed it extra food.

A few earthworms emerged from the ground, splitting into ten portions. The chicks rushed forward and quickly swallowed their share. The three adult egg-laying hens, watching the chicks eat so deliciously, tilted their heads and waited for their portion.

At that moment, a dozen locusts appeared out of nowhere, flying and hopping to the three old hens. The hens squawked and each caught one, quickly swallowing them. The scene made the nearby chicks’ mouths water. Braised Chicken Pieces tried to grab one of the locusts but couldn’t get a good grip. It pecked at it for a while but couldn’t swallow much. In an instant, a group of little chicks surrounded it, each pecking a bit, and within moments, the locust was completely devoured.

“Woof woof, looks really tasty,” Li Mingzhong’s voice echoed in Zhenzhen’s mind.

Zhenzhen looked at Li Mingzhong in shock. “You want to eat locusts too? Why is your food variety so rich?”

Li Mingzhong looked at Zhenzhen pitifully. “I want to eat chicken.”

“No way.” Zhenzhen stood up and led Li Mingzhong to the backyard. “Grandma says little dogs can’t eat chicken, it’s easy for chicken bones to get stuck in your throat.”

“Why can’t I eat meat?” Li Mingzhong eagerly licked Zhenzhen’s little hand, wagging his tail hard.

“I heard dogs eating chicken makes their bones soft?” Zhenzhen said uncertainly. “Anyway, Grandma said you can’t eat chicken.” Li Mingzhong immediately drooped, and Zhenzhen, feeling a bit sorry, patted his back and pointed at the braised pork eating pig food. “Wait until the end of the year when we make braised pork, you can eat that. It smells even better.”

The braised pork, happily eating the pig feed, didn’t notice anyone approach. But when it heard the familiar voice and familiar words, it quickly froze and dropped to the ground in fear.

“This braised pork is still so timid even after two months,” Zhenzhen sighed, shaking her head as she peered into the pen.

“Why don’t you stop scaring it? What if it stops tasting good because of you?” Li Mingzhong, looking at the braised pork with eager eyes, ran to the pen, staring longingly, as if ready to take a bite. The braised pork, terrified, began to run away, its four legs scrambling to escape.

“Li Mingzhong, come back!” Zhenzhen called out. “Who’s scaring it? Look what you’ve done to it.” Li Mingzhong quickly ran back, wagging his tail happily.

Zhenzhen patted Li Mingzhong’s head and led him to the tomato field. Braised pork, after looking around and realizing no one was near, immediately forgot its previous fear and began to devour the food with enthusiasm.

After the New Year, as the snow and ice melted and the days gradually warmed up, Beicha resumed its food and supply deliveries. The Li family no longer relied on the supply grains. They had plenty of white flour, rice, cornmeal, and sorghum, and their cellar was stocked with cabbage and potatoes. Now, they mostly hoped for pork and fresh vegetables to vary their meals.

Trucks filled with grains rolled in, and Li Muwu couldn’t stay idle at home. His job was to carry the bags of grain to the warehouse and then move them to the storefront when it was time to sell. Each month, he earned over forty yuan, enough to support the whole family.

When Li Muwu was busy, the four children were all in school. Mingdong only returned from Ice City once every six months, and Mingxi was in Yidong, only coming home once a month. The remaining Mingnan and Mingbei came back every day, but by then, it was already dark, and they couldn’t help with the farm work. Therefore, the farming relied on Grandma Li and Wang Sufen alone.

At first, both Grandma Li and Wang Sufen were worried. After the winter, the ground had frozen hard and would take a while to thaw in the spring. Digging up the land was going to be extra difficult. But no matter how tough it was, they had to get to work. Over the past couple of years, the family had managed to avoid hunger thanks to this land and Zhenzhen’s clever methods, and they couldn’t afford to slack off just because they had some stockpiled grain now.

Leaving the household chores to Guihua, Zhenzhen also told her to keep an eye on things. Grandma Li and Wang Sufen each took a hoe, packed their supplies, and prepared to go up the mountain. As soon as Zhenzhen saw them, she immediately rushed to hug Grandma Li’s leg, shaking her head and trying to act cute. “I want to go too, I want to go too.”

Wang Sufen quickly stepped forward and gently pulled Zhenzhen’s hand, coaxing her, “Darling, Grandma and Mom have a lot of work to do up there. There’s nothing on the mountain right now, you really can’t come.”

Zhenzhen blinked her eyes, her face full of grievance. “I promise I’ll be good.”

Wang Sufen helplessly looked at Grandma Li, who smiled and shook her head. “Our girl is a wild one, she’ll go anywhere—up the mountain, down to the river, but she just won’t stay inside.”

Zhenzhen giggled and ran ahead, not forgetting to call out, “Li Mingzhong, keep up!”

Watching her granddaughter run ahead with the dog, Grandma Li quickly caught up, while Wang Sufen hurried to bring the equipment they needed for the mountain. Then they both set off to catch up with Zhenzhen.

This Zhenzhen, aside from her smooth talking, was most admired by the family for her boundless energy. While other families’ children of her size would cry and demand to be carried or held after walking for a while, Zhenzhen rarely asked to be held once she could walk. Her little legs moved faster than anyone else’s.

The three generations of the family climbed the mountain. Wang Sufen was worried about the rough mountain path and feared Zhenzhen might fall, but Zhenzhen managed the climb as well as she did on flat ground. While she wasn’t exactly walking as if it were smooth ground, it was close enough. By now, Zhenzhen had been walking for almost half an hour. Wang Sufen was afraid she might be getting too tired but still insisted on carrying her on her back, and they finally reached their land.

Last fall, after the harvest, the family focused on drying grain, pickling vegetables, and making sauces, while also preparing for the wedding of Mingdong. So, the land hadn’t been attended to. At this moment, half-dried corn stalks and sorghum stems were still sticking out of the ground, completely dried and yellow from the winter wind and snow. Wang Sufen looked around, found a wooden stake, and laid down a small mattress on top of it, placing Zhenzhen gently on it.

At this time, Grandma Li had already reached the field. She stomped her feet, tested the soil’s hardness, then swung a hoe and dug down hard. She expected to dig at least 4 or 5 centimeters into the ground, but to her surprise, after using all her strength, she only managed to pull up a bit of dirt, nearly losing her balance.

Wang Sufen handed the water bottle to Zhenzhen, turned around just in time to see what had happened, and rushed over to support Grandma Li. “Mother, are you okay? Did you hurt your waist?”

“I’m fine! I’m fine!” Grandma Li waved her hand. “Last year was colder than usual, the ground is frozen too hard. If it doesn’t work, we can let the ground thaw some more. We’re not in a rush to plant.”

Wang Sufen helped Grandma Li sit next to Zhenzhen, reluctantly picking up the hoe again. “Mother, sit and rest. I’ll try and see if I can turn the soil.”

Wang Sufen had only taken a couple of steps when the ground suddenly trembled slightly. Li Mingzhong jumped in fear, arching his back and letting out low growls. Before Wang Sufen could react, the ground before them began to turn on its own. The leftover corn stalks and other debris scattered on the surface fell to the ground, quickly turning into ashes and merging with the earth, turning into fertilizer.

In just one or two minutes, the ground returned to stillness. Wang Sufen stood frozen for a long while before dropping the hoe and running to the field. She grabbed a handful of black soil and squeezed it in her hand. Fine soil slipped through her fingers.

“This is turned so finely.” Wang Sufen tested the depth with the hoe, and it was perfectly suitable for planting crops.

Grandma Li, looking at Zhenzhen, who was sitting nearby with a smile, couldn’t help but ask, “What’s going on here?”

“Aren’t we turning the soil?” Zhenzhen said innocently. “The soil’s turned, Grandma. Let’s go play on the mountain.”

“Has it all been turned already?” Wang Sufen threw the hoe down and ran over. She couldn’t help but look back, feeling that everything before her seemed unreal. “This is too fast. If it was just me and Mother, we’d have been at it for a month.”

With the ability to control plants and animals, it seemed like automatically turning the soil was acceptable. Grandma Li and Wang Sufen’s minds had become incredibly strong after enduring wave after wave of surprises from Zhenzhen, and they were now somewhat numb to it.

Grandma Li even forgot about her aching waist and walked around the field again. She turned back to look at Zhenzhen and said, “Why do I feel like our field has gotten bigger?”

Zhenzhen smiled at Grandma Li, casually untied the snack bag that Wang Sufen had sewn for her, and grabbed a handful of dried blueberries to eat. After popping a few into her mouth, Zhenzhen suddenly remembered something. She jumped off the wooden stake and, before Grandma Li and Wang Sufen could react, they saw a blueberry bush beside their field quickly sprouting and bearing fruit. By the time Zhenzhen ran over, she had just picked the ripe berries.

She stuffed the blueberries into her mouth and exclaimed, “Delicious!”

Zhenzhen picked a handful of blueberries and handed them to Grandma Li and Wang Sufen. She also tossed one to Li Mingzhong, who was staring at the blueberry bush in confusion. Li Mingzhong instinctively opened his mouth and chewed on the blueberry, forgetting what he had been bothered about earlier. He simply stuck out his tongue and circled around Zhenzhen, waiting to be fed again.

After eating cabbage, potatoes, and pickled vegetables all winter, having fresh blueberries to eat made Zhenzhen happy, and even Grandma Li and Wang Sufen found it appetizing. They happily shared the blueberries. Wang Sufen took out a handkerchief and poured some water from the kettle. The three of them washed their hands and wiped their mouths. Grandma Li was a little worried, though. They had only been out for less than an hour, and the field was already turned. There was nowhere else to go. They couldn’t sit in the field all day.

Zhenzhen patted her little belly, tugged on Grandma Li’s hand, and said in a childish voice, “Let’s go play on the mountain.”

Grandma Li hesitated for a moment, glancing into the deep mountain. “What’s so fun in there? What if we run into a black bear?”

“Let’s go!” Zhenzhen insisted, pulling Grandma Li’s hand and dragging her forward.

The temperature on the mountain was a bit lower than outside, and at this time, wild vegetables and mushrooms had just started to sprout, so there wasn’t much to eat. Therefore, there weren’t many people on the mountain.

Zhenzhen led Li Mingzhong, skipping ahead. From time to time, beautiful wildflowers would suddenly grow along the roadside. Zhenzhen picked them casually, holding them in her hand. Li Mingzhong, who had never been out like this before, ran ahead, shaking his head and looking happier than Zhenzhen.

Grandma Li and Wang Sufen didn’t know where they were going, so they could only follow behind Zhenzhen. Luckily, Zhenzhen didn’t lead them too far up the mountain before stopping. She sensed that there was no one else in the red pine forest at that moment, so she pulled Grandma Li behind a red pine tree. Grandma Li immediately spotted ginseng leaves growing behind it and froze. “Oh, it has six leaves, so it looks like an old ginseng.”

Grandma Li looked around, picked a smooth branch, and carefully approached the ginseng leaves.