Chapter 57 - 56: Cultivating a Vegetable Patch

Chapter 57: Chapter 56: Cultivating a Vegetable Patch

How big was twenty square meters? In reality, it was about the size of an average living room.

But after working from dawn until noon, the mud caked onto Huai Yu’s boots grew thicker and thicker. She began to suspect there was something wrong with this plot of land. "Why is it so incredibly huge?!" she cried in frustration.

Lacking the strength to swing a hoe, she had to rely on her body weight to drive the shovel down into the dirt. After just a few thrusts, she was already exhausted. Now, looking at the large expanse of overturned soil, her hands and feet were hot and aching.

The ground was still damp, making every shovelful heavy. The weeds had only just sprouted tender, light-green shoots, but beneath the surface, their roots were a densely woven, crisscrossing maze. They acted like a net, gripping the surrounding soil and water tightly, rendering the dirt compact and waterlogged. Every time she managed to dig up a clump, she had to beat and smash it apart just to extract the roots and toss them aside.

The ground appeared level now because it had been deliberately flattened during the original planning of Rose Mansion. Beneath the surface, however, lurked gravel and rocks. If her multi-purpose shovel hadn’t been of decent quality, she would have undoubtedly lost another chunk of points replacing it.

Fortunately, after a whole morning of hard work, the square patch of land before her was finally completely overturned. However, she couldn’t rush to build ridges just yet. With winter having just passed, the soil was likely harboring insect eggs and bacteria. Wiping away her sweat and looking up at the glaring sun, Huai Yu decided to leave the earth exposed to bake for a couple of days.

Besides... she was hungry.

Eating three meals a day was perfectly normal, but on the day she first woke up, a single pouch of nutrient fluid had been enough to keep her full. Later, while frantically building her shelter, she had to grit her teeth through a lot of grueling labor, yet she only ate twice a day—once in the morning and once at night.

Yet now, even though the work wasn’t as strenuous as before, she already needed three meals a day. Was it because her diet lacked variety, or were the nutrient fluids truly that rich in sustenance? Thinking of the foul-tasting fluid, she fell into an agonizing internal struggle.

She looked down at her slender, pale wrists. They were truly spindly, entirely devoid of aesthetic appeal. It was only because her skin was naturally fair with a healthy underlying rosiness that she didn’t look completely emaciated and malnourished. At the same time, Zhou Qian’s words echoed in her ears: "Eat more. You look like a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old..."

Huai Yu fell deep into thought.

She was certain she was older than sixteen or seventeen, but everyone she had met so far instinctively addressed her as a minor. Little sister, kiddo, little girl... Even her own reactions were strange. Subconsciously, she considered herself an adult, yet when faced with others, respectful terms like "Uncle," "Brother," "Sister," and "Auntie" slipped out effortlessly.

This wasn’t right.

She racked her brain until her stomach was rumbling, but she couldn’t figure out the reason. It couldn’t be that she used to be a robust, sweet-talking peasant woman in her past life, right?

"Hey, that wouldn’t be so bad," she muttered. "At least I’d have farming experience now."

Sighing helplessly, Huai Yu dropped the subject. She couldn’t afford to think anymore; her empty stomach was making her dizzy with hunger! Tossing all distracting thoughts aside, she quickly grabbed her pot and headed to the new stove in the thatched shed. The weather was warming up, so from now on, she could cook out here during the day.

For lunch, she would make dough drop soup with pickled bracken! But after a moment’s hesitation, she ultimately pulled out a pouch of nutrient fluid and began to drink it, grimacing in agony.

After lunch, Huai Yu went into the treehouse for an inspection. Since the house currently consisted only of a frame, the moisture was drying out much faster. Standing inside, she could no longer feel any dampness in the air. She estimated that by tomorrow at the latest, it would be thoroughly dry.

The only disobedient elements were the wisteria vines. Lacking experience when she first accelerated their growth, Huai Yu had allowed their roots to anchor too deeply. Even though the trunks used for the framework were no longer receiving nutrients, new wisteria sprouts were shooting up around the edges of the treehouse, right at the base of the pillars.

Huai Yu stared at them for a long time before finally deciding to leave them be. After all, they were obedient enough; their roots were anchored here, but their buds were sprouting away from the living space. Plus, once they grew larger, they might even help the pillars bear the weight of the thatched roof, making the structure even sturdier.

She went further inside to check on her basin of bean sprouts. They had overgrown, and it was no longer possible to keep them covered. Even though she had placed them behind the green bricks for shade, the ambient heat from the sun had still spurred their rapid growth. Now, they had turned into a thick cluster of tender bean seedlings.

If only she had some hotpot base right now.

Huai Yu practically started drooling at the thought, but she didn’t dare dwell on it. Although the mildly spicy dish she had eaten that morning was delicious, it had left her stomach aching faintly for a while afterward. Her body was still far too fragile. It seemed she would have to be more careful with spicy food in the future.

But even if she couldn’t boil the bean seedlings in a hotpot, making some pork crackling and vegetable porridge for dinner should be fine, right? She didn’t have eggs, meat, or sauce. If she did, rolling these greens up in a wrap would be absolutely scrumptious...

Huai Yu lay down on her bed to rest for a while, but her mind was entirely consumed by visions of various foods. The more she thought about it, the more her mouth watered, until her previously full stomach didn’t feel quite so satisfied anymore. With a heavy sigh, she rolled over and sat up.

"Forget it, I should just get back to work," she told herself. "The sooner I prepare the land, the more food I’ll have to eat. Plus, I need to start figuring out exactly how many points it costs to buy pork, chicken, and duck nowadays."

Cravings truly bred motivation!

Huai Yu began cutting grass again. She gathered the hay she had previously collected that had rotted in the heavy rain, dried grass from the surrounding wastelands, fallen branches from the woods on the nearby hill, and the soggy, deeply buried layers of fallen leaves and blades. Sack by sack, she hauled it all back. After several hours of continuous labor, she had accumulated a pile as tall as a small hill.

Huai Yu pulled out her lighter.

CLICK.

As the flame made contact with the dry grass, wisps of smoke drifted into the air. Slowly, the mound of dead branches and leaves began to billow out thicker, denser clouds of smoke. The moisture content within the pile was heavy, so it likely wouldn’t burn down too quickly. Furthermore, the surrounding area was a flat clearing with only scattered weeds, making the fire relatively safe to manage.

Taking advantage of the downtime, Huai Yu grabbed her shovel and returned to the field. She went over the dirt clods again, turning them and smashing them into even smaller pieces.

By dusk, all the clods had been thoroughly broken down. Huai Yu rubbed her sore arms, figuring that after another day of baking in the sun and one final tilling tomorrow, the soil would be ready.

The bonfire nearby had already died out, leaving a surface layer of dark gray ash. The slightest breeze sent it fluttering in all directions, blowing into her eyes and making her squint. It wasn’t until Huai Yu dug her shovel into the pile that she saw heat rapidly rising from within. It was still scalding hot inside.

She scattered and spread the ashes, allowing the evening breeze to quickly dissipate the trapped heat. Once it had cooled down enough, Huai Yu fetched a large bucket. Pail by pail, she carried the ash over to the vegetable patch and poured it out, layering it into the soil.

Wood ash was excellent for killing insects and bacteria, and it served perfectly as a base fertilizer. When the morning dew dampened it the next day, the nutrients would seep even deeper into the earth...

"Ah!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Since there’s so much land, maybe I should dig up another patch tomorrow!"