Chapter 169: The Spring Mountains Turn Green

Chapter 169: Chapter 169: The Spring Mountains Turn Green

The spring breeze was like the world’s most marvelous magician, sweeping over the fields, through the forests, and across the mountains.

Streams and rivers, dry all winter, began to gurgle and flow. Barren grasses turned green again, the spring mountains showed their verdant hues, and the birds once more sang their cheerful songs.

However, due to last year’s strange weather and the snow in March, this year’s spring planting had been delayed by nearly a month.

Here in the Northern Pass, they planted dry rice once a year, which couldn’t be started until the summer rains became steady. The wheat in the fields wouldn’t be ready for harvest until early summer.

Even so, spring planting was still an extremely important time for farming families.

As the saying goes, one should plant melons and sow beans around the time of the Grain Rain, so melons, fruits, and beans had to be planted first.

This was also the perfect time for planting spring sweet potato cuttings, which could be harvested after three to four months of growth.

Some people also planted sweet potatoes after the wheat harvest, but that usually had to wait until mid-June, with the crop not maturing until October. Fewer people planted those.

Most crops in the north were planted in the spring and harvested in the fall.

After the sweet potatoes were planted, it would soon be time to sow corn, with many other miscellaneous tasks in between.

The fields were filled with working people, and the Hu Family was no exception.

Only Ji Huan was idle all day, leading Dabao around. They would either wander the edges of the fields or run up the mountain.

She had tried to help the Hu Family, but Widow Xie had chased her out of the fields in less than half a day, complaining she was more of a hindrance than a help.

The original owner of her body had done her fair share of farm work in the Ji Family, but it was all just unskilled labor. She had never actually done things like sowing seeds, mainly because they were afraid she’d mess it up and ruin the harvest.

The original owner had mostly done rough, miscellaneous chores around the house and yard, like cooking, laundry, feeding the pigs and chickens, gathering firewood, and cutting grass.

That was why she hadn’t aroused any suspicion.

Bored out of her mind, Ji Huan squatted on a ridge between the fields and chatted with Widow Xie.

"Aunt Xie, your family has a stall now. Why bother with all this? Wouldn’t it be enough to just plant the most basic crops?"

Widow Xie straightened up and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"When the children were younger, I was too busy looking for work everywhere to have time to tend to the crops."

"Later, when Liangzi grew up, there was still too much to do. Sweet potatoes need to be sprouted, cotton seeds need processing, and harvesting corn is a hassle. He couldn’t handle it all by himself."

"So for all these years, we’ve really only planted wheat and dry rice in our fields."

"Now that we finally have time to tend to them, shouldn’t we be more meticulous?"

"This year, the wheat seedlings were a disaster. You saw it yourself just now. We can’t count on that harvest. If we don’t plant other things, what will we use to pay taxes?"

Hu Liang had a different opinion.

"We farm every year, pay our taxes every year, and we’re still poor every year. It’s like this in a good year, let alone a bad one. Our family doesn’t even have much land. If you ask me, we’d be better off using this time to run the stall in town for a few days."

Without a word, Widow Xie picked up a clod of dirt and threw it at him.

"You short-sighted fool! The stall makes money, but there’s no guarantee it will last forever. The land always needs to be farmed. What else do you plan on doing if not farming? Didn’t Wuan say that no business is foolproof? You’ve only been at it for a few days, and you’re already forgetting your roots!"

Hu Liang didn’t dare say another word and quietly went back to work.

Ji Huan gave an awkward smile.

It was true she had said that. Her intention was that if no business is foolproof, you just switch to another one if the first one fails.

But she could understand Widow Xie’s way of thinking.

Farmers always considered farming their fundamental duty.

Even though the yellow earth passed down through generations couldn’t provide them with a life of abundance—sometimes making it difficult to even have enough to eat—they still believed land was the most reliable form of wealth. Nothing felt as secure as farming.

When they made money from a business, rather than expanding the business further, they were more inclined to use the profits to buy land and continue farming.

"I was originally planning to buy a calf, and a plow and harrow. It’s not right to have to borrow from others all the time... We only have one flatbed cart in the family, and we only bought that for the stall. Before that, we always had to borrow one..."

A draft ox was worth several strong laborers, and using a plow and harrow could significantly reduce the intensity of the work and increase efficiency. Their importance to a farming family was self-evident.

But neither of these things could be bought casually. And when they tried to borrow, they weren’t always successful.

If they couldn’t borrow them, they had to rely entirely on manpower and a few iron picks and hoes.

’It’s a good thing we have so little land...’

At this, Widow Xie shot a fierce glare at Hu Liang.

’And wasn’t it all because of that new house of his!’

’She had wanted to save money to slowly buy back the land they had sold before, but now she couldn’t hope for that anytime soon.’

Hu Liang’s head hung even lower, as if wishing he could disappear.

After scolding Hu Liang, Widow Xie turned and started in on Ji Huan.

She had originally intended to work on Ji Huan’s three acres of barren land first, before tending to her own family’s.

But who would have thought Ji Huan would say she didn’t plan on planting crops?

Widow Xie knew she couldn’t convince her, and just thinking about it made her worry.

"How can a farmer not farm? Even if the land is a bit poor and things don’t grow well, you can’t just let it lie fallow. You should play it safe. If you don’t want to plant sweet potatoes and corn, you could plant some sorghum or peanuts. Or if not that, eggplant, beans, cabbage, or peppers. Then you’d at least have vegetables to eat..."

Ji Huan felt like running away the moment she started on this topic. "Aunt Xie," she said helplessly, "I won’t let the land go to waste. I just don’t plan on planting standard crops. I’ll plant something else."

"Then what do you plan on planting? Tell me."

Widow Xie was skeptical. ’After seeing how clumsy she was in the field just now, what could she possibly plant?’

Ji Huan knew her earlier performance had severely damaged her credibility, so she gave up on explaining. Leaving behind a "You’ll see when the time comes," she quickly slipped away with Dabao before Widow Xie could ask any more questions.

Widow Xie called after her several times, watching helplessly as she headed along the ridge toward Guai Mountain.

Hu Dacheng watched them leave with envy. "I want to go play too..."

Widow Xie spun around and twisted his ear. "Play? What play! You’re just full of excuses to get out of work. I haven’t seen you move an inch this whole time!"

Hu Dacheng pouted and reluctantly squatted down to continue working, not forgetting to mutter to himself, "Sigh, I’m so jealous of Dabao..."

The object of his envy, Dabao, had a tense face and a furrowed brow. He didn’t look happy at all.

"Hey, give me a smile. It’s so pretty."

Using her not-so-nimble hands, Ji Huan had woven a very abstract-looking grass wreath and placed it on Dabao’s head.

She looked at it from the left, then from the right, growing more satisfied the more she looked.

She couldn’t help but lean down and give his pink, chubby cheeks a good squeeze. "Oh, Dabao, you’re looking more and more like a little Money-Bringing Boy every day!"

Under her expectant gaze, Dabao paused, then dutifully said, "Big Sister, it’s pretty."

Ji Huan was instantly satisfied.

Grasses and trees were budding, and crows and sparrows chattered. Although the earth, having slumbered all winter, had not yet truly awakened, there were already quite a few people on the mountain.

Ji Huan led her handsome little brother along a winding mountain path, pointing out newly sprouted plants and explaining them to him. When they occasionally ran into villagers they knew, they would stop to say hello.

After playing for half the day, it was nearly noon. Just as she was about to head down the mountain, she suddenly heard someone call her name.

Ji Huan stopped and looked toward a branching path to the side, a surprised expression on her face.

The person calling her was Ji Xuelan.

She was carrying a basket filled with things like fiddlehead ferns, kalimeris, and nostoc. Sanyang was on her back, while Daya led Erya by the hand behind her.

"You’re on the mountain too..." Ji Xuelan had wanted to ask if she was also there to gather wild vegetables and mushrooms, but seeing her empty hands, she knew that wasn’t the case.

Ji Huan finished her sentence for her, "Just looking around."

Ji Xuelan pressed her lips into a smile, and a brief silence fell between them.

Ji Huan looked at Erya, who was being held by Daya, and asked, "Is Erya feeling better?"

This time, Erya didn’t shrink back. She nodded at her obediently.

Ji Huan smiled. "That’s good."

Seeing that she was about to leave, Ji Xuelan spoke up, looking a little awkward.

"About... about last time, I have to thank you. Otherwise, Erya... I’m afraid she..."