Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

Jinghan returned to the mountain, and her life was as peaceful and busy as ever. The work on the mountain is never finished. This year, a total of 40,000 silkworm eggs were hatched, which is a huge number. The entire mountain forest to the north has become a silkworm farm for Jinghan to raise tussah silkworms. Fortunately, no one cares here. As long as no one cuts down the trees, Jinghan can safely and boldly raise silkworms there.

The weather this year is not very good, and there was some drought in May, which undoubtedly increased a lot of work. Jinghan and the others would get some water and sprinkle it into the forest every day to keep the humidity in the forest. The forest was quite far away from the river, so Zhixin and the others could only help carry some water.

"Dad, there's no other way to go like this. It's not only tiring, but also takes too much effort." Jinghan was a little annoyed, "This broken sky, why doesn't it rain?"

"Hahaha, you little girl, do you know that we farmers have a saying that money can't buy you drought in May, and you can have enough food with continuous cloudy weather in June. A little drought in this season is good, and it's good for the fields. The crops are good. That's how things are in this world. There are advantages and disadvantages. It's good for the crops, but it's a little bit bad for you, the silkworm. It doesn't matter. Let's get up early in the morning to carry water in the forest. It's not too short of water, just sprinkle some on it. Don't worry, it might rain tomorrow." Zhixin quickly advised Jinghan. He also loved this daughter very much. .

Jinghan has never heard of such a saying, and finds it quite interesting. "Dad, how did you know it would rain?"

Zhixin had no choice but to tell Jinghan slowly, "Every May 13th is the day when Mr. Guan sharpens his knives. Because sharpening knives requires water, it will rain on this day. This May 13th The third is the Rain Festival, don't worry, there will be rain by then, and the severe drought will not last until May 13th. This is what the old man said, and it is accurate. "Farmers may not be literate, but they have accumulated some elegance over thousands of years." , but it is very useful.

Jinghan was a little skeptical about this, but seeing some clouds gradually appearing in the sky today, she was looking forward to it really raining tomorrow. "Okay, just listen to dad. I want to see if it's true." Jinghan said with a smile.

"Okay, we'll find out tomorrow." Zhixin is full of confidence in this.

In the afternoon, there were indeed more clouds in the sky, and in the evening, the wind started to blow. Jinghan lay on the kang, listening to the wind outside, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

"Second sister, what's wrong with you? Go to bed quickly. You've been very tired these past few days." Jingxian muttered in a daze when she realized that Jinghan hadn't slept yet.

"Hey, let's sleep now." Jinghan didn't dare to make any more fuss, and just lay there without moving. After a while, she fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, there was a sudden light outside. Jinghan, who had been sleeping lightly, woke up all of a sudden. At this time, there was a thunderous thunder, and it turned out that it was really going to rain. Next, the thunder sounded continuously for more than a quarter of an hour, and then gradually became less and farther away.

There was a crashing sound outside, it was really raining, and it was quite rainy. Jinghan lay on the kang, listening to the sound of rain outside, and finally breathed a sigh of relief. If it didn't rain again, they really wouldn't be able to bear it. It seems that God still loves people, Jinghan thought feeling good about herself.

The sound of dripping rain sounded like the most beautiful music to Jinghan's ears. With this rain, those tussah silkworms no longer have to worry about dying of drought, and everyone no longer has to carry water every day and be half exhausted. Jinghan fell into a deep sleep amidst the sound of rain. The sound of rain turned out to be her lullaby.

When I woke up the next morning, it was still raining outside, but it seemed to be lighter and still pouring. Jinghan got up early, got dressed, opened the door and looked outside. I saw that the green hills in the distance had been washed more green by the rain, and the lush trees exuded such rich vitality. There was a hint of coolness in the air, making people feel refreshed. Jinghan took a deep breath, "It feels so comfortable."

"Jinghan, what are you doing up so early? It's a rare rainy day, so sleep a little longer. I can't do anything today." Mr. Xue got up early to cook, but found that her daughter had already gotten up and was standing in the small shed outside the door. In a daze.

"Mom, let me come out and take a look at the rain. With this rain, my tussah silkworms and fungus can be saved, otherwise I would be really worried." Jinghan is undoubtedly very happy. These two things are the results of her many years of hard work. , is also a very important source of income for the family. Of course, Jinghan doesn't want these two to go wrong.

"You just have to worry about it. Okay, I'll cook, and you go back to the house and lie down for a while. There was thunder last night, so I guess you didn't sleep well." Mrs. Xue was also helpless about her daughter's money-obsessed thoughts. Are you also referring to paying for these two things?

Jinghan really didn't sleep well last night. After hearing what her mother said, she went back to the house. Take off your outer clothes, then get into bed and lie down. Even if you can't fall asleep, you can rest for a while. I lay down and actually fell asleep.

When Mr. Xue made breakfast and called everyone to eat, Jinghan didn't hear it and was still sleeping soundly. Jingxian wanted to call her, but when she saw that Jinghan was sleeping soundly, she let it go.

"Auntie, my second sister is sleeping soundly. Let's not call her. She didn't sleep well last night. She didn't sleep for a long time at first." Jingxian came out and explained to Mr. Xue.

"Okay, let her sleep a little longer. To be honest, it's really rare for your second sister to be able to sleep like this. It seems that she is really exhausted these days. Let's get some delicious food for you second sister tonight. Sister, please make up for it," Mrs. Xue said while helping everyone fill the porridge.

Jinghan is focused on making money. She likes to do everything by herself, so of course she will be very tired. She is only a fifteen-year-old girl. In her previous life, she was a child who had just entered junior high school and had no time to play all day long. How could she put in so much effort?

When Jinghan woke up again, it was already the end of Chenshi. Jinghan's stomach was growling. She woke up from hunger. "Mom, is there anything to eat?" Jinghan walked out of the house and happened to see Mr. Xue in the kitchen, so she asked.

"Yes, I left it in the pot for you. I didn't want to call you just now, and it's rare for you to take a break." Mrs. Xue took out breakfast from the pot, and then Jinghan sat on the edge of the pot and ate some food.

"It's raining outside today, so don't go out. Take a rest at home and play with Jingxian, Honglian and the others for a while," Ms. Xue ordered.

Jinghan finished the last mouthful of porridge and then said, "Okay, it's sticky outside anyway, so you'll be covered in mud when you go out."

Although Jinghan missed those silkworms, she really didn't want to go out, so she could only stay at home with peace of mind. I just remembered that this year, the cocoons with silkworm moths had been washed out with alkaline water, but nothing was done. It would be better to find them, put some quilts on them, and keep them for the eldest sister to use when she gets married.

Now that I thought about it, Jinghan had nowhere to live, so she quickly told her mother. Upon hearing this, Mr. "Okay, we have nothing to do anyway, so let's work together, so we can make it quickly. This silk quilt is much better than the cotton one." After saying that, he put on his clogs and went to the warehouse to wash the washed ones. Find the cocoon. This year, the 40,000 seed cocoons were finally washed, and there were still more than 30 kilograms of silk floss left. Of course, you don’t need to use as much silk quilt as cotton. These thirty kilograms are enough to cover four double quilts, which is just enough to be used as a dowry for Jingya.

When Mrs. The moth-laden silk floss has been chewed to pieces by silkworm moths, so it cannot be made by stretching it out like a complete silkworm cocoon. We can only fluff up all the silkworm cocoons like wadding, and then spread them little by little on the prepared thin cloth, and slowly wadding them like this.

Fortunately, there were many people, so it didn't take long, and one quilt was enough. Xue and Zhu didn't listen and felt the thickness with their hands. If there was any unevenness, they quickly filled in more. "Okay, I think this is good. This quilt doesn't need to be too heavy. It needs to be wrapped with the inner quilt on the outside, and it will be heavy by then." Zhu said while touching it.

Everyone turned over the other side of the thin cloth to cover it. Of course, this cloth was not wide enough, so Guren and the others were able to meet each other. All four sides are sewn, and then another half-foot width is sewn in the middle so that the silk floss inside will not roll around easily. That's about it. You still need to cover the inside and outside of the quilt. Those things are all in the town. When these are taken down one day, and then the quilt lining and quilt top are sewn, it will be considered complete.

The work of quilting was really not fast, and I only finished sewing one quilt in one afternoon. "That's it, the work can't be done in a day. Let's do it after lunch. Jingya's marriage is still far away, so there's still time to prepare slowly." Mrs. Xue said as she went out to cook. Honglian and the others also Go and help in the kitchen. It's raining today, so there's no need for the Wang family and Fang family to come over for dinner, they can just cook at home.

With the help of Guren and the others, all the meals were cooked quickly. Everyone ate quickly and then started to quilt again. The afternoon was long, so everyone worked smoothly. When it was almost time to cook, another bed was made, and the other bed was also quilted. It only needed a few stitches on the inside to finish. "Mom, you go cook. Honglian and I are both young and have good eyesight. We can sew it up by hand while it's still dark."

Ms. Xue nodded, "Okay, you little kids' eyes are just fine. Don't be too tired. If it's too dark, don't sew. Be careful with your eyes."