Chapter 175: Chapter 97: Reclaiming the Wasteland (2)

Qingmu and Zhang Huai couldn’t hold it in any longer. They leaned on their shovels, laughing until they were out of breath. Then again, knowing how sharp Little Shitou was, they figured he probably really did act that way toward his father.

Big Mouth Zhao asked, “What does ’Zi Yue’ mean? The moon? You scholars are always going on about the moon, flowers, and grass. Why not talk about rice for a change?”

Qingmu and Zhang Huai were taken aback. Before they could say anything, Zhao San lectured him, “It’s not the moon. The word you heard means ’to speak.’ It’s a classical term. If you don’t believe me, ask Qingmu and Huai Zi.”

All eyes turned to Qingmu and Zhang Huai. Li Changxing said, “Huai Zi, you’d better just stick to the normal word for ’speak’ with me from now on. If you use that fancy old word, I won’t know what you’re talking about and might just ignore you.”

Qingmu and Zhang Huai felt helpless. They had only studied for half a year; how could they possibly explain the intricacies of the language to a crowd of villagers who couldn’t recognize a single character? They could only stammer that it was just what their teacher had said.

Zheng Changhe sighed. “Still, getting an education is a good thing. The village chief studied a bit, and look how capable he is. He’s completely different from us.”

Everyone nodded repeatedly.

Big Mouth Zhao brought his rake down with all his might. *CLANG!* The blow threw up a few sparks. He quickly bent down to dig at the spot and saw that the ground below was full of stones and bricks. “Huh?” he grunted. “What are gray bricks doing here? And all these stones?”

The nearby Li Changming rushed over and asked, “What did you hit? It’s just stones, isn’t it? What’s so surprising about that?”

Big Mouth Zhao straightened up. “But there are bricks, too! Where would bricks come from in the middle of a wasteland? You don’t think there’s something buried here, do you? Oh man, Qingmu, if I dig up a gold ingot, you have to give me a piece!”

The men, who were gathering around to see the commotion, broke into another round of laughter upon hearing this.

Huang Dagunzi chuckled. “You boy, you’re a real dreamer. It’s like they say, ’Eat five grains but dream of a sixth; lie in bed but dream of a wife.’ You’re just daydreaming. This place has always been wasteland; no one’s ever lived here. Who would bury gold ingots in a place like this?”

Li Changxing said teasingly, “You never know. Maybe some high-ranking official is buried down there, his coffin stuffed with gold ingots. Keep digging, Big Mouth! I’m sure you’ll find something.”

Zheng Changhe laughed. “We checked this land carefully before buying it. There isn’t a single burial mound on it. If a high official were buried here, wouldn’t someone be looking after the grave?”

Big Mouth Zhao knew they were all joking and gave a simple-minded laugh. “I just thought it was strange seeing bricks, is all. Finding stones here is normal, but isn’t finding bricks a bit odd?”

Li Gengdi chuckled. “Someone was buried on this plot several decades ago. Their family moved away later on and relocated the ancestral tomb. These bricks must be what’s left of the old gravesite.”

At that, understanding dawned on the men.

Li Changxing said with mock regret, “If they hadn’t moved it, Big Mouth might have actually dug up some gold ingots.”

Li Gengdi laughed. “If they hadn’t moved it, we’d be digging up someone’s ancestral grave. Don’t you think they’d come after us, ready to fight to the death?”

While the men were hard at work in the fields, Juhua and the mistress from the Yang family were just as busy at home.

Since it was still the first month of the lunar year, there wasn’t much farm work to be done. Liu Xiaomei told her mother she wanted to go help Juhua cook, just to be neighborly.

Her mother was happy for her to help the Zheng Family. Help someone today, and it will be easier to ask for their help tomorrow. So, after giving her a few words of advice, she let her go.

With her help, the mistress from the Yang family and Juhua felt a great sense of relief. Otherwise, cooking for more than a dozen men would have been truly frantic.

The mistress from the Yang family had said that around mid-morning, they should send some puffed rice candy and crispy rice crusts out to the fields. This would let the men have a snack and a short break, giving them the energy to continue working.

Juhua said, “We don’t have enough puffed rice candy to last them more than a few days as it is. I think it would be better to make some more of those savory pancakes we made last time. They’re fragrant and spicy, full of flavor, and they really whet the appetite. A couple of those each should be enough to tide them over until lunch.”

Liu Xiaomei agreed enthusiastically. “Those are delicious! I’ve made them several times myself. They aren’t too fancy, either—just cornmeal, with a filling of pickled vegetables and hot peppers. If you want them to be extra fragrant, you just need to scramble an egg or two and mix it in.”

The eyes of the mistress from the Yang family lit up. “Yes! Let’s make those. We don’t even need to add eggs. I rendered some fat from pork belly for cooking oil earlier, and the cracklings are delicious. We can just mix those in with the pickled vegetables. The filling will have plenty of flavor then.”

Juhua and Liu Xiaomei shared a smile, rolled up their sleeves, and set to work kneading the dough, mincing the filling, and cooking the pancakes on the griddle.

It wasn’t the first time for either of them, and they worked together seamlessly. They cooked the main dishes for the midday meal on one stove while griddling the pancakes on another. Once the pancakes were ready, the mistress from the Yang family packed them in a jar to take out to the fields, leaving Juhua and Liu Xiaomei to keep busy at home.

When the men in the field saw the mistress from the Yang family bringing hot pickled-vegetable pancakes, they all cheerfully washed their hands in a small ditch bordering the wasteland and began to eat, washing the savory pancakes down with big bowls of chrysanthemum tea.

Huang Dagunzi took a bite of a pickled-vegetable pancake and, noticing the pork cracklings mixed in with the filling, laughed. “Sister-in-law, you’re treating us so well, we’re almost embarrassed. We haven’t done that much work, but we’re still getting paid and eating and drinking so splendidly.”

Li Gengdi added, “We’re all fellow villagers here. Aunt Zheng, you’re being so formal, it makes us feel a bit awkward.”

The mistress from the Yang family glanced at the wasteland, saw that they had already cleared two *mu* of it, and said with a happy smile, “Nonsense. It’s the first month of the year, and instead of resting, you’ve all come out to help. Don’t be so formal over a few simple pancakes. What’s the big deal? It’s not like we can afford to treat you to anything fancy. The cornmeal is our own, the pickled vegetables are our own, and all we added was a bit of pork crackling. It’s just something to line your stomachs. In this cold, you won’t have any energy to work if you’re hungry.”

Liu Xiaomei’s second-oldest brother, Liu Ershun, held up his pancake and said happily, “My little sister, Mei, makes these really well, too. She, Juhua, and the other young women are always fiddling around with new recipes, and they’ve invented a lot of delicious treats.”

Old Cheng laughed. “Ain’t that the truth. Whenever those young ladies have a moment, they’re huddled together whispering, just like we are when we’re discussing how to plant the fields. They’re getting quite serious about their cooking now.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep