Chapter 189: Chapter 104: Tree-Planting Activity in a Different Space-Time (2)

Qingmu said, “Her second brother told me when we went to their house to dig up saplings the other day. That’s how they planted their persimmon trees. You have to bury the manure deep, or you’ll burn the saplings. Once the tree is bigger and its roots reach down, the fertilizer kicks in, and it’ll grow much faster. Their persimmon tree bore some fruit in its second year, and by the third, it was covered in them. That tree is much sturdier than others, too.”

Juhua’s eyes lit up. ’Our new peach, plum, and apricot trees, covered in fruit by the third year!’ The thought made her smile. She said to Qingmu, “Then we should get a persimmon sapling from them to plant, too!”

Qingmu said, “I wanted to, but they don’t have any more saplings. We’ll just have to keep looking.”

As dusk fell, the group finished their work and headed home.

Zheng Changhe walked ahead, carrying a shovel and baskets on a shoulder pole. Qingmu and Juhua followed behind, herding a few ducklings and chatting idly. The ducklings quacked, “QUACK, QUACK,” as they ran straight down the familiar path toward their little courtyard, never straying—even they knew to go home when it got dark!

The next day, Li Gengtian gathered the villagers to go up the mountain and transplant oak trees. The plan was to dig up the saplings from the hill behind Juhua’s house and move them to the far side of the summit, where the oak trees were sparser.

The villagers, carrying hoes, shovels, water buckets, and bamboo baskets, swarmed up the mountain in a boisterous crowd. Plenty of children tagged along—it was a day off from the village school. Even Mr. Zhou had come, strolling leisurely up the mountain with Li Gengtian, his hands clasped behind his back, pointing here and there as he commented on the landscape.

Juhua couldn’t resist the excitement. ’With so many people around, I feel a bit bolder. And if I stick with Qingmu, what could possibly happen? I have to take this chance to explore the mountain again. Once the weather gets hot, I’ll be too lazy to come up here even if someone begged me.’

Just as she was thinking of asking Liu Xiaomei to come along, Qingmu smiled at her and said, “Go change your clothes and shoes. Mother said you can come with me.”

Juhua couldn’t help but smile and quickly scampered off to get ready.

To her surprise, when she came out with Qingmu, she saw a crowd of people in front of the courtyard. Meizi and the other girls were there, just as she’d expected. ’It makes sense,’ she thought. ’With so many adults around, it’s much safer to go up the mountain. Besides, their families must have approved of the taste of the wild bamboo shoots, so gathering them has become a proper chore now.’

Everyone greeted each other with another round of laughter, and the large group of men and women, young and old, started up the mountain. The adolescent boys were especially thrilled—with so many girls out and about, today’s activity was suddenly much more interesting.

Qingmu carried Juhua’s burlap sack, leaving her to walk empty-handed beside him. Seeing the boys, their hearts full of spring fever on this fine spring day, she suppressed a giggle. ’Looks like that old saying is true,’ she thought. ’Work doesn’t feel like work when men and women are together.’

Once on the mountain, the group split up. Some dug up saplings, others planted them, while Juhua and the girls gathered bamboo shoots nearby. Every now and then, one of the tree planters would call out, “Hey! Bamboo shoots over here!” and one of the younger girls would dash over to claim them.

First, they dug up a good number of saplings on the back of the mountain, carried them to the summit, and then spread out to plant them in open clearings. They soon settled into a division of labor: some dug up saplings, some planted them on this side of the mountain, and others went down into the ravines to fetch water for the newly planted trees.

Beyond the summit, the mountains stretched out one after another. After half a day of hard work, they had only managed to cover a single slope.

Li Gengtian remarked that they would have to come back and plant more every year; one year’s work alone wouldn’t be enough.

Bathed in the warm spring sunlight, the mountainside was filled with people. Their ceaseless laughter startled flocks of birds into the air, shattering the forest’s tranquility.

Juhua left her burlap sack near Qingmu and went to look for shoots empty-handed. Without having to drag that clumsy sack everywhere, the task was much more enjoyable. As usual, Qingmu partnered with Zhang Huai, and Liu Xiaomei’s brothers were working nearby, so Juhua and Liu Xiaomei weaved through the woods together. Every time Qingmu moved to a new spot, he made sure to bring Juhua’s sack of bamboo shoots along.

Oak trees grew best on slopes, so the group gradually worked their way down from the summit, avoiding the densely wooded areas and planting in the sparser clearings.

After Qingmu and Zhang Huai finished planting a tree, they started moving to another spot, with Qingmu carrying Juhua’s burlap sack and Zhang Huai shouldering the remaining saplings. Zhang Huai caught a flash of color from the corner of his eye, but before he could react, a golden pheasant burst from a nearby thicket and scurried away.

He and Qingmu shouted in unison, “A pheasant! Quick, catch it!” But it was no use; the bird was already long gone.

Liu Ershun and some others nearby joined the commotion, their shouts sending the pheasant flapping and scurrying in every direction.

Zhang Huai and Qingmu exchanged a look. He excitedly ran to the thicket and pushed aside the branches and thatch. Sure enough, he found a nest of wild pheasant eggs—five in total!

Beaming, he scooped the eggs out and cupped them in his palm. Juhua hurried back, clutching a small bundle of bamboo shoots to her chest, and asked repeatedly, “The pheasant? Did you catch the pheasant?”

Qingmu laughed. “Didn’t catch it! But we found a nest of wild pheasant eggs. A lucky find, all the same.” He held open the burlap sack for Juhua to put her bamboo shoots inside.

Zhang Huai smiled and offered the wild pheasant eggs to Juhua. “Here, for you. You can make a nice bowl of scrambled eggs with chives.”

Juhua happily took them. The eggs were quite a bit smaller than a hen’s and still felt slightly warm to the touch. She quickly held one up to the sunlight but couldn’t make anything out. She then asked the two of them, “You don’t think the pheasant was hatching them, do you? If they’ve already started incubating, they probably won’t be good to eat.”

Zhang Huai said, “Hard to say. But it might have been. After all, we did flush it out of this very spot, and the eggs are still warm.”

Qingmu laughed. “Doesn’t matter. We’ll take them home first. Our hen is brooding, isn’t she? We can just let her hatch these too.” (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly passes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep