Transmigrated as a Peasant Baby Who is Pampered by All

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Old Memories

A pot of rabbit stew was made for lunch, and the whole family ate until their mouths were dripping with oil. They also finished off a bowl of fresh vegetables.

The fragrant aroma was especially enjoyable for everyone, as if it lessened the greasy taste in their mouths.

In the afternoon, Jiang Hu and his wife carried their child to the field. He had been diligently weeding recently, and villagers would come to lend him a hand after tending to their own fields.

After all, thanks to Jiang Hu’s generosity, every household recently had considerable harvests. Even catching just one wild rabbit or chicken could earn dozens of copper coins!

Compared to when the villagers first settled down, when most families were dirt-poor, in Fuan Village, this was indeed a substantial amount of money!

With this money, everyone could buy some grain without worrying about starving before the crops in the fields were harvested!

”Brother Jiang, are you planning to irrigate the fields today?” Liu Yang asked, having just situated little Mi and Iron Egg in the small bed, while carrying two buckets of manure water up the hill.

Jiang Hu was surprised, ”Yes, but why did you come here? Aren’t your fields elsewhere?”

”Hey, didn’t I hear you mention it yesterday?” Liu Yang replied with a smile. ”I have plenty of workers at home, so we’ve already finished irrigating our fields in the past few days. Today, I came to help you.”

Then he laughed and said to Jiang Hu’s wife, ”Sister-in-law just came out of confinement, and went ahead to focus on irrigation. I’m going with Brother Jiang to carry manure.”

Because everyone lived in ready-made houses, each household had their own pits, but only rainwater had been collected in them over the years.

Though they’d only been living in Fuan Village for less than two months, even if no one wasted any excrement in the wild, the pit manure probably still wasn’t great, at best slightly better than clean water from the river.

Jiang Hu hastily expressed his gratitude, ”Thank you, Liu Yang, your family has been of great help to me these days.”

Liu Yang put down the two buckets, ”You’re welcome. It’s thanks to your generosity, Brother Jiang. You wouldn’t believe it—yesterday I caught two wild chickens and stewed one at night. It made my son and mother very happy.”

A day’s work outside might earn twenty or thirty copper coins at most, but catching a wild chicken or rabbit could easily fetch seventy or eighty copper coins!

Though Liu Yang seemed resourceful, it was this very resourcefulness that made him frequently hang around Jiang Hu’s home these days.

Everyone knew Jiang Hu washed diapers by the river during the day, but sometimes he would wash them at home at night and pour the washing water over the empty vegetable patch.

This caused wild grasses and insects to thrive, so the kids, Big Doll and Little Ni, often picked and dried the grass to feed rabbits, caught bugs for the chicks, and occasionally there was extra that the chicks couldn’t finish, so every few days Jiang Hu would give some to Liu Yang.

Thus, Liu Yang became increasingly eager to help Jiang Hu with his chores.

Let alone selling a wild chicken or rabbit for a good price, it was even worth the oil and grease for homemade meals! Over this period, his family visibly grew healthier and more energetic!

Liu Yang was good at working too—hard-working and efficient—just a bit talkative.

”Thank you very much for your help.”

His family was large, and he cleared a lot of land; he was just worried that there wouldn’t be enough grain to eat. When wild grass seeds germinated, it became a bit overwhelming.

Luckily, at that time, Liu Yang often brought Wang Xiang along to help clear the grass, which relieved him significantly.

Only one issue remained: Liu Yang was actually older than him, yet called him Brother, so he had to refer to Wang Xiang as sister-in-law.

Liu Yang put down the two buckets of manure water he had carried up, ”No problem, Sister-in-law, you stay busy. Brother Jiang and I will head downhill to carry manure.”

Previously, Jiang Hu primarily carried little Mi in one hand and a small bed in the other, and now he needed to head downhill to carry manure.

Jiang Hu’s wife instructed Little Ni to look after her younger siblings and asked Big Doll to scout the fields ahead, clearing any grassy areas that needed tidying up.

Big Doll quickly found a small patch of wild grass and crouched down to clear it, ”Mom, when will these wild grasses ever be all pulled out? We’ve only been at it with Dad for a short while.”

”When we worked with Grandpa and Grandma before, we never saw so much grass in the fields.”

His wife scooped manure water with a small ladle, pouring half a scoop onto each crop. The field was too poor in quality; even though it rained recently, the crops remained small and scrawny.

”This used to be wasteland, and last year’s grass seeds fell to the ground, buried underground. As long as we diligently weed this year, there won’t be as much wild grass in the future.”

After answering Big Doll’s question, she took another look at him, ”Big Doll, do you miss your Grandpa and Grandma?”

Brother Hu was the second child in the Jiang family, with one older brother and a younger brother, but as the middle child, his parents didn’t care much for him.

The family lived together when the parents hadn’t divided the family, and most losses were borne by the second household, though it wasn’t too extreme; there wasn’t much to worry about.

But after hearing Big Doll mention Grandpa and Grandma now, his wife suddenly realized she had been so focused on the twins that she hadn’t noticed that neither Big Doll nor Little Ni had ever mentioned them.

To her surprise, as soon as she asked, Big Doll’s expression changed markedly, becoming filled with fear, and he even glanced at Little Ni.

No one knows a child like a mother, and as soon as she saw Big Doll’s expression, she knew something was definitely going on.

Thinking about this period, Big Doll had noticeably become more mature, taking better care of his sister than before. Though he had been pretty sensible, he was still a little mischievous, after all, being a boy.

His wife’s face immediately fell, and she sternly asked, ”Big Doll, tell your mother, what’s going on?”

There must be something going on!

She mainly blamed herself for being so engrossed in the younger ones earlier that she hadn’t questioned it once.

Big Doll made a swallowing motion, ”Mom, don’t tell Little Ni about this.”

It actually involved Little Ni!

His wife nodded solemnly, and Big Doll glanced at the field ridge where Little Ni was guarding the small bed, pulling two blades of wild grass and talking to little Mi and Iron Egg.

Big Doll leaned close to his mother, ”Mom, when you got lost, Grandpa and Grandma wouldn’t let Dad look for you, and I overheard them saying they wanted to trade Little Ni for food.”

”What!” His wife felt her vision go dark, her body swayed, and she almost fell over.

Big Doll quickly steadied his mother, ”Mom, are you alright? Dad was afraid you’d be frightened, that’s why he didn’t dare tell you.”

His wife steadied herself, looked at the worried Big Doll, couldn’t help but hug him tightly for a moment, then let go, ”I’m fine, don’t worry.”

”Mom, are you okay?” Little Ni heard the commotion and looked over.

Big Doll was immediately anxious, glancing at Little Ni and then at his mother, afraid she’d tell Little Ni.

Dad said, Little Ni’s a girl, timid, and would be scared knowing about this.

Thankfully his wife only forced a smile, ”I’m fine, keep an eye on little Mi and Iron Egg.”

Little Ni was still young, so she easily believed it, acknowledging with a sound and continued playing with little Mi and Iron Egg.

His wife touched Big Doll’s head, ”I’m fine, don’t worry. Even without your grandparents, your father and I will raise you and Little Ni, not one missing.”

Big Doll immediately beamed with a smile, ”Mm, I know, Dad said the same thing!”

Then he happily continued working.

His wife watched her children, let out a soft sigh. No wonder Brother Hu hadn’t mentioned his parents since then, and hadn’t even looked for them since parting.

Thinking about it now, it seems the separation was somewhat intentional, right?

But then his wife smiled again, for what difference did it make? At least the family was together, and would only get better!