Reborn with a Space: Building a Fortune Amidst Famine

Chapter 266: 266 prepare together

These past few days, Zhao Yanli came over to help, and the Li siblings also came over. They started planting sweet potato seedlings.

To them, this kind of work is really nothing.

They finished it in two days, and every day, Shaoguang was responsible for unveiling the straw mats.

Next was the cotton seedlings, but they didn’t plant much. The three families discussed it and decided on three acres per family, enough for their own use.

However, within two days, Ma Changshun came over to inform them of a mandatory task from the local authorities: each household must submit three hundred jin of processed cotton by the end of the year. And the price offered was not low, at one yuan and eighty cents per jin.

The three families were still okay with it; Su Yuanyuan had cotton seeds, so they didn’t need to buy from the seed station. They started planting cotton seedlings again, with each family having enough for three acres.

”Yuanyuan, why is there a mandatory task?”

”In recent years, the grain gap has reduced by a lot, so focusing on cotton is normal,” Li Hongxiang explained before Su Yuanyuan could speak.

He quite liked the cheerful girl. After all, everyone likes lively and studious girls. Whenever she had time, she would follow them to learn, never feeling embarrassed even when asking Shaoguang and Li Yun questions.

And she was particularly diligent when learning, a person like that is naturally well-liked.

”I think Mr. Li is right, that’s what I thought too.”

After the cotton seedlings were planted, the two families began tidying up the courtyard.

”Yuanyuan, I also want to build a courtyard wall, it feels safer.”

”Alright, let’s start peeling the mud bricks in these few days; I still have some here. But surely it won’t be enough.”

This was something she had thought of when she first arrived and wanted to surround with a wall. But she kept it very well.

”Okay, I’ll start tomorrow. Even though it’s still freezing at night, it should be okay.”

Zhao Yanping was an action-taker. She immediately started maintaining it. The next day, the Li family’s three men also came to help. But to actually build the wall, they still needed a lot more.

It took them five days to almost finish it.

Next, they waited for it to dry, and they each began tidying up their own courtyard, ready to plant vegetables.

Su Yuanyuan continued to plant seedlings, cucumbers, eggplants, and tomatoes were definitely indispensable. Once the vegetables were planted, they went to work in the fields.

Seeing Zhao Yanli struggling, Su Yuanyuan lent her a ewe so that using the sheep to guide the donkey could help till the land.

This year, Su Yuanyuan was planting forty acres of corn, ten acres of cotton, and the rest was sweet potatoes and potatoes.

She didn’t want to plant wheat anymore; it was too exhausting. Better to do whatever was easier.

The Li family and Zhao Yanli planted ten acres of wheat each, mainly to have enough white flour to eat.

Li Hongxiang truly didn’t want to see himself and his two children suffer. Zhao Yanli thought the same. Living with siblings before, they didn’t have this luxury. Now on their own, they could manage somehow.

This year, Su Yuanyuan first prepared the sweet potato and potato ridges and also covered them with film. This way, weeding was easier.

The corn was still planted using seed drills, saving a lot of effort.

Su Yuanyuan laughed at herself, thinking she was getting lazier and just bluffing through work now.

She still needed to allocate chickens, ducks, and geese. With no time to spare, every day was spent in the fields.

After planting the corn, she started working on the cotton ridges, also covering them with film.

The two families did the same, with Zhao Yanli borrowing a bundle of film from Su Yuanyuan.

Honestly, none of them were particularly skilled at labor, so they had to find some tricks.

Once the corn sprouted, they began planting seedlings, which was quite exhausting. Almost the entire process required squatting.

The Li family had an advantage; they were three men, after all.

By the end of June, the potatoes were planted, marking the end of spring planting.

Zhao Yanli had lost a lot of weight, and this afternoon, she came over carrying a thin film.

Su Yuanyuan smiled and invited her onto the heated bed, ”I’m stewing meat today, this is a piece of smoked meat sent over by the Li family. We’ll eat it today.”

”That’s great. I’ve been craving it for a long time.”

The two girls were quick at cooking. They made braised pork without adding anything else, just purely stewed meat.

There was rice and a plate of spicy and sour shredded potatoes.

This time, Zhao Yanli really satisfied her cravings. ”This kind of life is still the best. In the future, I hope to eat whatever I want whenever I want.”

”That’s a nice dream.” Su Yuanyuan teased her good friend with a smile.

”This rain is really timely; I felt like I couldn’t hold on much longer.”

”Spring planting is already finished.”

”Right? Tomorrow I’m going to see my older sister, she gave birth when it was really busy, and I haven’t been able to go over.”

”Didn’t you ask big brother to send money for you?”

”Yes, but I still want to visit. I’m not sure how she’s doing now, giving birth during the spring planting means she probably didn’t have time to rest postpartum, right?”

The two girls sighed. Life is hard for people now, but especially hard for women.

In the afternoon, when the rain stopped, they got up, and the grass in the courtyard needed to be tidied. They also thought about getting the wall done these days for safety, especially since living alone as a girl could be risky.

”Xiao Li, I still have a piece of cured meat at home, bring it to big sister.” They had already sent money but she softened her heart thinking maybe she didn’t have postpartum rest.

”Alright, I’ll take it over.”

The next day, the road was quite muddy, so she didn’t take a cart. Instead, she carried a two-jin piece of smoked meat and five jins of white flour from home to the Xiang Family.

After walking for over an hour, she arrived. Before even entering the courtyard, she heard someone cursing.

Zhao Yanli listened outside for a moment, figuring it should be directed at her big sister.

Unable to hold back, impulsive by nature, she barged in through the door.

The people in the courtyard, seeing Zhao Yanli enter, immediately stopped cursing.

Zhao Yanli recognized it as her big sister’s mother-in-law and frowned, glaring at the woman.

Xiang Zhiqiang’s mom sheepishly went inside.

Zhao Yanli, carrying her basket, headed toward her big sister’s room.

Upon entering, she saw her big sister’s frail figure like a sheet of paper sitting on the bed, back facing the door, seemingly holding a child.

Zhao Yanli pushed the door open and saw her big sister’s back stiffen slightly.

She didn’t say anything, directly walking over to her big sister.

”Mom, right after I finish feeding Daya, I’ll go work.”

Hearing her big sister’s weak voice, Zhao Yanli’s tears fell instantly.

”Is this how you live? Is this what it’s like at home? How did you end up like this when you are outside?”

Hearing her little sister’s voice, Zhao Yanping cried. Her shoulders trembled, looking particularly pitiful.

”What’s the use of crying? You’ve let your life turn into this? Are you that useless?”