Chapter 55 : Growing Vegetables in Wasteland

Lu Fangfang rested her hands on the shovel and glanced toward the riverbank.  

Yang Yufen’s method of catching fish was similar to hers, it relied on trapping.  

However, instead of using a fish trap, she made a simple trap using an enamel basin. It was actually a clever idea, and Lu Fangfang made a mental note of it.  

Seeing that Yang Yufen had caught a lot of fish, Lu Fangfang felt satisfied and returned to her own work.  

She was now just waiting for tomorrow when she could kindly remind Yang Yufeng. Ahem, it was purely out of goodwill, of course no ulterior motives at all.  

“Sister, let’s plant rapeseed along the riverbank. It’ll be easier to water, and if we plant more, we can get more rapeseed oil next year…”  

At that moment, Wang Shufen suddenly turned to Lu Fangfang and asked, “Sister, you already have butter at home, do you still want to plant rapeseed?”  

“Of course! The butter will run out eventually.”  

Lu Fangfang nodded without hesitation.  

In these times, when oil and fat were scarce, growing more rapeseed was a great idea. Having an abundance of oil was never a bad thing.  

“Alright, let’s plant it along the bank. And listen, sister after we’re done, you can keep expanding along the riverbank, and I’ll work on the lower part. We’ll plant rapeseed all over. The soil here is rich, so we don’t even need to add horse manure.”  

Lu Fangfang looked upstream and saw layers of silt deposited along the riverbank, it was indeed fertile land.  

But planting on the shore…  

“Sister Shufen, the water won’t rise in summer, will it?”  

“The stream doesn’t flow fast, so it should be fine. Worst case scenario, we just lose some seeds.”  

Wang Shufen shrugged, unconcerned.  

“That’s true.”  

Lu Fangfang was convinced. It was a risk worth taking. If the rapeseed harvest was good, she’d make a decent profit.  

Looking upstream, she saw that the river moved very slowly, and the water near the shore was practically still.  

She decided to plant all the rapeseed seeds she had at home, leaving none behind. She was even considering buying more seeds to plant on the opposite bank.  

By then, the rape flowers on both sides of the river would be in full bloom it would surely be a beautiful sight.  

“Once the rapeseed is planted, I’m thinking of planting more potatoes for the winter. Then, I’ll grow spinach, eggplant, cucumbers, and tomatoes.”  

Wang Shufen examined the land and planned out her vegetable garden.  

She intended to plant everything on this newly reclaimed wasteland. If there was too much to eat, she could always use the extra to feed the chickens and ducks.  

Lu Fangfang stood quietly by her side, listening.  

She had no experience growing vegetables, so she planned to take the simple approach just copy Sister Shufen.  

Whatever Shufen planted, she would plant the same way. That way, she couldn’t go wrong.  

“This piece of land is at most three acres, it’s still a bit small. Sister, after we plant the vegetables, we can clear more land and grow corn to feed the livestock.”  

“Sounds good!”  

—

Lu Fangfang returned to the staff quarters and brought back all the vegetable seeds she had bought.  

In the wasteland, Wang Shufen was digging trenches and making ridges in preparation for planting rapeseed.  

Lu Fangfang observed for a moment before picking up a hoe and starting on her own field.  

She divided the land along the riverbank into small plots, separating them with drainage ditches, and piled the dug-up soil into the plots.  

Once everything was ready, she grabbed a shovel and began spreading horse manure over the ground.  

“Ugh, it stinks.”  

At the riverbank, Yang Yufen and her daughter were still catching fish.  

Seeing Lu Fangfang spreading horse manure, Yang Yufen wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Xiao Lu, can you stay a little farther from us?”  

“You should be the one staying away from me. This is my reclaimed land, it’s registered with the regiment. If you have a problem, take it up with them.”  

Lu Fangfang rolled her eyes. Properly fermented horse manure hardly smelled at all.  

If she still had complaints, maybe she just shouldn’t eat.  

“Oh, and by the way be careful when you leave. Don’t step all over the ground I just turned over.”  

She glanced at Yang Yufeng’s catch, half a cloth bag full of fish. She was catching them much faster than Lu Fangfang had yesterday.  

Strange… Could it really be that using horse manure to lure the fish worked that well?  

‘Ugh!’  

Lu Fangfang suddenly felt queasy and quickly turned back to shoveling manure.

“Pah! You’ll wear yourself out.”  

Watching Lu Fangfang leave, Yang Yufen spat on the ground.  

She wrinkled her nose, covering her mouth as if she was about to gag. “Big girl, let’s catch a few more and leave quickly.”  

There were so many small fish in this spot that Yang Yufen was reluctant to move away.  

—

The regiment had received a cartload of horse manure, but Lu Fangfang didn’t want to use too much of it. She spread only a thin layer over a small plot of land before stopping.  

She borrowed a rake from Sister Shufen and used it to smooth out the field.  

Next, it was time to plant the rapeseed.  

She sowed the seeds, watered them, and covered them with soil.  

By the time everything was done, it was already 1:30 in the afternoon.  

Breakfast had been fried fish, which was quite oily, so Lu Fangfang didn’t feel particularly hungry. She decided to keep working.  

Planting potatoes required creating large ridges, which was exhausting work.  

Lu Fangfang picked up a hoe and began digging from south to north. Soon, she was drenched in sweat.  

Throwing down the hoe, she walked over to the riverbank, found a shady spot, and sat down.  

“No wonder the other women don’t want to reclaim wasteland, it’s just too tiring.”  

Lu Fangfang muttered to herself. She had only been working for two days, yet her entire body was sore. And there was still watering, weeding, and tending to the crops until they ripened. It really was backbreaking work.  

“Girl? Girl?”  

“Sister Shufen, I’m here!”  

Hearing someone call her, Lu Fangfang quickly stood up and waved.  

Wang Shufen walked over briskly, a military-green water bottle hanging from her neck. She handed it over, saying, “Here, sister, drink some water. Look at you, not even taking a break to eat.”  

“I’m not that hungry at noon.”  

Lu Fangfang took the bottle, tilted her head back, and took a big gulp.  

“Huh?”  

Her eyes lit up, and she grinned. “It’s so sweet! Sister Shufen, did you add sugar?”  

Wang Shufen nodded. “Just a little. The water here is naturally sweet, too.”  

“Sister, you’re overworking yourself. If you’re so tired that you don’t feel like eating, that’s not good. Even if you’re not hungry, you have to force yourself to eat something, or you’ll end up exhausting yourself.”  

“Back in my brigade, during spring planting and autumn harvest, the team would slaughter pigs to provide extra food for the workers. No one could afford to go without proper meals at times like this.”  

After giving Lu Fangfang a few more words of advice, Wang Shufen went back to work in the fields.  

Lu Fangfang felt a warm sense of gratitude in her heart.  

She took another big gulp of the sweetened water before returning to work.  

Thinking about the long winter ahead and how they would be relying on potatoes for food, she dug a few more ridges, preparing to plant five full rows.  

Before she knew it, it was already four in the afternoon.  

Lu Fangfang had finished her work, now all that was left was to plant the potatoes.  

“Sister, bring the seeds over. I’ll start growing some seedlings first.”  

Wang Shufen used a hoe to section off a small plot of land, intending to use it as a seedling bed.  

“Sister Shufen, which seeds do you need?”  

Lu Fangfang walked over with a large bag of seeds.  

The seeds they had bought in town were all stored in her cloth bag.  

“Give me tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, eggplants, peppers, and cauliflower. No need for cabbage yet we’ll plant that in a few months.”  

Wang Shufen counted on her fingers, listing six common vegetables.  

“Tomatoes? I should have them.”  

Lu Fangfang rummaged through the bag, pulling out the neatly wrapped paper packets labeled with vegetable names.  

Six types of vegetables, six small plots for seedlings.  

While Wang Shufen scattered the seeds, Lu Fangfang grabbed an iron bucket and fetched a pail of water from the creek.  

By the time all the seeds were planted, it was nearly five o’clock.  

The sun was getting low, so the two of them packed up their things and headed back toward the staff quarters.