Chapter 64: Raising Pigs and Rabbits

Purslane, shepherd’s purse, wild chrysanthemum greens…

Liu Yinyin bought all kinds of seeds and mixed them together before scattering them. Wild vegetables were highly resilient.

Even if they weren’t carefully tended, they should still grow to some extent.

If she didn’t scatter some seeds, with the children foraging every day under her guidance, the nearby mountains would soon be stripped bare.

Once the children had gathered a reasonable amount of wild vegetables, Liu Yinyin led them down the mountain.

The amount of vegetables each child collected varied, but she hadn’t set any strict requirements. With so many children involved, even if each one contributed just a little, the total amount was still impressive.

After they handed in their wild vegetables, she dismissed them for the day.

“Zhizhi, help me watch Yanyan for a bit.” Liu Yinyin handed Liu Zhizhi two pieces of crispy shrimp snacks, asking her to look after her son.

“Okay!” Liu Zhizhi nodded enthusiastically. She loved this task. All she had to do was spend time with her little cousin, and in return, her aunt always gave her some treats—whether it was biscuits or candy.

She also often got to enjoy a full meal at her aunt’s house. Liu Zhizhi felt like the luckiest girl ever. If only there were a place for her to stay at her aunt’s house, she wouldn’t even want to go back home.

Fortunately, her mother wasn’t aware of her thoughts; otherwise, she would surely scold her for being ungrateful, choosing food over her own parents.

Liu Yinyin went into the kitchen, scooped two bowls of white flour, kneaded them into a dough, and set it aside to ferment.

Then, she moved on to handling the wild vegetables. The twenty-two baskets of foraged greens were piled up in the yard, making for an impressive sight—there must have been at least fifty to sixty pounds.

The children had cleaned the vegetables well, with barely any weeds mixed in.

Liu Yinyin grabbed a handful and tossed them to the chickens and rabbits.

As for the rest, there was no need to wash them immediately. She retrieved a few bamboo sieves from the storage room and spread the vegetables out to dry.

Yes, she planned to store a good supply of dried wild vegetables.

She picked out some fresh and tender shepherd’s purse—she had a craving for shepherd’s purse and egg-stuffed buns for dinner.

After washing the greens, she blanched them, chopped them finely, and mixed them with scrambled eggs. She added some salt, chicken essence, oyster sauce, Chinese five-spice, and sesame oil before mixing everything thoroughly…

In total, Liu Yinyin made twelve buns, each about the size of a fist. She also cooked a pot of mushroom soup. There was no need to prepare additional dishes since she could just use the food from the communal canteen.

Just as she finished preparing dinner, Gu Cheng returned on his bicycle, bringing along food from the canteen.

“Uncle,” Liu Zhizhi greeted shyly. She was a little intimidated by her tall and imposing uncle.

Gu Cheng acknowledged her with a simple nod, set down the food container, and went to wash his hands.

Noticing that little Gu Yanyan had drool all over his face in the crib, he simply picked up his son and took him along to wash up.

Seeing this, Liu Zhizhi quickly made her exit after saying her goodbyes.

“Let’s eat first,” Liu Yinyin said, watching as Gu Cheng came back carrying their son. She placed the food he had brought from the canteen onto the table.

Two cornbread buns with wild vegetables, cabbage stewed with vermicelli, and pickled vegetables stir-fried with bamboo shoots.

Since it was the busy farming season, the communal canteen had been making more substantial meals than usual—after all, people needed to be well-fed to have the energy for work.

With all the work she had done throughout the day, Liu Yinyin was already starving, her stomach growling.

Gu Cheng sat down, still holding their son, and glanced at Liu Yinyin. Seeing that she didn’t look overly exhausted, he asked, “How was today?”

He had underestimated his wife. He hadn’t expected her to manage an entire school on her own. Even though the number of students wasn’t large, it wasn’t something just anyone could handle.

“It was alright, just a bit tiring since it’s only the beginning.” Liu Yinyin picked up a piece of cabbage. When hungry, everything tasted delicious.

Although she was a little tired, the day had felt quite fulfilling.

“If it gets too overwhelming, don’t push yourself,” Gu Cheng said, concerned about how she was balancing teaching and taking care of their child.

“It’ll be fine in a few days. Honestly, it’s nothing compared to working in the fields all day,” Liu Yinyin replied with a smile. Suddenly remembering something, she turned to Gu Cheng and said, “You actually helped me a lot today.”

“Me?” Gu Cheng was momentarily confused. “What does this have to do with me?”

Liu Yinyin explained how he had assigned Liu Dazhuang as the class monitor. Then, grinning mischievously, she added, “Next time you have some free time, you should take him up the mountain. If possible, catch a wild chicken or a rabbit for him.”

She didn’t mention that the little boy had grand ambitions of hunting wild boars.

To Gu Cheng, this was a trivial request. Casually, he asked, “What about you? Do you want to go?”

Liu Yinyin’s hand paused mid-air, her eyes lighting up. “Are you inviting me to go hunting with you?”

Gu Cheng answered nonchalantly, “If you want, you can come along.”

Truthfully, he wanted to take her on a trip alone.

Without hesitation, Liu Yinyin nodded enthusiastically. “Of course, I want to!”

She wasn’t particularly interested in hunting, but she loved foraging for mushrooms. Wild mushrooms were one of her absolute favorite foods—something she could never get tired of eating.

They were delicious whether stir-fried or used in soups, and any excess could be dried for storage. Of course, she had to stock up on as many as possible.

If they ventured farther into the mountains, there would definitely be more wild mushrooms. There might even be spring bamboo shoots and bamboo fungus!

Gu Cheng said, “Then let’s go together.”

Perhaps she was truly starving, as Liu Yinyin astonishingly ate three shepherd’s purse and egg-stuffed buns, drank a bowl of mushroom soup, and had quite a bit of the side dishes as well.

Gu Cheng also ate three buns, along with two wild vegetable cornbread cakes.

Six of the shepherd’s purse and egg-stuffed buns were left over. Since the weather wasn’t too hot yet and they had a well at home, they could store the buns in the well overnight and save them for breakfast the next morning. Paired with a pot of egg porridge, it would make for a simple and satisfying breakfast.

Now that both of them had jobs, they preferred to keep breakfast simple.

Having a well at home was incredibly convenient—Gu Cheng could take a bath right in the courtyard at night.

After bathing, he returned to the bedroom, his mind wandering to certain thoughts about his wife. However, before he could make a move, Liu Yinyin was already fast asleep, completely exhausted.

Gu Cheng: “……”

The next morning, Liu Yinyin taught two classes. By ten o’clock, school was already over, and she headed back home.

She had barely sat down when Jiang Cuihua rushed over in a panic.

“Yinyin, there are piglets for sale in the village! If you’re planning to raise some, you’d better hurry and buy them before all the good ones are taken.”

Before Liu Yinyin could even respond, Jiang Cuihua added, “Forget it. Just give me the money, and I’ll pick them out for you.”

After all, her daughter wouldn’t know how to choose piglets anyway.

Liu Yinyin went to get the money.

Jiang Cuihua came and went in a hurry.

Thinking about the two little piglets she would soon have at home, Liu Yinyin felt quite happy. She grabbed a broom and thoroughly cleaned the pigsty.

When she had first decided to raise pigs, she had built a chicken coop next to the pigsty for raising chickens, leaving the pigsty empty in preparation.

The rabbits were kept in the storage room, where Gu Cheng had specially built a row of wooden cages for them.

Speaking of which, there was even more good news—the mother rabbit at home seemed to be pregnant again!

The five baby rabbits from the previous litter had grown fat after a few months. In fact, they were already big enough to be eaten.

But Liu Yinyin couldn’t bear to slaughter them. Among the five young rabbits, three were female and two were male.