Age: My Small World

Chapter 3 Seed
"Second sister, I'm fine. My arms are strong now."

Compared to the eldest sister Yang Hongmei's rather dull temperament, the second sister Yang Yumei is very lively and a bit rougher.

Unfortunately, like her elder sister, Yang Yumei didn't have much flesh on her face. She was also pale and thin, but her eyes were bright and lively.

"Hehe, your skinny arms and legs."

Yang Yumei didn't take it seriously. In her impression, her younger brother was just a weak scholar.

Li Xiaohua ignored the conversation between the brother and sister and went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

There was a small iron pot on an old stove. He rinsed it with water scooped from the vat with a gourd ladle and then started to boil water and cook.

Fanjiazhuang is located in Fei County, Shandong Province, within the Taishan Mountains, so there is no shortage of firewood.

Coal can be used occasionally, but it is not cost-effective unless it is very cold in winter.

"Mom, are you cooking cornmeal porridge?"

Yang Jun was quite impressed when he saw the cornmeal that Li Xiaohua took out. After all, he had been eating it for more than ten years.

The main crops grown in Shandong Province are corn and wheat. Wheat is usually handed over as a reserve material and rarely retained, while cornmeal is what people often eat at home.

"Well, the old way."

If Li Xiaohua didn't have to work in the morning, she would have wanted to skip breakfast. Two meals a day would have been the norm.

"By the way, I'll cook you an egg later to replenish your body," she continued.

There are two old hens at home. Besides feeding Yang Jun with their eggs, we also use them to exchange for oil, salt, sauce and vinegar. Occasionally, we can also make some candy to taste, which is considered a New Year's gift.

In the past, Yang Jun took all of this for granted, but now when he thinks about it, he feels even more guilty.

"Mom, I'm as strong as a bull now. I don't need any more supplements."

Unfortunately, Li Xiaohua didn't care about his words at all. She knew what to do.

With a sigh, Yang Jun could only walk over and take the firewood.

"I'll help you light the fire."

Sitting in front of the stove, Li Xiaohua didn't drive him away. This kind of work that is within one's ability is not considered work.

It’s no wonder that Yang Jun has been good at making fire since he was a child.

After a while, the water in the pot began to boil.

Li Xiaohua grabbed the bowl of noodles with one hand and started stirring with chopsticks in the other hand. This prevented lumps of noodles from forming, which would make them difficult to cook, and also prevented them from sticking to the pan.

Those who are better off can add some flour or something, and that becomes two-grain noodle porridge, which is also finer and tastes better.

After the noodles are mixed thoroughly, the pot starts to bubble, so quickly pour the noodle soup in.

Soon, porridge was bubbling in the pot.

Since not much flour was given, it looks rather watery.

"Okay, let's eat."

"Big girl, bring out the pickles."

"Erniu, bring the dishes and chopsticks over here."

"I know, mom. I'll come."

Li Xiaohua called the two girls in an orderly manner.

On the table, a pot of porridge was divided into four bowls, with a plate of pickled radish in the middle. It needed a salty taste, otherwise it wouldn't be fun to work with. On the other side, a small stove was still burning, and something was cooking in a clay pot. Inside was an egg, which was for Yang Jun.

The job of boiling the eggs was done by the eldest sister, and she didn't think it was a big deal.

If there was anyone in the family who had some opinions about Yang Jun's favoritism, it would only be my second sister, Yang Yumei.

In fact, she didn't have any objections, but she felt a little jealous of her mother's behavior of focusing all her attention on her younger brother. She was still a child, so naturally she wanted her mother's recognition and love.

The corn porridge didn't taste very good because it was not the finely ground flour that was used later, but rather rough flour with even the shells left on it. It wasn't that it couldn't be removed, but that people were reluctant to get rid of it.

If it’s edible, why throw it away?

When drinking this porridge, you have to slurp it along the edge of the bowl so that your mouth doesn't get burned.

One more egg and the breakfast is over.

"Sooner or later, I'll make sure our family can eat meat every day."

I wanted to make an excuse that I don’t like egg yolks or something and let my mother eat some too, but then I thought better of it. It would be too stupid.

After finishing the meal, Li Xiaohua naturally took the two girls and tools and went to the fields. Before leaving, she told Yang Jun, "Kid, you're going to high school soon. When you recover from your illness, study hard and don't fall behind in your studies."

After this summer vacation, he will go to the county town to attend high school. This is what makes Li Xiaohua most pleased and proud. In the whole village, apart from her own son, there is only a little girl who can go to high school. Therefore, she has been showing off to the villagers a lot during this period.

This is just my personality. Besides being patriarchal and strong-willed, I'm also a bit fussy and like to show off. Nothing else special.

In this era, if we don't pay attention to trivial matters, we really can't survive. It can only be said that this word is a compliment here.

"Mom, the high school curriculum is different from that of junior high school. I don't even have the textbooks yet, so I can't study in advance." Yang Jun was a little amused.

"Anyway, you should study at home, don't run around."

Seeing that his mother and two sisters were about to leave, Yang Jun quickly took out the kettle he had deliberately hidden.

"Mom, I forgot to get some water."

He had secretly put some spiritual water in it, which should make the work of the three people easier.

"Okay, kid, go back to the house and remember to feed the chickens."

"I know, mother."

Yang Jun turned his head as he watched the three figures walking towards the farmland in the distance.

Since I have to rest at home, I might as well focus my energy on the small world space.

"It's already August of 1958. Remember the weather won't be very good in the next few years, so we need to prepare for food."

Thinking of the acres of land in the space, he couldn't suppress the urge to farm.

There are still some grain seeds at home, so I can take some and plant them.

The rural areas are now implementing the agricultural mutual aid group model, which means that everyone works together, but what they plant on the land is their own. By the end of the year, it will become a production team, and there is a high probability that the seeds will not be kept, so it will be difficult to farm at that time.

The formal work point system was fully implemented at the end of this year. The production team model entered every rural area, and work points became the most important thing for the collective.

Of course, all of this is actually changing on the existing basis, because the mutual aid groups actually have a way to calculate work points, but it is not completely linked to food. It will be different next year. At that time, work points will be related to all aspects of life, and more tickets will be needed to buy various things.

There are not many kinds of seeds at home. Corn and wheat are more common, and there are also sweet potatoes. The best are pumpkin seeds.

Don't underestimate the pumpkin. It is very valuable nowadays. A big pumpkin can not only be used as food, but its rare sweetness is also a treasure. It is rare to taste such sweetness in rural areas.

I wanted to stop, but when I saw there were seeds of important seasonings like chili and coriander, I just took some.

　New books for collection
　　
　
(End of this chapter)