The little one's purse connects the two worlds, turning a desolate village into a paradise.

After saying that, the village chief stood up and called to everyone, "Come on, let's go take a look in the vegetable garden and pick a small plot to plant the vegetable seeds that Ya Ya brought back."

The villagers' eyes lit up, and a group of them walked excitedly toward the vegetable garden.

Every household in Lotus Village has its own plot of land, which is mostly cultivated along their own fences and at the foot of the mountain.

It is convenient to irrigate near mountains and water.

But precisely because it is located near the mountain, the landslide a while ago destroyed most of the vegetable gardens of every household, and in many places, the soil was washed away.

"We still need to reinforce that hillside behind us. Qingming Festival is coming soon, and if it slides again, it will be completely destroyed."

"Yes, yes, this work is urgent, hurry up, two acres is a lot of work."

"And corn too, that stuff is good, so sweet."

"Let Old Man Fang think it over. Let's plant the ones we know how to grow first. Speaking of which, it's been a long time since we've had radishes. Once they're grown, we can stew them with those big bones to make soup. It'll definitely be delicious!"

A group of people chatted and laughed, and soon chose a vegetable plot to plant in, working together in an orderly manner. Some pulled weeds and loosened the soil, some carried water, and a few strong people went to the back slope to reinforce it.

First, smooth out the steep sections, then layer bluestone along the foot of the slope, filling the gaps with thick lime slurry.

Finally, Hunter Zhao drove in many wooden stakes, driving them deep into the ground to hold the loose soil in place.

"If only we had that glutinous rice, we could mix it with some glutinous rice juice, and once it dries, it would be as hard as a block of iron, that would be so satisfying," someone sighed.

Just the reinforcement work kept the village's able-bodied men busy until the sun was setting.

At noon, everyone ate another solid meal of dry rice, all refined rice without a single drop of kudzu root or water added!

Ya Ya obediently followed Grandma Liu, her little hands gently tugging at the sprouting wild grass.

Not far away, Fang Tiesheng squatted at the edge of the field, holding a piece of paper filled with planting instructions in his hand. He squinted at it for a long time, but still couldn't see the words clearly.

Catching sight of Little Bean bending over and pulling weeds on the ground, I quickly waved him over: "Little Bean, come here, come here."

Little Bean put the grass in his hand into the basket next to him and ran over excitedly: "Grandpa Fang, what's wrong?"

"Grandpa's eyesight isn't very good, he can't see these small characters clearly. Can you take a small stick and help Grandpa trace these characters onto the ground, make them bigger, and practice writing them, okay?"

Little Bean immediately agreed, found a small wooden stick of suitable thickness, took the white paper from Grandpa Fang's hand, and began to carefully trace the small characters on it onto the muddy ground in front of him.

He was just learning to write, and he wrote very slowly and crookedly, but Fang Tiesheng didn't mind, as long as it was legible.

Only when he could see clearly could he decipher the meaning of these incomplete words and understand how to plant corn.

As dusk settled, the two small packets of seeds, carrying the hopes of Lotus Village, were finally sown into the soil.

Old Fang still hadn't fully figured out the corn-planting method. The characters were too small and too dense. Little Bean had to copy them down for him from the beginning, and it took him an entire afternoon to barely make out a few lines.

Technical Regulations for Corn Planting (Village/Farmer Version)

Scope of application: This procedure applies to spring corn planting in local mountainous and dryland areas, and is intended for farmers to refer to when sowing and managing fields.

Choose a site with gentle terrain, thick soil, and good drainage, and avoid steep slopes and waterlogged areas.

After the previous crop is harvested, promptly deep plow and break up the soil, harrow and level it, and remove stones and stubble.

Drainage ditches should be dug along the hillside to prevent rainwater from washing away the soil and causing root rot...

Before I could finish writing the remaining beans, it got dark.

Fang Tiesheng rubbed his blurry eyes and put down the flashlight.

Little Bean has already eaten noodles and poached eggs and is resting. Little Sprout should be taking the straw rope to buy cotton shoes for them now. Everyone is busy with the vegetable garden today and hasn't gone to look for wild vegetables.

"Getting old..."

He muttered something under his breath, raised his hand to rub his slightly numb legs, carefully folded the paper and put it in his pocket, then slowly walked home, supporting his back.

The village was quiet, with the occasional sound of wild animals in the woods. Dark clouds completely obscured the moon, and it was pitch black all around. He held up his flashlight, the small beam illuminating the path beneath his feet.

When he reached the fork in the road, he subconsciously glanced at the road leading up the mountain, and in that one glance, his pupils contracted slightly.

On the dark mountain path, there seemed to be a faint light, which flashed by quickly before plunging back into darkness.

Fang Tiesheng abruptly stopped, rubbed his eyes hard, and looked up again. The mountain was pitch black, with the wind rustling through the treetops, and there was not a glimmer of light.

It was as if what he had just experienced was merely a hallucination caused by his failing eyesight.

Zhao Hu tightened his grip on the flashlight and walked quietly along the path. He had only been up the mountain for a short time, and he thought he could find his way even with his eyes closed.

I never expected that I would almost crash as soon as I got on.

The small pit, which was clearly visible during the day, almost made me fall flat on my face when I stepped on it at night. I even flicked on my flashlight because I was nervous.

Fortunately, this was only in their own village.

He quickly turned off his flashlight, broke off a long branch from the side, and cautiously made his way into the deep mountains.

It would take nearly two hours to walk there along this mountain path, and another half an hour at night. By the time he arrived, people would be sleeping soundly, making it difficult for anyone to notice him.

……

Ya Ya, familiar with the way, arrived at the morning market with her little cart. Cao Xiulian had already laid out a clean plastic sheet next to her stall.

"Has Ya Ya had breakfast yet? Auntie has prepared the stall for you. No rush, you can have something to eat first if you haven't had breakfast yet." As she spoke, she picked up a bowl of steaming corn porridge.

Ya Ya stopped abruptly, her little hands gripping the handlebars tightly, the tips of her ears turning slightly red. She was both embarrassed and nervous, and whispered with her head down, "Auntie... I... I didn't bring any wild vegetables today."

Cao Xiulian was taken aback. "Not selling?"

"Grandpa and Grandma are both working in the fields; they didn't go up the mountain to forage for wild vegetables today," Ya Ya said softly, feeling guilty. "I didn't bring any wild vegetables for Auntie today..."

When Cao Xiulian saw the child's nervous look, she quickly waved her hand, saying, "Why is this child acting like he's paying protection money?"

"Hey, I thought it was something serious! It's nothing, it's nothing. I'll be fine even if you don't bring anything. It's lonely for me to set up my stall all by myself this morning. I'm happy to have you keep me company! It's no big deal, I'll pack up the cloth right away, don't worry!"

She reached out and gently patted Ya Ya's head: "Have you had breakfast?"

"I've already eaten." Ya Ya breathed a sigh of relief and nodded gently. "I came to buy cotton shoes today."

Cao Xiulian then looked down and noticed the new black cotton shoes on her feet.