I Picked Up a High-Maintenance Mistress for Famine-Fleeing and Farming 72

Chapter 72: Still Busy

The Li brothers, knowing that Muchun had left Wanliu City, went up the mountain to visit her at the first opportunity, and were promptly drafted as laborers.

“Hey, you’ve come at just the right time. We’re short on hands,” Muchun said with a big smile on her face.

“So there was work waiting for us. No wonder you’re smiling like you’ve found gold,” the younger Li brother teased.

“Muchun, what are you busy with?” the elder Li brother asked, pointing at the half-finished courtyard wall, a guess in his heart.

“I plan to settle down here. Where else can I go? Wanliu City won’t accept these refugees from outside the city. We shouldn’t wait anymore,” Muchun said. She naturally couldn’t reveal the real situation. The outside of the city was closest to the river. As long as she could clear two acres of mountain land, after the seedlings had grown, she could only rely on manual watering to have a way out. She would do her best and leave the rest to fate. She couldn’t manage any more than that.

“Wanliu City is indeed not a good place. Since you want to settle down here, then we brothers are willing to follow you and settle in the forest,” the Li brothers said, exchanging a look. Both of them wanted to hold onto Muchun’s thigh. Along the way, they had not suffered any losses by following her.

“Alright then. I’ll go back and discuss this with the village head in two days and see what they think. After all, with many hands, the work is fast, and the season waits for no one. If we delay the planting, there will be nothing next year.”

“Muchun, you’re still the most thoughtful. I’ll trust you,” the younger Li brother said with a silly smile.

“But for now, help me with the courtyard first. I have to settle myself before I can manage others, right? Besides, with so many girls here, I have to ensure their safety first,” Muchun said, patting the younger Li brother’s shoulder.

“I’ll go back and call a few people for you. You wait,” the younger Li brother said, stumbling from the pat, but his eyes were shining with eagerness.

“Just find two or three. We don’t need too many. After the work is done, I’ll give each of them ten jin of flour. Don’t make a big deal about it. And remember to tell old man Zhang that I’ll go and find him in a few days. I’m busy these two days and don’t have time,” Muchun instructed.

“Alright, I know,” the younger Li brother said and quickly walked out of the forest.

“Be careful what you say. Don’t let everyone know,” the elder Li brother, who was a little more cautious, reminded him.

“I know, I know. You’re so long-winded.”

“Muchun, let’s get to work first.”

“Alright.” With so many girls at home, Muchun did not plan to provide meals for the helpers, so she planned to give them ten jin of flour as a reward.

The refugees had been exposed to the elements for too long and were all as miserable as beggars. The Li brothers, who had entered the city, were much better off than the others, both in terms of clothing and spirit.

At least they had had a few months of full meals and looked much more energetic than the emaciated refugees.

And the Zhang family, because they had had some grain reserves at the beginning, and later Muchun had helped them with some food, was doing alright, better than some and worse than others.

In the Zhang family’s shelter, the old village head’s skinny body was hunched over. He had changed a lot this year. From a small old man with some spirit, he now trembled when he walked, and his sunken cheeks were clearly the result of long-term hunger and malnutrition.

Zhang Tiesheng would occasionally help him out a little, but with many mouths to feed, the two jin of grain he gave him would always end up in his little grandson’s stomach. In these times, every family was having a hard time, and it was the same for every family.

“Old man Zhang, didn’t you say Muchun was back? Huh? Where is she? How come I haven’t seen her?” the old village head asked, hitting the ground with his wooden cane, anxious.

“She went into the mountains. She said she would be back in three days, but I haven’t seen a shadow of her yet. I don’t know,” Zhang Tiesheng said, rubbing his hands and craning his neck to look outside.

This damn girl. She had said she would be back today, but there was still no sign of her. Looking at his old brother’s expectant gaze, Zhang Tiesheng felt a little guilty.

“Then what did she say to you? Tell me clearly,” the old village head was so anxious that he almost hit Zhang Tiesheng on the back with his cane.

“My Muchun said that she can lead the villagers up the mountain to clear the land. Even if we plant a little less grain, it’s better than waiting to starve to death. Looking at the thin porridge in Wanliu City getting thinner by the day, if it weren’t for the fact that the river has thawed and we can still catch a couple of fish to fill our stomachs, I really don’t know how long we can live,” Zhang Tiesheng had thought about it for a whole night and also felt that Muchun’s idea was right.

“It’s easy to say that we’ll go up the mountain to clear the land. But this forest is so dense. What will we use to clear the land? We can’t even have a full meal. And where will the seeds come from?” the old village head was not yet confused and knew the difficulty of clearing the land.

“Muchun said she would think of a way for these things. We just have to do as she says. Why don’t we just listen to her and give it a try? This child has always had her own ideas since she was a child, but she’s still a reliable person,” Zhang Tiesheng persuaded.

“Alright. We’ll listen to her. We’ll take the whole village to the forest to clear the land,” the old village head said, his cane hitting the ground with a “dong, dong” sound. His cloudy, sunken eyes held a certain determination, as if he had made some major decision.

After talking to the village head, Zhang Tiesheng received Muchun’s message. He didn’t know what she was busy with in the mountains.

…

The younger Li brother called for Carpenter Wu and two of his childhood friends. This kind of work that gave flour could not be given to outsiders. This was called not letting the benefits flow to outsiders.

As the middleman, he also felt very respected. Although he was calling people to work, in these times, there was plenty of work, but no grain.

Muchun, with Guan Yue, Dongjiu, and Zhao Xing’er, helped out. Besides Dongjiu, they were all from the same village, and they were not strangers to each other. It was no problem for them to do the small work of bundling tree branches.

Muchun was afraid that her little lady would get her slender, white hands rough, so she quickly found a few young men to cut down the trees and build the courtyard wall.

The Li brothers, with great tact, chose a spot next to Muchun’s “home,” about fifty meters from her courtyard wall. They would cut down the trees here and clear out a space for themselves. It would be no problem to move their wooden shelter here and live directly. The only problem was that there was no thin porridge from Wanliu City, and survival was a big issue.

But they would occupy the place first. There were always more solutions than difficulties.

Carpenter Wu was also a sensible person. Seeing that the Li family had leaned against Muchun’s left side, he himself circled Muchun’s right side. Since Muchun had chosen this place, there must be a way to survive. It was always right to follow in her footsteps.

Muchun was also happy to see them do this. After all, knowing them was much safer than the refugees she didn’t know. Her own “home” was all women. If she wasn’t at home one day and ran into a beast or a ruffian, she would have a helper.

After all, there was strength in numbers. In a day’s work, many more wooden stakes had been cut down near Muchun’s house.

The few of them were surprised to see that her courtyard actually had a small hot spring. But for the farmers who had just been submerged by the water for half a year, they were not surprised to see a hot spring. After all, they had seen a scene where the water and the sky met. What could be more surprising or terrifying than this?

In the cave, steamed buns were being steamed pot after pot. Although she had said she would not provide meals, she couldn’t let the people who had worked all day walk half a day back to the mountain to eat that bowl of thin porridge.

On top of the clay pot, only five large mixed-flour steamed buns could be steamed at a time. With two pots steaming together, it would still take two rounds to feed their small group of twenty people.

There was really not enough grain. Muchun hid in a secluded place, packed fifty jin of wheat flour, fifty jin of cornmeal, twenty cured sausages, five jin of jerky, and one dried chicken, all into a sack. She had to hide outside for an hour and a half before she could carry the sack back to the cave.

She happened to run into Guan Yue, who had come back for a drink of water.

“I’ve been working with people all afternoon. Where did you go?” Guan Yue asked, looking at the person who had been missing all afternoon, with something on her back.

“Shh, I got some food. Otherwise, with so many people, are we going to drink the northwest wind?” Muchun said, one hand on the hundred-or-so-jin sack on her shoulder.

“Food? Where did you get it? What is it?” Hearing that it was food, Guan Yue’s eyes lit up, and she asked curiously.

“The secret must not be revealed. Since I can lead everyone to this uninhabited forest, I naturally have some preparations. You’ll know when the time comes,” Muchun said. It wasn’t that she was deliberately being mysterious, but she couldn’t explain the origin of the things and could only bluff Guan Yue.

Fortunately, Guan Yue believed her unconditionally, thinking that she had really made some foolproof plan.

Muchun threw the sack onto the wooden bed in the cave where the grain was stored, which attracted the attention of a few girls.

They saw her take out the food one by one as if by magic, and they all looked at her in disbelief.

“Muchun, where did you get all this grain? It’s hard to buy grain now,” Huang Caiying said. She knew that Muchun was capable, but to just conjure up food like this was still very surprising.

“It’s indeed difficult for the refugees outside the city to buy grain, but it’s much simpler inside the city. I also asked a friend to buy some grain at a high price before, just in case. In a few days, if the villagers agree to clear the land together, we’ll have to pool some silver to buy seeds,” Muchun said, frowning as she worked, and diverted Huang Caiying’s train of thought. Liu Yunhe was helping her pack up.

“The food is temporarily replenished, and the courtyard will be finished in another day. Tomorrow, I’ll have Dongjiu come back and cook for everyone,” Muchun said with a relaxed smile.

Huang Caiying thought that Muchun had hidden the grain here and did not ask any more questions. In any case, it was a great thing that they had food to eat.

The courtyard, from beginning to end, was finally completed in seven days. A five or six-meter-long log was placed horizontally between two wooden stakes, and three thinner wooden sticks supported it from below, all of which were embedded into each other, firm and solid.

Even in the wide gaps, they had planted mountain jujube trees and tied them to the wooden sticks with straw. The mountain jujube trees, which had not yet sprouted, had long, sharp thorns on them, which would make even a wild dog tremble.

Although it could not be said to be seamless, for the current conditions, it was already a rare and stable thing.

The Li brothers and a few helpers had made a haystack and had been making do in it for three days. Every day, Muchun would give each of them two large mixed-flour steamed buns and a pot of fish soup to borrow some flavor.

Before they left, she gave each of them ten jin of wheat flour, and both the host and the guests were happy.

On the new courtyard wall, there were many red, round jujubes that had been missed, a patch after a patch.

“Come on, I’ll take you to pick wild mountain jujubes,” Muchun said, pulling Liu Yunhe towards the courtyard wall.

“Why have all the leaves fallen, but these jujubes are still hanging on, red and round? A small one is so pretty,” Liu Yunhe said, her eyes crinkling like a crescent moon as she looked at the strings of mountain jujubes.

“Pick a few and try them. They’re delicious.”

“I don’t dare. They’re all long, sharp thorns,” Liu Yunhe said, shaking her head. How could she dare to reach in?

Muchun’s hand reached in and picked a few red little fruits.

She wiped them with her hand and fed one to Liu Yunhe.

“Be careful of the pit.”

“Mm.”

“Ah~~~ so sour! And you said it was delicious?” Liu Yunhe’s exquisite features were all scrunched up from the sourness, but for some reason, she didn’t spit out the sour jujube, even with her teeth bared.

“It gets sweet at the end,” Muchun said, reaching out and gently pinching her cheek.

“If you really can’t, then just spit it out. Hahaha,” she had never seen Liu Yunhe’s expression so out of control.

“It’s really better now. I can taste a little sweetness,” Liu Yunhe’s features relaxed a little.

“How about we use these sour jujubes to steam some jujube buns for you when we get back? Or we can soak them in some wine. The taste will be better.”

“Really? I don’t believe it. But I want to try,” Liu Yunhe said with a smile, holding the round jujube pit.

“Let’s pick all of these.”

“Okay.”

A ray of the setting sun shone on Muchun’s long, straight back, looking warm and bright.

Liu Yunhe held half a gourd ladle, watching as the red, round jujubes were filled in layer by layer. For a moment, she felt a sense of a bountiful harvest.