The World Turned into Zombies, So I Went Back to the Countryside to Farm 21p2

Chapter 21 p2: The Wheat Field

When it came to picking mushrooms, Jiang Wuni and the little girl were the experts. Jiang Zao had also gone up the mountain to pick them as a child, but so many years had passed that she had forgotten most of it.

Wen Zhao, who had grown up in the city, had never seen such a strange thing and was having a great time. Almost every time she found one, she would pick it up and ask Jiang Wuni if it was edible.

Besides the most common pine mushrooms, the group also picked some matsutake, termite mushrooms, morels, boletes, and bamboo fungus.

Wen Zhao even dug up a Ganoderma lucidum as big as her face, which made her so happy that she showed it off to everyone.

Jiang Zao nodded coolly.

Jiang Wuni was so tired that she kept hammering her back.

Only the little girl paid attention to her. The two of them were as happy as could be, and their clear laughter echoed through the forest.

Jiang Zao also slightly pursed her lips.

Unknowingly, more than two hours had passed.

The rain pattered on the pine needles.

The few of them all put on their raincoat hoods. Jiang Wuni had picked a full basket, and so had the little girl, her basket was overflowing. Jiang Zao was next, and Wen Zhao, who had been playing while picking, had the least. She voluntarily took on the task of washing the dishes after dinner today.

The few of them poured the mushrooms together, and there was actually more than half a basket. It seemed that they had enough vegetables for more than half a month.

Wen Zhao picked it up.

“Let’s go, to the fields.”

They returned to where they had parked the tricycle, then went down to the halfway point of the mountain. There was a fork in the road, and turning there led to Jiang Zao’s family’s land.

The zombie that had been killed here by Jiang Zao last time had already decomposed to a high degree, revealing white bones, with dense, wriggling small insects crawling on them. The wind brought a foul stench. The other parts were probably either eaten or had turned into spring mud to nourish the flowers.

The few of them looked at each other for a moment. Jiang Wuni turned her head and dry-heaved. Wen Zhao gently covered the little girl’s eyes.

Jiang Zao took the shovel from the tricycle and shoveled it up in a few strokes, throwing it to the bottom of the slope without batting an eye.

Even Wen Zhao, who had seen big scenes, couldn’t help but admire her.

“Amazing, amazing.”

Jiang Zao even threw the shovel away. “It’s nothing. We don’t need this shovel anymore, right?”

The three of them were digging sweet potatoes in the front, and the little girl followed behind, picking them up, patting off the dirt, and throwing them into a snakeskin bag.

The group was busy until noon before they had time to eat. After washing their hands with the water they had brought, they sat down on the ground. Jiang Wuni took out a bag of steamed buns from a cloth bag and gave one to each of them, along with a small bowl of salted vegetables that the little girl had stir-fried in the morning.

“Eating steamed buns while sitting on the mountain and enjoying the scenery. If it weren’t for the apocalypse, I would have thought we were on a picnic,” Wen Zhao said.

Jiang Zao had brought a thermos and took out three plastic cups, pouring a cup of water for each of them.

“What, you’ve never been on a picnic before?”

“No…” Wen Zhao lowered her eyes and took a bite of the steamed bun.

Not to mention that after she changed her career to be an outdoor blogger and was in the company of mountains and wilderness, even when she was an accountant working in a company before, when she was stressed and bored, she would go to the park or the riverside alone on weekends.

When she was a child, she had desperately wanted to escape the countryside, to escape the endless farm work, to escape the mountains and rivers that she was tired of looking at. But after she grew up, she only felt a moment of peace when she was in a similar environment. Later, this even became her livelihood. How could it not be a twist of fate?

But later, after she bought a car, Chen Jianing also found out that she sometimes went camping by the river and insisted on dragging Xiao Yu along. The couple didn’t know how to set up a canopy, couldn’t cook, and didn’t help clean up.

After a few times, she stopped going.

Jiang Wuni looked at the gloomy sky. A rumbling sound came from the distance. “Let’s hurry up. It’s going to rain heavily soon.”

“Alright.” Jiang Zao finished her steamed bun in a few bites with water and got up, carrying the sweet potatoes they had dug up in the morning onto the tricycle.

Soon, the tricycle was full. The few of them discussed riding back to unload the goods first, as there were still potatoes to be dug.

The little girl volunteered, “Big sister, I’ll go.”

Wen Zhao also put down her tools and wiped the sweat from her forehead with a towel. “You can’t ride it. I’ll go with you.”

Jiang Zao threw her a sickle. “Take this for self-defense.”

Wen Zhao rode on the way back. On the way there, seeing that the little girl really wanted to help, she let her ride. Unexpectedly, the little girl was quite strong. The mountain road was a bit slippery, but she pedaled with vigor.

Due to the continuous rain recently, and the fact that they couldn’t come out to till the soil and fertilize, the potato harvest was even worse than the sweet potatoes. They were no thicker than a finger.

But if they didn’t dig them out, they didn’t know how long it would rain in the future. Jiang Wuni held these finger-sized potatoes, her expression clearly a little sad.

“I was originally hoping to harvest a crop of potatoes before the wheat ripened, and then I would have the harvest for the first half of the year. Who would have thought…”

Jiang Zao gathered all the lumps on the ground and threw them into a snakeskin bag. “They’re a little small, but they’re still edible. Don’t think about your harvest. Now you can only sell it to ghosts.”

Jiang Wuni’s face turned blue with anger. If she wasn’t afraid of attracting zombies by shouting, she would have started cursing.

“Am I thinking about selling them for money? The little bit of grain at home will be eaten up one day. I don’t know what the future holds. We farmers’ hopes for the whole year are all on this one acre of land…”

With that, she sighed heavily again.

“Forget it. You don’t farm, so you wouldn’t understand even if I told you. We have to save half of this bag of potatoes for planting. We can’t eat them all.”

Jiang Wuni took the snakeskin bag and picked through it, keeping the edible ones and putting the rest in another bag.

Just as they had put the two bags of potatoes on the tricycle, a clap of thunder sounded, and large raindrops began to fall.

Jiang Zao also packed up the farm tools and put them on the tricycle.

“Let’s go. It’s time to go back.”

When they reached the foot of the mountain, Jiang Wuni was still a little reluctant. “There’s still wheat planted behind the slope. I want to go and take a look.”

“With just the few of us, you’re not thinking of harvesting the wheat, are you?”

Jiang Zao remembered that field. It was connected to the other wheat fields in the village, and in previous years, a harvester would come and harvest them all at once.

“We’re already here. Just a quick look. I’m worried. I don’t know if it’s been flooded.”

Jiang Zao glanced at her watch. It was four-thirty, and they were almost back to the village. “Alright, we’ll be quick.”

When she was a child, she had gone to the village primary school, and she would pass by this wheat field every day on her way to and from school.

In the height of summer, the endless green stretched as far as the eye could see. When the wind blew, the wheat would ripple like waves.

In the autumn, when she ran across the ridges, the heavy ears of wheat would hang down and occasionally touch her palm. She would giggle and run all the way to Jiang Wuni’s side.

At that time, the roads in the village had not yet been repaired, and the harvester could not get in. Jiang Wuni and her grandfather could only use sickles to cut them down row by row. This kind of work would often take three to five days.

At that time, she couldn’t even hold a hoe steady and could only lie on the wheat straw and do her homework. She would fall asleep while writing and be woken up when the sky was filled with crimson clouds. On the way home, Jiang Zao would sometimes sing the songs she had learned at school to Jiang Wuni, like “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” and “Only Mama is Good in the World.”

Jiang Wuni didn’t like to listen to this. Her favorite was another song, “Grandma’s Penghu Bay.” After a long time, she could even hum it.

But perhaps these things were too long ago, and Jiang Zao had probably forgotten them, just as she could no longer remember the exact location of the wheat field.

Seeing her stop, Jiang Wuni went ahead to lead the way. They climbed a slope, then went down, and after crossing a stone bridge, the wheat field came into view, but it was no longer the scene of high summer.

The untended wheat field was overgrown with weeds. The strong winds of the past two nights had caused the wheat to lodge severely. The water in the field was almost up to a person’s thigh, let alone the wheat.

Jiang Wuni ran down the ridge in a few steps and gently pinched an ear of wheat with her rough hand. It was shriveled. She couldn’t help but burst into tears.

“Oh heavens! Open your eyes and see… what kind of sin is this… wasting food!”

Jiang Zao’s lips moved, as if she wanted to say something, but Wen Zhao pulled her back, pointed to the distance, and gestured for her to be quiet.

Opposite the wheat field was the village primary school where she had gone to school as a child. The red flag on the playground was still flying. A few figures were wandering by the flagpole. At this time, they couldn’t possibly be living people.

Jiang Zao nodded, indicating that she had seen them. She went up and pulled Jiang Wuni, whispering, “We should go.”

Jiang Wuni had not yet recovered from her grief. Just as she was about to say something, the wheat waves in the distance rippled. Jiang Zao went forward and covered her mouth, slowly pulling her back.

As the two of them were moving, Jiang Wuni also saw that it was a ragged, sunken-eyed zombie.

Her eyes widened in terror. Jiang Zao’s breathing behind her was also a little rapid, but both of them knew that to make a sound at this moment was to die.

It wasn’t until the two of them had silently retreated to the stone bridge and could no longer see the zombie that Jiang Zao let go.

Wen Zhao also breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fortunately, their eyesight is not good. They rely almost entirely on their hearing to move, and the sound of the rain covered our footsteps.”

Seeing that the rain was getting heavier and the sky was getting darker, it was only just past five o’clock, but the zombies were already out, a full hour earlier than usual. It was urgent to go back!

“Quick, let’s go!” Jiang Zao said anxiously.

Fortunately, the tricycle had just been parked at the intersection and had not been pushed over. Wen Zhao helped Jiang Wuni up, then also lifted the little girl up. The little girl said anxiously, “Big sister, I can walk!”

Wen Zhao said without allowing for argument, “You sit. I’ll push. It’s faster this way.”

Jiang Zao pedaled the tricycle so fast that it was almost sparking. Seeing that they were almost at their doorstep, a zombie rushed out from another house, roaring and pouncing straight at them.

Jiang Zao’s pupils shrank. At this moment, if she let go of the handlebars, the tricycle would probably overturn with them on it. Before she could react, a figure had already pounced on it and knocked the zombie away with her shoulder.

“Wen Zhao!”

“Take them and go first!”

Wen Zhao was already fighting with the zombie alone. Jiang Zao no longer delayed and quickly rode the tricycle into the courtyard. She took the bow and arrow from the back and was about to rush out.

Jiang Wuni grabbed her. “Zao’er!”

“It’s okay, you stay here. I’ll be right back.”

“Wen Zhao!”

Jiang Zao rushed out and was about to draw her bow when the zombie not far away was already pinned down by her and had its neck twisted.

“I’m here!”

Wen Zhao stood up, panting slightly. The little girl, although scared, also ran out worriedly, dragging a hoe.

“Big sister, are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Wen Zhao smiled and walked over. But Jiang Zao’s expression turned grim again. The gleaming arrowhead aimed at her, and the sound of something cutting through the air passed by her ear, hitting the vital spot of the zombie that was pouncing on her from behind.

Wen Zhao breathed a sigh of relief, cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. She thought to herself: Fortunately, she wasn’t aiming at me.

The roars of zombies could be faintly heard in the distance.

Jiang Zao put away her bow and arrow and pulled the little girl over with one arm. “Hurry up, get inside.”

The three of them had just run into the courtyard and closed the door when a heavy object slammed against it with a bang.

Wen Zhao pressed her shoulder against the door, and Jiang Zao quickly bolted it. She took two steps back. “Go, let’s go inside.”

The pounding on the door continued for more than half an hour. The zombies, unable to hear any movement, finally left unwillingly.

Jiang Zao saw from the third floor that the zombies outside had dispersed and then came down. Jiang Wuni looked at her, then at Wen Zhao.

Especially Wen Zhao, who had rolled in the mud a few times while fighting with the zombies. Even her hair was covered in mud.

“I’ll go boil some hot water. Everyone can wash up later.”

“Use the rainwater collected in the bucket.”

“Eh, alright.”

After Jiang Wuni went out, Jiang Zao stared at her and said, “You’re not injured, are you?”

“No. Don’t you trust me? Both of my hands are fine now. How could I not beat a zombie?” Wen Zhao denied it, her tail almost wagging to the sky.

Jiang Zao turned her face away.

Well, that was a waste of a question. Even if she were bitten by a zombie, only her brain would have a problem.