CHAPTER 48: 48 WATCHING THE FUN

"Why should I? He’s not my parents. And as for my parents, who’s ever raised by their daughter?"

Zhao Tian looked at his niece in front of him, sighed in his heart, and continued working.

Upon hearing Zhao Yanmei’s arrogant words, the five children saw their father continue to work, so they continued as well. Their goal had been achieved, but they still had their own work to do—this was about feeding the family.

Su Yuanyuan watched that arrogant, thoughtless girl stomp her foot and call out for her second uncle. Seeing no one paid attention to her, she ran off crying.

That level of fighting spirit is really speechless. Was that it, and she ran off already?

After finishing a row, she bumped into the little girl again, who greeted her happily.

"Hehe, did you see that earlier? How was it?"

Su Yuanyuan gave a thumbs up, thinking she wasn’t a pushover and that her previous performance was quite likable.

"Yuanyuan, let me tell you, Zhao Yanmei is something else. She’s always putting on a show like that. My dad’s too embarrassed to handle her, but I don’t care about her. There’s no way I’m going to accommodate her anymore. She’s so shameless."

"Xiao Li, it looks like your family’s almost done too?"

"Yeah, it should be finished today, but my dad says we need to fertilize. Our family has saved up quite a bit of manure. And then we have to weed again."

"Fertilize?"

"Exactly. You guys don’t have that much manure, do you?"

Su Yuanyuan nodded. Her family didn’t have that. But she wasn’t planning to fertilize in the future; she just couldn’t manage it.

If she had known she could travel through time and end up in this era, she would have stored a hundred tons of fertilizer. But there’s no early warning.

"Yuanyuan, can you finish tomorrow?"

"Almost, but I’m reclaiming the wasteland this year, and I still have to weed."

"That’s how it is with the first-year wasteland. You haven’t fertilized the wasteland either, right? You’re not likely to harvest much food. You need to nurture the land."

Su Yuanyuan just smiled. She had heard about nurturing land, but she really couldn’t do it herself.

"Yuanyuan, the day after tomorrow is market day. Want to come?"

"I’m not going. There’s nothing I need to buy, and there’s still a lot of work to do."

"Aren’t you going? A few of us agreed to go together."

"No, I’m going to plant more Winter Melon and sell it in the county during winter."

"Winter Melon doesn’t sell for much, and might not even sell at all."

"If no one buys it in winter, I’ll feed it to the sheep. It’s better than dry grass. What are you going to the market for?"

"There’s not much work at home right now. We’re just going out for fun.

By the way, my family is selling little pigs that day, ten of them, and they look really good."

"Little pigs?"

"Yeah, we’re raising three this year and selling seven."

"Xiao Li, do you think I can raise pigs?"

"Why not? But pigs eat a lot."

"Hmm, then I’ll feed them Winter Melon in the winter. I’ll go see the little pigs at your place this noon, but my family doesn’t have a pigsty yet."

"You need a pigsty. Are you planning to raise chickens too?"

Su Yuanyuan nodded. Raising chickens for eggs, even though she had hundreds of eggs in her space, those were from a farm. Nothing beats the peace of mind from your own chickens laying eggs.

"I know Cai Xia’s family has dozens of chicks. But it’s not the right time—they hatched just before the rain, so it’ll take about ten more days."

"Alright, thanks, Xiao Li. I’ll go back and see how to build a pigsty."

"You know how to build a pigsty by yourself?" Zhao Yanli asked in surprise.

"I don’t. What do you use to build your pigsty?"

"Adobe bricks, what else?"

"Adobe bricks? I don’t have any."

"I know someone who does, but they might not sell."

"Xiao Li, could you help ask around?"

"Sure, I’ll sneak off to ask later."

"No need to sneak. You go, and I’ll help with your work."

Zhao Yanli quickly shook her head, "That won’t be necessary, it’s fine."

Su Yuanyuan just smiled, thinking she couldn’t possibly let someone run errands for free.

"Yuanyuan, I don’t know how many adobe bricks you’ll need."

"I don’t know either. Just buy more."

"Alright, I’ll ask. These days, you might really be able to build it. Everyone in the village has finished thinning their crops, so there’s time."

Su Yuanyuan smiled bitterly. Others could hire help, but it was more challenging for her. It wouldn’t work; she needed to talk to the village chief about hiring workers and paying wages to help with both the pigsty and chicken coop.

"Xiao Li, please help me out. I’ll ask the village chief. You know my situation, so hiring help is tricky. If it doesn’t work, I’ll pay wages and get the village chief to organize it, including building the chicken coop.

But I will need quite a few adobe bricks. Xiao Li, you’ll have to trouble yourself to inquire more. I also don’t know how much each is."

"Two cents per brick. I’ll ask for you. Don’t worry, every household would carry adobe bricks after the autumn harvest, and two cents per brick will get them delivered to your home."

Su Yuanyuan looked gratefully at the warm-hearted little girl, sincerely grateful to her.

With this thought in her mind, Su Yuanyuan found it hard to continue working.

"Xiao Li, I’m going to ask the village chief now."

With that, she dropped her hoe and headed to the village chief’s field.

Yang Hongwen listened to Su Yuanyuan, "Girl, are you sure you can handle it alone?"

"Uncle, I can do it. I plan to plant more Winter Melon, so the pigs will have something to eat by then.

But the yard at home is too small. Uncle, could I fence in the land I’ve cleared outside?"

"You can’t manage that alone."

"No problem, I’ll do it myself slowly. Just as long as you agree, Uncle."

"Sure, no one goes over there. If you want, go handle it yourself.

I’ll get a few people for the pigsty the day after tomorrow. It’ll be done in two days. You pay fifty cents a day for wages, and every household has adobe bricks. They’re willing to sell at two cents each.

Since it’s just you, a little girl, you don’t even need to provide food." That’s all he could help with. Nothing else he could do.

"Great, thank you, Uncle. I also want to raise chickens."

"Six people will finish it in two days. Just decide where you want to build it. They’ll deliver adobe bricks to you tomorrow, dig the pigsty the day after, and it’ll be done in a day."

Now Su Yuanyuan was relieved, knowing how pigsties were built. Besides using adobe bricks to cover three walls, they’d also dig a manure pit. The pigs would usually stay there.

Su Yuanyuan didn’t want it like that, but she couldn’t be too out of the ordinary. She might as well go with the flow.

There was still a large space next to the firewood room. The pigsty and chicken coop would go there.

Su Yuanyuan happily returned to the field. Zhao Yanli approached, "How did it go?"

"Xiao Li, the village chief said he’d arrange it for me. I don’t have to worry about anything. He’ll get six people, each having adobe bricks, to deliver tomorrow and start working the day after."