CHAPTER 50: BUILD 50 PIGSTIES

Wu Liansheng shook his head. "These won’t do, they’re too dry. Isn’t there a lot of saplings over by the wasteland at the east end of the village? Those will do, they’re pliable now."

"Got it, I’ll go cut them this afternoon."

"Yeah, and these few pieces of wood, later when you’re building the pigsty, use them as beams. This way, the pigsty can be taller, and you can keep a few more pigs without any problem."

Yuanyuan nodded from the side. This arrangement was perfect.

"We’ve pushed over a hundred and twenty blocks of mud bricks, and we’ll go back for two more loads. The remaining five families will also push more over."

"Uncle, just leave them here, I’ll go to cut the saplings now and try to get everything done in the next day or two."

Yuanyuan also pushed her own cart to the wasteland. There were plenty of saplings, but they couldn’t grow into trees, they were all wild ones.

Actually, she was worried these saplings would take root in the future, but there was nothing she could do about it.

Brandishing a sickle, she didn’t stop as she bent over to cut the saplings. At this point, Yuanyuan’s strength was equivalent to an adult’s. This was one of the benefits of the Spiritual Spring Water reshaping her body.

The saplings here were very dense, and she didn’t dare use the space at this time. Seeing that it was enough, she quickly loaded up the cart and pushed it back.

When she returned, she happened to run into another family delivering mud bricks. Seeing the amount, the Wu Family had already pushed enough.

In the evening, she didn’t rest either. After eating at home, she stayed only for ten minutes before setting out again. Weeding the farm wasn’t as urgent now.

She hurriedly got the saplings ready so as not to delay their work.

All day, she pushed back six carts. That’s all she could manage, and the chicken coop wouldn’t be too big. It was just too exhausting, and her clothes were always wet.

Today, she was really dead tired. No way, she wasn’t going to do anything else.

The next day, she set off again at four in the morning. Today she had to finish weeding the field; otherwise, the wild grass would root even more firmly, making it harder to weed.

When she got home, Wu Liansheng and the other five had already started digging the pigsty. It was really just to prevent the pigs from jumping out of it.

Yuanyuan greeted them. "Uncle, what should I do?"

"You don’t need to worry, just do what you need to do."

They also noticed the sorghum field outside hadn’t been weeded yet.

Yuanyuan sneaked into the house, drank a bowl of eight-treasure porridge with sugar, took the sheep out, and only then started weeding.

The men working also talked quietly about the girl.

"Way stronger than my daughter. Look at the stones laid in the yard, they must have come from reclaiming land. This girl is thoughtful and even laid a path."

"Indeed, such a young girl, yet two acres are no slower than others, and she still has time to clear these few acres of wilderness."

"Yesterday, this girl told me she wanted to raise three pigs."

"I really don’t know what Su Dacheng is thinking, just a little girl like this, how can you manage with her?"

All six were strong workers, and when they worked, they didn’t hold back at all. By noon, they had already dug a pigsty a meter deep, with the soil placed on the other side.

In the afternoon, they could start building the pig shelter. Then it would be connected with the deep pit, leaving a gentle slope. The deep pit was to be used for the pigs’ waste, and when it was about enough, they would need to remove the pig manure.

In these two days, the pigsty and chicken coop were both completed.

The grass in Yuanyuan’s sorghum field was almost dealt with too, and tomorrow it should be finished after one more day.

For two days, the labor for six people amounted to six yuan, plus the fifteen hundred mud bricks which at two cents each cost thirty, separated out individually, so each person got six yuan, making it convenient.

On the night the pigsty was finished, she went to the Zhao Family.

"Uncle, Aunt, I’ve come to get pigs."

"Yuanyuan, your pigsty is built?"

"Yes, the chicken coop is finished too. I’ll go to the market with you guys, I want to buy chicks."

"Sure, tomorrow is the big market day, don’t be late, we’ll meet at the village entrance."

"Okay, you don’t need to wait for me. If we’re on time we can go together, but if I’m late, you go ahead, we’ll definitely meet at the market."

Zhao Yanli didn’t mind the dirt, jumped into the pigsty, looked around, caught a pig, handed it to her brother, then caught two more for her parents.

The little pigs were sold by size. One was just five yuan. Three would be fifteen yuan.

"Yuanyuan, the two of us will each take one, and let my brother catch one to send to you."

Yuanyuan nodded with a smile, and the three of them took the little pigs to the pigsty.

"Yuanyuan, you still need a stone trough."

"Yeah, I’m thinking of going to the market to buy one tomorrow. If the millstone is cheap, I’d like to buy a small one. With pigs, chickens, and sheep at home, in the future, we’ll need a lot of grain. If we have a millstone, it would be convenient."

"A millstone costs thirty, and that’s not a big one," Zhao Qingxiang said.

Yuanyuan frowned. The price was acceptable, but the source of the money was hard to explain.

"Big brother, how much does a pig trough cost?"

"For three pigs, you’ll need a big one, about ten yuan."

"So that’s forty yuan total."

"Yeah."

"Then I’ll hold off on the millstone. I can’t not buy a pig trough."

Yuanyuan thought that tomorrow she’d talk to the vendor about credit, giving a five yuan deposit and paying the rest after the harvest. This is the misery of having money but not daring to spend it. It seemed she really couldn’t go with Zhao Yanli and them tomorrow.

"Xiao Li, I won’t go with you tomorrow. You go ahead."

Zhao Yanli wasn’t bothered, nodded, and Yuanyuan handed five yuan to Zhao Qingxiang. The brother and sister went home.

The three little pigs were plump. The Zhao Family was meticulous, and they looked clean.

Using an aluminum basin, she poured a basin of water, added half a cup of Spiritual Spring Water, and crouched in the pigsty to feed it to them.

The little pigs, having been moved, were huddled fearfully in the corner, but animals are particularly sensitive to special things.

So the three little pigs tentatively approached, and Yuanyuan pushed the basin towards them.

The basin of water was all drunk up. Now Yuanyuan was relieved; this way, she wouldn’t worry about the pigs getting sick in the future.

She led the sheep in, boiled water to brew the feed, fed them till they were full, and then went inside to clean up herself.

The next day, Yuanyuan continued weeding the sorghum field, and she could finish today. If she was late to the market, so be it.

This morning, the little pigs were fed the same as the sheep, and they weren’t uncomfortable with it, eating particularly well.

Feeding them like this wouldn’t work after a while, as their appetites would grow, and to avoid suspicion, she couldn’t feed them like that. Where would she get so much corn for them?

She still needed to figure out something. When she got back, she’d ask those Aunts about buying some corn.

The millstone was exactly what she lacked. But she didn’t know if she could buy it.