Fantasy Farm

Chapter 107 - Knit a Sweater

Edited by Zaki

After the Mid-Autumn Festival, Lu Qingjiu started to prepare for the winter. Last year he was inexperienced and the preparations were a little late as the winter in Shuifu Village was more difficult than he imagined. This year’s situation looked like it wouldn’t be better than last year’s, so it would be better to prepare all the things in the house earlier.

It’s just that the weather hadn’t completely cooled down at this time, and some food couldn’t be stored for the time being. Lu Qingjiu first stocked up dry goods and other supplies that were easy to store, such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, coal and other daily necessities that would definitely be used.

The generator that Lu Qingjiu wanted to buy was not available in the town, so he had no choice but to go to the city and buy one back. He also bought diesel for the machine along with the generator and made sure he had enough fuel till February next year.

In addition to the most important generator, Lu Qingjiu bought a lot of quilts, bedding, down jackets and other items for his family, as well as coal for burning the Kang bed. He directly ordered a truckload of coal with the coal seller in the town and got them delivered home.  Lu Qingjiu also bought candles, household batteries, table lamps, torches and other small things, just in case the generator failed, the family would not be in the dark.

Hu Shu in the town saw Lu Qingjiu pulling large and small bags home, and found it strange that Lu Qingjiu was buying these unusual items. He said that Winter was still far away. What are you doing, is it the end of the world that you are stocking up?

Lu Qingjiu said: “Yeah, that’s correct, you also remember to stock up on more food.”

Hu Shu said in horror: “Really? Are you kidding?” If someone else had said this, he would have taken it as a joke, but it was Lu Qingjiu who said it. Previously Lu Qingjiu helped them so much, and they could see that Lu Qingjiu’s status was not ordinary. Hu Shu immediately became nervous when he said this, “It’s really going to be the end of the world?”

Lu Qingjiu was squatting on the ground to pick duck eggs, but when he heard Hu Shu’s nervous tone, he said, “Why are you so nervous?”

Hu Shu: “It’s going to be the end of the world, of course I’m going to be nervous.”

Lu Qingjiu: “You didn’t think I was joking with you?”

Hu Shu: “……” He was silent for a moment, then asked cautiously, “Are you really kidding me?”

Lu Qingjiu showed a helpless smile. He could only explain the situation in Shuifu Village, saying that after it snowed, he would not be able to come to the town, so he had to prepare a lot of winter supplies, and that there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with really saying that it was the end of the world.

Hu Shu was relieved after hearing this and even enthusiastically expressed to Lu Qingjiu that if there was anything he could do to help, Lu Qingjiu could just ask for it.

Lu Qingjiu waved his hand to signal that he could leave, he hadn’t chosen his eggs yet.

The best duck eggs to make salted duck eggs were sea duck eggs. If you inserted the chopsticks in the salted duck eggs, red oil would ooze out. One could use ordinary duck eggs to make preserved eggs. Lu Qingjiu really liked preserved eggs. However, both Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun were not very interested in this kind of egg that looked moldy, which was relatively rare.

In addition to duck eggs, Lu Qingjiu also purchased a lot of dry goods from the town. Dried seafood was a must. He bought a lot of dried squid, dried sea cucumber, dried shrimp and kelp. Besides dried seafood, there were also fungus vermicelli. He got a lot of stuff with a long shelf life.

In order to buy these things, Lu Qingjiu spent almost 50,000 to 60,000 yuan. Among them, the generator he bought was a better one, and it cost a total of 30,000 yuan including diesel. Fortunately, their family was not short of money now, and because of the increased production of hair tonic, the numbers on his bankbook were quite good.

Yin Xun looked at Lu Qingjiu who was as busy as a little ant moving house, and asked, wasn’t there still two months before winter, why was Lu Qingjiu so busy?

Lu Qingjiu said, who knows, if winter comes early and they hadn’t prepared anything, wouldn’t they freeze to death in Shuifu Village? Yin Xun said yes, but the autumn harvest festival was coming, so he asked Lu Qingjiu if he could go.

Lu Qingjiu thought about it, and decided not to go. He went last year to establish a good relationship with the villagers. This year, he found that none of the villagers were alive. So he always felt weird about joining the festival with them. Yin Xun also expressed his understanding of this, so when it was almost time for the Autumn Harvest Festival, Lu Qingjiu organized an Autumn Harvest Festival of their own at home. He even went to the town to buy a large pig’s head, carried it home and placed it in the house, inserted incense and began to worship Yin Xun as the Mountain God.

Yin Xun was a little embarrassed by Lu Qingjiu worshiping him at the side.

After the pork sacrifice was over, Lu Qingjiu marinated it and ate it. It tasted very good. This year, their family had too many troubles and they had not raised any pigs. Lu Qingjiu planned to raise two pigs next year. After all, the taste of pork at home was quite different from that outside. In addition to pigs, he planned to raise two more lambs. By this time next year, he should be able to eat his own fat roast lamb.

In a blink of an eye, it was the National Day. Zhu Miaomiao originally wanted to come and play, but she had to work overtime, so she could only tearfully come over next year. National Day was the last holiday that you could come to Shuifu Village. By the time of New Year’s Day, Shuifu Village would be covered with snow, and people couldn’t get out or get in.

Autumn was a very satisfying season. The crops and vegetables in the field were ripe, and the branches were full of fruits. The most beautiful thing was the plump and round persimmons, which grew at the east end of the village, attracting people to pick them. Lu Qingjiu found an afternoon with good weather, and went to pick persimmons with Bai Yuehu. The two picked two big baskets. Lu Qingjiu originally wanted to eat as much as they could eat, and the rest to make persimmon cakes. In the end, he took a look at Bai Yuehu, who was eating persimmons without even peeling the skin, and finally gave up, saying: “Yuehu, you can save some, if there are more, let’s make persimmon cakes.”

“Okay.” Bai Yuehu agreed quite straightforwardly, “I’ll just eat one basket.”

Only then did Lu Qingjiu feel at ease.

Persimmons must be dried well in order to be easy to preserve and eat. Fortunately, there was not much rain this year and the sun was very strong, so drying them should be no problem. Lu Qingjiu, on the other hand, advanced all the things that should have been done in November, bought meat and sausage, ready to start making bacon and smoked meat. This year he also planned to use beef to make jerky. Beef jerky was much more fragrant than pork. The important thing was that it could be eaten directly without cooking or steaming. The meat was moderately salty and chewy, and it was also good to eat as a snack while watching TV.

In addition to bacon, Lu Qingjiu also made a lot of cured pork ribs. These meats could be kept at home for a long time, so there was no need to worry about them getting spoiled.

After having been busy for the whole month, the hamster spirit Lu Qingjiu finally stuffed their home to the brim, to the point that there was no gap in the refrigerator’s freezer. After it was full, Lu Qingjiu cleaned the cellar again, planning to wait for the temperature to come down again, then go to buy cabbage and put it in the cellar. Last year, he bought too little cabbage, so they had to save and then eat. This year, he must buy more to avoid being uncomfortable with no food to eat in the end. In addition to cabbages, sweet potatoes were also essential. This kind of food was easy to store, and it was also very good for satisfying hunger. The point was that they could grow it at home, and the taste was particularly good. During the few days of harvest, Bai Yuehu carried several sacks home, and managed to collect all the sweet potatoes in the field.

Everything that needed to be prepared was prepared, and the rest had to wait for the temperature to be more suitable. In late October, Lu Qingjiu miraculously became idle.

With nothing else to do, he began to watch TV with Yin Xun every day. Bai Yuehu was not very interested in this kind of entertainment. He would rather lie in the yard and bask in the sun without thinking about anything.

“It’s so boring.” Yin Xun lay on the chair, “Can’t we have some thrilling and exciting activities?”

Lu Qingjiu glanced at Yin Xun: “What kind of thrilling and exciting activity?”

“I don’t know.” Yin Xun said, “It’s so boring now, if it snows, we’ll die of boredom.”

Lu Qingjiu said: “I have prepared a lot of books, do you want to read them?”

“No.” Yin Xun refused.

Lu Qingjiu felt that Yin Xun was asking for a beating, and cast a slanted glance at him: “Then let me teach you an activity that can pass the time and make money at the same time.”

Yin Xun: “What, what?”

Lu Qingjiu said: “You wait.”

The next day, Lu Qingjiu went to the town to buy tools and put them in front of Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu. Yin Xun was stunned when he saw this thing, but Bai Yuehu didn’t recognize it, so he poked the ball of thread and two needles in front of him and said, “What is this?”

Lu Qingjiu said, “Yarn.”

“Why did you buy yarn?” Yin Xun asked, “Do you know how to knit sweaters?”

Lu Qingjiu said that he didn’t know anything about knitting sweaters, but it doesn’t matter, he had also prepared a complete book of knitting sweater patterns and colors, and if Yin Xun was willing, he could even download tutorials online. All in all, there were more methods than difficulties.

“Look, if you are bored, you can knit a sweater. When spring comes, the sweater can be sold in the town for money.” Lu Qingjiu explained very understandingly, but in fact, he really felt that Yin Xun idleness needed a spanking.

Yin Xun: “…..”

Feeling that his masculinity was insulted, Yin Xun firmly rejected Lu Qingjiu’s proposal. Lu Qingjiu didn’t mind it, but put the knitting needles and balls of yarn in a conspicuous position.

On the afternoon of the third day of Yin Xun’s refusal, Lu Qingjiu took a long nap and got up from his bed in a daze. He saw that Yin Xun was doing something with his shoulders hunched. He took a closer look and found that Yin Xun was studying the colors of flowers. Hearing his footsteps, he immediately wanted to put down the things in his hand, but it was too late.

“Do you have anything to say?” Lu Qingjiu asked him.

“Face slap.” Yin Xun said sadly while pinching the knitting needle.

It was colder and there was a lot less to do, no weeds growing in the yard, and no insects in sight. The land did not need to be sown or watered. As the temperature dropped, the order of the entire world seemed to be gradually stagnating.

Winter was also a season for nature to rest. Everything was quiet, and even the air exuded a lazy atmosphere.

Lu Qingjiu had been waiting for the first snow. He thought that the first snow would fall at the end of November like last year, but he didn’t expect that this snow would fall at the beginning of November. Because of the snow, Lu Qingjiu hurried to the town, bought all the vegetables and fruits that should be bought, dragged them home and stored them in the cellar. Only this little snow was not accompanied by the impending tranquility, but by yet another fire.

A fire broke out in the urban area, and the place where the fire started was a relatively remote warehouse. Fortunately, there were no casualties. But this fire was unlike any ordinary fire, as it was rumored that Zhu Rong had found a trace of a dragon at the scene of the fire. At first they thought that the trail belonged to Zhulong, but after Bai Yuehu went there, they found that not only Zhulong was present, but Lu Qingjiu’s Grandfather Ao Run’s scent was also there.

However, they didn’t know why the two of them appeared in the same place at the same time, and why they created the fire.

Lu Qingjiu hadn’t heard from his Grandfather for a long time. Ever since his Grandfather was injured by Zhu Rong, he disappeared from everyone’s sight. No one knew where he went.

The numerous snowflakes soon dyed the world in front of him the same color. Lu Qingjiu was wearing thick clothes, but he still felt cold.

Zhu Rong came to Shuifu Village before the mountain closed, and gave Lu Qingjiu a big bag of ginger tea that was said to be very special. Bai Yuehu said that this ginger tea fused with Zhu Rong’s power could warm people’s bodies and make Lu Qingjiu’s winter not so hard to endure.

Lu Qingjiu huddled into a ball, gasping: “It’s really early for the snow to fall.”

Bai Yuehu: “En, it’s quite early.”

Lu Qingjiu: “I haven’t eaten this year’s mutton yet, but it’s okay, I have a lot of it stored in the refrigerator, it’s just not as good as the fresh ones.”

Bai Yuehu: “It’s okay, I like everything.”

The first snowfall was not too heavy, and the mountain road was barely passable. Lu Qingjiu was still grateful, but the first snowfall only stopped for a day, and the second snowfall started.

The snow was so heavy that it fluttered like a curtain, covering the whole world. Standing outside, you couldn’t even see people five meters away. As the snow fell, Shuifu Village also fell into a strange silence, and there was not even a single villager outside. Lu Qingjiu was really curious about where the villagers went, so he cheekily climbed into Li Xiaoyu’s house next door from the fence, wanting to see what their family members were doing in winter.

Because his clothes were too thick, Lu Qingjiu crawled over with great difficulty, and fell into the snow, leaving a complete butt mark in the snow. After getting up, he looked at Li Xiaoyu’s house. In the yard, he was sure that there was no one in Li Xiaoyu’s house. The snow in the yard didn’t even have a trace of being trampled on. He went to the window and took a look, and saw that there was no light in the house.

“Is anyone here?” Lu Qingjiu called twice, but naturally there was no answer. He stretched out his hand and pushed the door, only to find that the door of Li Xiaoyu’s house was unlocked, and he pushed it open.

Yin Xun, who was standing by the wall watching, quickly asked, “Is there someone at home?”

Lu Qingjiu: “No one, it’s just that the door of the house is not closed.”

Yin Xun: “You want to go in and take a look?”

Lu Qingjiu: “There shouldn’t be anything wrong.”

Bai Yuexu was still at home, but he had no interest in participating in Lu Qingjiu’s idle behavior like Yin Xun’s, so he took a handful of fried melon seeds and sat down in the yard to watch Yin Xun and Lu Qingjiu fooling around.

“I’m going in.” Lu Qingjiu mustered up his courage.

He opened the door and entered, and saw that the room was dark, and it didn’t look like anyone was there. There was no power outage in the village at this moment, so Lu Qingjiu touched the switch on the wall next to him, and after turning it on, the room was enveloped by warm lights.

Although there was light, there was still no one. Lu Qingjiu thought that Li Xiaoyu’s family had disappeared just like that, until he walked near the bedroom, took a look inside, and was startled by the scene in the bedroom. He saw a few people lying straight on the beds in the bedroom. Those people were wearing thin autumn clothes, without any cold-proof clothing, and they just lay on the bed. And these people were clearly Li Xiaoyu’s family. It seemed that the villagers of Shuifu Village did not disappear in the winter, but just lay in bed for a winter hibernation until the warm spring wind melted the icy snow before they would get up and continue their activities.

Seeing this scene, Lu Qingjiu turned around and left, and quickly climbed back to his home from the fence.

Yin Xun said, “What did you see?”

Lu Qingjiu rubbed his red hands from the cold and described the situation in the room.

Yin Xun felt a little uncomfortable when he heard it, feeling strange that they would just lie in the house all winter

“En.” Lu Qingjiu said, “No wonder the whole village is so quiet in winter. Last year, I thought it was because everyone was afraid of the cold and didn’t want to go out.” As he was speaking, Bai Yuehu, who was sitting next to him stretched out his hand and wrapped Lu Qingjiu’s icy cold hand in his own, his palm was hot and after slowly rubbing it, Lu Qingjiu’s hand soon regained its temperature.

“Have you played enough?” Bai Yuehu asked.

“Enough.” Lu Qingjiu replied obediently.

“Go back to the house when you’ve had enough.” Bai Yuehu said, “It’s too cold outside, and it’s going to snow again later.”

Lu Qingjiu responded affirmatively, but his feet didn’t move. He was worried that if it snowed again, it might be so cold that he wouldn’t even be able to leave the door. Why not stand outside to inhale the fresh air while the temperature is okay now. How could Bai Yuehu fail to see Lu Qingjiu’s careful thinking, he bent his arm, and immediately hugged Lu Qingjiu, Lu Qingjiu was startled by Bai Yuehu’s action, and hurriedly said: “No! Don’t! I can walk!”

Bai Yuehu didn’t listen at all, and entered the room with Lu Qingjiu in his arms, and closed the door with one hand.

Yin Xun stood outside the door, feeling that he was really cold through and through. Bai Yuehu and Lu Qingjiu had to feed him dog food, which made his fragile heart even more cold.

After being carried into the house, Bai Yuehu stuffed Lu Qingjiu with a big bowl of ginger soup, and under Bai Yuehu’s stare, Lu Qingjiu had no choice but to drink it all. Although usually Bai Yuehu didn’t care about anything, when it came to Lu Qingjiu’s health, he was not sloppy at all.

Lu Qingjiu’s body warmed up quickly, and his cheeks turned red. He put down the bowl, and said, “When will this winter end?” To be honest, the thought of having to spend most of his time in the house for a few whole months made him feel uncomfortable.

Bai Yuehu: “This winter will be a little longer.”

Lu Qingjiu sighed.

Bai Yuehu: “But I will always be with you.”

Lu Qingjiu couldn’t help laughing when he heard the words, and it so happened that Yin Xun came in from outside the house at this moment, and he said casually: “Aiyaa, the child is so old, aren’t you ashamed to say this.”

Yin Xun: “….” You two are endless.

Soon, the purchased generator was quickly put to use, the snow fell for only a few days, their public power supply here was cut off, as it collapsed together with the TV signal and the network cable. In less than a month’s time, they completely fell into a state of isolation.

Yin Xun became the one who found his own interest, knitting sweaters with great interest, and even took out a soft ruler to measure Lu Qingjiu’s height for him to knit sweaters.

Lu Qingjiu was in a complicated mood, asking if knitting sweaters was that fun?

“Do you want to try it?” Yin Xun said, “It’s really addictive.”

Lu Qingjiu: “Try!”

Yin Xun: “Come, come, let me teach you, let’s start with this.”

Bai Yuehu sitting next to him: “….” Was it really fun?

Just over a month later, one day when Zhu Rong came to Shuifu Village to look for Bai Yuehu for something, he knocked on the door and no one answered. When he came in directly, he actually saw three big men sitting on the Kang bed with their heads lowered, happily knitting sweaters. They looked up at the sound, and all three pairs of eyes landed on Zhu Rong at the same time.

“Excuse me.” Zhu Rong didn’t know what to say.

Lu Qingjiu silently put down the sweater in his hand. He had been trying to knit a pair of earmuffs for Bai Yuehu’s furry ears these days, and he was working hard on knitting. At this moment, he could only pretend that nothing happened and said: “No, no, if you have anything to say, just say it.”

Zhu Rong was silent for a moment: “It’s nothing serious.”

When Bai Yuehu heard that there was nothing serious, he continued knitting. He focused on the knitting needles in front of him. He planned to knit a sweater for Lu Qingjiu. The money in the family was earned by Lu Qingjiu, and at most he brought back some fresh food and didn’t have anything that he could give to Lu Qingjiu. And now he suddenly found that he had a special gift that he could give to his lover, so he was naturally very happy, as for what Zhu Rong came to do, it didn’t matter.

The room was quiet for a moment, the atmosphere became more and more awkward, finally Lu Qingjiu couldn’t take it anymore, smiled awkwardly and got up to ask Zhu Rong if he wanted to eat lunch before leaving. He just planned to do it.

Zhu Rong thought about it and agreed.

When Bai Yuehu heard that Zhu Rong was going to have lunch here, he was a little unhappy, but Zhu Rong was invited by Lu Qingjiu, and he couldn’t just drive him out, so he looked over with unkind eyes. Zhu Rong had long been used to Bai Yuehu’s food protection, so he didn’t care about it at all, and even sat down beside Lu Qingjiu naturally.

“Let’s eat pork stew with vermicelli today.” Lu Qingjiu was thinking about the menu, “And a cold one with shredded seaweed, and fried bacon.”

Zhu Rong said, “Anything, feel free to do whatever is easy.”

“Then you guys talk first, Yin Xun, come and help me.” Lu Qingjiu called Yin Xun, and left the room to Bai Yuehu and Zhu Rong alone.

“Do you like life in the human world?” Zhu Rong asked after Lu Qingjiu left.

“You don’t like it?” Bai Yuehu asked back.

Zhu Rong smiled and said, “Of course I like it.” Otherwise, he wouldn’t have worked so hard to maintain this.

“What happened?” Bai Yuehu asked.

Zhu Rong sighed, his brows were a little tired, and he said, “It’s nothing serious.”

Bai Yuehu frowned slightly, and didn’t believe Zhu Rong’s answer, but Zhu Rong didn’t intend to continue talking, and the two remained silent until Lu Qingjiu came in and said that the meal was ready, and only then did he break the silence.

“I’m very happy to see you like this.” Zhu Rong finally said, “It would be great if all the dragons could meet the right person like you.”

It was a pity that miracles would not be called miracles if they keep happening.

———–

The author has something to say:

Bai Yuehu: This is our token of love

Lu Qingjiu took the sweater and changed into it with complicated emotions.

Ela ~~ hey Lovely Readers! A bit of self-promotion! I have started a new novel – https://.com/novel-tl/wweeg/ – Please do check it out – 3 chaps are out!  I will of course be focusing on FF and plan to finish this first — i only have last 10 chaps (OMG!!) left . I plan to have more of a regular schedule for the new novel once I am near completion for FF.

Please do support me on the new novel! Thank you orz