The Daily Life of Farming and Raising Children in Ancient Mountain Residences

Chapter 185: Provisions

At the time, Shen Lie didn’t realize what Sang Luo’s reaction meant until a few days later when he noticed something from Chen Dashan.

Of course, that’s a story for later.

During the day they stayed in the valley, Shen Lie didn’t remain idle. While Sang Luo taught Shen Ning how to make hawthorn preserves and sun-dry banana slices, Shen Lie worked with Shen An on bamboo slips. Shen An mentioned that they could copy other books as well, so Shen Lie made several additional rolls of bamboo slips, which could be used as needed in the future.

In the valley, each family was busy drying mountain goods. With the discovery of local resources, the initial anxiety had eased, and everyone’s faces were bright with the joy of harvest.

Shen Lie and Chen Dashan rested for only one day. The next morning, they set out of the valley again. The Chen family remained the same as before—Chen Youtian and his son. Although Qin Fangniang was eager to find a daughter-in-law, she had seen the young people before, and following her mother-in-law’s advice, she decided to wait and see if there was any interest.

As for the Xu family, contrary to what Shopkeeper Xu initially said, Xu Wenqing was very eager to go out, so this time Xu Wenqing went, with Shopkeeper Xu staying behind in the valley to rest and leaving Uncle Xu to cover his duties. The Xu family also became a father-son team.

Before leaving, Shen Jin asked Sang Luo and Shen Ning to look after his two younger brothers a bit. Shen Jin, Shen Lie, and Shen An spent the day cutting several baskets of grass to take to the entrance before they finally departed.

Life in the valley was peaceful and comfortable. Apart from the two daily meals, the only tasks involved were tending to the vegetables on the mountainside and caring for the chickens, ducks, and sheep. Sang Luo had a lot of free time. When Shen Ning brought back a scroll from Wang Yunzheng, Sang Luo practiced writing it on a stone slab several times until she was very familiar with it before applying the ink to the prepared bamboo slips.

During this time, she occasionally checked on Shen Yin and Shen Tie. The youngest, Shen Tie, was barely taller than the makeshift stove. Occasionally, when Shen Yin couldn’t help, Shen Tie could stir the pot quite skillfully. When Sang Luo sent them fruit preserves and banana slices, Shen Tie eagerly took a plate to serve them, smiling widely and sweetly saying thank you.

At this point, Sang Luo seemed to see Shen Tie from when he used to peep through the gate of her house in Shili Village.

She smiled, noting that the brothers had improved greatly since they first entered the valley. Seeing that the house was reasonably tidy, she was satisfied and went back to her own home.

During her spare time, Sang Luo worked on needlework with Shen Ning. She made a pair of shoes for herself and also a pair for Shen Lie. Of all the shoes in the household, Shen Lie’s were undoubtedly worn out the fastest.

Now, Shen Ning was also learning needlework, making shoes for herself and Shen An.

Shen Lie’s trip took him farther than anticipated, as he needed to build a safe area for drying and accommodation. Sang Luo thought he would be gone for eight or nine days, but he returned on the seventh day, a day or two earlier than expected.

Seeing Sang Luo, Shen Lie couldn’t hide his happiness. Noticing her surprise and a bit of discomfort, he explained, “I found almost everything I needed, so I came back early.”

Sang Luo’s lips curved slightly, pretending not to notice his discomfort, and turned her attention to the harvest.

The items belonging to their family and Shen Jin’s were separated. There was quite a lot: in addition to two baskets of smoked meat, there were raisins, hawthorn preserves, dried banana slices, sun-dried wood ear mushrooms, and fungi. These were packed in small bags, with the smallest being several dozen pounds and the largest reaching thirty pounds or more. Most notably, there was a large sack full of wild persimmons, which were left unprocessed and brought back as they were.

Sang Luo was somewhat surprised. “So many wild persimmons?”

This time, Shen Lie didn’t need to answer. Shen An excitedly explained, “Sister-in-law, we found several wild persimmon trees, and they were really tall, completely covered with fruit. Big Brother used a long bamboo pole with a vine basket to help us pick them. We only found a few trees, and each family has a big bag.”

The people who came to help carry things also laughed. Mrs. Chen said, “When we dry them later, you won’t have to worry about running out of things to eat, even if you’re hungry.”

Even Shen Yin and Shen Tie, carrying their own things, were smiling from ear to ear. Shen Tie looked at the basket and asked, “Third Brother, these are all ours?”

Shen Jin happily confirmed, “Yes, they’re all ours.”

Shen Jin had a large sack that could hold forty to fifty pounds, and it was more than half full, estimating over thirty pounds. He told Sang Luo, “Sister-in-law, I picked quite a few grass seeds this time. I’ll send some over later for feeding the chickens and ducks.”

Shen An had also collected some. Being the youngest, he was often protected by adults during the hunt. Apart from picking fruit, when there were no wild fruits or game on the road, they would gather foxtail grass. Although they picked a lot, Shen An knew that Shen Jin wanted to give something back for the many things Sang Luo had sent them, so he smiled and said nothing.

Sang Luo didn’t refuse. She complimented the grass seeds and agreed, “Great, these are just what we need. I’ll have Xiao An go over to your house later to pick them up.”

Hearing this, Shen Yin and Shen Tie, who were still sorting their baskets, quickly said, “Sister-in-law, I’ll send them over later.”

The families nearby laughed and joked about whether or not they should send things. Shen Jin just smiled and said, “Send them all.”

True to his word, they did send things not just to their own family but to every household in the valley. It wasn’t much—apart from the five to six pounds packed in small cloth bags for Sang Luo, each family received a bowlful.

This earned them a lot of praise. For families like Mrs. Chen’s, which had surplus food, they even packed a whole apron of dried fruits for the three younger brothers to take with them.

Of course, that was another story.

—

For now, as each family was moving their things back, the Shen brothers lived close to the entrance. Their items were carried by Shen Lie and several young men, moved just a few steps to their cave, and then the three brothers carried them up slowly themselves.

Shen Lie took care of the heavier items, while Sang Luo, accompanied by a few younger helpers, carried smaller bags. After a couple of trips, the empty shelves previously used for storing grain for the Shen brothers were soon filled again with the mountain goods.

The house still wasn’t tidied up, and a group of boys came to find Shen An. It was obvious why they were there—curious about what kind of game was being hunted outside.

Sang Luo found it amusing and waved Shen An off to play. Aside from the persimmons, everything else had already been processed by Shen An. She just needed to check if things were dried enough. If not, she’d spread them out again the next day to dry for a few more days.

Shen An was happy to go. As soon as he set down his bow and arrow, he joined Xu Wenhong, Xu Wenbo, Er Niu, and the other boys. Shen Ning saw Xu Wenyin and Shi Qiao’er outside as well and, after telling Sang Luo, ran off to join them.

Only Shen Lie was left to help Sang Luo organize things.

Shen Lie was pleased and, recalling something, asked Sang Luo quietly, “Has Mrs. Chen or Aunt Youtian mentioned anything about Dashan’s marriage?”

Sang Luo’s brows twitched slightly. “No, why?”

“I think Dashan might be interested in Old Man Zhou’s daughter. Even though he wasn’t sure when we left, these past few days while hunting, I noticed he paid a lot of attention to Old Man Zhou and Zhou Erlang. On the way back, he even gave the Zhou family seven or eight rabbit skins.”

Shen Lie seemed to be reminded of something Dashan had said before and chuckled. “You guessed it last time, didn’t you?”

Sang Luo smiled lightly and asked Shen Lie, “Was Ah Ge around at that time?”

Shen Lie nodded. Sang Luo smiled and said, “Wait and see. The valley might be having a joyous event soon.”

Speaking of joyous events, Shen Lie couldn’t help but secretly observe Sang Luo.

They were officially husband and wife, but in reality, they hadn’t had a wedding. Since his return, it had only become more apparent—they were merely pretending to be a couple.

While he was lost in thought, Sang Luo remembered something important and asked Shen Lie, “Did you find any chestnuts in the mountains this time?”

Wild fruits were nice, but they were hard to rely on as a staple food. Chestnuts, on the other hand, could be stored for a long time, were filling, and nutritious. Finding chestnuts could save a lot of food for the winter.

In the Daqian Dynasty, chestnuts did exist but were rare, mostly wild with no large-scale cultivation. Occasionally, they could be bought from outside based on the memories of her original self.

Shen Lie shook his head and, recalling his recent concerns, tentatively asked Sang Luo, “We plan to go to a new place the day after tomorrow. Do you want to go and have a look around?”

As Sang Luo placed things on the shelves, she casually replied, “Sure, I’ll ask Ah Ning if she wants to go.”

Last autumn, the little girl had been eager to go into the mountains with her. At that time, the siblings were still small, their pants were too short, and there was no door lock at home. They had longed to go into the mountains for quite a while.

Hearing her agreement, Shen Lie’s lips curved up. “Great, I’ll ask her later.”

—

“Are you really taking me?” Shen Ning’s eyes lit up with excitement.

Seeing her reaction, Shen Lie smiled and said, “Yes, I’ll take you. It’s just the right companion for your sister-in-law.”

Sang Luo added, “The outside is tougher than the valley. It’s fine to eat, but living conditions might not be as good. Are you okay with that?”

She then turned to Shen Lie and asked, “Will we be staying outside for several days?”

Expanding further out meant they were already quite far from the valley, making the round trip quite arduous. That’s why she had suggested setting up a safe temporary point.

Shen Lie nodded. “Yes, because we need to enclose a drying area. If we don’t have a cave like Zhou’s family’s, which is suitable for defense and has a nearby water source, we’ll have to find a flat area to enclose and set up a simple shelter.”

Shen An was especially excited about this. He told his sister-in-law and sister, “For the wooden shelter, we’ll use more wood or stones to make beds inside, cover them with some soft hay, and then add animal skins. We can also light a campfire outside. It will be quite interesting, though at night, you might hear wolf howls and the calls of some wild animals that you can’t recognize. At first, it’s a bit scary, but nothing serious has happened. Once, Big Brother and Dashan said a bear approached, but the wooden fence was sturdy, and we had the campfire burning. Since we had many people, the bear left quickly.”

He spoke with such enthusiasm that Shen Ning’s heart almost flew away. The siblings were completely treating it as a camping adventure, and Sang Luo couldn’t help but smile.

Indeed, such experiences were rare. Without Shen Lie and the others, they might never get to experience this kind of camping life in the deep mountains.

After hearing this, Shen Ning asked Shen Lie, “Big Brother, when are we leaving?”

She was eager to pack her things immediately.

Shen Lie smiled. “We’ll rest for a day and leave early the day after tomorrow. We’ll be going far this time, and we’ve already scouted the resting place before returning.”

—

With a day to prepare, Sang Luo didn’t just bring salt, clay pots, and animal skins. She also dug up some ginger, brought peppercorns, and prickly ash. To make the preserved meat delicious, she needed these ingredients. Though the amount of salt had to be controlled, peppercorns and prickly ash were available in the valley, so that wasn’t an issue.

To make meat cutting easier, she also brought a kitchen knife. As for chisels, axes, and saws, Shen Lie and Chen Youtian had experience and would bring those along.

It wasn’t a problem that the house didn’t have a kitchen knife. Since only Shen An was left at home, he could bring his own ingredients to Shen Jin’s place to prepare food.

Before leaving home, the wild persimmons had to be processed. The best method was to make dried persimmons, but Sang Luo had a bit of a personal preference. In the Daqian Dynasty, persimmons weren’t processed into dried persimmons. People either ate them fresh or soaked them in salt water for fifteen minutes, then drained and cut them into pieces to dry for six or seven days. For later consumption, they would be roasted to remove the astringency.

The original memories had such foods, which had a different texture and appearance from dried persimmons.

The valley was too small and exposed. It was difficult to keep recipes for dried persimmons hidden. Since they would be living in this time and space for their entire lives, Sang Luo decided not to make dried persimmons but to dry the persimmons in the local style.

After a day’s rest and leaving all the household chores to Shen An, Sang Luo and Shen Ning tidied up and set off with Shen Lie and the others. As usual, they had to manage the land outside the valley. Shen Ning only then learned that their family had a small cave outside the valley.

However, those who had been out before, like Shen An and Shen Jin, were always reminded not to mention the cave outside when they returned to the valley.

The reason was clear, even if these two were smart, Shen Lie’s warning made sense.

Shen Lie also sent some firewood and grass inside, tidied up the exterior, and then they truly set off.

When they arrived at Zhou’s house to pick up Zhou Laizi and his son, Sang Luo couldn’t help but pay extra attention. She saw Brother Zhou also coming to see them off. Though he was seeing off his father and brother, her gaze occasionally fell on Chen Dashan.

Others might not have noticed, but Chen Dashan caught it precisely, and Brother Zhou hurriedly looked down.

Sang Luo smiled and quickly averted her gaze, knowing that after this autumn, Aunt Youtian would likely start arranging to find someone to help with matchmaking.

After bidding farewell to Zhou’s family and traveling for over an hour, Sang Luo saw the safety zone Shen An had mentioned, including the small shelters inside.

It was a small piece of land with several drying racks in the middle and a circle of six or seven small shelters around it. The shelter doors faced the wooden fence, with a campfire not far from the door. The firelight would presumably shine through the gaps in the wooden fence at night, serving to deter wild animals and also to smoke meat and cook food during the day.

The young and strong men rolled up the drying mats, dismantled the drying racks, and tied them with rattan. Each person carried a part, and everything was moved. At the new location, they only needed to set up the walls and shelters, saving the trouble of building racks and weaving mats. The shelters weren’t dismantled for future use, providing some protection from the wind and rain and a place to temporarily avoid wild animals. It was also a way of doing good. With more such places, their village’s caves and locks would be less noticeable.

These items would not be carried by Shen Lie, Zhou Dashan, and Lu Erlang, as the three of them were the main defense forces.

The paths at the base of the mountain and along the forest edge were not particularly difficult, but since they had left Zhou’s family’s range, Shen Lie and the others had to be much more cautious. Even though they had cleared the area before, it was only once and they had stayed for seven days. They were far from having completely cleared the area, and she also remembered Shen An mentioning a bear that had targeted them and then left.

The place they were heading to was exactly where Shen Lie had described. They had already scouted it out, and when they arrived, they found that not only had they cleared trees, but they could directly build a wooden wall.

While Shen Lie and his team built the wall, Sang Luo, Shen Ning, and Shi Erlang’s wife were also busy. After putting down their things, they helped clear some very tall weeds and shrubs. They didn’t cut much, but Sang Luo spotted something interesting.

She used a machete to pull a section of shrubbery towards her, revealing a vine with fruits. Just by looking at the fruit, vine, and leaves, she smiled.

It was just what she needed.

Shen Ning came over and asked, “Sister-in-law, are these wild fruits?”

Sang Luo’s eyes crinkled with a smile. “These are much better than wild fruits. This is food.”

“We’ll leave this area for now and move to the side.”

As she spoke, she called out to Shen Lie.