She Only Cares About Cultivation

Having transmigrated through so many lifetimes, she had long since developed the good habit of self-discipline, and morning runs were especially so, particularly in this era, the air was truly unpolluted, and in the years when heavy industry hadn’t yet developed, it was truly worth cherishing.

When she ran, Nut would follow too, and at this time, she would release the leash because the dog was not yet familiar, she worried about any accidents so she only untied it while running and sleeping at night, the rest of the time it was tied up, giving it freedom once it was familiarized.

She returned home drenched in sweat, the two girls had not yet returned, estimating that the negotiation would take at least a morning, after going home, she boiled milk and ate eggs, she didn’t eat while cooking for them, eating after exercising felt uncomfortable, so she always ate after coming back.

After eating, she tidied up the kitchen, there were more flies during this era, so except for the pot, she stored other things in the cupboard in the hall, taking them out only when needed, because their family didn’t have grain, so rats were also very few, but flies and mosquitoes were truly numerous, unavoidable, if you didn’t wear long pants and sleeves at night, you couldn’t go out the door.

Fortunately, the Northeast’s summer wasn’t as hot as the Central Plains and in winter, there was a kang at home, outside, the world of ice and snow, no one went out, so she found it suitable for living here.

Behind her house, a cellar was dug, because the winters were long in the Northeast, so every household would dig a cellar to store vegetables, she didn’t intend to dig, after all, she had space, but the workers didn’t even ask her and just dug it, thinking it was a local custom, she didn’t protest, but it would likely be left idle.

To the east and west of the village, there were wells, convenient for irrigating the crops, one or two kilometers away, there was a river, water was fetched from these places, originally she thought about digging a well in her yard, but feared that her actions might be too ostentatious, after all who lived as lavishly as she did, living alone in three rooms, with such large, high-walled courtyards, why should the government treat her so well? Behind the scenes, who knew how many people talked about her, some even said she had connections, had a fling with someone, saying anything nasty.

These were things she overheard when fetching water or working in the fields, though angry, it constantly reminded her to act low-key.

Therefore, every morning she’d also go to the west of the village to fetch water, fortunately, it wasn’t far from her house, just about one to two hundred meters, the large water tank was placed under the eaves, covered with a wooden lid, a large tank of water needed her to fetch three tripods of water to fill, three tripods equal six buckets, quite tiring, but the quality of this water was really good, much cleaner than the river’s.

Speaking of the river here, it was very deep, every summer there were occurrences of drowning, at night, many people went there to bathe, men and women separately, washing at the side, after a day of sun, the water was still warm, of course, it was warm on top and cool below, but going to the river to wash at least you’d float, otherwise, it was easy to happen accidents, as the river water was deep in those years, and the resources below were abundant, long-time swimmers would know where the water was shallow and where it was deep.

If placed in later generations it would be dangerous, because constant sand pumping had left deep pits everywhere, truly frightening, accidentally slipping in was easy, unlike the current river water, where there was silt underneath for support, she had visited the riverbank, saw the water quality was still good, and even saw water snakes swimming, but she’d rather be bothered washing at home, never going to wash in the river.

In the 1960s and 1970s, a river embankment should also be built here, wherever there was a river, an embankment would be constructed, as flood protection levees, the production team initially had to build canals and embankments, afraid that in the future, the riverbank would also have a contribution from her.

The land around Liujiatun wasn’t black soil, but it looked quite fertile, she planted a patch of chives in front of the house, planted too much to finish, one patch was enough, also climbing the corners of the walls were green beans, loofah, pumpkin, winter melon, these covered all her yard walls, wherever could be planted was used, yielding more than she could eat, stored in space for winter.

These were very yielding vegetables, seedlings she traded for with sweet potatoes and potatoes with the village elders.

Chives had to be bought from the town, then planted in the ground, every spring they’d grow themselves, when eating, just cut along the ground with a knife, after a few days, they’d sprout again, one crop after another, in autumn and winter they’d turn yellow, before that there’s chive flowers to harvest, collecting chive flowers could make pickled chive blossoms, very flavorful with noodles.