Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu had never done any housework or farming before. They knew nothing except for their work as constables. Ye Xiaoxian and Squire Liu arranged them to plant fruit trees together with two servants from the Liu family.
The head of the tree-planting team was Wong Mudan.
She was excited and proud because she could finally order the men to fetch water or apply fertilizer.
Although there were many things to worry about after coming here, Wong Mudan felt glad that she had a higher status in the family. She could let the men work and didn’t need to face Old Mr. Xiao all day.
These men should regret that they had only strength rather than brains.
The rest women were responsible for growing potatoes.
Liu Qianqian, who also hadn’t done any housework, had to get off her high horse this time. Unavoidably, she asked many stupid questions when planting potatoes.
“Why must we dig holes?”
“Is it proper to pull up weeds to grow potatoes?”
“Will the weeds nearby vie for nutrition with our potatoes?”
“Why must we build a canopy over the potatoes? Can it really keep them warm? Are they also afraid of coldness in winter?”
“……”
Such questions emerged in an endless stream.
Chen Ju was the head of the potato-growing team. She used to plant potatoes in the village and had experience in this aspect. She was very patient in the very beginning and answered all questions Liu Qianqian asked.
But then, she asked Ye Xiaoxian secretly, “Is Liu Qianqian a fool?”
Ye Xiaoxian opened her eyes wide at first.
After a second, she burst out laughing.
These wield people were so amusing once they stayed together.
At the same time, a servant took the children to pick firewood.
The servant was responsible for cutting firewood in the mountain and the children would carry it back. The older children carried a basket and the younger took a bundle. Even Xiao Baoxue, the youngest kid, tried her best to drag some firewood back because Little Ye had told them they must work together to create a better life.
Xiao Baofeng didn’t follow them to live in the tribe. An officer had taken him away because he would study with the sixth king’s children.
As for Squire Liu and Old Mr. Xiao, they stayed in the yurts to look after their possessions.
…
Although where they lived was far from the tribe, some locals might come here in the daytime and steal something if they had sticky fingers.
The money was kept by several men so that they wouldn’t be put in a desperate situation by a single accident.
Sometimes, Ye Xiaoxian would ride to the nearby market with Jia Zhenbo and Liu Qianqian.
The market was opened to satisfy the locals’ daily needs. The variety of goods couldn’t compete with that in downtown, but people could still find many things they needed there, including cooking utensils and felt.
Ye Xiaoxian bought some felt to repair the yurts. Then, she asked a servant to cut some wood to replace the broken pillars.
Although yurts were also sold in the market, the money she had didn’t allow her to enjoy this luxury. She comforted herself that she would feel warmer huddling together with her family at night.
The only pity was that Liu Qianqian and Jia Zhenbo had to sleep separately.
But they usually found excuses to go to the back mountain where they might spend a sweet moment together.
…
After staying here several days, Ye Xiaoxian found the locals of the Tianshan Mountains and the Flaming Mountains liked to eat naans. Such food was made of flour, usually fermented, but it was seasoned with salt rather than alkali.
Naans could be preserved for days. Since they were chewy, people often dipped them into milk tea before eating.
Goat milk, grapes and potatoes were very cheap here. Although Ye Xiaoxian couldn’t afford yurts, she usually bought some grapes and milk which could be boiled into milk tea with tea leaves.
The southern people were not used to the local milk tea whose strong smell couldn’t even be covered by parched rice or sugar. In fact, the locals never put sugar in their milk tea.
However, Ye Xiaoxian used a modern way to deodorize the milk. The sweet smell of tea and milk soon won all the people’s favor. A simple meal of milk tea and naans could not only satisfy everyone’s taste buds but also save some money.
Ye Xiaoxian also built an oven with mud near the yurts. She used it to bake western-style bread and barbecue mutton, both of which were absolute delicacies.
When the nearby children went there, Ye Xiaoxian would give them some bread and let them do some work like cutting firewood and catching fish from rivers or lakes.
The vast territory here was sparsely populated, but the fish were abundant especially in a natural lake in the back mountain. The water there was blue under the sky, making it more than bewitching.
Ye Xiaoxian usually barbecued the fish or boiled them in a pot. The delicious smell usually made the children drool and swallow.
In the blink of an eye, all the children took to Ye Xiaoxian and her companions. Among them, a little boy led his little horse over and wanted to teach Xiao Baocheng to ride it.
…
But Xiao Baocheng was too timid to mount the horse. Irritated, the boy shouted loudly at him in the local dialect. Ye Xiaoxian guessed the boy must have been cursing.
…
After planting potatoes and trees, they had to think about how to earn money.
That day, they had a meeting again.
If they wanted to survive here, they had to get rid of poverty first. But currently, the potato harvests were months away, the time wasn’t ripe for growing wheat, and they didn’t have enough money to raise goats.
Most local families had goats or fruit trees. Some also earned a living by making handicrafts such as yurts and gold and silver pendants.
The men of the Xiao family had no idea how to earn money. If they had come here alone, they might have been helping the locals herd goats for two naans a day.
Squire Liu was a smart man who wouldn’t debase himself as a slave.
But he couldn’t spend his money without generating any income.
Helplessly, they looked at Ye Xiaoxian in unison.
After staying with her for long, they had unconsciously regarded her as their spiritual leader. Xiao Tieshu and Xiao Tongshu had once looked down their nose at her, but now they were ready to do whatever she told, including fetching water and cutting firewood.
Ye Xiaoxian thought for a while and said, “These days, I’ve gone to the market with Qianqian and Zhenbo several times. The potatoes and apples we’ve planted can only be sold at a low price in the market. Even if it is time to harvest, we can barely support ourselves. I have no other talents but cooking, so I want to make some snacks and sell them in downtown.”
“But this is just a small business. To support our two families, we need to do more than this.”
Squire Liu asked, “Shall we raise goats?”
Ye Xiaoxian shook her head. “No. The cost is too high. Besides, all the fertile pastures have been occupied by local herdsmen. We can’t raise cows, either. Their milk is difficult to sell and they don’t have long hair for us to shear.”
The other people asked in chorus, “What should we do then?”
She said, “Now we should save as much as we can, having two meals a day and eating more naans. Besides, I need your help when I make snacks to sell. Aunts can take good care of the potatoes and trees. The servants can try to catch fish for two meals in the daytime. As for firewood, we must store enough for the winter. We’re all in the same boat at this critical moment, so we must work together to survive and avoid being slaves in this tribe. The rest people help me make beehives to gather honey in the mountain and then sell it.”
Her words virtually inspired her listeners.
She gave all the people, including the servants, a feeling that they were very important in this big family living under the same roof. They swore internally that they would try to create a better life in this new environment as she had said.
…
It was now autumn when honey was harder to gather than in spring. But when winter came, the honey would have higher nutritive value and be sold at a higher price than spring honey.
Ye Xiaoxian knew more or less about how to make beehives to gather honey. A servant of the Liu family also knew a bit because he used to collect honey with his father at a young age.
With joint efforts, they managed to make some beehives.
Then, they went up the mountain.
The mountain gave them a strange feeling and the bees there were also different from those in the south. They were blacker, bigger and carried more honey.
Without much experience, Ye Xiaoxian had a few swellings caused by the bees’ stinks. Among them, a big one laid on a corner of her lips evidently.
The servants were also stung. But since Ye Xiaoxian bore up well, they also didn’t moan over it.
After several days, much honey and beeswax could be seen in the beehives. Pleased about the results, they became even more hard-working.
Then, Ye Xiaoxian bought many potatoes in the market.
She wanted to make them into profitable snacks.
The potatoes could be made into either chips or crisps.
So she made chips and crisps with salt or with honey. People of all ages loved the snacks which gave them a rich aftertaste. Since there were no such snacks here, they were likely to produce good profits.
Because it concerned money, she asked Xiao Tieshu and Jia Zhenbo to sell the snacks in downtown together for mutual supervision.
