When she went deep into the mountains to plant the moonbelly mushroom, she scattered some medicinal herb seeds on the way up the mountains to let them grow naturally. She wanted to grow as many as possible, and maybe they would be useful one day.
Furthermore, it was effortless to spread the seeds, so why not?
With that thought in mind, Jiang Yue picked out the seeds of ginseng, lingzhi, croton, and some other precious herbs in her space and placed them aside.
After she was done, she came out of her space.
Jiang Yue picked up the half-filled bowl on the bedside stool and took two sips before opening the door.
Seeing Xue Yan and Yu Hongyan sitting in the yard, she quickly walked over and sat in an empty space next to them.
“What are you up to?” Jiang Yue turned her head and asked Xue Yan in confusion.
“The village chief just sent someone to inform us that the oil mill in town will send people to the village tomorrow to collect our rapeseed. If they are not dry enough, they will not be accepted. So right now, mother is afraid that the seeds at home will not be dry enough, so she asked them to be taken out to dry.”
Before he could finish his sentence, Xue Erfu and Xue Erfu had already walked over each carrying a sack of rapeseed. Xue Dafu was next, carrying a sack similar to the other two.
These rapeseeds had been harvested not long ago and had been placed in the central room. Now that they were finally going to be sold, Xue Dafu and the others were very happy and didn’t mind taking them out to dry.
Jiang Yue helped pour the rapeseed on the cloth and squatted down to help separate the seeds apart, spreading them as evenly as possible on the cloth to dry.
Jiang Yue grabbed some and pinched them to check. She looked at them and felt that they were already very dry. In fact, there was no need for them to be dried at all. However, considering that she was not from the oil mill and did not know how dry they had to be, she did not say anything.
The weeds in the fields had been plucked clean, but the rice in the fields were unfertilized. After they took out the rapeseed and dried them in the sun, Xue Dafu brought Xue Erfu and the others to apply manure to the fields.
Only Jiang Yue, Xue Yan, Yu Hongyan, and Xue Wufu were left in the house.
Xue Wufu, who had not recovered from his injury, was taking an afternoon nap in his room.
As Yu Hongyan was pregnant, she was preparing some clothes for her soon-to-be born child. After Xue Dafu and the others left, she sat at the door of the central room and did some needlework. She also had a long bamboo pole by her hand. If the free-range chickens at home wanted to cause trouble to the sun-dried rapeseed, she would pick up the bamboo pole and chase them away. The free-range chickens would immediately run away, not daring to approach the rapeseed that was being sun-dried in the courtyard.
Jiang Yue and Xue Yan were sitting by the gate of the yard. There were trees outside the yard, and they were sitting under the shade.
Xue Yan sat on a small stool, while Jiang Yue sat on the wooden horse made by Xue Erfu. The two of them also had a bamboo pole by their side. If they saw free-range chickens at home trying to get close to the rapeseed, they would pick up the bamboo pole and chase them away as well.
Jiang Yue glanced at Yu Hongyan and noticed that she was too engrossed in making her own clothes to notice them. She then lowered her voice and said to Xue Yan, “Come with me to the mountains tomorrow afternoon.”
“Aren’t we banned from hunting?” Xue Yan immediately looked at her.
“I’m not going to hunt. I’m going to plant something. I don’t think our family has enough money,” she added after a pause.
“Plant what?”
“Moonbelly mushroom.”
Xue Yan fell silent.
“What’s wrong?” Jiang Yue was puzzled.
Xue Yan became more cautious, she looked around and lowered her voice, “That’s a tribute to the Emperor, you know?”