In order to grab time to work, Jiang Zhi's feet were already red and stiff from the cold.
Looking at the frostbite scars on the original person's feet and Xu Errui's unsurprised expression, it shows that it is normal for the original person to work barefoot on the ground.
There's nothing we can do about it. When farming is busy in the countryside, women are used as men and men are used as livestock. No one has time to relax.
What's more, the original man can't do heavy work, and the children at home are small, so someone has to work in the fields, and the whole family cannot starve to death.
Jiang Zhi walked out of the terraced field, rubbed the wet mud from his feet on the grass stems nearby, then put on his straw sandals, and immediately felt warm on his soles.
Thanks to Mr. Man, I have been trying to make straw sandals for everyone these days. Otherwise, in the rain and mud, I would not be able to wear shoes and would have to go barefoot all the time.
In the room next to the terrace, Xiao Mannai and Qiaoyun were sitting on the Kang, using a small rake made of bamboo nails to comb cotton in preparation for spinning and weaving.
Nini obediently imitated the actions of her great-grandmother and Aunt Qiaoyun, and was also arranging the cotton thread beside her.
Farmers all make their own clothes, but not everyone knows how to weave.
In the past, the men in Xiaoman's family were all good at work. Xiaomannai never had to go to the fields. She spent all day at home weaving and spinning, and she was a good craftsman.
Not only can they collect enough clothes for the whole family, but they can also sell extra fabrics for money.
The women in the village wanted to learn a lot from her, but Xiao Mannai didn't teach her, but now she started to teach Qiaoyun and her great-granddaughter Nini.
Seeing the three people coming back, Nini quickly put down the cotton thread and ran over: "Grandma Jiang, Uncle Er Rui, Uncle!"
She has become familiar with Jiang Zhi and others. She is less cowardly and more innocent than a child. Now she goes to the cliff with her grandma every day to visit.
She also particularly enjoyed learning to spin with Aunt Qiaoyun.
When the three people who had gone to the field returned home, Qiaoyun and Xiaomannai quickly put down their work, poured hot water and handed handkerchiefs to the three of them.
"Mom, soak your feet!" Qiaoyun put the hot water at Jiang Zhi's feet.
My mother-in-law said that she was not allowed to go to the ground because she was pregnant, so she just studied spinning and weaving at home. The kang was also warm, so her feet would not get cold while sitting on it.
In rural areas, even pregnant women have to work.
Especially some old people love to show off in front of their young wives how they endured hardships.
Even if my stomach starts to hurt, I still have to cook breakfast before giving birth. After giving birth, I can still get up and wash the dishes for the whole family.
As for confinement, it is even more lazy to say that I wish I could imitate the old hens in laying eggs, so that they can work and dig for food with a "clack" sound.
Qiaoyun also thought so when she was pregnant. She used to work every day in the village.
But when I came up the mountain, my mother didn't let me do anything. Even the water for cooking was brought by Er Rui from the spring to the kitchen.
She felt like she was as happy as a young lady from a wealthy family, and she became even more caring when serving her mother-in-law.
Xiao Mannai looked at the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law and sighed in her heart: Although this Jiang family is a bit fierce and vicious, he does not try to harm his daughter-in-law, but only treats himself as a man. Look at the way he works, ordinary people can't compare. .
She thought of her dead daughter-in-law again and her grandson-in-law who had returned to her parents' home. Her eyes suddenly became hot and she quickly looked away.
Xu Errui and Xiaoman didn't have the patience to soak their feet, so they scooped up hot water from the stove and rinsed their feet clean. Then they sat down by the charcoal pot in the room to warm themselves over the fire, and ate some crispy dried meat.
Now that wheat is planted in the terraced fields, the busy work of spring plowing is temporarily over.
In the past few days, as soon as the rain stops, the three of them will go out to work.
Before and after the Qingming Festival, melons and beans are planted.
The three people from Jiangzhi not only planted sorghum and beans on the surrounding burned-out slopes, but also planted many vegetables.
Anyway, seeds are placed in places with thick soil and in rock crevices and pits.
At the end of the planting, Jiang Zhi didn't know how many holes he dug or how many times he bent down. He only knew that his footprints were all over half of the mountain. If calculated by area, they would be at least dozens of acres.
With such a large area, it is difficult to say how much income there is. If there is half of the fertile land, it can solve the food and clothing problem for the two families.
Of course, this is also the reason why there were wildfires just now.
In previous years, the mountains were covered with grass, and it would be useless to plant them.
In addition to these crops, Jiang Zhi also wants to grow some cotton.
But this cotton is not easy to grow, or this is not a cotton producing area.
Anyway, each cotton plant in the village only bears two or three bolls. They are often carefully planted for a year, but only grow leaves but no flowers. The bolls will fall off, and the yield is very low.
But Jiang Zhi had seen his own cotton growing in modern times, so he had some knowledge of cotton cultivation.
At that time, my parents wanted to prepare quilts for themselves as dowries, so they planted cotton every year. As a result, I didn't get married every year, and the quilts they bought every year filled half of the house.
Growing cotton is tiring and a lot of work, especially the frightening things that parents have to do by rolling dung balls to raise seedlings. They also have to "break branches" every morning, pick up cotton bolls in the afternoon, and peel cotton at night.
I had no choice but to grow cotton even though there was much work to do, because I was in urgent need of fabric and clothing.
Only now did she realize that the child in Qiaoyun's belly didn't even have small clothes.
It turns out that according to village custom, when a child is born, the more discerning ones can sew a close-fitting undergarment for the child and wrap it in a small quilt.
If you don't want to waste money, just wrap it up in an adult's rags, tuck it into the bed, and put a straw-ash urine clip under your body.
When they are older, they pick up old children’s old clothes. The main purpose is to save money.
Jiang Zhi would definitely not be able to bear this kind of thing, so he had to prepare clothes for the child.
It's easy for adults to do anything. Children have delicate skin and tender flesh. Gebu cannot be used, so only soft cotton cloth can be used.
Jiang Zhi's cotton-padded jacket that was burned by the wildfire will no longer be refurbished.
She asked Xiao Mannai to make diapers from the dismantled cloth, and the cotton inside was loosened and twisted into fine threads to make clothes for her children.
Not only Jiang Zhi's cotton-padded jacket has to be taken apart, but also Xu Errui's jacket to make small quilts.
Their thick cotton-padded jackets were just gone!
Fortunately, the weather is getting warmer, and the clothes I am wearing are still acceptable.
This also required growing cotton so that they would have new clothes to wear next year. Otherwise, the two of them would have to wear wild cotton bark to protect themselves from the cold.
Cotton seeds are available at Xiaomanye’s place!
When Jiang Zhi found Mr. Man, the stubborn old man was stuffing vegetable seeds into a crack in the rocks next to the yard.
When he heard that Jiangzhi wanted to grow cotton, Mr. Xiaoman shook his head like a rattle: "Cotton originally grew in the north. We can grow it here, but it's not easy to grow it!
You have to find good fields and good land, and use good manure and water to serve them.
If you take good care of it, it will only grow leaves but not peaches. If you don't take good care of it, it will die. The soil on this mountain is thin, so I'm afraid it won't be able to grow well. "
Cotton in the Yan Dynasty was expensive, and cotton cloth was even more expensive. The old wife at home wanted to spin and weave, so Mr. Man grew his own cotton, thinking he could save some money.
Unexpectedly, this thing not only has a low yield, but is also very delicate. It often grows tall and leafy, but there are no cotton bolls.
Regarding Xiao Manye's worries, Jiang Zhi still said the same thing: "Try it! If you work hard, maybe it will work!"
Little Man Ye was now numb to what Er Ruiniang said.
It's okay to toss and toss.
If you can't bear the trouble, you will have to wait for death. If you can't bear the pain, you will be willing to die!
It’s just that cotton seeds are very precious, and Xiao Manye only has a few dozen.
Jiang Zhi looked at the small bag of cotton seeds that looked like sheep dung eggs in the palm of his hand and felt heavy.
I didn't regard these seeds as treasures before, but now I feel they are precious, because if I waste these cotton seeds, this winter will be difficult.
Sowing cottonseed requires the temperature to rise. There is no rush now, we have to wait for the rain to stop.
