Qiao Mei stayed at home all the time. There was no way that her grandfather would badmouth her, so all the rumors about her were actually spread by Qiao Zhuang’s family based on what Qiao Yu told them.
Qiao Mei continued her way up the mountain. Now, she had another reason to go up the mountain and that was to earn money.
As a villager, how could her family not be cultivating some agricultural products?
The eggs laid by chickens every year would be enough for a family’s cooking expenses.
As for pigs, they were indispensable in the countryside. Selling a pig would make some money, slaughtering another pig would be enough for a family to eat for half a year.
A piglet would cost more than ten dollars.
Chickens and ducks were usually hatched from eggs at home. However, as she did not have a mother hen, she had to buy chicks and ducklings.
One would cost about thirty cents. If they wanted to raise more than ten, it would only cost around three dollars.
But right now, there was not even three dollars in the house, Qiao Mei thought as she did the calculations.
Although her grandfather held the purse strings in the family, the original owner of the body only wanted to eat all day long, so he spent all of his retirement salary every month. They had no savings at all.
Even if her grandfather still had money, she also did not want to rely on him. She wanted to be self reliant!
Earn money! Earn more money!
Qiao Mei walked forward excitedly with the carrying pole on her shoulder. Her steps were swift like the wind and she was filled with motivation. She really liked this feeling of working hard on her own!
As she reached the mountains, waves of energy washed over her, causing every hair on her body to stand on end.
Qiao Mei did not stay in one place for too long as she was afraid that the plants would exchange too much energy and bear fruit in advance.
She stepped onto a small path and headed deeper into the mountains where there was a hot spring area.
This place was located in the most northeastern region of the country. It was a continuous stretch of mountains and deep within the mountains was a geothermal region.
The straight road did not seem to stretch far, but by the time she reached the area, it was already noon.
There was a small hot spring here. Pools of all sizes formed a large pool and the surroundings were misty like a fairyland.
Qiao Mei did not dare to get too close. The original owner of the body did not know how to swim, but even though she knew how to swim, she did not know if she would be able to swim with this body weighing more than 200 pounds.
Besides, she was pregnant with two babies so she did not dare to take the risk.
Qiao Mei observed her surroundings and found that the plants here were indeed more lush than in other places. The surrounding aquatic plants had already grown to half a foot tall, the little flowers beside them had also bloomed and new leaves were emerging from the big trees next to them.
She immediately saw a fruit tree.
Qiao Mei walked towards a relatively lusher place where all kinds of wild vegetables grew. She used the energy from the jade pendant to accelerate the process of ripening, harvesting, maturing and re-harvesting. Soon, she filled half the basket.
When she was done, she looked up and saw that there were only a few birds chirping around her. It was silent all round and there was no one around.
It was now already peak springtime which was a busy period for farmers. The villagers had all gone to work and no one had the time to come to the mountains to dig for wild vegetables and soak in the hot springs.
Qiao Mei was worried. She walked to a deep bush and squatted down so that her body was hidden by the lush grass. She then pushed aside the weeds on the surface of the soil, revealing the dark soil.
Finally, she planted a sweet potato seed. Very quickly, the sweet potato seed turned into a sweet potato seedling and then matured and bore fruit.
Just like that, Qiao Mei collected more than ten sweet potatoes, each weighing more than one pound.
Then, she planted a pumpkin seed and soon harvested three big pumpkins. Each of them weighed more than ten pounds, filling up the two baskets she brought.
Qiao Mei then pulled a few layers of weeds and covered up the baskets securely.
After that, she stood by the side of the hot spring, took out a towel that she carried with her and wiped her entire body several times.
In just half a day, another layer of black mud had surfaced on her body. It was so smelly!
After cleaning up, she changed into her clean clothes and carried the pole down the mountain.
At the village entrance, she met a group of villagers who were rushing back home after finishing their farm work. When they saw her carrying two loads of things, they stared at her in surprise.
“Qiao Mei, where did you go?” The village officer, Zhao Liang, could not help but ask in the end.
“Oh, it’s Uncle Zhao!” Qiao Mei put on a big smile and said, “Isn’t my family planning to raise a little piglet this spring? I cut these pigweeds for it. Otherwise, it won’t have anything to eat.”