Chapter 137: Secretly
Editor: Atlas Studios
When Liu Ting saw that his wife and children were not back yet and remembered that the Hus had just retreated, he could not help but call Liu Yuan out to take a look.
Seeing them, Liu Ting quickly walked forward. He took the hoe from Madam Liu-Zhang’s shoulder and asked, “Why are you so late?”
Madam Liu-Zhang blushed and glared at her eldest son. “It’s nothing. Let’s go home first.”
Mu Yangling followed them to the door of their house, then took out a rabbit and divided the rest into two portions. She handed them to Liu Ting and Liu Yuan. “Uncle Ting, this is for you. I’ll go to Cousin Li’s house to take a look.”
Not standing on ceremony with her, they took it and said, “Then go quickly. We’ll wait for you here. We’ll send you back later.”
Mu Yangling said with a smile, “If you send me back there, I’ll have to send you back here again. That way, we can forget about sleeping tonight. You should hurry home. Considering my superb strength and the fact that I’ve even killed someone before, what’s there to be afraid of?”
Liu Ting frowned. “You’re a child after all.”
Mu Yangling insisted and pushed him into the house. Waving her hand, she said, “Alright, alright. Go in quickly. I don’t have time to waste with you.”
Mu Yangling turned around and was about to run when Liu Yuan stopped her and said, “Why don’t you stay here for the night? It’s too dangerous for you to be outside at night.”
“How can I be at ease when there’s only Great-aunt and my mother at home with the kids? Uncle, don’t worry. I’ve even broken through the dragon’s pool and tiger’s den. If some clueless people decide to rob me, they should count themselves unlucky.”
After some thought, the few of them agreed. They loosened their grip and Mu Yangling rushed out like an arrow.
Mu Yangling ran to Liu Li’s house and knocked on the door. Madam Liu-Ma’s vigilant voice came from inside. “Who is it?”
Hearing her voice tremble slightly, Mu Yangling couldn’t help but frown. She raised her voice and said, “Aunt, it’s me, Ah Ling.”
Madam Liu-Ma hurriedly came out of the house to open the door for her and asked in surprise, “Ah Ling? Why are you here?”
Mu Yangling waved the rabbits in her hand. “I’ve come to visit you after sending my Aunt Ting home.” Mu Yangling followed her into the house and placed the rabbits in the kitchen. Looking around, she asked, “Aunt, did anyone bully you in the village?”
Madam Liu-Ma forced a smile. “Who dares to bully me? Our Liu clan is considered a big clan in this village.”
Although the Liu clan had been scattered into the 4th and the 5th Division and some of them had even been assigned to the 3rd Division, considering that they were from the same clan, the land assigned to them by the higher-ups was almost all in this area.
No matter how unfavored Liu Li was by his clansmen, they were still of the same clan and the Liu clan would indeed protect Madam Liu-Ma against outsiders. But what if she was bullied by a fellow clansman?
Mu Yangling’s expression was a little ugly, but she did not ask further. She was not familiar with Madam Liu-Ma, so she could only wait for Liu Li to come back when he was on break and tell him.
Putting the matter in her heart, Mu Yangling’s attention shifted to the soil and the rabbits in the mountains.
Madam Ma-Liu had been checking the skies every night. After confirming that it would be sunny for the next few days, she said to Mu Yangling, “Let’s water the seedlings tomorrow.”
The rice was planted in the high-grade land facing the river in the east.
Mu Yangling bore open a hole for the water to flow before repeatedly plowing the land. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon did she redirect the water towards a deeper area where the saplings could be grown in partitions.
Madam Ma-Liu stood at the side and guided them the entire time but didn’t go into the fields herself. Little Bowen and Xiuhong Xiulan were also asked to learn. She said, “How many more years can I live? You have to learn how to farm. Otherwise, who will be able to teach you when I’m no longer here?”
Mu Yangling carefully scattered the seeds on the ground. After careful observation, she looked up and asked, “Great-aunt, is this density right?”
After more than ten days, Madam Ma-Liu already understood what Mu Yangling meant by density, plant spacing, and so on. When she heard this, she lowered her head to take a look and nodded. “More or less. That’s it. Scatter on these few ridges. When the sun is about to set in the evening, let some water into the fields. Be careful not to drown the seeds. Just let the water reach this part.”
Mu Yangling firmly memorized the depth and agreed.
Xiuhong also wanted to go into the field, so Mu Yangling gave her some seeds. Seeing that Madam Ma-Liu had already left, Mu Yangling said in a low voice, “Xiuhong, do you think the seedlings will grow better if we soak them like wheat seeds?”
Xiuhong looked around and whispered excitedly, “Why don’t we give it a try?”
Mu Yangling’s eyes sparkled as she patted Xiuhong and said, “My good sister, you really understand me. I’ve already secretly soaked a little in my room previously. It’s under the brick bed and has already germinated. Take advantage of the time when Great-aunt is going to the vegetable field to secretly take it out. We’ll scatter those seeds in the last half of the ridge later.”
Xiuhong listened to Mu Yangling, put down the seeds, and ran home.
Seeing this, Little Bowen and Xiulan quickly helped them keep watch. The four little ones secretly scattered the germinated seeds in the last half of the ridge.
Mu Yangling covered it up a little. After confirming that one wouldn’t be able to tell if they didn’t get close, she straightened her back and touched her lower back. “I’m really exhausted.”
Bowen obediently went forward to massage her waist. “Sister, I’ll help you massage.”
Although Bowen had been under the sun for a few days, his face was still fair and tender. Because of the sun, his face was flushed like a ripe red apple. Mu Yangling couldn’t help but touch it and said happily, “Step on my back when we get back tonight. I’ll reward you with roe deer meat.”
Bowen clapped his hands and said, “Sister, are you going into the mountains to hunt? That’s great!” Then, he said, “Sister, I think hunting is better than farming.”
“But the money earned from hunting is definitely not enough to pay for the military rations. When there’s no rice to eat, you won’t think that hunting is better than farming.” Mu Yangling looked at Chef Mountain and said, “Chef Mountain doesn’t belong to our Mu family, but the commoners of Xingzhou Prefecture. We can’t kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. There are only so many prey in the mountains and they reproduce at such a slow rate. If I hunt recklessly, what will be left of Chef Mountain in a decade or two?”
There were so many rare species in the future, and the country had no choice but to legislate to protect those animals. Other than war, over-hunting by the predecessors was also an important factor leading to the near-extinction of many species.
At the moment, who would dare to say that bears and tigers were rare animals? The probability of encountering those things in the deep mountains and forests was too high.
Deer herds appeared in groups. Wild boars were a scourge. As for rabbits, the thought of them made Mu Yangling chuckle. Soon, everyone would probably be angry and afraid instead of happy when they saw rabbits.
Thinking of the rabbits in the mountains, Mu Yangling couldn’t sit still. Looking up at the sky, she waved her hand. “Alright, you guys can go back. I’ll go into the mountains to hunt some rabbits. If I’m lucky, I might be able to catch a roe deer.”
“Cousin, Grandma said that rabbits aren’t easy to sell. The people in the city don’t have money after being robbed by the Hus. We have to go to the prefectural capital.”
Mu Yangling frowned. “I’ll see if I can catch more of them alive before bringing them to the prefectural capital to sell.”
When Mu Yangling came out of the mountains, she carried a basket of rabbits on her back and even held a few in her hands. Her movements were known by the people in the village, but because she rarely interacted with them, no one dared to ask her.
However, many people came to ask Madam Ma-Liu, who wanted to hide it. After all, this was a way to make money. Unexpectedly, Mu Yangling shouted happily, “Great-aunt, you’ve got to tell them that there are many rabbits in the mountains.”