It was July now, time to plant rice, and corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes, all things that could be stored.
In September they’d sow a round of wheat, the harvest would be more than enough for their daily needs.
As for whether the grain would spoil, Yang Zengyue wasn’t worried.
Because Chen Jia’er could keep it all in its original, freshest state, that was her ability.
Only Yang Zengyue knew this secret of Chen Jia’er’s, which was why whenever they went out, she always had Chen Jia’er carry the food.
After the apocalypse arrived, no grain could be found anywhere at all. Even the state grain reserves, rvery last grain inside had vanished without a trace.
No one ever found out where all that grain, gone into thin air, had gone.
In the apocalypse, even with money you couldn’t buy food. So the first problem she had to solve after coming back was grain.
People would grow scarce afterward, with hardly any surplus labor for production.
Mechanization would be impossible—
because those machines had all disappeared completely, not a single part left behind.
Even if you found machinery, you couldn’t use it, gasoline and diesel had become controlled goods that ordinary people couldn’t obtain.
So if Yang Zengyue wanted grain, she could only do it with her own hands, only then would she have plenty to eat and wear.
She wasn’t worried that construction on this scale would stir up an uproar among the villagers, her master had the best solution.
The villagers all knew something of Xingyun Temple’s oracle slips, the stories handed down from the two previous slips were still passed around among them to this day. So Jiuxiao wouldn’t need to explain much at all, a single sentence could clear up their doubts.
This time, though, Yang Zengyue and Jiuxiao were operating under the guise of developing tourism.
Several tourism companies had come to Jiuxiao before, wanting to develop Xingyun Temple into a tourist attraction, but Jiuxiao had turned them all down.
For one thing, the terms these people offered were outrageous, they said their company would handle all the packaging and promotion, and the profits would be split seventy-thirty in the end.
Meaning seventy for them, thirty for Jiuxiao.
How could an old fox take a loss like that?
What’s more, Xingyun Temple had an ancestral rule: no outsider could enter without permission.
For another, Jiuxiao had had Zengyue quietly investigate the backers behind these tourism companies, and found that their identities all had “problems” to varying degrees.
The matter had eventually fizzled out.
The villagers had heard something of this too.
They wouldn’t grow suspicious in the short term, so Jiuxiao decided to save the oracle-slip explanation for later, if and when someone questioned things.
He and Jiuxiao also checked an auspicious date on the almanac, planning to break ground on the new house after they returned from Xingyun Temple.
Yang Zengyue still had to make a trip to the relevant office in town to settle the matter of the homestead land rights.
After finishing with Fan Jinggang, the four of them had breakfast together, and then Fan Jinggang went down the mountain, heading straight for the construction site.
There were four main routes leading into Sikun Mountain, reaching it from east, south, west, and north.
Once all four were sealed off, the terrain itself could be used to enclose the whole of Sikun Mountain, forming an unbreakable circle to fend off enemies.
Yang Zengyue’s design was precise, all four gateways sat at the most strategic, treacherous points.
Fan Jinggang knit his brows, he knew there was a more important reason Manyue hadn’t mentioned.
Those two years in the army had made Fan Jinggang more perceptive. So getting these four projects right might really be able to protect this place.
He made a quiet resolution in his heart.
After breakfast, Yang Zengyue laid out her plans for Jiuxiao.
She meant to divide the medicine fields into several parts. One part would be converted into greenhouses, because once extreme weather arrived, crops simply couldn’t survive out in the open.
Another part would be planted with a season of rice in early August, and the rest with sweet potatoes, potatoes, corn, and other grain crops that kept well.
She’d also open up some land to grow other vegetables and fruit, only then could they make their little life a bit more comfortable.
On top of that, they needed to build a large reservoir, since water would be a hard problem down the line.
When the heavy snows came, they could put the snow into the pool, and once it melted they’d have plenty of water.
Jiuxiao saw that her planning was thoroughly sound, she’d accounted for the nature of each plot of soil and what crops would suit it.
He nodded again and again.
Chen Jia’er, meanwhile, wore a look of pure admiration.
Seeing that neither her master nor Chen Jia’er said anything, Yang Zengyue asked, “What do you think of this arrangement? Is it reasonable? Anything that needs changing?”
Chen Jia’er shook her head. “Perfect!”
Yang Zengyue looked to Jiuxiao, and he shook his head too. “Just go with this idea of yours. If any real problems come up later, we’ll adjust.”
Since no one had objections, she decided to get started right away.
She got in touch with the herb dealer she often worked with, asked about the going market prices, and, without letting on that she was anxious to unload the herbs, negotiated a very good price.
After hanging up, Yang Zengyue cheerfully changed into farming clothes, put a few carrying baskets in the bed of the pickup, and drove down the mountain with Chen Jia’er to dig up the herbs.
She planned to transplant all the older, more potent medicinal plants up to the mountain.
Xingyun Temple had a dedicated area for growing herbs, and the cliffs behind the temple could hold some too.
Once they were up there, she’d reclaim a few more plots and plant some vegetables.
Chen Jia’er was full of energy, asking whenever she didn’t know something. “Sister Zengyue, is it right to dig up bletilla like this? Take a look.”
Yang Zengyue looked up at the spot not far off, the bletilla in Chen Jia’er’s hands was the oldest of the lot.
The girl had a good eye. “Yes, pick ones just like that. Use the same standard for the other herbs.”
Then she taught her how to select fritillaria, astragalus, Solomon’s seal, and so on.
Once she’d finished teaching, Yang Zengyue bent to her own searching. The two worked fast, if it weren’t for the villagers doing farm work not far off, they’d certainly have used their powers to deal with these herbs.
If they had, they’d have been done in a blur, whoosh, in no time.
Yang Zengyue glanced at the villagers whose fields adjoined their medicine plot and muttered under her breath, “Jia’er, looks like from now on we’ll have to do this kind of work as night shifts. Otherwise it’s too slow.”
That was exactly what Chen Jia’er had wanted to say.
Although her strength was great now and she never tired, the two of them working like this was just too slow.
“How about we come back at night?” Chen Jia’er was frustrated too, the efficiency really was terrible.
“Let’s just power through it. Before I came, I told Uncle Liu to have his people come to the fields at ten to help dig the herbs. We need to find the ones we want to transplant before they get here.”
So the two of them had no choice but to knuckle down and work.
Yang Zengyue dug three of each kind of herb, medicinal herbs were scarce in the apocalypse too,
because fighting so often meant getting wounded.
These plants could be used to treat injuries. At that thought, Yang Zengyue talked over with Chen Jia’er how to procure the necessary medicines.
Some medicines were controlled substances that they figured would be hard to get.
Although they’d rarely fallen ill in the apocalypse, they still got hurt, so stocking up on medicine couldn’t be wrong.
The two of them worked while turning ideas over. By the time all the herbs were located it was already half past nine. Yang Zengyue had Chen Jia’er haul the herbs back while she stayed to wait for Uncle Liu.
Once Uncle Liu arrived, she called a fast-food shop to order lunch for the workers digging herbs, and arranged for water to be delivered. By the time she’d finished all this, Chen Jia’er had stowed the herbs and come back down.
After greeting Uncle Liu and asking him to help supervise and weigh the herbs, she set off for a trip into the county.