16: Clearing the Land with a Hoe
Tao Qinghe, who was in a hurry to get home, was naturally unaware of all this; she left the village and took a detour before finally arriving home.
Tao Qingmiao was still washing up when a pair of feet came into view. She looked up to see her elder sister smiling down at her.
“Big Sister’s back!” she exclaimed, jumping to her feet. She shook her hands dry, took the basket from her sister, and pulled her inside.
“Where’s Mother?” Tao Qinghe asked.
“We don’t have a clothesline, so Mother said she’d go up the mountain to chop some bamboo—she can use it to support the melon vines as well,” Tao Qingmiao said, her hands never stopping as she poured a bowl of water and handed it to her sister.
The water in the gourd had long since run dry since they’d left the house, so when she took the bowl, Tao Qinghe had no mind for anything else; she drained it in a couple of gulps.
After finishing a second bowl, she finally felt the heat ease a little and said, “It’s too hot. Let’s go find Mother and cut the bamboo together.” ’ Tao Qingmiao agreed at once. The sisters stepped out of the house again and set off up the hill.
They walked towards Dongtou Hill, calling out from time to time, and soon found Zhao Liniang.
‘Why have you come here? Is something the matter?’ Thinking that she had already told them everything, yet the sisters had still come looking for her, Zhao Liniang couldn’t help but feel a little anxious.
“Nothing much. Qingmiao said you were here, so we came over,” Tao Qinghe explained.
“That’s good, that’s good,” Zhao Liniang breathed a sigh of relief. “Are you hungry? Once we’ve cut these bamboo stalks, we’ll head back and cook some rice.” With that, she gripped her hoe once more and began digging at the base of the bamboo with renewed vigour.
As iron tools were expensive, the three of them had only been given this single farming implement when the family divided their property. Tao Qinghe sighed inwardly; they were truly lacking in so many things!
She rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward to help. Fortunately, the melon vines were light, and the thinner bamboo stalks were strong enough for them to climb. Before long, the three of them had cut enough.
Just as they were about to head down the hill, Tao Qinghe paused for a moment and said, “Mother hasn’t seen the roses Father has grown yet,” she pointed towards the distance, “Why don’t we go and have a look now? They’re in full bloom and look absolutely lovely!”
“Mother, let’s go and have a look!” Tao Qingmiao knew that the filling for the pastries came from these very flowers, and her curiosity was now piqued.
Zhao Liniang naturally agreed, and the three turned to walk in the other direction, arriving shortly afterwards.
“Wow…” No sooner had they reached the spot than Tao Qingmiao was so awestruck by the wall of flowers before her that she was lost for words.
“Is… is this what your father has grown?” Zhao Liniang asked Tao Qinghe, her expression a mixture of emotions.
“Yes, Father planted them. Now we can earn a little silver from them,” replied Tao Qinghe, a wave of emotion washing over him.
“It must be your father watching over us,” said Zhao Liniang, her eyes reddening. “With this food, we’ve found a way to survive.”
Seeing that Zhao Liniang was about to be reminded of sad memories, Tao Qinghe hurried to comfort her: “If Father knew, he’d certainly be happy for us. You mustn’t shed any more tears.”
“That’s right, Mother. We’re going to live a good life. No crying, no crying.” Tao Qingmiao wiped away Zhao Liniang’s tears.
“I won’t cry. I won’t cry ever again.” Seeing how sensible her two daughters were, Zhao Liniang took one by the hand and then the other, and said, “Let’s go home!
Once they were back at the thatched cottage and had cooked a meal, Tao Qinghe pulled the two of them to sit down, took the cloth bag from her shoulder basket and shook it, saying with a smile, “Guess how much money I earned today? ”
“A hundred coins! ” Tao Qingmiao was more than willing to play along and immediately began guessing.
“Is… is that quite a lot? ” Hearing the clinking sound of the copper coins, Zhao Liniang grew excited too.
Seeing their reaction, Tao Qinghe decided not to keep them in suspense any longer. She untied the cloth bag and tipped the copper coins out, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Qingmiao, have a quick count!”
Hearing her elder sister’s instruction, Tao Qingmiao sprang into action with excitement. Grabbing a handful of coins, she began to count: “One, two… thirteen… twenty-one…” She paused, looked up at her sister, and said shyly, “Big Sister, I can’t count any further.”
Seeing the little girl’s expression, Tao Qinghe felt like giving herself a slap on the head. She’d completely forgotten that education was backward in these parts; Tao Qingmiao didn’t know arithmetic at all, and the fact she could count to twenty was only thanks to Tao Dalang teaching her a few things when he had nothing else to do.
She quickly took the copper coins from her and said, “Never mind, we’ve earned seventy copper coins today!”
“We’ve earned that much? Big Sister, you’re amazing!” Tao Qingmiao’s eyes widened; with that money, they could buy so many sweets!
“Have all the pastries been sold?” Zhao Liniang grew even more excited upon hearing the sum. “If we could earn this much every day, then…”
Seeing how excited the two were, Tao Qinghe quickly explained, “Although we’ve sold all that, some of it was capital.” She did a quick mental calculation and added, “Eighteen pastries should net us about forty or fifty cash. If we build up a reputation in the future, we could earn even more!”
“That’s more than enough. In years past, when the villagers went to the county town to do manual labour, they didn’t earn this much in a whole day!” Zhao Liniang felt even happier as she thought about it. “But thanks to your father’s blessings, these pastries can actually earn us money!” She clasped her hands together in a bow; her expression was no longer what it had been, and she looked completely revitalised.
Seeing her like this, Tao Qinghe covered her mouth and laughed, teasing her, “It seems these copper coins really do hold some sway; this is the first time I’ve seen Mother so happy in all these days.”
Hearing this, Zhao Liniang felt a bit embarrassed and explained, her face flushing, “Now that we have this way of earning money, we no longer need to fear having no means of survival. How could I not be happy?” With that, she rose to her feet. “You’ve been working so hard; are you hungry? I’ll go and cook some food.”
Zhao Liniang began to light a fire to cook the meal, whilst the two sisters found a clear patch of ground. They dug a hole, inserted a bamboo pole, and tied it with grass rope, quickly assembling a simple clothesline. Tao Qinghe looked at the scene before her and couldn’t help but sigh. Thankfully, it was hot; even such rudimentary conditions were bearable. If this were the depths of winter, one might well freeze to death. They really must make the most of their time to earn money!
Once the vegetable porridge was ready, the three of them gathered round the pot again. With the summer heat, the freshly cooked porridge wouldn’t cool down for a while. Zhao Liniang picked up a fan to fan the other two, then asked, “Once you’ve sold all the pastries tomorrow, come back and rest. Don’t go out to pick wild vegetables again. Qingmiao and I have nothing to do at home; we can manage these little chores ourselves.”
“That’s right, Sister. You just rest after you get back from the county town. I know where the wild greens grow in abundance; I’ll go and gather them from now on!”
Hearing the two mention this, Tao Qinghe suddenly slapped her forehead—she’d forgotten to mention the matter of their household registration!
“After returning from the county today, I stopped by the village head’s house. He said our household registration has been sorted out.” She hurriedly shared the good news.
“So quickly? It’s only been a few days…” Zhao Liniang said, sounding somewhat moved.
“The sooner the better. We won’t be part of their family anymore!” Tao Qingmiao said, her voice tinged with irritation.
“Yes, from now on we’ll go our separate ways and have nothing more to do with them!” Tao Qinghe spoke to comfort the woman before her, then added, “However, Mother and Qingmiao, you must remember not to let anyone know about us selling pastries, lest those with ill intentions do something.”
“Of course we won’t say a word,” Zhao Liniang agreed, her face twisted into a bitter smile. “Who would still associate with us these days? Only Huiniang is still willing to exchange a few words with me, and today I’ve troubled her once again with this vegetable patch.”
“Auntie Li treats us so well; she’s far more kind and considerate than our own blood relatives,” Tao Qinghe sighed.
“Auntie is kind, and so are we. Tomorrow I’ll pick some more wild greens to send to Auntie!” Tao Qingmiao said, looking at the two of them with eager eyes; she too wanted to do her bit for the family.
Hearing this, Tao Qinghe felt both a pang of sadness and a touch of humour; the family was so poor, and the little girl really had no other choice. She could only say gently, “Since we’ve already incurred a favour, there’s no need to rush.” Having said that, she changed the subject, “The vegetable porridge has gone cold. Let’s eat first.”
Thanks to the wild greens Tao Qinghe had picked on her way home, today’s vegetable porridge was plentiful. As she chewed on the dry vegetable stalks, she longed for all manner of seasonings and couldn’t help but resolve once more to earn a decent living, striving to achieve financial independence as soon as possible!
……
Once the three of them had finished their meal and tidied up, Zhao Liniang picked up her hoe and headed outside. “I only managed to turn over a small patch of the vegetable plot this morning. Since I’ve got nothing else to do now, I’ll go and turn over a bit more.”
“The land over here is too barren. I’ll go up the mountain and carry back some soil to enrich the soil,” Tao Qinghe said after a moment’s thought.
Although the soil from the mountains was richer in nutrients, it inevitably contained insect eggs and weeds. Even so, using it on newly cleared land still offered more benefits; it simply meant they would have to tend to it more diligently in the future. But for villagers, why would they begrudge such effort? Naturally, they looked forward to having more work to do!
“Then I’ll go with my elder sister to fetch some water.” Since it was for the fields, there was no need to go out of their way to draw well water; the stream running close to the mountainside would suffice.
With their tasks divided, the three set off in their respective directions. Such is the life of a farming family: scraping a living from the soil, relying on the heavens for the harvest, they could only pour their sweat into the earth, hoping for a bountiful yield in the days to come.
The two who had just returned from fetching soil and water saw Zhao Liniang struggling valiantly against the wasteland. The bare ground was hard as rock; with a single swing of the hoe, one could scarcely even see the hole it made. The weeds were growing rampant; if she didn’t hoe deep enough to uproot them completely, once the vegetable seeds were sown, who knew which would sprout first!
“Mother, come and rest a while; I’ll take over the hoeing for a bit.” After several days of recuperation, Tao Qinghe felt her strength had largely returned. Seeing Zhao Liniang panting with exhaustion, she no longer held back her vigour.
Zhao Liniang knew full well that her two children were just as strong as Tao Dalang. Seeing that Tao Qinghe no longer had any reservations about helping, she was overjoyed. She quickly stopped what she was doing, handed the hoe over, and sat down to rest.
She wiped the sweat from her brow, accepted the water Tao Qingmiao handed her, and took a couple of sips before catching her breath. “The plot of land allotted to us was newly cleared last year. Though we’ve sown some soya beans, with this prolonged drought this year, I’m afraid we won’t get much of a harvest.”
“The plot we received from the division of the estate?” Tao Qinghe asked, “No wonder Grandfather was so quick to give it to us—he knew full well we wouldn’t get much of a harvest.” That old man is a bit too shrewd for his own good, she thought, swinging her hoe.
“It’s our only plot of land, so we’d better tend to it properly. From now on, Qingmiao and I will carry extra water to water it morning and night. If we can harvest even a little, it’ll mean two more mouths to feed.” ”
“Mum, I’m strong. From now on, I’ll carry the water; I’m sure we’ll get a better harvest.” Tao Qingmiao stood by her side, pounding his chest in assurance.
Calculating that the soya beans would be ready for harvest in less than two months, Tao Qinghe thought this was a viable plan, so she didn’t object.
……