Song Tan’s Chronicle - Chapter 16

After the Awakening of Insects, the spring rains follow.

A misty drizzle fell silently, enveloping the fields and hills in a light blue fog, soft and damp.

Song Sancheng had just finished settling wages with the villagers. Smelling the scent of rain and earth outside, a smile finally appeared on his face.

“This rain came at the perfect time.”

For more than half a month, they had been busy every day. Wu Lan had to cook for a large group of people and manage both inside and outside the house.

Song Sancheng had to lead people to weed the fields, clear the hillside, cut trees, trim branches, and even set up pig pens, chicken coops, and duck shelters.

The spore delivery had just arrived this afternoon, and they planned to inoculate the spores at home tomorrow. They had just paid out tens of thousands in wages.

Looking up, even the heavens seemed to be on their side: it started to rain!

Wu Lan sighed while holding the account book, “Tan Tan, your sixty thousand yuan is gone.”

“From now on, if we need to spend money, your dad and I will support it, but you’ll have to follow our arrangements.” Otherwise, she feared that her daughter would loosen her grip and start spending again.

Song Tan calculated in her mind—

The piglets hadn’t arrived yet, but the pen was set up, so her mom would have to cover that cost. Ducklings also needed to be bought, so money would have to be spent there.

They wouldn’t buy chicks this year since Grandma was already hatching some!

The hillside and woodland were cleared, and the seeds were bought. Apart from paying some labor costs for inoculating the spores, there weren’t many expenses left!

She nodded and asked the crucial question, “Mom, what’s for dinner?”

Wu Lan felt frustrated, “No money, what can we eat? Go, take Qiao Qiao and dig some wild vegetables on the hillside!”

“Got it!”

There were plenty of hillsides with wild vegetables in the countryside. Especially in the lowlands of their back mountain, there were layers upon layers.

However, the best season for foraging wild vegetables hadn’t arrived yet, so the quantity might not be much, maybe just enough for one or two meals.

Song Tan packed her things, then thought of taking her phone stand along. “Qiao Qiao, let’s go dig wild vegetables!”

Qiao Qiao had already rushed out of the yard eagerly, “Oh! It’s raining! I want to splash in puddles with Peppa Pig!”

However, the drizzle was light and only made the ground slightly damp. Where were the puddles?

Qiao Qiao fell silent.

Like monkeys, the siblings darted into the forest, with Wu Lan shouting behind them, “Grab some wild onions, we’ll fry them with eggs!”

…

Growing up in the mountains, the siblings moved swiftly. Along the way, Song Tan took another look at the crude pig pen on the back hill—

A large shed made of wood, tightly covered with branches and tarps. Inside, the floor was raised with stones, though it hadn’t been covered with straw yet. It already looked quite clean.

This setup allowed the pigs to move around a lot, making the pork delicious. However, there was a problem: pigs would definitely defecate everywhere, and the hillside was too large to fence off a manure pit. Song Sancheng had pondered this for a long time.

Eventually, he came up with a solution.

When the piglets were small, they wouldn’t let them run around too much. Otherwise, the grass, tree roots, and stones on the hillside could easily cause injuries.

At this stage, they’d keep the pen small, dig a shallow pit, and gradually get the pigs accustomed to using it as a latrine. Over time, the pigs would learn where to go.

Once the habit was formed, they’d gradually expand the range…

Song Sancheng wasn’t sure if it would work, but he decided to try! At worst, he’d have to spend more time each day shoveling manure, which could be composted into fertilizer.

Passing through the forest, they reached a gentle slope halfway up the back hill, where green sprouts were emerging everywhere.

Qiao Qiao was already pointing at a clump of wild onions, “Sis! Fried eggs!”

Wild onions, also known as sand onions or mountain garlic, are much smaller than regular onions and garlic, even less robust than chives. Whenever they had this at home, Qiao Qiao’s job was to clean it, so he remembered it well.

Song Tan hesitated, “These wild onions look so good. Should we fry them with eggs or cook them with crucian carp?”

Either way, they decided to pick them first.

Besides wild onions, there was a patch of young Indian Kalimeris by the edge of the forest, small but enough to make a dish.

There were also plenty of shepherd’s purse, big and small, and Qiao Qiao happily started digging them up.

However, the yield was still low, and the phone stand wasn’t worth using for filming.

She sighed, then suddenly thought of something—

What’s the price of wild vegetables these days?

…

After spending an hour or two foraging, Wu Lan took the basket and wondered, “Did you go to the pond?”

“Yes, we did!”

Qiao Qiao’s sleeves were soaked, clearly from playing in the water.

Wu Lan sorted through the wild vegetables, “These watercress leaves are tender, but did you pick them right after they sprouted? How should we eat them?”

Song Tan considered between making chicken salad or fish soup and decisively chose, “Chicken salad!”

Chicken salad required chicken breast, and no one in the village sold just the breast.

Wu Lan ignored her, “Alright, I’ll make some pepper oil, and we’ll have a salad for lunch. We’ve been eating rich food while entertaining guests, so something light will be nice.”

“What about this purslane? Just a handful? Let’s mix it into the salad.”

The wild onions were quite a lot, neatly cleaned, definitely Qiao Qiao’s work by the pond.

Wu Lan seemed pleased, “We still have some crucian carp from the last fishing trip; let’s make a soup. We’ll also fry some twice-cooked pork. It’s too cold to eat only salad in this weather.”

Finally, there was a thick layer of shepherd’s purse at the bottom, and Wu Lan decisively planned, “We’ll make dumplings for dinner!”

Song Tan, not involved in cooking, had no room to object, and she was looking forward to it.

At this point, she brought up another matter:

“Mom, with the weather warming up, this rain will make wild vegetables grow like crazy. How about I dig more tomorrow and take the bus to the city to sell them?”

This time, Wu Lan was genuinely surprised, “You’re going to set up a stall? Have you ever been to the market?”

Song Tan understood what she meant—her old self would have been too shy and reserved.

Now, however…

After half a month of hard work and spending all her money, she needed to show some results. Otherwise, who knew how much effort it would take to request funds next time?

Besides, after channeling spiritual energy into the hillside pond during the spring rain, she was sure to harvest dozens of pounds tomorrow!

She needed to test the market.

So she assured, “Don’t worry! I can do it tomorrow!”

Song Sancheng, who had been silent, finally spoke, “The bus leaves at six in the morning, takes a big detour through town, and won’t reach the city until almost nine. Not many people will buy vegetables then.”

“How about this: Tan Tan, you clean the vegetables in the afternoon and leave early in the morning. I’ll ride my motorcycle and take you to the intersection. From there, you can catch a minibus and reach the city market early.”

Today, there’s more.

Also, the recipes in this chapter are referenced from “New and Special Mountain Vegetables.”

Writing this made me so hungry, it’s too hard!

Tan Tan’s first bucket of gold is coming soon!

[People who really buy vegetables at the market go early, and those who love wild vegetables definitely go early.]