Food and Clothing Through One's Own Efforts

That evening, Zhou Yao cooked a huge pot of rice porridge, steamed a big basket of mantou, and grabbed some pickled radish. Zhou Yao enjoyed a wonderful meal.

After eating, Zhou Yao washed up, including a good shampoo, then went off to enjoy a good night's sleep. This bed was truly comfortable.

Zhou Yao had spent the past several days sleeping in the mountains, and how could anyone sleep well there? Zhou Yao slept straight through until daybreak, then washed up, ate breakfast, and went up the mountain to chop firewood.

In half a day, Zhou Yao filled the entire woodshed to bursting and also carried back many baskets of dry leaves for kindling.

By the time all the work was done, it was noon. Zhou Yao boiled half a piece of cured pork, then stir-fried it with pickled ginger and pickled chilies. The flavor was beyond words, and it went perfectly with rice.

Zhou Yao tucked the cured pork into a mantou and ate it. It was pure bliss. Then Zhou Yao drank some rice porridge. Beyond words... just beyond words...

After the meal, Zhou Yao went to the backyard to feed the pigs, cattle, and sheep pig swill and ryegrass, then filled their water trough. After that, Zhou Yao was ready to start digging and planting vegetables.

Although Zhou Yao had no shortage of grain or meat, vegetables were another matter. People would get sick if they went too long without eating vegetables. Luckily, there was plenty of pig-nostril grass in the mountains, also known as fish mint, but eating it every day got tiresome too.

The several mu of land beside the house had developed cracks as wide as a fist, making it hard to dig even with a hoe. So Zhou Yao watered two fen of land, going back and forth to water it three times before the soil finally softened.

Then Zhou Yao dug over the whole plot, found stones to make a border around the two fen of land, and watered the soil twice more.

Finally, Zhou Yao dug the two fen into six rows, planting radish seeds in one, napa cabbage seeds in another, yellow-heart cabbage seeds in another, spoon cabbage seeds in another, hand cabbage seeds in another, and seeds for scallions, Chinese chives, garlic shoots, and cilantro in the last.

Once everything was planted, Zhou Yao watered the plot again. Because Zhou Yao watered it generously, the seeds began to sprout a week later. Then Zhou Yao mixed pig manure with water and poured it over the soil.

Growing vegetables took more than just water; fertilizer was needed too, and pig manure was the best fertilizer. After a month of Zhou Yao's careful tending, the vegetables in the two-fen plot were growing beautifully.

The hand cabbage was ready to eat, and so were the scallions. Everything else was still growing, so Zhou Yao happily stir-fried a big bowl of hand cabbage. It was truly beyond words, pure bliss, holy moly!!!

Even before transmigrating, Zhou Yao had liked growing vegetables and the like at home. For one thing, homegrown vegetables were healthy to eat; for another, Zhou Yao really enjoyed the process of growing them. With one's own hands, one could have ample food and clothing.

After all, every vegetable bought at the market or supermarket had been sprayed with chemicals. Zhou Yao was particular about such things and liked eating homegrown vegetables, pure and natural, free of pollution, and grown entirely with farmyard manure. They were pure bliss to eat.

Of course, Zhou Yao was also trying every possible way to figure out how to make money.

Gold, silver, and copper coins were the currency of this era, and when it came to money, the more the better.

For that, Zhou Yao thought of a solution: writing novels and storybooks.

Zhou Yao's home actually had six rooms. Beside the backyard was another large room that connected directly to Zhou Yao's master bedroom. Zhou Yao had looked inside and found it packed with books, but had not examined them closely. Now there was plenty of time to read them.

Zhou Yao found an unofficial historical account of the Great Zhou State. Its founding emperor had risen to power through rebellion. It had now been two hundred years since the Great Zhou State was founded, and nine emperors had reigned in succession.

Zhou Yao also read about the countries surrounding the Great Zhou State. There was a map of the Great Zhou State and its neighboring countries in the study. Zhou Yao took a look, and what a shock it was: the Great Zhou State was truly in a perilous position!!!

If the soldiers of the Great Zhou State's army had not fought so fiercely, the Great Zhou State might have fallen long ago.

Zhou Yao also checked and found that the various countries of this world had no Tang poetry or Song ci, nor the novels and storybooks Zhou Yao wanted to write. That made the corners of Zhou Yao's mouth curl up in a smile.