Reborn with a Space: Building a Fortune Amidst Famine
Chapter 71 Autumn Harvest

Chapter 71: 71 Autumn Harvest

It took a whole day to boil water, clean the damaged sweet potatoes, slice them, and lay them on the sorghum straw mats that Yang Minggang had given. The mat was one and a half meters wide and three meters long, enough to dry everything.

The time had reached the end of November, and winter was about to begin. Su Yuanyuan started bringing home the cabbages.

At home, she simply tidied the cabbages, trimmed the roots, and removed the rotten leaves.

Outside, only a dozen heads were left; the rest were stored in the space.

Of course, the ones that were not fully grown were prepared to be pickled. The smallest ones were left outside to dry, as dried cabbage is also very tasty.

Especially the buns made with dried cabbage, leeks, and vermicelli.

Su Yuanyuan had already planned. When the lunar month comes, she’ll sell these cabbage buns at the train station—it’ll surely be more profitable than selling grains.

There were more than four hundred heads of cabbage. If the price was right this year, she’d sell them; if not, she’d wait and decide later.

Her radishes weren’t too bad either. She sent the radish greens to Hu Chunhua and Xu Chunjiao.

Here, there’s a type of pickle made by steaming radish greens, mixing them with shredded raw radish, pressing them with a big stone, and fermenting for more than twenty days to become pickles.

Su Yuanyuan didn’t like pickles, so she gave all the radish greens to both families.

Both families, due to having many members, made two large jars of these pickles.

Su Yuanyuan processed the radishes just like the cabbages, with the smaller and less appealing ones shredded and left outside.

Su Yuanyuan had always loved buns with dried radish shreds. There were far more radishes than cabbages, so she shredded enough to fill ten mats, and she also pickled some herself.

Now, all the fieldwork was done. This year had been a harvest year for Su Yuanyuan; it was indeed a bumper year.

She had been so busy that she hadn’t even checked the space.

One day, Su Yuanyuan surveyed her domain, seeing baskets of green vegetables and sacks of grain. A satisfied smile appeared on her face.

The ancients were indeed not wrong: as long as you work hard, there will be a reward. Your effort definitely correlates with the harvest you get.

The sheep gave birth to three lambs, two females, and one male.

Su Yuanyuan thought of the big ram at home; she couldn’t bear to sell it, but she absolutely couldn’t bring herself to slaughter it for meat. Keeping it indefinitely wasn’t practical either.

She felt very conflicted, unable to find a satisfactory solution.

The temperature had already dropped significantly. She had been here for nearly a year, and this year’s change in mindset was the greatest.

Being so busy every day, there was no time to feel melancholic about the seasons. As soon as she opened her eyes, there was work waiting.

She felt comfortable living this way; this lifetime, she was determined to find a life she truly enjoyed.

Back outside, she lay in a warm bed. It was time to go up the mountain again.

There should be enough firewood for this year, but it’s better to gather more.

Maybe she could even increase her income. Last year, she didn’t collect pinecones, but with time, this year she would gather more. She fell asleep with a smile.

The next day, she still went to retrieve the ground traps. This time, she planned not to set them every day—it was too cold and bad for her health.

Having seen much, she knew nothing was more important than health.

Now, there weren’t many fish and shrimp left. They still looked fine, but blue shrimp were especially scarce.

She planned to visit the county soon, send some sweet potatoes and sorghum rice to Old Yang, and give him some small fish to eat.

She harvested a total of two hundred winter melons, more than three hundred winter melons, and over a hundred pumpkins.

She gifted Zhao Yanli with two pumpkins, "Try them, they’re especially delicious."

"Thank you, Yuanyuan. Tomorrow there’s a market, are you going?"

"I’m not going, I need to cut and dry the winter melons. By the time it freezes, they should be dry. I’ll order four pigs from your family next year."

"Yuanyuan, you are really capable. Do you need my help?"

Su Yuanyuan shook her head, "No need, I’ll do it slowly by myself. In a few days, I’ll be done cutting."

She also sent five pumpkins and five winter melons, as well as five winter melons to Hu Chunhua and Xu Chunjiao.

"Girl, these little winter melons are really pretty." Xu Chunjiao said, holding a pumpkin.

"Aunt, let me tell you, these small winter melons are very tasty. When you cook lunch, try steaming them."

Hu Chunhua especially liked the pumpkins as well. Both families tried them and found these pumpkins were much tastier than the winter melons. They saved the seeds, planning to plant more next year since they were tastier than sweet potatoes.

Su Yuanyuan was now sitting in the courtyard, slicing winter melon pieces. A few days ago, Yang Minggang had made her more sorghum straw mats.

She took three days by herself to finish drying them out in the courtyard—great feed for the pigs.

In her previous life, she and her grandmother did this every year.

The three pigs were already quite fat, each weighing about two hundred and sixty to seventy jing.

This time, when she went to the county, she would tell Old Yang she’d sell him one pig, slaughter another for keeping, and sell the third.

However, the pig slaughtered for personal use wouldn’t be sold. It would be stored in the space for future consumption. Only Yang Minggang could handle the pig slaughter because it wouldn’t seem right otherwise. She couldn’t just say she was keeping a pig to eat, could she?

This way, everything was easy to explain. If she slaughtered the pig, villagers wouldn’t come to buy it; she’d just say she sold it in the county.

Su Yuanyuan suddenly felt like eating braised ribs, but in this era, there wasn’t much meat left on the ribs, not enough to satisfy her craving. When she slaughters pigs herself, she’d surely leave more meat.

One morning, after feeding the livestock, she left with a basket on her back.

In the county, she took out half a basket of sweet potatoes from the space, half a bag of sorghum rice, two pumpkins, one winter melon, and carried the small fish in a basin.

Old Yang was really touched seeing this girl bringing him things again.

"Girl, looks like you’ve had a bountiful harvest?"

"Indeed? A bumper harvest! I came to thank Uncle Yang."

"You’re welcome. This little winter melon is quite special."

"It’s great steamed. Uncle Yang, my fat pigs weigh two hundred and sixty to seventy jin each. Do you want one?"

"Yes, aren’t you raising three? Only selling me one?"

"I’ll sell you two."

"That’s more like it." Two hundred and sixty to seventy jin pigs would undoubtedly be loaded with fat, this girl really had a knack.

"How did you raise such fat pigs?"

"I bought over a thousand jin of corn, and these little fish were all for the pigs."

"Really? You’re truly talented, girl. Staying for lunch today?"

Su Yuanyuan shook her head, "No, I still have a lot to get, having not been out in more than two months since the autumn harvest."

"Then stop by before you leave. I’ll just go and reserve the pork. Once it’s ready, you find someone to slaughter the pigs, and I’ll just take the meat back."

"Hmm, okay, I’ll stop by before heading back."

Old Yang took a walk, and the pork from two pigs was divided among four families.