CHAPTER 65: CHAPTER 65: PROTECTING THE YOUNG

Jiang Xiaoxiao was amazed as soon as she entered the space, the little cabbages in her plot of land had grown so robustly.

Can these still be called little cabbages?

They’re almost big cabbages.

She felt guilty inside.

She’s been too busy these past days, ever since she returned to her hometown to care for her grandparents’ health.

She had completely forgotten about the little cabbages.

Without hesitation, she harvested all the cabbages.

As she expected, once this single-harvest crop matured.

The whole plot could be planted with other crops, unlike the peach trees which made it impossible to grow other plants.

Looking at the empty plot, she pondered for a moment. She needed to leave some ready-to-eat supplies for her parents, like rice and flour, so it seemed fitting to plant rice.

In this era of scarcity, even if you have money, you might not be able to buy things.

Especially since they’re considered city people, living off the town’s ration cards, with a fixed monthly quota of grains; once you hit the limit, you can’t buy more.

Moreover, both coarse and refined grains are rationed, and you can’t buy rice and flour even if you’re wealthy.

Jiang Xiaoxiao calculated that she only had a week left before she had to leave.

If she calculated the time conversion in her space, she could harvest every day, so she should collect at least several thousand pounds of rice within a week.

And she discovered a major benefit, the cabbages she harvested from her plot were directly placed in her warehouse in the space.

The warehouse clearly showed that this plot produced about a thousand pounds of cabbages.

So, it seems the plot in the space is roughly one-fifth of an acre.

After all, her plot uses green and all-natural plant agents, without fertilizers or pesticides.

But she remembered that rice had to be sprouted first before transplanting the seedlings.

She wasn’t good at nurturing seedlings.

She changed her mind and decided to plant wheat first, which meant her parents wouldn’t eat rice for now.

No choice, while she had done plenty of farm work in her past life, she really hadn’t dealt with seedling cultivation.

Who told her she later became a rural doctor.

She decided that when she went to the countryside, she’d definitely seek advice from the veteran farmers, or perhaps at a farm, as there would surely be experienced people.

She’d learn the farming techniques well since she had a piece of space.

Plant the wheat properly.

Jiang Xiaoxiao slept.

One sleep and it was dawn, she woke up lazing in bed, eyes closed, not getting up.

Anyway, her parents wouldn’t scold her.

Primarily since she was busy till midnight yesterday.

She directly entered the space and saw that the wheat on the plot had indeed borne golden ears.

Indeed, the produce from the space is extraordinary.

Jiang Xiaoxiao harvested all the wheat, she had already noticed yesterday.

All planting and harvesting in the space only required her own thoughts, as long as she willed it, those seeds would plant themselves in the ground.

The harvesting now was the same.

She planted a new batch of wheat, finally leaving the space to get up.

She pondered whether she should try planting rice without seedlings to see what happens.

Her dad and brother had already gone to the factory.

Fan Xiuying had told Jiang Xiaoxiao yesterday that today they would take her grandma to the hospital with her grandpa.

She wasn’t at ease about her mom’s health, feeling it should be thoroughly checked, as who knows when something might happen again.

Jiang Xiaoxiao didn’t go, not because she wasn’t concerned.

She had a hunch.

No matter what, she felt somewhat reassured about her mom’s health after the peach incident.

Jiang Xiaoxiao didn’t accompany her mom to the hospital today because she wanted to stay home and make her cabbages and wheat appear legitimate.

She didn’t say much, tidied up the house, then directly took ten pounds of cabbages from the space.

As for the wheat, it wouldn’t do without grinding it into flour.

She roughly estimated the wheat yielded about five hundred pounds.

She found jute bags at home and directly took the wheat from the space.

Then went to borrow a tricycle from the neighbor’s aunt to load the sacks onto the cart.

Not far from them was Xiao Wang Village, where there was a mill. Otherwise, it’d be impossible to find a place to grind flour or mill rice in this city.

Fortunately, she hadn’t forgotten how to ride the tricycle, otherwise transporting wheat to the mill would indeed be a challenge!

The space couldn’t be used carelessly; if noticed on the street, that would be suicidal.

Five hundred pounds of wheat turned into four hundred pounds of white flour.

Grinding five hundred pounds of wheat cost three yuan, unless they left out the wheat bran.

Then it only cost one yuan and fifty cents.

The mill owner was an honest man.

Clearly an unpretentious person.

He didn’t mess around, directly ground the flour well, and even found her a few flour sacks, only charging her five cents.

Jiang Xiaoxiao rode the tricycle and brought the four bags of flour back home.

All this effort worked up quite a sweat.

Once home, she lugged the four bags of flour into her brother’s room.

If kept in the kitchen, it wouldn’t be safe, as these years weren’t like newer ones.

The rats were rampant.

With someone in the room, it was safer. If left in the kitchen, the rats would wreak havoc.

After tidying up, Jiang Xiaoxiao checked the time and guessed her grandparents and Fan Xiuying would be back soon, so she started cooking.

With freshly ground flour today, she wanted to test how the white flour would perform.

First, she set the dough to rise.

This weather makes dough rise fast.

Luckily, there’s cabbage, so she went out to the supply and marketing cooperative to get two pounds of pork.

The pork was lean with little fat, because the seller didn’t know Jiang Xiaoxiao.

Back in those days, fatty pork was considered highly popular.

No one wanted lean meat.

She minced the meat for filling, planning to make Baozi for lunch.

Though the cabbage filling seemed watery, squeezing it dry for Baozi was just right.

When Fan Xiuying and the others arrived, the whole courtyard was filled with aroma.

Jiang Xiaoxiao was just carrying a big basin into the house.

"Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, you’re back! Wash your hands quickly. I made Baozi today, big meat Baozi with cabbage filling."

Jiang Xiaoxiao proudly showed off.

You must know, she used to be pampered by her parents to the extent of not knowing a thing about farming or cooking.

Forget about steaming Baozi, she’d probably end up steaming rock-hard bread.

Fan Xiuying hurriedly went over to lift the curtain for her daughter.

"Why are you eager, girl? Let mom do it when she’s back. Tell me, you’ve never steamed Baozi before, why the thought of steaming ones today? Making dumplings is easier than steaming Baozi. If the dough doesn’t rise well, those Baozi will be like iron lumps."

Fan Xiuying was worried.

After all, it was white flour.

Afraid her daughter might waste it.

Jiang Xiaoxiao immediately shut her mom’s mouth with a Baozi.

She couldn’t believe her.

Fan Xiuying took a bite.

Her eyes brightened, and she had to admit the Baozi were really delicious.

"Don’t criticize Xiao Xiao. It’s commendable that at her age she’s thinking of cooking for us. It’s her way of expressing care. Can’t you just praise her properly? I see the Baozi are great."

Her grandma gave her daughter a stern look, implying teasing her granddaughter.

Yesterday she scolded her, today she defends her.

"Come on, Xiao Xiao, bring the Baozi to Grandma, they look delicious. Your mom doesn’t like them, let her not eat. Grandma will eat at least three later. These are Xiao Xiao’s first Baozi, Grandma insists it’s for Xiao Xiao’s sake. And they must be tasty, Grandma even smelled it."

Grandma was protective indeed.