"What are you doing skulking around?" Grandma Qin asked, sitting on the kang and mending shoes, addressing Qin Junyao who was standing by the door but not coming in.
"Grandma, I bought eggs and leeks. Let's have dumplings tonight."
Grandma Qin put down the shoe sole in her hand, "Did you really buy them?"
"Mm~~ half price, the leeks were a gift."
"Then have them give you more leeks, so your mother can wrap more to give away. That way she won't have a long face every day, worrying about what gifts to return."
Grandma Qin was referring to the family who had borrowed Qin father's ox and plow.
Qin father had intended to rent them, but the family who lent the ox insisted on not taking any money. They said it was because Village Chief Hao had misunderstood them, outsiders.
People from the Northwest are naturally hospitable and enthusiastic. Now that they were all in the same village, helping each other was only right.
When Qin father returned and told Qin mother, she was very touched and wanted to associate more with this family.
However, she wanted to make some food, but had no provisions.
"Mom, here's the flour," Qin Junyao handed the flour bag to Qin mother, who was chopping leeks.
"Did you take all the flour from Grandma's room?"
"Besides the flour, there are leeks too." Qin Junyao brought out a basket from her own room, containing the leeks she had stored in her space.
Aunt Qin II came in with firewood and saw the leeks Qin Junyao had brought out. She exclaimed, "Yao Yao, you bought too many leeks! Earning money isn't easy, don't eat them all."
"Auntie, I bought leeks and they gave me some."
"You're just trying to trick me. How could fresh, clean leeks be a gift? There's enough of these to last us two days."
Qin Junyao stacked the three empty baskets in the kitchen, "Mom, Auntie, Grandma just said she wants you to wrap more dumplings to give to the families you want to send them to."
"Really?" Qin mother was a little disbelieving.
"Really, otherwise I wouldn't have taken out all the flour."
Qin mother thought for a moment and said, "Let's forget it. It's not about being close right now. These eggs and leeks are quite expensive, and besides, you bought them with copper coins. We should keep them for ourselves."
Grandma Qin, who was eavesdropping from the kitchen, nodded. Good.
The dumplings for dinner were portioned. Those who weren't full had millet porridge.
Leeks can be slippery. Qin mother and Aunt Qin II were afraid that if everyone ate too many, they would get diarrhea, wasting food and suffering.
The next morning, Grandma Qin asked Qin mother to boil two eggs. With the eight red eggs from Doctor Sheng, there was one for each person.
After breakfast, the Qin family used the donkey cart to transport the saxaul saplings and a tub of water to the edge of the desert.
"Niece, weren't you going to plant medicinal herbs? Why are you planting trees?" Qin Sen was in good spirits today and came out to help his family.
"This Cistanche is grown on this tree. The tree lives, it lives. It's a parasitic plant."
"So that's how it is. I didn't expect there to be such interesting plants in the sand."
Seeing Qin Sen's interest, Qin Junyao continued to introduce common plants on the edge of the desert.
There was the sand artemisia, which could be used for making grids; the sand millet, which camels loved and could be fed to livestock, and even eaten by humans; the sand reed, which stabilized sand dunes; and of course, the wolfsbane, which could poison sheep.
Speaking of wolfsbane, Qin Junyao remembered that it was recorded in the herbal illustration book. The root of wolfsbane could be used as medicine.
There were quite a few wolfsbane plants on the grassland they had just passed. Digging them up and selling them would also be an income.
Halfway to their destination, the donkey cart got stuck in the sand and couldn't move.
Cistanche needed to grow in loose, sandy soil, so the saxaul saplings also needed to be planted in such places, which would also help fix the sand.
Sand prevention and fixation required a lot of manpower, financial resources, and time. Qin Junyao had a grand plan in mind, and this was just the beginning.
Planting trees in the desert was particularly arduous. The saplings had to be moved one by one, as there were no vehicles. Water had to be carried bucket by bucket for irrigation.
By the end of the day, Qin Junyao and the others had only planted less than a hundred trees.
Qin Junyao looked at the two neat rows of saxaul trees with emotion. The first step had begun, and now it was time to prepare to reach the destination.
When they returned home that evening, Grandma Qin and Qin Xiaoyu had already prepared dinner.
In the following days, the Qin family planted the remaining saxaul saplings. With Qin Junyao's spatial spring water, the trees planted on the first day had already survived. By early March, they could plant Cistanche and dig up wolfsbane roots.
One morning, Qin Junyao returned from the mountaintop and helped Qin mother dig up the wild vegetables that had grown from seeds she had scattered near the wheat fields.
Casually looking up, Qin Junyao saw a thin black line in the direction of the desert.
Skillfully reciting the contents of the bamboo slips in her space, Qin Junyao focused her gaze and her heart tightened.
"Mom, stop digging. A sandstorm is coming," Qin Junyao bent down, picked up the nearly full back basket, and pulled Qin mother to her feet.
"Who is the sandstorm?" Qin mother stood up with Qin Junyao's pull, but saw no one. Sudan Novels Network.
"A sandstorm isn't a person. It's strong winds carrying sand that are about to blow over. Mom, go find Xiaoyu and Hou Shan and bring them back. They should be playing with San Niu in the woods where they gather firewood."
"The wind is picking up."
"I'll go find Dad and have him bring the donkey into the house. Mom, hurry!" Qin Junyao said as she ran towards Qin father, who was weeding in the wheat field.
Although Qin mother didn't fully understand, seeing Qin Junyao's anxious look, she quickly got up to find Qin Xiaoyu.
On the way, she met some villagers and answered their questions truthfully. Those who had experienced such weather stood on high ground, looked around, and anxiously called out to their neighbors to find their children and pack their belongings.
Qin Junyao called out to Qin father and the others to bring the donkeys and rabbits into the house and to put away anything that could be blown away by the wind.
She herself went to the vegetable garden and pulled out the branches supporting the cucumbers and beans. If they were buried by sand, they could be dug up, but if they were broken by the wind, they would be lost.
Qin Sen went to notify the surrounding neighbors. Most of these newcomers might not have encountered such weather.
The wind grew stronger and stronger, and gradually sand and grit blew onto people's faces.
The sky on the desert side was covered with dark yellow sand, rolling in menacingly. Besides the psychological pressure, there was also a noticeable drop in temperature.
The sandstorm drew closer, accompanied by the howling wind, like the cries of ghosts and wolves.
"Sister, Sister, hurry inside, hurry inside!" Qin Xiaoyu, who had returned at some point, was leaning on the doorframe, shouting at Qin Junyao with a crying voice.
"I'll grab some firewood and come in."
"No one's inside, I'm scared. Sister, hurry inside."
Grandma Qin locked the door to the storage room and followed Qin Junyao to bring firewood into the house. "Move aside, what are you afraid of with the wind? You fight with the village boys every day, I've never seen you scared."
Qin Xiaoyu didn't argue with her grandmother this time and followed closely behind Grandma Qin.
As dusk fell, everything in the Qin family's yard was secured, and everyone entered the house.
In Grandma Qin's room, besides everyone else, there was a donkey.
The other donkey was in Qin Da Niu's room.
The windows rattled loudly, and the house trembled with gusts of wind.
Accompanied by the braying of donkeys, Qin Xiaoyu's cries, and the howling wind, the room was plunged into near darkness.