Disaster Apocalypse: Farming, Family, and My Hidden Secret Space-Chapter 276. The water receded.

Later, Hua Chengtian and You Luosong accompanied the elder Hua who was collecting grain seeds from various households to Wei Dapeng, Doctor Sun, and Zhu Rourong. They visited and made arrangements before nightfall.

The three families were happy to greet the village chief personally.

Why wouldn’t they greet him? Having just moved here, they lacked everything except the houses they brought with them, hoping the village chief could help introduce them to the villagers. They wondered if they could use Silver Coin to exchange for some coarse salt or grains.

Undoubtedly, they expected to stay for quite a long time in this household.

And as they imagined, they all managed to buy coarse salt, though it was purchased from the village chief’s house, with each family getting half a jin, while they were introduced to buy grains from the villagers.

Although the price was somewhat higher than usual, given the current circumstances, being able to buy grains was worthy of gratitude to their ancestors. At the very least, they no longer needed to eat the wild vegetable roots and bark that had been nauseating.

That night, knowing they would receive grain seeds the next day, ten or so households enjoyed their soundest sleep in over a year.

The next morning, they anxiously hurried down the mountain to receive the grain seeds. The temperature was continually rising, and it wouldn’t be long before they could plant on the mountain.

They saw the old and young of Hua Village busy working in the fields. Each was pressing hard, eager to borrow grain seeds and start farming.

Their envious gazes continued to pursue the block after block of fields in the valley for a long time.

...

Elder Hua, along with the old and young in the village, spent several days planting grains on every piece of land up and down the slopes of the valley. Whether it was coarse grains, fine grains, sweet potatoes, or potatoes, all were mixed together, with sweet potatoes being more abundant.

And besides planting grains, each household made plenty of wooden boxes, with the sides of the courtyard filled either with vegetables or vegetable planters.

If you think that’s all, you’d be mistaken.

Even with the efforts of eighteen outsider families, how much could they accomplish with three whole mountains?

Once all plantable places were finished, the temperature had fully risen, not only melting the snow on the mountains but also cracking the ice blocks below.

However, these changes hardly concerned the people of Hua Village. By now, they had turned their gaze to the other three mountains around the valley. As long as there was soil and the distance wasn’t too far from the valley, they spared nothing in planting easy-growing potatoes and sweet potatoes. These could be buried in the ground without worrying about being ruined by animals, even without protective fences.

After half a month of intensive planting, apart from the one stone mountain, almost every household had opened up an additional ten or so acres. Exhausted, they returned home every day, falling asleep without even washing, yet the results were promising. Even if only this season’s harvest were to be abundant, there wouldn’t be any worry for the years to come.

Thankfully, their grain seeds were sufficiently stocked, or else, even with more ideas, they would be powerless.

Following that, everyone took a few days to rest while the outside ice completely melted, leaving water everywhere among the mountains.

As the last piece of ice in the water disappeared, the temperature which had been gradually rising seemed to suddenly spike overnight, reaching summer solstice levels, transforming layers of autumn clothes into single-layer garments overnight. The water level rapidly decreased, changing by the day, as did the temperature.

In merely ten days, the several zhang-deep water levels under the mountains rapidly dried up, soon leaving behind only a shallow layer, with the mud below faintly visible, occasionally revealing stranded fish.

This discovery excited the mountain survivors of the extreme cold. Despite the heat, with sweat pouring and breaths panting, their determination to seek food remained unstoppable.

With techniques reminiscent of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, they employed any conceivable method to fish from the remaining water. Some indeed succeeded in catching a good number of fish.

This could be considered the final bit of hope humanity received from nature after the calamity receded.

"Mom, Dad, Brother’s method worked, I caught one," a skinny youth around ten delightfully whispered.

He held a long stick as thick as a baby’s arm, with the front end using newly sprouted twigs transformed into a simple net, within which a fish weighing about two jin bounced eagerly, captured by the youth’s ardent gaze.

"That’s great! Hurry up, Dad, quickly," the woman nearly cried with joy, urging the man on the mountain while watching her sons by the water, worrying, "Be careful! Make sure not to fall in, the mud deep below is treacherous, once you fall, you can’t get out."

They witnessed this firsthand, not mere exaggerated tales.

Just a couple of hours had passed, when less than a hundred meters away, a man, overly eager, jumped in. He caught something and barely had time to rejoice with hearty laughter before he started screaming, with his body sinking into the mud despite his struggle. In the last moment before being submerged, he threw the fish to his family, completely submerged. This scene was witnessed by many around, making them both witness and victim to the spine-chilling reality.

"Mom, don’t worry, we’ll be cautious," the youth, along with his brothers, quickly nodded.

"Mom, rest assured, I’ll keep a good eye on the younger ones." Helping his third brother remove the fish from the willow net, the young man handed the fish to his mother, earnestly promising.

Then, he and his three brothers began to focus on the movements in the water again, their young faces gaunt, with only their weary eyes shining a faint light.

How could a mother truly rest assured? Apart from guarding against potential snatchers around, her attention was entirely fixed on her three sons. Seeing another fish caught in the net, her face finally cracked a faint smile.

Sitting on the slope, a man with frostbitten hands laboriously wove a willow net and soon joined his sons, handing the willow net over to his eldest.

"Shuge’er, use this..."

In Ancient Yan Country or any nation on this land, almost everyone strived to live.

Even those exalted above, when faced with disaster, felt small.

Two days later.

"The water has receded..."

Hua Jin carried several large fish out of the valley, gazing downhill toward the mountain’s foot being revealed.

Unlike others’ happiness, Hua Jin remained calm, watching everyone’s smiling faces, sincerely hoping these smiles could linger a bit longer.

...After all, as long as people live, they should cherish every happy moment, shouldn’t they?

"Jin’er, we’re thinking of going down the mountain to take a look, will you join us?"

The lovely voice behind made Hua Jin turn with a sweet smile.

"Of course, how could I miss it?" Smiling with crescent moon eyes, Hua Jin eagerly pulled close the girls approaching her, the sunlight falling upon her flawless face entrancing them.

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