The Cat Who Farms in the Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland – CH7

Chapter 7 – Turning the Soil

That meal of buns made Xia Lu Nong feel the peak of happiness since he’d woken up.

Back home, he found a hoe behind the door and slowly began turning the soil in front of the house, planning to plant strawberries, watermelons, melons, and loquats.

Xia Huo Qu had been busy, so the front and back yards were overgrown with weeds, crawling with ants and snakes.

Sometimes, he would toss out used water, which made the weeds near the door grow especially thick.

As Xia Lu Nong started clearing the area, he realized the yard was bigger than it looked. Hidden under the surface were broken porcelain pieces, concrete chunks, tree roots, grass roots, ants, bugs—so much debris that it made his skin crawl.

The toughest part to clear was the grass roots.

From the surface, the grass didn’t seem that tall, barely reaching his knees. But once he started pulling, he discovered dense roots. A single tuft of grass could cover half a square meter below ground, with roots reaching two to three meters deep. Without tools, it was impossible to pull them out!

Wearing a straw hat, Xia Lu Nong squatted in the yard, struggling to pull out each tuft of grass until his face turned red.

He had overeaten that morning, but the exhausting work made him ravenous by noon. He ended up gulping down a whole bowl of mixed grain porridge.

Xia Huo Qu helped alongside him, and together they managed to clear only half the yard by midday.

When Old Liu came to deliver the seedlings, he looked at the cleared land, crouched down to feel the soil, and said, “You’re going to plant here? This soil isn’t fertile enough.”

“We don’t have much choice,” Xia Lu Nong replied as he took the bucket from Old Liu. “Thanks, Brother Liu.”

“No need to be so formal.”

Old Liu helped unload the seedlings and asked, “What are you planning to plant here?”

“Watermelons, strawberries, melons, and loquats,” Xia Lu Nong said. “We’ll plant winter melons and pumpkins under the trees and beans on the side of the house.”

“Wow, that won’t work. Fruits are harder to grow than vegetables. You’ll need some fertilizer,” Old Liu advised. “Chemical fertilizers are hard to come by now. You should try getting some ash and manure from the canteen. Your brother has some connections, so he could probably get you some fermented pig manure. Mix it with ash, and it might just do the trick.”

Xia Lu Nong nodded, wiping sweat from his forehead. His face felt flushed and itchy.

Old Liu glanced around the yard and asked, “Where’s your brother?”

“Someone came to get him, said there was something at the base he needed to attend to. He went to a meeting.”

“A meeting at this time?” Old Liu was surprised. “Is the captain back?”

Xia Lu Nong shook his head. He didn’t know.

Old Liu smiled. “Well, we’ll hear about it soon enough. Take inventory of the seedlings and plant them when the sun goes down. Water them well after planting; the soil needs to be fully soaked.”

Xia Lu Nong carefully memorized his instructions.

Old Liu nodded and said, “I’ll head home now. I live just across the way, your brother knows where. If you need anything, just come over and ask.”

After seeing Old Liu off, Xia Lu Nong returned to clearing the land.

Since he hadn’t fully recovered from his illness, he didn’t want to overexert himself. Once he had cleared most of the yard and started feeling dizzy and weak, he decided to stop and took a nap.

He set an alarm, but still overslept, waking up after 4 p.m.

He got dressed and looked around the house but didn’t find his brother.

The seedlings that had been in the living room were gone, as were the hoe and bucket behind the door.

Xia Lu Nong searched the yard and figured his brother might be at the field. Grabbing a hoe and putting on his straw hat, he hurried to the field.

When he arrived, Xia Huo Qu was indeed there, working hard in the field.

The old greenhouse that had once stood there had been taken down by the people renting their land, leaving the field bare except for weeds and freshly turned soil.

Xia Lu Nong called out, “Brother.”

“You’re awake? Take it easy.” Xia Huo Qu walked over and helped him as he clambered down from the ridge into the field.

Xia Huo Qu was barefoot in the field, and Xia Lu Nong wanted to take off his shoes too, but his brother stopped him. “Keep your shoes on, be careful not to step on a splinter.”

Xia Lu Nong hesitated. The field was full of mud, and with shoes on, they would quickly get caked in it.

Xia Huo Qu’s gaze fell to Xia Lu Nong’s feet, and he said, “Shoes are cheap, but medical bills are expensive. Wait until your health is fully recovered before imitating others.”

Xia Lu Nong nodded, holding up a small hoe. “Is it easy to pull the weeds here?”

“Much easier than in the yard,” Xia Huo Qu said. “This field was only planted last winter, so there’s not much debris, and the soil is fertile. Whatever we plant this year should yield a good harvest.”

Xia Lu Nong stuck out his tongue. “That’s not guaranteed. If my skills aren’t up to par, everything I plant might die!”

“Then consider it a learning fee, and we can switch to something else in the second half of the year.”

The brothers worked side by side, pulling weeds and turning the soil.

Xia Lu Nong remembered something. “Brother Liu said we should go to the cafeteria and trade for some manure and ash to fertilize the land.”

Their home still used a pit toilet left over from before the disaster, so to get fertilizer, they had to trade for it elsewhere.

Xia Huo Qu nodded. “I’ll trade for two loads tomorrow.”

Xia Lu Nong added, “Make sure to get well-composted manure.”

Xia Huo Qu chuckled. “You sure know a lot.”

“Of course! Now that I’ve decided to farm, I need to ask more questions.”

After turning over one row of soil, Xia Lu Nong patted his lower back, feeling like his waist was about to break. He stood up and stretched deeply, taking a breath. “Brother, since everyone can turn into animals now, why don’t we use our beast forms to work?”

“It’s not worth it,” Xia Huo Qu said as he massaged his brother’s back. “In human form, you only need to eat three bowls of rice per meal after a day’s work. In beast form, you wouldn’t stop at ten bowls per meal. Normally, no one can afford to use their beast form, except when they’re in a dangerous environment and need it to survive.”

Xia Lu Nong was stunned. He hadn’t expected the reason people didn’t use their beast forms to be about food consumption.

According to the law of conservation of energy, beast forms are so large that they require a lot of energy. For farming, it’s indeed not economical. In this age of scarcity, Xia Lu Nong sighed inwardly, realizing even this had to be saved.

After resting for a while, the two continued working.

They had to finish turning the soil for the vegetable seedlings before sunset. In total, they needed to prepare four plots: one for peppers, one for eggplants, one for beans, and one for tomatoes.

Each plot was about seven or eight square meters, so it was quite a lot of work.

The two brothers hurried and finally finished turning the soil before sunset. Then they dug holes and planted the seedlings.

Compared to turning the soil, planting the vegetables wasn’t as tiring, but it still required constant bending, which made their backs uncomfortable.

Fortunately, there was a stream flowing slowly below the field, so fetching water was easy. Watering the seedlings didn’t take long.

Even so, by the time they finished, the sky was already dark.

Xia Lu Nong, drenched in sweat, took off his jacket and tied it around his waist, carrying the hoe on his back as they headed home.

His brother let him cool off for a moment, but after only a few steps, insisted he put his jacket back on, saying it was better to wash clothes than risk catching a cold.

When they returned home, it was late, but most others were also finishing up around the same time.

People walked slowly along the small path, carrying hoes and heading home.

By then, dew had already fallen. The grass on both sides of the road was damp, brushing against people’s legs, making them feel both wet and itchy. This was partly because there were small scratches from the grass on their legs.

Additionally, as night fell, mosquitoes started to come out, buzzing around people’s heads and occasionally biting them.

Xia Lu Nong felt itchy all over.

His brother took the hoe from his back and said, “Take a bath when we get home, and you’ll feel better.”

Xia Lu Nong wiped the sweat off his neck and said gloomily, “Going to the bathhouse for a bath costs more grain again.”

Xia Huo Qu laughed. “How did you get so stingy in just a few days?”

Xia Lu Nong glanced at his brother with his clear black-and-white eyes, then turned away, feeling disheartened.

Their family was struggling now, and he was the one holding them back, so he had to be careful about every little expense.

The two of them walked back home.

Xia Lu Nong, feeling sticky and smelly, was too uncomfortable to care about the cost. He grabbed some soybeans, pulled his brother along, and headed to the bathhouse.

The bathhouse was on the east side of the cafeteria.

The water there was heated using the excess heat from cooking, so it wasn’t expensive. Usually, a handful of grain could get you a bucket, but you had to fetch it yourself.

Although hot water wasn’t costly, many people still couldn’t bear to spend it. Most preferred to use cold water, even in the middle of winter, rather than use hot water.

Their situation was a bit better off than most.

The bathhouse was empty.

Xia Lu Nong traded for a bucket of hot water, while his brother fetched a load of cold water. The two of them mixed the water and washed themselves in the dimly lit bathhouse, even scrubbing each other’s backs.

Xia Lu Nong, with his shaved head, scrubbed himself from head to toe, feeling thoroughly clean. After putting on clothes that smelled of sunshine, they got their meals from the cafeteria and slowly walked home.

Now that it was early spring in March, the evening temperature was pleasant, around ten degrees Celsius. It was cool, but not cold, and walking in the evening breeze felt very comfortable.

Xia Lu Nong looked up at the crescent moon in the sky, a sense of contentment welling up inside him. He chatted idly with his brother as they walked.

When they got home, Xia Lu Nong noticed that the usually dark house next door finally had a warm yellow light shining from its window.

He nudged his brother and said, “Brother, look, is Brother Yan back?”

Xia Huo Qu looked up and, after setting down the load he was carrying, said to Xia Lu Nong, “I’ll go check.”

Xia Lu Nong quickly followed behind him. “I’m coming too!”

The two brothers went next door and knocked on the door.

Soon, a tall young man came to open the door. His eyes first landed on Xia Huo Qu, then shifted to Xia Lu Nong behind him. Smiling, he said, “Xiao Nong is awake?”

“Brother Yan!” Even though Xia Lu Nong knew that Yan Xi Nian lived next door, he couldn’t help but feel a burst of joy when he actually saw him. It was like the happiness of meeting an old friend in a foreign land. He eagerly said, “It’s really you. I’ve been awake for over ten days now!”

Yan Xi Nian smiled and stepped aside. “Come in and talk. Have you two eaten yet?”

Xia Huo Qu said, “Not yet. We were just about to. How about you?”

“I was waiting for you guys,” Yan Xi Nian spoke casually to Xia Huo Qu, his deep voice sounding warm. “I wasn’t sure if you’d eaten yet, so I was about to try my luck. If you haven’t eaten, let’s have dinner together.”

Xia Lu Nong put down the lunchbox he was carrying and said excitedly, “Perfect! We bought some buns this morning and haven’t finished them yet. I’ll go get them.”

Without waiting for a response, he quickly ran off.

Watching his figure disappear, Yan Xi Nian remarked, “Xiao Nong’s recovery has been better than I expected. He’s also adjusting well.”

“Small blessings in misfortune,” Xia Huo Qu said softly, his eyes tender when talking about his younger brother. “When I had to take care of him while he was sick, I often felt bitter about why it had to be him suffering. But now that I look back, missing the chaotic early days of the disaster might have actually been a good thing for him.”