Various green vegetables and radishes planted in September have grown very well after nearly a month.
Ever since they were seedlings, Wen Qian had been picking vegetables from the fields.
The young greens were very tender and juicy. She pulled out some to set aside.
In addition to eating some, Wen Qian cleaned the rest and bundled them up to store in her space. She didn't buy many green vegetables since there were some growing in the fields that she kept picking.
The seeds had been sown very densely, so the greens grew crowded together. Auntie Chen told her that she needed to thin them.
Especially in winter, there really weren't many green vegetables that could be eaten in her hometown. Every year during the Spring Festival, the green peppers and celery sold on the street would cost 10 yuan per jin.
The colder the weather, the more expensive the greens became.
Wen Qian basically stored a batch every day. The young greens grew thickly clustered. If they weren't thinned, they wouldn't grow well later on.
Auntie Chen would also occasionally pick some tender ones from the field and bundle them to sell on the street, but there were quite a few people already selling these greens since they were seasonal. The price was very cheap.
The locals rarely grew off-season vegetables, so when certain vegetables became oversupplied in season, the price would drop.
In October, Uncle Chen told her that they could start making charcoal.
With their consent, Wen Qian began filming their charcoal-making process―hauling branches into the kiln pit, arranging them, sealing the opening, lighting the fire, and seeing smoke emerge from the vent holes on top. This kiln could only be opened the next day.
The results of the first batch actually turned out quite well. The charcoal pieces made a crisp tingling sound.
Uncle Chen said a second batch still needed to be made. He felt that since it would be cold this winter, making some more wouldn't hurt. It could be sold in town.
If Wen Qian wanted to make charcoal, she could go first.
She declined since the kiln was originally maintained and used by them. She told Uncle Chen to finish up before she started.
And after Uncle Chen made charcoal a few more times, she would watch and learn. Then she could try it herself. It was another skill to pick up―the more skills, the better.
Uncle Chen smiled. Many of the things they had learned in the past, young people nowadays didn't even know about, let alone seen them before.
Hearing Wen Qian say this, he simply decided to finish making all the charcoal for his family before anything else.
By the time Uncle Chen was done, Wen Qian had already uploaded related videos.
Although electricity had been set up in this area, they didn't have access to natural gas, running water, or the Internet.
Most of the people who stayed here had been using firewood their whole lives. In winter, they would burn some charcoal in a brazier for heating. They didn't have the kang warming bed found in northern China or heating units.
Moreover, coal wasn't used much here. At best, people would buy a small basket of honeycomb coal to take home, occasionally for starting up the stove to cook soup.
They had been making and burning charcoal or firewood like this since ancient times, and no one had ever interfered.
After Uncle Chen finished making charcoal, when Wen Qian made her first batch, he came to observe and said her procedures were all correct. There were just some details that could use improvement. After that, he stopped getting involved.
So he didn't know that the amount of charcoal Wen Qian made was actually more than what his family had, and a significant portion of it was being stored in her space.
Fang Ya also watched one time. She felt this girl really was competent at everything she did. Fang Ya had never seen charcoal production before either, so it was quite eye-opening.
She had heard that in the past, people would make their own bricks, roof tiles, vats and pots at home.
If it wasn't for no one doing that stuff nowadays, she really would have liked to see it too.
So Wen Qian let her watch some videos online first about traditional crafts. After taking a look, Fang Ya felt making those things on her own would be too complicated―she might as well just buy them.
Wen Qian felt there were some skills she could still try to pick up, but with others, success couldn't be achieved just by giving them a try.
Although coal wasn't popular here, Wen Qian still bought several truckloads of loose coal from other towns and stored it in her space. She also purchased tools for making honeycomb coal. Later on, she could make it herself following the proportions in the books she read and videos she watched.
The heating stoves she had bought earlier could burn either firewood or coal, so she could alternate between the two later on.
By November when Auntie Chen and her family were still concerned about the wheat, Wen Qian felt she already had nothing left to do.
As temperatures gradually dropped, frost had appeared and the grass on the mountains had slowly turned yellow. Further away, the oak forests had leaves that were also yellowing and falling in large swathes.
Soon, there would be nothing left here but bare branches.
Glancing around, the sparse trees like pines and cypresses still retained a hint of verdant green, while everything else was barren and yellow.
Wen Qian had stored so much firewood, made charcoal, stocked up on coal, and hoarded vegetables. Along with the agricultural crops she had bought earlier that autumn, she had basically spent all the money she wanted to for now.
The self-defense equipment that had been on her mind―she had started purchasing materials and components ever since arriving in An City.
Tinkering with them all this time, she now basically had everything she needed.
However, most of the production was done behind closed doors. She would test them out in the mountains afterwards before storing them in her space.
Sometimes she would go out during the day, then hike in the mountains and eat lunch alone there, before heading back home before sunset.
In the past, she might have been scared. But now, she was constantly building up her courage.
The path ahead was one she would have to walk alone regardless of whether it went through woods or streams. She felt she was becoming more and more like those lone survivors in the videos.
When Auntie Fang came to find her and saw her watching these wilderness survival shows so often, she also asked why Wen Qian liked these kinds of programs.
Wen Qian said she didn't like lively shows with big crowds, not even rural living shows if there were too many people.
And survival shows were very educational―skills and methods that might never be used could be found in them. If anything unexpected happened one day, they might end up saving her life.
After Fang Ya came back, she set up a wireless network card to have Internet access when at home. She also taught her in-laws how to get online. Her father-in-law seemed quite interested in online shopping, while her mother-in-law really enjoyed watching shows.
It happened to be the off-season for farming at the moment, so they also had time for the Internet.
One morning after breakfast, Fang Ya was changing clothes upstairs, preparing to go chat with Wen Qian, when she heard the sound of a vehicle downstairs.
Glancing out the window, she saw someone parking a small car at their front door. Fang Ya assumed it was a family relative visiting.
"Who are you looking for?" Auntie Chen asked. Fang Ya listened in from the upstairs window.
"Um, let me ask, does a family with the surname Wen live here? Wen as in the character for culture?" A middle-aged woman got out from the car, smiling politely as she asked.
"Who are you? Why are you looking for the Wen family? What business?" Auntie Chen was wary of strangers.
It was very rare for outsiders to come here. Sometimes there would be scammers coming through, either claiming they dug up gold or peddling fake medicine and quack treatments.
