Chapter 168: Digging a Cellar, Harvesting Chinese Cabbage

“Dexter, aren’t you going to deal with your Chinese cabbage soon?” After lunch, George asked with some concern again.

“It’s almost time. Lewis has already started construction over there. I plan to borrow some equipment from his construction crew,” Liu Heming thought for a moment and said.

It really was about time. Renting a large cold storage unit was beyond his means, but building a natural earth refrigerator was definitely feasible.

What is a natural earth refrigerator? Simply put, it’s a cellar. Most elderly folks in the countryside, especially in northern China, were familiar with it.

In the past, life wasn’t as comfortable as it is now. Eating fresh vegetables in winter wasn’t as simple as going to the market to buy them. Back then, the three staple vegetables for winter were radish, Chinese cabbage, and potato.

Once you dug a cellar and stored the radishes, Chinese cabbages, and potatoes inside, it worked perfectly. Even if you kept them there until spring, these vegetables would remain just fine.

He had been planning this for a while. Coincidentally, Lewis was renovating his restaurant, so Liu Heming saved himself the trouble of digging by hand—he could just borrow the equipment from them.

After the excavator dug a large pit and they placed the prepared logs over it, George finally understood what was going on.

“Dexter, are you sure storing so much Chinese cabbage won’t be a problem?” George still felt a bit uneasy.

“No problem at all. We just need to separate them properly and leave enough space in the middle,” Liu Heming said with a laugh.

“But we need to make the cover strong enough. Otherwise, when the cows grow bigger and play on top, they might crush it. Anyway, this is just temporary, just to give them something fresh to eat in winter.”

George nodded. This wasn’t a bad idea. Compared to transporting and storing the vegetables in a cold storage unit, this method was much cheaper and more convenient to use.

In fact, even he felt a bit interested. However, his family didn’t grow any vegetables, so there was nothing for him to store. Otherwise, he would have considered digging one at home to experience it for himself.

The excavator could help them dig the ground, but the rest of the work had to be done by Liu Heming and his team. The helper they called this time was John again, as he was relatively free during the day.

John didn’t come empty-handed either. He brought his welding machine and welded a layer of wire mesh on top. He was more thoughtful than Liu Heming, who had only planned to do a makeshift job—just enough so it wouldn’t collapse underfoot.

In less than two hours, everything was completed. Little Alex treated this place as her amusement park. She led the Bear Kids and the Square Kittens up and down the gentle slope, running around non-stop.

“Alright, Alex, I need to borrow your bear cubs. They have to help me with work,” Liu Heming said, picking up his daughter just as she was about to run down again.

“Dad, I want to work too,” the little one said, holding onto his neck.

“Okay, okay, you can work too,” Liu Heming said, tapping her nose gently.

Although the little one was happy, she soon pouted after trying today’s task.

The cellar was ready, and it was time to harvest the Chinese cabbages from the field. But when the little one tried to lift the cabbages like the Bear Cubs did, she simply couldn’t manage it.

The cabbages were quite heavy. How could someone as small as her have that much strength?

It had to be said that Xiong Da was observant. Seeing that Alex was upset, he went over to her, picked up the cabbage in front of her, and gave it a gentle push with his paw, making it roll away.

He had intended to please the little one, but he accidentally used a bit too much force. The cabbage rolled into her, causing her to land on her bottom.

Alex didn’t cry. Instead, she discovered a little trick. She then got on her hands and knees and rolled the cabbage that had knocked her over toward Liu Heming’s pickup truck.

“Alex, you’re amazing! But Dad has an even more important task for you,” Liu Heming said after placing the cabbage she had rolled over into the truck bed.

“Dad, what is it?” the little one asked curiously.

“You need to guide the Bear Cubs. Otherwise, they’ll mess up the work,” Liu Heming said, squatting down.

His daughter had good intentions—she wanted to help him with work. But he was afraid she would get too tired. Just having the willingness to help already made her a wonderful child.

The little one thought for a moment and decided this task must be very important. Then she trotted back to direct the two Bear Cubs.

But honestly, the Bear Cubs didn’t really need her guidance. They were already very clever. Moreover, they had worked in the fields with Liu Heming many times before—they were old hands at this.

“These two Bear Cubs are really hardworking. Have you prepared a place for them to hibernate?” John asked while helping Liu Heming stack the cabbages.

“Not yet. But I think when it gets cold, they might really hibernate. Their appetite has been much bigger lately. If they do hibernate, we’ll just find a room in the house. It’s better than letting them sleep in tree hollows or caves outside,” Liu Heming said with a laugh.

“Still, I’m quite curious. I’ve lived here for a long time, but aside from these two, I’ve never seen any other bears around here.”

“There might be some in a little while. The animals all know winter is coming, and they’re gathering food for hibernation. Once the forests don’t have much left, they’ll probably start spreading outward,” George said.

“The reason there are so few animals around here might really be related to the big fire a few years ago. It might have been started by lightning, and since it was far away, none of us noticed.”

“Yeah, when I was picking Morel Mushrooms, I saw the area it affected—it was huge. Many trees were only half-burned. I wonder how many animals were trapped in that fire.”

Every summer, wildfires often break out. If not for special circumstances, the entire forest might have burned down. Fire is deadly—whether you’re a person or an animal trapped in it, there’s no escaping.

Because they worked on the cellar today, they stayed out a bit later than usual. By the time they finished, it was already past 6 p.m. Later, they relied on the headlights of Liu Heming’s pickup truck for light.

Liu Heming thought that if he told his old friends he used a Raptor to haul Chinese cabbages from the field, they would probably think he was showing off arrogantly. But here, this vehicle was simply used for such tasks.

As much as he loved his vehicle, it had to be put to good use. A pickup truck should do what it’s meant to do.