Porridge and side dishes [farming]

Chapter 128

While driving the pigs, they also have to carry some chickens over.None of the four people is idle.

Li Ji and a man were responsible for carrying the pigs and driving the pigs, and Er Gouzi and another stronger man carried the chickens together.

Because the snow has cleared a path, it is quite easy to walk, and some narrow places where it is difficult to lift the cage can be shoveled wide by the two pig drivers in time.The snow that has been born is stepped on under the feet, and it does not delay walking at all.

A group of four arrived at the camp and saw two festive red lanterns hanging outside the camp.I don't know whether it was brought from the foot of the mountain, or it is now pasted with red paper.

Li Ji took a breath and walked two steps quickly.

The two pigs have worked hard on this journey. Since they were born, they have eaten and slept in order to fatten up. After walking this journey, their legs began to tremble.

Li Ji rubbed the pig's head, and these two goods were on the table quickly.The pig hummed as he walked, and was heard by the people inside when he was still outside the camp.

The two pigs seem to have heard the movement of people, or smelled the smell of feed, and ran ahead faster.The passages dug out are all to avoid traps, so it is not afraid to walk in directly.

Humming, the two pigs entered the camp first, and it was still strange to see them first. Are there still pigs haunting this deep mountain and old forest?

Li Ji chased them out immediately, and said to those dazed people: "Don't let them run around, save the food for the New Year!"

There is no shortage of meat in the camp. Even in the depths of winter, there is still a piece of jerky in two or three days to satisfy your hunger.So if you say that you are not greedy for meat, you can see that pigs can't help swallowing when they think of the smell of pork.

I specially picked two fat pigs, each weighing about three hundred catties.Killing them all is definitely enough for the entire base to eat a few large pieces of meat.

Several men came out to hold down the two pigs together, and found hemp rope to tie up the four hooves.Li Ji asked them to find anyone who knew how to butcher pigs, and they all killed them. The customs are different in different places. Local pigs are slaughtered in Xiaonian, and they will pick up bad places to eat first.Then wait until the New Year's Eve dinner to put the best pork on the table and enjoy it together.

However, this custom does not apply to poor families, it is only rich families who can afford it.Or if the family has more money, they are willing to buy a piggy to raise for a year and then kill it in the younger year.The rest are at most waiting for other people to kill pigs and are willing to sell them. In the past, they sold them for half a catty.

Some people are even reluctant to buy pork, so they can only eat their own chickens.There has been drought in the past two years, and there are some unlucky ones who can't eat two pieces of chicken during the Chinese New Year.

Encountered by war this year, if he hadn't followed the county magistrate up the mountain, it would have been a question of whether he would be able to eat enough for the New Year, or in other words, he didn't even know whether or not.

Everyone in the pig slaughtering base went to watch the excitement, and there were not enough big guys to watch it in two separate places.Li Ji and Ergouzi entered the tent of the magistrate of the county. At this time, the magistrate was watching Xiaotuo writing. He looked up to see the two of them coming in, and said with a smile, "Here you are? You can hear the movement outside the room. Are you here?" Less things."

Li Ji chuckled: "There is nothing interesting in the house, and the tent is warm. After hatching a few litters of chickens, they are hard to come by, so I sent them over. There are also two pigs, which happen to be slaughtered for the New Year."

"It's not that there are no camps. It's hard work for you to be able to raise them there." The county magistrate said this from the bottom of his heart, but he was actually very happy in his heart.The son is filial, how can a father not be happy?

"I can't eat it here either. If there is more food in the house, there will be more food. It is thanks to the consumption here." Li Ji went to see Little Tudou's writing. The difference between ugly and ugly.

Little Tudou raised his head and grinned at Li Ji, but was knocked on the top of the head by the county magistrate: "Don't be distracted."

Little Tudou stuck out his tongue and continued to practice calligraphy.

After walking in, Li Ji realized that Little Tudou wasn't sitting on the stool at all, but was gaiting.It seems that it is quite stable, and the hand writing on it is also very stable.

"Why don't you sit down?" Li Ji asked strangely.

"Practice the basic skills. He's just started now, half an hour a day is enough, and he will increase it after a long time." The county magistrate's tone was flat, and Dao didn't feel much.

Li Ji felt distressed: "This is so tiring."

"Do you really think that reading and practicing handwriting is an easy job? You don't have to work hard and it's easy. It's even more difficult to learn something. This child is a late starter, and he really wants to learn a good job. He always has to pay more. Work hard." As soon as he finished speaking, he saw that Little Tudou's writing was not up to standard, so he stretched out his fingers.

Fortunately, Little Tudou is still learning, so he hastily rewrote it once.

Li Ji watched for a while, only to feel dizzy.I don't know how to read, so I just watched the brush turn back and forth, writing square characters one by one, and the more I looked at it, the more I felt sleepy and flustered.I don't know how this kid was able to practice, even this kind of thing can understand and learn.

"How long will it take to learn?" Li Ji couldn't help asking the magistrate.

The county magistrate shook his head and smiled, "Learning is endless. There is no time when you are serious about learning. Even if I am, I can only dare to say that I have achieved a small amount of success. I am afraid that few people in the world dare to say such a thing about real learning. With Dingxian's current situation, it would be good if he can learn something in three to five years. If he learns more seriously, it is possible to become a bachelor in a few decades."

Li Ji twitched his lips, he really didn't expect it to be so difficult.In the past, I only thought that those who went to school were enjoying the blessings. After reading a few books, writing and painting, they would go to the exam to obtain fame.Even if you don't serve as an official all your life, you can eat imperial food if you have fame, and you will have no worries about eating and drinking in this life.

Hearing what the county magistrate said, I realized that studying was not as easy as imagined.

"Then what about practicing calligraphy? How long do you have to practice?" Li Ji asked again.

"This one is the same. Even if you are a famous calligrapher, you don't dare to slack off and practice hard for a day, hoping to improve to a higher level. What Dingxian has to do now is to practice cursive script well, and then learn running script, cursive script, big seal script and small seal script Right now, in calligraphy, he is just touching the threshold of entry."

Li Ji swallowed, and began to rejoice that he didn't study when he was a child.

People only see the greatness of the great scholar, but how many people know the hard work behind it?That's how the county magistrate came here back then, and now he's handing everything over to Little Tudou.

Li Ji just listened to the county magistrate's few words, and he deeply felt that it is not easy to read and write, and those people who are educated are very good.This little potato stayed with the magistrate all day long, and he didn't know how much the magistrate taught him.At this moment, this skinny boy really became a good student.

After chatting for a long time about learning about this matter, the county magistrate asked them some more about these days.

Li Jijian said it in a funny way, and he also talked about his birthday along the way.The magistrate raised his eyebrows, but he remembered it in his heart.

"I just don't know what day Ergouzi's birthday is, so I set it on the day I first met Ergouzi. It's just that I was busy going up the mountain on that day this year, so I didn't think about it at all. I can only live with me .But we have settled down on the mountain, and we will definitely remember it in the coming year."

The magistrate's eyes dimmed slightly.As a real father, he didn't know the date of his son's birthday.Based on the time when Li Yan was pregnant, the month can be roughly calculated.However, it does not rule out the possibility that Li Yan gave birth prematurely due to lack of food and clothing.

So Li Ji's method is just right, at least he gave Er Gouzi a birthday.

Similarly, the county magistrate also didn't know about Li Yan's memorial day.It can only be counted as her memorial day when the two separated in the past, as a commemoration.

"The pigs are about to be slaughtered, and the pigs will be eaten in a while. Which piece do you want to eat? I can keep it alone."

"Er Gouzi and I both like to gnaw on pig's trotters. We save two for the New Year's Eve dinner. I really don't want to eat the rest. As you know, Er Gouzi and I are contented." Li Ji watched Look at Er Gouzi and let him answer the conversation.

Er Gouzi nodded and said: "Xiao Ji still hates eating too much, and runs around the tent without any problems, saying that he won't gain weight this way."

There are so many oils and waters and so many troubles, the county magistrate thought it was funny when he heard it.

"It's all thanks to God's kind treatment. There are a lot of prey in this mountain. The snow is too deep now. When it first started snowing, the traps could still catch several prey every day. Even now, I can get something every day Most of them are pheasants, sprinkle some corn kernels, and those who are hungry will fly here.”

"But it's definitely not enough to feed so many people in the entire camp." Li Ji said.

"It's not enough. But when there were a lot of prey before, I prepared a lot of jerky. It's enough to eat once in two or three days. Chickens also lay more eggs. Save two or three days and spread out egg pancakes. Everyone eats You can eat a piece of it. Although you can’t eat meat every day, it’s good enough.”

Let alone eating meat once every two or three days, even eating meat once a month is better than most people at the foot of the mountain.

The two pigs outside have been killed and are starting to be divided.Pick two good trotters and save them for Li Ji and Er Gouzi, and save the ears and noses for important people to eat during the New Year's Eve dinner.The rest of the fatter ones, listened to the advice of the big guys, and stayed in the big house to satisfy their cravings.The remaining lean meat and three layers of streaky meat, if they are usually good meat in more expensive places, are relatively ignored nowadays.

A serving of boiled white meat and a serving of braised pork became the main course tonight.Plus a plate of kimchi and a plate of pickled vegetables soaked in pickles, a total of four dishes make up the small New Year meal for the entire base.

It would be too extravagant to feed the whole base with rice, so what we ate this day were Zamian steamed buns.Some sugar is added in it, it tastes sweet, especially for children.

That night, Li Jin's current family of three were called to the county magistrate's tent to have a meal together.Now Xiaotuo is getting more and more busy reading and practicing calligraphy every day, and has less and less contact with his biological parents.

After becoming the grandson of the county magistrate, the basic necessities of food, housing, and transportation are similar to those of the county magistrate, and they are all exquisite.Even whitening, but also delicate.Putting on the silk and satin clothes, coupled with the scholar's unique elegance, it took only a month, and the overall temperament changed qualitatively.

In fact, the three members of Li Jin's family are living a very good life now, and they are also wearing clothes made of good fabrics.It's just that he came out of the crop field after all, and he was dressed in a beautiful way, and he didn't look like a person enjoying happiness at first glance.

When Xiaoyingzi looked at Little Tudou again, he only dared to look at it secretly, because now Little Tudou is so beautiful, it looks like it came out of a painting.Yingzi was originally an introverted girl, but Little Tudou's side has changed so much that she doesn't even have the courage to speak.

Li Ji called Yingzi to her side, asked her what she liked to eat without saying anything, thinking that the little girl had short arms, and was afraid that she would be embarrassed to pick up the dishes, so he asked the maid to help her put some of each dish on a plate and put it in front of her .

Little Tudou has learned the rules of eating well, even sitting there is always well-behaved.Li Ji felt that he was more decent than himself, not to mention Li Jin and his family who had never seen anything in the world.

Rinse your mouth with your meal.Good wine can be drunk without restriction at the dinner table.Li Jin can drink a little bit, but Li Ji can make do with it.Needless to say, the magistrate is the most drinkable.After drinking for three rounds, there was less stalemate, and the conversation could be said.

Now they can still gather and talk together, but if it is peaceful and downhill in the future, Little Tudou will spend the Chinese New Year with the county magistrate.At that time, Li Jin's family didn't know where they were, so they definitely couldn't get there.

Erying was always a chatterbox, and he could keep quiet when he was nervous. After drinking two glasses of wine, he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

He dragged Xiaotuo and talked for a long time, and when he finished speaking, he grabbed the county magistrate and said.In the end, I couldn't hear what it was, but it was Li Jin who dragged her away.

Little Tudou and Erying were children, so they were not allowed to drink, and only drank tea as a meaning.

Li Jin and his wife left, and Yingzi stayed.Li Ji always took care of Yingzi. After a while, Yingzi got used to it and was full.

Little Tudou always looked at Yingzi when he was free, and when Li Ji had had enough chats with the county magistrate Weng and his son-in-law, when Er Gouzi brought the drunk Li Ji back, Yingzi would follow him, and Little Tudou He dragged her to the dark place and told her bluntly.

Li Ji heard it, and turned his head to watch the two of them go to the dark place, drink some wine and be curious, but Er Gouzi took him back by force.

Lying on the hot kang, Li Ji was still thinking about Little Tudou and Yingzi.

"Tell me, can Little Tudou and Erying be together in the future? Yingzi is very pitiful. What should I do if I meet someone I like when I grow up?"

Er Gouzi didn't understand this kind of thing, Li Ji cared about it, Er Gouzi followed suit and analyzed: "Little Tudou likes her very much. It's just that Xiao Tudou is very powerful now, and Yingzi is a little bit avoiding her."

"That's what I'm afraid of." Li Ji looked at the roof and felt that the roof was moving, "What this kind of thing requires is your love and my wish. You can't wrong the one you don't like."

Rolled twice on the kang, rubbing against the soft pillow.Li Ji rested his hands on the pillow, raised his head and looked at Er Gouzi: "It's better for us to save trouble and see each other early."

"I saw you first. You have been with me for a long time."

Li Ji vaguely recalled that Er Gouzi had shown affection to him during that time, but he refused because he was not bound by certain concepts.Now that I think about it, it was pretty cool.

At that time, Li Ji was afraid that he would not be able to live like this: "Okay, okay. We are together, you are a hero, without you insisting that we would not have such a good life, okay?"

Li Ji narrowed his eyes with a smile, the corners of his eyes were still flushed with drunkenness, such a smile was extremely reliable.

Er Gouzi saw his heart fluttering, took off his clothes and went to the kang, and stretched out his hands to strip Li Ji's clothes.

"It would be great if it went on forever." Li Ji said suddenly.

"Of course we will always be together." Er Gouzi arrived as it should.

"I mean everyone. You and me, your father, Little Tudou. Everyone is here. The war is gone, and we live a good life. Well, no one interferes with us, and no one affects us. Livestock farming , carefree." Li Ji half-closed his eyes, as if he was going to sleep.

"Isn't it always like this?" Er Gouzi kissed Li Ji's forehead. ,

"Hope it stays that way."

There was no movement, Er Gouzi took a closer look and Li Ji was asleep.Somewhat disappointed, they took off Li Ji's clothes and didn't put on his nightgown. The two of them lay naked under the quilt and spent the night embracing each other.

On the day of the Chinese New Year, the children in the camp were playing like crazy, making troubles together in groups.It happened to be the New Year's Eve, and the parents didn't want to do more discipline for the sake of auspiciousness.

The county magistrate gave Xiaotuo a candy with preserved fruit, and asked him to find a way to make these children live in peace.Li Ji thought that Little Tudou was planning to share one for each of the children to make them quieter.

Unexpectedly, with a large bag of things in his arms, Little Tudou simply tidied up the large land that had been reclaimed before, and called all the children over.

The children are a little afraid of little potatoes.Because of the lessons learned by the parents, they know that Little Tudou's status is extremely prestigious now, and he can't be easily messed with.Little Potato told them to go, and they all went.

Standing there, Little Tudou first determined a starting point and an ending point.Let them be divided into big and small groups and male and female groups, and run the race separately, and whoever deserves can share a candy or a preserved fruit.

The rules are simple and the prizes are attractive.All children came with interest.Soon he stopped being naughty all over the camp, and came here to ask for candy with all his strength.

But some of the children are good at running and some are not.Those who run fast are always tough, and those who run slowly cannot even lick the dregs of the pond.After everyone has competed, there are still many people who refuse to admit defeat.

It is also thanks to Little Tudou's head work, it is also because he was much more naughty when he was a child, knowing that he changed his style of play.

I asked for a pot of red beans and a bowl of mung beans from the kitchen, and then mixed the red beans and mung beans together.Divide into ten piles of ten people each time, and see whoever jumps out all the mung beans first wins.The one that is picked out first has a piece of candy to eat. If there are still mung beans missed in the final inspection, they will not be counted.If everyone misses, the one with the fewest green beans wins.

After the first match is over, we will decide who is the fastest, but if Xiaotuo goes to check one by one by himself, it will definitely take a lot of time.Then I found out that it was a child and asked them to check it. If they found mung beans, they would put them in their pockets. If they collected ten mung beans, they would be able to exchange for one candy.

In this way, this kind of competition not only attracted the attention of all the children, but also many adults came to watch the fun.

Some adults even clamored to play with them when their hands were itchy.

Finally, Little Tudou wanted a pot of red beans and a bowl of mung beans for them to play with.

Originally, it was meaningless in the winter.On weekdays, they played cards and horses, and because there were too many people and few cards, many people could not be ranked.Now that there is new entertainment, it is natural to have fun.

Seeing more and more people, Little Tudou felt that this game of finding mung beans would soon be boring.I was also afraid that I would not be able to complete the task given by the county magistrate.I went to the magistrate again and asked if there was any special instructions on how to play in the book.Or a simple pastime game with some props.

The county magistrate introduced him to the pitching pot, and gave him two jars of wine as a reward and punishment.

In this way, adults are divided into groups and children are divided into groups.Those who want to play looking for mung beans can continue to play, and those who want to play throwing pots come here, and one person will throw three arrows into the crock not far away.If you throw it correctly, you can have a glass of wine, if you are still not accurate, you have to drink a small glass of vinegar.

There is no penalty for the child. No one in the line gets three arrows. If they miss, they can line up again.Just like this, I played from morning to afternoon, candy and snacks that almost every child eats, and they still have more to say when they know that they are about to start preparing for the New Year's Eve dinner.

Everyone is coming to make dumplings, which is a good sign for a happy marriage.Even one or two-year-old children are squeezed by adults to make two dumplings.

The four members of Li Ji's family packed their own food alone, and the four of them gathered in a room, sitting around a table, talking and laughing.

After wrapping them up, pick out twenty of them and let Little Tudou send them to Li Jin.

Because it is the night of the vacation, it should be the day of the members of each family.Little Tudou's surname is Shen now, and it's hard for two families of the opposite sex to live together for the New Year.So this is the first time that Little Tudou has not celebrated the New Year with his biological parents since he was a child.

But maybe it's because Little Tudou is still young.The definition of the New Year is still in the concept of wearing new clothes, eating delicious food, and getting lucky money, and I don't think it's just not being together for the New Year.

I sent the dumplings back and talked for a while, and when I got back, I started making dumplings.

The New Year's Eve dinner is the most sumptuous, no matter how frugal one is, this New Year's Eve dinner must be the most sumptuous meal of the year.

The dumplings are ready, and the firecrackers and firecrackers outside are all lit.

Little Tudou opened the door curtain to look at the fun at the elbow, and his mouth was a little envious.It's not that I don't want to play, but that I don't want to play.

Because of the small number of firecrackers, there is no distribution for the children to play after the show is over.There will be some small cannons left over from firecrackers, but the kind that burns short and explodes quickly, the county magistrate cannot let him play with this.

Enough watching, go back to the dining table and look at the delicious food on this big table.Even if I eat good food these days with the magistrate, I feel greedy when I look at such a table of good food.

Little Tudou's newly suppressed child looked around at the food on the table, and smiled brightly at the magistrate.

There is no child who is not greedy, and the county magistrate will not make it difficult for him. He picked up chopsticks and ate a dumpling, and the New Year's Eve dinner officially started.

Inside the tent, the chatter of every household outside could be heard.The dishes from the kitchen have been handed down, and every household has them. As soon as the table is set in the kitchen, the last year of this year begins.

Compared with the simple firecrackers and sporadic firecrackers on the mountain, the downhill is obviously much more lively.Fireworks of all colors are colorful and gorgeous.It's just that the mood is different, and how many people appreciate it.

The author has something to say: The feeling of Riliuqian is great