Porridge and side dishes [farming]

Chapter 9 Go to the Mountain Road!

9 The more you think about it, the more you think about Li Ji, the more upset you are. With Er Gouzi's condition, it is estimated that after this winter, he will become a rare commodity in the village. The matchmaker can break through the threshold, and let his fourth uncle, who is two years younger, put his face .For so many years, no one has ever introduced a girl to him.

Li Ji has never had anyone to introduce someone to. Being poor is not the main thing. Everyone in the village is poor, so who looks down on whom?The main reason is that Li Ji's seniority is high, and the village is basically related to relatives. The little girl is either called Li Ji's fourth uncle, or he is called his fourth grandfather. .

Fortunately, Li Ji is still young, so there is no need to worry about waiting for another two days.

After a few days, the chicken house in the yard was finally built. It was not too big, that is, it was chest high, with a hollow wooden frame, and there were a few simple shelves inside for chicken coops for laying eggs.

The two diagonal corners are ventilated to prevent candles, oil lamps and the like.Li Ji asked someone to paste a lantern, put an oil lamp inside and light it, and fixed it so that the chicken would fly up and flop around without fear of getting it.

When the preparations are ready, the village is full of chickens.Hen [-], rooster [-], chick [-].This price is considered high, so even if it is coming to winter, all the chickens that are going to be sold are almost sold out. When I plan to save my family for the New Year to kill and eat meat, I can still buy a lot.

In the end, I bought five roosters and ten hens. At this time, there were no chicks, so I bought some eggs.

Er Gouzi's eyes widened when he saw the chicken clucking over and Li Ji patted Er Gouzi on the shoulder.

"Want some chicken?"

Er Gouzi nodded: "The meat is delicious, but it's hard to catch."

He should be talking about the pheasant on the mountain.Pheasants are indeed more delicious than domestic ones, but pheasants fly high and far, and they can only be caught by tricks. Er Gouzi's hunting method is simple and rough, so pheasants are indeed rare prey for him.

"Then let's kill the chickens tonight, but we need to raise the rest well and eat them slowly in the future. Hens can lay eggs and hatch chicks. As long as we work hard to get more food for them, the chickens will lay eggs and lay eggs." Chickens, we have endless chickens and eggs, and we can buy them and exchange them for copper coins."

Er Gouzi's eyes were bright, Li Ji looked at it funny, Er Gouzi was tall and big, although such a child's appearance was in contrast, it was really painful.

Pick out the fattest rooster and let Er Gouzi kill it. That night, he stewed it with potatoes, fried a plate of bacon, stuffed it with a pot of rice, and wished he could swallow his tongue after the meal.

After dinner, there was nothing left for the two of them. Their stomachs were swollen like they were sleeping. As soon as they lay down, they heard a girl crying outside. The sound was not in the same place, which proved that there was a girl walking cry.

Li Ji felt strange, put on a coat and went out with the lantern, and saw Zhang Baihu in the village holding a lantern and leading his twelfth or thirteen-year-old daughter Zhang Xue away.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing that Li Ji and Zhang Baihu's faces were a little ugly, they coughed awkwardly and said, "It's okay, let's take a stroll at night."

Zhang Xue cried even louder: "Fourth Grandpa, Daddy wants to sell me, Daddy wants to sell me."

Li Ji was taken aback when he heard this. Zhang Xue was one of the best-looking people of his age in the village. When I was buying chickens these two days, I heard the women in the village talking about their son liking Zhang Xue and wanting her to be his wife in the future. Listen to the favorite, why can't Zhang Baihu think about selling his daughter?

Zhang Baihu's face darkened, he pulled Zhang Xue's arm forcefully, and then quickly walked away with Zhang Xue.Zhang Xue's crying gradually faded away, and Li Ji finally realized it.Zhang Zhuzi, the son of Zhang Baihu, was one of the children who watched Li An drowned two days ago. The condition of reconciliation at that time was that each family would pay two taels of silver.

As the saying goes, a penny kills a hero, and this two taels of silver can't be earned for a few years in this poor mountain valley, so this hundred households have moved their minds to sell girls.This girl has good looks, although she is young, the price is at least four or five taels of silver.

Selling the daughter not only replaced the debt, but also the family was rich enough to live for several years.

This population transaction is very normal. Li Ji is not qualified to take care of other people's affairs. It's just a pity that Zhang Xue is a good citizen. This sale will lose two ranks and become a slave. Don't, not only can you marry slaves, but the children you give birth to will be slaves for generations.

Li Ji tightened his clothes and walked back.

"What's wrong?" Er Gouzi in the room asked.

"It's a shame to sell a girl." Li Ji said something, in fact, that's what he said. People in the village talked about this kind of thing for two days at most. After two days, the story will be over. When encountering difficulties, selling his wife and children is one of the solutions. Who can guarantee that he will not have such a day?

These days, those who died of illness, exhaustion, suicide, and beating are not surprising. Not many people will care about the loss of a little girl.

Li Ji teaches Er Gouzi to feed the chickens every day. During the day, the top of the chicken house can be opened, and there are strips of beams inside to let the light pass through. Bright and airy.

Every time Er Gouzi went to do it, he almost drool every time he looked at the chicken. He stared at it, and the whole flock of chickens was trembling. Two days later, Li Ji banned Er Gouzi from approaching the chicken house. The crowd is scared, so don't expect to lay eggs.

The breeding eggs Li Ji bought were placed on the kang to incubate. In fact, it is not suitable for hatching eggs at this time, and Li Ji did not expect to hatch them, it was all for accumulating experience.I asked my neighbors about the things to pay attention to when hatching eggs, and keep the temperature at all times, regardless of whether they can hatch or not. I can take care of it when the next spring begins, and then I can hatch more.

Five days after the chickens were bought, maybe the continuous light during the day and night made the chickens full of feed, and finally started to lay eggs.It was cold and afraid of freezing, so they didn't leave any eggs for them, and took them away when they saw them.

When he had saved ten eggs, Li Ji beat all ten eggs and added flour to form egg pancakes. After a meal, Er Gouzi finally stopped looking at the poor chickens and started Now that I specialize in eggs, I have to ask several times a day if the chicken has laid eggs?

Of the ten hens in the family, only four lay eggs. Two of them lay eggs every day, and the remaining two lay eggs every other day, so there are not many. If a normal family of three is enough to eat, Er Gouzi’s appetite is estimated to come again Neither is enough.

"Let's incubate more eggs in the spring of next year, and there will be endless eggs in autumn. Don't worry, let's take our time." Sitting cross-legged on the kang, Li Jimao leaned over and smiled, showing his big white teeth.

After Er Gouzi came, Li Ji hadn't eaten badly, and he had gained weight twice, because Er Gouzi's food was so delicious, and Li Ji could eat a lot more every day when he ate together. People are fat, there is no way.

"It's going to snow soon." Er Gouzi said.

"How do you know." It's really coming to the snow season this season.

"Clouds, it will snow tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. I want to go up the mountain."

Er Gouzi wanted to go up the mountain again, Li Ji straightened up and frowned, "It's too dangerous. Are you hungry for meat? Our family still has a lot of cured meat."

Er Gouzi shook his head and said, "I want to go, but I haven't gone for a long time."

Li Jimoran, if the gluttonous meat can be sold with the money to buy skins in the future, Ergouzi can eat enough meat, but Ergouzi grew up in the mountains. For him, the mountains are his hometown. Who can stop a homesickness? people?

After being silent for a while, Li Ji nodded: "Then you must promise to go back early and come back early. If you come back after dark, you will not be allowed to go up the mountain in the future."

Er Gouzi nodded his head, remembering Li Ji's words firmly.

Seeing Er Gouzi's appearance, Li Ji felt even more powerless, and could only pray that Er Gouzi would be safe again when he went up the mountain again.

At dawn the next day, Er Gouzi dug out the old padded jacket and put it on his body. He forgot to buy a handy weapon for Er Gouzi when he went to the city last time, so Er Gouzi still used his own bone spear, although It's a bit rough, but Er Gouzi uses it smoothly, which is good.

Li Ji sent Er Gouzi out of the village, and met Gao Liehu on the way back.It's cold now, and the prey around the mountain is getting less and less. Gao Orion has no courage to go to the deep mountain, so he didn't hunt at all these days. Anyway, the money he made by helping to buy leather is enough for the family to eat and drink for a year.

"Fourth Uncle just sent Er Gouzi to the mountains?" Gao Liehu asked with a smile.

Li Ji nodded.

Gao Liehu said again: "Then fourth uncle, can I discuss something with you?"

Li Ji is not a fool, he guessed a little bit, his face didn't change: "Tell me."

Gao Orion scratched his head, and said with a smile: "I can't talk to Er Gouzi, Er Gouzi listens to you, so I wonder if Er Gouzi can take me with me when I go up the mountain next time. I have bows and arrows at home. He can hunt long distances and set traps, but he is afraid of the dangers in the deep mountains and dare not go in. Er Gouzi is capable, so you won’t be afraid if you follow him, and you can hunt more prey.”

Er Gouzi basically ignored everyone except Li Ji. It's not that Gao Liehu had never approached Er Gouzi in private, but Er Gouzi couldn't make a boring fart when facing him with three sticks, so there was no way to discuss it.

After hearing what Gao Orion said, Li Ji's first thought was that it would not work.Thinking about Er Gouzi's strength and his running speed, it would be no problem for him to run away if he encounters an unstoppable beast in the mountains. That's why he can move freely in the deep mountains. This is the fundamental reason why he can freely enter and exit the deep mountains.

But if you bring Gao Orion's flowers, it's a burden at all. Gao Orion has bows and arrows and skills, but those all need to rely on external forces. Gao Orion himself has no capital to escape. If something happens, it can only be a burden.

Thinking of this, Li Ji smiled wryly and said, "How can I be the master of this matter? I still want to go up the mountain with me, but Er Gouzi thinks I'm running too slowly. You didn't see him running, Like a leopard, faster than a rabbit, there are no three or five men in our village who can lift the big tank in front of my house? He can lift it with one hand. He can go in and out of the mountains with ease, we can’t run without strength It’s not enough, how can I easily enter the mountain.”