Rumia's mind gradually came to her senses, and her body felt cold again.
"I...I'm cold..."
She was speaking in a daze and looked quite haggard.
"Don't think too much and drink the hot porridge quickly."
Rurik took a spoonful of the wheat porridge in the wooden bowl and looked at the so-called porridge. It was not cooked at all, but it should be cooked. He cooled the porridge in the spoon a little, then stuffed it into the girl's mouth.
Rurik was indeed stronger than the average child, and therefore could withstand the cold better. The two children worked hard on the roof for a long time. Although Rurik was tired, his mental state was still good.
The meaty wheat kernel was stuffed into her mouth, and Rumia's confused mind felt like an electric shock. The instinct of eating drove her to chew quickly.
Rurik finished feeding one spoonful and then another, and soon half the bowl was filled.
Otto and Niya looked at the scene in front of them and didn't know what to do for a while.
"Really, I really don't know who is the servant and who is the master." Niya muttered helplessly, with doubts in her eyes.
"It's more like Rurik is her servant. I admit that this girl does a very honest job, and the care she is receiving now is beyond the bounds." That being said, Otto did not stop his son's actions.
"Alas, the precious wheat is for our son to eat, but it turns out that this girl is cheap. Giving her some shark liver would be a good reward, I really didn't expect..."
Rurik fed Rumia and heard everything his parents said.
After pouring the whole bowl of wheat porridge, he flattened the girl's trembling body due to the cold, and handed the empty bowl to his mother: "Mom, fill up another bowl."
"You want to feed her? My child, she is just a servant."
"Yes! So I can't let her die."
"But..." Niya was very dissatisfied, she muttered and filled the bowl again.
After eating high-calorie food and the animal skin she was wearing was heated by the bonfire, Rumia's cold body gradually recovered.
It has been ten years since she was born, and she has never eaten as much wheat as she does today in her short life.
Even for a Sami like her who lives in the Arctic Circle, the chance of eating wheat is slim.
But wheat is very delicious, even if it is barely shelled wheat kernels cooked over high heat, it is extremely comfortable to chew.
She regained her energy and gently raised her head to warm up the bonfire.
Only then did Rurik pick up the wooden bowl and put the kernels into his mouth.
Niya directly accused the huddled girl with dissatisfaction: "Hey! You poor servant, you should thank your master. You also need to thank me. People like you only deserve to eat some dried fish and moss, but you are allowed to eat When we get to Maizi. Listen, if you dare to disobey orders in the future, I will tear your face off!"
Rumia, she heard harsh threatening words from this long Norse sentence. It's a commonplace thing. If you disobey these people's orders, you will be executed.
Rurik also felt particularly prickly when he heard it. In his opinion, although his mother was not young, she was usually a gentle being.
Why do you suddenly have a fierce face when facing your own servant?
The sudden change is really shocking.
Rurik put down the half-eaten wooden bowl and looked at his mother in surprise: "Mom, are you threatening her?!"
"Yes! It's a threat. My child, we don't have any extra food. Do you know how precious wheat is?"
"So, it was wrong for me to give it to her?"
"It's a mistake! My child, you are noble and this girl is a humble servant. How could you..."
Seeing that his wife was very excited, Otto quickly stretched out his big calloused hands and stroked her back: "Okay, okay, after all, you are Rurik's servant, Niya, don't be too demanding."
Mother's words are quite realistic. The best food at home is the tribute collected from the Novgorod people, a large bag of yellow wheat kernels and a small bag of rye. The total amount is not much.
The largest and most important tribute from the Novgorod people was wheat, which was also collected by Otto himself. In recent years, it is true that genuine products such as amber have been exchanged with them to obtain wheat, but the wheat provided by the other party is also limited. It would be unwise to ask for too much command and cause them to resist to the death.
Southern shepherds do not shave the sheep's wool in the spring, but also scrape off the sheep's skin.
Rurik feels that it is obviously unrealistic to talk about human rights and personal equality with his mother now.
In the eyes of others, servants are inferior beings, especially such foreign servants, whose rank is even lower.
If this situation is to be changed, the entire society must be reshaped, and that is the most difficult task.
Rurik did not mean to criticize his mother at all. He picked up the bag and said: "Mom, you should treat her well! Rumia is very pitiful. Her parents are dead. Why do you want to criticize her so harshly? You should know her parents." How she died. I am very good friends with her now, we are studying together, she is like my sister."
"Is this what you're saying?!" Niya asked.
"Yes." Rurik raised his head and stared into his mother's eyes: "I once had two brothers, and they died unexpectedly. Originally, there were two more members in our family, but now I am the only child, and I am a little lonely. I don’t have a brother, it would be nice if I had a sister.”
As he said that, Rurik deliberately held Rumia's arm and made a gesture of intimacy: "She is very obedient. As long as you treat her well, she will be willing to complete your orders. She is plowing the snow seriously today, I almost froze to death without realizing it. Fortunately, I found out in time. For such an obedient servant, it would be too bad if she really froze to death.
I think I still need a sister, mom, maybe you want a daughter too. "
Does Niya want a daughter? No! She actually didn't want to at all.
As the leader's wife, Niya also has a huge burden, which is to give birth to a son for the leader. Only sons are qualified to participate in the competition for the next leader.
If a girl is born, Niya's attitude is actually very clear, that is, marry her off early, and the son-in-law will become a supporter of the son who becomes the leader.
Niya neither denied nor affirmed. She understood that her son wanted to be kind to the girl from the bottom of his heart. There was obviously an atonement plot here.
Indeed, even her husband, who was the leader, wiped out the deer herder's camp with ease, which also resulted in the girl becoming an orphan.
It seems that Rurik felt this was a huge sin.
kindness? It is very important to be kind to yourself and your allies. It is foolish to be kind to foreigners who are hostile!
Niya's attitude never changed. As she got older, her thinking became so-called pedantic.
She broke open a piece of hard rye bread, threw it directly to Rumia who said nothing, and said in a calm tone: "Eat, servant, this is a reward for you."
Seeing the black bread at her feet, Rumia looked at it as if she saw gold. She didn't care if it was dirty or not, she just picked it up and ate it hard.
After Rurik finished the snow clearing work, he climbed up to finish the work. During the day, most residents had completed clearing the snow from the roofs of their houses.
The days are getting shorter and Hanukkah is not far away.
Only after lying down did Rurik feel the pain in his muscles. It was a rare night for him to sleep in his own house.
The family slept under the same roof again, and Rurik naturally moved closer to his parents' sleeping nest.
Rumia did not leave either. She warmed herself by the fire and ate a lot of wheat bread. Even after her body temperature rose, she was still very tired.
She slept in a warm corner wrapped in a deerskin.
She didn't say much, she just curled up in a ball, thinking about too many things in her mind.
"I slept in the same room as the enemy who killed my father. What can I do? But the enemy's son was really nice to me. Do you want revenge?"
"Maybe if I get up and hold a meat-cutting knife, I can cut the evil man's neck. But in this way, Rurik will lose his father, and he will be very sad."
"The evil man's family gave me food, but they didn't want me to die."
This is Scandinavia, and Rossburg is only a two-day sailing trip from the Svealand region.
Rumia suddenly didn't feel that her father-killing enemies were really evil people. Maybe they were good people in normal times, but for some reason...
Rumia, she suddenly suffered from Stockholm Syndrome.
If she slept in this longhouse, she realized that she would always have many opportunities for revenge, and it seemed that she could take revenge easily.
She gave up, because it was best for herself to give up this idea.
At least Rurik, the son of a villain, is really a good guy.
Rumia is very happy to have such a younger brother. If she can get his blessing in the future, life won't be so bad...
She felt dizzy and her arms and legs ached, obviously from overworking during the day.
She didn't continue to think, and fell asleep holding her stomach, which was full for the first time in her life.
This night, almost all families went to bed early.
Knowing whether there is snow on the roof or in front of the house is exhausting.
People will become weak as a result, and weakness will bring intense fatigue, and diseases will come to their doorsteps. Strong people can withstand the cold, and the low temperature outdoors eliminates most viruses, but weak people are still susceptible to illness.
Because viruses cannot be killed without extreme measures!
The sky gradually brightened, and many residents had already woken up before that. Forced by the cold outside, they preferred to stay in their sleeping dens.
The sleeping bags made of animal skins are extremely comfortable. Although they have no beds or pillows, generations of people like to rest like this.
The long life also makes people find that as long as they sleep for a long time in the long winter, they don't need to eat too much every day.
Of course, as long as you fall asleep, your energy consumption will be extremely low. In comparison, a full day of heavy physical labor consumes three times as much energy as a day of sleeping!
Some families kept hounds to help them hunt small game, especially ferrets. When hounds eat raw meat, the protein in the meat can be quickly consumed, providing the hound with a steady stream of energy.
People can't. People can only quickly obtain energy by eating sugar. It takes time to turn the meat in your stomach into abilities.
And the energy of wheat is three times that of venison.
Rurik was the first to get up. It was dimly lit outside, and the cold wind blew into the house through the cracks in the wooden door. The cold forced him back into his sleeping den.
The feeling of hunger still urged him to wake up his mother.
"Huh? It's already dawn. Boy, are you hungry?"
"I'm hungry, give me something to eat. Mom, it's dawn."
"All right."
Niya slowly sat up, grabbed Otto's beard, who was sleeping comfortably, and woke him up.
As the leader, Otto is not idle. He will visit some friends, especially the homes of his most loyal subordinates, and also visit the homes of his eldest nephews.
There were only embers left in the bonfire at home, it was already a pile of whitened coals. Niya threw in a few more black coals, and soon the fire started.
Wheat is precious, and baked bread is even more precious.
She began to cook a piece of salted wild boar, boiling out the salt, and the family ate the meat for breakfast. As for the boiled salt water, drink it directly.
She glanced at the girl who was curled up like a kitten again, sighed slightly and took out the unpalatable shark meat.
After all, he is a servant. Being hungry is a blessing from the master's family. Why should he be picky?
After Rurik regained consciousness, he first looked at the meat cooked in the iron pot, and his mouth watered subconsciously. He didn't notice that his mother had also prepared shark meat. Now he just wanted to pull Rumia up and share the meat for a while.
"Rumia, don't sleep anymore."
Rurik called the girl softly, but the girl was indifferent.
He was reaching out, hoping to wake her up by patting her body. As a result, my little hand touched a hot object.
"What's going on?! Fever?!"
A bad thought came to mind. Rurik touched his armpit to feel the temperature, and then put his hand on the girl's forehead. It was obvious that her head was hotter.
In shock, Rurik simply shook her body, and finally the girl opened her eyes.
She was very haggard. Taking a closer look, Rurik saw that her lips were white, her eyes were confused, and her whole body was loose.
"Oops! It's just a fever!"
What should I do? In this distant ancient time, a fever was enough to kill a person.
In fact, one amoxicillin tablet, plus some other fever-reducing tablets, could restore her body temperature in just an hour or two. These medicines do not exist in this time and space. There are only some herbal medicines that can slowly treat diseases such as colds and fevers.
Generally speaking, the effects of medicines are quite limited, and survival almost always depends on the patient's own resistance.
She has a fever, everything must be related to what happened yesterday.
Are you still thinking about eating? No!
Rurik shook Rumia's body in a panic, trying his best to keep her awake.
The son's strange behavior immediately attracted the attention of Alto and Niya.
"Child, what's going on? Your servant..." Otto asked.
"Dad, she is sick! She is very sick! She will die without treatment."
Otto, he is not cold-blooded enough to sit and watch the death of a servant, not to mention that the servant was very obedient yesterday.
He came over to take a look at the situation and pinched the back of the girl's neck with his thick palms, easily feeling the frightening heat.
"Dad! What should I do?"
"Kid, don't panic. Only one person can save her now."
"who?"
"Priests. Only priests, Vilia. Don't panic..."
There were no doctors in the tribe at all, so the priests took on the responsibility of being doctors, and this was another main job of these priests who refused to marry and spent the rest of their lives serving the gods. They have indeed mastered certain medical techniques and have indeed cured some diseases of their tribesmen, which is one of the reasons why they are highly respected.
Otto knelt down and honestly saw the haggard appearance of a terminally ill child, and his heart was strongly touched.
There were supposed to be three children in this family, but yesterday his son's heartfelt words made him deeply moved.
A daughter? Maybe it would be nice to have a daughter...
Otto comforted his son: "Don't worry, the priest will cure her disease."
Tip: Enter "giant panda literature" in the search engine to find this site, thank you.
Chapter 81 Niya’s Prejudice
