After drying the cultivated slope for two days, I chose a windless noon and burned the withered grass, melons and vines inside.
Several large piles of dead grass burned, and black smoke billowed into the sky. Under a clear sky, they could be seen from a long distance away.
On another mountainside, Beard, who had recovered from his injury, was picking wild fruits. His eyes changed when he saw the thick smoke.
He stuffed a handful of pyracantha berries into his mouth and chewed them until his face throbbed.
Pyracantha, also called red seed, is used to save the army, water fork, root and fruit are used as medicine. The leaves can clear away heat and detoxify, and can be applied externally to treat sores, carbuncles and swollen poisons.
Although this wild fruit can fill the stomach, if you eat too much, it will be sour and astringent, and your teeth will make a rattling sound when you bite it. Where can you find delicious white noodles?
Nowadays, refugees living in the village come and go, and several families still want to settle in Xujia Village.
But Zhang Juntou from the medical shed said that he would have to return to his hometown according to his household registration in the future. Even if he stayed here now, it would be temporary.
Thinking about the more than ten taels of silver owed by his hometown, the bearded man became more and more annoyed. If he wanted to go back, he would have to find the money.
He spat out the dregs in his mouth, walked over to the man with the shaggy hair who was digging for grass roots and said, "Hey! Brother Hu, look over there!"
The shaggy-haired man looked in the direction pointed by the beard, and saw the black smoke in the sky. Sparks suddenly appeared in his eyes: "Damn it, we are fleeing outside and dare not go back. The people are nice, we have food and shelter."
After he and Bearded Beard got lost and broke into the mountains and were beaten, they started to hate that family and had to find their way back out.
However, Li Laoshi was a coward and hid in the village every day looking for some herbs to get by. The man who stepped into the trap among his colleagues was also timid and ran away with his family the next day after he was put down on the mountain.
Having the same enemy, these two people have now become good brothers who love each other!
The bearded man squatted down and whispered: "Boss Hu, have you seen those bags of white flour? At the current price, you can sell it for five taels of silver. I heard that there is also oil... If we have these grains, we can definitely exchange them for one." If we live in the village, this winter will be better."
He clapped his fingers and spoke slowly about the information he had learned from the handyman in the hospital shed.
Although it is said that refugees should return to their hometowns, bandits have become rampant since the war, and the officials in various places have changed their county officials. They have no time to take care of the countryside, and it is not safe whether they are returning to their hometowns or on the road.
Even if you want to go back, you have to grab some white flour and eat a few good meals first. If you have some strength, you are not afraid of being robbed by others.
Jiang Zhi had come to the village several times to exchange food, but he had fallen into the eyes of the refugees, and he couldn't hide it even if he wanted to.
However, the bearded man was quickly poured cold water on by the unkempt man: "What good are you thinking! It's such a long way, you will be exhausted by the time you climb up, and you won't have the strength to grab it.
Besides, there's that cruel little brat. "
When mentioning Xiaoman, the two of them only felt pain in their foreheads, especially their beards. The blood holes on their brains have not yet shed their scars.
The most evil is the most evil.
The bearded man's face darkened, he threw away the Pyracantha fruit in his hand, and said harshly: "We were just unprepared that night.
I don't believe that two grown men can do anything to a child. "
The shaggy-haired man touched his head, which was still hurting, and calmed down: "It doesn't matter if we try. Anyway, we were beaten, and the medical tent doesn't support us, so we'll find an explanation for ourselves."
The two of them had an idea and immediately discussed how to go up the mountain.
At this time, Jiangzhi and others were still burning hay on the hillside.
Although there is no wind, there are still green leaves and grass around, so there is no need to worry about causing wildfires.
But after experiencing the wildfire that night, no one wanted to do it again. For safety reasons, the two families went to the fields as much as they could.
Several people were burning weeds and digging to loosen the soil and clean up the grass roots.
After the slopes are burned, all kinds of manure that has been soaked all summer are put into the ground, and after a rain comes, winter wheat can be sown.
This time Nini also came to the fields.
Chunfeng had already heard what Xu Dazhu said about the fire.
"If Aunt Jiang hadn't taken people to the terraces that night and set fire to them, not only would the houses of the two families be in danger, but the people would have been burned to death."
Chunfeng knew about mountain fires, and now he wanted to burn hay, so he took his daughter with him so that she could learn how to survive in the mountains from an early age.
But at this time, little Nini didn't care about lighting the fire. Instead, she ran to the edge of the field, climbed up a pile of rocks, and picked the pyracantha fruits and yellow wild chrysanthemums growing out of the rocks.
wild chrysanthemum
She liked these red fruits and yellow flowers very much. She kept grabbing them with her little hands and throwing them down. After picking one place, she shouted: "Qiqi, let's go."
Then, her body moved!
It turned out that under her feet was not a stone, but Peppa Pig.
The wild boar had something to eat at this time, and allowed Nini to step on her back to climb higher, while it obediently lowered its head to pick up the dropped fruits.
So, Nini picked it and the little wild boar ate it, and one person and one pig cooperated tacitly.
Outside the village, Xiaoman was lying on the edge of the rock cliff, looking down at the village medical shed, watching the guards practicing fighting skills.
This was just the most common training in the army, but Xiaoman's eyes lit up after seeing it.
Because he was worried that the refugees would sneak up and retaliate, we arranged for him not to work in the fields now, but to patrol the mountains and lay traps.
But Xiaoman's favorite thing was beating people. He would come to the edge of the cliff every day and imitate the seizing and arm-folding movements of the sergeants below.
"Twist the arm and throw down" and "press down with the other arm". After practicing until I was sweating profusely, I stopped because I was unbearably hungry. I took out the bamboo tube filled with water and vegetable cakes from the small basket next to me and ate them.
After eating and drinking, he rested for a while, got up again, and continued practicing until half a day passed. When he saw that the sun was setting and it was time to go home, Xiaoman reluctantly picked up the wooden stick and ran away.
In the evening, Jiang Zhi washed his hands and face with cold spring water, and Qiaoyun brought dinner to the table: "Mom, do you still want to learn calligraphy today?"
She is now addicted to compliments!
Jiang Zhi shook his head: "I'm not going to study today. I'm going to pick firethorn fruits and wild chrysanthemums tomorrow. You can help Sister-in-law Chunfeng and the others sort the sweet potatoes."
The sweet potatoes have been dug out and are now temporarily placed in a cool and leeward place on the Xiaomanjia mountain wall. Sweet potatoes of different sizes and with wounds need to be placed separately.
Qiaoyun was a little disappointed when he heard that he didn't want to learn calligraphy, but his family was planting autumn seeds in the past few days, so he should stop for a few days.
Just at this moment, Xu Errui came into the room and wiped his watery hands on his clothes. Looking at the vegetables and soup on the table, he suddenly grinned: "Ha! Today we have stewed radish and bamboo shoot soup again. !”
As he spoke, he reached out and took Xiao Caixia into his arms.
Nowadays, there is dried wild boar meat, and I cut a few slices into it every day to stew it in soup. With oily meat, it is also delicious when boiled in water.
In addition to the broth, there are also fried eggs with chives, vegetable noodle pancakes and sweet potato polenta.
The family of three can have full stomachs and nutrition, Qiaoyun has enough milk, and the three-month-old Xiao Caixia is chubby. She is very well-behaved and neither cries nor makes fuss. Everyone who sees her wants to hug her.
While serving rice to Xu Errui, Qiaoyun said, "Errui, take the time tomorrow to cut some branches and make a chicken coop! I counted one chicken today and lost another one. Two chickens have been lost in the past half month." "
Upon hearing this, Jiang Zhi and Xu Errui both became serious.
Jiang Zhi said: "Have you ever looked in the woods where chickens usually go? Is there a snake coming?"
The chickens here are all real native chickens. The largest adult rooster only weighs about five pounds. The chicks hatched in the summer are only half a pound now. Losing two is a big loss.
