"How about I marry you and be my mother-in-law?"
Zhang Xiaozu only felt as if there were clouds dragging his feet, and his body flew up lightly, flying into the sky, floating and dreamlike.
Que'er thought she would get Zhang Xiaozhu's happy agreement right away, but after waiting for a long time, she still didn't hear Zhang Xiaozhu's voice. Her heart was pounding and her heart suddenly sank. Her nose became sour and her tears fell down. Choking with sobs, she said: "I knew you were only nice to me because of your pity for our orphans and widowed mothers. You didn't really like me at all, but my mother said you liked me and would marry me as your mother-in-law. Wuwu——"
Que'er's whimpering woke up Zhang Xiaozu. He hurriedly wiped Que'er's tears and said with a happy smile: "Who said I don't like you? I like you a hundred and a thousand times in my heart. I love you so much that I even dream of marrying you." Be a mother-in-law. Stop crying. If you ruin your makeup, you will turn into a little cat."
"Then why didn't you respond just now?" Que'er asked suspiciously, suspecting that Zhang Xiaozu pretended to like her just to make her happy.
Zhang Xiaozhu scratched his head in embarrassment and said: "Happiness came so suddenly, I was so dizzy that I couldn't react for a while."
"Silly!" Que'er rolled her eyes at him, but her heart was as sweet as honey.
After the boy and girl pierced the hazy window paper to reveal their true feelings, they fell into a whirlpool of honey for a while, looking at each other with affection, and the silence was better than the sound.
"Brother Xiaopou——" It was Que'er who woke up from the sweet whirlpool first, broke the silence, and asked: "I remember you have a dog skin at home, right?"
"Yes, I keep it in the west room." Zhang Xiaopou said.
"Go get them and I'll sew you a pair of knee pads. I heard it's very cold in the mountains at night, so tie them to your legs when you sleep to prevent them from being hurt by the cold." Que'er said.
"Hey, okay. I'll get it." Zhang Xiaozhu felt warm in his heart, thinking that it would be nice to have a mother-in-law at home.
Que'er was doing needlework, and Zhang Xiaopou sat aside, holding his cheeks with his hands, staring at Que'er without blinking, like a fool. After being kicked by Que'er, he stopped acting stupid.
"Quer, when you have your adult ceremony next year, I will ask a matchmaker to bring the bride price to your house to propose marriage."
"kindness."
"Nowadays, there is a drought, and life is difficult, but don't worry. If you just grit your teeth and get through it, life will be good."
"kindness."
"Next year when the weather is good, I plan to cultivate another three acres, oh no, five more acres of wasteland. Counting the land I have now, we have ten acres."
"Don't be tired."
"Hey, don't you understand me? I have nothing but endless strength."
"I'll help you."
"I also plan to go to the mountains to cut stones during the off-season. Let's turn this mud house into stone. I heard that all the rich people in the county live in stone houses. It is warm in winter and cool in summer. Living there makes us feel comfortable. Add two more rooms so that Auntie and Xiaoci can move in together."
"Listen to you."
"When times get better, let's get some chickens and ducks to raise, and then make a pig pen -"
Zhang Xiaozhu talked about his plans for the future one by one. Queer listened quietly while doing needlework, and responded from time to time. When talking about the wonderful things, the young couple raised their eyebrows and had infinite longing for the future.
In the kitchen, Que Er Niang was frying pancakes and listening to Zhang Xiaozu's future plans while bursting into tears. She knew that her daughter had found a good home, unlike herself, who married a short-lived ghost and passed her life in such a blur.
In the evening, Que'er Niang took Que'er away, and she seemed to have taken away half of Zhang Xiaozu's soul.
As soon as the sky darkened, Niu Dawa came, holding a hunting knife in his hand and giving it to Zhang Xiaozu, saying that his father made it specially for Zhang Xiaozu.
The knife is as long as an arm, the blade is dark and glowing with cold light, the blade is wide and thin, and it looks very sharp at first glance, and the back of the knife is thick. Zhang Xiaozu held it in his hand and weighed it. The whole knife actually weighed sixty or seventy kilograms. He was the only one in the whole village who could use such a heavy knife with ease. He liked the heavy feeling when cutting. .
As a thank you, Zhang Xiaozu forced Niu Dawa to receive ten cakes.
Just as Niu Dawa left, Li Rongxi arrived with wine and vegetables in his hands. There was only half a bottle of wine and only one dish, but it was rich, fried pickles and dried meat, a solid dish.
Zhang Xiaozhu didn't give in to pretentiousness. He and Li Rongxi drank half the bottle of wine in one gulp. It was his first time drinking, and he fainted after just a few sips. He grinned and boasted to Li Rongxi. Li Rongxi also couldn't drink, so he rolled up his sleeves and blew at Zhang Xiaozu.
Zhang Xiaozhu said that his feet were the smelliest in the village. Li Rongxi was quite unconvinced and said that his feet were the smelliest. At the end of the argument, the two simply took off their shoes and smelled each other. After smelling it, they were immediately convinced and gave each other a thumbs up in unison.
March twenty-two.
At seven o'clock in the evening, the sun sets over the western mountains. The sunset is like fire, lighting up the entire sky and reflecting the red mountains of the earth.
A bonfire was lit in a gentle valley. Beside the campfire, thirty men sat around, each of them munching on dry food, silent and looking downcast.
This group of people is none other than the hunting team from Liujiacun.
Today was their second day in the mountains. In the past two days, they climbed ten mountains and hunted dozens of places. In the end, they didn't even see a mouse. It seemed like all living creatures in the entire mountain forest were dead. Round after round of hunting and zero harvest was like a bucket of cold water poured down on them, extinguishing all the enthusiasm and longing they had when they set out, so that their morale was very low.
"Lao Niu, tell me a few words to cheer everyone up." Li Dashan broke the silence and said to Niu Yao, Dawa's father. The corner of his mouth slightly curled up with a sly smile, as if he was worried about the zero receipts in the past two days. It was expected.
Niu Yao filled a pot of tobacco, pulled out a piece of firewood from the bonfire, lit the pipe and took two strong puffs, then he said slowly: "What are you talking about? What's there to talk about? The surrounding mountains It has been emptied out by us and the people from several other villages. If we can catch something by just surrounding it, then do we all need to starve? We can all go into the mountains to catch something to eat."
"Then why have we been messing around these two days? It's all in vain to eat food. We should go straight to the mountains." Niu Dawa complained dissatisfiedly and felt that there was something wrong with his father as a hunting captain.
Zhang Xiaozhu and many others had the same doubts as Niu Dawa, and looked at Niu Yao in confusion.
"Hmph," Niu Yao blew out a smoke ring and snorted coldly. He pointed at Niu Dawa, Zhang Xiaozu and a few other younger people, and said, "I want you to dig out bird's nests for voles, and use traps to catch rabbits and pheasants." , go down the river to catch fish and shrimps, you can beat two of them. But do you know how to hunt? Do you know how to cooperate? What should you do if you are surrounded by ferocious beasts such as jackals, tigers, and leopards?"
Zhang Xiaozhu and other young people suddenly realized that the purpose of these two days of hunting was not to hunt prey at all, but to enable young people like them to master hunting skills as quickly as possible through actual combat. No wonder Niu Yao and the other old hunters were so angry in the past two days. They yelled and cursed at them, and even whipped them with tree branches. It turned out that they were teaching them hunting experience.
"This is called sharpening the knife and chopping firewood." Niu Yao said. After taking a few puffs from the pot, he continued: "Watching the last hunt this afternoon, you have basically mastered the hunting skills, so we will not practice any more tomorrow. Tomorrow we will go straight to Shuanglong Valley and pass Shuanglong Valley. It’s the Black Forest, where we should gain something.”
"Uncle Niu, I heard that in the black forest there are blind bears that are taller than houses, giant pythons that are thicker than large water tanks, and eye-catching tigers that are two times bigger than buffaloes. Is it true?" Zhang Xiaozu asked curiously. road.
Niu Yao shook his head and said: "I have only heard old hunters talk about it, but I have never seen it with my own eyes. Maybe there is. After all, the black forest is so big, it is not surprising that there are ferocious beasts that have matured into spirits. But even if there are such ferocious beasts, they must be there." There is nothing to fear in the deepest part of the Black Forest.”
At night, wrapped in Queer's knee pads, Zhang Xiaozu felt warm all over and slept soundly. He had a dream. He dreamed that he was entangled by a spotted python that was thicker than a water tank. When he was about to be strangled to death, a big black bird suddenly flew from the sky. This big black bird spread one of its claws. , was actually bigger than a millstone, with two wings spread out, several feet long, covering the sky and the sun. The big black bird scratched the head of the spotted python with one claw, then flapped its wings, grabbed the spotted python and flew up into the sky, taking him up with it. The big black bird flew higher and higher, and flew higher and higher until it reached the clouds. Suddenly, its claws loosened, and he and the spotted python fell to the ground together.
Zhang Xiaozu was frightened and woke up. He found that it was already dawn and that several people were already awake and packing their things. He stopped sleeping and got up to pack things with the others.
Shuanglong Valley, also known as Yixiantian, is a ravine between two peaks. One of these two peaks winds to the northwest, and the other winds to the southwest. The cliffs are steep and reach into the sky, making it impossible to climb. Another example is that two giant dragons coiled up the black forest, imprisoning the ferocious beasts in the black forest and preventing them from coming out to cause harm to the world.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Niu Yao led everyone to the entrance of Shuanglong Valley. The scene at the entrance of the valley made the thirty people stunned. It was noisy and there were people everywhere. Judging from their equipment, they should be hunting in the black forest just like them. It is not difficult to understand that the drought is raging and the stored grains have been used up. Since there is food in the Black Forest, every village and town will naturally organize people to go into the Black Forest to hunt. But these people were blocking the valley entrance in groups, arguing fiercely about something, as if the road ahead was blocked and impassable.
Niu Yao told everyone to get together, not to wander around, and then go to the front to find someone to inquire about what was going on. After a while, Niu Yao came back with a stern expression on his face, as if he had heard very bad news.
"Old Niu, what's going on?"
"People with evil hearts are trying to make fortune from disasters." Niu Yao gritted his teeth and said bitterly, "The mouth of the valley has been jointly occupied by several big families in the county. If you want to enter the valley, you must pay five kilograms of rations per head. The prey you hunt when leaving the valley Half of it must be handed over. These people who are blocked here are all from the villages and towns near us. Well, the people from Zhangjiacun arrived one day earlier than us and are still waiting over there."
Everyone looked in the direction of Niu Yao's finger, and sure enough they saw a large group of people from Zhangjiacun. The two villages are close to each other and most of them know each other.
Niu Yao continued: "Ninety people came to their village. If they want to enter the valley, they must pay 450 kilograms of rations. However, each of them only brought three days of rations. The total is less than 300 kilograms. How can I can give you four hundred and fifty pounds."
"Isn't this reasonable? Isn't this a clear robbery? Is there any law of heaven?"
"The Black Forest is not their hunting ground, so why should they guard the entrance and prevent them from entering?"
"So many people are afraid of just a few families? One person can drown them all with his spit."
After hearing this, everyone was filled with indignation and veins on their foreheads. Some of them had a strong temperament and even rolled up their sleeves and wanted to go find someone to argue with him, but they were all stopped by Niu Yao's scolding.
Zhang Xiaopeng also widened his eyes and became furious.
The villagers of the Liu family are simple and honest, and all of them regard humility and kindness as their virtues. Zhang Xiaozu has been deeply influenced by them since he was a child. Therefore, under the careful guidance of the old village chief, he can easily let go of his hatred for the abandonment of his biological parents. It can be said that the heart is filled with good soil and does not allow evil to take root. But what he saw and heard now had a huge impact on his "harmony and friendliness" ideology, so he was furious.
However, Zhang Xiaozu was angry but not impatient. He has always kept in mind the village chief's grandfather's teachings: never be impatient when encountering problems, but think twice before acting. The more a mountain collapses in front of you, the more calm you must be. So he suppressed the anger in his heart and looked at Taniguchi calmly. After observing it, he couldn't help but frown.
The village chief grandpa once said: No matter whether it is right or wrong, existence is the truth.
Zhang Xiaozu feels that this is the current situation.
Now that it is a fact that several major families have occupied Taniguchi, what is the reason for its existence? The answer is simple. Several major families have strong strength that is not afraid of public anger. If you want to enter the Black Forest through Shuanglong Valley, you must either obediently hand over the rations or be stronger than several major families, and the thirty of them obviously do not have such strength.
After thinking about it, Zhang Xiaopou frowned deeply, knowing that if he wanted to enter the Black Forest, he would have to succumb to the power of several big families, so he obediently handed over the rations. Fortunately, they brought a lot of rations, and after paying the full amount, there was still a lot left over, so they would not have to go hunting hungry after entering the black forest.
In addition, Zhang Xiaozhu still felt a little uneasy. After some observation just now, he saw a group of people in the southwest, about sixty or seventy people, all with unfamiliar faces, and he didn't know which village they were from. The two parties did not know each other, but this group of people frequently looked in their direction, and at the same time whispered something to each other, and looked fierce, as if they were evil.
Zhang Xiaozhu subconsciously covered the dry food bag hanging around his waist, his heart skipped a beat, and he immediately knew why he was uneasy.
The common man is not guilty, but he is guilty of carrying the jade.
The bulging bags of dry food around their waists are the jade to attract sin.
