The three brothers of the He family came here to deliver herbs for the last time. They said that snow had begun to fall in the mountains. The heavy snow had blocked the mountains and it was difficult to walk. They would not be able to deliver them again until the snow melted in spring.
Xu Yin gave them the herbs for this trip and the money for the pepper saplings from the last trip.
When the three brothers saw that there were thirty taels of them, they blushed and declined:
"This is too much! We haven't even dug up a few pepper saplings."
Of course Xu Yin knew, but without them, the tall pepper trees in the mountains behind the military camp would not have the chance to be transplanted to her medicine field.
"No matter what, I want to thank you! You deserve this money. You broke your legs just for a word from me. Thank you for your hard work!"
What's more, the three brothers also gave her a piece of bezoar, two pheasants, a pair of hares, and a pack of dried wild mushrooms as gifts that year.
Xu Yin was greatly surprised to see the bezoar.
This natural bezoar will be a rarity for future generations.
Of course, you can't take it for free, but you can give them money, but they are determined not to accept it.
"The silver our benefactor gave us is more than enough to buy a cow, let alone this ugly pimple."
Seeing that they refused to accept it, Xu Yin packed two catties of salt, two catties of rock sugar, and two pieces of cotton cloth as a return gift.
The three brothers refused to accept it to no avail, so they had no choice but to accept it.
On the way home, I couldn't help but feel lucky that they were separated from other mountain farmers, otherwise they would have made other people jealous.
Thirty taels!
In previous years, they would be happy if they could save three taels during the Chinese New Year.
This year I took thirty taels home, not including so many return gifts.
"Brother, are these candy bars worth a lot of money?"
"The cloth is also worth a lot of money."
"My benefactor is so good to our family!"
"My benefactor is kind-hearted and doesn't want to take advantage of others, but we can't push ourselves too far. In the spring of next year, we will pick more herbs for our benefactor."
"Uh-huh!"
Xu Yin took the bezoar and half of the herbs sent by the three brothers into the system warehouse, and kept the rest at home.
Occasionally, people would come to her with headaches and fever, and she would prescribe the right medicine according to "The Complete Book of Jingyue" and "The Illustrated Book of Chinese Herbal Medicine" and let them take it home and decoct it.
In the village at the foot of the mountain, many people have been cured of ascariasis by the prescription given to her last time, and they often come to her for prescriptions.
Unknowingly, she became the barefoot doctor in the area.
In fact, she doesn't have any medical skills at all. Ashamed!
…
After the sweet potatoes and potatoes were cooked, Xu Yin turned over the soil and scattered a handful of winter cabbage seeds that were not afraid of the cold winter. They would be able to eat them one after another during the Chinese New Year.
Waiting for spring bolting and harvesting, just in time for spring plowing.
Long-term herbs such as ginseng are covered with a layer of thatch straw to protect them from the cold.
After finishing all this work, she stayed at home and rushed to make new clothes for the New Year.
Two days before the Chinese New Year, Li Yuanjin picked up Erlang and returned home.
"Is it cold?"
Seeing that the two of them were cold when they entered the house, Xu Yin hurriedly took out the sweet potatoes that were simmering in the stove, covered their hands to keep them warm, and then went to the kitchen to cook a bowl of pickled mushroom and chicken noodle soup for the two of them.
Guessing that they would be back in the next two days, they killed a chicken and made a pot of soup this morning.
It has chicken soup as the base and winter bamboo shoots and mushrooms for freshness. It's so delicious.
The two of them buried their heads in eating and snored.
Xu Yin gave Erlang a chicken leg and gave Li Yuanjin a chicken wing.
Li Yuanjin raised an eyebrow: "Madam..."
Xu Yin didn't wait for him to finish: "There is also a chicken leg for Third Sister to eat."
"..."
Li Yuanjin suddenly laughed and put the chicken wings in front of Xu Yin: "What I want to say is, madam, you eat it."
"..."
Li Yuanjin insisted on giving it to her, so Xu Yin took it and gnawed on the wing meat while asking how they were doing.
Erlang was living a good life at Wenfuzi's house. She had food and clothing brought by her from time to time by the old coachman, so it was not a problem to have enough food and clothing.
On the other hand, Li Yuanjin looked much worse: unshaven beard, sunken eye sockets, blisters at the corners of his mouth...
Xu Yin sighed inwardly and asked him: "Is the settlement not going well?"
"It went well." Li Yuanjin finished a bowl of noodles and sighed happily, "It's just that there are not enough manpower and it's too busy. It took more than a month to complete the reinforcement of the river embankments in the two villages. Where there are large gaps on the mountain, Following Madam's advice, we planted trees. The sandbags were sewn together as high as a wall. Madam, can these sandbags really block the flood?"
"The water level does not exceed the sandbags," Xu Yin said.
Li Yuanjin then decided to go back after the New Year and continue to gather soldiers from Xiu Mu to sew sandbags.
There are only two bedrooms in the house. Xu Yin and her third sister sleep together, while Erlang sleeps in one room alone. Now that his eldest brother is back, he will naturally share a bed with him.
Li Yuanjin looked at his wife's arrangements for herself: "..."
When Erlang took his third sister out to meet his friends, there was no third person in the room. He stretched out his long arm and circled Xu Yin: "Madam, we are already husband and wife."
The beard that had not been shaved for a long time rubbed against her neck, itching so much that Xu Yin almost begged for mercy:
"Hmm, so what?"
"We should share the same bed."
"..." Xu Yin choked for a moment, then spread her hands in embarrassment, "But there are only two beds in the house. If the two of us share one bed, the third sister will have to sleep with Erlang, but seven-year-old men and women have different seats..."
"I'll cut down the tree tomorrow and come back to build a small bed for Third Sister."
"..."
Early the next morning, Xu Yin thought she had gotten up early enough, but she saw Erlang coming out of the bedroom to look for his elder brother, rubbing his sleepy eyes:
"Sister-in-law, where is eldest brother?"
"Isn't he in the house?"
"I didn't see him when I woke up. Maybe he went to practice boxing. Sister-in-law, let me wash my face and warm up my book first. Master said that the memory is better when you wake up in the morning."
"..." Children who go to school are just different.
Xu Yin first boiled a pot of water, stocked up enough water for the family to drink that day, and then prepared to make breakfast.
There was a noise in the yard. She lifted the coarse curtain and went out to take a look. She was speechless and choked.
The bear man came back from the back mountain carrying two thick bamboos.
"Madam, I thought about it and decided to make a bamboo bed for Third Sister. It is lighter than a wooden bed."
Xu Yin: "..."
Are you trying to be easy? Are you greedy for speed?
He twitched the corner of his mouth, too lazy to pay attention to him.
Tomorrow is New Year's Eve.
This is your first New Year in this small world. You must have a good time no matter what.
She was busy in the kitchen for two days, setting the table for a quite decent and sumptuous New Year's Eve dinner.
"It's time to serve! Salted ham and pork belly stewed with peanuts, starter chicken soup, braised three-way combination, fish every year, pork belly with fermented lees, and white-cut chicken!" Xu Yin announced the names of the dishes while serving the dishes, and finally fulfilled her promise, stewed white-cut chicken At that time, he specially set aside chicken legs and wings and made a fried chicken for Erlang and Sanmei. "How is it? Are you satisfied?"
"Satisfied! So satisfied! Sister-in-law, is this really our family's New Year's Eve dinner? Why do I feel like I'm dreaming!"
"Sister-in-law, there are so many delicious dishes!"
"I don't even recognize this, this, and this!"
“I don’t even know my second brother, let alone me!”
Xu Yin was amused by the two kids: "Sit down and start eating! There is also a rice dumpling made with fermented rice in the pot. I'll get it out."
"I'll go get it!"
"I'll go get it!"
The two children volunteered.
Li Yuanjin leisurely led Xu Yin to sit down, then took a step forward with her long legs, squeezed into the kitchen with three steps and two steps at a time, grabbed the spoon before the two little ones, and glanced at the two of them. : "I'll do it!"
Erlang and Third Sister: "..." Big brother is so naive!
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