Chapter 405: Experiences in Mountain Villages
The sun sets earlier in the valley than in the plains. The smoke rises, and the village has darkened. The snow on the top of the mountain in the distance is the same color as the sunset.
The shepherd took the time to add water to the water tank in the sheepfold, put new rock salt blocks on the wall when they were gone, and finally closed the heavy wooden door.
The dinner in the house is ready. In the steaming pot, there are sliced Elizabeth potatoes, a handful of peas, some pieces of mountain wild fruits, and a small cup of rock salt. Filtered salt water is dissolved and allowed to settle to the bottom.
Beside the stove is the dining table - a large tree trunk cut in half, fixed with stones at the bottom, and the chairs beside it are just tree stumps.
There was a candlestick-shaped magic lamp placed on the dining table, and the light was very soft. The little boy of this family angrily told the guests staying overnight that the neighbor who went to work in Wesson used this lamp and five pieces of cloth to kill his sister. Bought.
The shepherd slapped his son and said sternly: "What are you talking about? Do you remember what you have to do before eating?
The little boy immediately sat up straight and recited loudly: " Safety helmets must be worn, protective equipment must be worn, and safety comes first in the construction area..."
The two guests at the table had question marks on their heads.
It was okay at first, then The little boy recited it again: "Working against the rules is suicide, commanding against the rules is murder, not pointing out the violations is ignoring death, and doing nothing against the rules is a suicide attempt..."
"You must pay attention to safety when working outside. If something happens, someone will sleep with your wife or beat your children..."
Frederick frowned, suspecting that he was shouting slogans at the morning shift meeting at the construction site.
Speaking of which, is it really okay to let children carry these?
The shepherd waited for his son to finish carrying, then gave him another slap on the back of the head and said, "Your brother-in-law took Sister You to enjoy the blessings of Boss Weisen. How many women in the surrounding mountains wanted to marry him, if it weren't for him That year, he was hit by the master's horse and his leg was broken. It was your sister who brought him food. Was it your sister's turn to do such a good thing?"
"Do you think your brother-in-law is an ordinary person? He can tie up 60 people a minute. He won first place in the competition, and Boss Wesson personally gave him a thermos cup.”
"That thermos cup is so expensive. On a snowy day, I poured hot water into it in the morning and it was still warm in the evening. I had a hard time getting one. Your brother-in-law's one has an inscription from Boss Wesson on it."
"Is this lamp for us? Isn't it for you to study? Have you finished memorizing the ten words today? If you go to Boss Wesson's and you don't know what to say, they have work and can eat every day. Fried chicken nuggets, no one even asked for you to peel Elizabeth's potatoes at Shantang."
"I'll keep those cloths for you, and I'll make you new clothes when you go to Boss Wesson's place. . "
"'One Hand' is back today. I'll take you to his place after dinner. If you don't finish memorizing the words, I'll beat you."
Mu Sheep. While the man was training his son, his mother-in-law prepared dinner. Everyone only had a bowl of stew in the pot, and the little boy and the two guests had some extra cheese made from goat's milk.
Frederick said to the shepherd: "The child is still young, so there is no need to be so strict."
The shepherd shook his head and said: "Not young anymore. He will be ten years old when the flowers bloom on the grass next spring. Wei Boss Sen can lead the army in wars when he is ten years old. I plan to go to work for Boss Wesson when his hair grows, but he can’t even tie steel bars.”
Boss Wesson blinked. In the blink of an eye, good guy, I have become "someone else's child".
Sanna held back her laughter and lowered her head to eat her dinner.
Frederick asked the shepherd: "Who is the 'one-hand' you just mentioned?"
There was a middle-aged man in the same motorcade who had lost his right hand and kept a straight face. He thought he looked familiar but couldn't remember.
The shepherd replied: "I heard that he was in charge of the construction site of the Great Library."
Frederick thought for a while, and he had indeed heard of the Edelweiss Great Library. There was a safety officer at the construction site who had lost his left hand. He was a very strict guy.
He said: "The children are still young, and there are no jobs for eleven or twelve-year-olds in Weissen State."
"You can ask Dushou and your son-in-law to let him First go to a literacy class and then go to a technical school for a few years. When you are fourteen or fifteen years old, you will be able to find a job by yourself.”
The shepherd shook his head and sighed, said nothing more, and ate his dinner slowly.
Frederick understood, he had no money.
Children of poor people have already been in charge of their families, and children as young as seven or eight have already begun to do some farm work within their ability. Such families cannot support a student who is out of work.
He asked the shepherd: "Then you can also go out to work." The shepherd shook his head and said: "I am the youngest in our family and cannot leave."
"I'm not like farming. I can go to the city in winter, otherwise the sheep will die."
After some inquiry, Frederick understood their tradition. The family could no longer survive, and the older children He went out to seek a living, leaving the youngest at home.
Population is an important resource, but overpopulation will cause instability, so the lords here came up with ways to organize the excess population to go out as mercenaries to consume them, and still make some money. On the other hand, it ensures that everyone will not run away.
Frederick stopped mentioning this and asked what specialties there were in the mountains.
“There is nothing in the mountains.” The shepherd shook his head, “Everything here is available in other places.”
He had never traveled far in his life. He just felt that the things he saw in the past were common everywhere. In addition, in the past, businessmen used words to lower prices, so he did not think that there was anything that could be called a specialty.
The little thing in the bowl was eaten very quickly. After eating, the shepherd clasped his hands together and closed his eyes, looking up and said piously: "Thank the God of Light for guiding Mrs. Wesson to let Boss Wesson find Elizabeth potatoes. Let us have full stomachs, devout believers, please bless Boss Wesson."
After praying, the shepherd said to Frederick: "We started planting Elizabeth potatoes here a few years ago, and we have been growing them ever since. Not so many people are starving to death, and a woman can survive if she has more milk, so my family is planning to have another baby.”
“By the way, I heard from the priest that they are planning to canonize Mrs. Wesson.”
Boss Wesson blinked, and it took him a while to realize that the "Mrs. Wesson" he was talking about was his grandmother.
When Mrs. Elisabeth von Wesson died, she left a box of gems to Frederick. Frederick used this to trick Mrs. Sophie into running east, but unexpectedly brought back potatoes. Frederick named the potatoes " Elizabeth potato”.
This story spread with the promotion of potatoes. It seems that the Light Church also realized the importance of potatoes and included this matter in the church's propaganda.
Frederick had the final say. He could not escape the title of saint due to his widespread printing of the Holy Scriptures and the building of the Germain Cathedral. The key was whether he could be canonized alive. If his grandma also suffered from this, With canonization, the Wesson family is the "Four Generations and Three Saints" of three generations, which has never happened since the founding of the Church of Light.
Frederick no longer thinks about this matter. The Cyclops incident he caused last year is not over yet. There is an undercurrent in the church, and there is no good fruit to be gained from being involved.
After dinner, Frederick and Sanna went to the shepherd’s son-in-law’s house next door to rest.
Frederick remembered this man. He won the first place in the steel work group in the construction skills competition the year before last. His legs were a bit inconvenient. He wore shoes with one side high and one side low to balance his walking.
He is an orphan. When he is not at home, his father-in-law and mother-in-law rent the house to businessmen to supplement the family income.
What Frederick didn't expect was that the bed in this family was a box bed. This kind of bed was surrounded by thick wooden boards, which could be removed in the summer and turned into a large box after installing the wooden boards in the winter.
The origin of box beds cannot be verified. They are very popular in the Helvetic Federation and northern rural areas. They are found in the homes of wealthy people. In addition to being windproof and warm, they can also protect against wild animals such as wolves and bears from entering the home. raided, and the prisoners took it to Wesson.
For a carpenter, a simple box bed only requires nailing a few wooden boards and making vents, and the surrounding area can also be used to make cabinets to store valuables such as clothes. With this layer of cabinets, it can be insulated. Maintain adequate temperature during cold winters without using a stove.
At that time, Frederick also promoted the hot kang, but after carpenters learned to make box beds, thanks to cheap wooden boards and iron nails, it spread rapidly, and the hot kang that had to be learned from scratch disappeared from the market.
Nowadays, many people in cities and rural areas of Wessen have box beds in their homes, and in some places there are even "capsule hotels" derived from them.
This box bed is big enough to sleep two people. A partition can be placed in the middle to sleep another child. There are hooks to hang a baby's cradle and even a small magic lamp.
Frederick estimated that all the prize money the man won in the competition was used to build this set of luxurious furniture.
Sanna rarely spoke after entering the village. At this time, she was standing in the house a little at a loss, with her head lowered and her face as red as a ripe apple.
Frederick heard movement in the distance, so he said, "I'm going to go outside for a walk."
After he finished speaking, he ran away, leaving the girl to calm down.
(End of this chapter)