Chapter 142 Carrying Wife Back
Today is the weekend, and these little kids can finally let loose and play.
After eating two mouthfuls of rice in the early morning, I wandered around the village, not walking well. I was either beating the grass on the roadside with a stick, or kicking stones while walking.
From time to time, he also recited a few jingles.
I don’t know if some idle person in the village arranged it and said it was given to these skinny monkeys.
Chen Ling silently recited it twice, and it was quite smooth.
Then he didn’t even meet the kids, and went straight home from the wheat field with the two dogs.
When I got home, I put down the cabbage, added grass to the rabbit, and then went to Wang Laishun's house and told him about the traces of wild boars in the corn field.
It was discovered that a group of wild boars were visiting the corn field. This was not a small problem. Wang Laishun immediately became cautious after hearing this.
He was just wandering around the field yesterday and didn't really pay much attention.
Now listening to Chen Ling talk about it, I know that this is not a trivial matter. It is related to the harvest of the village's autumn harvest and cannot be delayed.
He hurried to the brigade and turned on the loudspeaker to shout.
So there are a few more people patrolling at night every day. While guarding against wolves, we must also watch the green.
The main thing to watch is to be afraid of wild boars destroying immature crops. This is more important than guarding against wolves.
Chen Ling's family didn't grow any food this year. If they found out, they could come over and notify him in time.
Let Wang Laishun praise him greatly.
I was about to pull him and stuff him with two bottles of sorghum wine sent by my daughter.
When Liang Guizhen saw it, her mouth turned into a pout.
...Finally, Chen Ling took the wine back home. At this time, Liu Nier came over with her children, holding a civet cat in her arms.
As soon as he entered the door, he shouted to Wang Zhenzhen: "Little aunt, come quickly, we have found the female cat. She has just given birth to a baby less than half a month old, and there is milk."
Good guy.
Chen Ling was stunned when he heard this.
I bet these monkeys were wandering around just now, looking for milk for the little piglets?
The result...
Just found a female cat and came back?
This guy, how much milk does a cat have?
It would also be good for you to find a native dog to cuddle with.
Not only Chen Ling was speechless, but Wang Susu was also amused. She just said to them, be careful not to let the cat scratch or bite them.
The two of them stopped caring about them and just served themselves porridge and had breakfast.
Not long after the meal, Zhang Qiaoling came to Wang Susu with her big head in her arms.
Wang Susu has a kind-hearted nature and a good mind. After she got married, she was very popular with the older girls and younger wives in the village.
We often just interact with each other once or twice, and then people will think about her no matter what.
Today Zhang Qiaoling is here to teach her how to pickle pickles and make chili sauce and bean paste.
The season has changed, and many vegetables in the fields have grown. You can pick some leeks and cucumbers.
Cucumbers are the second crop, and Chen Ling doesn’t care much about them. They grow well or not.
We don’t eat much at home. It’s a waste to rot in the ground. It’s better to pickle it into pickles.
After a while, dig out some mustard lumps. The mustard leaves can also be pickled and eaten.
Wang Susu discussed with him and wanted to pickle more so that he could eat it all winter.
One more thing, for the dishes cooked by Chen Ling, bean paste is often indispensable.
We also need to do some things.
The two women were tinkering together. Chen Ling played with the big head for a while, then handed it over to the eldest girl from Wang Jusheng's family. She, Liu Nier and the others gathered around to watch the wild boar cubs, making a lot of noise.
However, these piglets were very afraid of strangers. Not only did they make the civet cat jump over the wall and escape, but they also bit several babies.
Fortunately, they are small and are deciduous teeth, so the bite does not hurt, and the children don’t care if they are bitten.
After having trouble with the wild boar cubs for a while, they happily surrounded Hei Wa and Xiao Jin, tickling them, hoping that they would catch a few more wild boar cubs.
Chen Ling is now basically sure that these two little wild boars are from the same litter.
If nothing else, they have almost the same body shape. Put them together and you can't tell them apart at all.
... Wild boars reproduce very quickly and can give birth to twice a year, with a litter of as few as five or six, and as many as ten or even twenty.
It doesn’t matter if they give birth to a large number of pups, they are highly adaptable. Except for being eaten by natural enemies such as hawks and wolves when the wild boar pups are young, they rarely get sick.
If left alone, the number of wild boars would double every year.
Fortunately, the enthusiasm of villagers for hunting wild boars is very high this year.
The reason is simple: everything will be expensive in the second half of this year.
After the big wild boar was taken to the slaughterhouse, it was sold for some money.
Coming back and dividing the points is enough to make people jealous.
Many villagers immediately became unable to sit still...
Perhaps they saw an opportunity to make money. In the next two days, men from house to house rushed to go on night patrols. , those who have been there before are also clamoring to go.
Wang Laishun said nothing, and everyone cooperated and fired their guns.
As a result, someone shot him in the end the next night.
There were many people there this time, so they were captured easily.
What is strange is that this pig is not too ferocious, not very aggressive, and can even be said to be a little timid.
After being escorted to the wheat field, I held up a torch and took a look, and then I realized that the damn pig was not a wild boar, but a black native pig raised by ordinary people.
Why did the black native pig get into the wild boar herd?
Many people can’t figure it out.
But someone soon recognized it. It seemed to be the one that Wang Lishan’s family had raised before.
I went to Wang Lishan’s house to wake him up and identify him, and it turned out to be true.
The two ears of his pig have notches, which were marks made when the piglets were little.
Such markings are found in every house in the village, especially chickens and ducks. They all look exactly the same. Without markings, it would be impossible to tell whose family it belongs to.
Everyone familiar with the Wang Lishan family knows the markings on this pig.
Speaking of Wang Lishan’s pig, it was lost during the flood.
At that time, the villagers were in a hurry to avoid the disaster and had no time to take care of it.
Animals such as cows and donkeys can be driven away, but pigs are difficult to handle, so they are simply left in the pig pen.
Later, when I came back from the disaster, where could I find him?
Now it seems that he has run to the mountains.
But what the villagers have been wondering is, how did the pig survive? Can you actually mix with the wild boars?
They are all a bit incredible.
Later Wang Lishan thought about it and said that it was probably because his pigs were sows.
Wild boar families have one male and multiple females, and it is generally difficult to accept unfamiliar boars from outside.
The villagers also think this statement makes sense.
Then he helped Wang Lishan drive the pigs home.
This pig has been in the mountains for two months and has lost a lot of weight. It has almost lost all its fat. It is estimated that it has lost less than half of its weight.
Wang Lishan has been raising pigs at home every year and has rich experience. Not only has he been nicknamed "Old Pig", but his own children have also been called "Pig Baby" since they were young. He can get the general idea at a glance.
The wound of the pig was simply treated.
Then he told everyone that after fattening the pigs at the end of the year, he would kill each family and share some of the meat.
Although it was a pig that was lost by oneself, the situation was special after all, and the pig was lost for too long. Now that it is hunted by someone else, it is the prey that someone else has hunted.
The reason they sent him back was out of love for his fellow villagers. He couldn't just say nothing and be shameless.
Pork is so expensive this year, even a lean pig can be sold for a lot of money.
After he said this, some people said no, while others remained silent...
Everyone has different thoughts.
Wang Lishan discussed it with his wife and said that if the piglets were born, each of them could hold one.
This is a good method, everyone can live with it, and their work will not be in vain.
I agreed.
But it is a pity that since then, the night patrol team has grown.
But no more wild boar was hunted.
These wild boars are not stupid either. At the beginning, they fought guerrillas with the villagers. If they fired guns here, they would run there. If the people were in the south of the village, they would go to the north of the village and they would not be able to catch them.
Later, some families wanted to join in the fun, and they were all gearing up as if they wanted to fight the Japanese.
It only lasted three to five days, and the wild boars rarely came down the mountain.
The good thing is that the corn in the village has not been harmed much.
Chen Ling did not participate in the events of the past few days. Even when he had nothing to do, he took Wang Zhenzhen to see the pig in Wang Lishan's house to see if it was rare.
Chen Yuqiang and Chen Ze also came to call him, saying that they were not afraid of hunting wild boars because there were so many people, but in the end he did not join in the fun.
......August 24th, there is a fair in the county town.
That day, after Chen Ling saw off his sister-in-law, he went to the market to buy some seasonings.
It is used to make bean paste.
Chen Ling planted a lot of spices such as red pepper and Sichuan peppercorns in his own land before the flood.
Although it is not completely ripe yet, Chen Ling can use Dongtian water to ripen it himself.
These things are common, and there are many wild ones in the mountains.
The main things I bought today were broad beans, soy sauce and salt, especially soy sauce and salt. Whether you use it for making sauce or pickling pickles, you need to buy more.
After shopping, I walked around the market and happened to meet two oil shop owners one after another.
I stopped him one after another and refused to let him go, begging him to give me more peanuts.
The price has been given to two yuan.
Zhao Dahai said last time he came here that the price of spring peanuts in the city has also increased to 2.67 yuan.
The price of two yuan and two in the county town is really not cheap.
With the floods this year, we are worried about not having enough food to eat. The farmland in various parts of the city is basically dominated by rice and corn in autumn. There are very few autumn peanuts planted, so it is difficult to do business in small county oil shops.
But Chen Ling has no intention of doing this now.
It’s just that the autumn peanuts haven’t come down yet at home, so we have to wait a little longer. When the peanuts and soybeans are ripe, we’ll bring them over.
After hearing this, the two sighed helplessly.
No way, this is the case this year.
Especially grains, oils and vegetables, I am the one who has the goods.
After coming out of the market, Chen Ling was not in a hurry to go home. He turned directly and headed towards the small courtyard in the south of the city.
I don’t come here often recently.
Today he came to the city alone to see off Wang Zhenzhen. He just wanted to finish shopping and come over to tidy up.
There are not many things in the small courtyard.
However, the small pond in the yard was filled with some water because a few fish were put there. Later, it overflowed due to heavy rains, and the yard was covered with grass.
This was already the case the last time he drove Wang Zhenzhen to visit the city.
At that time, my family was busy building a house and had no time to worry about it.
This time I came here, the grass in the yard was denser.
As soon as he opened the door, he heard a flutter in the grass and a flock of birds flying into the sky.
There is a lot of grass in the yard, and grass seeds and insects are food for birds.
In addition, few people come here, so it is simply a paradise for wild animals.
There are birds and snakes...
Chen Ling took out the hoe from the cave. After a few digs, there were toads jumping out. They were not big, but the nails of an adult. The size of the lid, but there are a lot of them.
I think it was a toad that gave birth to tadpoles in the pond, and they grew up and ran out.
So Chen Ling stopped hoeing, pushed aside the weeds that were half a man tall, and waded twice through the dense grass to see if there was anything else.
Looking at it, there is indeed a surprise.
It’s not a wild animal either.
Instead, he found two winter melon plants in the corner, which had been overrun by weeds. They were not very big, only the size of a melon seed on the head of a small child. They had five or six fruit, but they were already old. .
The melon vines are also dying.
Chen Ling saw that the hunter was happy, so he picked them all, planning to take out the winter melon seeds later and give birth to two plants by himself.
Although its name has the word winter in it, winter melon is actually a heat-loving crop and cannot be grown in autumn or winter, nor can it be bought now.
You can only grow it yourself.
When I get home, I can cook or stew soup, and everything is delicious.
He hasn’t eaten winter melon in more than half a year.
There was also a cluster of mint growing at the mouth of the waterway. This thing was very common, so he ignored it.
Just seeing that there were a lot of little toads in the grass, he was no longer in a hurry to weed, so he released all the golden pheasants in the cave and let them peck all over the yard. At about two months old, they are not as beautiful as the adult golden pheasants, and they are not as good at flying.
But there were wild pigeons in front of him. When Chen Ling fed his chickens and ducks every day, he would also go to the cave to feed them. In this way, he was closer than the pigeons.
So if you let them out, you won’t be afraid of them running around.
Just close the door and let them go around catching little toads to eat.
Otherwise, it would be too wasteful to have such ready-made food jumping all over the yard.
After they finished eating, Chen Ling hoeed all the weeds in the yard. It had been almost two hours.
Chen Ling looked at the time and saw that it was indeed getting late.
He broke open a winter melon, took out the seeds, buried them in the soil and poured them with water from the stream in the cave.
Stand by and watch the winter melon seedlings burst out, and then they grow wildly, sprouting vines quickly and blooming and bearing fruit.
There is no need to climb vines, and there is no need to top, pick cores, or press vines.
The water in the cave is like snake oil, it’s just so unreasonable.
However, in recent times, he has not used Dongtian Water to promote crop growth.
First of all, my family has enough money to spend, and I don’t want to put in the effort.
Secondly, many people in the county know him now. Even if he wants to grow it and sell it for money, the source of the things is difficult to explain.
So this time, it was just for the sake of appetite.
Before coming here, I was thinking about growing some sweet potatoes in the courtyard.
Close the door and no one can see what you are doing.
Winter melon is just incidental now.
However, compared to winter melon, sweet potatoes require more variety.
It is neither too early nor too late.
Dig the vegetable cellar before frost, and it will be easier to store it in. The family will be able to eat it for a long time.
When we were laying the foundation for building a house, the vegetable cellar at home was filled in because we had to build a courtyard dam, so we had to dig a new one.
Before noon, Chen Ling hurried home and filled two large bags of sweet potatoes with urea bags and carried them in the car.
In addition to these, there are also many caves.
Wait until the vegetable cellar is dug before taking it out.
Wang Susu was also very happy to see him bringing back so many sweet potatoes.
She has never eaten sweet potatoes seriously since last autumn.
Only Xiuying’s sister-in-law gave me two bags of dried sweet potatoes.
I made some sweet potato porridge that night, stuffed a few of them into the stove, and baked them.
The food produced by Dongtian Water tastes really good, and the whole family thoroughly enjoyed it.
There are many ways to eat sweet potatoes. In addition to the common steamed, boiled, and roasted sweet potatoes, they can also be fried, made into soup, baked into steamed buns, or rolled into noodles.
Wang Susu is also planning to make some sweet potato noodle nests the next day, mixed with vegetable leaves, it is very sweet.
I just didn’t have time to do it.
Just let Da Nier be shouted away.
Sannier of Wang Lixian’s family told her husband’s family that she, the aunt, should go and have a look.
No gentleman can get involved in this kind of thing.
Chen Ling was alone at home. He let the little rabbits out and let them move around. They searched for places in and outside the yard and prepared to dig a vegetable cellar.
Harvest in autumn and store in winter. In autumn, dig a vegetable cellar to survive the winter.
It's not too early or too late to dig a vegetable cellar now. The groundwater level is not high in autumn. If you dig it to a depth of more than one meter or two meters, it won't seep water. If you grill it with smoke and fire, it will last for many years.
You need to choose a good place to dig a vegetable cellar.
Usually in the front and back of the house, in a ventilated and sunny place for easy access.
The size of the cellar is determined according to the number of dishes. Most vegetable cellars in rural households are about three meters long, two meters wide, and about two meters deep. No matter how many vegetables there are, they are probably enough.
Some people dig vegetable cellars outside their homes, across alleys, or behind houses. Chen Ling didn’t want to bother too much, so he dug a vegetable cellar in the corner of the house and the courtyard wall on the west side of the yard. Excavate some distance away so that it is easily accessible but does not affect the foundation.
In fact, it turns out that they don’t put sweet potatoes in the vegetable cellar here, but have a special sweet potato well.
At that time, food production was low, and sweet potatoes were the staple food on the table.
Every family has a sweet potato well and a vegetable cellar, both of which are separate.
Later the staple food was wheat and corn, so we stopped digging.
Because digging a sweet potato well is much more laborious than digging a vegetable cellar.
The sweet potato well is narrower than the water well, straight down, narrow and deep.
You can't turn around inside, and you can't stretch your arms and legs. It's very awkward.
Especially after the well walls are dug, it becomes even more uncomfortable when digging the kiln in all directions. I squat half-squat at the bottom of the well, unable to straighten my waist, unable to exert my strength, and accidentally hit my head on the well wall. On.
You can do other crop work, but you can't dig sweet potato wells. It's a useless job.
Those who have good deeds in the countryside also arrange four major traps: digging potato wells, squatting in a small cell, cuckolding, and writing materials.
Put digging a sweet potato well at the top of your list.
You can see how uncomfortable it is.
In comparison, digging a vegetable cellar is much simpler.
Chen Ling's technique is not strong, but he has strength in his body and can dig very quickly.
I walked back and forth, roughly measured the distance, and then dug straight down.
When Wang Susu came back at noon, he had almost finished digging.
With Wang Zhenzhen behind him and a large group of children, they rushed into the house one after another and ran to see the wild boar cubs.
Recently, they have been running here after school, taking out the piglets and tossing them around. Every time it is meal time, their parents come over and pull their ears back.
Chen Ling asked them to take it away, but they refused. They wanted to wait until the piglet could eat trough food before taking it back.
Otherwise, they might not be able to feed themselves without Chen Ling.
It was the weekend again today, and they went to the outside of the village to cut some grass together in the morning, and helped him feed his cows and rabbits to please him, which made people laugh and cry.
But this time when I came here, I didn’t go directly to the wild boar. Instead, I was attracted by Chen Ling’s work.
They know about digging vegetable cellars and have heard about it, but they haven’t seen it yet.
I gathered around to help Chen Ling.
Generally, after the vegetable cellar is dug, a few thick pieces of wood are placed horizontally at the entrance of the cellar, and some sticks are placed vertically.
Then, bundles of sorghum stalks or corn stalks are placed, leaving the cellar entrance and ventilation openings, and then covered with a thick layer of soil.
This vegetable cellar was dug.
Now that we don’t have sorghum stalks and corn stalks, we can just use reed stalks.
The little ones were led by Wang Zhenzhen, moving wood and holding reeds, and it was very lively.
Wang Susu originally wanted to help Chen Ling, but seeing this situation, she had to go to the kitchen to cook the rice.
At noon, the little kids refused to stay for dinner, so Chen Ling stuffed each of them with two steamed sweet potatoes. In this way, everyone ate with a smile on their face.
……
After digging the vegetable cellar, open the cellar door and vents to release the moisture inside.
Before winter, when putting vegetables in it, just smoke it and grill it again.
After digging a vegetable cellar, you must also take care of the vegetables in the ground.
Weed when it's time to hoe, water when it's time to water.
That afternoon, the young couple went to the fields carrying hoes and shovels.
This will last until the sun is about to set.
After the vegetable patch is finished, peanuts and soybeans must also be taken care of.
But we have to wait until tomorrow.
"Uncle Fugui, we dug some wild yams, do you want it?"
While the young couple was sitting on the ridge to rest and drink water, several people walked down the mountain with baskets on their backs.
Looking closer, I saw that they were a few boys from Chen Guoxing and Chen Guowang’s family. They were probably going into the mountains to collect herbs. Recently, the wild boars stopped running down the mountain at night, and the wolves just circled around the village. No matter how he showed up, more and more villagers came up the mountain.
"No, the sun is setting. Go home quickly."
Chen Ling smiled and waved his hand.
These people were relatively close to him in age. They had all helped when their families were building a new house, and they had become very familiar with each other over a few drinks.
"There are also yam and eggs. Boil them into the porridge. They are very delicious. Let me order them for you."
A few people came to the edge of the field, stopped and shouted again.
“And yam eggs?”
Chen Ling stood up, a little excited.
Yam eggs are grown on wild yam.
Wild yam is similar to sesame yam and iron stick yam, and it’s not bad to eat.
The plants grow wild yam tubers under the ground, and yam beans grow on the branches and leaves.
But here they call the big yam beans yam eggs.
It tastes good when cooked. Compared with sweet potatoes, it has a different taste.
"Yes, there are many, come and get them."
"Haha, then I'm not welcome."
"You're welcome, uncle, what's wrong with us? "Outside."
While talking, everyone grabbed a lot from the basket. Chen Ling said it was enough several times before he stopped.
“Good guy, I gave you so much.”
When everyone left, Chen Ling scratched the back of his head, feeling a little worried.
I didn’t even bring a basket or bag, so I had to take off my shirt and wrap it up.
"Come here, Susu, pack up, let's go home."
"Here we come."
Wang Susu picked up the kettle, shouldered the shovel and headed here While walking.
Just after walking a few steps, he suddenly let out a scream of "ah". He couldn't hold the kettle and shovel firmly, and they fell to the ground with a clang.
“What’s wrong?”
Seeing that something was wrong, Chen Ling became anxious and ran over.
"Scorpion, there are scorpions in the clothes..."
The little daughter-in-law screamed, stamping her feet and patting her trouser legs.
However, as she was sitting on the field ridge without paying attention, a scorpion got into her trouser leg. As soon as she stood up suddenly, it stung her hard.
She is not afraid of snakes, but she is afraid of scorpions, and she has been afraid of them since she was a child.
It’s not much better now.
The pain brought tears to my eyes.
Chen Ling felt extremely distressed when he saw this: "Where did the sting hit Su Su? Quickly let me see if there is a poisonous hook."
Being stung by a scorpion is not a big deal.
But when my wife was stung, it felt different.
"No, don't be here, go home and see..."
Wang Susu shook her head with tears in her eyes.
After being stunned for a moment, Chen Ling realized that the sting was probably in the wrong place.
Scorpions are not very poisonous, but mainly painful. He was stung when he was a child and rolled on the ground in pain, so he knew what it felt like.
Without saying much, Wang Susu got on his back and ran home with her on his back.
The hoes, shovels, and yam eggs were all thrown into the ground, not to be taken care of.
The sun has not completely set at this time.
The dirt roads in the fields are full of people who have finished their farm work.
They didn't know what was going on, but when they saw Chen Ling running home with his wife on his back, they thought the young couple was acting in a weird way again, so they all started to joke around as they stayed far away.
How long have they been married, and how come they are still carrying on their wife's back? You love this and I love it, so just go back to your parents' home with your wife on your back.
Some are even more extreme.
It’s not dark yet, why is Chen Ling so anxious that he carries his wife into the bridal chamber on his back?
Wang Susu heard this, her face was so hot that she was too embarrassed to look up.
A large group of little kids running around outside the village were overjoyed to see this scene. They sang loudly along with the adults: "Young couple bite your ears, sneak a kiss..."
Wang Susudu I was so embarrassed that I quickly raised my hands to cover my face, but I couldn't help but feel sweet in my heart.
Even the stung area seems to be less painful.