Chapter 4

The old man twirled his beard and shook his head, no longer looking over there, and told the middle-aged man to help pack up and get ready to leave.

The young man beside him couldn't help but take another look, but didn't find anything wrong. Seeing that the old man had no intention of answering, he suppressed the question on his lips.

They needed to rush to Xinyi as quickly as possible, continue their journey with the delegation, and strive to reach the capital before the winter war officially began. For now, they were just borrowing a relatively clean place to eat, so they had to set off as soon as possible.

Wen Yi naturally didn't notice the group's departure.

During the days the army stopped, everyone helped cook the food. Children also helped spread the cooked and steamed rice out to dry before packing it into sacks, which were then handed over by the village head to the manager. Several soldiers also supervised the work, and the courtyard at the edge of the village was bustling with activity.

Fortunately, theirs was only one of the teams, and most of them were probably serving in the logistics department. They had been busy these days and finally completed the preparations in the shortest time possible.

When the team set off, everyone went back to sleep soundly, their arms so sore that they couldn't lift them.

This was my first winter here, and it was said that many people would fall into a deep sleep due to the cold at this time of year. However, Shu also said that if the weather was too cold that year, the village head would organize everyone to go to caves or semi-sunken underground buildings and wait until the weather warmed up before returning to their homes.

In the words of the village head, "In this impoverished place, we can't allow people to freeze to death outside. If anyone is blamed, I'll take the blame."

In fact, it was not uncommon for such a small village to disappear. It was not a major border town, and the higher authorities did not care much except for labor and military service. In the county annals, these guys who lived outside the city were called "savages."

"The head of the village has told everyone to make some preparations in advance. Should we pack our things into boxes as well?"

Wen Yi put away the dried clothes while asking Shu who was collecting firewood.

"Pack everything up. The temperature is going to drop in two days." Since the village head had also been notified, the situation must have been serious. Shu looked around and told Amu, who was helping nearby, "Amu, go check next door to see if there's anything we can help with."

Amu put down what he was holding, nodded seriously, and trotted to the next room.

During this period, Qi and Amu spent a lot of time together and their relationship became closer.

The millet harvested before and after the New Year tribute was slightly different from what Wen Yi remembered. Its length was somewhat similar to the dogtail grass on the roadside. It was broken, dried, and stacked in baskets, and then shelled when needed.

Millet is easily affected by moisture after being hulled, and even if stored in a ceramic jar, it needs to be aired frequently, so people prefer to store the dried ears directly. There is also wheat, but its yield is lower and its cultivation requirements are more demanding.

Simple stone mills existed at this time, but they were difficult to make and relatively heavy, and were not available in this remote area. People were still more accustomed to shelling the seeds on stone slabs with stone pestles or using stone mortars, which was very time-consuming and laborious, and many servants were driven to do this all day long.

There were also stone mills, which had already been invented. As a child, Wen Yi had only thought that stone mills consisted of two stacked millstones, one above the other. It wasn't until one day, on a whim, that he disassembled a small, semi-toy household stone mill and discovered the counterclockwise grinding grooves and holes connecting the different parts. At a time when metal farm tools were scarce, manual labor was out of the question; it would have been more time-consuming.

And warm items.

Based on the village head's and other accounts, Wen Yi deduced that the lowest winter temperature where they lived was around -6 or -7 degrees Celsius, meaning they weren't in the Ice Age, which was good news. However, without cotton and thick walls, relying solely on straw for warmth was a real test of both physical fitness and luck.

The clothes he had put away could be put on. Shu took out two pieces of animal fur strung together with hemp rope. They were very worn, but they were also rare items to keep warm. Amu also had a pair of woven reed shoes.

In order to achieve good thermal insulation effect, the lower the thermal conductivity of the material, the better. Cattail fluff and other materials are not good choices, but I didn’t see cotton or similar crops, so something is better than nothing.

Recently, some people in the village have started using bait to hunt at the edge of the woods to obtain furs and food needed to keep warm in winter. If they hunt good furs, they can even use them to deduct taxes. It can be said that there are both dangers and opportunities.

After Shu and Wen Yi discussed it, they also made a few traps, but they didn't provoke those large dogs and cats.

This area was sparsely populated, and compared to the cities, it was vast and sparsely populated. Firewood was relatively easy to obtain, and there were still many pheasants and rabbits in the woods. These were also easier to catch when food became scarce.

Insert a wooden stick with spikes into the bottom of the dug hole, then surround it with thin wooden sticks, cover the hole with hay, and finally sprinkle infested food on it.

This method is very simple, but you need to nail a few branches next to the trap to prevent others from entering by mistake.

Wen Yi used this method to catch several pheasants. If he was lucky, he could find two or three prey in one trap. In just half a month, he had accumulated a lot of meat.

Shulishuo processed the prey. The fur of rabbits and other animals was hammered, washed, and dried, while the meat was smeared with salt and hung to dry.

With no farm work to do, everyone had a much easier time, finding time to hunt. Food availability in the village had improved significantly, and even the poorest families could enjoy a few meals of meat. However, most of the food had to be stored for the coming winter.

Of course, there were conflicts arising from competing for prey. Once, someone took away the prey from Wen Yi's trap. After searching for the prey for several days without finding any, he just put it aside and changed the place where he spread the food bait.

However, not long after, someone else reported the lazy man at the village entrance for stealing their things, and the matter was reported to the village head. The head of the village rushed to the man's house and found a lot of lost things of the neighbors. With the evidence solid, the lazy man was sentenced to serve in other places as a deferred punishment, and he never lost anything again after that.

"Theft carries a severe penalty at this time," Wen Yi said with emotion.

This kind of labor was different from the ones they had to do every year. It was constant labor every day, and it was winter, so even if they could return, they would be exhausted. Winter was hard enough, and this man had no family to help him. During the autumn harvest, the land was deserted, and he probably had no money or food to pay for it, so he probably wouldn't be able to return.

"So if you can obviously make a living, why do you have to think so hard and do those things?" Shu really couldn't understand it.

"It's probably because there were people doing those jobs for him, and now that they are idle, they don't want to work hard anymore." Qi sighed and replied.

Qi's two children had gone with the lazy man's father, and it happened that the battle was a minor defeat. Although the soldiers were not killed or wounded, the accompanying logistics staff suffered countless casualties, and she never heard from her children again.

Although death is like life, it will always make the relatives left here sad. She has nothing to do now, so she might as well come here to help and let Wen Yi free up his hands to do other things.

There are also very important things.

coal.

By this time, white charcoal was already available. It was mostly used in metal smelting and required relatively high production standards. Wen Yi had only seen it in a passing caravan, which was said to be transported to the city. However, the charcoal-making process consumed too much wood, making it a luxury to burn for winter heating.

Coal is a more suitable fuel. Wen Yi saw quite a few coal lumps on the surface while digging a trap a while ago. There were also some scattered along the underside of the cliffs, which could be knocked down with rocks. However, compared to dead branches, it's a bit harder to ignite. In places where wood is readily available, people rarely use it, more often using it as a black marker for marking.

The coal was carried to the river in a basket, and the large pieces were broken off. Then the basket was placed in a pit dug by the stream to wash it. It was impossible to separate the coal from the gangue, but at least some sulfides attached to the surface could be washed away.

After removing the coal lumps, Wen Yi also found something similar to peat, which was a pleasant surprise. She shoveled it out with a wooden shovel and spread it out in the yard to dry. Once the moisture disappeared, it became a good fuel.

I used a few pieces when cooking porridge, it is really a good thing.

Wen Yi also added yellow mud and water to the coal powder on the ground, kneaded it together and dried it.

Wen Yi did not hide his involvement in carrying these things, and would even help out when he lost. It must be said that everyone was very adventurous, and soon someone else also tried to bring the items back, and after some experimenting, they joined Wen Yi and the others.

Everyone tacitly agreed not to mention it to anyone else, but in the days that followed, when they went out in the morning, some fur or a few wild fruits would occasionally appear on the wooden door outside the yard.

Wen Yi built a small stove in the thatched hut with stones and yellow mud. He was originally worried about the lack of ventilation ducts, but then he thought that there was no need for that thing in a place that was leaking air everywhere, so he gave up.

Busy days always pass quickly. Before Wen Yi was ready, the cold air swept in from the north. Wen Yi woke up from the cold in the middle of the night and silently wrapped a few more layers of straw around himself and put another mat on top.

The next day, the outside was already covered in white. I looked out the door for a while and confirmed that it was only a thin layer of snow. I picked up a long pole with hay tied to it and swept it to prevent the thatch underneath from getting wet when the snow melted into water.

Wen Yi wore her old clothes inside, and wrapped them in several layers of linen. She felt a little uncomfortable wearing these clothes again after such a long time, as if her body had completely adapted to this era.

After clearing those thoughts from his mind, Wen Yi walked out and picked up the tools beside him to clean the yard.

Last night, I lit a fire in a clay pot in the stove. I first stirred the fire a little more vigorously, and then added a few pieces of coal. The temperature in the thatched house slowly rose with the sunlight and the stove.

There was also a clay pot filled with water on the stove.

Shu knew drinking the water directly from the pump would make him sick, but he couldn't afford the fuel consumption. In previous winters, he had to save most of the combustible materials, otherwise he might freeze to death in the house.

This year was different. So Wen Yi had no objection to the idea of ​​losing with boiling water. The stove had to be constantly burning, and the excess water was often used to wipe the body. Even Qi said that after paying attention to cleanliness, he felt much lighter, as if all the lingering ailments had been wiped away.

"That's why hygiene is so important," Wen Yi said quietly. "The dirt on your body can't stop germs at all. On the contrary, it will make you sick."

Compared to those difficult and complicated diseases, a minor skin disease at this time could be fatal. Boiling reed roots in water is not a panacea; if the wound is severely inflamed, no one can save it.

Shu nodded, smiled, and continued cleaning. Wen Yi's previous words were mixed with many pronunciations and phrases that she was not familiar with, but this person had learned to speak slowly over the past few months, so naturally, it was not surprising.

It was obvious that this person had lived in another place before, perhaps thousands of miles away, or perhaps in another world that was completely opposite to her life. This also gave her some secret hopes in her heart, hoping that the person could live well there.

Wen Yi naturally didn't know that Shu regarded the place she came to as the "underworld" that was opposed to the real world. She was standing on a wooden stake and looking out, trying to observe the situation in several other families in the distance.