Chapter 72 Chapter 72 Is He Really My Brother?

Miao Ying hurried over to help him take the pot off his back: "Why are you here? Is everything okay at home? Are your parents in good health?"

Miao Dong pushed Miao Ying's shoulder and said, "Give him some water first. He's dying of thirst."

Miao Ying quickly got him some water and watched him drink it gulp down. It took him a while to catch his breath. He sat on the big rock in front of the wooden house, looking like he had lost his soul.

After a long while, Miao Dong finally recovered, and Miao Ying and Huo Xing had already started to get busy.

Seeing that no one paid any attention to him, Miao Dong walked up to Miao Ying to show his presence: "Tell me, what's going on? What are you doing? Did their family bully you?"

Miao Ying looked at Miao Dong's mountain-like figure and his eyes lit up. Isn't this the perfect laborer delivered to his doorstep!

Miao Ying pointed mysteriously at the large wooden press on the other side of the cabin and said, "Huo Xing and I want to do some business. Did you see that thing?"

Miao Dong followed his finger and saw the big piece of wood. It was hollow in the middle and propped up at both ends. He had no idea what it was or what business it could be used for.

"It's a good thing you're here. Can you help me in the mountains these days?"

Miao Dong quickly shook his head: "I'm here to celebrate your birthday, not to work for you! Your sister-in-law is still waiting for me at the foot of the mountain! If I don't go home, who will go to kill pigs and sell meat?"

"It won't take you long. I'll ask Mantou to go down the mountain and tell you to just stay here and help me." Miao Ying had already thought it through. He took out a wooden stick from the stove on the side, waited for it to cool down, found a piece of cloth, and simply wrote on it saying that his brother would stay on the mountain to help him for about two or three days, and asked his mother to take good care of his sister-in-law.

Miao Ying tied the written strip of cloth around Mantou's neck and touched its head. Mantou barked twice and quickly ran away.

Huo Xing quickly finished building the wood for the firing pin rack, and now it looked like it was ready for oil extraction.

Miao Dong couldn't beat him, so he could only stay and watch them busying around, not knowing what they were busy with.

"Brother, please go and help. Huo Xing must be tired alone." Miao Ying saw him standing there motionless and kicked him.

Miao Dong glared at him, then went to help reluctantly. Huo Xing brought a lot of things with him when he went up the mountain this time, such as wheat straw, hemp rope, and bed cloth. Miao Dong looked at this pile of things and became more and more confused about what they were going to do.

Huo Xing built the frame that Miao Ying wanted and tied the firing pin. Their wooden press was finally completed at this time.

Miao Ying also started a fire and began to fry rapeseed in a big pot. After Huo Xing finished making the wood press, he took Miao Dong with him to collect firewood. The amount of firewood needed these days should be quite a lot, and the firewood he had collected during his free time was not enough.

Miao Dong felt like he was on a pirate ship. If only he hadn't insisted on going up the mountain, why did he care so much about Miao Ying? This man was born to jinx him, and now not only did he not get off, but he also had to work as a laborer here.

He asked Huo Xing for information, but Huo Xing was clueless. He just said he heard it from Miao Ying and he himself didn't know anything.

When they came back after collecting firewood, the rapeseed at Miao Ying's place had already been fried and fragrant. Miao Dong smelled the fragrance and came close to Miao Ying, feeling a little curious.

"What is this?" He looked at the black pot and felt his scalp tingling. He immediately turned his head away.

Miao Ying chuckled: "This is a good thing! I can tell you're ignorant."

Miao Ying put the fried rapeseed into the pestle, and Huo Xing immediately started to pound it. Miao Ying then started another pot to continue frying the rapeseed.

Seeing them working so harmoniously, Miao Dong felt a little jealous and thought he shouldn't be here. "Can't you two finish the job? Why keep me here?"

"Brother, since you are so free, come and help me fry the dumplings?" Miao Ying felt his arms were a little sore, and Miao Dong happened to be in the right place.

Miao Dong cursed, but still took the spatula from his hand and helped him stir-fry. His scalp tingled and his hands were shaking when he looked at these black things.

Miao Ying sat aside to take a break, watching Huo Xing and Miao Dong who were busy. He found that Miao Dong was thinner now than the last time they met. Although he was still tall, he was no longer the fat that looked like he was covered in fat.

"Brother, how did you lose weight?" Miao Ying was a little curious.

Miao Dong chuckled, and said with a hint of pride: "It's your sister-in-law who insisted that I was too fat and asked me to move more."

Miao Ying gave his sister-in-law a thumbs up in his heart. His sister-in-law must have made a lot of efforts to help his brother lose so much weight. If he had his original physique, he probably would not have been able to climb the mountain. It can be said that his brother and sister-in-law were lucky luck, and now they seem to be a good match.

They had been frying the rapeseed for almost the entire afternoon. Both Huo Xing and Miao Dong were exhausted, especially Miao Dong, who felt like he couldn't even lift his hands.

Miao Ying changed the big pot to a small one and cooked some food. He saw that Miao Dong's hands were shaking while he was eating. He felt pity for him for a few seconds, but when he thought about what he had to do tomorrow, he couldn't stop smiling.

Miao Dong's scalp tingled at his laughter, and he felt that he had no good intentions.

Even at night, it was not quiet on the mountain. The three of them squeezed into the wooden house. Miao Dong was really tired, so he didn't care where to sleep. He just found an empty place in the house and slept there. He often went out to collect pigs, and it was common for him to sleep in the wild, so he was not uncomfortable with it. At least there was a house to shelter from the rain.

Miao Dong fell asleep quickly. He could hear some snoring, but luckily it wasn't too loud. Miao Ying was also tired after a whole day of tossing and turning, and soon fell asleep leaning against Huo Xing.

The next day, they were awakened by the chirping of birds in the mountains. After hurriedly eating some leftovers from yesterday, they started working again. Today's work was to steam rapeseed cakes and press oil. Success or failure depended on this one move.

Miao Dong only felt that his hands were still shaking, but when he thought of Miao Ying's smile last night, he knew that there would definitely be something to torment him today.

After a while, smoke began to rise from the small stove. Miao Ying put the rapeseed flour that he had pounded last night into the cloth and slowly began to steam it. After steaming, he wrapped it in wheat straw while it was still hot, and then weaved it into the iron ring he had made earlier.

Miao Ying made a total of eight iron rings, which were now wrapped with rapeseeds and placed in the hollow wooden press. A hole was left at the bottom of the wooden press for the oil to flow out. He took a jar and went to the bottom to collect it. The next step was the business of Huo Xing and Miao Dong.

The two of them stood on either side of the wooden press. A striker was mounted on each side of the frame. All they had to do was hit it repeatedly, and the rapeseed would produce oil after being stressed.

"You have to use a lot of force, really a lot of force!" Miao Ying stood by and pointed fingers, mainly talking about Miao Dong, Huo Xing was impeccable.

"You don't feel any pain in your waist while you're talking while standing, right?" Miao Dong took a breath after slamming down hard again.

Miao Ying ignored him and just moved closer to the wooden press. Finally, he saw oil slowly flowing out.

"Huo Xing! Brother, come and see, the oil is coming out."

Miao Dong hurried over to take a look, and sure enough, he saw black and yellow oil dripping into the jar from the small hole in the middle.

"Can it really extract oil?" Miao Dong scratched his head, "I thought you were just playing a trick on me."

"Now that you believe it, get to work."

Miao Ying should pay attention to the speed of oil production, and stop them as soon as it slows down. After continuous beating, the dough inside has turned into dry rapeseed residue cakes.

Miao Ying quickly re-woven the steamed rapeseed and put it into the wooden press, and then the two of them continued to squeeze oil.

After seeing the oil, Miao Dong suddenly felt some strength back and felt that he could do it, so he worked harder.

They repeated the same action, and felt a little hot during the process, so both of them took off their shirts and went shirtless.

Miao Ying's eyes were almost glued to Huo Xing. He would occasionally glance at Miao Dong next to him, then quickly look away and look at Huo Xing a few more times to wash his eyes.

When one jar was full, they quickly switched to another. Two days later, all the one pound of rapeseed they brought up the mountain was squeezed into oil. Miao Ying estimated that they brought about one hundred pounds of rapeseed up the mountain, and the preliminary estimate of the oil squeezed out was about thirty-five pounds.

After pressing the oil, they were ready to go down the mountain. Except for the tools for pressing the oil, they had to take everything else down the mountain. Miao Dong carried the pot on his back, and the big and heavy things were with Huo Xing. Miao Ying also carried a backpack, and the things in the backpack were relatively light.

The way down the mountain is actually more difficult than going up. Miao Dong feels that he must have lost a lot of weight in the past two days compared to the previous few days. Miao Ying is just like that black-hearted farmhand, who will complain if you slack off a little.

Huo Xing was also a yes-man. He didn't care at all that Miao Dong was his brother-in-law. He just agreed to whatever Miao Ying said!

After reaching the foot of the mountain, Miao Dong put down his things and slumped in the yard. Zheng Caier heard the noise and hurried over. She saw that his eye sockets seemed to have deepened, and she felt heartbroken.

Miao Ying didn't feel that he was exploiting others at all. He was filled with joy that he had finally squeezed out the oil. After returning home, he hugged everyone in his family one by one.

He also solemnly thanked Miao Dong and Zheng Caier.

Zheng Cai'er didn't know what was going on and could only wait for Miao Dong to explain it to her, but Miao Dong was still paralyzed and seemed not to want to say anything.

Miao Ying had no choice but to explain: "Sister-in-law, my brother has been helping me in the mountains for two days and is indeed a little tired. Why don't you stay at home for two more days before going back?"

Miao Dong raised his hand: "Go home, there are still a lot of things to do at home." He was afraid that if he stayed any longer, Miao Ying would ask him to work again.

They left as soon as they said they were leaving, so Li Hongying packed up some things for them to take back, including a small can of oil, some leftover bacon and sausages at home, and some candies. They came with a lot of things, and they didn't leave empty-handed when they left.

When Miao Dong and Zheng Cai'er were almost at the village, Miao Dong finally realized, "Didn't we go to celebrate Miao Ying's birthday? How come we're back before his birthday?"

Zheng Cai'er was somewhat helpless: "Aren't you anxious to come back?"

Miao Dong then added, "It's okay. His in-laws know how to celebrate his birthday. But Miao Ying is really amazing. He can even do things like press oil. Tell me, is he really my brother?"

Zheng Cai'er was somewhat frustrated by his wild thoughts: "What else could it be? Who else could have possessed him? Did you go to the opera while collecting pigs? You're just imagining random things all day long!"