Chapter 134 Taking Advantage of His Soft Heart

After the straw hut was built, the autumn harvest began.

As soon as they started working, they encountered the most tiring autumn harvest. Two of the three elderly people collapsed that day and were carried back by Xu Hexiao and Jian Tong.

"It's heatstroke. Doctor Ma just gave me some medicine. You go and help them make the medicine. I have to go back to work." After saying this, Jian Tongyi dropped the medicine bag and walked out of the hut.

In fact, Doctor Ma also said that the two people fainted not only because of heatstroke, but also because of hunger.

When these three people arrived, the brigade only gave them half a bag of sweet potatoes and half a bag of corn, which was enough to ensure that they would not starve to death, but there was no other food.

They had no salt, no oil, and didn't even know wild vegetables. They could only drink porridge for every meal, and they only drank it until they were half full. Without oil and salt, people naturally had no strength, and once they sweated a lot, they would feel dizzy.

Jian Tongyi knew the reason why the two fainted, but he didn't want to meddle in other people's business, and he couldn't do anything about it. After all, even he would go hungry occasionally.

After Jian Tongyi walked out about ten meters, he turned around to look at Xu Hexiao. He saw Xu Hexiao was making a fire outside the straw hut. His tall figure squatted in front of a clay pot, giving people an inexplicable feeling of calmness and reliability.

With Xu Hexiao and Lin Qi around, these three old guys shouldn't starve to death, right?

Xu Hexiao boiled the medicine and poured it into a bowl. After the medicine became warm, he woke up Lao Yi and Lao Fu.

Old Yi slowly woke up and asked, "Is this Yama Palace?"

The corner of Xu Hexiao's mouth twitched, "Is Yama Palace so desolate?"

"Who knows? No one has seen it anyway." Lao Yi's eyes slowly became clear.

Old Fu also woke up, took the bowl from Xu Hexiao, swallowed it without saying a word, then lay back down again, saying in a half-dead tone, "I have lived for most of my life, and even in the most difficult times, I have never been so miserable."

Lao Yi agreed with his words very much, "Who isn't?"

Old Fu turned his head to look at Xu Hexiao, "Young man, I see that you are doing well, can you give us a hand? If nothing else, you can give us some salt and oil, and teach us to recognize the wild vegetables nearby."

Xu Hexiao did not respond, but looked at the two old men solemnly. In just a few days, the white hair on their heads had become a lot whiter than when they first met.

During these few days, those who seemed optimistic in front of him were probably also extremely miserable in their hearts.

Xu Hexiao pursed his lips. He thought of his grandfather. When he first moved into the cowshed, his grandfather was like this. He seemed optimistic on the surface, but his hair turned completely white in just one month.

"Wait, I'll go back and get you some oil and salt."

As soon as Xu Hexiao left, Lao Yi narrowed his eyes, "He has become soft-hearted."

"This morning I asked a team member, and he said Xu Hexiao had a grandfather who depended on him for everything." Old Fu said meaningfully, "Perhaps his grandfather is a starting point."

"It's not very fair to take advantage of the people you've lost." Old Yi sighed, "But in order to survive, we have no choice."

Old Fu was not embarrassed at all. "Teach him well, it will be mutually beneficial. Give him everything we three have, and never let him suffer any loss."

Lao Yi smiled bitterly, "I'm just afraid he doesn't want to learn."

"No." Old Fu said firmly, "He has a reluctance to give up and will never farm in this small mountain village for the rest of his life. He wants to go out and learn about the outside world, and he needs us to do that."

Xu Hexiao took a can of salt and a bowl of oil, lard. Before leaving, he thought for a moment and took the bag of sweet potatoes in the corner and the vegetables he picked from Lin Qi's yard this morning.

Xu Hexiao came in again. Lao Yi and Lao Fu were lying on the bed without moving. When they saw what he was holding, their eyes lit up with green light.

"Put the things here and you can take care of them yourselves." Xu Hexiao put the things down, turned around and walked outside. The autumn harvest was still going on and he had to go back to work.

As soon as Xu Hexiao left, Lao Yi and Lao Fu got up. They first poured themselves a bowl of water, added a spoonful of salt to the water, stirred it twice with chopsticks, and then drank it down in one gulp.

"I'll go make a fire and boil water, and you go wash the vegetables and peel the sweet potatoes." said Lao Yi.

"Okay." Lao Fu went to get the vegetables, his eyes moistened. They hadn't eaten vegetables for a few days. After getting the vegetables, he looked at the things in the bag again. "Wow, what a big sweet potato, almost as big as Lao Bi's head."

"So big?" Lao Yi asked in surprise. Lao Bi's head was generally recognized to be big.

"Well, they're very big and evenly distributed. This bag of sweet potatoes will barely be enough to get us through this autumn harvest." Old Fu felt a lot more at ease.

Lao Yi and Lao Fu both fainted, and Lao Bi was unable to hold on until the end of the workday. Not long after Lao Yi and Lao Fu collapsed, he also became so hungry that his eyes were blurry and he was on the verge of collapse.

Seeing that his face was pale, his legs were trembling, and he looked like he would collapse at any time, the captain waved his hand and said, "You should go back too. The three of you should remember to come to work on time tomorrow morning."

Lao Bi responded randomly, relying entirely on his strong willpower to support his body.

I don’t know if Lao Yi and Lao Fu have cooked anything to eat. If he doesn’t eat something, he will probably be the first person in their village to starve to death.

Lao Bi used all his strength to walk back to the outside of the hut, but before he could step into the door, he collapsed.

"Old Yi——"

"Old Fu——"

Lao Bi shouted in a hoarse voice.

Lao Yi and Lao Fu, who were eating, looked at each other, then walked out with their bowls.

"Lao Bi!"

The two men panicked and hurriedly used one hand to support Lao Bi, and dragged him back to the straw hut with great difficulty.

"What smells so good?" Lao Bi stared at the thing on the small wooden table. It was not green at all! It had oil foam!

Lao Yi served Lao Bi a bowl of soup. "We asked Xu Hexiao for some oil and salt, and he gave us some extra vegetables and sweet potatoes."

Lao Bi took the soup and drank it all in one gulp without asking any more questions.

After drinking a bowl of soup, he felt a lot more relaxed.

Lao Yi took his bowl and served him a bowl of mixed grain rice with sweet potatoes and corn, with sweet potatoes accounting for the majority. "The sweet potatoes that Xu Hexiao brought are especially delicious. You should try them."

Lao Bi took the bowl and put the rice directly into his mouth, wolfing it down.

"The vegetables he brought are not bad either." Old Fu put some vegetables into Old Bi's bowl.

Lao Bi ate without raising his head, his mouth full, and swallowed the food in two gulps.

After finishing a bowl, Lao Bi Yan Kuan was full of tears, "Delicious, so delicious! Another bowl!"

This was the best meal he had had in three months.

On the morning of the second day after the autumn harvest, the team leader found Lin Qi and asked in a measured tone, "Go get some meat for everyone?"

"Are these opinions raised by everyone, or are they just your thoughts, Captain?" Lin Qi said faintly.

"What do you think?" the captain asked back.

Lin Qi nodded, "Got it. We won't have enough time for lunch, so let's have dinner. I'll make some fish for everyone."

The captain got Lin Qi's approval and immediately went to tell the team members, "Lin Qi said that we will have fish tonight. Everyone should have dinner in the cafeteria tonight."

As soon as the captain finished speaking, all the members of the Anliang Brigade showed joy on their faces, and the children were so happy that they danced and cheered loudly.

Lao Yi, Lao Fu and Lao Bi looked at the Anliang Brigade members who were as happy as if it were New Year, with a confused look on their faces.

Lao Yi: "Who is that Lin Qi? Is she a man or a woman? If he says he wants to eat fish, then he should eat fish?"

Lao Fu: "Let's go ask around later."

Lao Bi: "The cafeteria is open for dinner, so we can go eat there, right?"

Lao Fu: "I think so. I have to ask about this as well."

Lin Qi didn't go to work. She went to Xu Hexiao's house, prepared lunch for him, and then went into the mountains.

Brother Tan is still in the countryside. She has no place to sell the fish in her pond. The big ones have grown to 20 kilograms. It's just a two-acre pond, but there are tens of thousands of kilograms of fish in it. If she doesn't reduce the amount, these fish will die of lack of oxygen.

It's not just the fish in the pond, the rats in her planting area are about to become an infestation again.

Lin Qi thought about it. First, let the team members eat fish for a day, then eat mice, then eat fish again, then eat sow meat, then eat fish again, and then pheasant and rabbit...

Her current plan is to reduce the number of fish in the pond to about 20,000 kilograms.

She can carry out 400 kilograms at a time, and 800 kilograms a day. The fish alone is enough for the members of the Anliang Brigade to eat for more than ten to twenty days.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Lin Qi picked out two baskets of fish from the mountains.

"There are still some in the mountains. You can deal with them first." Lin Qi said to the two chefs.

"Can you finish it by yourself? Do you want us to help?" asked the chef.

"Yes. About two baskets." Lin Qi poured out the fish and carried the baskets back to the mountain.

As soon as Lin Qi left, the two chefs looked at the more than ten or twenty kilograms of fish in the basin. They could no longer suppress the horror in their hearts. The two men in their fifties exclaimed in succession.

"Where did she get so many big fish!"

"She catches fish from the mountains every year. Logically, the fish should get smaller and smaller, but this year they are bigger than ever before! A fish this big must take at least three or four years to grow!"

"If you're so curious, why didn't you ask just now?"

"Aren't you curious? Why don't you ask?"

"I don't dare."

"If you don't dare, then I will?"

"Okay, stop talking nonsense and think about how to eat these fish."

"Without oil, what else can we eat! A fish stew, add more seasonings, a fish soup, to nourish everyone's body."

At four o'clock, Lin Qi came back with two baskets of fish. She put the fish down and said to the two chefs, "I'm going to go back first. When Xu Hexiao comes to serve the food, give me two more fish heads."

"No problem." The chef agreed repeatedly. Not to mention two, he planned to give four.

They had just weighed it, and there were a total of 900 kilograms of fish, enough for the entire Anliang Brigade to eat.

"Is this the quantity for one day, or does it include tomorrow?" the chef asked.

"This is today's portion. We'll eat something else tomorrow." Lin Qi said.

"Okay!" The two chefs narrowed their eyes and smiled.

After the sun went down, the team members worked for another hour. During this hour, they frequently looked towards the canteen. The team leader looked at this scene and helplessly held his forehead, "Well, no one has the heart to work anymore."

"How about we stop working and ring the gong half an hour earlier tomorrow morning?" suggested the deputy captain.

"Okay." said the captain, walked to the gong and struck it hard.