After entering the county town, everyone accompanied Miao to the grain store first.
A dou of new rice costs 60 wen, a dou of millet costs 40 wen, and a dou of soybeans costs 50 wen… If it is last year’s old rice, it can be cheaper by 2 wen. Now, in Miao’s opinion, it is not expensive.
But she was concerned about the many villagers who came with her, so she didn't want to show off her wealth. So she only bought two dan of old millet, two dou of new rice, and one dan of rice bran.
As the saying goes, wild boars can't eat fine bran. This is true. For wild boars, whether you use good grain or rice bran to lure them, the effect is almost the same. They are not picky! Just mix the stone rice bran with some old corn, and it will be enough to make bait. The rest is still prepared for Shen Qing to take to the end of the world, and the two buckets of new rice are kept for their own consumption.
In fact, Miao wanted to buy a lot more! After eating the bean curd at the village head's house last time, she also wanted to buy some red beans and honey to make it. To make bean curd, you need to add some glutinous rice flour to make it sticky and delicious. When it's cold, you can make dumplings and put them in the yard. They will freeze in a short time. You can eat them anytime you want, which is very convenient. Doesn't this require buying more white flour?
But with so many eyes watching her, how could she dare to buy it! Miao sighed and reluctantly withdrew her gaze. She realized more deeply that she had to stand up as soon as possible, even if she had to force herself.
Miao had already noticed that since Qing Ge'er came into contact with that world, he had gained not only wealth, but also rapid growth. If she could not keep up with Qing Ge'er and stayed where she was, she would not only be a helper to Qing Ge'er, but might even become a burden to him.
Qing'er has finally been blessed by God to have where he is today, how can I, as his mother, bear to hold him back!
If she lived in the city, the store would deliver the grains to her door for free: one dan equals ten dou, which is about 150 jin. Miao bought so much grains and spent more than a guan, which was a big deal. However, Lantang Village was outside the city, much farther away than the city, and the road was not easy to walk. Miao had to give the clerk an extra five coins before he agreed to deliver the grains.
Aunt Guixiang felt distressed when she heard this: "Why do we have to pay for this? Otherwise, we can just pile the food on our mule cart and let the mule carry the food on the way back, and we can just walk back by ourselves. It's not far."
"It's alright." Miao waved her hand. "We finally came to the city. Don't we have to buy some New Year's goods? Are we going to walk around underground with our things in our arms? This little money will be used as a reserve for the wild boar meat."
"Hey, the money for buying grain is also used to advance the money for wild boar meat, and the money for the cart is also used to advance the money for wild boar meat. We haven't even got the pig yet, but you have already advanced all the meat." Second Aunt Lian laughed, but this also showed that Miao was really confident that Shen Qing could kill the wild boar.
After a few jokes, a group of women and husbands started to walk around the county town. Although there would be a big market near the village before the New Year, the things in the market were inferior to those in the county town. Since they had come here with great difficulty, they naturally had to pick out the things they liked and buy some.
Miao did not buy anything else. Shen Qing was a little slow in dealing with matters between men and women, but Miao was not. She gradually realized something was wrong: Wu Guixiang always let her youngest son show his affection to her!
If you say that everyone who came in a car was an aunt or uncle, right? But as soon as she told him what she wanted to buy, Wu Guixiang asked her youngest son to help her carry it, which was obviously different from how she treated others. This made Miao hesitate: Before, when she was at the old Shen family, if someone came to propose marriage to Qing Ge'er, as long as he was a man with a neat face, she would be moved to tears: Qing Ge'er was already nineteen years old, and her biggest worry every day was that the child would not be able to get married when he reached the age.
Not to mention that Zhao Shuanzi is the son of the village chief!
What kind of family is the village chief? He is the most powerful official in the village! What kind of life did she and Qing'er live? It is no exaggeration to say that they fell into the mud and soaked in bitter water! If Zhao Shuanzi was willing to marry Qing'er, it would be to pull Qing'er out of the bitter water. She wanted to thank the village chief for eight generations! But now...
Miao stole a glance at Wu Guixiang's youngest son. It was strange to say that Qing'er was only 19 years old, and he was already too young to have a chance. And the other party was also the child of the village chief. She couldn't say that she looked down on Zhao Shuan, but she was unwilling in her heart!
After thinking about it, Miao could only blame Qing Ge'er for having too big a secret, and it was not convenient to talk about marriage for the time being. Moreover, in this world, men and women always pay attention to the strong and the weak, the inside and the outside, and the tension and relaxation. A man must be able to subdue the person in the house, so that the family will be peaceful. As far as Miao knew, Shen Qing had beaten Zhao Shuanzi several times when he was a child, and Zhao Shuanzi could not subdue Qing Ge'er at all. The two of them were not suitable!
After thinking this through, Miao naturally distanced herself from Zhao Shuan. She and Wu Guixiang had just gotten closer recently, and she didn't want to make things worse because of this. Fortunately, Zhao Shuan didn't seem too happy about it either, and despite Aunt Guixiang's repeated urging, he was still not very enthusiastic.
"No need to help me get it. Good boy, just watch the mule cart and make sure no one takes our mule away." Miao quickly put the woolen blue cloth back on the counter and said to Aunt Guixiang, "How can I afford woolen blue cloth? I just look at it and touch it, and that's enough for me. When I have money, I will make one for my son Qing."
"That's right. How can we always take the meat from wild boars in advance?" Aunt Lian smiled. She chose a piece of bright red fine cotton cloth. The shops in this city dyed the color just right! Aunt Lian's younger brother just had a boy. This piece of cloth would be good for making small clothes or quilts during the New Year. It would be a New Year gift for my mother's family. After thinking for a while, she said, "I don't know how many wild boars there are on the mountain? If there are many, how much would they sell for? You will be able to afford this woolen blue cloth sooner or later."
Who could know? Not even Shen Qing knew. The few of them hoped for more wild boars, but also feared that there would be too many wild boars: more wild boars meant more money could be made from selling them later, so the food they bought with one tael of silver would not be wasted. But if there were too many, they were afraid that Shen Qing would not be able to control them and get into danger.
The group bought a lot of things and returned to the village talking and laughing. The villagers were not so excited that they just regarded it as a rare event: it was not that they had never seen grain carts from the grain store before, but they had only seen grain carts taking grain away from the village. When had they ever seen grain carts being brought into the village?
"This guy is a guy, he never stops making a fool of himself." Several men gathered together and muttered. The wild boar was nowhere to be found, but he was swearing in front of the village chief and going to the city to buy food. He was jumping around like a bad guy. They didn't believe that Shen Qing could really kill all the wild boars. They could just keep the bran for themselves and see how long it would take!
Shen Qing didn't bother to care what they thought. He would slap them in the face today or tomorrow! Shen Qing carried a stone of bran mixed with a stone of old corn three times before he could carry it all up the mountain. He evenly scattered it in the traps that had been set up, and also took the dry food and water bag prepared by Miao: "Mother, as long as you hear the sound of gunfire in the mountains, send someone to the mountain to meet me in an hour. Or send someone to pass the message to my uncle's house, or ask the village chief and Aunt Lian's family for help. Everyone who comes to help will be given five pounds of meat!"
Miao didn't know what a gunshot sounded like, and Shen Qing had never fired a gun here before. After thinking for a long time, he described it: "It sounds a bit like firecrackers, and also a bit like thunder, but I installed a silencer, so the sound is not so crisp, it's a bit muffled. You just hear a series of these noises."
Once the wild boars are trapped, he must quickly kill them all in a very short time.
Killing wild boars is no problem if you have a gun, but if Shen Qing had to carry a group of wild boars down the mountain one by one, he would be exhausted! An adult wild boar weighs three or four hundred pounds, and two strong men may not be able to lift it.
Logically, this matter should be reported to the village chief's family. This wild boar is a big deal in the village, and it is also close. But thinking of Aunt Guixiang's behavior today, Miao was a little hesitant and didn't want to have too much contact with the village chief's family for the time being: if this was not said, they could still pretend to be confused. If Wu Guixiang mentioned it to her in excitement, she really didn't know how to refuse. The only solution now was to avoid Wu Guixiang.
After thinking it over again, Miao said with difficulty: "I'd better have someone pass a message to your uncle and ask them to bring your cousins over. Our family earned these five pounds of meat, and it's good for us to keep it within the family. No one can complain."
After a pause, Miao asked again, "Today your aunt Guixiang asked her daughter Shuanzi to drive us to the county. Shuanzi has grown up now. What do you think of him now?"
"He's better than when he was a child. He doesn't do anything naughty on his own initiative. Although he still looks annoying, he doesn't bother me, and I won't do anything to him for Aunt Guixiang's sake." Shen Qing thought about it seriously: "If he was like he is now when he was a child, and was more honest, I wouldn't be able to beat him so many times." After all, he is the son of the village chief. Shen Qing usually beats the dog according to the owner.
Miao actually knew the result long ago. Qing Ge'er couldn't have any thoughts about Zhao Shuanzi. She didn't know whether she was relieved or sighed: "Your Aunt Guixiang is very good to us. You must never beat Shuanzi again in the future."
Shen Qing hurriedly agreed and carried his things up the mountain. Miao sat in the room, thinking of what she had just said, and couldn't help thinking: Now she doesn't even want the boy from the village chief's family, and Qing Ge'er has such a temper. I don't know what kind of husband she will find in the future to be able to subdue him?
Miao's hand holding the teacup suddenly paused: Why do we have to find someone who can subdue Qing Ge'er? Why must a man be able to subdue Ge'er?
Shen Qing was lying on the trunk of a tree. The branches and leaves were dense, hiding his figure perfectly among the leaves.
He had been lying on the tree trunk for two hours. When he was hungry, he would eat a few bites of the dry food he brought with him. When he was thirsty, he tried his best to endure it. Only when he could not bear it any longer would he take a sip of water, for fear that he would have to go to the toilet.
This tree was on the path that wild boars had to pass through. According to Shen Qing's plan, a net had been set up under the tree, with a thick layer of old corn mixed with rice bran piled in the middle. The only gap had also been set up with a mechanism, and one end of the rope was held in Shen Qing's hand.
Being a hunter, the most important thing is patience. This is what the old hunter told Shen Qing back then. Even if it takes another two hours, he still has to be patient.
Fortunately, the wild boars did not keep Shen Qing waiting for long. After another half an hour, Shen Qing heard a noisy sound of footsteps. A group of wild boars walked out from the depths of the dense jungle and came to the big tree where Shen Qing was.
The sudden appearance of the circular net made the wild boars a little confused, and they did not pass through it quickly as usual. The leading wild boar approached and sniffed, and seemed to smell the aroma of food. It snorted a few times and stepped into the trap, happily feasting.
Following the leader's demonstration, the other wild boars relaxed their vigilance against this unprecedented circular net formation and filed in.
One, two, three... thirteen, fourteen. Shen Qing counted silently in his mind. When the last wild boar fell into the trap and fell into the delicious food, Shen Qing quietly pulled the rope.
At the entrance, the last piece of hemp rope net rose up, silently blocking the wild boars' final path. However, the wild boars, who were enjoying the delicious meal, had not noticed it at all.
Right now! Shen Qing picked up the gun in his hand and aimed at the wild boar leader first.
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