Fortunately, Tian Tian had participated in a snowball fight when she was in college in her previous life, so she was not knocked down by Shen Lingling and even had the ability to fight back.
“Hehehe!” Shen Lingling smiled innocently and touched the back of her head. “I’ve seen my brother and his friends playing snowball fights like this before. It was quite interesting.”
Tian Tian was speechless. Instead of learning good things, she learned these bad things and even thought that war was interesting.
The two of them rested for a while, but they couldn't stand the cold lying on the ice anymore, so they decided to go back to Tian Tian's home together.
On the way back, Shen Lingling was still chattering with Tian Tian about her daily life at school, and Tian Tian listened with envy.
When passing by the cowshed on the way home, Tian Tian saw Gu Zhaoguang standing on the ladder and sweeping the snow above the cowshed, while Gu Xingshu and Song Zhengang were cleaning the cowshed.
Gu Xingshu might have caught a cold. While rubbing the cow dung outside, he was coughing so violently that it felt like his lungs were about to be coughed out.
Gu Zhao stood on the ladder and looked down worriedly. Because he had discovered Tian Tian and Shen Lingling early, and the people around were all sweeping snow in the yard, he couldn't show too much worry about his grandfather. He could only push the snow on the shed to the ground mechanically with a restless mind.
Tian Tian quickly pulled Shen Lingling and took two quick steps. As they walked, she thought about Gu Xingshu's condition. He seemed to be seriously ill. In addition, the weather was cold now, and she didn't know if they could hold on until spring.
Tian Tian had no ill feelings towards Gu Xingshu, and she also wanted to save Gu Xingshu's life as much as possible while protecting her own life.
She always admires and respects her university teachers.
Tian Tian decided in her heart that she would secretly give him some cold medicine at night when no one was around, and then she quickly took Shen Lingling back home.
As soon as you enter the yard, you can smell the aroma of barbecue.
"It smells so good! Are you cooking meat at home?" Shen Lingling said as she was about to say goodbye to Tian Tian and go home.
If Tian Tian's family really stewed meat, she would not be able to stay here any longer.
"No way?" Tian Tian was a little puzzled. Her two chickens were pecking at food in the yard.
Could it be that her father and her second uncle went up the mountain and picked up some frozen pheasants?
Tian Tian pulled Shen Lingling into the kitchen with anticipation, but was disappointed to see Tian Mu and Tian Zhuo squatting in front of the brazier roasting sparrows and Yangla pots.
Looking at the sparrows and cans surrounding the brazier, Tian Tian was disappointed but curious. "Where did you two catch so many sparrows? Did grandma give you millet?"
Since the elimination of the four pests a few years ago, sparrows have become extra clever and are not easily fooled. Only in winter can a few sparrows be caught with millet. Normally, they cannot be caught at all when there is plenty of food.
Tian Mu and Tian Zhuo had only been out for the whole morning, but they had already caught so many sparrows that they placed them in a circle around the brazier.
Even the Yangla cans were roasted with holes cut into them and placed on the sides.
"These sparrows were frozen to death. Tian Zhuo and I are just responsible for picking them up!" Tian Mu said happily.
Tian Zhuo nodded and said, "Many sparrows were buried in the snow. My brother and I dug them out!"
When they went to look for Yang Laguaner on the branches today, they happened to see a lot of sparrows that had frozen stiff and fallen into the snow and were buried in the snow.
They started digging snow to look for sparrows and found a lot of them. Then they came back with so many sparrows.
After hearing this, Shen Lingling also became eager to try. Ever since they caught the four pests, the number of sparrows in their area has been very small. They could only catch a few to roast and satisfy their cravings each time, or they could dig out a few frozen sparrows from under the eaves of their own houses. However, they had never had the experience of catching so many sparrows and eating them as soon as they saw them, like Tian Mu and his friends.
"Where did you pick up these sparrows?" Shen Lingling asked.
"A lot of sparrows froze to death in the grove at the foot of the mountain!" said Tian Zhuo, but he and his brother picked them all up.
After hearing this, Shen Lingling hurriedly said goodbye to Tian Tian and prepared to call her brother to see if she could find any more sparrows.
In this age of material scarcity, a small roasted sparrow is a rare delicacy.
After Shen Lingling left, Tian Tian squatted in front of the brazier and picked at the circle of roasted sparrows on top. The sparrows had somehow become so plump from all the food they ate, with circles of oil on their undersides and their two little paws roasted till golden brown.
"Sister! Come and try one!" Tian Zhuo picked out a roasted sparrow and handed it to Tian Tian.
Seeing so many roasted sparrows, Tian Tian didn't worry that the two of them wouldn't have enough to eat. She took the roasted sparrow without hesitation and ate it bite by bite.
The taste of roasted sparrows is really good, probably because of their small size. Even if they are simply sprinkled with some salt, they still taste very flavorful and the meat is very fresh.
Parts like the tips of the wings and the little claws are roasted until crispy and taste particularly fragrant.
Tian Tian ate several sparrows in succession before stopping.
She reached out to wipe the greasy Maha's mouth, and said with some regret: "Next time you go out to pick up sparrows, don't forget to take me with you!"
Tian Zhuo carefully divided and packed up everyone's sparrows, and then he took his own roasted sparrows and ate them in small bites. "Okay! Sister is an adult, she must have caught more sparrows than the two of us."
It snowed heavily last night. It might not be a big deal for Tian Tian, but for Tian Zhuo and Tian Mu, it was a bit difficult to walk in the snow.
After the two brothers finished their own roasted sparrows, they saved two portions of the remaining roasted sparrows and prepared to give them to Old Lady Tian, Lin Meiyu, and Chen Guihua.
Lin Meiyu and Old Lady Tian were sleeping soundly on the kang, so Tian Zhuo placed the roasted sparrows next to them, then returned to the brazier and ate from the can.
Tian Tian had been stung by Yang Lazi before, and had a bad impression of Yang Laguaner. She didn't dare to eat it, so she fled from this place with the fragrant smell of meat and returned to her warm little house.
When everyone started cooking in the afternoon, Tian Tian packed some cough and cold medicine separately, put them in her pocket, sneaked around to the back of the cowshed, threw them in when no one was around, and then quickly trotted away.
Time soon came to the end of December, and the team began to organize everyone to slaughter pigs.
Tian Tian had just finished her breakfast in the morning and she went over with a big basin to draw lots for the pork.
Her signing this time wasn’t as good as last year’s, but it wasn’t bad either, as she drew seven.
She lined up according to her number to get her share of the pork, and watched Gu Zhaozheng busying around with her father Tian Lisong.
She was a little speechless, wondering how this Gu Zhao did it. He used to be brothers with her eldest brother Tian Yuan, and now he was helping her father. It seemed that her father liked this Gu Zhao very much. A few days ago, she even saw this Gu Zhao interacting with his two younger brothers. She didn't know what kind of magic power Gu Zhao had.
When it was Tian Tian's turn, Tian Tian did not ask for as much pork as last year. Instead, she asked for five pounds of pork fat and three pounds of pork belly.
Tian Tian didn't know why she asked for so little this time. To be honest, the work points their family earned this year were more than last year, and the two pigs were not small, so they could obviously ask for more meat, but Old Mrs. Tian only asked for this much.
Tian Tian looked at the look on Old Lady Tian's face when she asked for a few pounds of meat. If Tian Mu and Chen Guihua hadn't been discussing what meat to eat in the evening, Old Lady Tian would probably have only asked for one pound of pork belly.
However, their family did spend a lot of money this year. Just for Tian Mu and Tian Zhuo's schooling, plus various tuition and miscellaneous fees, it cost nearly five hundred yuan, which is basically half a year's income for a rural family like them.
No wonder people nowadays are reluctant to send their children to school. Firstly, they don’t have the money, and secondly, they really don’t know the importance of studying.
Tian Tian selected the meat and went to the side to register the weight and portion of the meat.
The work points required for each part of meat are different. For example, fat meat requires more work points, while bones require fewer work points.
Tian Tian originally wanted to take the meat home, but was stopped by Tian Lilin, who came to help slaughter the pig early in the morning. Tian Lilin handed her two pig's trotters and a pig's tail.
"This is what was given to me when the pig was slaughtered today. You can take it home with you, and then tell your grandma that there should be a small wheel of blood sausage left, and take it back when I get back." Tian Lilin said.
Tian Tian held the basin, nodded, carefully walked around the bloodstains on the ground, and walked home with the meat.
There were many people taking meat home on the road. Tian Tian saw one in front of her. Although she was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket, one could still see her slim figure.
Tian Tian recognized that person. The person walking in front of her was the widow from the east end of the village that everyone was talking about, Gao Linlin.
When Tian Tian was delivering meals to everyone in the fields during the autumn harvest this year, she could often be seen resting on the side, making her already bad reputation even worse. Everyone said that she was not only hooking up with men, but also being lazy during such an important time as the autumn harvest.
Tian Tian did not have any ill feelings towards her, because she knew that Gao Linlin really had no other choice. If she could live in another way, she believed that Gao Linlin would definitely not choose to do so and bear the infamy of everyone.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
