Chapter 6: General Camel Since you are from the General's Mansion, then you...
After the pleasantries were over, Mother Liu invited the guests to have a simple meal. Butler Zhao thanked them politely, patted Brother Liu's head, and gave Liu Yeshu a deep look before saying, "I still have things to do at the mansion. No need to bother you."
Upon hearing this, Mr. Liu knew that the guest did not want to stay long, so he led the guest out and sent him to the village entrance before returning, being very polite.
"Dad, did Uncle Zhao come here this time with any news about the master's family?" Liu Di couldn't help but ask. This was the biggest possibility he could think of.
Father Liu smiled bitterly and said, "How can it be so fast?" Pointing to the kitchen, he said, "Go and take a look, and you'll know."
Curious about what was going on, Liu Yeshu strode into the kitchen, stirring up a layer of dust from the rough earthen bricks. The room hadn't been cleaned yet; only a faint ray of light slanted in through the small window, barely illuminating the stove. On the stove sat two baskets, presumably containing food brought by Butler Zhao.
Are you here just to deliver food?
The kitchen had a back door, its panels mottled by years of weathering, the paint peeling off, revealing the dark wood grain. Dust and tiny leaves accumulated in the cracks between the doors. Liu Di helped push it open, hoping to get a better look at what was in the basket.
The sunlight and dust swung in together. It turned out that there were two baskets on the stove. One contained eggs, about twenty of them, and the other was full of meat.
"So much pork!" Liu Di's eyes suddenly widened, his mouth slightly opened in disbelief, and then his face showed heartache, "If I had known, I wouldn't buy meat at the market..." If he hadn't been greedy and lingered in front of the pork stall, he wouldn't have wasted those copper coins.
Liu Yeshu laughed and said, "This is not pork."
Under the light, the meat was dark red, not the usual light pink color of pork. She leaned over and sniffed, a faint smell of mutton lingering around her nose.
"It's mutton." Liu Yeshu concluded, and then became a little excited, "Brother, you didn't get many sips of mutton soup on the way before, this time you can drink as much as you want."
Liu Di nodded his head like a rattle, in a good mood, and walked to the back door to stretch.
“Eh—what is this?”
Before Liu Yeshu could react, Liu Di rushed out like a whirlwind, pointing to the kitchen and speaking incoherently with excitement. In the courtyard, Liu's father was whispering to Liu's mother. Seeing Liu Di's expression, he smiled and patted his son's shoulder: "Did you see it?"
Liu Yeshu was puzzled. She looked out the back door and saw, as the system had predicted, a rather large vegetable patch. It had been abandoned for a long time, the once neat furrows now covered in weeds. The dry, cracked soil exuded a stale, long-unturned smell, and the cracks resembled countless tiny wounds.
Stones were scattered on the ground, and there were a few broken pottery jars and wooden stakes around them.
And on this wooden stake, there was actually a tall camel tied!
The camel's front hooves were pacing slowly in place, occasionally lowering its head to nibble on a few tufts of dry and yellow weeds on the ground. Its nostrils were flaring, and it made a low hum from time to time, as if it was a little impatient with the small yard.
Even Liu Yeshu was so shocked that she covered her mouth.
Whether in her previous life or here, this was the first time she saw a living camel.
As if it didn't notice Liu Yeshu's existence, the camel had its eyes half closed, its two humps stood tall, its light yellow hair was fluffy and thick, and occasionally a breeze blew, the tips of its hair swayed gently, and its expression was leisurely.
"The Qi family lent us their camels." Father Liu's voice sounded from behind him. "Camels can carry things and are more convenient for travel."
Liu Yeshu felt that her father had only said half of his words, and seemed to be still thinking about whether to say it or not. She turned her head and took a look.
"If there is nothing else in the future, let's not trouble the Qi Mansion anymore."
*
At noon, Liu's mother was about to go to the stove to cook, but she saw Liu Yeshu staring at the basket of eggs in a daze.
"What are you thinking about?"
Liu Yeshu walked to the basket, held up an egg, and looked at it carefully in the light coming in from the back door.
Although it was dim in the room, the light from outside allowed her to identify whether there was an obvious embryo or blood inside the egg. Eggs with black shadows or blood inside were fertilized eggs that could be hatched.
"Mom, let's pick out a few eggs and hatch chicks. Then we won't have to worry about having eggs to eat in the future."
Mother Liu became interested after hearing this, but then frowned again: "But we don't have a hen, how are we going to hatch it?"
"Mom, let's pick one first. There's always a way. If it doesn't work, I can borrow a hen from the neighbor."
"Oh!" Although she was still hesitant, Mother Liu still helped her daughter pick the items.
Liu Yeshu picked up an egg and compared it to the previous one. "This one is not good. The shell is thin and has cracks. The eggs that can hatch chicks have a slightly darker shell and have tiny spots."
Then he picked up another one, shook it gently, and put it close to his ear: "You can actually tell by the sound. The sound of scattered yellow is different."
Finally, about ten eggs were picked from the basket.
Liu Yeshu put the remaining eggs in the cupboard and, carrying the basket of carefully selected eggs, prepared to return to the house next door. They had chickens next door, and she knocked on the door, but no one opened it. But Liu Yeshu remembered that when her father was seeing off the guests, the door to the house next door had been quickly closed, so someone must have been there.
She waited for a while, but didn't know the name of the woman next door, so she opened her mouth but didn't call out.
Back next door, Liu Yeshu frowned, feeling troubled. The traditional method of incubation was to use the hen's body temperature, but in the current environment, she had to try other methods.
Using a kang? Using a clay pot? It wasn't spring yet, so it was difficult to maintain the temperature and humidity. Liu Yeshu couldn't possibly watch over these eggs all day long.
She stared at the eggs in front of her, feeling a little anxious, as if she wanted to ripen them with her eyes.
[Host, a friendly reminder, eggs can also be hatched through the system! ]
"Oh? What are the requirements?"
A transparent pop-up window shows that it takes 20 points to hatch an egg.
That's only enough to hatch five eggs, which is still not enough.
[Host, don't lose this chicken. Once you lose it, it will never come back.] The system began to secretly promote it.
“…”
"I've made up my mind."
[Host, do you want to exchange 100 points for the opportunity to hatch? ]
Hearing this sound, the system seemed a little excited. Liu Yeshu curled her lips and said, "No, I want to use the opportunity of unconditionally nurturing the seeds."
System: ...Huh?
"Eggs are also considered the 'seeds' of life, right? Ten eggs, please, thank you."
The system trembled. This was indeed not against the rules. It was just that I had never seen anyone operate this way before.
Noticing the system hadn't spoken for a while, Liu Yeshu asked with concern, "Is it not frozen?"
In my mind, the system's weak voice immediately came -
[Host, the seeds you selected are of very good quality, so theoretically, the chickens won't die.]
[Already redeemed.]
*
After lunch, Liu Yeshu felt sleepy and went back to her room to take a nap. Half asleep and half awake, she heard a knock on the door next door. Liu Yeshu opened the door and looked out. It was Li Bufan.
Manager Li also saw her and waved at her, thinking that this little girl was really pretty.
"Your parents are not here?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Father Liu opened the door. Steward Li slipped in sideways and the door closed again.
Liu Yeshu didn't go into the house, but sat on the doorstep to wake herself from sleep. Butler Zhao had gone out that morning and had seen quite a few neighbors, so it was normal for this to reach Butler Li's ears.
Less than a cup of tea later, the door next door opened and Father Liu was holding something to give to Manager Li. Li Bufan said "No, I don't want it" but his face showed confidence.
Seeing clearly, it was two pieces of mutton, all the mutton in the basket outside the kitchen. Liu Yeshu was glad that she had put half of it in the food cabinet along with the remaining eggs.
After pushing and shoving twice, Father Liu said, "This was sent from the east of the city. We have been in exile all the way, and our intestines can't stand the smell of meat."
Li Bufan took it down the stairs, grinning as he added, "I know you have a close relationship with the east city. Which official is it? If you have any problems in the future, come to the village to find me."
"Then I'll trouble you, Manager Li." Father Liu thanked him and pretended not to understand the meaning of the rhetoric.
When Liu Yeshu heard this, she stood up and closed the door.
"Sister, who is it?"
Liu Di had just woken up and heard some noise outside in a daze.
"The wolf from the west of the city."
Liu Yeshu sighed lightly and went into the house.
In the afternoon, Liu Di and Liu Fu went to chop firewood as usual. Liu Yeshu stayed at home, thinking about tidying up the vegetable garden as soon as possible, so that when spring comes, he can buy some vegetable seeds and the family will no longer have to go to the market to buy vegetables.
Changing into old clothes and rolling up her sleeves, Liu Yeshu cleared the remaining stones and withered plant debris, piling them at the edge of the field. Picking up her hoe, she began clearing the overgrown weeds. With each stroke, she uprooted the weeds, piling them into small piles. Bending down, she pulled out the stubborn roots one by one, her fingertips stained with moist soil.
[Congratulations to the host for completing today's task, and reward 5 points! ]
"Don't mention it, it's quite a sense of accomplishment."
The cracked soil also needs to be turned over. When the hoe is dug, the hard clods of soil are broken down into loose pieces, and the tiny cracks are slowly filled.
She went back to drink some water, and when she came back to look again, she realized that after working for so long, she had only dug such a small area, and two-thirds of the land was still left to be dug.
Her eyes swept over the soft soil, she squatted down, and gently drew several straight lines on the ground with a wooden stick, carefully marking each area.
"Let's plant some chives here," she whispered to herself, her finger drawing a small circle around the area closest to the kitchen. "Chives are hardy and easy to grow. We can harvest a few crops in early spring. They're perfect for making dumplings."
His gaze shifted to the center of the vegetable patch, where the sun was shining the most. Liu Yeshu used a wooden stick to carve several wide furrows in the ground. "This patch is perfect for growing cabbage and radishes. The cabbage can be stored for the winter, and the radishes can be pickled and eaten during the winter."
On the other side, she pointed to a slightly shady spot in the corner and said, "Let's plant some garlic sprouts and green onions here. They can be used in daily cooking. The garlic sprouts can also grow into garlic bulbs, so we can kill two birds with one stone when it's time to harvest."
When she stood up again, she felt a little dizzy. The journey of exile had damaged her body's foundation, and even after taking the tonic, her Qi and blood were still severely depleted.
The camel next door was still leisurely and contented, snorting from time to time. She walked over, picked up a handful of hay from the haystack next to it, handed it to the camel's mouth, and scooped a bucket of clear water from the bucket and poured it into the stone trough.
"Drink it. Once you've finished, I'll continue working on my vegetable garden. But first, I want to make sure you don't destroy my vegetables."
The camel's ears moved, and Liu Yeshu felt that it understood.
"Let me give you a name," Liu Yeshu looked into the camel's eyes and gently stroked the hair on its back.
"Since you are from the General's Mansion, you can be called General from now on."
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