Wu Qiaoqiao's plan was to give some of the remaining fish, besides those used for making fish balls, to Liu Ming, and some to Zhang Jianjun. She also planned to make some dried fish for Liu Mengmeng and send it over. But after doing all that, it seemed like they didn't have enough fish at home.
Although she didn't have enough fish at home, Wu Qiaoqiao didn't plan to go to the village to buy more. Besides, there probably weren't any left at this point. She planned to see if she could catch some fish in the river in front of the village. If she couldn't find any, she might have to go to Hulu Marsh.
She hoped there would be some in the river, since she still had a task to complete. Before Liu Mingfeng and Feng Minghao left, she had already renovated the cellar, turning it into a combination of a cellar on one side and an ice cellar on the other, just waiting to store some betel nuts so that adults and children could stay cool in the summer.
After cleaning the fish, the next morning, Wu Qiaoqiao, along with Feng Mingyue and Feng Mingran, borrowed an oxcart from the village and began preparing to fetch ice from the river at the village entrance. She had checked early on and found that the ice in the river was already quite thick, making this the best time to go.
First, they spread a layer of straw on the oxcart, then led it to a section of the river farther from the village. Feng Mingran and Feng Mingyue then saw Wu Qiaoqiao take out a pair of specially made shoes. Sharp iron plates were tied to the bottom of the shoes, and then Wu Qiaoqiao put them on and glided across the river as if cutting tofu. After Wu Qiaoqiao reached the shore, Feng Mingran and Feng Mingyue saw that the ice on the river was divided into squares, as if someone had drawn a grid on it.
As the two men wondered how to break open and retrieve the ice, Wu Qiaoqiao took out an iron rod with a hook at the end. She then skillfully tapped a square of ice with the rod, and with a crack, the ice block fell off. She then used the hook on the rod to catch the ice block and pulled it towards the river. Once on the riverbank, Wu Qiaoqiao had Feng Mingyue and Feng Mingran take out ropes, attach them to the ice block, and pull it up. After it was up, they placed it on the oxcart and separated it with straw.
In this way, Wu Qiaoqiao and her brother Feng Mingran spent several days filling the ice cellar that Liu Mingfeng and Feng Minghao had dug. During this time, they also caught quite a few fish from the lake. Wu Qiaoqiao sent some to Liu Mingfu's family, a few to Zhang Jianjun's family, and the rest were smoked and mailed directly to Liu Mengmeng. After finishing this task, everyone finally rested and prepared for the New Year's food.
Because it was a joint effort by three families, the steaming of the flower-shaped steamed buns was always done at Liu Ercheng's house from the very beginning. For those few days, the fire in Liu Ercheng's stove was never turned off, as they steamed flower-shaped steamed buns, made bean buns, fried dough twists, fried dough sticks, and fried meatballs. The children in the family were so happy those days that they didn't eat a proper meal. They ate flower-shaped steamed buns on the day they steamed them, bean buns on the day they steamed them, and of course, they ate fried meatballs and fried dough twists.
It was tough on Lin Yuwei. It wasn't that she couldn't eat; she did eat, but she had to keep a close eye on the two little ones to prevent the older children from stuffing them with things they couldn't eat because they liked their younger siblings. Every time, if she wasn't careful, the two little ones' mouths would be stuffed full, forcing her to be constantly vigilant. As soon as she noticed, she would quickly remove the food from their mouths. After removing the taste-laden food, the two little ones would cry their hearts out. Those few days left Lin Yuwei completely overwhelmed.
Zhao Xiuxiang and her family were busy until the second day of the Lunar New Year. After their married daughter returned to her parents' home, they finally had a chance to rest. Of course, it wasn't just them; every family in the village was like this. However, some families who didn't care much about their daughters weren't as busy on the second day of the Lunar New Year.
While the women at home were busy, the men were not idle either. On the day they finished dividing the fish, Liu Yougen held a meeting and instructed Liu Sanqian to lead the militia and the strong laborers in the village to begin patrolling to prevent wild animals from coming down from the mountain.
They patrolled outside every night, even on New Year's Eve. But nothing had happened so far, so they inevitably became a little complacent. They even stopped patrolling after the fifth or sixth day of the Lunar New Year, but then, on the night of the eighth, something terrible happened.
Around 2:00 AM that day, Wu Qiaoqiao, who was sleeping in her room with Li Yuwei and their two children, suddenly heard a creaking, scratching sound coming from the courtyard gate. Puzzled, Wu Qiaoqiao got up, dressed, and went to investigate. After all, their families lived at the foot of the mountain, and she was worried that some large prey might have come down from there.
While Wu Qiaoqiao was getting dressed, Lin Yuwei was also woken up. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and asked Wu Qiaoqiao what was wrong. Wu Qiaoqiao told Lin Yuwei that she heard some noises outside the courtyard and she wanted to go out and see.
Just as Wu Qiaoqiao was speaking, they suddenly heard a thud from the yard, as if something had fallen in. Wu Qiaoqiao and Lin Yuwei both heard the sound and, fearing that someone had broken in to steal something, Wu Qiaoqiao, who was already dressed, quickly went to the window and slowly pushed it open a crack to look outside.
It was this glance that made her expression change drastically, because she saw that a wolf had entered her yard, and there was a wolf's head on the yard wall.
Upon seeing this, Wu Qiaoqiao quickly turned around and took down two bows from the wall. These two bows belonged to her and Lin Yuwei. She also took down their quiver from the cabinet. They had made four quivers, each containing about 20 arrows. After taking down the quivers, Wu Qiaoqiao carried two quivers on her back and gave the other two quivers to Lin Yuwei. When Lin Yuwei saw Wu Qiaoqiao take the bows, she knew something was wrong. While Wu Qiaoqiao was taking the bows and arrows, Lin Yuwei quickly put on her clothes. As for the two children, she moved them closer to the bed and carefully wrapped them in a blanket.
After finishing all this, Lin Yuwei got out of bed, put on her shoes, and went to Wu Qiaoqiao's side by the window. Looking out through the crack in the window, she saw the wolf in the yard and another wolf climbing over the wall towards the inside. She quickly took the other bow from Wu Qiaoqiao and carried the two slings on her back. Seeing that Lin Yuwei was ready, Wu Qiaoqiao gestured to her, indicating that she should stay in the room and take care of the child, while Wu Qiaoqiao herself prepared to go out and check. After all, there were only a few houses in this row, and she needed to check if the other houses were safe. Lin Yuwei nodded in agreement.
However, before going, Wu Qiaoqiao still planned to wake up Zhao Xiuxiang and the others and gather them together, so that it would be safer with more people.
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