Chapter 135 Brothers' Daily Life: Homecoming, Dried Green Beans, and Off to Go Again...
Everyone got up early as usual in the morning, and after breakfast, they got to work.
It was still tree-cutting work. For three days in a row, everyone was sawing trees to clear the space for building houses.
Finally, at the site where the house was intended to be built, only low wooden stakes and grass roots remained on the ground. Next to them, there was a neatly stacked pile of thirty or forty pieces of wood, along with several thick branches, which would definitely be enough to build a wooden fence.
In the past few days, they have worn a small path down the mountain.
"We'll pack our things this morning and head back, then come back here again in two days."
"good."
After working for three whole days, Lai and his team were finally ready to leave.
The work took three days, but in fact, including travel time, it took more than three days. We spent one day traveling there, three days cutting down trees, and it would take most of the day to get back.
Neil must be getting impatient at home.
After returning home this time, Lai Yi and Yi Ru found a secluded and rain-sheltered cave and hid their saw, shovel, and tent canvas there before heading home lightly.
Rye drove the wagon, which carried Brian, Lamb, and others, along with some bags and pots and pans that needed to be taken back.
On the way back, everyone was noticeably more relaxed than when they came. After chatting for a while, they all fell asleep under the tarpaulin.
The reason they did this was because they were traveling in broad daylight. Firstly, the goblins were afraid of being seen by others and causing trouble for Lai; secondly, the sun was too strong, and the canvas could provide some shade from the direct sunlight.
The mule cart moved slowly and steadily, its wheels making a very soft sound on the dirt road—the perfect lullaby.
The people in the truck bed were snoring, and Ray felt like he was about to fall asleep.
Finally, the mule cart turned onto the dirt road leading back to the village, surrounded by familiar scenery.
After walking for about half an hour, Lai woke up the goblins who had been sleeping for a long time.
"What's wrong, Ray?"
"Iru asked in a hoarse voice, yawning widely.
"arrive."
"Huh? Ah!"
Iru was still a little dazed, but he quickly realized that they had arrived home and hurriedly greeted the goblins.
"There's no one around, so you can come out without worry."
"good."
One by one, the goblins emerged from under the canvas carrying their luggage. Lamb, who was fast asleep with his mouth open, was not awakened by the commotion.
"Give."
Lai handed the twenty silver coins, which he had already counted, to Iru.
"Hmm? Why did you give me too much?"
They had only worked for three days, and should normally have only earned fifteen silver coins. Iru didn't understand why Laido had given him five silver coins.
"You wasted a lot of time on the way here and there, so this extra silver coin is compensation for the delay."
The goblins looked at each other, puzzled but also very happy.
There's a saying that goes, "Who can resist gold coins?"
Iru knew how to build Laiyi's prestige among the goblins, and readily accepted Laiyi's kindness.
"We'll meet here again in two days, which is the day after tomorrow."
Lei reminded him.
"good."
After delivering the goblins, Lai drove back to the village.
By this time, Brian and Lamb had woken up. The mule cart soon stopped at Hagrid's house. The three said a few words of farewell, and the two of them went home. Rye also went home.
The livestock were all fed, but no one was home. Lai unloaded the wagon, put the mule back in the shed, gave it hay and water, and went to Gugge's house to bring Neil back.
Having not seen him for several days, even though I knew Neil would be fine at home, it was impossible not to worry.
When they left, Guge packed a large basket of fruit for the two brothers.
Back home, Lai took a shower and did laundry, while Neil lay on the table reading, never letting himself out of his brother's sight.
"Brother, how's the house construction going?"
"Only part of the area where the house was built has been cleared. Next time we go, we'll have to dig up the tree roots and other debris."
Neil knew immediately that the work was tiring, and he only regretted that he was too young to help his brother with these physical tasks.
"Brother, when are you going next time?"
"I'll be resting at home for the next couple of days. The fruit from the Guge family is ready, and they asked if I wanted to buy any. I'll take some to the morning market the day after tomorrow to check out the prices. Do you want to come along?"
Tomorrow and the day after are Neil's days off, and Ray knows that Neil definitely wants to go.
"want!"
"Okay, then finish your schoolwork early these next few days and go to bed early. Tomorrow we'll go to the field to pick melons."
"Um!"
"I want to go back and catch up on my sleep; I'll have dinner later."
"Okay, brother, go to sleep now."
After tidying up, Lai went back to her room to sleep.
Neil quietly read and drew by himself. Tata tried to sneak into Ray's room, but he stopped her.
Tata had no choice but to give up and chose a spot where the sun could shine on her beautiful fur.
He has the guts of a beast, and he won't stoop to the level of a brat like Neil who can't live without his brother.
Lei woke up after only two hours of sleep, had a simple dinner with Neil, and then went to check on their vegetable garden.
After a few days of neglect, the vegetables have grown in price wildly.
The cucumber vines couldn't support the oversized, mature cucumbers and were drooping precariously, so Lai picked all the tender cucumbers.
There are still plenty of green beans. If we had a refrigerator, we could freeze them directly after picking and eat them all winter. Right now, we can only preserve them by drying them into green bean jerky.
Dried cowpeas also taste great. In the past, when I went to eat stew in an iron pot in winter, the restaurant would always put dried cowpeas in it.
Lai and Neil picked the tenderest cowpeas, filling a small basket, and also picked half a basket of green beans.
That evening, the two of them picked out all the green beans with wormholes.
Green beans can be sliced vertically and dried directly, but cowpeas need to be blanched once more to preserve them for longer.
But Lai had left his small iron pot at home on the hillside. Tomorrow, he would have to borrow someone else's pot or make do with the small pot from home.
"oh."
Neil yawned.
Are you sleepy?
"Ray asked."
"A little bit."
"Then go back to sleep. The work here is almost finished."
Lei continued slicing the green beans into strips without stopping.
"No need, brother, I'll wait for you to finish your work."
Neil cut the green beans from Lai Xin and neatly arranged them on the wooden board. He'd take them out to dry in the yard after the dew dried tomorrow; with such a strong sun, they'd be completely dry in two or three days.
Ten minutes later, after Lai finished chopping all the green beans and tidying up, the two of them went to sleep.
The next day the weather was excellent, and there was no need to rush to work.
Lai didn't go out to borrow a pot after all. Instead, he used the aluminum pot he used for steaming buns to boil most of the water and blanch the cowpeas little by little.
Wash the cowpeas, remove the ends, put them in a pot, and cook until they turn bright green. Then take them out, let them cool, and hang them on a clean wooden pole to dry.
Compared to the amount of cowpeas to be dried, the pot was still a bit small. Lai blanched them six or seven times before finally finishing processing all the cowpeas.
Just then, the temperature began to rise, and the dew in the yard had already evaporated.
Lai and Neil strung up two hemp ropes in the yard and hung several meters of cowpeas to dry. The rest that couldn't fit were placed on a wooden board.
"Brother, what if a bird takes the green beans away?"
This is indeed a problem.
Lei thought for a moment, then gave a slight smile, as if he had thought of something amusing.
"Let's make some windmills."
What is a windmill?
Neil looked at Ray with curiosity, and Ray looked at Neil with an incredulous expression.
No way, the kids here haven't even played with such a simple little thing before.
"A fun little gadget, let me teach you how to make it."
"good!"
Ray found some cardboard and started making crafts with Neil. In just a few quick strokes, they cut out windmill blades with scissors.
"Turn each corner inward clockwise, then secure it to the pole with nails."
Ray demonstrated by blowing into the hollow space between the blades, and the windmill began to spin. Neil watched with fascination, his eyes filled with delight.
"Try it yourself."
"Um!"
Neil quickly succeeded, and Ray helped Neil make two more, which were then inserted into the ends of the hemp rope.
"I'll teach you to make other things later. Let's go pick melons at Guge's house."
"Um!"
Guge still sold the melons to Laiyi at a very low price. Laiyi wanted to give more, but Guge refused very seriously. So the matter was dropped, and Laiyi thought of making it up to Guge in other ways, like cooking more delicious food for him in the future.
Ray spent the whole day working and playing with Neil, taking care of his feelings in his own way.
"Brother, remember to call me when you go to sell vegetables tomorrow!"
"good."
The next day, Ray took Neil out for a short day in town.
Compared to vegetables, fruit was harder to sell. By the afternoon, they still had about half a basket of fruit left, so Ray decided not to sell it and took it home to eat himself. He then took Neil and started strolling around other markets.
The two brothers made a lot of progress in one afternoon.
Lai bought a lot of baguette-like bread rolls as staple food for the next few days in the low hills. He also bought some meat, seasonings, and various tools for digging up tree roots.
I bought your son the necessary notebooks and pens.
There's something interesting happening in town. Some of the more upscale shops—well, only one or two, actually—have started selling glass lamps.
Their design is very simple, without many fancy decorations, just a simple light bulb, plus a lampshade, and a device that can convert the energy in the energy stone.
This simple device alone costs two gold coins, which is equivalent to the price of a cow that can give birth to a calf.
Not to mention the future consumption of energy stones, it's no exaggeration to say that glass lamps are now a luxury item.
And so, it takes a long time to buy one.
The shop owner treasured the glass lamps like precious gems, rarely letting customers touch them. The lamps were always polished to a sparkling shine, showing how much he cherished them.
Lai and Neil returned to the village with lots of bags and bundles.
As dusk approached, the temperature gradually dropped, but the summer heat remained.
Lai and Neil first took the things inside, and then put the dried green beans, which were almost dry, back into the basket. They could dry them for another morning tomorrow.
If properly stored, these thoroughly dried vegetables could last until this time next year.
Lai and Neil were packing their things for tomorrow in the living room. They needed to get everything ready in advance, otherwise tomorrow morning would be chaotic.
"Brother, take some of these melons with you. You can eat them to quench your thirst when you're thirsty."
"good."
He had filled almost all the melons into the food basket, until Ray called him to stop, at which point he reluctantly took out a few melons to keep for himself.
"Brother, isn't it dangerous over there since no one lives there? I'll take the bow and arrows and the dagger with me. Oh, and there are a few animal traps at home, take those with you and put them around the tent to prevent those fierce wild animals from attacking you while you're sleeping."
Neil rushed into the storage room, rummaged through it, and pulled out several rusty animal traps.
"This, this is what my father came down from, I don't know if it's still usable."
Ray let Neil do whatever he wanted, and he accepted everything Neil found from who-knows-where.
He knew that this would give the insecure child a sense of security, and that would be enough.
In the midst of their busy work, Ray and Neil packed several large baskets of things. Ray felt that the food he brought would be enough to last them a week.
What a heartwarming trouble!
"By the way, how much leftover vegetables do we have at home? We need to pack them in bigger jars this time."
Lai hadn't expected the kimchi he brought as a side dish to be so popular; the whole jar was devoured by the second night. So he decided to bring even more kimchi with him.
"There's still a lot left, brother, let me cut it for you!"
Neil volunteered, took a small basin, and went to the storage room to fill it with kimchi. Then he cut it into bite-sized pieces on the cutting board.
For a moment, the living room was filled with the smell of kimchi.
Tata nestled in the blanket that Lai had placed on the basket, her head bobbing as Neil walked back and forth around the room.
So cute and silly.
That was Ray's first thought when he saw the scene, but he couldn't say it. Tata, who cared a lot about her image, would get angry and turn her back to him if she knew he was making such a fuss about her.
After packing up, Ray gave Neil some instructions, and the two brothers chatted for a while before finally going back to their room to sleep.
Lei's life will only get busier from now on, as autumn is drawing ever closer.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2024-04-09 14:52:40 and 2024-04-10 19:10:36!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Fengyu (10 bottles); Qitang (5 bottles); Yuanxu and Xinyu (1 bottle each);
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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