Chapter 133
Yin Zheng prepared the three pheasants, put them into the pot to fry the oil, and then poured them into the clay pot to stew.
After the pheasant was stewed, he scooped some hot water and went back to the room to help Jiaojiao wash up.
Jiaojiao, who was lying on the bed playing with her toes with her hands, immediately turned over and sat up when she saw her father. She tilted her little face up and stretched out her little paws for her father to clean her. Her little appearance looked very adorable.
After Yin Zheng washed Jiaojiao's face, hands and feet, he also washed her feet with the water. After going out to pour out the water, he walked back to the room and sat on the bed face to face with Jiaojiao.
Yin Zheng was going to teach Jiaojiao to change the way she addressed her father to "Daddy", but he didn't know how to start teaching him, so he frowned and thought hard.
Jiaojiao sat on the bed and looked up at her father with a serious expression, with curiosity in her ignorant eyes.
After watching for a while and seeing that her father didn't pay any attention to her, Jiaojiao moved forward in her seat and stretched out her little hand to grab her father's hand.
Yin Zheng, who was brought back to his senses by Jiaojiao's actions, moved his gaze and fell on the white and tender little hand that was holding his fingers.
The child's hands were very small, with a faint pink on his fingernails, which made Yin Zheng's rough fingers and the sores on his fingers look even uglier.
Seeing this, Yin Zheng subconsciously wanted to withdraw his hand, but Jiaojiao's small hand held his index finger tightly.
Seeing that her father was about to take his hand back, Jiaojiao kicked her short legs and moved forward, then lay down with her head tilted, pressing her soft little face against Yin Zheng's rough, dark palm, indicating with her actions that she did not allow her father to take his hand back.
Yin Zheng was stunned when his hand suddenly felt heavy. He lowered his eyes to look at the little head pressed on his hand. The little face on the palm of his hand was very soft, softer than anything he had ever touched. He should have felt strange, but inexplicably he felt a long-lost feeling in his heart.
Yin Zheng moved his fingers and pressed his face against his hand. Jiaojiao, who felt itchy, raised her head and smiled at him foolishly, with her curved eyes, which was very cute.
Meeting his gaze, a hint of tenderness appeared in Yin Zheng's usually calm eyes.
Yin Zheng, who was captured by Jiaojiao's soft little face, obviously forgot his original purpose.
After staying in the house for a while, Yin Zheng got up and left when he thought the pheasant was stewed.
He came to the kitchen, opened the clay pot and put some coarse salt in it, then went to the vegetable garden outside to pick some vegetables, washed them and put them in the kitchen to boil, then he picked out the chicken legs and wings of several chickens and brought them into the house.
Jiaojiao, who was lying on the bed playing with her hands, smelled the meat, supported herself on the bed with both hands and sat up. When she saw the bowl in her father's hand, she swallowed her saliva greedily and lowered her head to pat her belly.
Yin Zheng saw Jiaojiao's actions, walked up to her and let her drink two sips of soup, then gave her a chicken leg that was almost cold.
Holding the chicken leg, Jiaojiao took a big bite of the meat. The aroma of the meat filled his mouth, and he ate so much that his toes curled up.
Jiaojiao took a bite of the chicken leg and passed it to her father's mouth, letting him also taste the delicious meat.
Yin Zheng glanced at his short, fat little toes, raised the corner of his mouth slightly, and showed the chicken drumstick in the bowl to Jiaojiao and said, "No need, I have it."
As he said this, he took out a chicken leg from the bowl and started eating.
The feeling of being hungry was not pleasant. Ever since his parents would give the meaty legs of the pheasants and rabbits he brought home to his eldest brother and third brother, and he could only get some bones, he would usually eat his fill in the mountains before coming back.
Seeing that her father had a chicken leg, Jiaojiao took her own chicken leg and started eating.
Outside the house, Mrs. Wu, who smelled the meat, came out of the east room with her clothes on. When she saw the pheasant with only the skeleton left in the kitchen, she couldn't help but curse.
There isn't much meat on pheasants to begin with. Apart from a little meat on the legs, the rest is just skin and bones.
Yin Zheng ignored Wu outside the house and just covered Jiaojiao's ears with his hands. Jiaojiao, whose cheeks were bulging from eating the chicken legs, looked up at her father and continued to eat the chicken legs.
Outside the house, Mrs. Wu cursed for a long time. Seeing that her usually "obedient" son ignored her, she glared at Yin Zheng's room viciously, thinking that when Yin Zheng went to the town to sell roe deer tomorrow morning, she would abandon the child who made her son disobedient.
Wu, who had made plans secretly, turned around with a gloomy face and walked into the kitchen. She carried the earthenware pot containing stewed pheasant on the stove into her room.
Yin Zheng, who heard her noise in the room, didn't care. It was because he expected this that he picked up the chicken legs and wings in advance and took them away. If she wanted the remaining bones, he would give them to her.
In fact, he didn't want to give the skeleton, but if that happened, Wu would probably kick the door and rush in, and he was afraid of scaring Jiaojiao.
Although the people in the village said that Yin Zheng was filial to Yin Dazhu and Zhou, Yin Zheng actually had no feelings for Yin Dazhu and Wu.
When he was seven years old, there was a flood and the entire Lijia Village, led by the village chief, migrated to the mountains overnight.
Old Man Yin and Mrs. Wu were stingy and greedy. When the flood was about to come, they took away everything they could from their home, and also took some bedding that Mr. Li Sanye's family next door did not have time to take away.
The elder brother was sickly and the younger brother had been spoiled since childhood. Neither of them could carry much, so most of the things fell on little Yin Zheng.
At that time, Yin Zheng was holding two piglets in his arms, and the things on his back bent his waist a lot. However, because he had been stronger than his peers since he was a child, he walked quite fast.
As soon as they left, a flood rushed in. Wu, who was running anxiously, twisted her ankle and was about to roll down the hillside. Little Yin Zheng, who was running with all his might, gritted his teeth and stepped forward to push her body up as she was about to fall.
Mrs. Wu was also carrying a lot of things on her back, and she herself was quite heavy. Little Yin Zheng's push helped Mrs. Wu stabilize her body, but he took two steps back and fell to the ground.
Holding two piglets in his arms and carrying too heavy a load on his back, Yin Zheng fell to the ground and couldn't stand up for a while, so he looked up and asked his parents to help him.
Unexpectedly, Yin Dazhu and Wu, with anxious faces, just looked at him hesitantly for a while, then gritted their teeth, squatted down, took the two piglets from his arms, turned around and left in a hurry, without daring to look back once.
It rained heavily that night, and the huge lightning made the night as bright as day. Mountain torrents rushed down, destroying all the houses at the foot of the mountain. The rumbling sound once covered up the thunder.
Little Yin Zheng stared at their backs with his dark eyes, and his heart was filled with turbulence before calming down in an instant.
Little Yin Zheng knew in his heart that they probably thought he had broken his leg and couldn't walk, so they chose the piglet over carrying him on their backs.
Because carrying their son with a broken leg meant giving up half of their property, after comparing the two options, they chose the property that was more important to them.
It was that time that Yin Zheng thought he had repaid them for their kindness in giving him life, and as for their kindness in raising him, he had almost repaid them after so many years.
As he thought about this, his eyes fell on Jiaojiao, and he felt a little stunned and puzzled. Why did he feel so special towards this child...
Jiaojiao had a small appetite, so after a few sips of chicken soup and a chicken drumstick, he was full. With his bulging belly, he stretched out his greasy little paws to his father, tilted his head back, and looked at him with his black eyes: "Daddy, ah."
Yin Zheng first wiped the oil off his mouth, then held his little hand and wiped it bit by bit with a wet cloth.
After wiping her hands and face clean, Jiaojiao squeezed into her father's arms, raised her head and whimpered to Yin Zheng in a baby language that he could not understand.
It is easy to feel sleepy after eating, and soon Jiaojiao fell asleep in her father's arms.
Moonlight streamed in from the window. Yin Zheng lowered his eyes to look at the sweetly sleeping face of the child in his arms. His gaze shifted to the side and fell on Jiaojiao's little hand placed on the side of her face. He felt a surge of eagerness in his heart.
Yin Zheng glanced at it and then looked away. After a while, his eyes fell on the four dimples on the back of the little hand. He frowned and looked away again.
Finally, Yin Zheng put on a fierce face, looked gloomy and serious, stretched out his index finger, and carefully poked each of the small dimples on Jiaojiao's hand.
After poking her, Yin Zheng hid Jiaojiao in his arms, then closed his eyes and went to sleep contentedly.
The moon set in the west, the sun rose in the east, and the sky was dim. The big rooster in the east of the village just crowed, and Yin Zheng woke up from his sleep.
He lowered his head to look at Jiaojiao who was sleeping soundly with her little fists clenched in his arms. Feeling the warmth coming from his little body, his heart softened for no reason.
This scene should have been unfamiliar to him, yet he had the illusion that he had experienced it many times before. Furthermore, he felt a sense of satisfaction that came from finally finding it after searching and waiting for it for so long...
After coming out of the house, Yin Zheng scooped water from the water tank to wash his face, chewed a willow branch to rinse his mouth, and then went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.
Children have soft teeth and tender throats, and cannot eat hard cakes and rough rice that irritates the throat. Yin Zheng glanced at the cupboard and found that the white flour had been taken back to the room and hidden by Wu. He then turned around and took out two eggs from the chicken coop at the back.
Mrs. Wu kept a close eye on the eggs in her home. Anyone who dared to steal eggs from the chicken coop would be beaten and scolded by her.
In the past, Yin Zheng would not take it because he thought it was troublesome, but now it is more important for him to feed Jiaojiao well.
After boiling the two eggs, Yin Zheng heated up the leftover chicken legs and wings from last night, then walked into the house to wake Jiaojiao up.
However, after entering the house and seeing Jiaojiao sleeping soundly, Yin Zheng hesitated for a moment and was reluctant to call him.
Yin Zheng came out of the room and wrapped a chicken leg and chicken wings with clean leaves. After finishing the remaining chicken legs and chicken wings, he found a clean backpack.
Yin Zheng walked into the house with a backpack, carefully picked up the sleeping Jiaojiao and put him into the backpack. Worried that the sun would get too strong and burn him, he covered the backpack with his own clothes.
After doing all this, he put on his backpack, walked into the yard, picked up the roe deer, and carried the hare and walked out.
Yin Zheng was going to the town to sell the roe deer he had killed yesterday, but he was worried about leaving Jiaojiao at home, so he took him with him.
At the entrance of the village, Li Tiezhu was driving a bullock cart waiting for people from the village who were going to the town.
Occasionally, people from the village would go to the town to buy things or sell woven backpacks, bamboo baskets and other items. Women would also take some of their embroidered handkerchiefs and knitted laces to the cloth shop in town to sell.
Seeing this, Li Tiezhu, who had cows at home, put on the cart board during the slack season to earn some money driving the ox cart.
The price is not high, only two cents for a round trip, and you can earn ten or twenty cents a day, which is a good business.
Li Tiezhu, who was waiting for the villagers, saw Yin Zheng in the distance. Seeing the roe deer on his shoulder and the hare in his hand, a trace of envy appeared in his eyes.
There are many wild animals in Wushan, and wild boars and bears often come down to destroy crops. Except for a few hunters in the surrounding villages, no one dares to go into the mountains to hunt.
The only exception is Yin Zheng. He is tall, strong and brave. He often goes up the mountain to catch some pheasants and rabbits, and occasionally he can even kill a couple of roe deer and sell them in town.
However, when thinking about Yin Zheng's family situation, the envy in Li Tiezhu's eyes turned into sympathy. No matter how capable and how much money one can make, it would be in vain to have such parents.
Yin Zheng didn't have money to take a ox cart, so he could only walk. Fortunately, he was a fast walker, and he reached the town in about half an hour.
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