At that moment, Zhao was heating water on a small stove in the kitchen, preparing to pluck the chicken feathers and process the pheasant.
Li Mai went into the kitchen and started cracking eggs to prepare the filling.
She saw that there were still about ten eggs in the basket in the kitchen, and she used five of them this time.
Zhao glanced at it, said nothing, and smiled as she helped her collect the eggshells.
"Mother, are there any families in our village that raise chickens and sell eggs?" Li Mai planned to chat with Zhao Shi to find out about the situation in the village.
"No one raises chickens. Only Da Niu's family sells tofu and raises pigs, and Zhou Xiang's family raises sheep. There are also several other families in the village that raise sheep. When someone has an event, they will go to their family to buy sheep or pork for the celebration."
“The people in our village seem to be living quite well,” Li Mai said.
"There are only a few good ones. Most families buy on credit so they can earn some money during the weddings. They either pay back the money after the wedding or with grain after the autumn harvest. After all, those who raise livestock also need corn and sorghum."
"Oh, why doesn't anyone raise chickens?" Li Mai asked curiously.
"As for chickens, basically every family raises two or three speckled chickens to eat eggs. The more chickens they raise, the more corn and wild vegetables they need."
"To get chickens to lay eggs, you have to feed them a little corn, sorghum, and millet, not just wild vegetables, otherwise the eggs will be soft and plentiful. Think about it, sometimes we don't even have enough to eat, so who would be willing to give up their grain to feed chickens? Raising sheep is better, you can drive them to graze in the fields every day."
After Zhao finished speaking, she smiled at Li Mai and said, "However, if you want to feed them, you can see if there are any for sale in town. Buy a few and we can feed them to our own family to eat eggs. Feeding a few is still possible."
"Okay, Mother." Li Mai planned to feed the chickens first, and then slowly study the cuisine.
The water boiled, and Zhao poured it into a basin and took it to the yard to pluck the chicken feathers. Li Mai added more firewood to the small stove, put on a small pot, and started frying eggs.
When Zhao returned after cleaning the chicken, Li Mai was already making steamed buns.
Zhao smiled and praised, "Xiaomai, you cook pretty fast!"
"Not bad!" Li Mai replied, put the food in the steamer, and steamed the first batch.
By the time Li Mai finished steaming the two pots of buns, it was almost 7 PM, just as Zhou Lin returned.
However, Li Dong was following behind him.
Li Mai was surprised to see Li Dong. "What brings you here?"
"Boss, I came to see your new house. This carpenter Zhou said you're his sister-in-law, so I was planning to come with him to check it out," Li Dong said with a grin, showing his white teeth.
"Did you tell your parents?" Li Mai asked helplessly.
"I said it, I said it!" Li Dong quickly replied.
“Okay, then go wash your hands with Zhou Lin, it’s time to eat,” Li Mai said.
"Alright!" Li Dong arrived. Seeing that the Zhou family's house was old, but the Zhou family seemed to treat the eldest son well, he felt relieved. Seeing that there were steamed buns to eat, he was even happier and happily followed Zhou Lin to wash his hands in the yard.
Zhou Quan, who was sitting at the table, kept sizing up Li Dong.
He had heard Li Mai mention this name since last night, and he had heard Li Mai mention it twice today.
He had initially harbored some doubts, wondering if it was a young man Li Mai had grown up with.
But when he saw Li Dong, who turned out to be just a child a few years older than his third brother, he was instantly relieved.
Zhao invited Li Dong to sit down and inquired about the situation in Lijia Village. Knowing that everyone was worried about Li Mai's condition, she smiled and said, "You can go back and tell the people in your village that Li Mai has come to our family, so she is our child. Whatever we have, she will have too."
Li Dong nodded emphatically, "Yes, I know, Auntie. I can tell that you treat Sister Mai very well."
In front of his elders, he still couldn't bring himself to call them "elder brother," a somewhat childish title.
“Come sleep with me and my brother tonight.” Zhou Lin patted his shoulder.
“Okay!” Li Dong agreed.
Aside from serving him steamed buns, Li Mai didn't pay much attention to him, but she served Zhou Quan water and steamed buns very attentively.
Li Dong glanced at Li Mai curiously, seeing for the first time how kind his boss was to a man.
However, after the meal, when everyone had talked for a while and were about to go to rest, Li Dong couldn't believe it when he saw Zhou Lin and Zhou Lei carrying Zhou Quan to the outhouse as usual. He leaned close to Li Mai and whispered, "Boss, your man is paralyzed?"
Li Mai nodded lightly, "Yes, he fell and it happened two years ago, but don't worry, I'm here and I'll heal him."
“That’s true, boss. You know a bit about medicine, but aren’t you afraid of making someone even more paralyzed?” Li Dong leaned closer and asked in a low voice.
“If you’re paralyzed, he can’t be even more paralyzed!” Li Mai didn’t like hearing this and turned to glare at him.
"Okay, okay, I misspoke." Li Dong was most afraid of his boss glaring at him, so he quickly stepped back a few paces.
That night, Li Dong slept next to Zhou Lin, but couldn't fall asleep. He felt sorry for his boss. How could such a good boss have married a paralyzed man?
But when he thought about how this was a marriage arranged for Li Mai by his third grandmother before she passed away, he felt helpless.
"Brother Zhou Lin, do you think your older brother can really get better?" Li Dong asked in a low voice.
“Of course he can. My older brother is a good person. God wouldn’t be so cruel to him,” Zhou Lei, who was sleeping on the other side, spoke first.
After what happened on the mountain today, Zhou Lei is now very confident about his family's future, especially regarding his elder brother's leg, which he believes will definitely recover.
With such a lucky sister-in-law, won't the eldest brother's days be over soon?
Zhou Lin nodded in agreement, "Yes, we will. Tell us about your sister-in-law's past!"
After thinking for a moment, Li Dong told Li Mai about her childhood.
“I’ve loved following Li Mai around since I was three years old. She was our little leader back then. She was very capable. Wherever she went, she always carried a stick. We never knew why she carried a stick.”
"Until one day, when the adults went to work in the fields, the eldest brother led us to dig wild vegetables for our piglets in the fields by the village road. Suddenly, someone's dog ran out and attracted another dog."
"The two dogs were biting each other, and then they lunged at us, a group of children. We little ones were terrified and just cried. We didn't know to grab stones or sticks to hit the dogs. Just then, the eldest sister picked up her stick and rushed at the two dogs, hitting them hard."
"In the end, both dogs had one leg broken and ran away limping. I don't know how the dogs communicated with each other, but after that, the dogs in the village generally didn't dare to wander around. Even if they accidentally bumped into the boss, they would turn around and run away because they were afraid that the boss would break their legs again."
“I remember, the eldest was only six years old at that time,” Li Dong said, then laughed.
Zhou Lin and Zhou Lei couldn't laugh; they both remained silent.
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