Chapter 111: Snitch
At lunch time, Chen Lie came back with the two children, and Sang Luo saw the so-called slingshot.
The slingshot she imagined was a branch with rubber bands tied at both ends of the branch and a piece of leather that could wrap around the stone. Of course, there was no rubber band here, just similar materials.
As for the actual slingshot, Sang Luo took it from the joyful Shen An. It was a small bow that looked almost the same as a bow and arrow in her eyes.
It's really a bow.
The bamboo is used as a bow, with a bow and a string. The difference between it and a bow and arrow is that the middle section of the string is different. There is a small piece of leather that can wrap stones instead of arrows. It is small and very suitable for a child of Shen An's age.
Chen An was very fond of his slingshot, but Chen Ning was not so interested. The little girl was not very interested in it and just watched her second brother play with it with a smile.
The brother and sister could already smell the fragrance of the food. They put away the slingshot and went out of the courtyard to wash their hands. Chen Lie then lowered his head and said to Sang Luo, "You have to make a bigger one than the ones Xiao An and Aning use. I'll make you a new one this afternoon and hang some leaves on the side of our house for you. You can practice at home in the future. When you have learned how to use the slingshot well, I'll make you a bow and arrow."
Because they were so close, Sang Luo had to look up to see Chen Lie. It was then that she realized that she was under sixteen, not twenty-eight. Perhaps it was because she saw her own shadow in Shen Lie's eyes, or because the young man's gaze was focused and somewhat gentle, Sang Luo's heart skipped a beat for no reason, feeling a little strange.
She smiled and stepped away naturally: "Okay, wash your hands and eat."
When he turned around, he let out a breath quietly.
I’m eighteen years old. Next time I’ll have to be careful not to stand so close.
This idea was obviously unnecessary, because in just the afternoon, Chen Lie had made her slingshot, hung the leaves on the side of the house, and personally taught her how to use the slingshot.
What is it like to be almost half-encircled by the opposite sex from behind...
Sang Luo didn’t know in her previous life, but in this life, she couldn’t describe it well. Was it embarrassment or discomfort or something else? Maybe Chen Lie was too small in her eyes, but in reality he was tall and had long legs, more than a head taller than her.
Something was not right. Even though Chen Lie had been careful to keep his distance and had not touched her much, and was really serious in teaching her some techniques, she was too close and he was tall, almost covering her completely. The aggressive aura alone was very strong.
It was only then that Sang Luo realized that Shen Lie was not Shen An or Shen Ning, and they were not the same person at all...
Learning a slingshot made Sang Luo feel more tired than walking ten miles. She kept thinking to herself, “I’m only eighteen, only eighteen, a high school student.”
Fortunately, she was not stupid. She remembered all the techniques she had heard and gradually was able to master them herself and could send people off with a wave of her hand.
Chen Lie was also very cooperative, and walked very fast.
If Sang Luo was just embarrassed and uncomfortable, then Chen Lie was deliberately being on edge. It was the first time in his life that he had such a feeling. If he hadn't seen that Sang Luo was not affected at all and had been learning the slingshot seriously, he was afraid that he would not have been able to stay so calm.
After going down the mountain and turning a ridge, I stopped. I put my hand on my chest. Even through the thick coat, I could still feel my heart beating as if it was about to jump out of my chest.
His heartbeat was also fast when he encountered a small group of wolves in the deep mountains, but it was completely different from the feeling now. This was joy, excitement, and nervousness. He couldn't describe the joy at all, just because he was standing closer...
Chen Lie looked back in the direction of the courtyard halfway up the mountain, stood there for a while to let his heartbeat calm down, and then strode towards the hilltop where Chen An and the others were practicing slingshots.
…
Shen Jin got hold of the slingshot and shared it with Shen An and Shen Ning. When his eldest cousin came over and saw it, he didn't say anything but had a smile on his face. He also taught him separately.
Shen Jin was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.
Shen Yin and Shen Tie were too young, so they could only watch from the side with their sister. Occasionally they would come forward to let their brother and sister touch the slingshot, as they were so curious.
The children started to pick up stones craze, and any stone that was suitable for making pellets was a treasure.
In the evening, when Sang Luo saw the two little ones coming back happily with a bag of pebbles to present their treasures, she stopped working on the half-finished clothes of Chen Lie and used scraps of cloth to sew two small cross-body bags, one for each of the two children, specifically for storing pebbles.
The two little ones were very excited. They washed and dried the stones they picked up. The next day, when they came back from their morning run to get the slingshot, the two small bags came in handy.
In just one or two days, the children from the other four families at the foot of the mountain also had a small shoulder bag, all of which were made in the style of Shen An and Shen Ning's bags. Among the group of children, only Shen Jin did not have one. But Shen Jin did not care. He had a small pocket sewn on his clothes, and his mother was not at home anyway, so he could put stones in the pocket without being discovered. He was very happy to have a slingshot to learn.
He even asked Chen An and the others about their morning jogging time. Every day before dawn, when Shen Yin and Chen Tie were still sleeping, Shen Jin would quietly get up and go out, blending in with the team to run for morning exercises.
The small military training was going on in an orderly manner, but another incident occurred. On the morning of the fifth day of the training, Zhou Lizheng came to the village. For the first time, he did not bring any notices, nor did he ring the gong as soon as he entered the village. Instead, he went straight to Zhou Cunzheng's house.
When Zhou Jiawulang ran to the courtyard halfway up the mountain to report the news, Chen Lie and Sang Luo realized that someone in the village had reported their families to the head of the village.
As for what to report, it is naturally to say that these people behave abnormally and have bad intentions.
Zhou Wulang said, "My father told Brother Lie to come down the mountain to my house. My seventh uncle is here to question us. He is here. All we need is for one person from each family to go and explain the situation."
He delivered the letter to Zhou Wulang and ran away.
Chen Lie and Sang Luo looked at each other, and they both thought of the same thing. Chen Lie first took out the package from under the bed, went out for a while, and came back empty-handed.
"I'm going down the mountain."
All the things that shouldn't be exposed were hidden, so Sang Luo had nothing to worry about and nodded.
…
At the Zhou family, there were two bamboo slingshots on the table next to Zhou Lizheng.
Zhou Cunzheng sneered: "It's just a little toy made for the kids at home, but who has such evil intentions that he can accuse us of it? With evil intentions? What evil intentions? If he really makes it up and puts any crime on us, we can't afford it, and neither can our Zhou family!"
The words "Zhou family" made Zhou Lizheng's heart tremble: "Jiu Zhang, it's better not to say such nonsense. It's not such a big deal."
Zhou Cunzheng snorted, "Seventh Brother, you are the head of the village. If we run into a head of the village who doesn't get along with us, won't he make a fuss about it? I need to know who is so jealous of my Zhou family."
Zhou Lizheng lowered his eyes and said nothing.
Chen Lie, Chen Dashan, Shi Dalang and Lu Erlang came in at this time. Zhou Lizheng raised his eyes and said, "You all know why I called you here, right? Tell me."
Shi Dalang was the oldest. As soon as he came in, he frowned and cried out: "Who is so shameless?"
He lifted up the empty sleeve on his right side and said angrily, "Look at my hand, it's gone on the battlefield. So many people from our village went there, but only the four of us were lucky enough to come back alive thanks to the skills of Alie and Dashan, who also know some hunting skills. After learning such a big lesson, can't we use it to train our own sons and nephews? Will the court stop recruiting soldiers in the future? Or will our sons and nephews not have to go to the battlefield when the army is recruited? Do you want me to watch my sons and nephews lose their lives or hands on the battlefield?"
Lu Erlang also cried out in anger: "That's right, Li Zheng, who is so evil-minded to accuse us of this?"
Zhou Lizheng was speechless.
The Da Gan Dynasty advocated neighbors to expose others' misconduct and was protective of the whistleblowers. He also knew about the affairs of Shi Dalang and his men. They were the vanguards who had penetrated deep into the enemy's territory, but were abandoned by the main force. The commander withdrew with his confidants, leaving these vanguards to be slaughtered.
It was also because of this that he was worried that they had resentment in their hearts, so he came over to take a look after hearing the tip-off. Now, looking at the slingshots used by those little kids at home, he wanted to roll his eyes at the informer who mentioned some privately made weapons.
What Shi Dalang said was true. He could see the empty sleeves of the other party just by looking up. After going on the battlefield and finally surviving, it was normal for him to want to train his sons and nephews so that they could have more skills to save their lives.
He waved his hand: "Okay, I'm just here to take a look. There's nothing wrong with you training your sons and nephews, but you should have some confidence in yourself and don't overdo it."
These words were said while looking at Zhou Cunzheng.
They are of the same clan and family. If anything really happens, it is not Zhou Jiuzhang's family's business.
Zhou Cunzheng understood the warning look from his elder brother and said with a smile, "Don't worry, Seventh Brother. How can I not know about this kind of thing?"
Zhou Lizheng nodded: "It's enough to know the number. That's it. There's nothing else to do. You guys go ahead and get busy."
Then he turned and left.
"Seventh Brother." Zhou Cunzheng followed a few steps and saw him out the door: "You have to let me know who is the thorn in my side, right?"
He lowered his voice and tentatively asked a name.
Zhou Lizheng looked at him and shook his head: "Okay, it's not him, there's no need to dig deeper. You guys must be doing well recently, you've attracted a lot of attention."
All of them were handled by him, so he knew something about it.
After sending the people away, Zhou Cunzheng returned to the main hall, and Chen Lie asked: "Is it my family's fault?"
Speaking of enemies, the most recent one was when he beat up his cheap third uncle.
Zhou Cunzheng shook his head: "No, it should be someone else."
He suspected Chen San first, but his cousin denied it, so it shouldn't be the case. His cousin might not tell others about this kind of thing due to some rules, but since he had dragged the Zhou family into it before, he asked them by name, and if he asked the right questions, his cousin would not cover up for others.
"The business you do in the county, plus the grain purchases you made a few times ago, probably attracted some attention. But it doesn't matter. We just need to be careful and do what we have to do."
With Zhou Cunzheng's family among them, Zhou Lizheng really wouldn't embarrass them on such a relatively sensitive matter.
Chen Lie nodded and said, "Uncle Zhou will have to take care of us later. Dashan and I have to go into the mountains early tomorrow morning. We can't leave empty-handed this time. I'm afraid it will take some time for us to come back."
Going into the mountains naturally refers to going deep into the mountains to find a way out for everyone. They should have set off two days ago, but they made arrow poison this time. It would be safer for two people to go into the deep mountains and forests with this thing for self-defense. It takes five or six days to refine this medicine, so it has been delayed until now.
The two were also worried that the place might become chaotic after they left. Although the probability was very small, they still made a backup plan.
Zhou Cunzheng's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Okay, okay, thank you for your hard work. Don't worry about your family. I'll take care of them. There is no news in the county yet. I have also asked the Wang family. I think it has not yet affected our Huainan Road."
After discussing it, several people decided to go back to their homes.
When they got home, Sang Luo asked about the situation, and Chen Lie told her roughly.
Sang Luo sighed. This was a product of the system and even the villagers were hard to trust.
Chen Lie looked at her expression and said, "On the surface, they are just slingshots used by children. Besides, Uncle Zhou is here, so there is no need to worry too much."
At this point, he added, "Dashan said the medicine is almost ready, and we should go into the mountains early tomorrow morning."
He should have left a long time ago, but he stayed a few more days waiting for the medicine, which made him reluctant to leave.
Sang Luo was stunned for a moment when she heard Chen Lie say that he would go into the mountains early in the morning, and then said, "Okay, your clothes are ready and folded on the bed. Go and try them on to see if they fit. If there are any inappropriate places, I can make some changes."
She had been so absorbed in practicing her slingshot these days that she had neglected her needlework. She had only finished a set of clothes for Chen Lie today, and luckily she was just in time.
When Chen Lie heard that Sang Luo had finished making clothes for him, he smiled and said, "I'll go take a look."
He turned around and walked quickly into the house. On the bed where he and Shen An slept, neatly stacked were the clothes that Sang Luo had sewn in the past few days.
The material was very common, but Chen Lie was very happy, even happier than when she took him to the clothing store in the county that day and bought him a set of clothes.
I took off my outer garment and tried it on. It fit perfectly, and the stitching was also very fine.
This was the first time since the year he fled from famine that someone truly cared about his well-being without expecting anything in return and carefully sewed a set of clothes for him.
Chen Lie originally wanted to give it a try, but for a moment he was reluctant to take it off.
Sang Luo was soaking beans in the kitchen. After a while, she saw Chen Lie coming over in a new coat. When he got closer, he looked around and said, "It's pretty good. It fits me well."
Chen Lie also curved his eyes: "It fits me very well, I like it very much, thank you very much."
Sang Luo said carelessly: "Of course, let's divide the work and cooperate with each other."
In the past few days, Chen Lie had taken time to go to the mountains and brought home thirteen pheasants. Twelve of them were sent to Dongfulou to be exchanged for silver when he went to the county to collect grain, and one was eaten by his family.
Shen Lie heard new words from Sang Luo again, and they divided the work and cooperated.
He lowered his eyes and glanced at Sang Luo inconspicuously. Seeing her smiling, Shen Lie thought to himself, I hope we can continue to cooperate like this.
He curled his eyes and smiled, "I'm going to change my clothes and go into the mountains with Dashan to trap some pheasants. This time we're mainly going to find a hiding place. I don't know how many days we'll be out there. I'm afraid we may not be back for ten days or half a month. We won't sell the pheasants we trap this time. You can keep them at home and eat one every few days."
Hearing that he was going out and even worried about food for them at home, Sang Luo felt warm in her heart. In comparison, she worried very little about him.
Thinking of this, he said, "When you go to the county to collect grain this afternoon, buy a jar of fermented glutinous rice."
“Buy fermented glutinous rice?”
Sang Luo nodded: "Yes, we have glutinous rice at home, I can make it, but I don't have enough time. Buy a jar and I will use it."
The author has something to say:
Laozao, sweet wine, rice wine, was called Li in ancient times. I wrote it in modern terms for easy reading. Other common things in the following text will probably be handled in the same way.
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