Chapter 141 You Listen to Me
The third branch of the Shen family.
Shen Jin and Shen Yin rushed back home like a gust of wind, and ran directly to the room where Li lived following the heart-wrenching cough. Li couldn't sleep at night and had no energy during the day. Recently, she spent most of the day leaning on the bed, and could close her eyes and rest for a while when she was not coughing or panting.
"Mom, mom, look what we brought back!"
When Mrs. Li heard the noise, she coughed for a long time before she calmed down. She looked up at her two sons and saw that they had empty hands but bright eyes.
She was just wondering when she saw Shen Jin's eyes sparkling as he took out a string of money from his pocket, and then took out a lot of copper coins and spread them all on her quilt.
"Mom, look, money!"
Shen Jin lowered his voice, but he couldn't suppress the excitement and excitement in his tone.
Li was stunned, and immediately stood up from half leaning forward: "Where did you get the money?"
Shen Jin's eyes were bent with laughter. Before he could say anything, Shen Yin said excitedly, "Mom, my brother caught a pheasant. We sold it to a peddler and got 110 coins."
"How many?"
"One hundred and ten cents!" This was Shen Jin's answer.
Li's breathing became rapid, and she started coughing again, but she didn't care and pointed at the door: "Close the door, where are Xiaotie and Tianya?"
Shen Yin went to close the door in confusion. Shen Jin shook his head: "I didn't see them. Are they looking for wild vegetables nearby?"
Li heaved a sigh of relief: "Okay, listen, you can't let your father know that you are making money by trapping pheasants. Xiaotie and Tianya are too young, I'm afraid they can't keep it a secret, so don't let them know."
Li was worried about Shen San, and she didn't hide it in front of her two older sons. After thinking for a while, she said to Shen Yin, "Xiao Yin is standing in the yard. If someone comes, make some noise."
Shen Yin nodded obediently, opened the door and went out, closed the door, and stood in the yard to guard it.
Only then did Li ask in detail about Shen Jin's trapping of the pheasant and how he sold the pheasant to the peddler.
Shen Jin explained the matter in detail, and Li sighed: "The peddler is a good man, you should listen to him and exchange for some food."
When Li heard that her son had spent more than ten days trapping a pheasant, she knew that pheasants were not so easy to catch. Although it was due to his lack of experience, it should get better in the future. However, he was also afraid to go deep into the mountains as there were still few pheasants in the mountains near the village.
When Chen Lie taught him how to trap pheasants, he was probably preparing for a time when he had to go into the mountains.
Mrs. Li was not so crazy as to let her nine-year-old son go deep into the mountains to trap pheasants for her, so she told Shen Jin: "Next time you trap a pheasant, exchange it for food. Don't exchange it for fine food, exchange it for beans or something. Didn't you dig a cave with Xiaoyin? Hide it yourself."
Shen San is unreliable. If he knew that Shen Jin could catch pheasants, he would not care how deep the mountain is or how dangerous it is. He would only focus on the money. Once he got the money, he would exchange it for fine grains to eat.
What the old peddler said was right. Things in this world are unpredictable. Even if the beans are harvested, it will still take several months. After the beans are harvested, will the world be peaceful?
So it is right to hide the grain. And considering Shen San's personality, he is unwilling to suffer any hardship. Hiding it at home is useless, and Shen Jin and others have to hide it outside.
Shen Jin knew a little bit about what his mother meant. His father's face looked very ugly from eating too much wild vegetables recently, and he had been throwing things around at home.
But Shen Jin still said, "Mom, you should get treatment first. I'm a little scared that coughing like this will cause problems."
Shen Jin didn't say what they were afraid of, but both mother and son knew it in their hearts.
They were afraid that something bad might happen to Li. With Shen San like this, who could they, the brothers and sisters, rely on?
Mrs. Li half leaned back on the bed rail and said, "Don't worry, it's just a cough. It will only make you suffer a little, but you won't die in ten or eight years."
At this point he started coughing again, coughing so much that he fell flat on his back. He stopped coughing and half-crouched for a long time before he recovered. He slowly stood up, still sitting, and said, "Listen to my mother. If we catch pheasants again, we will do the same as today. We will quietly find the peddler, but we have to exchange them for food. We have to hide it first. Food will be more useful than money in the future. Even if I need to see a doctor, the doctor will not refuse to see me if I take the food to him."
Li had regretted it a long time ago. She regretted that she didn't buy food when Zhou Cunzheng first reminded each family to buy food, and she and Shen San made a joke of it.
Just because the people who took the lead in buying grain at that time were the families that Sang Luo was on good terms with, she couldn't stand it at all and had to force her way.
Later, when Chen Lie came back, he reminded the villagers to buy food and did not deliberately avoid their house. But she was in the military service at that time, and Shen San said that he could not get out of bed in order to avoid the military service, so he did not go to buy food. Later, the price of food soared, and she had a fight with Shen San after returning home, but at that time, it was useless to beat him to death.
Sometimes she even felt that this was retribution.
Shen Jin went to fetch a glass of water to moisten his mother's throat, then said, "Mom, I will listen to you and change the food, but you should go see a doctor first."
Li laughed. She should be relieved. Although her husband was unreliable, her children were still filial. She suppressed the bitterness in her nose and said, "Okay, but a hundred coins are not enough. Food prices have increased, and medicine prices will also increase. I'm fine now. You can save it first. We can go and see a doctor when you have saved more. But you have to listen to me. Save food. Food is the most valuable when the world is in chaos."
Shen Jin nodded repeatedly: "Okay, then I'll go get some more condoms."
As he said this he was about to leave.
Li stopped him and said, "Don't go into the deep mountains. Also, take this copper coin. You can exchange it for food next time you meet a peddler."
Shen Jin looked at the copper coin, thought about it, and nodded: "Okay, then I'll hide it, and I'll exchange it for some beans when I meet the peddler tomorrow."
He put the pile of copper coins back into his pocket.
…
At this time, Chen Lie and his team had already prepared the fields in Yun Valley again and sowed the rice seeds that Chen Po and his team had soaked earlier.
This was the third day back in Yungu, and of course, Chen Lie still had no time to make his bed.
On the first day, he chiseled a bathtub, and on the second day he went out to fetch soil and shale. After returning, he did not rush to build a stove, but instead spent half the night carefully chiseling the wall of the purification room.
By the third day, the farm work was finished and continued in the afternoon. When it was time to feed, the bathroom had been dug out large enough to accommodate both a bathtub and a toilet.
In the afternoon, Sang Luo took a small piece of dried konjac that she had saved at the end of last year, pounded it into powder with a stone mortar, and made some vegetarian tripe.
Only a little bit of this stuff can make a big pot of it. She stored quite a lot last year. Originally, she was going to use it to supply Dongfulou. But because of the refugee problem, she didn't send any goods to Dongfulou later. She couldn't bring the big pot out, so she put the dried konjac in bags and stuffed a lot of lime inside to store them first. Later, when she has time, Sang Luo will have to chisel a few wooden barrels with lids to store things.
After coming to Yungu, at the beginning everyone lived together in a big cave, which was inconvenient. Later they lived separately and were always busy. This was the first time she made vegetarian tripe. She gave each family a small half bowl. The portion was not much. She added some wild onions and leeks to stir-fry, and put it in a shallow plate, as a side dish.
Of course, the Lu family only had one copy, and Sang Luo ignored Wang Chunniang's and gave it directly to Old Lady Lu.
When they came back they did not come back empty-handed. They took some wild onions, wild leeks, dried mushrooms, dried vegetables and so on from each family. Except for Wang Chunniang who was a little ignorant, all the families living in this valley were actually pretty good people.
After feeding time, the children gathered under the tree to read. Chen Lie was busy laying shale in the clean room and clearing the drainage ditch. Sang Luo went to help, and heard Chen Lie tell her that they had to leave again early the next morning.
"This is the last grain shipment. I have to find a way to meet with Manager Xu, so I will probably stay out for two or three more days before returning. Don't worry if I return late."
Sang Luo was stunned. "Meet Shopkeeper Xu? Didn't we agree to go check every once in a while after we transported the grain to see if there was any news?"
"Yes, but do you remember that I told you that I had moved the food from the first food storage point?"
Sang Luo: "Remember, why?"
Chen Lie said, "In order to hide the food, Dashan and I spent a lot of time thinking about it. The method we came up with is not only good for hiding food, but also for hiding people. Hiding in it, whether it is to avoid people or wild animals in the forest, it should be no problem."
"Do you want to teach Shopkeeper Xu?"
Chen Lie nodded: "Yes, I thought that there would be chaos outside at any time. With this method, as long as we can escape into the forest, the chances of survival will be much greater."
Sang Luo was curious after hearing this. She looked at Chen Lie and asked curiously, "What method is so good?"
Chen Lie thought for a moment and said, "It's also digging a hole, but there are some other methods. The hole is bigger, people can enter, and food can barely get in and out, but the hole can be completely camouflaged. From the outside, it blends in with the rocks and plants, and it won't be easily discovered."
He himself felt that it was difficult to describe, so he wanted to meet with Manager Xu and ask him to personally take him to make one.
Sang Luo couldn't quite imagine what it would be like, but if Shen Lie said yes, it should be much better than the one he taught Shen Jin before. She was curious: "In this case, you said you were only two or three days late, and if it's two or three days, Shopkeeper Xu might not receive the letter. Do you have another way to contact Shopkeeper Xu quickly?"
"Yes, the Xu family has an old servant who disguises himself as a peddler and goes to Shili Village every day. One is to look after Xiao Jin and the others, and the other is to make it easier for me and Shopkeeper Xu to contact him if there is any emergency. We just need to hide in the mountains halfway and wait for him."
"I see." Sang Luo smiled and said, "Manager Xu is always thorough in his work."
It is actually quite good for them to have a specific way to contact the outside world after hiding in the mountains like this, so they will not be completely ignorant of what is happening in the outside world. And if they really encounter something in the mountains that cannot be solved, they can also find someone to discuss and help.
She recalled the situation of Shen Jin and others mentioned in Shopkeeper Xu's letter a few days ago, and asked Shen Lie: "Since we are going back to the vicinity of Shili Village, we have to teach Shopkeeper Xu the method. I think you will not forget Xiao Jin. You can hunt some things on the way this time and make some dried meat for Xiao Jin. I see that his family is in such a bad condition now. It is not easy for him to store some food by himself."
The resources in the valley were limited, so it was unrealistic for her to bring anything back for Shen Jin. However, there were really a lot of things in the mountains outside, so she asked Shen Lie to get some belongings for the children on the way and hide them.
Chen Lie smiled and nodded: "I have this plan. The hole I taught him to dig is not as safe as this one, so I will secretly bring him to the mountains to teach him, and I will give him some meat on the way."
As for whether Shen Jin would be brought back to his parents, Shen Lie no longer wanted to think about it at this point. He just wanted to do his best for Shen Jin and the others. After all, what he could give was actually limited. If Shen Jin and the others wanted to save some money from their own rations for his parents, that was their own business.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
