Chapter 183 Zhou Ge
It was the first time that I was so close to Sang Luo. I was so happy that I fell asleep in the middle of the night. The next day, Sang Luo woke up, but Chen Lie was still asleep.
Sang Luo had been used to sleeping on her right side since her previous life. Even though she had deliberately turned to the left yesterday, when she woke up in the morning, she didn't know when she had turned to the right. When she opened her eyes, she saw Chen Lie's sleeping face.
She had just woken up and was still a little confused. A faint light from the cave came in through the gap in the wooden door, and what she saw was a deep and angular sleeping face.
His eyebrows and features are sharp, and his nose, lips, and the entire facial contour are all well-shaped.
He looks handsome when he smiles, and it turns out he looks good even when he sleeps.
Sang Luo accidentally looked a few more times and couldn't stop herself, then she met Chen Lie's open eyes.
Their eyes met, and Sang Luo blinked. She felt as if she had been caught peeking, but she hid her embarrassment very well. She smiled in an instant, raised the corner of her lips and said, "Good morning."
Shen Lie was actually still a little confused.
Walking in the wild all year round, he had to guard against enemy attacks and wild beasts. He was always very alert and would be able to sense when someone was watching him even when he was asleep. So he woke up just like that. Before he was fully awake, he was dazzled by Sang Luo's smiling voice. His heart skipped a beat and he subconsciously said good morning as well.
Sang Luo couldn't help laughing. The cave was small and they were too close. She stopped lying down. She had been sleeping with her clothes on. She got up after uncovering the quilt, leaving Chen Lie alone with his heart pounding.
Seeing Sang Luo got up, he quickly got up as well, helped open the observation door and looked at the situation outside. Then, using the light coming in from the observation hole, he quickly folded the quilt, put away the leather, moved the couch back under the bed, and turned around to open the heavy wooden door.
Sang Luo got up early to cook breakfast, while Chen Lie was busy with farm work. When watering the soybeans and vegetables, he found that some seeds had been dug up by pheasants. It would take a few days to replant them. Nothing else could be done for the time being, so he cut some bamboo branches and wooden twigs to make a fence. It was already the end of the Chen hour when the group arrived at Zhou Laizi's house after breakfast.
The Zhou family's drying racks had been set up long ago, and each family's things had been dried in the same way. The unprocessed hawthorns brought back yesterday evening were also processed by the Zhou family's mother and daughter. Without any extra thanks, the Zhou family's father and son and their group headed to the mountains they had not been to before.
I think it should be attributed to the spread of birds, and also because not many people have entered the deep mountains for decades. There are a lot of wild grapes and hawthorns in this area of the mountains. You can always find a few of them after walking one or two hills. But what surprised Sang Luo even more today was the discovery of several banana trees. From a distance, those bunches of banana trees were eye-catching.
In fact, she seldom eats bananas. The only thing that is easy to find in the mountains is wild plantains, but that was a thing in her previous life. She has never eaten this since she came here.
Chen Lie saw her looking up at the banana tree behind a large patch of tall bushes about ten feet away with her eyes shining, and he couldn't help but smile: "Stand here and wait, I'll pick it for you."
As he spoke, he gave the self-defense knife to Sang Luo, and took the long-handled hatchet from her hand to clear the way. Chen Dashan and the others naturally saw that there was more than one plant growing in this area, so they each found a target.
The banana leaves grew quite tall, but Chen Lie was also tall, and with the long-handled hatchet in his hand, he soon brought back a bunch of banana leaves.
The banana tree grows well. There are five bunches of bananas on a whole branch, and each bunch has more than ten branches, so there are at least sixty or seventy branches.
Chen Lie picked a golden-colored one that was obviously ripe, broke it off, peeled it, and handed it to Sang Luo: "Try it."
She has bright eyes and loves to laugh. When she smiles, her white teeth are visible, and her eyes are full of anticipation and joy as she waits for her to take it.
Sang Luo didn't understand who had blended handsomeness, cuteness, youthfulness, heroism and chivalry so appropriately. Although it was autumn, his deep smile always gave her a feeling that it was as bright as spring.
It makes people's hearts beat fast and their souls shaken.
She took the banana, lowered her eyes and took a bite.
"How is it?" He tilted his head and asked, "Is it sweet?"
Sang Luo nodded: "It's sweet, you try it too."
When Chen Lie heard her say it was sweet, he laughed and put the whole banana branch into a sack and said, "There are still some that are not ripe. You can keep them for you and Aning to eat."
Sang Luo smiled and saw Shi Erlang's wife coming over, without saying much.
Chen Lie held the sack containing a whole banana branch in his left hand and continued to explore the way forward.
Perhaps there really is a division of territory among animals. Apart from the wolves and musk deer we encountered on the first day, we only found traces of wild boars on the fourth day. We hunted two of them and never encountered them again. During that time, we only caught some pheasants and rabbits.
The autumn sun is very strong. The first few batches of mountain products have been dried and brought back to the cave long ago. The last two batches can actually be harvested almost as well. They just need to go back to the valley to get some more sun. I can still recognize some of them, but it is not yet time to harvest them.
On the fifth day, everyone privately discussed with Chen Lie and Chen Dashan whether it was time to return to the valley, because some of the caves were too small, and even if the collected items were dried and stored, each family would have accumulated a large bag, and with the addition of smoked meat, it would not be easy to store them.
Of course, the most important thing is that they have also swept the mountains around Zhou Laizi's home and picked all the fruits that can be picked. In fact, it is time for them to move to another place, so they want to take this opportunity to go back and rest for a day or two, or replace people if necessary.
To be honest, Chen Lie was really reluctant to go back in his heart, but he also knew that life outside was harder than in the valley, and it was really tiring to always be running around in the mountains. The first two days were fine, but in the last three days even he could see that Sang Luo was tired, so he usually only let her follow him in the morning, and let her and Shi Erlang's wife rest at Zhou's house in the afternoon.
But how can you rest as comfortably in Zhou's house as in your own home? Thinking of this, he nodded: "Okay, then take back everything you can bring back today."
I told Zhou Laizi that we might take a break for two days and that we would explore deeper next time and I would call him back then.
We got some mountain products that day, but we didn’t leave them at Zhou’s house to dry, thinking that people in the valley would like to eat something fresh.
When they returned to the valley in the evening, several young men looked around and saw that there was no one around, so they left some people to guard the places where the valley entrance might be seen. Chen Lie led everyone to transport things to the valley entrance. Shi Dalang and Zhou Sanlang, who were guarding below, were so busy receiving things that they couldn't stop smiling.
You can’t tell what the dried goods are in the sacks, but you can smell the bacon, and you can also tell what the two baskets of fresh goods are.
The caves outside were locked, and some firewood that had been collected recently during free time was thrown into the entrance, and people returned quickly.
Sang Luo was really tired, so she went home and boiled some hot water to wash her hair, then took a warm bath. Only then did she feel refreshed.
Thinking back to when I was taking my two kids to collect mountain products and sell tofu, it was actually much more tiring than this. But I had a strong energy to keep going at that time. I had a really good rest in the valley for more than half a year. I couldn’t adapt to such high-intensity running around when I went out again.
Shen Lie moved all the things in the house down, and Shen An and Shen Ning arranged them. Sang Luo wiped her hair and rested. Shen Lie also went to wash his hair and take a shower. Shen Ning ran over happily and asked, "Sister-in-law, what do you want to eat tonight? I'll make it."
Sang Luo smiled and said, "Make some porridge, cut some bacon into thin slices and steam it, and then stir-fry some mushrooms."
Chen Ning smiled and said "OK", then turned around and went to the kitchen to get busy.
…
At the Chen family next door, Old Man Chen and Mrs. Chen were preparing food, and Qin Fangniang was asking the man what he wanted to eat in the evening.
Chen Youtian was casual and said, "Anything is fine, just do whatever you want."
After he finished speaking, he did not leave but stood in the kitchen. Qin Fangniang worked for a while and saw that he was still there, so she said, "Go sit down and rest for a while. The water will be ready soon, and Dashan will be ready for a bath soon. You should go and take a bath to relieve your fatigue."
Chen Youtian cleared his throat and said, "There is something I want to ask you."
"What's up?"
"That's right. Doesn't Laizi have two daughters? How old is their eldest daughter this year?"
Hmm? Qin Fangniang stopped what she was doing and looked at Chen Youtian. Chen Youtian smiled and said, "I think our Dashan is already 21 years old. I think that girl is a good person. She is gentle, polite, and efficient at work."
Qin Fangniang's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Why didn't I think of this!"
In the first few years, they thought their son was gone. As soon as his came back, they were busy fleeing to the mountains. They were so busy thinking about the world that they missed their eldest son. A few days ago, Chen Lie and Dashan said that they took Zhou Laizi's family into the mountains, and she didn't even remember that Zhou Laizi had an eldest daughter.
"I really don't know the details. It's quite different from our mountains. I'll ask mom. She should know." He wiped his hands on his apron, then quickly walked out of the kitchen and went into the cave. Chen Youtian hurriedly followed him.
"You mean A Ge?" Mrs. Chen thought for a moment and said, "He is two or three years older than our Er Shan, so he should be fifteen or sixteen."
"Fifteen or sixteen." Qin Fangniang thought about it carefully and felt that her son seemed a little older than others, about five or six years old.
Mrs. Chen saw her son and daughter-in-law excitedly coming over to ask about the age of Zhou's A Ge, and she roughly guessed what it was. She asked Chen Youtian with a smile: "Did you see A Ge this time?"
Chen Youtian smiled and said, "Yes, we put the mountain products we pick every day in the Zhou family to dry. I think that girl is pretty good."
Mrs. Chen also thought about it and said, "Five or six years, the difference is not that big. Zhou Laizi got married late, and he is also six years younger than his wife."
Miss Zhou Ge is quite good-looking and takes after her mother. Because her mother was in poor health, she had to take care of most household affairs in the early years. If it were not for the influence of her family situation, she would have been married at the age of fifteen. However, the economic situation was bad last year, and there were actually few adult men in the neighboring villages. The situation changed again at the beginning of this year, and there is still no sign of marriage.
Mrs. Chen was amused at the thought and said, "I think it's okay. If there is no suitable one, it's fine. But if there is a suitable one, who knows how many years it will last outside. Are we going to delay it forever? What if it lasts longer, and you are not even twenty-five or twenty-six by then? Where can you find a good one?"
Having experienced the war, Mrs. Chen knew very well that very few young ladies of their age could survive.
Qin Fang's mother was a little hesitant and said, "Mother, we can't show our valley to others. It's impossible to hide the fact that we're marrying a daughter-in-law from her. Will the other families have something to say?"
Mrs. Chen looked at her and said, "What are you talking about? This valley was found by Dashan and Alie. Dashan is 21 years old. Do we have to ask their opinion before marrying a daughter-in-law?"
This is the same as Chen Lie and the others bringing back Xiao Jin's brothers. Not to mention a daughter-in-law, if they really get married and there's chaos and unsafe conditions outside, as long as their family is willing to pay for their in-laws' food, other families won't have any objections to taking them in.
Mrs. Chen doesn't worry about this. She has to be tough on this matter. If she is soft first, she will be able to take advantage of those ignorant people.
She was thinking about something else and said, "Don't worry about it. What's the point of you choosing? It's up to Dashan to decide for himself. Aren't these Tianshan goods kept in the Zhou family? Take Zhou Laizi with you when you go hunting in the future. The two children will have plenty of opportunities to meet. If Dashan likes her, we can consider it. If he doesn't like her, it means that his fate has not come yet. If he does, I don't think anyone in this valley will have any objections. There is only one person who can't figure it out. Your Aunt Lu can take care of it."
Mrs. Chen didn't worry about this at all.
After hearing what her mother-in-law said, Qin Fangniang felt relieved. When she talked about what Chen Dashan liked, she was startled and turned to ask Chen Youtian: "No, is the food that girl cooks delicious?"
Mrs. Chen immediately remembered that her eldest grandson seemed to have not yet grown up and had a family. The only two or three times he talked to them about starting a family, he was envious of Chen Lie for having delicious food.
Chen Youtian was stunned. Of course he knew about this. His wife had mentioned it to him. He was speechless and thought about the meat soup he had eaten at Zhou's house in the past few days: "Maybe, just... just like that?"
In the cave, the four people, father, son, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, looked at each other. Outside the cave, Chen Dashan was carrying an empty bucket, holding a half-dry towel in his hand, wondering what the eldest daughter of the Zhou family looked like.
Zhou Ge.
There was a huge age difference. When he left home, she was still a little girl who was younger than Ershan now. How could he have paid attention to her? However, after rescuing her this time, she went to Zhou's house frequently. It seemed that... she was a fair and pretty girl?
The food they make really tastes just average.
Uncle Zhou's family hasn't eaten much meat in recent years, right? It seems that there is no seasoning. The salt is brought out in a small bamboo tube, and they sprinkle a little from it when cooking. It seems that there is no salt taste.
You're reluctant to use it, right?
Many thoughts flashed through his mind inexplicably. When he heard Qin Fangniang say that she would come out to cook first, Chen Dashan reacted and hurriedly turned back to the bathroom. Halfway through, he turned around and walked back, looking like he had just come out of the shower.
Chen Lie, who was next door, came out of the shower and saw Chen Dashan at the entrance of the cave. He walked back for some unknown reason, but after a few steps he turned around and went back.
What is this for?
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