Chapter 173 Slate
The two of them left the valley, while on the other side, the three Xiao Jin brothers delivered wild vegetables to every household.
For families like the Xu and Zhou families who had not left the valley, they were very happy to have a few wild vegetables to change their taste. They would definitely praise Shen Jin and thank him. For families like the Xu family who were more well-off, Old Lady Xu would even pick out a handful of red dates for the three brothers as snacks.
Both the Chen and Shi families had people out of the valley today, so they were not short of wild vegetables. But they were also very happy to see Shen Jin leading his brother to bring wild vegetables. They took them with a smile. Mrs. Chen had some maltose at home, and seeing that the three children were so skinny, she gave them a piece and said, "Go back and make some syrup to drink."
After visiting several stores, not to mention Shen Jin, even Shen Tie noticed something was different.
This is very different from the treatment they received in the village before.
Shen Jin vaguely understood something, and seemed to know why his sister-in-law could get along so well with the people in the village.
Yes, to repay someone you don’t have to wait until you grow up and do something when you have the ability. What’s important is to put your heart into it.
The last portion was delivered to the Lu family. It was given to Mrs. Lu at the entrance of the cave. When Shen Jin was about to leave with his brother, he felt a gaze falling on him. He looked back curiously and saw Wang Chunniang who was imprisoned.
Wang Chunniang was also looking at them, and her gaze made Shen Jin feel particularly uncomfortable.
He was stunned for a moment, and soon stopped looking over there. He didn't ask any more questions, said goodbye to the Lu family, and went back to work with Shen Yin and Shen Tie.
After walking quite a distance, Shen Yin asked in a low voice: "Third brother, has Hu Zi's mother been locked up?"
Shen Jin pinched his hand and said, "Don't tell me. Go back and ask my second brother later."
Shen Yin said, "Are you calling me Second Brother?"
Shen Jin used to be called Shen An and Shen Ning.
Shen Jin felt a little uncomfortable, but still said, "It was not good for me to do that before."
Shen Yin and Shen Tie both laughed. As they laughed, Shen Tie thought of Tian Ya again. He lowered his head and said, "It would be nice if Tian Ya and her parents were still here. We would have something to eat."
Shen Jin's expression froze, and his hand holding the handle of the basket trembled slightly. He suppressed it with all his strength, and after a while, he patted Shen Tie and said, "Don't think about it."
Apart from this, I don’t want to say anything more.
Sometimes it’s really blissful to not know anything, at least you won’t be like him.
When Shen An and Shen Ning were boiling water at home, Shen Jin took out the maltose and a handful of red dates from his pocket and said, "Grandma Chen and Grandma Xu gave them to me."
Chen Ning looked at it, smiled and took out a bowl from the cupboard to receive it, and said: "I'll keep it for now, and use the sugar when you cook egg drop porridge. Ask your sister-in-law how to make red dates later. Your sister-in-law knows more."
Turn around and put it in the cupboard.
Shen Jin watched Shen Ning arrange all these without even thinking about it, and couldn't help but think of his past self. His throat was choked, but he couldn't say anything.
The water was still boiling, and Shen An had already taken a ceramic basin and put three pheasants in it, obviously intending to scald and pluck the chickens. Shen Jin came over to wait for help, and asked in a low voice about the Lu family.
When Shen Jin asked about it, Shen An roughly told him about the two things Wang Chunniang had done, and said, "Lu A-nai and the others will take good care of her. You don't have to care about it. Just pretend you don't know."
Then he remembered why Wang Chunniang was imprisoned, and reminded the three brothers Shen Jin: "But you must remember not to shout or cry in the valley. We are hiding in here, and we are safe now. If there are people in the forest outside and they find us, we will have no peace."
The three brothers nodded in unison, especially Shen Jin. No one knew better than him how terrible some people were.
…
Chen Lie and Sang Luo came out of the valley and went straight to the mountain stream that Sang Luo mentioned. Sang Luo was looking for suitable rocks along the way, and Chen Lie also helped to keep an eye out, but from time to time he would always glance at her when Sang Luo was not paying attention.
The two of them came out together, and he was so happy in his heart. They left the valley in early May and returned at the end of May. He hadn't seen Sang Luo for a long time. Unfortunately, he had been busy from yesterday to today, and the two of them didn't have many opportunities to spend time together in private.
Of course, just being able to see them and be together made him feel satisfied.
The mountain stream that Sang Luo mentioned is actually not far from the outskirts of the valley, and it only takes about a quarter of an hour to walk there. The stones in the stream look much smoother and smaller than those on the mountain, so the possibility of finding thinner slate-like stones is actually higher.
Sang Luo looked at her cloth shoes and socks, wondering whether to take them off and go down. Chen Lie had already called her: "I'll go down, you watch from the side, and I'll fish out any piece you want to see."
As he spoke, he took off his shoes and socks and went into the water, looking for a suitable stone slab for Sang Luo in the stream. One of them walked in the stream, and the other looked by the stream. Sang Luo didn't see anything suitable in her short section of the stream, so she looked towards the middle of the stream. When she saw a similar stone slab, she pointed it and asked Chen Lie to go over and have a look.
"Chen Lie, the one in front of you on the left, look at the other side."
It was a relatively flat stone. When Chen Lie turned it over, he found that it was the same stone platform that the family had originally used, too thick at the bottom and irregular in shape.
He shook his head. Sang Luo was a little disappointed and started looking in the water again: "There is a piece on the right side, three steps to the right. Turn it over and have a look."
One watched while the other waded through the water to turn over the stones. They had a busy search for a stone slab. After walking about ten feet downstream along the mountain stream, Chen Lie turned over a stone slab the size of a pottery basin and more than two inches thick. The front was quite flat, and although the other side was not flat, it was much better than the dozens of stones he had turned over before.
He picked up the stone slab and showed it to Sang Luo: "A Luo, do you think this one is okay?"
As he asked, he came ashore and turned it upside down to show Sang Luo. Sang Luo's eyes lit up: "Okay, it couldn't be more suitable!"
Chen Lie's eyes were filled with laughter. He put the stone slab on the shore and said, "I'll look for it again. I'll use whichever one is suitable."
Sang Luo turned over the stone slab and replied, "If there are any extra ones, bring one for Grandma Chen."
The stone slab is big enough, Xiao Jin and his brothers can share it with them, but Chen Dashan will definitely be greedy and want to grill meat. The Chen family has a lot of prey, so of course it will be fun if they grill together.
Chen Lie obviously had the same idea and laughed. The two continued to search downstream, and when they reached a small pond, they actually found another suitable piece.
Chen Lie went back to put on his shoes and socks, and moved the stone slab he had found before to the edge of the small pond. Not far from the pond, he broke off a few branches, peeled off the bark, and tied them together to use as a brush. Together with Sang Luo, he carefully scrubbed the stone slab.
Maybe the leaves from the branches thrown by the water attracted the fish. Sang Luo looked at the fish. It must be at least one kilogram, much bigger than those raised in their rice fields, and there was more than one.
What great ingredients! She wanted to drink fish soup.
She whispered, "Shen Lie, there's fish."
As she spoke, she carefully took the backpack behind her and tried to fish something out. If she couldn't catch anything, she would fish in the fish nest. She was an expert at this!
Seeing her eyes sparkle, Chen Lie couldn't help but raise the corners of his lips. He looked at the fish in the pond and whispered, "I'll do it."
He put down the bark brush and didn't take the backpack. He carefully half-crouched by the pond, staring at the water surface with bated breath.
Sang Luo couldn't help but hold her breath, biting her lip and staring.
Catching fish with bare hands?
"Will this work?"
When Chen Lie saw the right moment and dove into the pond with one hand, Sang Luo was even more nervous than him. When he pulled his hand out of the water, he was holding a desperately struggling fish. Her eyes widened: "Can you really catch it?"
It's amazing.
The tone was so pleasantly surprised that Shen Lie couldn't help but smile.
"There's nothing to eat in the mountains, so I can only rely on these. Slowly I've developed my accuracy."
He put the fish into the basket and asked Sang Luo, "Can you catch another one?"
Sang Luo nodded repeatedly.
The fish were frightened and scattered in a swarm. However, there must be really few people here, so the fish were not very defensive and the pool was not big. The fish that had been frightened away came back soon.
Chen Lie was not in a hurry to take action. He watched carefully before taking action. He missed the first time, but he caught another one on the third time and put it in his backpack.
Sang Luo looked at the two fish and stopped brushing the slate: "Let's go back and brush it. I didn't bring a bucket. Can I still feed these fish if I take them back?"
Shen Lie looked at her: "Do you want to eat tomorrow?"
Sang Luo nodded: "There are pheasants today."
Chen Lie looked around, stood up and broke off a few leaves that were big enough and brought them back, "This place is not far from the valley, let's give it a try."
After taking the fish out of the basket, he used leaves to cover the area from the bottom of the basket to a height of six or seven inches on the edge, pressed down a few not-so-big stones to secure it, and then scooped some water into it with his hands.
It's OK because the leaves are big enough and there is no leakage.
He put the two fish into the backpack, covered it with a leaf, and then handed it to Sang Luo, saying, "Be careful, they will probably struggle a lot on the way."
He wanted to carry them himself, but the two stone slabs were quite large and felt heavy in his hands, and he couldn't let Sang Luo carry them.
Sang Luo was not afraid of the flapping of the arms and legs. She adjusted the rope of the backpack and just carried it as if it were a bucket.
The valley was not far away, and it took more than a quarter of an hour to reach the entrance. Two fish were flapping their tails, and one could tell that they were still alive without lifting the leaves to look at the mulberry tree.
It was already past noon when we got down to the valley. We had two meals a day, and dinner was at 3 p.m., so there wasn't much time left.
Sang Luo gave the backpack to the younger ones and asked them to raise the fish in buckets. She and Shen Lie went to scrub the two stone slabs they had just brought back. After scrubbing them clean, they came back and found an open space under a tree outside the house and set up a camping stove. Well, it was actually just a pile of stones.
But the simpler and more casual it was, the more curious the kids became. Even Xu Wenbo, Xu Wenyin, Chen Ershan and Chen Xiaoya from next door came over.
Chen Xiaoya squatted on the side and handed over the stones. As she looked at them, her eyes lit up: "Sister-in-law A'luo, are you going to play house?"
The children in Shili Village didn't have much to play, so playing house was a game that the little ones were very keen on, especially the younger ones like Chen Xiaoya. Sang Luo saw her squatting together with Qiao'er, Sanniu, Shitou, and Axu several times. They built a stove with stones, used stone slabs as pots, used wood blocks as shovels, and then got some leaves and water. They lit a fire and cooked seriously. They also had different roles, such as father, mother, and brother and sister.
She burst out laughing: "Yes, let's play house. Do you want to play?"
"Really? Can I call a few more people?" Chen Xiaoya suddenly became excited. She moved forward while squatting, and it was obvious that she was eager to call her friends.
Sang Luo stopped him and said, "Don't worry, let's try this stone first."
If the stone is not okay, it would explode after burning for a while, which would not be fun. However, she saw that the two stones were hard enough, so it shouldn't be like that. She would know after trying it.
The stove was set up, Chen Lie lit the fire and added firewood, Sang Luo watched from the side and said, "Don't make the fire too big."
Stone slab grilling does not require a very strong fire.
After the fire was lit and the stone slab was put on the rack, the children were asked to move away. After it had been burning for a while, Sang Luo poked the stone slab with a long wooden stick.
Very good, nothing happened.
She was happy: "This stone can be used."
Chen An and Shen Ning had already cleaned up the three chickens with a few smaller ones. The remaining fire under the stone slab would soon go out. Sang Luo didn't bother with it and told the children not to get close while she went to prepare the ingredients.
At this moment, Chen Dashan came over after seeing the commotion and asked Chen Lie. He heard that it was Sang Luo who was preparing new food and that a stone slab was prepared for their family. He was almost ready to eat. He urged Chen Lie, "Hurry up, hurry up, go eat. The sooner we go, the sooner we can come back. I can try this stone slab barbecue when I come back."
Sang Luo was teaching Shen Ning how to debone a chicken. She was puzzled when she heard this and asked, "Where are you going?"
Chen Lie then explained: "I walked deeper into the area for more than an hour this morning and found wild boar footprints. I think there are several of them. Wild boars usually come out in the evening. We are going to set up an ambush soon."
He looked at the sky and said, "At this point, it will be time to leave soon. We need to find a place to hide in advance."
Sang Luo was stunned: "Why didn't you tell me before? I could have prepared dinner earlier."
It was a rare opportunity that she invited him to go out of the valley with her, so he was reluctant to say it.
Shen Lie just smiled and said, "I'm not hungry yet. You guys eat as usual, just leave some for me. I'll eat when I get back."
Chen Dashan didn't know all this, he just knew that everything Sang Luo cooked was delicious, he was happy when he heard it, he hooked Chen Lie's shoulder and said, "Come on, my mother made some simple rice with vegetables, come to my house and have a bite first, I'll come to your house to have a bite when I come back in the evening."
He turned around and said to Sang Luo, "Sister-in-law, please save some of the delicious food for me."
Sang Luo laughed and said, "Okay, go ahead. I'll reserve a separate barbecue for you guys tonight."
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