Chapter 42: Adding Food to the Whole Team
Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao didn't know that the next day after they saved someone, everyone knew everything about them.
"This Xu Hexiao is a native of Yao County. The Xu family used to be a big landlord, but was later overthrown and became one of the five black categories. This Xu Hexiao has not left Yao County in the past ten years, so his identity should be fine. Even if those people wanted to recruit spies, they would not choose a young man whose movements were restricted and who worked day and night."
"The Xu family has always been in Yao County?"
"No, we came to Yao County more than 20 years ago. The situation was turbulent and the Xu family's business in Sucheng suffered a major blow. The head of the family at that time decided to move the Xu family to Yao County?"
“Why Key County?”
"The mountains behind Yao County are a natural barrier. During the war, many people fled to the mountains."
"It means that, so far, there is no problem with Xu Hexiao."
"That's right."
"What about Lin Qi? A little girl dared to shoot. She was calmer than a boy like Xu Hexiao when she saw a dead person. This is very unusual."
"This Lin Qi is from Zhoucheng. She was indeed a fool. The hospital has her medical records for 16 years. She was weak and sick. She almost starved to death a year ago. After waking up, she was not so stupid anymore. But according to the people in their courtyard, although she looks not stupid, she is not very smart. She is also stupid and always slow. It takes her two or three hours to cook dinner. She had just arrived in Yao County and was almost rejected."
"This Lin Qi is completely different from the Lin Qi we saw yesterday. Are they really the same person?"
"Lin Qi's brother Lin Mo came to the Anliang Brigade a month ago. There should be no problem with Lin Qi's identity. Boss, do you want to send someone to monitor them?"
In the conference room, everyone turned to look at Song Qing.
"No need." Song Qing shook his head. "They could have stood by and watched yesterday, but they didn't. From this point of view, their identities and thoughts should be fine. As for Lin Qi's abnormality, there are many unusual things in the world, and she is nothing. And she dared to expose herself in front of us, which shows that she is not afraid of our investigation."
The others nodded, agreeing with Song Qing's words.
"What about the promised reward?"
"Get ready, and send double the money to Xu Hexiao. As for Lin Qi, since she wants to continue to be a fool, let's fulfill her wish and forget about her."
On the first day of autumn harvest, Lin Qi was awakened by the sound of the brigade's gong at five o'clock.
She tidied herself up briefly, took her own bowl and chopsticks, and followed the educated youth to the cafeteria.
"No wonder those team members said that autumn harvest is hard. Even if they don't die, they will be skinned. It's not even dawn yet, and the day's work is about to begin." Zhao Yi complained.
"Talk less and save some energy." Ming Kangjian advised him.
"I don't know what to have for breakfast. Are there eggs?" Mo Mingyang licked his lips.
Jian Tongyi rolled his eyes at him and said, "What are you thinking? There are so many people in the team, where did they get the eggs?"
"Let's have multi-grain porridge and boiled vegetables. I asked the people in the team, and this is what they did in previous years. Keep it simple in the morning, so you can eat enough at noon, and eat until you are 80% full at night." Gan Tian said.
"Only one meal can fill you up?" Mo Mingyang said with a sad face.
"It's good enough to have a full meal. Many families in Anliang Brigade only eat two meals a day, and most of them eat wild vegetable porridge, with wild vegetables accounting for the majority. Haven't you seen those team members, each of them has a pale face?" Ma Guizhi made friends with several people in the Anliang Brigade and had a more detailed and comprehensive understanding of the situation in the team.
"Then we are luckier, because Qiqi will occasionally give us an extra meal." Jian Yitong looked at Lin Qi and winked at her.
Lin Qi didn't even look at him, "Next, I'm busy, let's find something to eat."
The educated youths pointed out six people: “….”
Suddenly I felt that life had lost its fun.
The breakfast was indeed a mixed-grain porridge and boiled vegetables, with taro, sweet potato, pumpkin, sorghum and wheat bran in the porridge, but not a grain of rice. The boiled vegetables had no oil at all, but were rich in salt.
You will sweat a lot when working, and eat more salt to gain strength.
Breakfast only lasts twenty minutes. If you don’t come to eat in twenty minutes, the cafeteria will be closed.
At half past five, the gong rang to signal the start of work. Ming Kangjian and others went to work, while Lin Qi went to cut grass for the pigs.
Around nine o'clock, after Lin Qi and San Ya delivered the pig feed, they did not go home. Instead, they went directly to the warehouse to get a basket and went to the fields to pick up rice ears.
In addition to picking rice ears, these children are also responsible for chasing away sparrows.
"Lin Qi, this is for you." Lowe ran over and put a slingshot in Lin Qi's hand.
Lowe is eight years old, the only boy in the family and the most favored. While others are as thin as bamboo poles, he has a little flesh, although, just a little.
"Will it work?" Lowe asked.
Before Lin Qi answered, he took the slingshot back, picked up a stone, aimed at the sparrow in the sky, and the stone flew out, several meters away from the sparrow.
"Use it this way, do you understand?" Lowe asked again, in a tone that was like treating a stupid brother or sister. Doting but also a little helpless.
Dad said Lin Qi saved him and asked him to call her sister and be nice to her. But seeing how stupid she was, he couldn't call her sister. He could only promise not to let anyone bully her. If anyone bullied her, he would fight back!
Lin Qi nodded, "Got it."
"Do you really know?" Lowe expressed doubt, "Then you can show me how to do it."
Luo Wei bent down and picked up a stone for Lin Qi. Lin Qi took it, narrowed her black and white eyes, aimed at the flocks of sparrows in the sky, pulled the rubber band hard with one hand, and the moment she let go, the stone flew out.
"It's normal to miss the first time. Don't be discouraged. It's me—"
Luo Wei's voice suddenly stopped. He stared at the sparrow that fell from the sky not far away with wide eyes, and said in disbelief, "Hit it?"
"Probably, right." Lin Qi said.
Luo Wei turned his head to look at Lin Qi, and the next second he ran towards the fallen sparrow, picked it up, and ran towards Lin Qi again, "I really hit it, hit the wing, and it's still alive."
Lowe threw the sparrow into the basket, closed the lid, and picked up another stone. "One more time."
Lin Qi repeated the same trick and hit another one for the second time, this time hitting the sparrow in the abdomen.
Without saying a word, Luo Wei ran to pick up sparrows and picked up stones for Lin Qi.
When Lin Qi hit five sparrows, the sparrows above their heads were scared away.
"Go to the threshing ground, where there are the most sparrows," said Lowe.
Lin Qi didn't move. "More, pick up rice ears."
"It's okay, you don't have to pick it up, just give it to us and go catch sparrows. If there are roasted sparrows to eat, everyone will definitely compete to help you." Lowe said.
There were indeed a lot of sparrows in the threshing ground, and they were packed densely together. Several old men were threshing the grain while using long whips to drive away the noisy sparrows, which made them very annoyed.
On his way here, Luo Wei picked up a lot of stones for Lin Qi. When they arrived at the threshing ground, he gave the stones to Lin Qi and said with a stern face, "Let everyone see your skills."
Lin Qi had a blank expression on her face. She sat directly on the ground, with small stones piled up like a small hill beside her legs.
Next, the sparrows fell like raindrops. Before one hit the ground, another one had already started falling. After more than a dozen sparrows had died, they finally ran away.
No wonder even during holidays, the team leader and others have to patrol the rice fields and sorghum fields every day. These sparrows are really rampant.
Luo Wei happily picked up a dozen sparrows, and smiled happily, "Lin Qi, let's go somewhere else and continue."
"Wait, you can go and kill the sparrows, but the sparrows will be left behind." said a short old lady.
"Why?" Lowe was dissatisfied.
"It's working time now. The sparrows you shot during work time belong to the team. You have to take these sparrows to the canteen." The old lady said righteously.
Lowe was dumbfounded. What he said made a lot of sense and he couldn't refute it.
So his sparrows were taken away, twenty-two in all.
"There are sparrows for lunch." Lin Qi reminded Luo Wei.
Lowe was about to cry, "With so many people, I'm afraid we won't even get a leg." And sparrows are so small, their legs are about the same size as his little finger.
"Hit more." Lin Qi said.
Luo Wei's eyes lit up, "Okay. Lin Qi, whether I can eat the sparrow depends on you."
Luo Wei pulled Lin Qi away. After they left, the old lady looked at their backs and sighed, "That idiot was very accurate in playing mahjong."
A grandfather behind the grandmother was also looking at Luo Wei and Lin Qi, and said meaningfully, "God made her stupid, so he must compensate her in other ways."
One morning, Luo Wei took Lin Qi for a walk. He picked up stones and Lin Qi was responsible for hitting them. The two cooperated with each other and returned to the threshing ground at eleven o'clock.
More than an hour later, the sparrows in the threshing ground came and went, and their numbers increased again.
At this time, Lin Qi's technique had become more proficient, and sometimes one stone could hit two sparrows in a row.
"Sixty-two, sixty-three, sixty-four... eighty-nine!" Lowe exclaimed, "The eighty-nine in the basket, plus the twenty-two before, a total... a total..."
"A total of one hundred and eleven." The old lady reported the result and took the basket in front of Lowe with her withered old hands. "I'm taking it to the cafeteria. If the staff in the cafeteria can move faster, we can have sparrows for lunch. You two keep up the hard work!"
For lunch, in addition to the grain rice, braised pumpkin, stir-fried beans, and cold vegetables, there was also a dish of fried sparrow with pepper. The red pepper, paired with the chopped sparrow meat, looked very appetizing.
"Hey, there are meat dishes, what a surprise!" The team members looked at the several fingernail-sized pieces of meat in the bowl and swallowed.
"It's Sparrow. The kids are awesome this year. They got the whole team to add dishes on the first day."
"The kids aren't that good. It's that idiot Lin Qi. I saw Luo Wei taking her around to play mahjong. Every time she hits a mahjong, she hits it right. She never misses."
“So amazing?”
"I saw it, too. In the threshing ground, more than a dozen were shot down in less than five minutes. It's amazing!"
"Didn't they say before that she can catch fish and shrimp? It seems like she has a natural talent."
“.......”
In the cafeteria, everyone praised the dish of fried sparrow with chili.
Xu Hexiao held a bowl with freshly served food, including a dish of fried sparrows with chili peppers. Normally, he would not have been given any meat dishes, but the person who served the food was Luo Guangqing's grandmother, and Luo Guangqing was one of the eight missing children. He was considered Luo Guangqing's savior, and when Luo Guangqing's grandmother saw him, she did not make things difficult for him, but treated him equally and gave him the same food as others.
After coming out of the cafeteria, Xu Hexiao lowered his head to look at the food in the bowl. Looking at the pieces of sparrow meat, he picked up a piece and put it in his mouth, chewing it carefully.
The mahjong that Lin Qi played was indeed delicious.
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