Chapter 79 Stolen
The next morning, the heavy rain turned into a drizzle. Lin Qi and Xu Hexiao stayed in the cave, one studying how to tan pig skin, and the other cutting the meat into pieces and marinating it.
They stayed in the cave for a whole day until the evening. After the rain stopped, they each carried a backpack and went out of the mountain.
The two of them returned to Lin Qi's house first. When Old Man Xu saw them, he breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "Nothing happened in the mountains, right?"
"No, everything went well." Lin Qi put down the backpack. She immediately noticed the decadent and decaying aura of Old Man Xu.
Even though he had been eating the vegetables grown by her special powers during this period, it only made Old Man Xu feel a little better, but it still failed to curb the decline of his body.
Lin Qi was in a heavy mood. This was the relative who depended on Xu Hexiao for survival. She couldn't imagine how sad Xu Hexiao would be if old man Xu died.
"Grandpa, it's cold outside, please go inside." Xu Hexiao looked at his grandfather who was wearing thin clothes with disapproval.
Old Man Xu agreed, "I'll go back right away. You too, your clothes are wet, go back and change. Once you're done, come to the kitchen. I've made a fire, you can warm yourself up."
It was a windy day, and Xu Hexiao was in a hurry when he moved to Lin Qi's place. He only took care of his grandfather's clothes and some food, and left his own clothes in the cowshed. If he wanted to change clothes, he had to go back to the cowshed.
Lin Qi changed her clothes and began to process the wild boar meat, pork offal and other things she brought back from the mountains.
"Qiqi, wash with hot water. I've boiled some hot water." Old Man Xu shouted in the kitchen.
"Okay, don't move by the fire, I'll get the water myself." Lin Qi said.
"Hey, hey, hey, okay, come here quickly." Old Man Xu waved at her.
"Actually, the well water is not cold, it's warm." Lin Qi smiled and carried the bucket into the kitchen.
"That's not as warm as boiled water. You should use boiled water. Girls can't touch cold water. It's bad for your health." Old Man Xu had a serious expression.
Lin Qi knew that he meant well, "Okay, I'll listen to you. I'll make a note of it."
Lin Qi cut the pork offal and chopped two large bones. She used the large bones to make soup and planned to have pork offal hot pot tonight. In such cold weather, eating hot pot by the fire was a pleasure just thinking about it.
With Old Man Xu watching the fire, she prepared all the side dishes before taking the yams, sweet potatoes, and vegetables in the backpack to the warehouse. The live pheasants and rabbits were also placed in the warehouse. Lin Qi put them into two bamboo baskets, and then put another bamboo basket upside down on top.
"Why did Ah He take so long?" Lin Qi looked towards the gate of the courtyard, "Grandpa, I'll go see Ah He."
"Go ahead. Be careful down there, the road is slippery." Old man Xu himself was a little worried, and when Lin Qi took the initiative to bring it up, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
After spending these days together, Lin Qi gave him the feeling that he could trust and rely on her. It was ridiculous that he could not rely on his own son, but relied on a little girl who was not related to him by blood.
There is a gravel road from the house to the yard. The gravels have been washed by rainwater, so each one is very clean and you don't have to worry about getting your shoes dirty when you step on them.
Vegetable seedlings have been planted on both sides of the gravel road. After experiencing wind and rain, these seedlings are now leaning to one side and look pitiful.
When she arrived at the gate of the courtyard, Lin Qi ran into Xu Hexiao head-on. When their eyes met, Lin Qi saw the anger that had not yet dissipated in Xu Hexiao's eyes.
"What happened?" Lin Qi asked.
Xu Hexiao exhaled a breath of foul air, "Let's go inside, it's windy outside."
Lin Qi looked at the clothes he hadn't changed and had a bad guess in her mind, "Did the cowshed collapse?"
The two of them stood side by side, Xu Hexiao held Lin Qi's hand, and the cold touch made Lin Qi shiver.
"The cowshed didn't collapse, and the cows are fine. The captain said he would have someone seal up the empty space in the cowshed tomorrow."
As they spoke, the two of them had returned to the fire.
The bone soup in the iron pot is bubbling and emitting hot steam.
"Wash your hands first, sit down and eat, and talk while you eat." Old Man Xu saw his grandson's face and had an answer in his mind, "Was it stolen again?"
Xu Hexiao was scooping hot water without changing his movements. "Yes, they stole my clothes, the dry and hard quilts on our two beds, and my cloth shoes."
"Who stole it? Did you tell the captain?" Lin Qi had heard Xu Hexiao say before that others would steal their things, but when it really happened, she still found it a little unbelievable.
She recalled the faces she had seen in the past, and there was actually a thief among them!
"I told you. I just came back from the captain's house." Xu Hexiao washed his hands, sat next to Lin Qi, and took the hot soup she handed over. "But it's useless. The captain won't search the teams' homes. He won't find the thief, nor the stolen things."
"Was it like this before? And it ended in nothing?" A surge of anger rose in Lin Qi's heart.
"Yeah. That's right. But I won't do that anymore. We have a new house, so we just need to lock the door when we go out." After drinking the hot soup, his body warmed up, and Xu Hexiao's cold heart seemed to warm up as well. "Just throw it away. It's a good excuse to buy new ones. I just told the team leader that I want to borrow money from you to buy a quilt and new clothes. The team leader agreed and told me to buy darker colors instead of bright colors. It would be best if I could put a few worn-out patches on the quilt, clothes and shoes."
Lin Qi: “….”
Seeing her stunned look, Xu Hexiao laughed even more happily, "The captain didn't treat us so well before, and it's all because of you. The captain likes you, so he is also friendly to us.
Lin Qi shook her head. "It's not all my fault. You saved several people this year and were praised by the police. You did a great job."
When Xu Hexiao was praised by her, a trace of unnaturalness appeared on his face. He pursed his lips and accepted her praise without being modest.
Eating the hot hot pot, the delicious food makes people feel better, and the depression and anger of being stolen also disappear.
Xu Hexiao and Old Man Xu’s quilts were stolen, so they had to use Lin Qi’s tonight. Lin Qi had to go back to the mountains to sleep.
"I'll go find Brother Tan later and ask him to help find two quilts." Xu Hexiao said.
"The rain has just stopped and the road is not easy to walk on. Let's go tomorrow." Lin Qi said, "Tomorrow I will bring back the quilts and rabbit fur mattresses from the mountains. You can take this one that you and grandpa sleep on back to your new house."
Xu Hexiao did not refuse. Now that he and his grandfather had slept on this quilt and mattress, it was indeed not appropriate to leave it to Qiqi.
Lin Qi returned to the mountains alone.
That night, she heard the long-lost wolf howling again. In addition to wolves, there were also sounds of other beasts.
Lin Qi quickly got up from the bed, without even bothering to put on her socks. After putting on her shoes, she rushed out like a gust of wind.
Entering the planting area, Lin Qi found that all the animals had stopped moving, not even the rustling sounds.
It seems that there are quite a few enemies coming this time.
After a few jumps, Lin Qi arrived at the end of the planting area. Outside the planting area was a deeper and more primitive forest.
At this time, the outskirts of the planting area were densely packed with animals, including wolves, tigers, leopards, deer, sheep, and an animal that looked like both a cow and a sheep. There were too many of them to count.
How did they gather here?
Was he being chased and intercepted and fled here?
Or are the herbivores attracted to the plants, while the carnivores follow the scent?
Looking at the scene in front of her, Lin Qi swallowed her saliva. It was all meat.
She doesn't mind whether it's herbivorous or carnivorous!
Lin Qi made a quick count and found that there were more than 300 animals present.
Some of the animals at the front have already entered the planting area.
This won’t work, it will scare the chickens and sheep she raises.
Lin Qi moved her mind, and countless thorny vines sprang up from the ground. In less than two minutes, the planting area and the outside forest were separated by a dense thorn belt.
"Hey, five wolves ran in." Lin Qi raised her eyebrows.
The next second, the heads of the five wolves were pierced by vines and they were silent in a moment.
The sheep and deer that escaped were still frightened and continued to run deeper into the planting area. Soon, they found that the enemy behind them was gone.
So they slowed down, and then they discovered something unusual here.
The mountains outside are bleak and the leaves have fallen, but here it is lush and green.
It still smells good!
What are those round things? Can they be eaten?
A sheep took the first bite of the melon, and soon after, the other sheep began to look for something to eat. Even a few deer couldn't resist nibbling on the grass and leaves.
Once they start eating, they can’t stop.
The plants here are so delicious!
Outside the plantation, the animals were still fighting, with roars and screams continuing.
Lin Qi sat on a tree branch and watched the scene calmly.
In the end, more than half of the sheep and deer were hunted to death, and those that managed to escape all ran into the mountains and forests and disappeared without a trace.
The ground was dyed red with blood, and the wild beasts were feasting on the spot. The scene was bloody, but Lin Qi did not feel uncomfortable at all.
Lin Qi watched for a while, reinforced the thorn belt, and confirmed that these big guys could not enter the planting area before she returned to the cave. As soon as she arrived at the cave, the vines also sent the five wolves back to the cave.
Another night passed, and Lin Qi returned to her new home carrying the basket on her back.
Xu Hexiao has already gotten up and is cooking breakfast.
"I hunted five wolves last night." Lin Qi said.
Xu Hexiao froze for a moment, and his dark eyes checked her up and down, "Are you hurt?"
"Of course not. When you go find Brother Tan today, ask him to come get the wolf meat in the evening." Lin Qi said.
In Zhoucheng, more than a month later, Lin Mo received another package from Lin Qi.
This time there were two cloth bags. Lin Mo waited until almost everyone else in the factory had left before he slowly went to the guard room.
Fang Ning also went with him.
"I bought a flowery cotton jacket for our sister. When you send the things this time, please help me send it over. I heard it's cold in the countryside, so don't let our sister get too cold." Fang Ning said with a worried look on his face.
Lin Mo bought himself a pair of plastic water shoes. "I don't know if my sister's feet have grown bigger, so I bought two sizes bigger."
"I heard that people often have to work barefoot in the countryside. Even if their feet don't get longer, they will definitely get bigger and rougher," Fang Ning said.
Thinking about his sister's white and tender feet becoming rough, Lin Mo's mood suddenly became bad.
"There's nothing wrong with becoming bigger and rougher. Our sister will walk more steadily, and her health is getting better and better. In my opinion, it's the right decision for our sister to go to the countryside." Fang Ning said what was in his heart. Although it was Lin Miaomiao who was selfish and sent Lin Qi away for her own sake, it now seems that Lin Qi going to the countryside is good for everyone, including Lin Qi herself.
If I hadn't gone to the countryside, how could I have eaten so much meat?
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