Chapter 83 Stress Response
"Auntie, what are you cooking? It smells so good." As Ma Shoucai stepped into the kitchen, he kept breathing in and out through his nose.
"Hey, Ma Shoucai, what's with your dog nose? What are you sniffing with your nose stretched out?" Wang Feng stood next to the big stove, watching Uncle Hao and Aunt Zhang Yuling stir-frying in the pot with a big spatula. The aroma spread as the spatula turned. When he saw Ma Shoucai smelling the fragrance, he couldn't help but brag about his quick action and standing in a good position. Not only could he smell the fragrance, but he could also watch how Uncle Hao and Aunt Zhang Yuling cooked. He might also learn a few tricks.
"Shou Jue, you can wait outside for a while, it will be ready soon." said Li Haoran's wife Zhang Yuling.
"It's okay, Uncle Hao and Auntie, I'll help you light the fire. I'm free anyway." Ma Shoucai said with a grin.
"Sister-in-law, please go outside and have a rest. Let me take care of the task of lighting the fire, okay? Please, please!" Ma Youcai clasped his hands together and bowed.
"I'll give it to you, but if you keep smelling the fragrance like this, you'll get full and won't be able to eat." Yi Ke said jokingly.
"Sister-in-law, you don't know that the more you smell this, the more you want to eat it. Our uncle Hao and aunt's cooking skills are better than those of the chef. Well, they are completely on par with the royal chef..." Ma Youcai kept praising.
"Okay, add some firewood quickly to make the fire burn more vigorously." Seeing that Ma Youcai couldn't stop talking, he interrupted him.
So the scene in the kitchen was like this: Li Haoran's wife Zhang Yuling was stirring the big pot up and down with a spatula, Wang Feng and Ma Shoucai were sniffing, and Ma Shoucai even forgot to set the fire, and it was only when Li Haoran's wife Zhang Yuling reminded him that he remembered. His greedy look was unbearable to look at.
Yike came out of the kitchen and saw Ziyi taking his clothes to take a shower, so he asked, "Ziyi, why are you taking a shower so early?"
"There are a lot of people here today, so whoever has time can wash first. Have you washed yet?"
"Washed. Yes, there are four more people today. Then you go and wash them." Yike waved his hand, and seeing his cheap brother Du Jiankang washing vegetables there, he went forward to help.
"Brother Jiankang, how are you?" Yi Ke asked with concern.
"It's okay. I feel much stronger than before. Thank you, sister, for the medicine." Du Jiankang thanked sincerely.
"You're welcome. Tell me when you've finished the medicine and I'll refill it for you."
"Okay." Du Jiankang looked like he would do whatever you said, which greatly pleased Yi Ke.
"Yike, Yike." Wang Cuihua came out of the cave and shouted anxiously.
"Here I am, godmother. What's the matter?" Yi Ke quickly stood up and answered.
"Come and look at those chicks. Some of them won't eat."
"Okay, I'll go and see right away." After wiping the water off his hands with a towel, he followed Wang Cuihua into the hidden cave.
"What should we do? We finally bought it back. It would be such a pity if it died! Yike, you must find a way to save it."
"Let me see what's going on first?"
One can carefully observe the chicks that do not eat food. These chicks are listless, with their heads pressed to the ground. Some chicks are huddled together, tightly together. Some are accidentally squeezed out, and then hurriedly squeeze back in. As soon as I saw this phenomenon, I knew what was going on. It turned out to be a stress response.
The chicks were frightened while walking on the road. Although the basket was covered with cloth and no one could see outside, the bumps while walking still frightened the chicks.
Yike said to Wang Cuihua, "Godmother, I'll go get some medicine for them. They are frightened. They will be fine after taking the medicine."
"Then you go quickly. Fortunately, the duckling is fine." Wang Cuihua waved her hand, signaling Yike to go and prepare the medicine quickly.
"Even if the ducklings are fine, we should give them some medicine as a precaution."
"Okay, go ahead, I'll take a look."
Yike returned to the medicine cabinet and quickly prepared some calming herbs. He boiled them in a medicine pot and poured them out to dry. When they were almost cool, he took them to the chicken coop and called Wang Cuihua over. Together, they fed the chicks the medicine.
The chicks were too small, and it was difficult to inject the potion into them. It took me a while to inject the potion into every chick.
It won’t be so troublesome for the ducklings. Just pour the medicine into the water because the ducklings will drink the water.
"Yike, are you done? It's time for dinner." Ziyi came into the cave and asked.
"Okay. It will be done soon." Yike and Wang Cuihua washed their hands, and the three of them left the cave together.
"Yike, do you think this chick will be fine tomorrow after taking the medicine?" Wang Cuihua asked worriedly.
"It will be fine. Don't worry! Be gentle when you clean and feed them tomorrow and don't make loud noises. They will no longer be frightened and everything will be fine." Yike gave his godmother a reassurance.
"Sister-in-law, brother, dinner is ready." Liu Bing shouted when he saw Ziyi. He thought Ziyi didn't know.
"Here they come, here they come. Where are the others? Have they come back?"
"I'm back. I'm in the kitchen. The food is on the table. I'm waiting for you."
Sure enough, there were a circle of people sitting around the dining table, except for the three of them. They also hurried over and sat down.
"Tonight, let's welcome the four new brothers who have joined us." Li Haoran raised his glass, "Let's drink, and toast to their arrival."
Everyone raised their glasses, clinked them lightly, and took a small sip. No one consciously toasted. If you drink it in one gulp, you won’t have anything to drink later.
"Eat your food, everyone please feel free. I'm very happy today, and I didn't expect that the four of you would come in to help. Thank you so much. Come on, have this dish, it's your aunt's specialty - braised pork." Li Haoran put a large piece of pork in the bowls of Ma Shoucai, Wang Feng, Dong Guoqing and Liu Bing.
"Thank you, Uncle Hao." The four young men put the pork into their mouths without hesitation. They had been craving for the pork for a long time, ever since Li Haoran's wife Zhang Yuling started cooking. Their saliva kept flowing out of their mouths as they smelled the aroma. They hugged their upper and lower lips tightly to prevent the saliva from flowing out.
Oh my god, now that we can finally eat, why are they still being polite?
Pairs of chopsticks were quickly extended and retracted, and then extended and retracted again. The meat stuffed in the mouth had not been swallowed yet, and the meat on the tip of the chopsticks was at the edge of the mouth and ready to go in. The upper and lower teeth were busy, and they felt that their teeth were slacking off, otherwise why would the meat be waiting outside the mouth.
The teeth felt wronged, but could not protest, and were so angry that their upper and lower teeth kept "chattering."
"Uncle Hao, we just want to come in and eat meat. We heard from eldest brother that there are more than a thousand pieces of wolf meat. We are so excited. You don't know, we haven't tasted meat for more than a month. It's not that we don't have money to buy it, but there is no meat for sale outside." Ma Shoucai said incoherently while eating meat.
When Li Haoran's wife Zhang Yuling heard that they hadn't eaten meat for so long, she said with concern: "Don't worry, good children, auntie will cook meat for you every day." She kept putting meat into their bowls, and soon their bowls were piled with meat.
"Yes, listen to your aunt, eat meat. We are short of food, but we are not short of meat." Li Haoran said to Du Qingcang, "Brother, you have worked hard these days. Tomorrow you and these children go to the orchard and choose where you want to reclaim land. You can start by cutting down the bushes and clearing the grass roots on the ground. Turn the ground over and dry it in the sun, then you can sow. You can reclaim as much land as you can. Now that you have bought the seeds, you can start working hard.
"Thank you, big brother. If you need me in the future, just let me know. I may not have anything else, but I still have strength." Du Qingcang almost patted his chest to express his gratitude.
"I know, I know. You'll have work to do in the future. No, you'll have it tomorrow. So, tomorrow you can teach these four guys how to clear the bushes and weeds. After you've taught them, you can do your own work."
"This is easy. I will definitely teach them."
"Then I feel relieved. Yike, tomorrow you take everyone to the orchard to open up new land. You can direct them to do whatever they like. Tomorrow you will be the chief commander, so you can lead them to do the work." Li Haoran instructed Yike again.
"Dad, where are you going?" Yi Ke asked doubtfully.
"I'm going to give away the remaining wolf meat. You all will have to work hard tonight and help salt the wolf meat. Ziyi and I will take it out of the mountain to sell it tomorrow." Li Haoran said to everyone. Yike remembered what the man in green military uniform said when he was selling meat that day, and the salt he gave her. Ziyi had just come back and had to go out again. How tiring it was.
"Come on, Ziyi, eat more meat. You've become too thin." Yike picked out several pieces of meat and gave them to Ziyi. Then he turned around and said, "Dad, let Ziyi go to sleep first. He hasn't slept well these past few days."
"Okay, Ziyi, go to bed early. You don't have to do these things. Get enough rest so that you can travel tomorrow." Li Haoran said to Ziyi.
"Okay, Dad." Ziyi replied.
After dinner, everyone went to the water cave and carried out more than 800 kilograms of wolf meat, leaving the remaining several hundred kilograms for everyone to eat. We have to reclaim land during this period, so there is definitely no time for hunting.
Yike, Du Jiankang, Zhang Yuling and Wang Cuihua were responsible for applying salt to the meat, and then piling it in the pit. This pit was dug by Ziyi and his team for peeling the skin. Now the pit is used to store pickled meat.
It took more than two hours to finish all the work. When Yike returned to the room, Ziyi was sleeping soundly. Yike climbed onto the bed quietly and fell asleep leaning against Ziyi.
…
The next day, when Yike woke up, it was already past nine o'clock. Ziyi and Li Haoran had already set off. Yi Ke was so angry that he scolded Yu Yi severely, scolding him for not waking him up and sneaking away alone, and also for thinking that he slept too deeply.
"Stop cursing and go eat." Du Jiankang saw Yi Ke stamping his feet and cursing angrily, so he said, "After dinner, you can take everyone to the orchard. Everyone is waiting for you."
"Then why didn't you wake me up earlier." Yi Ke said angrily, "You are my brother? You don't help at all. Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" Yi Ke took his anger out on Du Jiankang, who was shot while lying down.
"That's why I didn't call you. You've been tired for a few days. It doesn't matter if you take a long rest. We're not in a hurry. Let's go eat. It's still hot." Du Jiankang was not annoyed at his sister's unreasonable behavior.
Yi Ke went to the kitchen unhappily to eat his breakfast.
In the kitchen, Li Haoran's wife Zhang Yuling was busy preparing ingredients for lunch and putting all the ingredients into a backpack.
"Mom, you are busy all by yourself, and you didn't wake me up earlier to help." Yike said coquettishly, "Brother Ziyi is so bad. He left quietly without calling me. When he comes back, mom, you have to help me teach him a lesson."
"Silly girl, when they left, they specifically told me not to call you, saying that you didn't sleep well these few days outside. They cared about you, but you scolded them. You really didn't take my kindness seriously."
"But I still have to take everyone to the orchard, and if I sleep in, everyone will laugh at me." Yi Ke said embarrassedly.
"Who would laugh at you? It's not enough that everyone cares about you. How could they laugh at you? You just like to daydream."
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