Chapter 23 Brother Bai, You Can't Be a Cripple Anymore
Liu Ye did not object to Bai Zilin's decision to fry rice. In the absence of water, frying rice was indeed a good idea. Under Bai Zilin's guidance, she fried two catties of mixed grain rice. It tasted fragrant and crispy, like popcorn, but it wasn't sweet. "Brother Bai, I didn't know fried rice was so delicious! It's more fragrant than porridge and more convenient. Brother Bai, you're really smart."
Bai Zilin smiled broadly, his eyes crinkling and his lips curving upwards, revealing a mouthful of white teeth, after being praised by her two sentences: "Hehehe, these are all lazy people's methods, methods that have no other choice."
Liu Ye grabbed another handful of fried rice and stuffed it into her mouth. While chewing, she said, "Brother Bai, I collected a lot of wild duck eggs on the mountain. They're in the jar in the basket. They won't keep if we don't cook them. Shall we cook the wild duck eggs too?"
Upon hearing this, Bai Zilin exclaimed, "You found wild duck eggs? Bring them here so I can see them!"
Liu Ye took the jar out of the basket and placed it in front of Bai Zilin. Bai Zilin saw that the jar was still covered. In such hot weather, it would surely smell bad. He quickly lifted the lid and saw that the half-sized jar contained a bunch of wild duck eggs. The duck eggs were not very big, about a size smaller than regular duck eggs.
"It really is a wild duck egg. Liu Ye, you are so lucky. I have never picked wild duck eggs before, only wild chicken eggs. It doesn't smell like anything, but it will smell like something after another day. Liu Ye, hurry up and start a fire, let's fry the wild duck eggs."
Liu Ye thought, "No way!" She said that he was just making things up when he said he was frying wild duck eggs. He was just pretending to be silly and teasing him. How could you fry wild duck eggs? If you broke them up and fried them, the two of them couldn't possibly eat them.
"Hmm, Brother Bai, how do you stir-fry wild duck eggs? Or should we just boil them?"
Bai Zilin said with a smile, "No need to boil it. Go put some soil in the pot, then put the wild duck eggs on top, and simmer it over a low flame. The wild duck eggs will cook slowly."
One sentence was like a wake-up call. Liu Ye instantly understood. So that's how it's cooked! Using hot soil to bake the wild duck eggs is the same as boiling them. How come she didn't think of that? It seems Bai Zilin is really quite clever. "I understand, Brother Bai. I'll go dig some soil right now."
In no time, the duck eggs were all roasted according to Bai Zilin's method. The shells were yellowish-brown and dark, which didn't look very appealing, but they smelled incredibly delicious. There were 30 wild duck eggs in total. After the wild duck eggs cooled down, she handed one to Bai Zilin and took one for herself.
"Ah, this is delicious! Brother Bai, you're so smart! The Bai family is really missing out by not wanting you. They'll regret it later!"
Bai Zilin took a bite of the wild duck egg and almost got dizzy from the aroma. It was so delicious, with a wonderfully fragrant and rich egg flavor. In the past, when he found wild eggs on the mountain, he wouldn't eat a single one himself, giving them all to those three ungrateful wretches. He also wouldn't eat a single egg laid by his hens. When it got hot, the old hens stopped laying eggs. Humph, let them lay eggs or not, he wouldn't get to eat any anyway.
"By the way, did you hear anything last night? The neighbors were shouting this morning that my five chickens were missing, and it seems like they were stolen last night."
Liu Ye shook her head without even lifting her eyelids: "I didn't hear anything. I slept like a log last night... I heard from the young shop assistant that people are robbing people in broad daylight in the town. It's quite chaotic. It's not uncommon for thieves to enter villages, especially in this year. Everyone is running out of food and water. To survive, even good people are forced to become bad people. Naturally, they have to go out and find a way."
Bai Zilin smiled and nodded, not expecting the silly girl to speak so eloquently and make such sense: "That makes sense."
Seeing that Bai Zilin had finished eating, Liu Ye stuffed another wild duck egg into his hand, but Bai Zilin shoved it back into her hand: "I'm not eating anymore. You're not full, so you can have it. I sit all day and don't do anything, so I don't need any physical strength. I won't eat that much."
Looking at the duck eggs in her hand, Liu Ye felt a pang of sadness. She knew he was reluctant to eat them. Fine, she wouldn't eat them either. She put the wild eggs in a jar, then put the jar in her basket, covered the basket with thatch, and sat back down next to Bai Zilin. She looked up at him with her dark little face and sparkling eyes and asked:
"Brother Bai, Village Chief Zhao and the others should be leaving tomorrow. How many days should we stay before we leave?"
Bai Zilin thought for a moment and said, "Let's leave two days later than them and keep our distance."
Liu Ye nodded: "Okay, everyone is going south to escape the famine. I reckon there will be a lot of people on the road. I don't think the roads to the town are wide either. It'll be packed with people."
Bai Zilin sighed and said, "Who says otherwise? My legs aren't good, I'm really afraid... I'm really afraid I'll prevent you from reaching the South..."
Liu Ye noticed the pessimism in his tone and immediately laughed heartily to comfort him, "Hehehe, how could that be? Ever since I stopped being stupid, my luck has been incredibly good. I can find wild eggs on the mountain, catch pheasants, and even find water. My luck is amazing! Don't worry, Brother Bai, we'll definitely reach the South safely. If things are good in the South, I won't come back, and neither will you. We'll settle down there and do whatever we want to support ourselves, hehehe." (ω) Hehe
"Brother Bai, don't worry about your leg. Brother Bai, let me untie it for you and take a look. Let me see if the flesh has healed. It's so hot, let's see if there are any maggots..." (ω) Hey
Bai Zilin (#Д): "Well... then hurry up and open it and take a look. My legs have been a bit itchy these past two days, I hope they're not actually infested with maggots...!" (_)
Liu Ye removed the cloth from Bai Zilin's leg and saw that the gaping wound from the wolf bite had healed and scabbed over. The area where the bone had been exposed had also grown a layer of new flesh, and the bone was almost invisible.
"Wow, Brother Bai, look, your wound is almost healed, it's already scabbed over."
Bai Zilin was also shocked by his wound. He rubbed his eyes and saw that the wound had indeed scabbed over and new flesh had grown on the bone. He gently reached out and stroked his calf, feeling that there was no bulging inside, which meant that the bone had healed together. He was so excited: "I'm really... really healed, Liu Ye, my leg is healed now."
Realizing his voice was a bit too loud, he quickly lowered it, afraid the neighbors would hear: "Liu Ye, my leg is really healed! It's all thanks to you, Liu Ye, you're truly my lucky star! I'm so happy, so joyful!"
Seeing Bai Zilin happy, Liu Ye was even happier: "Hehe, I told you you were alright. Now you can rest assured. But you still can't walk. Your bones have only just started to grow in. If you stand up and put too much strain on them, the bones that have grown in might break."
Bai Zilin nodded happily: "I'll listen to you. Whatever Liu Ye says is right. I'll listen to you from now on. If you tell me to chase a dog, I'll never chase a chicken. Look at my other leg. My other leg should be better now. I don't want to be a cripple."
Liu Ye helped him untie his other leg, which was also healed, the wound had scabbed over, and flesh had grown back into the bone: "It's all good, both legs are the same, hehe, Brother Bai, you can't be a cripple anymore."
Bai Zilin breathed a long sigh of relief when he saw that his other leg was also healed: "Now I can finally relax."
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