Chapter 9 To Survive
Mrs. Du divided the porridge evenly and cooked more than a dozen eggs according to the number of people.
Su Laoer, Su Laosan and others came back carrying the bamboos, chatting and laughing, but they found that everyone was not as happy as they expected, and they all sat there depressed.
"Brother, what's wrong?" Su Laoer asked his elder brother after throwing down the bamboo.
"It's nothing. Thank you for your hard work. I'm waiting for you to eat!" Su Bucheng smiled faintly.
Su Laoer looked at everyone suspiciously.
The eldest brother's family and the third brother's family sat together, my wife and children sat together, and my old mother sat alone on one side, and her faces were not looking good.
The youngest son hung his head sullenly and did not rush over to act coquettishly when he saw him. His daughter Su He was even more dissatisfied. His wife Xiao Qin lowered her head and remained silent.
Thinking that there had been some unpleasantness just now, Su Laoer wisely stopped asking questions and went to the stream to wash his face.
After everyone arrived, we started eating, with a bowl of porridge and an egg.
The adults only drank porridge and were reluctant to eat the eggs, thinking of secretly giving them to the children.
"Father, eat!" Su Ying sat next to her father and whispered.
"You also need to replenish your energy. This egg is small. Even if you and A Niang save it, it won't be enough for us to share. It's better for you to eat it yourselves."
After doing heavy work, you sweat a lot and consume a lot of physical energy, so you need to replenish salt water and food.
I haven't eaten anything with salt for several days. If I don't eat some protein, my body will soon be unable to bear it.
"Father, eat later!" Su Bucheng looked at his eldest daughter helplessly. She saw through everything.
"If you don't eat it, the food from your mother, second uncle and third uncle won't taste good either. Just eat it, there will be better ones in the future!" Su Ying advised.
"Oh! You kid!" Su Bucheng smiled, picked up the egg, cracked it, and peeled the shell. "Erlang, Sanlang, eat them all! They're very delicious."
Seeing their brother eating, the second and third sons of Su were reluctant to let them eat it. Thinking that their brother must have his own intentions, they cracked the egg, gave half to their youngest son, and ate the rest themselves.
"Fairy, eat quickly!" Su Bucheng urged his wife.
"I'm not hungry!" Mrs. Du was reluctant to eat it. Her eldest daughter was too skinny and her youngest daughter was too young to eat such delicious food.
"Mother, please eat it! We all ate it!" Su Ying peeled the egg and fed it to Mrs. Du.
"Woo..." Mrs. Du held the egg in her mouth and glared at her daughter.
"Eat quickly! Mother has lost a lot of weight!" Su Ying smiled and hugged Du, "Mother, we will be fine from now on, don't worry!"
"You!" Mrs. Du had to eat the egg. Her daughter always comforted others.
In these days where there is no clear future, I wonder where she gets her confidence and optimism from?
The dinner was a bit dull. After dinner, it was already dark. Su Laoer and Su Laosan were splitting bamboo in the yard under the moonlight.
The Su family is a poor family. Their ancestors were once glorious, but they fell into decline long ago.
The three brothers were all studying, but Old Mrs. Su and her husband could not afford to support them alone, so the three brothers worked part-time while studying.
The eldest brother copied manuscripts for others and earned a meager income. The second and third brothers were very skillful and made some bamboo products to sell.
Now the second and third sons are back to their old ways. Although they don’t have the right tools, they can still divide the bamboo strips evenly.
The young men had no tools and could only help carry the bamboo and sort out the split bamboo strips.
The two of them started by weaving the backpack. They squatted on the ground to lay the foundation. The bamboo strips seemed to have life and danced happily in their hands. After a while, the foundation was ready. They folded upwards into a barrel shape and continued weaving.
Su Bucheng watched his two younger brothers weaving backpacks quickly and talked about the past.
A group of children listened quietly to the stories of their parents. It turned out that their majestic fathers were once as naughty and romantic as they were.
Old Mrs. Su was also sitting there listening.
At that time, the family lived in poverty and harmony, with loving mother and filial children, and full of hope; now, the whole family, young and old, have become exiles and been driven to this hellish place.
If I had known the outcome would be like this, why would I have worked so hard in the first place?
She couldn't think about this matter anymore. Once she thought about it, Old Madam Su couldn't help getting annoyed and wanted to beat Su Ying to death with her cane. It was all this jinx's fault!
The Su family owed her something in her previous life, so she came to collect the debt in this life!
"Uncle, the backpack can't be too small." Su Ying stayed beside her uncle and agreed to make the backpack tailor-made for her.
"You are too thin and can't carry much. This size is about right." Su Laoer weighed the backpack and found it was just right to hold twenty or thirty kilograms.
Su He watched silently from the side. This time she didn't argue with Su Ying. Only a fool would want that broken backpack. With that backpack, she would never be able to shirk her responsibilities again.
"Uncle, please make it deeper. It's not easy to go into the mountains. It would be a waste if we don't carry more." Su Ying begged.
"Tsk!" Su He sneered, what can you do.
"What, Aying, you want to go into the mountains?" Su Boyan was shocked. "Aye, how can Aying go? I'll go!"
"Of course you have to go!" Su Bucheng glanced at his eldest son.
"What do you mean, father? When are we going into the mountains? Who will go?" Su Boyan heard something was wrong.
"Me, you, Sakura."
"The three of us?" Su Boyan was stunned. "Aye, there are so many ferocious beasts on the mountain. Are we just going to go up there like this?"
"Father, Aying stays here, it's my turn to go!" Su Zhongyan looked around and thought, how could a sick sister go while her brother stays at home?
"What are you going to do? Ah Ying has her own reasons for going, don't get involved." Su Bucheng said to his second son.
"Not only us, but also people from the village. Let's wait for the village chief to arrange for people and form a team to go up the mountain."
"Da Lang, Ah Ying won't go!" Mrs. Du felt distressed. "A Ying's condition will only burden you if she goes."
"Mom, I'm fine. Don't look at me because I'm thin. I can run very fast!" Su Ying stood up and showed her strength to Mrs. Du.
"Don't worry, mother, we are going to see what kind of mountain products there are and bring some back so that everyone won't go hungry in the future."
"But there are so many ferocious beasts in the mountains..." Mrs. Du didn't even want her husband and eldest son to go.
"Okay, fairy! It's settled. There are more important things to come!" Su Bucheng interrupted his wife.
"We need to reclaim the land as soon as possible. During the few days we are in the mountains, you two brothers should arrange for people to reclaim the land.
Winter wheat planting is coming up soon, and we can’t borrow the village oxen or plows, so we can only dig with a hoe.”
"Don't worry, brother. We will make sure that the sowing will not be delayed." Su Lao Er and Su Lao San said, patting their chests.
The elder brother risked his life to explore the way in the mountains, and it was not easy for those who stayed at home either, as they all tried to survive.
"Uncle, when you're reclaiming the land, dig up the rotten soil from the woods." Su Ying suddenly had an idea.
"What's the point of digging that thing?" Su Laoer was puzzled.
"Dig up the rotten soil, sift out the stones, dirt, branches, and leaves, expose it to the sun for a few days, and add quicklime to kill bacteria and insects. If you can mix in manure, it's even better. You can add it to the newly reclaimed wasteland as base fertilizer."
"Really?" Su Lao Er and Su Lao San were surprised. "Brother, is it true?"
"Let Ah Ying explain in detail first." This was the first time Su Bucheng had heard of it. He often went to the countryside and had heard farmers use manure, kitchen waste, and wood ash as fertilizer, but he had never heard of compost being usable.
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