After a quick lunch, Hong Xiaoduo rested, and the children divided up the tasks of tidying up. They also slaughtered and cleaned the duck, planning to cook it and eat it when they rested in the evening.
Before setting off, Hong Xiaoduo, unwilling to give up, let the children get on the carriage first, while she went to the donkey cart, grabbed a few things, and tried to enter the space one by one, but without exception, she failed.
With a sigh, he resigned himself to giving up and boarded the carriage.
She tested the children on the English alphabet she had taught them the day before, then taught them a new one, and then let them practice on their own while she went back to sleep.
As usual, I slept soundly that afternoon without even having a dream.
When they stopped in the evening, Tian Shu saw that she was awake, so he asked her opinion on whether the campsite he had chosen was suitable.
Hong Xiaoduo got out of the car and saw that it was quite nice. The terrain along the roadside was very flat, and there was a small river not far away.
She didn't even have to worry about choosing a location anymore, and even the donkey and horse could see things. Hong Xiaoduo felt much more at ease and took the two girls to find some bushes to relieve themselves.
When she went to wash her hands by the river, she discovered that there were fish the size of her palm in the river. Without a net or fishing rod, Hong Xiaoduo thought of her skills in hunting wild game, picked up a stick, sharpened one end with her sword, stood on the bank, aimed at the swimming fish, and stuck it in. Ouch? She actually caught one.
The fish struggled on the stick. Yao Guang clapped her hands happily and shouted to Tian Shu and the others, "Mom caught a fish! We'll have fish to eat tonight!"
The children who had finished their work came over to watch the excitement and cleaned up the fish that had been caught.
Hong Xiaoduo became more and more skilled at stabbing. When the fish in the section of the river in front of her were startled and swam away, she moved to another spot and continued.
As the sun set and darkness fell, she finally stopped and looked back at the half-empty copper basin of fish that she had cleaned, and she was genuinely happy.
This could be considered living off the land and water; in short, even without villages and towns, they wouldn't let themselves and their children go hungry.
Back at the campfire, Tianxuan discussed with Hong Xiaoduo whether they should roast the fish since the duck was already stewing. Hong Xiaoduo looked at the fish she had prepared; she had never seen this kind of fish before and wasn't sure how many bones it had. She asked Tianxuan to roast one first so she could try it before deciding.
While they were grilling the fish, another carriage came by. As it got closer, Hong Xiaoduo could see that the riders were government officials, and the fenced carriage was actually a prisoner's carriage. Inside was a prisoner dressed in prison clothes, with disheveled hair that obscured his face, but judging from his build, he was a man.
The four officers looked at Hong Xiaoduo, then whispered among themselves and decided to rest there as well.
They gathered firewood and started a fire, but didn't set up tents. Instead, they took their luggage rolls from their horses, spread them out around the fire, and sat on them.
They took out some dry rations, roasted them, and ate them simply with their water bag.
When Hong Xiaoduo arrived here, it was the first time she had ever seen a prison van and prisoners, and she couldn't help but take a few more glances.
The fish was grilled first, and Hong Xiaoduo carefully took a bite. She then discovered that there were many small fish bones. She was not comfortable letting the children eat with so many bones, so she immediately asked Tianxuan to make fish soup.
If she's making fish soup, one-third of the fish she caught is enough.
"Mom, is it not good?" Yao Guang asked curiously when she saw that Hong Xiaoduo had only taken one bite of the grilled fish and then refused to eat it.
Hong Xiaoduo knew she wanted to eat it because the fish smelled so good after it was grilled, so she smiled and said to her, "It's delicious, but there are too many small bones. It's easy to prick your throat, so let's not eat it."
Upon hearing this, Yao Guang immediately nodded obediently. She had picked up fish pieces that customers had dropped on the ground before and had gotten fish bones stuck in her throat, which was extremely uncomfortable.
While the officials were warming themselves by the fire and waiting for their rations, they curiously looked at the group of one adult and seven children. They could faintly smell the aroma of meat and felt a little envious.
One of them couldn't resist standing up and saying he'd go over and try his luck.
"Shaoxiang, be polite," a slightly older officer whispered in his ear.
Shao Xiang replied, "Don't worry, I know how to sit."
Approaching, the officer named Shao Xiang politely looked at Hong Xiaoduo and asked, "Young lady, we are escorting prisoners out and saw that you have hot soup. We would like to ask if you have any extra for us, or give us some silver."
Hearing the other person's tone and attitude, and seeing that they didn't seem like bad people, Hong Xiaoduo thought for a moment and replied, "What we're stewing is only enough for ourselves."
"Oh, I see. I'm sorry to have bothered you." The officer was somewhat disappointed, but still remained polite.
As he turned to leave, Hong Xiaoduo called out, "Sir, please wait a moment."
The officer turned around and looked at her, thinking she would say she would give him less.
“We only have enough food to cook for ourselves, but I have extra ingredients that I can share with you. We also have copper pots, salt, and a stream over there for water.” After Hong Xiaoduo finished speaking, she gestured for Tianxuan to bring the remaining fish over to them.
"Mother, should we give them all to them?" Tianxuan asked softly.
Hong Xiaoduo smiled and said, "Give them all to them. They are adults with big appetites. I can catch more tomorrow morning."
Tianxuan wanted to explain that she wasn't stingy, but she held back and walked over with the copper basin containing the fish, handing it to the other person.
The official was surprised to find fish to eat, and so much of it at that. Instead of reaching out to take it, he quickly asked, "How much silver is appropriate for this?"
Hong Xiaoduo smiled and waved her hand, saying, "We caught them ourselves, so we didn't buy them. We don't need to pay any money. They just have a lot of thorns. Didn't you see we use them for soup? We're glad you don't mind."
"Isn't that a bit much? How about charging a little more?" It's the middle of nowhere, and it's cold. Having fish soup would be wonderful. I felt a little embarrassed.
"It's alright, it's not easy being away from home. Just remember to wash the basin and return it to us before you leave tomorrow morning." The more the other person acted this way, the friendlier Hong Xiaoduo became.
"Then thank you, young lady." The officer Shao Xiang thanked her, took the basin from Tian Xuan's hand, and Tian Shu handed him a small packet of salt.
The three constables who had been watching from a distance saw that their companion had even brought out a basin, and as he stood up to wait for him to approach, they hurriedly asked, "What?"
Shao Xiang proudly told us, "They said it was fish caught in the river and gave it to us. They didn't ask for any money and even gave us salt. They also reminded us that the fish had a lot of bones and said that they usually make soup from it."
"Wait a minute, could there be something poisoned in this?" One of the officers couldn't believe that someone would be so generous as to offer such a good deal, and he couldn't help but become suspicious.
"Old Sang, you see no good people in everyone, do you? Since you're so worried, don't eat it later." Before Shao Xiang could speak, another officer disapproved and criticized him.
"I'm just being cautious, what if they're accomplices of that person?" The one who was scolded retorted, glancing at the people in the prison cart...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
