The happy little days of the Ye family

In summer, the days are long and the nights are short. When the big rooster of the Ye family next door crows for the first time, it is already bright.

Tang Xiaojing opened his eyes, and there was a sound of cicadas and birds chirping in his ears.

Listening to the crisp sounds of the little animals, Tang Xiaojing was in a good mood and sat up slowly.

He glanced at Ye Qingqing and Chenchen, who were sleeping soundly beside him, with smiles on their faces.

When we came back from dinner at Ye's house last night, the little guy and Xiao Qi had so much fun that they refused to sleep at night.

Ye Qingqing coaxed him for a long time and finally fell asleep in the middle of the night. Now the mother and son are still sleepy, their faces are red from a short nap.

Pushing open the door, I saw the sun was shining brightly outside, and there was not even a cloud in the blue sky. It was a sunny day.

The weather was nice, and Tang Jing was in a particularly happy mood.

Dahuang and Xiaohuang were sleeping at the door. When they saw Tang Xiaojing coming out, they got up excitedly, shook their big tails enthusiastically, and then followed him step by step.

When Tang Xiaojing came to the well to wash up, he saw that Tang Shan had already gotten up and was washing his face with the cool well water.

"Dad, you woke up so early. What do you want for breakfast today?"

Tangshan complained in his heart, you have pumpkin porridge, sweet potato porridge, or dry pancakes every day, what else can you do?

But he didn't know how to cook, and he was too embarrassed to tell his son, but he still had a smile on his face.

"Let's make pumpkin porridge and steam some sweet potatoes and eggs. If the weather is hot, we won't make pancakes. They'll be too dry to eat."

"Okay, Aunt Chen brought over some sour beans a few days ago. I'll cut some and serve them as porridge."

After speaking, Tang Xiaojing dipped some tooth powder on the pig bristle brush and started brushing his teeth.

Tangshan nodded, expressed no objection, turned around and picked up two large buckets to carry water.

After taking two steps, he turned around and said to his son:

"By the way, the batch of skins we made last time should be ready for digging today. Come back early in the afternoon to dig the skins."

The weather is hot, and the time for tanning leather has been shortened a lot.

"Okay, let's dig traps in Rabbit Mountain. It won't take long." Tang Xiaojing brushed his teeth and replied inarticulately.

As soon as Tang Xiaojing made breakfast, Ye Qingqing woke up to Chenchen's crying.

Ye Qingqing half-squinted his eyes, neatly changed the little guy's diaper, fed him well, and then got up to wash up.

In fact, it was quite early when she woke up, but after changing her diaper and feeding her milk, when they came to the kitchen, both father and son were full.

Tang Xiaojin had just finished washing the dishes and chopsticks for the two of them, and Tang Shan had already brought out the donkey cart.

Ye Qingqing picked a few fresh cucumbers from the small vegetable garden for the father and son to eat on the way.

Tang Xiaojing took the cucumber and looked at Ye Qingqing tenderly.

"Dad and I will come back early in the evening. We need to dig out the skin at home."

"There are a lot of leathers made this time." Thinking of these valuable leathers, Ye Qingqing was very excited.

The father and son went to the other side of the valley, and the two waves of work just came down from Stone Mountain and Rabbit Mountain.

There is abundant prey on Stone Mountain. In addition to a deer, there are also three fat hares.

The two people who went to Rabbit Mountain came back empty-handed. The traps on Rabbit Mountain had not harvested anything for two consecutive days.

After the prey was taken down, several long-term workers skillfully peeled off the skin of the prey.

The skin will be kept for the Tang family to be tanned, while the meat will be sent to two restaurants.

When I first bought Rabbit Mountain, I could see hares every few steps. There may have been too many rabbits caught in the past few years, and there are fewer and fewer rabbits, and these little guys have also become more sophisticated.

At the beginning, a few traps were dug, and seven or eight rabbits could be caught in one mountain in a day. Later, the number of rabbits became less and less, and now only two or three rabbits could be caught in a day.

Not only that, but sightings of wild goats are now rare.

The previous trap had not caught any rabbits for two consecutive days. Today the father and son went up the mountain to change the position of the trap.

Along the way, the father and son talked and laughed. Tang Xiaojing stopped from time to time, pointing to the flowers, plants and trees on the roadside that could be used as medicine, and told Tangshan their names and uses.

The terrain of Rabbit Mountain is flat and the soil quality is average. Most of the herbs seen on the road are the most common herbs. Although they can be sold for money, they are not worth much.

There are fewer rabbits on the mountain, and there are fewer little guys eating grass. All kinds of weeds grow lushly, and there are many fat mushrooms hidden at the bottom of the weeds.

Tang Shan held a sickle to clear the way in front, while Tang Xiaojing followed behind to pick mushrooms.

The father and son also found two pheasant nests, but unfortunately they were empty, not even a pheasant egg was found.

The two buried all the traps they had dug before, and then dug a few more traps in other locations.

The two of them worked for a long time before digging the trap again.

The weather was so hot that despite the shade, the father and son were still sweating profusely and half of their clothes were wet.

When going to the spring to drink water, Tang Xiaojing picked some fresh lotus leaves and went back.

Xiao Huang caught a pheasant on the mountain and went back to make lotus leaf roast chicken.

Everyone only had a taste of the two last night, and Tang Xiaojing hadn't had enough yet.

Thinking of going back to dig skins early, the father and son called Dahuang and Xiaohuang down the mountain before the sun set on the top of the mountain.

When going down the mountain, the father and son carried pheasants and mushrooms on their backs. The harvest was quite good, and the land purchased in this mountain was not a loss at all.

There are just too few small animals on the mountain. Tang Xiaojing was thinking along the way, how to make good use of this rabbit mountain?

Nowadays, there are many people growing honeysuckle, so it is not valuable. Tang Xiaojing does not want to grow honeysuckle, and there are not many other herbs suitable for growing it.

Along the way, Tang Xiaojing's frown never relaxed.

As soon as they reached the foot of the mountain, the long-term worker who usually delivered rabbits and prey to the Liang family restaurant came over dejectedly and said hesitantly:

"Both bosses, Shopkeeper Liang said that people in the county have long been tired of eating rabbit dishes in the restaurant."

"They are going to replace the dishes with a new batch. Starting tomorrow, there will be no need to send rabbits over in the future."

No matter how delicious the food is, everyone will get tired of it after eating it for a long time. Two months ago, the number of rabbits per day increased from three to two.

But Tang Xiaojing didn't expect that he wouldn't want any rabbits so soon.

After hearing the news, Tang Xiaojing's heart sank. Without the business of Liang's Restaurant, the family would lose a fortune.

Rabbits cost 12 cents per pound. The Tang family’s rabbits are well-raised, and one usually weighs more than 7 pounds.

Two rabbits a day can be sold for 5 taels of silver in a month. After all, it accounts for a quarter of the family's total income.

The wages of the family's long-term workers are basically paid with the money from selling rabbits.

Now without this stable income, the father and son are heartbroken.

Seeing that the father and son looked unhappy, the long-term worker who gave away the rabbits felt very uneasy. He was afraid that he would no longer have to give away rabbits and his boss would fire him.

Thinking that there were seniors and juniors in his family, Changgong became even more nervous. He mustered up the courage to stutter out a suggestion to the two of them:

"Boss, there aren't many rabbits on Rabbit Mountain now. I see that the grass on the mountain is growing quite well. Why don't you buy some goats and raise them?"

"Goats only need to eat grass. The cost is not high, and the price of mutton is high. In fact, it is more cost-effective than raising rabbits."

Seeing that Tang Shan and Tang Xiaojing were listening attentively, the middle-aged man quickly said:

"My family lives at the foot of the mountain. I used to herd sheep a lot when I was young. I can be responsible for herding sheep. Such good grass on the mountain would be wasted if we don't raise sheep."