Farming Comb Paintings Return Home

After settling the strings, Li Cong went out of the back room to prepare medicine.The only stove in the house was taken to the back room to keep Qu Xian warm, and the medicine could only be fried on the stove.Li Cong disassembled the medicines he had caught, put them into medicine jars according to their proportions, poured four bowls of water and soaked them to about two knuckles above the medicine surface. It took half an hour to soak for the best effect of the medicine, so Li Cong shook the medicine jar to mix the water well, put the medicine aside and prepared for lunch.

Li Cong has been in good health since he was a child, and he hardly suffers from any illness throughout the year. He came to Qingliu County six years ago. The old village head of Shanqiao Village took him in, gave him food, and then helped him find several long-term jobs, which has been the case for many years.Last year, the imperial court equalized the land and redistributed the land. The slaves could not get the land. The people in the village were kind-hearted. Seeing that his life was hard, they privately allocated half an acre of land to him, and planted some rice and wheat crops to subsidize some rations.But he is still poor, every meal is hard to come by, how can he still have money to see a doctor, and he can endure minor illnesses and pains, and there is no need for decoction or anything. This time, Qu Xian's incident made him commit Difficult, the enamel medicine pot in my hand was borrowed from Uncle Qian's house, and I had to look at the prescription several times before I dared to use it, for fear that I might miss Qu Xian's illness on a business trip.

While soaking the medicinal materials, Li Cong looked at the food in the basket that he had exchanged from another house when he went to grab the medicine: the second brother of the Wang family just caught a fresh fish from the river, which he spent half a month’s money to buy back. He was still alive and kicking; the little white shrimp at the bottom of the bowl was only willing to be sold to him after he pestered him for a long time; the little grandson of the village head’s family clamored to go hunting in the morning, but his father couldn’t persuade him, so he took him for a walk at the foot of the mountain After a circle, the rabbit didn't catch half of it, but picked some fresh and tender shiitake mushrooms and fungus back, and he also bought a half basket.

Calculated now, the monthly payment just received in the morning is almost bottomed out, but Li Cong knew in his heart that this thing is considered cheap, and the price in the county may be even higher, but fortunately, he was thinking of redeeming Qu Xian , I saved less than ten taels of bits and pieces, and I can last for ten and a half months. The main reason is that Qu Xian's body is still sick and I can't neglect it.But now it's spring, and after this cold spring, there should be more animals that can be hunted on Dongqiao Mountain, and it should be enough to hunt some wild rabbits and pigeons at that time.

Of course, people who are sick are best to drink porridge. There are fish and rice, and a pot of smooth and tender mushroom and fish fillet porridge is the most expensive thing in the county. No one can resist it. After getting the delicacy of Qingliu Jiangjiang fish, peel those few shrimps and throw them in, the icing on the cake.

With this in mind, Li Cong lifted the lid of the rice jar. There was not much rice left in the house, but it was more than enough to make a pot of porridge, but it was all old rice, so it didn't matter, although it was not as fragrant as new rice, it was still delicious.I saved the four eggs I didn't eat the other day and added the two I laid this morning, making a total of six. Take two and beat them into the porridge to make egg drops, and then I turned around and went to the backyard to raise the eggs in the cage for a long time. The old hen caught it in, and after a while the porridge was cooked, and then the stew was killed.

Everything needed was prepared on the stove, and Qu Xian was afraid that he would be hungry, thinking that there was nothing to eat at home except pickles, only half a pancake that he planned to save for lunch, it was hard and thick, Qu Xian I'm afraid that kid Xian won't even be able to enter his mouth.So I quickly lit a fire, squatted down and pulled out a small bag of rice noodles from the bottom of the cupboard, poured out most of it on the table, scooped up some water that was boiled in the morning and was now warm, mixed it, and kneaded it into the size of a child's arm. Thick and long strips, pick off the balls, roll them into rounds and flatten them. The rice noodles just made five flat balls. Dig some lard and heat them in a pan for a while. Put the white and tender rice noodles in and fry on both sides. , until the surface starts to turn slightly yellow, melt the sugar water and spray it up, turn it over a few times and it will come out of the pot.People in the village call this rice flour sugar ball, although it is not a rare thing, and the production is very simple and crude, but it tastes glutinous and sweet. I think that Quxian children may like to eat it. Then drink porridge.

Li Cong took a pair of clean chopsticks and went into the back room with the steaming rice noodle dumplings just out of the pan.He opened the curtain and saw that Xiao Xian was not asleep, staring blankly at the roof in a daze, when he heard him coming in, he quickly closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, but he didn't know that his every move fell into his eyes.Li Cong was amused to see Xiao Xian trying his best to pretend to be asleep but frowning nervously, so he didn't expose him. He walked over and patted Xiao Xian on the shoulder to get him up in a padded jacket, and then put the cloth wrapped in cloth on his back. Handed the bowl to Xiao Xian, gave him the chopsticks, and told him to scald it carefully. Seeing that Xiao Xian held the chopsticks with a ball of sugar and brought it to his lips, he took a bite, tasted it, took another bite, and then took a big mouthful After chewing it, he seemed to like it quite a bit, so he let go of his heart, and told Xiao Xian that this is a stomach-filling snack, don't eat too much, after eating and sleeping, just put the bowl on the floor, and he will clean it up later.

Xiao Xian looked at the back of Li Cong leaving silently, and couldn't tell what it was like.The porcelain sea bowl was a bit worn out and chipped, but it was carefully wrapped in a thick cloth to prevent him from scalding it.The rice noodle dumpling in the mouth is soft and smooth and very delicious, and the sugar juice covered by frying into brownish red is thick but not greasy. After one bite, it slides into the throat and warms the heart.But even though the food suits his appetite, he doesn't dare to eat more. Xiao Xian feels that his body is very weak now, and his stomach is empty. He hasn't paid much attention to it before. He only feels hungry when he smells the aroma of food. Eating too many chopsticks will make the stomach sick, so the four candy balls put the chopsticks in their stomachs, and they were too weak to get up, so they bent down and put the bowl on the ground at Li Cong's words.

Xiao Xian took off Li Cong's old padded jacket and covered it to his feet, lay down and slept soundly.He tilted his head to look at the bowl on the ground, and suddenly became stunned.His stomach was warm, the food he ate drove away some of the cold air, and his stomach had a bottom, as if it brought his whole body back to life, and he was no longer floating, and it also made him feel that what happened after he came here Everything became more and more real.If the life before coming here was actually a dream, he didn't believe it, the dream would not be so detailed and vivid.He remembered that he hated his effeminate face in the past, so after being called a sissy once, he worked hard to exercise, and finally grew taller than his brother, and no one said he was a girl anymore, But such a motherly habit of liking sweets has never been changed.Of course, his past personality would not allow this hobby to be made public, so no one except his brother knew he liked sweets.

But maybe there is one more person now, and this person is now his "big brother".Xiao Xian thought in a daze, turned over, and finally fell into a drowsy sleep.

After Li Cong brought food to Xiao Xian, he went back to the stove, picked up the medicine pot that was left aside and shook it, seeing that the medicinal materials were almost soaked, he added firewood, took the medicine pot and put it on the stove, frying it over a strong fire. After a while, until the soup boils, then reduce the heat to a low heat, cover the lid and fry slowly, then turn around and cook the porridge.

Li Cong scooped out the rice with a wooden ladle, cleaned it, soaked it in water for a while, and then stewed it on the stove.Catch the fish again, cut open the belly, scrape the scales and remove the gills, chop off the head and tail, and keep the soup. The meat on the belly is sliced ​​into thin slices, sprinkled with salt and pepper to marinate, the white shrimp is decapitated and shelled, and the stalks of the shiitake mushrooms are sliced. , Wash the fungus, and divide it into two parts for porridge and soup.The ingredients for porridge were ready, Li Cong wiped the sweat from his brow, and turned to cook the hen.The old hen is simple. After killing and washing the whole chicken, put it in a pot and stew it with fungus and shiitake mushrooms. Today's food will be finished.

The medicinal materials in the enamel pot were simmering on low heat, and the medicinal fragrance gradually oozes out, and the porridge in the pot is thickened, and there is also a trace of rice fragrance.Li Cong sat on a stool by the stove to kill chickens, his body became hot, sweat trickled down his temples and dripped onto his cheeks, making people feel a little uncomfortable, but remembering that he would go to the county to visit Hongxinglou in the afternoon The news, so I endured not to wipe it.

Every time Li Cong went to the county, he always wiped his face dirty with stove ashes before going out. It was not because he felt embarrassed by the word on his face that he wiped it on purpose.He was under eighteen when he was tortured, was beaten to death, dragged to the vegetable market, tattooed in public, and then thrown into prison to wait for exile.It's just that the people in the county are not as kind as the people in the village. You can tell from the words on his face that he is a slave, and they always come to ridicule him.If you only talk about being majestic, the worst thing is to be surrounded and beaten.Slaves are only one class higher than animals, and no one will step forward to stop them, and it is kind to not intervene.Ever since the village chief found Li Cong a job in the county, he gradually developed this habit because he was afraid of delaying work.

Qu Xian also knew about Li Cong's slave status and the tattoo on his face.At that time Li Cong was working in the Red Apricot Building. Seeing Qu Xian being dragged to an unoccupied corner by a drunk benefactor, he kindly rescued him once. After the matter of Ji Ji, instead of disgusting him, he always helped him.Later, I heard from Qu Xian that the bustard sold his head night and half a month of grooming to the county magistrate. The absurdity of the county magistrate's old man is well known in the county. Half of his body has been buried in the loess and he is still lustful. Li Xin said if If this child wants to let him save him, he really can't refuse. Anyway, it's not a big deal for him to have nothing to worry about. I didn't expect that child to make such a strange request, saying that maybe he won't suffer that crime if he is broken. In the end, the old bustard was furious and forced him to pick up the guests, which made him sick now. If Hongxinglou came to pester him endlessly in the future, and something happened again, I really don't know whether I helped him or hurt him...

Li Cong remembered that Xiao Xian raised his hand to look at his face before, and he probably forgot his original appearance, and thought of Xiao Xian's reddened ears when he felt embarrassed, he felt funny again.That child is always so stupid, and I don't know how he got here alone during those hard years in Hongxinglou.He has stayed in such a dirty and dirty place for 17 years. I must ask myself, but he is also unwilling to say more.This happened just right, it was an opportunity to roll in the Qingliu River, forget all the past, and start a new life, but I was living my life with all thoughts and thoughts, but now I seem to have another concern, I really can't bear to keep that child Living a hard life alone, let's stay with him as an older brother and take care of him until he doesn't need it.

After the medicine was boiled, Li Cong threw the ingredients of the porridge into the pot and continued to stew. He filtered the medicine residue with gauze and put it in a bowl. He remembered that he had gone to the village head's house to bring vegetables a few days ago, and the village head gave him some homemade sesame seeds. Sugar, so I went to fetch it and put it aside, then held the medicine bowl and spoon while stirring and blowing, tried it until it didn't burn my mouth, and then sent it to Xiao Xian to drink.Xiao Xian was in a deep sleep. Li Cong patted him several times but didn't wake him up. He just muttered a few words in a daze, turned over and ignored him again. So Li Cong had to hold Xiao Xian's head to drink the decoction. He fed it spoonful by spoonful, Xiao Xian drank the whole bowl of medicine after feeding for a long time, so bitter that he frowned even in his sleep.Li Cong picked up a sesame candy and stuffed it into Xiao Xian's mouth. Xiao Xian tapped his mouth twice, hummed twice, and his brows widened. Seeing that, Li Cong wanted to laugh.

After Li Cong gave Xiao Xian the medicine, he ate up the pancakes with some chicken soup, then warmed the porridge and chicken soup in the pot, cleaned up the house, and then quietly went to the back room to open the cabinet and rummaged through the clothes and bedding , Thinking that Qu Xian has lived since then, and what should be added will be added. After finishing the mess, it was almost Shen Shi, so he locked the door, put on a bamboo hat and went to the county.