No pain no gain

……

A group of refugees came to the village recently, and the head of the village decided to keep them after discussing with Da Zhuang.

"It is said that they are hiding in a cave, and I met Xiaoliu, who just asked to go up the mountain to find herbs a few days ago..." Li Chang said while flicking the tea leaves floating on the teacup lid.

The tea was brought back from the capital by Da Zhuang, and after giving it to people of all sizes in the town, the little left over was used to entertain guests, and Da Zhuang himself couldn't drink any difference anyway.

"Try it all the time. This tea was brought back from the capital. It is said that it is a special product there!" Da Zhuang felt his heart skip a beat when he heard the word "cave", but he didn't show it on his face. Long drink tea.

"Then you have to taste it!" Li Zhang showed a serious expression on his face, and carefully took a sip from the teacup, and after a long while, he said: "Good tea!"

The corner of Da Zhuang's mouth twitched slightly, and he said with a smile: "You always like to take some back later!"

The village chief declined a few words, then took the small bag of tea brought in by the fool, and said a few words about the seven or eight refugees before leaving.

Da Zhuang sat in the living room thinking for a while, and decided not to touch those refugees who might be enemies for the time being.

"Da Zhuang, Xiao Liu asked us to go over for dinner!" The fool walked in from the door and said cheerfully.

"What about others?" Da Zhuang asked after recovering.

"He said he won't come in when the chief is here, and he's going back to accompany the big girl!" The fool said happily.

"Well, call San Zhuang and Si Zhuang back to clean up and go there!" Da Zhuang said as he stood up and walked out.

The idiot responded, and stepped forward to walk with Da Zhuang. When he was in the yard, he quickly touched Da Zhuang's face with his lips while no one was there.

Da Zhuang glared at the fool, and wiped his face with the back of his hand.

The idiot looked at Da Zhuang with a smile and said nothing.

Da Zhuang snorted, thinking to himself that you are a quick learner...

"San Niu, San Niu, what are you doing?" Da Zhuang turned his head and shouted.

The idiot quickly walked out of the courtyard door, looking for San Zhuang and Si Zhuang who were playing wildly at the head of the village...

Da Zhuang found an opportunity to talk to the seven or eight refugees who were building houses when there were many people around, and was satisfied to find that no one recognized him. I was nervous and felt a little funny. Now I can be said to be completely different from what I was on the mountain. Although I am not covered in silk and satin, the material of the clothes is definitely not bad, and I rarely wear clothes with patches... …

"Little brother, how was the situation on the mountain when you came down? Is there anyone who didn't come down?" Da Zhuang stepped forward and asked gently.

The young man who was carrying a beam that was not too thick smiled nervously at Da Zhuang, and replied stiffly, "We are probably the last group of people on the mountain!"

"Thank you, little brother!" Da Zhuang patted the man's shoulder and said with a smile: "I need a few people to help, and the wages are calculated every five days. If you want, you can go to my house to find me!"

"Really?" The man put down the crossbar and asked in surprise.

"Brother, the wages of the day laborers in Master Wang's house are the highest!" Someone next to him came over and said enthusiastically.

Da Zhuang smiled, turned and left.

Now there are very few unplanted fields in the village, and they are all in relatively remote places, so those people will come to do part-time work in ten, so that the paddy fields by the river can start to be dug into lotus fields, and maybe they can still catch up. A batch of lotus roots will be planted in the spring of next year... Da Zhuang is planning in his mind as he walks home.

When Da Zhuang got home, he saw the idiot rushing in from the outside, holding a small basket in his hand. Now Da Zhuang no longer weaves baskets, and the few for his own use are all made by the idiot in his spare time.

"What's wrong?" Da Zhuang asked.

Fools seldom go out alone, and most of the time they stay with Da Zhuang. Recently, it has been a little strange. They always go out when Da Zhuang is going out, and they don’t know what they are busy with.

The fool hesitated and didn't want to answer.

"You can do whatever you want, and I won't stop you, let's go in!" Seeing this, Da Zhuang pulled the fool and said.

The fool nodded, hesitated for a moment, moved his lips, but finally said nothing.

Sanniuer is 11 years old this year, that is to say, 12 years old, and she has started to pay attention to suitable people slowly. Da Zhuang has been worried for a long time in his heart, and according to Sanniuer's hot temper, he wants to find a suitable person to come out But quite difficult...

"Brother, are you and Big Brother A going to adopt a child?" San Niuer asked in a low voice while cleaning up the dishes.

At this moment, the fool took San Zhuang and Si Zhuang out to play in the fish basket, and San Niuer deliberately picked such a time to ask.

"Why do you ask this?" Da Zhuang asked in surprise as he walked around the room to digest.

"Here, I see that big brother Ah always runs to his younger brother's house, and his younger brother seems to be dying of illness..." San Niuer replied casually.

Da Zhuang stopped, the fool grew up with him, and he was not close to his blood relatives. The last time Da Niuer said that he had a younger brother who came back with two children, he didn't care...

In the evening, after Da Zhuang had a small fight with the idiot, he was crushed hard twice, and both of them were lying under the quilt a little panting.

"I'll bring hot water to wipe you off." The fool said after lying down for a while.

"Hmm." Da Zhuang replied in a drowsy manner, rubbed his sore lower back, and gnawed chaotically at the corner of the idiot's mouth to vent his anger.

The fool let out a small cry, covered his mouth and got off the bed.

After being wiped from head to toe by the warm handkerchief, and changing the sheets, Da Zhuang became sober instead. When the two of them lay back on the refreshing kang again, Da Zhuang began to talk to the fool one after another. words.

"By the way, let's go to your brother's house tomorrow!" Da Zhuang suddenly remembered Er Niu'er's words, and said casually.

The fool was stunned for a moment, and said a little embarrassedly: "Da Zhuang, you know?"

"Look at you, it's not a big deal!" Da Zhuang said with a yawn.

"En." The idiot responded happily, stretched out his arms and hugged Da Zhuang into his arms, and didn't speak any more.

Da Zhuang muttered a few words, and soon fell asleep...

The next day, Da Zhuang took a piece of meat and a dozen eggs, and walked towards his brother's thatched hut with the fool.

"Brother..." the man yelled and struggled to get off the bed.

"Lie down and don't move, I'll cook something for you!" The fool hurriedly stepped forward to hold the man down and said, then took the things he brought and walked towards the kitchen. The so-called kitchen is a half-open thatched hut. There are a few simple kitchen utensils in a mess.

Da Zhuang looked around, a child about two years old or younger was sitting and playing on the ground, his body was so dirty that he could hardly be seen clearly, and another baby was "humming" on the dark pit. "...

"Sit!" The man half sat up with difficulty and said with a smile.

"You don't have to worry about me!" Da Zhuang said gently, dragged a chair that was a bit wobbly and sat down.

The man was very thin, with almost no flesh visible on his cheeks, his eyes were deeply sunken, his face was blue, and he coughed from time to time.

Da Zhuang tried his best to find the resemblance to the fool from that person's face, but unfortunately there was no resemblance. When the Wu family was still there, Da Zhuang never paid attention to the other children of the Wu family except the fool, so he didn't care about it at all. know this man...

"Da Wang, Xiao Wang, it's time to eat!" The fool came in with a bowl in one hand and shouted.

"Oh, uncle, uncle, what is it?" The child on the ground jumped up happily and threw himself on the fool's lap and shouted.

"Big hope!" the fool's younger brother shouted sternly.

Dawang's movements suddenly stopped, and he looked at the fool's younger brother helplessly.

Da Zhuang went over to help the idiot pick up a bowl, which contained the simplest egg drop soup without even chopped green onion.

"I'll feed Da Wang and Xiao Wang!" the fool whispered.

Da Zhuang agreed, and handed the bowl in his hand to the fool's younger brother.

The fool first asked Da Zhuang to carry the other bowl, picked up the child on the kang, sat on a small stool, let Da Wang stand in front of him, served egg soup, and each child took turns to feed him with a spoon.

After they finished eating, Da Zhuang carefully took the pulse of the fool's younger brother, and shook his head at the fool. The man's body had already been hollowed out, and even the mending of ginseng and bird's nest would only take some time.

The idiot's eyes darkened for a moment, and he didn't speak.

When he went back, there was a baby in the fool's arms. Da Wang could already understand the words, and it didn't matter if he didn't take care of him for a while.

In the evening, Da Zhuang invited the head of the village, signed a deed, and stated that Da Wang and Xiao Wang were adopted under the fool's name. The two children's surnames are still Wu, and there is no need to change their names...

"Da Zhuang, in fact, Da Wang was not born to Bing'er himself. If you want, you can give him the surname Wang." After the chief left, the fool said hesitantly.

"It doesn't matter what the surname is, anyway, it's a child raised by the two of us." Da Zhuang said with a smile.

Probably the last thing on his mind, the fool's younger brother passed away within two days. That day when the fool carried the food there, he found that the brother named Bing'er was lying on the bed hard. He probably passed away at night, and Da Wang was still on the ground. Just kidding, I don't know what happened...

Since it was too late to order a coffin or go to the town to buy it, Da Zhuang and the idiot had no choice but to take a mat to wrap the corpse and buried it hastily.

Two-year-old Da Wang soon forgot about the cakes after he had enough food and put on new clothes, and called the fool "Daddy" every day to be sweet and sweet. According to the rules here, he was adopted from the fool. My child, I should call Da Zhuang "Daddy". Da Zhuang is not used to such a weird address, but there is nothing I can do about it.

After the autumn harvest this time, Da Zhuang decisively sold all the harvested grain, plus the lotus root and the shops in the town. After some calculation, Da Zhuang took more than half of his savings and went to Jinhu City.

After dealing with the elder brother-in-law a few times, Da Zhuang discovered that the elder brother-in-law was only cold-faced, and the evil spirit on his body was also obtained on the battlefield.

"What did you think of what you told your elder brother-in-law last time?" Da Zhuang asked straight to the point.

"Most of the shops in Jinhu City have owners behind them, but the dozens of shops in the market on the west are in better condition because no one cares about them..." the eldest brother-in-law said unhurriedly.

"Haha, that's exactly what we want. We sell grain, vegetables, and lotus roots. The side of the market is the best..." Da Zhuang laughed happily.

The eldest brother-in-law frowned, but finally agreed, and soon found another partner, a very experienced middle-aged shopkeeper, surnamed Liu, and the three of them took the money to the store together, and Da Zhuang was in charge of the supply of goods. The eldest brother-in-law is responsible for dealing with people from all walks of life, while shopkeeper Liu is responsible for running the store. Among them, Da Zhuang contributes the most money, accounting for [-]%, the eldest brother-in-law is [-]%, and the remaining two achievements belong to shopkeeper Liu, which will be counted as income in the future They also divided according to this. After the discussion, the three of them immediately signed a contract. For the time being, they only bought two shops. One bought various grains, the other mainly bought lotus roots, and by the way, seasonal vegetables and a small amount of dried vegetables...

In this way, Da Zhuang would often go to Jinhu City. After thinking and thinking, Da Zhuang took out the remaining money and asked his elder brother-in-law to help him find a small yard to buy it.

"It's just near the West Market, and it doesn't need to be too big. If you don't have enough money, please ask your elder brother-in-law to help add it first. We will bring it to make up for it when we come next time..." Da Zhuang simply said a few things about the yard. I left in a hurry because I wanted to get back before dark.

"Goodbye, brother-in-law!" The fool who hadn't spoken all this time said simply.

The idiot didn't talk much, and every time he went out with Da Zhuang, he didn't talk much. Da Zhuang said a few times about the idiot, and he just let him go.

"Well, I see!" The elder brother-in-law nodded and sent Da Zhuang and the idiot out.

The lady in the hall was pregnant again recently, and she wanted a boy with great anticipation. Now she was a little nervous. She only came out to say hello to Da Zhuang and the idiot, and then went back to the room. She didn’t come out again until Da Zhuang left. Pass.

When the end of the new year was approaching, Da Zhuang took some time off and thought about going up the mountain to find some herbs. Da Zhuang always took action when he thought of it. That night, he prepared the things to bring up the mountain, and planned to go up the mountain the next day.

"San Niu'er, get something to eat for lunch, don't worry about me and Big Brother A..." Da Zhuang explained to San Niuer, San Zhuang, and Si Zhuang, and went out early with the idiot.

"Da Zhuang, let me get the things!" The fool stretched out his hand and said.

In fact, all the things are already carried by the fool, but the food and water are divided into two parts, one for the fool to carry, and one for him to tie around his waist, this is just in case...

"No, what should such a small thing be!" Da Zhuang shook his head and said.

"If you can't walk anymore, you must speak out..." The fool followed Da Zhuang and explained worriedly.

"Well, it's okay, I have my own measure." Da Zhuang smiled and agreed with some helplessness.

The two walked all the way in the mountains, digging those common herbs. After two years of recuperation, the forest has regained its vitality. Almost extinct animals of all sizes have begun to appear, and the looted bird nests on the top of the trees have gradually become more...

Da Zhuang discussed with the fool, and decided to go to the original cave to have a look. The things buried before were not worth anything, but it was all the hard work of the family, and it would be best to get them back.

"Ouch-"

Behind the bushes, a small shadow uttered a strange cry at the two of them.

Da Zhuang was taken aback, and before he could react, he was pulled behind him by the fool, guarding him tightly.

The fool picked up a few dead logs and stared at the black figure vigilantly.

"Woo-woo, oh-"

The little shadow howled a few times and jumped up violently, like the sound a dog makes to deter other creatures before a fight.

The fool raised the dead wood branch, pulled it without hesitation, knocked the thing down from mid-air, and then pressed it with the wood branch, restricting his movements.

"Ow—"

The little thing wailed a few times and struggled desperately.

Da Zhuang poked his head out for a few glances, and the more he looked, the more he felt that the dark thing looked familiar.

The fool pressed the branch with one hand, carefully leaned over slowly, and grabbed the little guy's back with the other hand to lift him up.

"It's a child!" Da Zhuang couldn't help exclaiming when he saw his face through the tangled hair of the thing.

The child struggled wildly with all four limbs, desperately turning his head, trying to bite the idiot and grab his hand.

The fool froze for a moment, as if he wanted to put the things in his hand on the ground.

"Wait a minute!" Da Zhuang yelled quickly, tore off a piece of the clothes inside, and carefully blocked the child's mouth and tied it up to save him from biting.

After the idiot let go of his hand, the child didn't run away, nor did he intend to tear off the cloth from his mouth, instead he rushed towards the idiot ferociously.

"Be careful!" Big Zhuang shouted.

The fool dodged swiftly, and the little guy fell heavily to the ground, wailed a few times, then struggled to stand up again, as if he wanted to attack.

Da Zhuang had no choice but to take out the rope and tie him up.

"What's wrong with this child?" The fool asked with lingering fear.

Most of the nails on the child's hands were split, only one or two were still long, obviously the nails hadn't been cut for a long time, and the same was true on the feet, the hair grew to the back, all knotted into strands There are scars all over the body, there are many fresh wounds, dirt is all over the body, and the nose and eyes can hardly be distinguished...

"It is estimated that the baby was thrown on the mountain during the war, and it was picked up by wild dogs, wolves or something and raised until now..." Da Zhuang said with a sigh.

The idiot didn't wrinkle up, and looked up and down at the wolf boy.

Encountering this incident, Da Zhuang and Shazi had no choice but to give up their plan to go to the cave, and hurried down the mountain with the tied up wolf boy.

In the village, except for Xiaoliu, who would go into the mountains to look for herbs, everyone else was busy farming. At most, he only cut firewood at the foot of the mountain. Xiaoliu is very familiar with this area and knows how to avoid dangerous wolves, wild dogs, etc., so there is no Most of the refugees who met this child and hid on the mountain found a fixed place and only moved around there... It was also the luck of Da Zhuang and the fool. A small pack of wolves just drove the wolf boy out that day I just ran into it, a little earlier, maybe it was a pack of wolves...