Bianshanhan [farming]

Building a wooden house in the forest is not an easy task, even more difficult than building an earth or brick house, because only wood can be used, which is so big and heavy, far less than adobe or blue bricks Easy to fiddle with.

A group of people went to a distant place to select wood of appropriate thickness and chop it down. This work was not only tiring but also dangerous.

The trunks that have been sawed off or cut down are only connected by a thin piece, and the tall trees still stand. At this time, we need to be most careful. No one can run around, otherwise a gust of wind will blow over and the tree will suddenly fall to the ground. Not sure which one will be hit.

The moment the tree fell to the ground, the snow on the ground and the tangled branches flew into the sky. At this time, you had to protect your face and body. If you were unlucky, you might be scratched by the broken branches flying around.

As soon as the tree falls, the person holding the saw will immediately go up and cut off the branches, and someone next to him will pick up the branches and put them on the sledge, and pull them back to light the fire.

Although Li Qingfeng, Li Qingyong and Ma Yongjiang wanted to chop wood wholeheartedly, they were suppressed by their elders and Jiang Liping, so they could only do chores like picking up branches.

The remaining tree stumps will not be discarded. Take a saw and trim them in circles. They will be the best chopping boards. If you take them back, the wives and mothers of all families will definitely like them.

The trunk was almost treated, and a few thick hemp ropes were put on the head. Several men stood on the left and right, with strong wooden sticks on the hemp ropes, and put them on their shoulders. They shouted together and carried the wood on the sledge. .

In densely wooded areas, the sledge is difficult to pull long logs, so you can only pull one at a time. Someone is leading the horse, and there are two people watching the left and right and the back, so as not to let the wood scratch the nearby trees. .

The pulled back wood was unloaded on the open space. Li Qingwen took an ax to chop a few times, and when the bark was exposed, he grabbed the bark with his hands and tore it down.

Tear off the big bark and keep it as a waterproof roof, and burn the small bark.

Jiang Cong and Jiang Liping had already chosen a sunny place. After clearing the snow on the ground, they were drawing rough lines with wooden sticks, thinking about how to build the house while doing it.

There was still a small piece of bark left, Li Qingwen stopped suddenly, stared at the north, and said, "I think I heard a dog barking..."

Since arriving here, Li Qingwen said this no less than dozens of times, and everyone sighed helplessly, "No, it's the sound of the wind."

After another pause, it seemed that it was indeed the wind, and Li Qingwen continued to work resentfully.

The stripped wood lay bare on the ground, one by one smeared with wax oil. The wax oil was boiled with anti-insect medicine, and it was not known how effective it was when rubbed on the wood.

Everyone gathered around, gesturing, how to cut this thing, how to saw it.

After choosing the foundation there, they began to level the ground, tamp the corners with large wooden piers, and place stones and wooden pillars.

If there is a craftsman who is proficient in building a wooden house, before starting the work, he has lived countless times in his heart and head about the inside and outside of the wooden house, and started to repair the beams and purlins and make mortise and tenon joints early.

However, they are all laymen. They have to put a whole log on the supporting stones and pillars, and then dip it in red fruit juice to draw marks on the trunk. After the thin slices are planed off piece by piece, a round tenon and groove is exposed, which makes a "mouth".

Another piece of wood was placed in this mouth and was bitten tightly, and the two were fixed together.

The others also use the same method, biting each other with their tongues, the tighter the bite, the stronger it will be.

No one wants to waste wood, and they are very careful when doing it.

No matter how careful you are, you will inevitably make mistakes the first time you do it. The waste wood will be carried down, cut into wooden strips with a saw, and kept as doors and windows.

In addition to Jiang Liping and the others, dozens of people came from the village this time, and a dozen or so were enough to make candles there. Some of them went out to patrol, and if they were lucky, they could bring back some wild animals at night.

Of course, how much you bring sometimes has nothing to do with luck. For example, if your arrow skills are extremely bad, not only can you not hit the prey, but you have to go to the snow to find arrows again and again, and you have to hide it if your hands are swollen from cold. No matter how strict, it is still inevitable to be laughed at by others.

Li Qingfeng took people to collect herbs with baskets on their backs. Although the herbs were not edible, they could be sold for money. Zhou Yao taught him that he was very concerned about which herbs were expensive and which were cheap. He was like a bright mirror in his heart.

The rest of the people are building wooden houses, three or five people are building a wall, and four sides are raised at the same time, and the rest are helping.

Li Qingwen was the one who did it.

His second hand was not planing wood or sawing holes, but cooking.

Three meals a day, one meal made with fried noodles, one meal of sorghum rice, and one meal of boiled frozen dumplings. The frozen dumplings are made at home, some are stuffed with cabbage, and some are stuffed with cabbage and tofu. There is no difference between the two.

The salt in each household has been pickled, and the sauerkraut has not been pickled. They just left home at this time, and putting some miso in the stuffing can be considered as a way to improve the taste.

The noodles are specially ground sorghum noodles, and the dumplings are quite big, but they are tasteless, so it's better to eat a few fruits.

The big guy came to the border town and had just eaten a few full meals, so he wasn't picky, it was really hard to swallow, even Li Maoqun had to eat with a frown.

Li Qingwen couldn't do anything about the pain they were eating. He only brought out a little salt this time, and the taste of counting the salt particles into the pot was also uncomfortable.

He could only think silently in his heart, no matter how much he endured, when he went to Linsu, even if his head was sharpened, he would still have to get salt!

After all, you have to do heavy work, and it's boring not to eat salt.

After thinking about it, Li Qingwen started to cook sorghum rice, and drained the cooked rice.

The fat of the wild animals in late autumn is the thickest. After hitting it, you can make a lot of oil. Chop up the cured meat, put it in the oil pan and fry it for a while, then pour the rice, turn it over, and smash the rice balls inside .

There is a lot of salt in the bacon, and they can't resist their bottomless mouth when eaten as a dish, and it's just right to mix it with rice.

He just moved the pot here, and the people who built the house smelled the aroma and looked over, their noses kept moving, impatient to start thinking about today's meal.

Cooking is not troublesome, the rice is put into the pot, just stir it from time to time, and the fried rice is a bit troublesome, you have to fry it in a pot...

It may be that there are too many people cooking too much food. Although his arms are sore, Li Qingwen cooked more than 20 pots by himself.

After putting down the wooden shovel, he always felt that his arms seemed thicker. Li Qingwen stared at Jiang Cong's forearm exposed by the sleeves rolled up because of work, and thought, it would be nice if his flesh could grow like that.

It wasn't time to eat yet, but the big guy was already making belly sounds seduced by the scent. Seeing Li Qingwen in a daze, Hu Lichuan came up and said, "Jiang Cong seems to be hungry. I just saw that his mouth turned white."

Li Qingwen stood up and shouted loudly: "It's time to eat!"

At this time, no one cared about the time, and happily ran to the tent, without using Li Qingwen, just used a bowl to scoop fried rice into the basin.

This is also a skill. If the skill is good, the bowl will be inserted, and the rice will come out sticking out. If the skill is poor, there will only be more than half of the bowl.

Fried rice is loose, not as sticky as boiled rice. At this time, the level of the technique is obvious.

Zhang Yuhai has always been a leader in this craft. He can easily hold more rice than others without touching the rice particles in the basin with his hands.

Because his family is poor, there are many brothers and sisters, he grabs food quickly and strikes accurately, and no one sitting here can surpass him.

Like Li Qingyong, he smashed the bowl on the ground before reaching it in. Not to mention the kind of patriarch who rewards the meal, he now has to find a bowl to eat it in his mouth...

Fearing that there might not be a few rice grains left when it was too late, Li Qingyong directly picked up the basin. There were still some at the bottom of the basin, and he didn't know if it would be enough for a bowl.

The rice grains are oily, with minced bacon mixed in the middle. It is so fragrant that people can't shut their mouths, so they just keep digging into the rice.

Li Qingwen sat on the tree stump, and while eating, he picked out the meat in the bowl with chopsticks and gave it to the fourth brother.

Li Qingfeng took a mouthful of rice and mumbled "Good boy", but accidentally sprayed out a few grains, and quickly closed his mouth again.

The meal was eaten heartily, not a single grain of rice was left, and the clay pot was shiny.

After eating, everyone rested for a quarter of an hour. Li Qingwen untied the cloth wrapped around Jiang Cong and Li Qingfeng's hands. No injuries were seen, so he rewrapped it tightly and tied a strong knot on his arm.

Doing this job will inevitably lead to injury, so you can only protect your body as much as possible.

When they were resting, there was a sudden "plop" from the west, and everyone in Yangshu Village was startled, showing panic, and stood up one after another.

Qi Min quickly waved his hands, "It's okay, it's okay, Gao Yubao fell into the trap."

The villagers stared wide-eyed, watching Qi Min and the others run to the trap and pull Gao Yubao up.

The person pulling outside is skilled in movements, and the person crawling out inside is also very fast.

Without him, it's just familiarity.

After a short rest, the men continued to work. Li Qingwen picked celery while watching people making candles.

This wild celery was picked by someone who went out on patrol. It grew in a good place. It didn't freeze to death, but it was a bit old.

Pick all the celery, wash it, tear off the rough veins, cut into slices at an angle, and blanch in a pot.

Li Qingwen took out a piece of bacon sausage, the intestines were filled with the help of the kitchen staff, they were not short of salt, salty, just right for frying with celery.

So, in the evening, the big guys ate another meal of sorghum rice and celery fried sausage.

The celery is crispy, the sausage is salty and fragrant, and everyone's belly is round.

Under Li Qingfeng's murderous gaze, several people said, "If Zi'er is a girl, she will be lucky to marry into that family."

Li Qingwen snorted, if he was a girl, he would have to go all the way out to cook for a group of men.Think beautiful.

These people have to eat fried noodles for three meals a day!

Li Qingyong suddenly remembered what happened that day, and winked at Li Qingwen.Huai smiled and said: "No matter how good Zai'er is, don't worry about it, he is from the Jiang family."

The others didn't know that the ancestor misidentified Li Qingwen, but they knew that Li Qingwen and Jiang Cong were closer than brothers, so they mistakenly thought that Li Qingyong was talking about a close relationship, so they all nodded, "That's right, it's just half missing. In other words, Jiang Cong is also a member of our Li family."

"A son-in-law is only half in length." Someone shouted: "Jiang Cong is much better than those son-in-laws in our village, at least half in length!"

"You people, after being saved by others, you still have the audacity to take advantage of others." Someone pouted and said, "It's better to quickly find a wife for Brother Jiang, so I can say this."

All kinds of things about Jiang Cong and Li Maoxian's family, at first the big guys just listened and sighed a few words.Later, whether it was the three hundred young men in the village who went to the border town, or the whole village, young and old, all the way northward to flee famine, Jiang Cong and Jiang Liping were of great help.

Without them, I don't know how many people would starve to death along the way, so it is not an exaggeration to say that Jiang Cong is the benefactor of the whole village.

Therefore, no matter they are old or elders, they are very polite to Jiang Cong, let alone the younger generation.

That is to say, when the elders are away, these people will only tease Jiang Cong when they are happy to talk.

Jiang Cong smiled and said nothing, Li Qingwen said for him: "You don't need to worry about getting married. My brother is so good, but many people worry about him. When he is free in the future, he will talk about marriage seriously."

After finishing speaking, he raised his eyebrows at Jiang Cong, as if he was proud of taking care of his elder brother.

Jiang Cong stroked the short hair on his head that was blown away by the hat.

If Jiang Cong hadn't been guilty of the crime, he would probably have been talking about marriage for three days and three nights, but the big guys knew their situation, and they didn't know what a pity they were in their hearts, and they were merciful in their mouths.

I'm afraid to say too much, it's not on my mind.

Knowing that he was a heavy sleeper, before he lay down, Li Qingwen told the person who did the waxing at night to wake him up if he heard a dog barking.

Everyone nodded one after another, letting him rest assured.

Li Qingwen nestled in his sleeping bag, counting the days on his fingers. They had been in the forest for several days, and Liu He hadn't come yet. Could it be that there was no snow in their tribe?

The two agreed at the beginning that they would meet in the forest on a snowy day. Their tribe should not be far from the forest, and the possibility of not snowing is very small.

I haven't come here yet, I have something to do, is there something wrong with tracking down the lost clansman, or something happened to the clan?

He didn't sleep well this night just because of these messy thoughts.

In the morning, when he heard someone moving things outside, Li Qingwen opened his eyes instantly. He ran outside the tent without his fur robes on, only to see Li Qingshun and the others carrying straw baskets down from the sledge. Orange round persimmon.

Li Qingwen went back to the tent to get dressed in silence.

After getting dressed, the persimmons outside have been unloaded, and there are baskets all over the floor.

I heard that the patrolling people found a persimmon tree yesterday. Li Maoqun and the others were reluctant to let the good things rot on the tree, so they drove the sledge to pick it back today.

"There are so many persimmons, if only we could pull them all back!" The men said, licking their lower lips.

"I'm afraid it won't work. The outer layer of this thing is hard, and it will turn into soup when bumped all the way..." The speaker clicked his tongue in distress.

This thing is really sweet, and they also like to eat it, but the sledge has to be filled with medicinal materials and candles. These heavy and fragile fruits are not easy to get back to the tribe.

They can eat it openly, and the family members are afraid that they will not have this good fortune.

Regrets are regrets, but the work has to continue.

The others ate fried noodles with boiled water. Li Qingwen rubbed two persimmons for breakfast.

After eating, he went to ask for Jiang Cong's dagger, held it upside down, Li Qingwen was a little reluctant, inserted the dagger into Jiang Cong's waist again, and turned to Ma Yongjiang to borrow it.

Ma Yongjiang had just finished his work, was sweating, and was panting heavily. He gave Li Qingwen his dagger without asking.

Li Qingwen washed his knife, sat on the wooden pier, picked up a persimmon and began to peel it.

The outer layer of this persimmon is a bit hard, and it is easy to peel, but the left hand that is holding it needs to use strength, or the soup will be squeezed out.

The peeled persimmons are placed on grass mats, and the skins are directly connected with pots.

Li Qingwen peeled several times, Ma Yongjiang finally rested, turned his head to see his movements, and said in surprise: "Eating a soft persimmon and peeling the skin, what kind of son are you?"

"I'm not eating, but I want to dry the persimmons so that I can get them back." Li Qingwen looked at the knife while talking.

I don't know what he's going to do, Ma Yongjiang looks nostalgic, "My mother used to peel the fruit for me, the peel is very thin, so it keeps growing, but I haven't learned it..."

He didn't learn it because he was too lazy to peel the skin and found it troublesome.

Li Qingwen silently handed over the peeled persimmons in his hand. Not only did Ma Yongjiang refuse to pick them up, but his expression turned bad. He ate a lot today, and it was all burnt yellow when he went to the toilet. He really didn't want to smell it anymore.

Practice makes perfect, Li Qingwen peeled the skin very quickly, and within an hour, the straw mats were filled.

When other people heard that this method can be used to dry persimmons, they immediately went to the tent to get the mats, wiped them clean with a cloth, and put them in a place exposed to light.

When people who are tired from work are resting, they will also peel them, and the golden persimmons are filled with mats.

Li Qingwen took the time to cook two meals. After a long time, all the mats were used up, and there were still a few baskets of persimmons left.

Worried that he would leave suddenly, Li Qingwen specifically told the others to blow the persimmons in the sun for two days, and when the outside turns white and crusted, they should make cakes. The seeds must be stored and brought back to the camp for planting.

After about ten days in the sun, it will probably be half-dry, and it can be put away when the icing sugar is slightly exposed on the outside. When it is put into the basket, there will be a layer of persimmon skin and a layer of persimmon cake.

In fact, he was wasting his saliva. Two days later, Liu He did not show up when he was pinching the persimmon cakes. Ten days later, the persimmon cakes were dried and packed, but there was still no sign of Liu He.

This time, Li Qingwen was already getting anxious, feeling uneasy.

At this time, the wooden house was almost finished. Jiang Cong saw that Li Qingwen was restless and did not work with them, so he led him out on horseback to look for it.

Every time Liu He came to look for them, no one knew where their tribe was.

Jiang Cong didn't know either, he took Li Qingwen to Nuanhe.

Compared with the last time they left, the surrounding area of ​​Nuanhe River seemed to have not changed much, except that the water level of the pools on the bank was lower, and the pool they collapsed had completely merged with the river water inside.

The two saw a few stones on the south bank, which didn't seem to be there before.

Walking over, I saw a bone comb next to the stone. The teeth of the comb were all made of white animal teeth, each of which was tied to a wooden board with a rope. The animal teeth were quite clean, and there were a few hairs mixed in the gaps in the board. ...

Jiang Cong picked up the bone comb and looked at the hair, which seemed to be dog hair.

Liu He said that there are many blood-sucking insects in the forest, and they will not stop until they burrow into the skin and suck their bones and blood.

This thing is likely to be used to bathe the dog. It was not there before, so it was left this year.

I don't know if it was before Liu He came to him or after...

Apart from these, the two of them found nothing else for a long time. When it was getting late, they had to go back to the tent.

As soon as he arrived at the camp, Jiang Cong sensed something was wrong, there was a strange smell.

He asked Li Qingwen to go to the back, and picked up the bow and arrow himself.

After walking not far, Jiang Cong saw Qi Min on patrol and asked him what happened.

Qi Min shouted: "Liu He is here."

Both Jiang Cong and Li Qingwen were taken aback for a moment, and immediately patted their ass a few times.

When they arrived at the place, they didn't see a dog. When they entered the tent, they saw Liu He. Besides him, there was another strange face. From the looks of their clothes, they should be members of their clan.

After just a face-to-face meeting, Li Qingwen's expression turned serious, "You, why are you injured?"

Liu He's left arm was across his chest, tightly bandaged, his face was pale, and he smelled like herbs.

Liu He sighed heavily, "When I went looking for my tribe, I fell into a trap. I am lucky to be alive. I only broke my arm, which is the blessing of the mountain god."

Li Qingwen was really looking forward to his coming, but he didn't want to see Liu He get hurt, so he asked, "Is there anything we can do to help you?"

Although he and Liu He didn't spend many days together, they were very familiar with each other. When he got into trouble and endangered his life, Li Qingwen really wanted to help.

The others also responded one after another. Liu He kept his promise and got along with them. He was a sympathetic friend. If a friend is in trouble, he should help him.

Liu He shook his head, "I appreciate your kindness. This is a serious illness in our clan. The whole clan has been helpless for many years. You don't know anything, and it's useless to intervene. Instead, it may cause trouble."

Li Qingwen frowned, "How do you know if you don't try? We are not far away from the troubles you encounter, and we may also encounter them. This is our common problem."

After all, he didn't want to involve more people, Liu He sighed slightly, "Let's not mention this matter for now. This time I was injured, I came late, but I will do what I promised you. Let's go back to the tribe."

"Leave now?" Someone asked in surprise.

It was already dark outside.

Liu He nodded, "Let's go now, the sooner the better, to avoid another accident."

Li Qingwen packed his bags worriedly, and sat on the snowmobile with Jiang Cong.

Under the gaze of everyone, the tall reindeer pulled the sleigh and left the tent.

The men of the tribe were driving the reindeer. Liu He and Li Qingwen sat behind with their backs to the wind. Li Qingwen asked about the big dogs. Liu He said, "They are flexible. Two of them were slightly injured, and the others are fine."

Li Qingwen couldn't help but ask, "Did someone from Luo Cheguo do it?"

The pain in his arm was severe, Liu He frowned, and said bitterly: "Yes, they captured our tribe and killed our deer, they are a damned bunch!"

Realizing that his wound was not very good, Jiang Cong took out a bottle of wound medicine given by Zhou Yao from his arms, and handed it to Liu He, "Gen Ben Pei Yuan, two pills a day."

Liu He thanked him, took the bottle, poured out two pills, chewed them in his mouth, and swallowed them.

Mouth and heart are bitter.