Bianshanhan [farming]

He opened his eyes from his sleeping bag and listened to the howling wind outside. Li Qingwen didn't get up immediately. He took someone to soak in the hot spring yesterday. At this time, it was warm inside and outside, and his body felt particularly refreshed.

This winter is really cold, and the people who pitched tents outside couldn't stand it anymore. They were afraid of freezing, so they left their work and went to Nuanhe.

There are a lot of fruits there, and the sledges were full when I came back. It took half a day to unload the truck last night.

The person lying on the ground was still snoring, and he was exhausted from picking pine cones these days.

Hearing the barking of dogs outside, Li Qingwen got up, put on his clothes, and added firewood to the firepit.Beside the firepit were several huge wooden barrels wrapped in birch bark, covered with fine gauze. At this time, a pile of dark purple bark and dross was piled on top of the gauze.

After straining all night, the juice had already seeped down. Li Qingwen collected the dregs on the muslin, and scooped up a large bowl of berry juice with a wooden spoon.

When he pushed the door, there was no obstacle, Li Qingwen knew that someone got up and shoveled the snow from the door, and when he came out, he saw his eldest brother and uncle Maoqun, who were setting fire to make soup in the big tent next to them.

There are two worlds outside and inside the wooden house, like wind blades, although there is no blood, the pain is severe.

The juice was still warm in the wooden house, but it cooled down in the tent. It was roasted by the fire for a while, and the three of them each took a big sip.

The tent is full of sacks and baskets, which contain collected mushrooms, pine nuts, persimmons and various medicinal materials. The time in the forest is not short, and it is time to go back for the New Year.

The grouse that came back yesterday had been marinated and was cooking in a pot at this time. Li Maoqun used a small hammer to knock out a piece of frozen solid old soup from the sack, and put it in the pot to cook with the chicken. A little salt, when cooked, the taste is very good.

Li Maoqun kept vigil last night and yawned one after another while cooking the soup. Li Qingwen urged him to go into the room to sleep. He made a bowl of fried noodles, drank it, and went back.

In the tent, only the two brothers and four dogs were left. Pine nuts were placed in the open space in a half-fan shape. Li Qingwen went up to collect the pine nuts. Since the squirrel healed and left, he Every now and then you get a thank you gift.

If it was summer, Li Qingwen might also receive torn mushrooms, because squirrels usually store food in this way.But in winter, the only mushrooms left on the trees are frozen and hard, and they are not collected by squirrels.

If they can communicate, Li Qingwen will tell it that you don't have to be polite, because they have dug out all the pine tree holes in a radius of more than ten miles, and it may have visited both the homes it can find and the homes it can't find.

This year is different from previous years. They took out the things they took out, sifted grass seeds and tree seeds into the pockets, sent pine nuts and hazelnuts back into the hole, and put some fried soybeans and wheat in addition.

If these migrant workers were hungry, they would definitely move, and then they would have to go further afield to find holes, so Li Qingwen wanted to give them extra meals one by one.

It was rare to be free at this time, so Li Qingwen put the lid on the pot and said, "Brother, I had a dream yesterday. I dreamed that I would never get married, but it made me so happy."

In fact, he wanted to dream yesterday, to see if he could see Jiang Cong's face, but he slept so soundly that he had no dreams all night.

When he said that, he wanted to find out what his elder brother said.

Li Qingrui was stuffing pieces of wood into the bottom of the wax pot, when he heard this, he said, "Zai'er, is there something on your mind?"

Li Qingwen was stunned for a moment, wondering why his elder brother asked such a question.

Li Qingrui patted his hands clean, walked over, looked at his younger brother's blushing face, sat down and said, "Recently, you've been talking in your sleep from time to time."

"What did I say?" Li Qingwen became nervous all of a sudden, and blinked his eyes quickly a few times. He didn't express that shameful thought, did he?

"It's a mess, I can't hear you clearly." Li Qingrui said, "If you have something to say, tell Big Brother, don't hold it in your heart."

This is not the first time Li Qingrui said this. Before, he saw that his younger brother's expression was not right, and he said it a few times. At that time, Li Qingwen didn't have enough to hide what was on his mind, so naturally he didn't want to reveal it.

Naturally it is different now, Li Qingwen immediately said: "Brother, if I never get married in the future, what can I do to make father and mother feel better?"

Li Qingrui looked at his younger brother's uneasy expression, and remained silent for a long time.

In the past, Li Qingwen also clamored with his fourth brother more than once about not getting married, but this time he asked "Why don't you make your parents sad", that is to say, he had already made this decision in his heart.

His younger brother will be eighteen in one month. This age is not too young, and he has long been able to make up his own mind.

Li Qingrui sighed, and asked seriously: "Why don't you want to get married?"

Li Qingwen thought to himself, I only like Jiang Cong, and if I can't marry him, I don't want to marry other girls, but he doesn't dare to say it, he just says he doesn't want to.

"Then we won't get married." Li Qingrui said helplessly, "Father and mother will not care about the son's life or death for the sake of the grandson."

Hearing what his elder brother said so happily, Li Qingwen wasn't sure whether he was coaxing himself or telling the truth.

Li Qingrui knew what he was thinking when he saw him like that, and smiled, "It's okay if you don't have a family, my eldest will be your son, and let him honor you in the future."

Thinking of his eldest nephew who rolls with dogs every day, Li Qingwen shook his head, "I can't control him, his voice can blow my mind out."

"You won't make trouble when you grow up." Li Qingrui opened his eyes and said nonsense, "I was naughty when I was a child, but I am very stable when I grow up, and he also likes you the most."

Li Qingwen cast a glance at his elder brother, "Forget it."

Li Qingrui let out a regretful "tsk" for not throwing his eldest son out, "Don't think about it all day, you're going to study in the capital this time, well, you're not too old, so there's no rush."

As they talked, people got up one after another. They got a lot of things in the past few months, and the agreed day was approaching. Now they don't go out to look for anything, just tidy up things, and wait for Chen Wen and the others to come and go back to the village together.

After being out for such a long time, many people also began to miss their homes. There were a lot of sledges, and they couldn’t bring them home even if they picked up more things, so they cut some wood and piled it among the trees around the wooden house to circle a piece of land.

He was busy until Chen Wen brought people here, three days earlier than originally scheduled. Seeing his serious face, Li Qingwen felt bad. Sure enough, he said that more than 30 officers and soldiers got lost in the forest while hunting. Fan wanted to borrow Li Qingwen's dog, and then went inside to find someone.

In such weather, if one or two people get lost, they may freeze to death or starve to death, but with so many people, they should have both the ability to protect themselves and the ability to survive, and they have only been separated from everyone for a few days, so they should not die.

Therefore, Li Qingwen came out with Mao Mao and Zhui Feng, and let the other two go first with the villagers and other officers and soldiers. They had limited food and grass, and if they didn't go back, the horse would be hungry. .

Li Qingrui was a little worried. He just felt that the weather this year was different. Staying outside for too long was prone to accidents. However, he had to look for people who lost so many people. He wanted to search for people with his brother, but so many people in the village were waiting to go home. He can't leave it alone.

He had no choice but to tell Li Qingwen to be careful and leave more food for him.

In this way, Li Qingwen took two dogs, and Chen Wen took more than 50 officers and soldiers. After parting with the others, they plunged into the forest.

As soon as they left, Li Qingrui and the others started out of the forest with the harvest of so many days. They pulled the sledge and walked slowly. As long as Li Qingwen and Chen Wen found someone and chased them out on horseback, they should meet soon.

Chen Wen is still a cautious person. He didn't dare to lead people too deep into the forest. He only hunted on the edge at first, but this year's prey was less, and it took most of the time. He didn't hunt too much. He didn't want to come in vain. It was only twenty or thirty miles away.

The scattered officers and soldiers were chasing some injured wild boars, and the leader was a reliable and good little leader. They didn't come back that day, so Chen Wen didn't worry at all, thinking they had run too far.

But after waiting for two or three days, there was still no sign of anyone, and the date agreed with Li Qingwen and the others was approaching, so he sensed that something was wrong, immediately stopped hunting, and took people to look for them, but they lost their traces.

Listening to what Chen Wen said, Li Qingwen arrived at the place where they separated at the beginning. The blood from the wild boar's injury had long been covered by white snow. Mao Mao and Zhui Feng sniffed in the snow for a long time, and then started to walk north.

The two dogs walked in the same direction as when those people were chasing the wild boar. Chen Wen felt a little more hopeful, and immediately followed the dogs with his people.

While following the smells and traces, walking, naturally it will not be fast. At this time, the wind is still blowing in the forest, and the blind eyes are not afraid, but the ice edges hanging on the branches will fall, and the sharp things will hit the head Unfortunately, two fellow officers and soldiers were recruited, and they almost fell into a coma.

Because they were looking for someone, they didn't rest at night. Li Qingwen only got food for the dog, and he ate two mouthfuls of dry food himself. He wanted to find someone early and go back quickly.

If Jiang Cong goes well, he should be able to arrive at the camp in a month or two. He wants to see him as soon as possible.

After walking for two days and one night, the dog seemed to have lost track of those people and didn't know which direction to go, but it kept barking towards the north.

Li Qingwen had never heard of that kind before, it seemed to be a warning, and it also seemed to intimidate an invisible enemy.

Zhuifeng looked very anxious, and wanted Li Qingwen to leave with his clothes in his mouth. When he realized that something was wrong, Li Qingwen told Chen Wen about the matter.

Chen Wen asked everyone to stop and waited for a long time, but they didn't notice anything unusual.

But the dog didn't come forward. Chen Wen sent people to look over from the east and west sides, and then found the bodies of several officers and soldiers in the snowdrift.

Before they went over to take a closer look, many arrows suddenly flew out from behind the trees.

The whistle sounded suddenly, everyone was shocked, Chen Wen immediately shouted at Li Qingwen: "You go first!"