Bianshanhan [farming]

Throughout the autumn and early winter, Li Qingwen and others have been busy in the forest, collecting at first, and making more candles later.

When the first snow fell, Li Qingwen and the others had already stayed in the hut for dozens of days.

When it snowed, the big guys started packing up the sledges, and after more than 20 days of busy work, Li Qingfeng and his men started pulling the sledges home.

Li Qingwen was not in a hurry, the officers and soldiers and Jiang Cong were in the forest, so it was fine for him to be late.

Originally, he wanted to stay in the forest for a longer period of time, but he thought about how he would not stay at home after returning. In November, Li Qingwen followed the last people who stayed behind in the wooden house and walked back on the sledge.

After staying in the capital for a year or two, when he saw the familiar white snow around him again, Li Qingwen felt nostalgic.

When I went back, apart from people, the happiest thing was the big dogs. They happily ran and played on the snow, leaving clear paw prints of plum blossoms.

Because of the sentry posts, the way to and from the forest has become easier and safer. When they stay near a sentry post for the night, they will also distribute the things they get in the forest to the officers and soldiers guarding here.

After all, they have received all kinds of care from the officers and soldiers, so they should return something in return.

The long sledge team crawled forward in the thousands of miles of ice and snow, and everyone's face was filled with the joy of going home.

They travel during the day and rest at night, because of the long nights in the border towns, they are tired from traveling during the day, and they can rest at night.

Someone's sleeping bag was torn, not only leaking wind, but also unable to prevent snow. Although he brought needles and threads with him, he squinted and sewed in the tent for a long time, but it seemed to be of no use.

This kind of thing is very common, and they usually sleep together with others. This time, the one who broke the sleeping bag was Li Qingyong's own younger brother. He rolled his eyes and wanted to sleep with Li Qingwen.

Li Qingwen agreed very happily, but he only slept for one night. On the second night, Li Qingyong's younger brother continued to sleep in his own sleeping bag, because Li Qingwen slept so dishonestly that he wanted to turn sideways. He was squeezed so hard that he was about to vomit blood.

Who would have thought that looking at such an honest and quiet person, he would go on such a rampage while sleeping.

Counting the sentry posts, at the end of the sentry post, after a few more days, you can see the smoke above the new city. The new exiles seldom start a fire, and some smoke is very heavy.

As soon as they arrived in the new city, people from the village greeted them from a distance. They were all dressed very heavily and walked quickly in the snow. After meeting each other, they first asked if the road was going well. Come smile.

Immediately after arriving, Li Qingwen was dragged into the house by his mother, sister-in-law and aunt, while the rest of the family rushed to the car to unload things.

Whether they like it or not, people who have just come back from outside will be greeted to the top of the kang to warm up. Li Qingwen sits on the kang and tells his sister-in-law what they are busy in the forest.

The kang head can only cook the butt, but the hot noodle soup makes people warm up from the inside.

During the meal, Li Qingwen heard something about Zhou Yao's return.

This is really good news.

Because of this, Li Qingwen ate a lot faster, wiped his mouth after eating, put on his clothes and went out.

He walked very quickly, so he didn't see his mother hesitated to speak.

As soon as Li Qingwen went out, the big dogs who had eaten and drank outside immediately started to take a walk after the meal, and followed them into the camp.

In the camp at this time, although the officers and soldiers had moved away, some exiles and all the cattle and horses were still there, so it didn't seem too empty.

Coming out in a hurry, Li Qingwen only wore a hat and gloves, and ran against the wind for a while, his nose was red from the cold.

He went all the way to the house where Zhou Yao used to live. After knocking on the door, it was his cousin Liu Yuerong who opened the door. Since they came to the border town, sister Liu Yuerong has been studying medicine with Zhou Yao. They usually live together.

Seeing Li Qingwen, the little girl smiled and narrowed her eyes into crescents, "Brother, you're back!"

Li Qingwen nodded, and walked in, clutching his stinging nose, "I got a lot of good things back. If you have time, go and sit at home and pick something you like."

Liu Yuerong first agreed happily, and then said: "Wait, wait until the child falls asleep."

child? !

Li Qingwen didn't understand for a moment, and before seeing Zhou Yao, he heard a loud cry of a baby coming from the room.

Inside the room, Liu Yueyun got up with the little baby in her arms, humming as she walked, Zhou Yao, who was originally irritable, heard the movement at the door, put on her clothes and walked out.

After entering inside, Li Qingwen realized that there were two more screens. Zhou Yao came out from behind the screen and raised her eyebrows when she saw him, "You're back?"

Li Qingwen nodded, "I just got home."

When we parted from last time, Zhou Yao didn't look much changed, she sat on the stool with obvious sleepiness, and poured the steaming hot water into the tea bowl.

Li Qingwen looked at the thick dark circles on her face, and persuaded: "Why don't you go to sleep first, and I'll come back after you sleep well."

Mentioning this, Zhou Yao became irritable, and placed the tea bowl heavily in front of Li Qingwen, "I'm so sleepy, I'll be woken up soon."

As if responding to her, the weak cry of the child inside became louder again, and soon they heard Liu Yuerong and Liu Yueyun's "ohhhh" coaxing the child.

Li Qingwen glanced inside, but was blocked by the screen, and asked, "Whose child, why did you put it here?"

As if amused by him, Zhou Yaodao's tired face became a little brighter, "Who else could it be, of course it's mine."

Thinking she was joking, Li Qingwen replied, "When did you get married, why didn't I hear anything about it?"

It must be someone's child was sick, so he was sent here for treatment, Li Qingwen was thinking in this way.

But Zhou Yao didn't seem to be joking, she waved her hands and said, "What kind of marriage is this? I gave birth to this child."

No girl would joke about this kind of thing, Li Qingwen hesitated for a moment, not knowing how to speak.

The child inside was crying loudly again, Liu Yueyun said that he might be hungry, Zhou Yao got up and said he was going to nurse, Li Qingwen left and went home.

After returning home, Li Qingwen went to the back room and asked his mother about Zhou Yao.

"She hugged the child when she came back..." Chen said, "I heard that the father of the child is dead. Alas, the life of a Bodhisattva like Miss Zhou is too bitter."

"The little girl in her family is very troublesome and has a loud voice. She is a troublesome master." Jiang Shi also sighed.

When Zhou Yao came back, Mrs. Jiang, Mrs. Chen and Li Maoyu also helped to look after the children. The two daughters born to Mrs. Jiang are very well-behaved, they don’t cry very much, which is very worry-free. She has given birth to four children by herself. , still flustered by Zhou Yao's little baby crying.

It was only at this time that Li Qingwen was sure that the child who cried so loudly was actually Zhou Yao's own.

She was exiled with her father when she was young. Zhou Yao had good medical skills and saved countless people from suffering, but she couldn't get out of it. She finally found a like-minded person to marry and have children, but the person she loved died young...

Li Qingwen was silent for a long time.

Li Qingwen couldn't help coaxing the children. On the second day, together with the fourth brother and other people in the village, they cleaned up the two houses next to Zhou Yao and burned them with firewood, so that Zhou Yao and the children could live together. Separated several times a day, she can seize the time to sleep.

The people in the village have always respected Zhou Yao. Knowing that she came back with the child, they sent small quilts, small clothes and diapers made by her own home to express her care for the big guys in the past.

Because of the lack of milk, Zhou Yao found a new wife from the village to breastfeed the child, plus the three of Li Maoyun, and Chen and Jiang's help, Zhou Yao finally stabilized her position slowly.

When Li Qingwen came to see her again, Zhou Yao was not as tired as before, sipping honey water, and asked him about the capital with great interest.

The Zhou family was originally from the capital, but they were convicted and never went back. The capital is Zhou Yao’s hometown, and the memory of her childhood is still there. Unlike other places.

In addition, Zhou Yao asked Li Qingwen about Hongzhou's affairs emphatically, seeing his eyes glowing, with an unconscious smile on his face, her beautiful eyes blinked, it seemed that she was just worried.

Looking at Zhou Yao's inexplicable eyes, Li Qingwen, who kept talking, asked, "What?"

"It's nothing." Zhou Yao leaned lazily on the quilt behind and muttered.

Because the room was burning incense to help sleep, both of them were drowsy while talking. When Jiang Cong came in, he saw Li Qingwen and Zhou Yao yawning at each other. She immediately woke up and flew over like a happy bird, but Zhou Yao just pulled the quilt and asked them to go out and close the door tightly.

Because Li Qingwen dozed off just now, Jiang Cong, who had just returned from the forest, greeted Zhou Yao while wrapping Li Qingwen tightly, otherwise it would be bad if he would be hit by the wind and snow when he went out, and the wind and cold would be bad.

Half-closed her eyes, seeing the two figures close together, Zhou Yao turned over, and fell asleep after hearing the doorbell.

Because of Jiang Cong's return, Li Qingwen came out from Zhou Yao's place, and instead of going home immediately, he went to the camp and had fun with Lao Xingtou, Fang Shi and others.

When I was in the capital, I specially built more than a dozen copper hot pots, and brought them back to the border town after trekking across mountains and rivers. In the leisure time of winter, they finally came in handy.

In the northern town where Li Qingwen lived in his previous life, every family loves to cook hot pot in winter. The ribs are boiled in advance, and a layer of sauerkraut is placed in the belly of the hot pot, followed by a layer of ribs, then croquettes, and then a layer of sauerkraut. Kelp, frozen tofu, and then spread a layer of pork belly, fill it up and pour some old soup, so that the hot pot is ready.

There is a copper chimney in the middle of the hot pot, which is empty from top to bottom, and can be burned with charcoal.

A row of hot pots were all placed outside the door, and the charcoal fire was burning at the base. The white smoke was blown everywhere by the wind as soon as it came out. At the same time, the fragrance spread far away.

Although a hot pot can hold a whole pot of vegetables, they are all people with big appetites here. Li Qingwen also used a vertical kiln to make grilled fish. This thing looks troublesome, but it is actually simpler than other dishes. After cleaning the fish , stuff the ingredients, put them in and bake them.

A few chickens were smoked in the iron pot, and the burnt aroma came out, dyeing the chicken skin an attractive color, but the iron pot after burning the sugar had to be washed quickly, or it would be difficult to clean it after it cooled down.

After the copper hot pot was cooked, some were sent to Li's house, and some to Zhou Fengnian's place. Of course, Zhou Yao was also indispensable... In the end, there were only three left on the table for Ma Yongjiang and the others. , of course one for each of the three tables.

It was rare that Jiang Cong and Jiang Liping were free at the same time. Qi Min invited the Sun's family, Ma Yongjiang also brought Tao Ruoning and Mr. Tao, and the old Sun went to Li Maoqun's to pull a cart of beer over.

At this time, the weather in the border town was already very cold. Li Qingwen looked at the barrels of beer weighing tens of catties, and couldn't help but think of a sentence he had read before - do you want beer at room temperature or ice cold.

Before watching them drink, Li Qingwen thought about it for a while, and couldn't help but get goosebumps on the back of his hands and a toothache.