Bianshanhan [farming]

Just as Li Qingwen and the others returned to the camp on the sledge, snow began to fall in the capital.

Wenzheng Academy has been established in the capital for a hundred years. Although the scenery is not there now, there used to be many famous people here. The most popular rumor is a Taifu. minister.

Such legendary experiences are naturally talked about by people.

It is rumored that the grand master likes to wash pens, ink and inkstone utensils in a pool in the academy. After a long time, the walls of the pool are soaked with ink stains. At first glance, the whole pool looks like an inkstone.

It has been passed down that if you wash ink here, you will be able to be talented and have a prosperous career. Now this pool has become the place where Wenzheng Academy makes wishes, and students' brushes and inkstones will be washed here.

In the cold winter and the twelfth lunar month, the people in the academy are still sleeping soundly, and there is already a person squatting by the ink-washing pool.

Li Qingzhuo skillfully took out the brush from the bucket, placed it on the edge of the pool, and scooped the water into a square inkstone to soak.

The water in the pool was icy cold, and his hands turned red quickly from the cold. Li Qingzhuo stood up and put his hands together around his mouth to breathe. He was not afraid of the cold, but only worried that his hands would freeze and he would not be able to hold a pen in school.

He followed the caravan to Beijing for a few months, and with Zhou Fengnian's recommendation letter, he successfully entered Wenzheng Academy.

Wenzheng Academy is now lonely, and it can't be compared with those academies that are well-known and talented, but Li Qingzhuo doesn't have the slightest disappointment or regret. He studies seriously, wishing to squeeze out sleep to read books.

But his pocket was so small that he had to do things to make money while studying.

After arriving in the capital, Li Qingzhuo realized that the things here were outrageously expensive. He had spent almost all his money on board and lodging in the academy. He also had to buy books and consume pens and inks. The remaining money was not enough.

At the beginning, he made money by copying books, but this was time-consuming, so he didn't dare to do more, for fear of delaying his homework.

Later, by chance, he once helped someone wash pens and was praised for his carefulness. Then someone came to him specifically for this purpose, and was willing to pay him to clean the pens, inks and inkstones. Of course, he had to wash them in the ink washing pool of the academy.

Those who study here are either rich or expensive, so they are naturally generous, so Li Qingzhuo readily agreed.

Li Qingzhuo knew that many people here came to him on purpose, and wanted to take the opportunity to humiliate him, let him, a "poor-looking" person, get out of the academy, so as not to dirty the place here, but he didn't care. These malice are not worth mentioning.

On the way Li Qingwen and the others went back, it snowed again. This time the snow was not heavy, but the wind howled fiercely.

The sticks Li Li had left were gone when he came, but Jiang Cong did not lose his way and led everyone straight back to the camp.

Li Qingwen kept staring into his eyes, afraid that he would be hurt like last time.

The others laughed at him without knowing it, "I'm afraid that your big brother Jiang will be blown away by the wind, but it's really hard to watch."

Jiang Cong was also very careful, turning around to show him from time to time, so as not to worry him.

When they approached the camp, it was still light, so they purposely walked around outside twice, and did not enter the camp until after dark.

There were a lot of things brought back this time, so it was worth spending a little more time outside in the cold in order to save trouble.

Li Maoxian walked around the camp every day. Among the officers and soldiers was a man from Bingzhou. The two of them got to know each other after a few conversations. When the man learned that they might go back after another year, he asked him to send a message to his family. Li Maoxian readily agreed.

That evening, Li Maoxian was collecting cow dung to dry. For some reason, he ran to the door of the stone wall in the middle of the work. The officers and soldiers were already familiar with him, and said, "Waiting for your kid again? You How many trips are in vain, don't suffer from the cold here, the strong wind may delay you on the way."

Li Maoxian responded with a smile, but did not leave.

After dark, the soldiers guarding the gate changed shifts. Li Maoxian was still standing there. When he saw the sand and snow flying up in the distance, a smile appeared on his frozen face.

After passing the stone gate, upon hearing Li Maoxian's voice, Li Qingwen jumped off the sledge, ran over quickly, and shouted crisply: "Father!"

Li Maoxian grabbed his youngest son, "They're all back, but it's going well?"

"It's smooth, it's smooth." Li Qingwen took his hand out of the rabbit skin, and it was hot. He held it in Li Maoxian's hand, feeling as cold as a piece of ice, and quickly put his gloves on for him, "Father, why don't you put them on?" Come out with everything!"

Seeing that his son should not be cold on the road like this, Li Maoxian felt relieved, "I just stood there for a while, it's fine."

As soon as he finished speaking, the officers and soldiers guarding the gate laughed, "You father, why are you talking nonsense to fool your son? You have been standing there for a long time..."

Before they finished speaking, Li Qingwen had already pushed Li Maoxian back, and he didn't forget to turn around and tell Jiang Cong, "Brother, I'll go back first, don't worry, I'll get some food."

Li Maoxian originally came to pick him up, but was dragged back by his son early, and he sat helplessly on the kang.

Li Qingwen took off his clothes one by one, and piled them up on the kang.

Li Maoqun and the others heard the news and went out to help, Li Maoxian warmed up inside the house, and the people outside were not done yet.

Li Qingwen didn't rest when he got home, he quickly lit the stove and started cooking.

Those who stayed at home didn't know when they would come back, so they couldn't prepare in advance.

Li Maoxian and the others were not idle at home, they borrowed a small mill from the kitchen, and after many days of grinding, they produced two bags of sorghum noodles.

The stew was time-consuming, so Li Qingwen made noodles with sorghum noodles, and Li Maoxian and Guo Dayong came to help. Although they didn't know how to cook, they had the strength to knead the noodles.

When the noodles were waking up, Li Qingwen fried a big pot of mushroom sauce, he was willing to put oil, the mushroom sauce was very oily when stir frying.

Chen Wen was very surprised when Jiang Liping and Jiang Cong sent the things over. He thought that these tributes might not be available until next spring, but he didn't expect it to be ready so soon!

After collecting the things, Chen Wen followed the two of them and came over again, wanting to hear how they successfully completed the task, and also wanted to have a meal.

Li Maoxian and Li Maoqun can serve vegetables, and they don't eat much at home, so they save a lot of cabbage.

While cooking the noodles, Li Qingwen estimated the time and added another pot of vinegared cabbage and fried pork with wild celery.

When he was done, Jiang Liping and Chen Wen happened to arrive, and they immediately served noodles for dinner.

The fire wall in the house was burning hot, and the salty mushroom sauce was mixed into the hot noodles, especially with rice, and many people were sweating after eating.

Chen Wen has been busy arranging the exiles who just arrived, so he didn't have a good meal. This meal was more than half a bowl more than the people who went out.

Zhou Yao was also very hungry. She ate with a lot of men in the wild, and she had to avoid suspicion when she came back. She didn't squeeze on the table, so Li Qingwen made a few almost stewed chicken legs from a pot and put them in a bowl for her.

I don't know why Ma Yongjiang saw it, and he also asked for it. His voice attracted Li Qingfeng, and the two of them squatted in front of the stove like wolves, eating the noodles in the bowl, but their eyes kept staring at Mao. Steaming clay pot.

They had just finished their meal, and the people in the kitchen heard the news and brought over two pots of tofu. This time, they didn't need to change it. They made more for them to try.

Li Qingwen picked out the tofu piece by piece, and was about to put a few chicken legs in the pot to take back for them, but Ma Yongjiang pressed the lid of the pot firmly, "Bring them raw meat, the kitchen pot is very hot, and it will be cooked soon Already!"

He and Li Qingfeng worked together, and even Li Qingwen couldn't resist, so he had to cut a bunch of bacon.

Although they ate this meal quickly, it was already midnight after packing up.

After Chen Wen left, the big guy rubbed his stomach and lay on the kang. Li Qingwen wanted to practice for half an hour to get familiar with calligraphy, but was stopped by Li Maoxian.

Jiang Cong sewed the pillow stitch by stitch with the light of the pine.

Li Qingwen's pillow was scratched for some reason, and he kept making do with it outside, so it would be easy to get a needle and thread when he came back.

Just halfway through sewing, Li Qingwen quit, dragged him into the bed, and muttered: "Night sewing is the most troublesome work, and this night is not bad."

After lying down, Jiang Cong turned his arms across, and Li Qingwen pillowed on it. He slept a lot, and he felt that it was no worse than a pillow.

The lights were off, and the room was pitch black. You don't need to look. When the air blowing on his neck calmed down, Jiang Cong knew that Li Qingwen was asleep.

Jiang Cong didn't need to stretch out his hands all night, because after a short sleep, Li Qingwen would roll onto his chest.

During the days when they went out to look for tributes, several groups of exiles came from the border town, about a few hundred people. When Li Qingwen saw many people like you the next day, he couldn't react for a while.

The exiles who were escorted from the ice and snow suffered a lot during this journey. I heard that more than [-] people died on the road, and many new graves were added along the way.

Because many new people came, there was a little more movement in the border town this winter, but most of them were crying and shouting, as well as merciless scolding from officers and soldiers.

Li Qingwen didn't have much time to think about these things. When he came back, he had to read and practice calligraphy. When he had free time, he smashed and steamed the oily fruits. He didn't have to do these tasks. Li Maoxian and Li Qinghong would help them.

Dong Ming, who got the leather, wanted to teach how to make wine, but Li Qingwen really couldn't spare the time, so he asked Li Maoqun to learn it first. Li Maoqun was so excited that he didn't sleep well all night.

He never thought that he could learn a craft here!

Li Qingwen and Li Qinghong gave Li Maoxian a taste of the hazelnuts they didn't eat much, and Li Maoxian ate a little and gave it to his son.

Although Li Qingwen didn't have to do the waxing, he didn't sit still. He pulled out the vegetables that were growing in the soil basket, smashed the soil in the basket, added some cow dung, and continued planting.

Growing vegetables in soil baskets may sound silly, but it's not to be underestimated.

Most of the baskets made of branches are more than three feet long and two feet wide, and they are filled with thick soil. Take ginger as an example. The fertile soil here is mixed with some chaff, and the sprouted ginger pieces are planted and served well. Three to four months can grow dozens of catties of ginger.

Only two baskets, planted three or four times this year, eating and planting at the same time, there are still a lot left.

The three houses look crowded, they can accommodate dozens of earthen baskets, and almost the whole house is filled. In winter, there are heated kangs and warm walls, and they can produce a lot of vegetables all year round.

Carry the cabbages that were about the same length to the kitchen. Someone from them specially pickled pickles, radishes and sauerkraut, and Li Qingwen asked him to pick them for help.

It’s been winter for so long, and it’s the first time I saw fresh vegetables. The person in the kitchen waved his hand and said, “Good, good, good, good, good.” The meaning of waving his hands is that it’s a pity that such fresh vegetables are marinated, how good it is to eat directly, and he agreed. What is willing to help.

It is not a trivial matter for so many soldiers to eat, drink, and scatter. They have a special vegetable field. Of course, most of the people who serve the vegetable field are exiles.

In autumn, the vegetable field is empty, not to mention the soldiers, even the people above eat dried and pickled vegetables, and fresh vegetables are quite rare.

Li Qingwen had to marinate the new dishes if he didn't eat them, everyone was dumbfounded when he heard that.

"It won't be Chinese New Year soon, we all eat sauerkraut dumplings in our hometown..." Li Qingwen explained.

The man in the kitchen spat out spit, "We have a lot of sauerkraut, you can take whatever you want, see, those jars are full, and there are several kinds of sour taste, I will cut a few for you to taste..."

In the end, Li Qingwen left the dishes and let them do whatever they wanted.

Li Qingwen said that he wanted to grow seedlings, so Li Maoxian built some wooden frames with more than a dozen layers, and each layer was covered with soil, which was enough to make a seedbed.

The seedbed had just been made, and the oily fruit wax that was brought back was also boiled out. This time, several pots of wax oil were obtained.

On the day of making candles, everyone put down their work and gathered around Li Qingwen to see how the candles were made.

If there is no bamboo, the wood is split into very thin sticks, and a layer of paper is wrapped on the top half of the wooden sticks. This paper is left by Li Qingwen after he practiced calligraphy, and he has already accumulated a thick stack.

Wrap the weed stems from top to bottom on a paper-wrapped wooden stick. It stands to reason that rushes are the best, and you can’t find them here, but ordinary grasses can be found everywhere, and you can find them anywhere under the snow. Take a lot. (Note: 1)

The wooden stick is long, put the end tied with the grass stem into the wax oil basin, and then take it out, there will be a layer of wax oil on it. At this time, the wax oil is not completely dry. Rub back and forth to coat evenly, take it out and set aside to dry. (Note: 2)

A total of dozens of wooden sticks were made, and a few sticks were soaked in wax oil. After rubbing and dipping in the wax oil, they were almost dried, and then these bamboo sticks were continued to be placed in the bucket... Repeat this many times, the wood The wax oil on the stick is getting thicker and thicker, and the candle has taken shape. (Note: 3)

Even though they watched Li Qingwen's actions, everyone still exclaimed from time to time. This thing was made in this way, it's really unexpected! !

Everyone praised Li Qingwen for his dry mouth, but they kept talking, and turned to Li Maoxian vigorously, "Uncle, your son was born well, all of them are promising, Qingrui is stable, Qingzhuo is smart and studious , Qinghong is honest and capable, let alone Qingfeng and Xiaozier..."

"I learned it together with you." Li Maoxian was happy in his heart, but humble in his mouth.

When Li Qingfeng came back on horseback and heard this, he said, "Why don't you mention it, just talk about it."

Everyone became familiar with him, and laughed and scolded: "You are better than anyone else, you need to boast!"

Li Qingfeng was satisfied this time, and Ma Yongjiang curled his lips, "It's amazing, I didn't sleep at night and made a pole to secretly cut the dog's hair."

"I'm just teaching it a lesson." Li Qingfeng said indifferently.

The thumb-thick candles were arranged in a row, and everyone was anxious to light one, but Li Qingwen said that it was not finished yet.

The few bowls of wax oil left alone condensed into a lump, chopped up with a knife and taken out to dry.

Everyone waited eagerly.

The old horns brought back had no place to put them, so they were stacked outside the house, surrounded by bean stalks, to block them tightly.

Zhou Yao took a few of them, saying she was doing something, and she didn't know what she was up to recently, so she only came here a few times during meals.

Chen Wen handed over the tribute to General Lin, and General Lin asked him to reward Jiang Liping and others from the roe deer and deer skins he had caught in the last hunt.

Chen Wen picked them himself. The roe deer only chose big ones, and the deer skins were also selected. Although the best ones had been picked long ago, the rest were also divided into grades.

The officers and soldiers couldn't be more envious. I heard that Jiang Liping and the others must have got a lot of good things when they came back this time with one horse and two sledges.

Old Xingtou came back to learn what the officers and soldiers had said in private, and Jiang Liping gave those roe deer and deer skins away after changing hands.

They can catch these things after going out for two more days, and they don't want to attract the attention of these people.

Naturally, the things sent to Zhou Fengnian were indispensable, the sable, sauced meat, various Ganoderma lucidum and several other good-looking medicinal materials that were left alone.

When Zhou Yao came to see them packing their things, she frowned and said, "Add more herbs, and the sauced meat is still left."

Everyone didn't have enough of the few pots of meat that Li Qingwen had stewed since he came back, and they had to give it to Zhou Fengnian. If they wanted to eat, they could go to the kitchen to ask for it.

"The ones sent last time, Mr. Zhou said that the sauce and meat are delicious, and they are very similar to the one he ate in the capital..." Jiang Liping replied.

Speaking of this, sauced meat must be indispensable every time.

Zhou Yao sighed quietly, and Li Qingwen brought her a few catties when she left.

On the day of the Chinese New Year, the wax is almost dry, put it in a basin and put it in a little heat, and slowly melt it, then dip the outside of the dried candle and apply a layer of this wax.

The outer layer of wax is harder than the inner layer. After the candle burns, the outer layer melts slowly, and the wax oil inside is not easy to overflow. (Note: 4)

This is what he saw in the documentary. Of course, the method of dealing with the outer layer of wax is more sophisticated. Li Qingwen can only paint a gourd, and he can paint whatever he can.

When Li Qingwen explained to them, everyone just nodded. This idea was too ingenious, and there was nothing to say except praise.

On the day of Chinese New Year, it will be dark, candles are lit in the three houses, the candles are bright and there is no choking smoke, just thinking of the price, I can't help but feel distressed.

When the candle was lit, the big guy kept looking in that direction. Jiang Liping patted his thigh and sighed: "I couldn't afford to light this thing when I was working hard. I was exiled to this place, but I can enjoy it. Here and there Reason!!"

The others also nodded emotionally.

Li Qinghong, Lao Sun and two other people met in the back, while Li Maoqun was turning over the oil residue in the iron pan.

The wild animals in winter are thick in fat, so cut the oily meat into small pieces, put it into the pot and add some water to cook, and then boil it slowly over low heat. From noon until now, the oil in the meat is boiled out, Shrunk into a small piece.

While cooking, the oil was scooped out. There was more and more oil in the jar, and the meat that was originally a large pot shrank into a small pile.

Li Qingwen scooped out some of the dregs soaked in oil, boiled it, poured it into the sauerkraut stuffing, and the aroma came out.

Use a kitchen knife to chop the sauerkraut and oil residue together, then add chopped green onion, ginger powder and miso, and the sauerkraut stuffing is ready.

The sauerkraut was brought from the kitchen, and they insisted that Li Qingwen taste it in a vat, because these vats were not pickled by one person, each of them thought that his own pickling was the best, and no one would accept the other, so now they just took it out for comparison.

After eating several pickled cabbage cores, Li Qingwen felt a little nauseous. In the end, he picked two from each tank. Otherwise, he was afraid that he would not be able to come back, and those people would definitely pull him and ask why he picked them. What's so good, why can't my own...

Li Qingfeng and Ma Yongjiang had been squatting here for a long time when the oil dregs were still limp. Li Maoqun thought that the dried oil dregs would taste better, but now they would be blind if they ate them, so they asked them to wait.

The two of them didn't want to argue with him, so they went to Li Qingwen, knowing that his heart was soft, they couldn't help but grind.

Li Qingwen had no choice, so he picked out some dried liver and heart eyes from the pot, and gave them to eat.

Although they didn't enjoy eating enough, the two finally let the door open and went to feed the sheep together.

Li Qingwen got a headache from the smell of boiling oil in the pot, but Li Maoqun didn't notice it at all.

How difficult it was to eat meat in the past, other people's family could boil some oily residue for Chinese New Year, but his family never had it, even if they had it, it was not enough for his mother to eat secretly.

In the 30 to [-] years of his life, the few times he ate was a small bowl specially reserved for him by the second uncle's family.As he ate, a bunch of nephews surrounded him drooling, and at the end each of them shared a small mouthful. Li Qingyong, who was a little bit big, licked the taste with chopsticks wrapped in his mouth...

At that time, it was bitter, I didn’t know the taste of oil, and I didn’t dare to dream that one day I would be able to eat meat.

When Li Qingwen was making mincemeat, he saw Uncle Maoqun next to him being happy and sighing for a while, and he didn't know what he was thinking about.

The stuffed meat was chopped by a dozen big men, and they all thought they could eat a lot, so they made a hundred catties of the stuffed stuffing, and they went to the kitchen to borrow a board and a knife.

They didn't chop well, Li Qingwen saw it, and then went back to work again.

These stuffings will definitely not be eaten in one meal, but the weather will not be bad, just leave it alone.

The minced meat is also easy to make, just put it in a basin, add hot oil, salt, green onion and ginger powder, and stir well.

There is a lot of meat stuffing, after stirring a pot, pour it on the board, fill the meat and stir again... In short, one pot can handle it.

People in Hongzhou don’t eat dumplings during the New Year, but people in Bingzhou celebrate the New Year, but dumplings are called ingots. They eat ingots during the New Year and earn ingots in the coming year. Life is getting better and better...

The sauerkraut stuffing and meat stuffing were all ready, and the people in the front room ran back one after another, reminding them to wrap all the meat stuffing, so that there would be no leftovers, and if there was not enough, they would have to eat it after the Chinese New Year. full stomach.

While cutting the noodles, Zhou Yao said, "Don't run away, come over if you want to eat early, unless you are patient and can wait until midnight."

The back room is small after all, Zhou Yao placed the board on the Kang in the front room, she rolled out the dough and asked others to make it.

Jiang Cong watched and learned from the side. He took over Zhou Yao's work, and he rolled it quickly and well as soon as he got started.

Li Qinghong would do it too, he stood at the other corner of the wooden board and rolled it, while Zhou Yao stared at the dumplings, pinching the ones that were not well wrapped, or they would be boiled and leaked if they were not cooked.

Li Qingwen went to the house next door to look at the stewed meat, adding salt to the weak ones, and firewood to the hard ones.