Bianshanhan [farming]

Just as Li Qingwen marveled at Zhou Yao's ability to diagnose illnesses based on the difference in pulse conditions, Zhou Yao thought it was incredible that Li Qingwen could turn the stewed chicken into a different flavor of smoked chicken by putting it in the pot for a short while.

Although others don't know how old chicken stew tastes, smoked chicken is really delicious.

Compared with stewed chicken, the aroma of smoked chicken seems to be contained in the chicken, the color is more attractive, and the smoky smell makes the two of them even move their index fingers.

What they are more satisfied with is that the smoked chicken can be torn and eaten directly by hand, just like roast chicken, it can be eaten happily!

Then everyone's favorite changed from sauced pork to smoked chicken.

As long as there is old soup, making smoked chicken is a waiting time, at most adding some salt and sugar every time.

Because of the smoked chicken, Li Qingfeng and Jiang Cong went hunting on purpose and brought back a bunch of rabbits and pheasants.

Both rabbits and pheasants can be smoked, and everyone happily ate the meat for several days. Of course, Chen Wen and Zhou Fengnian's share is also indispensable.

At this time, good news came from the stables that a ewe had given birth to a lamb.

The two newborn lambs were wet and couldn't stand up for a while, lying on the soft grass and moving.

Lao Xingtou has been serving the cows and horses for a long time, and the sheep are not too different. He feeds the fried soybean noodles to the ewes and takes care of the lambs together.

These two little guys were fine when they were born, but if they came out of the ewe's belly in the cold winter, they would suffer.

Li Qingfeng squatted on the ground staring at the two little lambs, stroking their not-so-hard hooves, and after a long while, sighed, "Why are they small, when will they grow up, I'm afraid they won't be able to survive the snow..."

Everyone thought that he had developed feelings for raising sheep, and said one after another: "When we can eat grass, it will grow quickly. The most important thing we need here is grass. In winter, it will grow to half its size. At that time It’s not easy to freeze to death.”

"Hurry up!" Li Qingfeng exclaimed in surprise, "Then can we eat mutton in winter?"

Everyone stared and stared at each other, unable to answer for a moment.

The weeds in the field are popping up again. These days, Jiang Cong and the others go to the field to gather weeds every day. They go out before dawn and come back after dark. The clothes on their bodies are soaked in sweat. After drying, Shows rings of white salt stains.

Guo Dayong and the others hadn't finished weeding their fields, and they were hired by rich exiles to work. They didn't come to help, so they felt a little embarrassed when eating, and only said that they would return the rations when the sorghum was harvested in autumn.

Li Qingwen nodded, Li Maoxian said when he left, sometimes it is better to distinguish clearly.

Li Qingwen now wears the straw hat Jiang Cong woven for him when he goes out. He doesn't have to go to the field. He boils some herbal tea every day and puts the bowl on top of the wooden barrel.

The tea was brought from Hongzhou by them, and it was not worth much. It was picked from the wild tea trees on the mountain, and it was very bitter after soaking in water.

Li Qingwen thought, if they don't get angry after eating meat like this, it may have something to do with their usual tea drinking.

The soil and fertilizer in the border town are also good for weeds, so weeds must be pulled out before it rains, otherwise they will take root deeper and it will be more difficult to pull up.

After delivering the water, Li Qingwen would put the sweet jujubes on the car and lead them to the field, put the weeds they brought out on the car and pull them back.

These weeds are the food of sweet dates and sheep, and those that cannot be eaten will be hung in the air, and after drying, they will be eaten in winter.

Last winter came in a hurry, and the camp suffered from insufficient food and grass preparations. Fortunately, the bean stalks were put on top last year, otherwise so many cattle and horses would have suffered.

As a lesson, as long as Jiang Liping and the others go back this year, each of them will carry some grass, and spread it out to dry outside the house. They don't have to hand it in, and keep it for themselves.

However, there are a lot more refugees this year, and a lot of grass is handed in every day, so what happened last year should not happen again.

Besides pulling grass, the most important thing for Li Qingwen is to cook.He worked diligently, and the meat hanging on the wooden shed became less and less. Ma Yongjiang and Li Qingfeng went to the river to cast nets.

This year's fish are obviously harder to catch than last year's. It may be that there are more people fishing, or it may be because they have learned more about fish, but no matter what, there is still no shortage of fish to eat.

Although there is a single type of fish, there are enough ways to make it and various tricks, so everyone can't get tired of eating it.

The jars containing syrup were emptied one by one. Li Qingwen counted the remaining amount, and couldn't help but marvel at how edible they were. Even though most of the syrup was made into supplements, they were consumed so quickly...

Fortunately, in a few months, the sweet sorghum stalks in the field will come down, otherwise, I'm afraid there will be no stubble.

I don't know if it's because of the plowing of the ground, but the insects in the field this year are not as severe as last year. There is no shortage of sorghum and soybean seedlings, and the medicine garden next to it is also lush.

If the autumn harvest is successful, the grain harvested this year will be much more than last year.

The rice that Li Qingwen has been concerned about is also very good, but he is not worried at all, as long as he does not receive mature rice, it will not count.

The vegetable field next to the house is another scene. The vegetables are very sparse, and the leaves are full of holes bitten by insects. Some are bigger than eyeballs. I don’t know if it’s the insects or the leaves. It's so fresh and tender that bugs don't want to leave.

Soon, the other two ewes also gave birth to lambs, one gave birth to two lambs, and the other gave birth to only one lamb, but it was obviously stronger than the other two ewes.

These lambs don't know whether they are stupid or have no companions to learn from. They can't drink milk after birth, bleat when they are hungry, and won't suck when they are pressed on the teats.

Lao Xingtou led the ewes, and Li Qingwen held the lambs and put them in a warm place on the slope.

There was no way, Lao Xing restrained the sheep, and Li Qingwen went to milk the sheep. Because he was not skilled, he was kicked by the sheep several times, grinning in pain.

He slowed down his movements, changed his strength, observed the ewe's reaction, and he was about to find some ways.

Maybe it was because he felt that the pain was not so severe after milking, and finally he didn't look like he was struggling like before, and Lao Xingtou didn't dare to let go of the sweat on his forehead.

After the three sheep were squeezed, Li Qingwen's hands were about to cramp. Old Xingtou rolled the birch bark into a tube with a large top and a pointed bottom, opened the lamb's mouth, and stuffed the tip of the tube into his mouth. The goat milk is poured slowly from the big end of the bark tube.

The little lamb struggled weakly, but it didn't have the strength of her mother, so it could only be forced to drink milk obediently.

After feeding them one by one, there is still a lot of goat milk left in the pot. It won't last long in this weather, and it will go bad if you don't wait until tomorrow.

Of course, Li Qingwen would not waste food, so he boiled the remaining goat milk, tasted it after cooking, and found the taste a bit strange.

After the goat milk was boiled, it was divided into three bowls. Li Qingwen didn't want to drink it after tasting it. Old Xingtou seemed to like it very much. He drank his own in one gulp. Zhou Yao shook her head without even trying.

Li Qingwen originally wanted to keep it until the people who finished their work came back to see who would like to drink, but Ma Yongjiang took both bowls away, saying that he wanted to drink.

Li Qingwen was puzzled, he drank it as he wanted, why did he take it away, he didn't see it taken outside when he usually ate.

When going to bed at night, Li Qingwen just lay down, his belly was lightly pressed, he looked up at Jiang Cong, "Brother, what's wrong?"

"How did it hurt?" Jiang Cong asked, staring at the bruises on his belly.

"I was accidentally kicked while milking the goat." Li Qingwen bent his neck to look at the wound on his stomach, and was a little surprised for a moment, there were bruises left behind.

Jiang Cong didn't speak, and went to find ointment for him to rub. Li Qingwen squinted his eyes at first, and then fell asleep because it was so comfortable.

The next day, when he called Lao Xingtou to milk the goat together, Lao Xingtou said that Jiang Cong had finished milking the goat milk early in the morning, and the lamb was fed, and the rest of the goat milk was in his stomach.

For a moment, Li Qingwen didn't know which of these two people should be amazed at the faster speed.

After eating at noon, everyone stayed indoors to avoid the hottest sun, and Li Qingwen pressed Jiang Cong's shoulders.Jiang Cong asked him to use less effort. Li Qingwen squeezed it twice, and his hands were indeed sore, so he asked Jiang Cong to lie down. He stood on the kang with one foot and his back with the other.

When the others saw it, they all yelled, "Be careful to step on your Brother Jiang and vomit blood."

Li Qingwen said: "I'm holding back my strength, it's not heavy at all, it stands to reason that the whole person will be fine to stand on it, I'm being more cautious."

As he spoke, he lowered his head and asked Jiang Cong, "Brother, is it comfortable for me to step on?"

Jiang Cong said "hmm", but the others didn't believe it. They felt that no matter what Li Qingwen said or did, Jiang Cong would nod his head, so they wouldn't believe that his feet could be so comfortable when he stepped on his back.

Li Qingwen felt tired after stepping on it, so he lay on Jiang Cong's back and arched his head twice.

Jiang Cong was tickled by him, so he had to bear it.

After a while, Li Qingwen stopped arching his head, leaned on his back, half of his body lay on his stomach, and fell asleep.

When he was fast asleep, Jiang Cong gently twisted his body, put the person on his back on the kang, wiped off the water behind him, and wiped the saliva from Li Qingwen's mouth along the way.

Qi Min next to him smiled and whispered, "Children just feel too much."

"He is very tired every day." Old Sun just woke up, turned over, and glanced at Li Qingwen, "They were not idle when we went out to patrol, and then you ran so far to send people off when you were farming. He didn't rest for a long time when he came back, even adults can't bear it, let alone a child."

Jiang Cong lowered his eyes to look at Li Qingwen's pointed chin, and all the meat that was grown in winter was gone.

Since planting the fields in spring, Ma Yongjiang looked at Li Qingwen with a little bit of confusion.This person is obviously afraid of the cold and heat, and can't do heavy work, but he can last longer than himself in planting the land, and he didn't hear the cry of hard work when he was on the road. It's really strange...

Li Qingwen had explained this to him a long time ago, and he was only carrying it with one breath, and he might fall down at any time, but he only held it for a long time.

Ma Yongjiang didn't understand it very well, but others did. Many times, they had to rely on it.

In addition to weeding, Jiang Cong and the others came back at night to dry the adobe with mud, and planned to build a few more houses, whether it was to put sundries or seedbeds, the current houses were far from enough.

Besides them, other exiles are also rushing to build their houses. Some of them came early, some came late, but they were all frightened by the winter in the border town. This year, no matter what, they could no longer spend the winter in wooden sheds.

Ma Yongjiang and the others found work again because they knew how to build a house. Li Qingwen saw that they were very happy recently, and they must have earned a lot of money.

The adobe was easy to get, but there was a shortage of wood. Other exiles knew that Jiang Liping and the others knew where to get wood, so they came to ask.

It happened that they also wanted wood, so Lao Sun drove a cart to lead the way. Those people didn't know where to go, so they also got carts and horses, and went to log together.

Li Qingwen didn't go. He had three meals a day, and he couldn't miss one meal. He couldn't leave.

Jiang Cong followed the car. If he didn't go, those who stayed at home and those who went out would feel uneasy.

Not long after they set off, it rained moderately.

This time Li Qingwen and the others gained experience. Before the rain stopped, they prepared the bag, and rushed out to pick up mushrooms when it was a little lighter. Thinking of the mushrooms skewered last year, Lao Xing couldn't help shaking his hands.

Not only them, Jiang Liping and others also went out to pick. Anyway, they can't do the work in the field now, so they are idle when they are idle.

Of course, they thought this way mainly because the mushrooms here are really delicious, whether it is stewed or fried, or made into soup, it is very delicious, so it is not wrong to get more.

The rain stopped after they put the mushrooms back in sacks one by one. The other exiles also got into the weeds one after another when they saw them picking them, and then there was a sound of surprise.

The border town not only has a long period of ice and snow, but also a thriving vitality. As long as it survives the cold winter, it can enjoy the rich products here like other animals.