I Love Farming

Various emotions appeared alternately in Xiaobai Yuanyuan's eyes, and finally froze in resentment, and rushed out of the castle without looking back.

Cook: "Ah..."

She opened her mouth for a long time before she said, "Master, do you want someone to catch your cat back?"

It stands to reason that no one would care about this evil creature, and worry about its whereabouts like a pet.However, this cat is not an ordinary cat, and the master has to play with it this winter.

So the cook hesitated for a moment before asking questions.

"Don't worry about that silly cat." Cui Qichao put the pig's head back on the chopping board. That's right, he did it on purpose. The matter of Xiaobai being pushed on by a pig is something he should never think about.

And this incident has indeed become a black history that Xiaobai can't wash away.

Cui Qichao stared at the marinated meat in the kitchen until the sun went down, and then he returned to the room, and waited in the room until night, when the tooth-sick scratching sound came from outside the door.

Cui Qichao opened the door and saw Xiaobai sitting at the door with his head down.

"Back?" Cui Qichao made a gap for it to come in.

Xiaobai sat there resentfully, unexpectedly Cui Qichao really didn't look for it, it wandered around the castle for a long time, frightened a few slaves, and came back to scratch the door when it was so hungry.

"You still have a big temper." Cui Qichao knelt down and cupped Xiaobai's face, "Why, you are allowed to bully Dabai and Daju, but I am not allowed to bully you?"

Is that a big white and big orange problem?That's a pig's head problem!Xiao Bai stared at Cui Qichao, thinking so.

Cui Qichao seemed to know what it was thinking, and laughed out loud, "If you didn't make a mistake first, you wouldn't have given me the chance to humiliate you with a pig's head."

noob:"……"

Cui Qichao picked up Xiaobai, Xiaobai struggled a few times deliberately, and meowed in dissatisfaction.

"I have some beans and lard residue left for you, squeeze the rest during the day." Cui Qichao took the wooden bowl in his hand and fed it to Xiaobai.

It was rare for Xiaobai to be so pampered. He still sat in Cui Qichao's arms and ate.

Cui Qichao hugged Xiaobai until he fell asleep before putting him down.

"Mi..." Xiaobai made a sound from his throat, and refused to let go of Cui Qichao's hand.

Cui Qichao made an exception once in the previous plane, and never slept with Xiaobai again. He forced Xiaobai down and patted its head, "Okay, go to sleep."

Xiaobai was lying on the linen cloth in a daze and fell asleep, and Dabai and Daju, who were already asleep, came over and squeezed together with him.The last thing it saw was Cui Qichao's hateful face, and it thought to itself, one day, I must, must...

……

For the coming winter, farmers are busy collecting enough wood and straw to resist the cold winter wind.

There is no farm work in winter, but farmers have to be busy repairing farm tools and filling houses full of holes to avoid freezing to death at night in winter. Most housework is basically done at this time.

Usually at night, they count firewood and burn too much, and then the family huddles with livestock and straw piles to keep warm.In the homes of serfs with better conditions, there may still be tattered quilts or a few pieces of sheepskin.

Sheepskin can be wrapped around the body to keep warm, but summer linen clothes must be worn inside, otherwise it will itch to death.

During the day, continue to cook a pot of soup, still counting firewood to cook, put all kinds of prepared food in it, and don’t eat too much if you don’t work.

The poorest serfs may disappear every year. They have no clothes at all. If there is not enough food or firewood, their fate is to freeze to death.

Fortunately, fortunately, this year the master showed kindness again.

The lord's winter is much better than everyone else's. He has fur coats made of game fur, various woolen fabrics, and sufficient food and drink.Especially this year, the grain harvest is abundant, the vegetables are extraordinarily strong, and there is no need to keep so many seeds, which is very generous.

Cui Qichao likes the days when he doesn't have to go out to think about things, but he still thinks about his people, so when slaughtering animals, he let slaves weave this year's wool into knee-length sweaters, and then lent them to serfs them.

The time to pay back the money is next year's harvest, and Cui Qichao is sure that they will be able to pay it back.

Even the serfs who have wool at home are tempted. The woolen sweaters woven by the lord are different from their various air-leakage ones. They are warm, thick, long, and even have a hat on the back. You can tell it is good just by touching it. thing.

As long as he is sure that he can survive this year, who cares whether he will repay the master's money next year? That's when the time comes.

When borrowing, you have to carefully measure and register the size of each part of the loaned sweater to ensure that no part will be taken away by serfs.

The serf took the woolen coat back, put it on himself, and then let the child get in, with his feet curled up inside, and the hat covered his face, it was so dense, it was so warm, just like lying on the bed of an aristocrat Mattresses, although they don't know what the mattresses of nobles look like.

There are also disadvantages, that is, after wearing it for a long time, the sweater is stained with sweat, and it is not very warm, so you have to take it off to dry it.

This winter, the most common scene in the homes of serfs who borrowed sweaters is that people take off their sweaters to dry, and then they wear short sleeves and crawl into the belly of the livestock, shivering to keep warm.

Other than that - what they mean is that there really isn't much to suffer other than constant hunger and fatigue from chores.

As for the stewards, they are numb, especially when the lord is also instructing the maids and slaves to weave wool.They wondered, what exactly did the master learn during his study tour in the East?Ordinary nobles go out to learn martial arts, don't they?

And the master also gave them and the knight a special fabric, the same woolen sweater, which is also very thick, but there are several square patterns on the chest, which makes the identity different at once.

According to the master, those square patterns with a strong exotic style are oriental characters, which roughly means "a wise/courageous subordinate of the Baron of Northumberland". body, enjoying the envious eyes of others.

In fact, Cui Qichao didn't know how to weave originally. He inherited the Shennong lineage, not Leizu.But in the 21st century, he watched the cafeteria ladies knitting sweaters in their spare time every day. The stitches were just that, and he remembered them after watching too much. Those maids and slaves learned it seriously, and this is the same handicraft.

Cui Qichao taught and taught, thinking that apart from renting, he would have people weave the words "Cui Jiaban" on the clothes of his subordinates out of boredom.

The stewards wore woolen clothes beautifully in front of the priest William, and William admired them quite a lot. He was not as ignorant as the serfs. The priests were one of the most knowledgeable and wealthy people in this era. I have never seen it before, and the pattern is also very special. It seems that it is indeed a skill brought back by the lord from the East.Alas, if it was him, he would probably write "God's Shepherd" on his clothes.

William made it so obvious that the stewards thought that the church would not let go of any chance to pluck the wool, and went back to report to the lord.

"The priest likes it?" Cui Qichao said, "I asked the maid to make one for him these days."

As soon as Cui Qichao turned his head, he wrote down the word "magic stick" and asked the maid to make it up.

It was also in winter that there was too much time to do. After the woolen sweater was ready, Cui Qichao went out of the castle in person to deliver the clothes to William.The serfs still have to do housework. As the lord, he has nothing to do, so he instructs everyone to cook and beat farm tools every day.It was precisely because of this that Cui Qichao ran into something.

Before going out, Xiaobai jumped onto Cui Qichao.

"Are you going too? That's fine." Cui Qichao kicked Xiaobai into his arms.

……

church.

The serfs wrapped themselves in fluffy wool and said loudly:

"She should be burned, her soul burned with holy fire."

"This evil witch, I saw her talking to the cat with my own eyes!"

"She is not worth wasting firewood, she should be hanged..."

All kinds of voices made William's head hurt, "Silence!"

The scene immediately fell silent, and Lily, a young girl sitting on the stone slab at William's feet, also raised her head, showing fear in her eyes, and she shook her head with tears in her eyes: "Master Priest, I'm really not a witch."

Lily only had a linen skirt left on her body, and the shearling had already been snatched away by someone who pushed her to the church.She is the daughter of a self-cultivator, and she seemed to vaguely see her parents when she was brought in, but they were afraid to stand up and say anything under the agitation of the crowd.Even at this time, Lily couldn't see where they were hiding in the crowd.

William looked at the girl carefully, "But, you were accused of talking to the cat."

The girl recalled that in the morning, she did see a hungry cat with two big round eyes twinkling at her on its furry face. She was moved with compassion, threw a few beans to the cat, and told it Get out of the cottage quickly.It must be too hungry to appear where people live.

She didn't dare to say that she had fed the cat, so she could only shake her head, "I'm not a witch, I come to church every week..."

"People who have dealings with the devil are good at disguising themselves and have a tongue that is good at lying..." William looked at the girl with stern eyes, trying to distinguish the expression on her face.

The peasants also watched this scene nervously, waiting for the priest's sentence.

If the priests judged that it was a witch, they felt that a better punishment should be hanging, and then wait until the spring, and then burn the body with firewood, lest she die and come back to life as a vampire.

At this time, the door of the church was pushed open, and the cold wind came in. At the same time, there was a strange and familiar voice that reached everyone's ears.Although only heard a few times, everyone was impressed by the sound.

"What is this doing?"

The Lord Baron of Northumberland appeared at the door. He was wrapped in thick fur and held a woolen coat in his hands. There was no attendant behind him, only a poking horse and a black cat on its back.

"Your Excellency the Baron, why are you here?" William stepped forward in surprise. "The villagers found a girl talking to the cat. I am interrogating her. Maybe she is a witch."

As he spoke, William straightened his back. On the baron's territory, he might have caught a witch for the baron.

Then everyone saw the Baron smiling. He handed the sweater to William first, and said, "I'm here to give you this. The words on it mean 'God's Shepherd'."

William was overjoyed, and before he had time to touch the soft sweater, he heard His Excellency say: "Witches are good at lying, let's verify it with facts. It just so happens that there is a black cat here. You can try to see if the black cat will be close to you." she."

Huh?Is this method feasible?Everyone looked at each other, such a method was unheard of, because the witch was too cunning, usually everyone would punish her directly, if she didn't die, then she was naturally innocent.

However, what the baron said seems to be reasonable, theoretically speaking, it is feasible.Although the black cat seems to have been abused by the master for a long time, but the black cat should still be evil after all, right?

William's expression froze, which was different from his usual handling methods, but this was proposed by the baron with an unusual status, not to mention that he just accepted the baron's woolen sweater, it would be too rude to refuse Bar.

William thought about it carefully: "What you said is not unreasonable, then we need to block her mouth to prevent her from communicating with the black cat."

"This is what it should be." Cui Qichao felt that he might have to prepare himself a piece of clothing that said "God's stick". To do many things here, he had to use the name of God.

He glanced at the girl again, her bare hands and feet were already red and swollen from the cold, and she might be completely frostbitten in a while.

Even the priest master agreed, and of course the others had no objections, and even naturally praised the master's idea, which was good or wonderful, no matter how it sounded, it was wise, trouble-free and accurate.

The girl Lily's mouth was blocked by the priest's glove, her hands were also tied, and she was escorted outside the door.

Cui Qichao trained Xiaobai's "bark" and "attack" commands in the last plane, and they were all combined with gesture training. Generally, shepherd cats can remember gestures very clearly. Although Xiaobai is not a real cat, he didn't think about it so quickly. forget.Anyway, Cui Qichao didn't make a sound at this time, and compared gestures.

The villagers hiding behind the priest and the lord saw that the evil black cat jumped off the horse as soon as it saw someone approaching, crouched down and made a menacing sound, showing its paws.

Seeing the ferocious appearance of the black cat, which was different from the poor cat she had fed in the morning, with no warmth in its eyes, like an emotionless killer, Lily backed away a little scared, and was immediately pushed by the priest, but turned towards the black cat. Staggered a few steps forward.

As soon as she stepped forward, the black cat's breath became louder, meowed loudly, stretched out its sharp claws and slashed at Lily——

Cui Qichao pulled the little girl violently to avoid Xiaobai's attack.

"Everyone can see clearly, she was not favored by the black cat, but was attacked instead." Cui Qichao stepped forward to pick up Xiaobai's rope as if to prove it, and hinted in his mouth, "This cat, super fierce."

When Xiaobai heard the word "fierce", he immediately struggled again. He didn't dare to scratch Cui Qichao with his paws, but they left deep scratches on the muddy floor. He looked really rebellious.

"...That's right, the black cat attacks her as soon as it sees her, so maybe it's really not a witch?"

"And what about what I saw this morning? Why was she talking to the cat?"

William glanced at Cui Qichao several times, and he vaguely sensed that something was wrong, but he couldn't guess it based on his knowledge, and Cui Qichao still had an identity, so this thought was just a flash, and now there is a ready-made one. He quickly stood by Cui Qichao's side and explained, "I think it might be that cat trying to seduce this child. Fortunately, someone broke through."

The villagers who were still a little awkward immediately felt relieved, that's right, he saved the girl!

Lily originally thought that she would cry, but the fact is that she fell into a daze, expressionless.She actually fed the cat, and she's not a witch.

At this time, Lily's parents also came out from the crowd, and the mother covered Lily's feet with her hands, "My child!"

Lily was a little dazed, not knowing what expression to show.

"Okay, you can go back. But remember, you must be careful in the future. The devil may come to you because it senses the wavering in your heart." William said inscrutablely.

For a while, the villagers who had changed their minds muttered again.

Cui Qichao frowned secretly. This William really deserved the word "magic stick" he gave him, but he added such a sentence purely to increase his prestige.

In fact, the persecution of so-called witches was originally a tool for the church to eliminate dissidents. Since then, it has led to a lot of random reports by the people and the behavior of framing good people. The "witch"'s defense is lying, not making a defense is acquiescing, and her death proves her guilt.

"Hey, my castle still lacks a maid to help in the kitchen. There is a lot of garlic to deal with. In this case, you should come to the castle to work this winter. If you touch so much garlic, the devil will not dare to approach you. " Cui Qichao said.Garlic here is endowed with the meaning of resisting evil creatures, just like peach trees are to China.

For a moment, the eyes of all the farmers were full of envy...

It’s miserable to work in winter, but it’s true that none of their shoes have straw-wrapped civilians. In the baron’s castle, firewood is always burning, and there are thick tapestry to block the cold wind from the window opening, so it’s extremely warm. of!

Even if you are exhausted from working, you will die comfortably. Working in the kitchen may be an advantage.

Even Lily's parents were full of surprises, they could save one person's ration!The self-cultivating farmers don't have much surplus food, not to mention having another child this year.

Lily stared blankly at the lord, and was pushed by her parents before thanking her in a voice that was dry from the cold, "Thank you, lord."

William also praised Cui Qichao in time, "Your Excellency the Baron can always come up with a good idea. For the good of this girl, it's really good to deal with garlic in the kitchen."

……

Lily was very disturbed, she didn't know why the lord lord rescued her, starting from the suggestion to use a black cat to detect.I don't know why, everyone thinks she should be grateful to Dade, but she can't tell what's weird.

Maybe it's because, in the manor, everyone said that the master is generous and kind, but Lily once overheard the chatter between the head of the village and the steward, and what was mentioned in the words was the screams coming from the master's room...

The high castle was too far away from them, and the whole picture of the master who came down occasionally could only be supplemented by imagination.She also didn't want to believe that the cold and majestic but generous Baron, in fact, like other lords, liked to beat people with his hands.

Lily, who was anxious, was pushed to the master's side by her parents, and asked her to lead the horse for the master. The master hesitated to speak, and finally said nothing. He didn't say anything until he was out of the sight of the villagers, and he said to Lily: "You also come up."

Before Lily could react, she was pulled onto the horse, her bare feet were suspended in the air, at least she was no longer in contact with the cold ground, and she could shrink into the sackcloth cloak her parents had just given her.Her shoes were lost on the way here and could never be found, and there were no spare shoes at home.Even self-cultivating farmers have only a limited lifespan than serfs.

She was directly brought into the room by the master, who asked her to light the fireplace and went out.

Only Lily, and some cats are in the room.

Lily looked at the cat that might be evil but saved her, and said blankly, "Tell me, would the master want to treat me..."

Black Cat: "Tch."

"??" Lily doubted her ears, did she hear the black cat making a mocking sound?

After a while, Cui Qichao took the cook back to the room. The cook was still holding a bowl of hot soup in her hand and had cloth shoes on her waist.People in the Middle Ages were undernourished, and they were all very thin. I heard that this girl named Lily was 14 years old, and she was as short and thin as a firewood stick.

The cook loved the cute girl, and when she saw Lily, she hurried forward, first rubbed her cold feet to warm them up, then wrapped her bare feet with shoes, and then gave her the soup, "Poor child, Drink quickly, I heard that you were frightened by the devil, so you don’t have to be afraid when you live in the castle, and the devil doesn’t dare to approach the lord.”

Cui Qichao: "..."

This is true, but it always sounds weird.

The cook pulled the shoes and said, "The master made shoes for the slaves so that they would not be delayed in their work. Your pair were taken off a boy's feet temporarily, so they are not suitable."

Lily was gulping down the hot soup, feeling warm all over her body, her eyes widened when she heard this, slave, shoes?The slaves in the castle actually have shoes?

She met the daughter of the Mike family who became a slave because of theft. Since they were taken away, she thought about the possible encounters of many of her friends, how to survive as a slave in such a cold winter.But she never expected that they could still wear shoes made of cloth and wool. It was surprising enough that the serfs could borrow woolen clothes.

The lord said that the slaves were his private property. What if we didn't trap them like weaving a cover for a teapot, and freeze the agricultural tools he urgently needed?

The cook looked at the fireplace and said naturally, "You keep the fire here, and I will tell you where you live when we see you again."

She saluted the lord and withdrew.

The room fell into silence for a moment, Lily was stiffly maintaining the fireplace, and from the corner of her eye she saw the master sitting on the bed.

"Why do you think of talking to cats? You're not afraid of them?" Cui Qichao asked abruptly.

Lily suddenly looked over, and stammered: "No, no, I..."

Cui Qichao looked at her. A child is a child, and she was frightened immediately. If she was forced to question her by the priest for a while, she might not be able to take off her witch hat.Because of the previous incident, she looked abnormally dull, trembling slightly, restless.

Cui Qichao thought for a while, smiled slightly, and under her frightened eyes, hugged Xiaobai, rubbed his nose affectionately, and said unscrupulously: "Although I say it, others will not believe it, but I also like cats, I think They are not evil creatures."

Lily opened her mouth and was speechless for a while, her whole cognition was overturned, but combined with her previous experience, she found that what the master said was not unreasonable.She seemed to be relieved all of a sudden, and she sat slumped on the ground, her expression almost collapsed.

——She had hardly thought about what the master dared to say in front of her, and whether she had thought about how much of a threat she was.Of course, no.What should I do if she talks nonsense.

The innocent girl said with tears in her eyes, "You are right!"

Cui Qichao was not mistaken about the child, and he made another "silence" gesture to Lily.

Only Xiaobai rolled his eyes at the two of them: What's wrong, Cui Qichao doesn't like cats at all!He brags! !