Crossing 70: Fish in the Pond Have Good News

Jiang Yu's harvest today was average, but she did catch several big fat fish. When she goes down the mountain, she will ask Yi Chi to help her make it into cured fish, so that she can have one more dish to change the taste in winter.

It was getting colder in the mountains. The higher we went, the more snow there was. Many trees began to drop leaves, which fell to the ground and were stained by the wet vapor. It was muddy when we stepped on them. Fortunately, Jiang Yu changed into rain boots before going up the mountain, otherwise he would have to scrap a pair of handmade thousand-layer cloth shoes.

He dug out a Panax notoginseng from the root of the tree, picked a large leaf nearby, packed it in a bag, and stuffed it directly into the backpack in the space.

I don’t know if rabbits have to hibernate when the weather gets cold, but I hardly see them coming out to look for food in the mountains recently. Jiang Yu originally wanted to catch some rabbits for Yi Chi so that he could get him a thick mattress, but now he has to give up.

It’s not that she didn’t consider killing a few wolves, but their whereabouts were rather secretive, hiding in the deep mountains, which was a different direction from Jiang Yu’s, so she had never encountered them before.

For lunch, Jiang Yu simply took out a few buns from the space. After filling his stomach, he turned around and walked back.

Yi Chi was carrying firewood, but he was weak. After all, he had really been cruel to himself when he pretended to be pitiful before. He could not carry much firewood at a time, so he walked back and forth slowly. From time to time, he glanced at the mountain behind him, wondering when he could see Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu saw Tuanzi climbing a tree halfway, so he stopped and greeted it.

Tuanzi responded to her with a howl, and soon jumped from the treetop to her.

"Are you sharpening your claws?" Jiang Yu looked at its big claws that were dirty and covered with sawdust, and the tree trunk in the distance that was scratched beyond recognition.

Tuanzi sat down and licked his paws. His big round eyes gradually narrowed and lengthened under the light. "Awoo."

Jiang Yu didn't understand what it was saying, so he took out a pheasant from the space and threw it in front of it, "Here, I'll give you a snack."

Tuanzi put down his claws, touched the pheasant's body, moved his little nose, and then bit the unconscious pheasant with satisfaction. His sharp teeth pierced the chicken's throat. The pheasant woke up in pain, struggled for a few times, and then completely lost its life.

The ginger fish didn't move either, just watched it operate.

Tuanzi spit out the pheasant's neck, took three steps and stopped for one second before approaching Jiangyu, until the distance between them was only one meter.

The little thing even knows what a safe distance is, it's so smart.

Jiang Yu tilted his head like it did, squatting down to try to be at eye level with it, "Why are you coming over here if you're not going home with food?"

Tuanzi's round eyes were full of confusion; it couldn't understand.

Jiang Yu stretched out his hand and then paused in the middle.

Tuanzi was a little alert at first, but when he saw her stop, he slowly relaxed. After a while, he stretched his neck and sniffed her hand, and then let out a howl after making sure it was safe.

Jiang Yu tentatively put his hand on its head and touched it gently twice.

Tuanzi narrowed his eyes.

Seeing that it did not resist, Jiang Yu touched it twice more.

The big cat purred.

Successfully captured the big cat.

Jiang Yu was not in a hurry to go down the mountain, and played with Tuanzi in the mountains.

She was in great physical shape and had great agility, and she moved about the mountains as nimbly as Tarzan, following closely in Tuanzi's footsteps as she leapt over the treetops.

If this was seen by the villagers, even in an era when feudal superstition was banned, there would definitely be some strange stories about monsters lurking in the mountains.

It was not until Tuanzi was about to take the food home that Jiangyu waved goodbye to it, climbed over the mountain, and bumped into Yi Chi who was collecting firewood.

Jiang Yu quickly gathered the dry firewood at the foot of the mountain, and then tied them up with rattan, pulling one bundle in each hand. "Let's go, I'll take this bundle back for you."

Yi Chi waited for a whole day and finally saw her. He immediately smiled and nodded, not knowing whether he heard clearly what she said.

Before Jiangyu got close to the cabin, he smelled a faint fragrance.

Yi Chi followed behind, barely keeping up with her inhuman speed, "I made some chicken soup, take half back and drink it later."

This was agreed upon yesterday, so Jiang Yu naturally would not refuse. She placed the firewood under the eaves specially reserved on the side of the hut, and walked into the house familiarly, took the ladle to scoop water to wash her hands.

Yi Chi also washed his hands and checked the earthenware pot on the stove. He took off the lid with a cotton cloth to insulate it from the heat. The chicken soup inside had already boiled into a yellow soup with a layer of golden grease floating on the surface. He washed some wolfberries and put them in. "It will be ready in a while."

Jiang Yu nodded to show that he understood, then went out and walked around the cabin to see if there was anything wrong.

There should be a water-collecting device under the eaves. In the south, people use bamboo split in half, called a water drain. It can guide the falling rainwater to flow to both ends, instead of dripping water from the entire eaves and splashing mud on the ground. However, there seems to be no bamboo in the north, so what should be used instead?

Jiang Yu looked at the eaves and began to think.

Seeing that she had been standing outside without saying anything, Yi Chi also walked out of the house, "What's wrong? Did I lay the hay wrong?" He completed the last step of the roof by himself, laying the hay, nailing it with long branches to reinforce it, and finally covering it with wet mud.

Jiang Yu shook her head. "No, you did a good job. I just wonder if it could be better." She recalled the houses in the village and suddenly realized that there seemed to be no gutters here. When it rained on weekdays, the rain fell on the roof and then slid down the roof, forming a rain curtain outside the house like the rain.

"It's fine now." Yi Chi looked at the cabin. This was the best house he had lived in after losing his family.

Although the wooden house is small, it is his own private space. The wooden boards are solid, the floor is clean, and the kang and stove allow him to spend the winter comfortably and warmly. There is nothing better than this.

Jiang Yu didn't have any good ideas at the moment, so she could only put it aside for the time being. Speaking of which, the tiles at the brick kiln were ready, and Jiang Yu was going to ask for some to improve her and her friend's small rooms. As for whether other educated youth wanted to make changes, that had nothing to do with her. However, Yi Chi still had to mention it, "The tile issue..."

"I haven't thought about it." Yi Chi shook his head. The villagers would not give it to him. Last time, the villagers gave him the bricks for Jiang Yu's sake, and of course they paid for it.

However, tiles are important items for villagers to repair roofs. Unlike bricks, they cannot be obtained in one go due to limited conditions. Tiles are small in size and can be burned in large quantities in brick kilns. Many villagers have already placed orders with the village committee.

Jiang Yu looked at him, and seeing that his expression was not fake, he nodded, "Wait until next year, and you can change it if there are any extra ones."

Yi Chi seemed to nod obediently, but he was thinking more in his mind. It was hard to say whether the villagers would still be able to take care of the brick kiln by next year.