Farming and reading family

Chen Jie thought it was something big and he was prepared to keep it secret, but it turned out to be just this?

"When do you plan to go, second brother?" he said as he stood up.

What's the big deal? I'd rather worry about whether there's a wild boar in the trap.

"Your second brother means to buy a lot," Gao E added, "and it's best to avoid the villagers, for fear of gossip."

Chen Ke nodded.

Chen Jie still didn't think it was a big deal: "If Second Brother needs me to go buy it with you, just tell me."

Chen Qing looked serious: "How much do you want to buy?"

Chen Ke looked at Gao E.

"This is what we thought. In order to raise money for my husband to go to Beijing for the imperial examination, our family has almost sold out all the grain. We want to buy more while grain is cheap now." Gao E implied that she wanted to buy some for them as well.

"This cave is quite big now. When the food prices go up during the lean period next year, if we can move it in and out, we might be able to save some money," Gao E explained.

Chen Jie became excited when he heard his second sister-in-law say this: "Second sister-in-law, do you want to sell the grain?"

Chen Ke thought this reason was acceptable.

"It's not just about dealing in grain, we have to find a way to make money." Gao E said with a smile, "This thing hasn't even been completed yet, and it's already causing a lot of trouble. This is not good."

Chen Jie nodded. "I understand, I understand." He then looked at his eldest brother and said, "It's best not to even tell our parents about this. If they think our second brother isn't studying hard, they might start making a scene."

Chen Qing nodded slightly and lost interest.

He had little interest in business, but he was interested in food.

"Then I will build a shelf above the ground in your cave to store food." Chen Qing agreed to this matter directly.

"Thank you, brother." Chen Ke expressed gratitude.

After saying this, everyone went about their business.

Gao E looked at the attitudes of the eldest and third families and felt that there should be no problem in keeping it secret, but she still had to wait a little longer as there was no rush to make salt.

In the next two days, Chen Duokui and his friends, along with the children in the village, caught a lot of crickets, and used up all the cricket cages to meet Chen Ke's requirements.

Chen Qing made some containers for crickets using bamboo tubes, which were convenient to stack.

One day, the eldest brother had just installed the bamboo door and closed it to see how it worked. Chen Jie rushed in from outside and knocked the eldest brother, who was checking the door, off balance.

Chen Jie didn't bother to apologize and said excitedly: "Three, three..."

Chen Qing frowned, wondering if his third brother was stupid.

Chen Jie swallowed hard: "Brother, there are three wild boars in the trap we dug. Let's go, let's go."

He would go and check every morning, after all, there were five or six kilograms of salt in the pond.

Two days ago, he saw an increase in the footprints of wild animals around him, but there was no movement in the traps. He thought that if he had known earlier, he would have set a few traps and caught some rabbits or something.

Who knew that when I went there today, I saw three wild boars in the trap.

To be on the safe side, he not only dug the trap deep, but also placed several large wooden spikes underneath.

Chen Qing's eyes widened as well. He had never heard of catching three wild boars at once. "Call your second brother and go."

"Can my second brother do it?" Chen Jie thought that his second brother probably couldn't walk the mountain road for long.

Chen Qing thought so too.

"Call my wife," Chen Jie suggested. His wife was even stronger than he was. "But the wild boar in the pit is too big for one person to carry."

"Then let's go over and take a look." Chen Qing wondered how big it could be.

They said something to Chen Ke, called Lei and went up the mountain.

Gao E knew that salt was a fatal attraction to wild animals, but she didn't expect to catch three wild boars at once. Does this mean that there are many wild animals in the mountains?

"Why do you look unhappy, madam?" Chen Ke saw Gao E's serious expression.

Gao E expressed her concerns: "With so many wild boars in the mountains, are there other large beasts?"

Chen Ke smiled and said, "There are many wild animals in this mountain. I heard that the largest one is a blind bear, but few people see it. Monkeys and other animals are more common."

Gao E mentioned it as soon as she heard that monkeys were suspicious. When a group of monkeys grows, their ferocity is shocking. “Why haven’t I heard you say that before?”

Chen Ke thought, isn't this something everyone knows?

"It's not a big deal." Chen Ke didn't care.

Until noon, the eldest brother and the others had not returned yet, which made Gao E a little worried. In the past, it seemed that it didn’t take Chen Jie long to make a trip.

Time passed bit by bit, and Chen Ke became restless and walked back and forth at the mountain pass.

There are not many people who go hiking in the mountains now. Things on the periphery have been collected almost completely, and few people venture into the deep mountains.

As it was getting dark, Chen Ke became more and more restless and wanted to talk to his father.

"If something really happens to my eldest brother and the others, who in our family will be able to go there?" Gao E analyzed calmly.

Chen Ke hesitated to speak. Although he said so, his words sounded a bit cruel.

"Wait a little longer. If they haven't come back after dinner, we'll go find Uncle Zheng and ask him to find a few strong men from the village to go into the mountains to look for them." Gao E comforted.

Chen Ke thought about it and felt that this was the only way.

Before they finished dinner, there was a sound of a door being pushed open outside.

The couple immediately put down their bowls and chopsticks and went out.

Chen Qing and Lei came in from outside carrying a wild boar.

"Where is the third brother?" Chen Ke didn't see Chen Jie.

"He is watching the wild boar at the mountain pass." Chen Qing put the wild boar down and walked out.

When they came back, Chen Qing was carrying a smaller wild boar, and Chen Jie and Lei were following behind with a wild boar weighing more than 200 pounds.

After putting down the wild boar, Chen Jie immediately closed the door and then sat down on the ground exhausted.

"I'm finally back." Chen Jie was tired but happy.

The children were shocked when they saw the wild boar on the ground.

"Where did the wild boar come from?" Chen Hanyue couldn't help but ask.

"Of course we caught him in the mountains." Chen Jie said happily, "This must not be spread out."

Chen Hanyue nodded immediately. She knew that wealth should not be shown off.

"You all come in and have dinner." Gao E asked the children to go into the house.

After Chen Jie rested for a while, he explained what happened. The three of them could not carry the three wild boars back at the same time, so the eldest brother cut some wood and fixed the three wild boars on the wood.

The whole way down the mountain was downhill, and as long as they controlled the direction, they could slide the three wild boars down.

Of course, in order to avoid people from the village who went hiking in the mountains, they deliberately came back later.

After dinner, the few people discussed what to do with the three wild boars.

"This idea was thought up by my second sister-in-law. What do you think we should do?" Chen Jie said directly.

Gao E knew that the wild boars they brought back were all dead. "Will they still be fresh when we sell them tomorrow?"

"Of course it's fresh." Chen Jie said that it's not a problem if the game is dead for a day or two. "It's just that the price will be lower if I sell it to the butcher."

"Then let's keep the smallest one and sell the two big ones to the butcher. As long as the price is reasonable, the money from the sale will be divided equally among the three families." Gao E suggested.