A Farm Girl: Three Acres of Fertile Land Can Be Exchanged for a Country

Chapter 6 Baby

She looked down and saw a snow-white long-haired dog that looked a bit like a Samoyed. It was very cute, with a bell tied around its neck with a red string. When it wagged its tail, its head swayed along with the bell, making it jingle.

She stopped and reached out to pick up the dog, but Nanxing pulled her back half a step and said, "Dirty."

Wutong smiled at him: "It's nothing."

She picked up the dog, and the dog stuck out its pink tongue to lick the back of her hand; it was cool and soft.

One of the officials heard the bell, turned around, and immediately ran over.

"Oh dear, baby, what are you doing out of the tent?"

Wutong handed him the dog and asked, "Is this your dog?"

The man stroked the dog's fur and smiled proudly. The top ornament on his official hat was made of peacock feathers and was very exquisite: "Yes, it was brought back from the West. Isn't it cute?"

"It's very cute..." Wutong stroked the dog's paw and asked, "What does it eat?"

"Eat meat," the official replied naturally.

Wutong nodded and withdrew her hand, ending the conversation.

With a large number of soldiers but limited tents, everyone except Lieutenant Li and some officers sat on the ground outside, just like when they were on the road, with each team sitting around a table.

Although Wutong possessed a military tally, it was only valid in Dagua Town, and he held no official position. Therefore, he ate outside with the other soldiers.

Sitting outside wasn't lonely at all. Nanxing was on her left and Zhao Sanyang was on her right. The two of them would bicker every few minutes, making it quite lively.

The guards stationed there got busy, and soon the steaming hot food was served.

Zhao Sanyang's eyes lit up at the sight of the chicken, and he accurately picked it up with his chopsticks, exclaiming happily, "There's chicken!"

Besides chicken, there are ducks, and even beef and horse meat.

Because most of the fields were flooded, the table was filled with meat dishes, but very few vegetables, only two plates of yellowish greens.

Nanxing was a picky person. He sniffed as he looked at the chicken: "Could it be the kind we picked up on the road?"

A guard carrying dishes happened to pass by from behind and, upon hearing this, laughed and said, "How could that be? The live chickens have all been sent to the tents. These chickens were all caught locally and drowned."

He pointed to the large tent where wine glasses were clinking and people were toasting.

Upon recalling the corpses, Zhao Sanyang immediately vomited, his brow twitching as he asked, "Could it be those infested with maggots...?"

The guard said, "How could that be? Even if it had maggots, we'd still clean it for you, wouldn't we?"

Zhao Sanyang looked pained and refused to touch the plate of chicken again.

Nanxing already disliked it, so she didn't even pick up her chopsticks and ate all the white rice.

Wutong was a little seasick and had a poor appetite. After eating half a bowl of white rice, she got up and found an open space to lean against and stare blankly.

Nanxing followed her closely, and Zhao Sanyang, having finished eating, teased the official's "darling" with the plate that still had a few chicken butts left.

The baby just crawled out of the big tent, his mouth full of grease, sniffed the chicken with his nose, then walked away disdainfully, leaving behind a puddle of pee and a series of jingling sounds.

The large tent was lifted again, and Lieutenant Li came out.

Wutong hurriedly got up to greet him: "Commander Li..."

Because of traveling for half a month, Li Duwei had grown a lot of stubble on his face, vaguely resembling Abuduo's appearance, but he was much thinner than him.

He nodded, looked around at everyone, and asked, "Has everyone finished eating?"

Wutong said, "That's about it."

Lieutenant Li said, "Then I'll have someone call a boat over, and we'll go to the next hill to set up camp and rest."

Wutong asked, "When will we start flood control efforts?"

Lieutenant Li glanced at the large tent and shook his head.

Wutong understood, and felt somewhat resentful, but since they were on someone else's turf, they had to listen to them. In the end, they were just support troops, so of course they had to let those people do as they pleased.

The boats were called over, and the soldiers, satisfied with their full bellies, boarded them. The officials were still drinking in their tents, so no one came to see them off. The makeshift dock was much quieter than when they arrived.

After boarding the boat, walk forward about a hundred meters to reach the largest mountain peak among the mountains.

The hilltop was full of disaster victims, with wisps of smoke rising from it, as if they had just started making breakfast. There was also a half-empty hillside where they would set up camp for the next few days.

Once on the ground, the soldiers carried their luggage and tents and, under the captain's command, found their campsites.

With the help of Nanxing, the tent was quickly set up, and they went to help Zhao Sanyang.

Zhao Sanyang's tent was on the outermost edge. She found a stone and started hammering at a stake. As she hammered, she felt a gaze lingering on her. Turning her head, she saw a girl with a dirty face standing under a tree, looking at her timidly.

Wutong smiled at her, and she took a step forward and extended her hand to her.

Her hands weren't very clean either; her fingernails were full of mud, and the cuffs of her coarse cloth sleeves were tattered, revealing arms covered in countless red marks from insect bites.

Wutong was startled. She took out a piece of fine linen she always carried with her, wiped her hands, and asked, "What do you want?"

"I'm hungry." The girl's voice was very thin, sounding like a mosquito's hum.

"I'm hungry, let me see..." Wutong looked left and right, called out to Zhao Sanyang, and asked, "Do you have any dry food?"

Zhao Sanyang was tapping on a stake on the other side of the tent. After hearing this, he straightened up and asked, "What do you need that for? Aren't you full?"

Wutong shook her head and pushed the girl over: "She said she's hungry..."

"Hey, where did this dirty girl come from?" Zhao Sanyang clicked his tongue and said regretfully, "There's no dry food. I should have brought that plate of chicken butts."

"Get lost, you're the one who eats chicken butts." Wutong put down the stone, stood up, told him to take good care of the girl, and walked towards her tent. She remembered that there were still a few pieces of dry food in her pack.

Nanxing sat in front of the tent, the cloth covering his face removed. He stared blankly at the tips of his shoes. His face was almost the size of a palm, but his nose was straighter than that of many adult men, and his long eyebrows slanted upwards.

In a short time, he should grow into a very handsome man.

He said he wanted to get married, but what kind of girl would be worthy of someone with his looks...?

Wutong shook his head, forgetting the question that had suddenly popped up, and went into the tent to get some dry rations.

Nanxing asked suspiciously, "What are you going to do?"

Wutong said, "There's a girl over there who said she's hungry, so I'm getting her something to eat."

Nanxing said, "The people here are dirty, don't touch them."

Wutong found the dry rations, came out and shoved his head: "You bastard, have you forgotten how I saved you back then? Other people's lives don't matter."

She said it so casually, and Nanxing just listened casually. The two were so familiar with each other that neither of them took it to heart.

However, he was still worried and followed Wutong over.

End of this chapter