Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Zhao Tiezhu died that very night.

This quickly became the biggest news in the surrounding villages.

Although they weren't from the same clan, they were still surnamed Zhao, so Zhao Tingming was the one who directed the matter.

Last night, Zhao Da'e also heard the dogs barking incessantly in Juren Zhangzi Village, but she didn't get up. Later, she heard Cheng Jinxi say that the wolves might have come down the mountain.

It's even less likely that Zhao Da'e will get up.

How can Zhao Da'e, a mere woman, fight against wolves?

She didn't possess any special abilities or skills, and going out would only be suicide, so she lay there peacefully until dawn.

As dawn broke, Zhou Chunwen was still studying her dishes.

"Oh dear, goose, it's been all night, why hasn't the lettuce sprouted yet?"

Zhao Da'e was getting dressed, and she said with a lifeless expression, "Big sister, your mental state lately is worrying. How can a seed planted yesterday sprout today? It should take at least ten days."

"I know," Zhou Chunwen said, pursing her lips. "I'm just anxious."

"By the way, what would you like for breakfast, Big Goose? How about some scrambled eggs with chives?"

"Hiss..." Zhao Da'e gasped, "Big sister, just tell me what you want to eat. Don't take me with you. I'm going to eat vegetarian now. I won't eat anything oily. I won't eat eggs either. I'm going to eat some grass roots and tree bark. If you want to eat scrambled eggs with chives, don't take me with you."

"Okay!" Zhou Chunwen called out, "Mom, Da'e said you should stir-fry some chives and eggs. She wants to eat..."

Zhao Da'e: !!!

Despicable villain!

Cheng Jinxi had already gotten up to cook. When she heard Zhou Chunwen say this, she frowned and said, "No... we lost our chicken yesterday. We don't have any eggs, let alone chives. You two shouldn't be short of anything."

Zhou Chunwen looked dejected: "It's all over. We have nothing left. What are we going to eat and drink? Are we really going to have to eat wild vegetables?"

“This really exists…” Cheng Jinxi said from outside.

Zhou Chunwen said with a long face, "It's been almost ten days since we've had any decent food. Mom, can't you be a little more considerate?"

Cheng Jinxi frowned: "Chunwen, are you being too cheeky again?"

Zhou Chunwen stuck out his tongue: "Tch."

However, there really wasn't much good food left at home. We only had some frozen wild vegetables, as well as Chinese cabbage, pickled cabbage, spicy vegetables, and salted vegetables.

There is still pork available, but you can't just eat meat on its own.

Zhou Chunwen went out, grabbed some wild vegetables, and called to Zhao Da'e, "Da'e, come wash the vegetables!"

Zhao Da'e pretended not to hear and nudged Zhou Chunhong: "Second Sister, you go."

Zhou Chunhong looked reluctant: "Big...big...big...goose, you're not...you're not..."

"Don't worry, Second Sister, I'm just lazing around doing nothing now. I don't mind that you don't wash your hands, so go wash the vegetables," Zhao Da'e said with a smile.

Sure enough, Zhou Chunhong perked up immediately when she heard Zhao Da'e say that he didn't mind her for the first time and went out to wash the vegetables.

As a result, she returned after only a short while, looking miserable, and said, "Big...big...big...big goose, your big...big sister..."

Zhao Da'e ignored him and picked up a comic book to read. The book was titled "The White-Browed Hero".

A very popular book.

It's not so much that the book itself was popular, but rather the storytelling itself. Mr. Shan Tianfang, with his unique voice, made the story of Xu Liang, the White-Browed Hero, sound like a god descending to earth.

As for what Zhou Chunhong said, Zhao Da'e understood: it meant that Zhou Chunwen saw that Zhao Da'e wasn't coming out, so she went to wash the vegetables herself.

After a while, Zhao Da'e heard the chopping board in the outer room making a clattering sound. She put down her book, went out to take a look, and saw Zhou Chunwen chopping sauerkraut.

"Want some dumplings?"

Zhou Chunwen didn't bother to look up; she was extremely aggrieved: "That's right. Your aunt said, 'Oh dear, does Da'e want something delicious to eat? We're out of vegetables, what should we do? As the saying goes, nothing tastes better than dumplings... so I'm going to make dumplings for you. Da'e, don't forget how good your aunt is to you.'"

Zhao Da'e shook his head: "I can't forget. The problem is, I've only eaten here a few times. It's you three brothers who shouldn't forget my aunt."

The scene was somewhat awkward.

Zhao Da'e went back inside.

Zhou Yuren returned from outside, looking travel-worn. As soon as he entered the house, he said, "Oh no, that Laidai went down the mountain last night and something terrible happened. He bit someone to death."

When Zhou Yuren said this, the whole family was immediately surprised.

"Dead?"

"That's a huge problem!"

"I've decided not to go out!!!" Zhou Chunwen said while chopping dumpling filling.

Zhao Da'e also came out: "Who's gone?"

"The family on the south side of your Dongtaizi Village. I think their name is Zhao Tiezhu." Zhou Yuren hadn't slept well last night, so he went out early this morning to gather information.

Nothing happened in the village of Jurenzhangzi, but things got much worse when they got to Dongtaizi Village.

As the saying goes, human life is of paramount importance; this is a major incident.

However, this matter was difficult to handle. Zhou Yuren heard that the person had been bitten by a wolf and was rushed to the infirmary for emergency treatment. However, no one was available at the infirmary. After that, they called the county hospital, but by the time the ambulance arrived, the person had already died.

Then began a series of disputes and buck-passing.

Zhao Tingming, the village head of Dongtaizi Village, was also implicated and is still not clear about the situation.

Zhou Yuren said, "That person died on the way to the hospital, and afterwards his family thought that the hospital ambulance was late, which caused him to bleed to death. The hospital said: 'Didn't anyone cover his wounds?'"

Zhao Da'e also felt that the hospital shouldn't be blamed too much for this. If it were like Zhou Yuren said, "Someone covered it up, so it wouldn't have died?"

Zhou Yuren sighed: "Forget it. It's not like you bit through the skin or tore off a piece of flesh. No matter how you cover it, it'll bleed. You're probably not very lucky."

Indeed, if the wound is too large, it's difficult to treat without professional help. The wolf is to blame.

"After that? The hospital didn't care, and later they called the police. The police couldn't figure out who was right and who was wrong either." Zhou Yuren continued, "And normally, a village clinic like this should have someone there. But that little cripple from Dongtaizi Village isn't a local, and he went home at night. So there was no one there, and that's also a crime."

Zhou Chunwen, however, dismissed it, saying, "Dad, come on. At least Dongtaizi Village has a barefoot doctor, but our village doesn't. If someone from our village gets bitten by a wolf and dies, will we have to blame our village for not having a clinic?"

Cheng Jinxi rolled her eyes at Zhou Chunwen: "Chunwen, just focus on chopping your dumpling filling and listen to the fun. What right do you have to offer your opinions!"

“Mom…Mom…is right…right…” Zhou Chunhong chimed in.

Zhou Chunwen snorted coldly and continued chopping the sauerkraut: Damn it, everything's been going wrong lately, there's always someone targeting me!!!

“Even if there were people at the clinic, they couldn’t save him,” Zhao Da’e sighed. “They’re so poor over there, they don’t have any proper medicine. At most, they can give him some gauze and iodine to bandage him up, and then wait for the county hospital’s ambulance to come.”

I also feel it's just bad luck. By the way, Uncle, you said he knew there were wolves outside, so why did he go out? Even though he's from the Zhao family, I don't know anyone this simple-minded.”

When a normal person encounters such a large wild animal, they would either hide or carry something with them.

It's best to hide.

If a wolf steals food, are you going to try and take it from it? Isn't that like snatching food from a tiger's mouth?

"I heard that your doctor came back during the day. The one with the limp, he said the clinic is always empty at night. The village's paychecks are limited these days, and theoretically, someone should be on duty for the work done by two people. But then the village ran out of money, so they stopped. Anyway, the limp just shirks responsibility. It's not like he lost the person; he doesn't care. After that, Zhao Tiezhu's family started blaming the village." Zhou Yuren went into the house, took out a tobacco basket, lit a cigarette, and slowly smoked it.

"Hmph. The person is gone, and nobody cares. Now we need money for the funeral. It's just bad luck, and this is hard to explain. Later, they said your village decided to help with the funeral, and all the expenses would be covered by the village, and that's how it ended."

Zhao Da'e didn't seem to care: "The funeral won't cost much. But he died a violent death, so he won't be able to be buried in the ancestral grave."

The ancestral graves that Zhao Da'e mentioned are located on the back mountain of Dongtaizi, specifically the area behind Dongtai Mountain. There's a flat area behind the mountain where the Zhao family's ancestral graves are buried.

Over the years, more and more people have been buried. The Zhao family is still thriving, and there's long been no space available.

Moreover, the Zhao family has a tradition that those who die a violent death cannot be buried in the ancestral grave.

Of course, there are many bizarre rules.

Zhao Da'e also deeply resented this. For example, the Zhao family had a rule that those without descendants could not be buried in the ancestral graveyard, even if they had daughters but no sons. So sometimes people say that the Zhao family favored sons over daughters, and this was a tradition.

Their ancestors started favoring sons over daughters.

The Zhao family has a rule that those who died unexpectedly, those without sons, and those who are purely bachelors are not allowed to be buried in the ancestral graveyard.

The most unfortunate of these is the kind caused by accidents, and it's often accompanied by other problems. For example, if someone doesn't have a son, they naturally won't have a grandson either; their lineage ends, so it's normal that they can't be buried in the ancestral grave.

However, if someone is unlucky enough to fall from the roof and die, it's considered an accident, and they cannot be buried in the ancestral grave. This applies to people like Zhao Tiezhu.

Moreover, Zhao Tiezhu's sons and others could only be buried under Zhao Tiezhu's body and could not be included in the ancestral grave.

As a result, the entire back hill was now dotted with the ancestral graves of various branches of the Zhao family. Some were even forced to move to the South Mountain.

Moreover, having no son, he had to adopt one before he died, just so someone would carry the soul-summoning banner for him. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to rest in peace in his grave.

“Our village has nothing, we’re dirt poor. What are we going to use for his funeral?” Zhao Da’e asked, frowning. “Besides, there’s nothing else that needs to be spent. The only thing that matters is the coffin itself.”

"I'm talking about coffins. A coffin costs seven or eight hundred..." Zhou Yuren sighed.

If this person dies and there are no trees in their yard, they will have to buy a coffin.

Buying a coffin is too expensive.

Zhao Da'e scratched his head: "I reckon they don't have any money. Our village's accounts are full of debt. I bet if things don't go well, my great-grandfather will come to me today to borrow those trees from my backyard."

As Zhao Da'e said this, Cheng Jinxi patted Zhao Da'e's forehead: "Alright, stop overthinking all the time. You can borrow a tree? I'll give you some money. Go peel some garlic..."

Give money?

Zhao Da'e didn't even dare to dream of it. Her economic relationship with Dongtaizi Village was quite complicated; she still owed the village over ten thousand yuan…

It's normal for the village to need a few trees.

Zhao Da'e sighed: "I guess my century-old tree is beyond saving."

"Oh dear... Auntie, that's not right. My older sister planted those two heads of garlic... They're gone."

Cheng Jinxi frowned and turned to look at Zhou Chunwen: ? ? ?

Why plant garlic when you have nothing better to do? You've been eating too much and you're stuffed.

"Alright, Chunwen, bring some dumplings. All this fuss over nothing."

"Just get to work, don't belittle me." Zhou Chunwen muttered, "When the garlic sprouts grow, it won't just be me; the geese will definitely be the ones eating them the most."

"No, I like to eat grass roots. I don't eat garlic sprouts."

"cut."

Zhou Chunwen and Cheng Jinxi worked for a while and finished making the dumplings. Zhao Da'e couldn't quite make out what kind of wild vegetable it was; it seemed to be the local small hairy vegetable, also called qumacai.

The wild vegetables in Northeast China are ridiculously diverse. Of course, the common names are all very difficult to pronounce, and most of them don't even exist in the Xinhua Dictionary. The names are so varied and bizarre that there's no standardized naming system.

Sow thistle is the only edible wild vegetable among these. The others are mostly poisonous, though the degree of toxicity varies.

Most importantly, the taste of other wild vegetables is simply inedible. These include dandelion, bitter lettuce, sunflower, water spinach, hedgehog, glass brain, small wild purse, and other spicy vegetables like shepherd's purse.

But basically no one eats them.

Zhao Da'e knows that many people in the south eat shepherd's purse, especially in East China, where they like to eat it. But people here basically don't eat it.

The only food available here is basically wild mustard greens. This vegetable has a well-developed root system, with leaves growing in clusters. The roots and leaves are a bit bitter, but it tastes quite good when dipped in sauce or used in dumplings.

Others are poisonous, and Zhao Da'e has never eaten them.

After the dumplings were wrapped, Zhou Yuren diligently brought in some firewood to help start the fire.

Soon after, the dumplings were put into the pot.

Zhou Chunwen was busy setting the table, while Zhao Da'e, feeling he had nothing to do, took charge of carrying the vinegar bottle upstairs.

Eating dumplings without vinegar is like making dumplings for nothing.

Of course, people in Northeast China have always had a strong palate, and soy sauce is indispensable. Actually, there's more soy sauce and relatively less vinegar.

The table was set up, and the dumplings were cooked.

Zhao Da'e ate about twenty of them and thoroughly enjoyed his meal.

We really need to improve our meals.

Two trays of dumplings were gone in no time.

"Have you eaten enough goose?" Cheng Jinxi asked.

Zhao Da'e actually felt he could still eat a few more, but there weren't any left...

"I am full."

Zhao Da'e: I've said it before, fewer children, better children, a lifetime of happiness. A family of six or seven really can eat themselves into poverty. These dumplings, if eaten by just my family, could last three meals…

Of course, it's also possible that Zhao Tiesheng ate it all by himself.

That good-for-nothing... no, wait.

My own father is a big eater and a heavy eater, but he can't do anything.

"Is it good?" Zhou Chunwen asked, pouting.

"so so."

It was just so-so, not nearly as good as the lamb and cilantro dumplings, but they were dumplings after all, so it was passable.