Porridge and side dishes [farming]

The clerk went to the back, Li Ji stood up and looked at the several kinds of food on the counter, including rice, millet, black rice, and noodles of several colors, all kinds of noodles.

Li Ji asked Er Gouzi for his opinion: "Let's buy more rice and white noodles, and buy less of the rest. Change the taste when you have nothing to do."

Er Gouzi nodded, he didn't understand these things, so he had to let Li Ji come.

Soon the shopkeeper came out, greeted warmly, and asked the clerk to pour tea: "Where are you two from? Tell us the place, and we will see what kind of car is suitable for us."

Li Ji told him his address, it wasn't too far away, and although there was a lot of food, he took two donkey carts to pull him back.

The two of them still need to buy some things. They paid a deposit to let them load the car, and then they went to buy other things. When they came back, they loaded the car together and went back in a donkey cart.

There are candied haws sellers on the street, Li Ji thinks it's time, it's so cold, dipping candied haws is not afraid of spoiling.

Li Ji's seniority is high, but his age is put there, so he couldn't help but take a second look.Er Gouzi's gaze never left Li Ji, so he naturally noticed Li Ji's gaze.

Looking at the reflective little red fruits strung together, Er Gouzi directly pulled Li Jidao closer.

Li Ji thought Er Gouzi wanted to eat it, and wondered how Er Gouzi recognized candied haws. Could it be that Li Yan took her to eat it when she was a child?But didn't Li Yan live in a hole in the mountains?

"How much for a bunch?"

"Two copper plates."

"It's so expensive." Li Ji hesitated.

"It can't be said that it is expensive. This year's hawthorn harvest is not good. I don't know how many days I can dip it in. Isn't sugar quite expensive now?"

"That's right. Let's have two skewers then." Li Ji took out four copper coins from his cuffs, and the two of them made a skewer each, picking the one with a lot of candy, first chewing off the sugar on the side, and then biting off a red fruit, sweet and sour Li Ji squinted his eyes enjoying the crispy outside and soft inside.

Er Gouzi followed Li Ji's example and bit off a red fruit. After chewing twice, his whole face wrinkled: "Sour."

Li Ji turned around and saw Er Gouzi's embarrassing look, and smiled openly, "Don't you like it?"

Ergouzi looked at Li Jixiao's brilliance, and forgot to answer for a while just admiring it.

Li Ji ate one mouthful after another, and saw a grocery store opposite, and just as he was about to make the aisle, he heard the sound of a gong at the corner, followed by a burst of neat footsteps.

Although Li Ji had never seen it, he had heard of it, so he hurriedly pulled Er Gouzi back to the side of the street.The common people on both sides of the street retreated one after another, and soon they saw people coming out with a sign. Li Ji couldn't read and didn't know what was written on it, followed by another gong.All the people around him knelt down.

Li Ji followed suit and knelt down, only Er Gouzi looked at the kneeling people around him in a bewildered expression.Li Ji took Ergouzi's hand and made him kneel down.

"what happened?"

"Keep your head down and don't talk."

All the people bent down, and the gong rang once in a while, a total of seven times, and left the street.

Li Ji breathed a sigh of relief, and pulled Er Gouzi to stand up to pat the dust off his body.

I could hear the people around me talking about something, and finally the Grand Master of Xin County had arrived.

Li Ji lived alone in the village all year round, so he knew these things there, so he walked quickly to the grocery store, and asked the clerk a few words while looking at the goods.

Li Ji has a lot of things to look at, and the clerks are also enthusiastic, answering every question.

"My lord, you can ask our county magistrate, hey, you don't know, the neighbors in our street say that the newly appointed county magistrate is a living Bodhisattva. This is also from a poor family, because he drenched himself when he passed by the county for the exam. He was almost burned to death in the rain and was rescued by kind people, and now the high-ranking officials in the capital are not allowed to go to our place as a little county magistrate to benefit the people."

The previous magistrates of the county will be somewhat notorious, and this county is a small and poor county, there is no money to be made, almost all of them are criminals or high-ranking officials who have been demoted here. The position of the county magistrate has been vacant for a few years. There has just been a new county magistrate.

Li Ji has never studied, let alone read, and has never been an official in his life, so naturally he will not delve into these matters.Seeing the large water tank inside, I thought that my home is far away from the river, and there is no well in the village, and no water comes out when I dig a well, so I rely on the stream left on the mountain for drinking water. Fortunately, the drinking water is still clean. Drink water upstream and wash clothes downstream.

On weekdays, drinking water is picked by the water. There are two tanks at home (1) to pick water once a day or two for cooking, and one tank is not enough for bathing.

"How do you sell this big tank?"

Water tanks are the worst things to buy. Almost a family can use them for a lifetime after buying them. If they are broken, they can be repaired. So at most they can be sold when they are newly married, but they are very rare. .

"This jar has been in storage for two years. If you want it, you can take it for a penny."

Li Ji reached out to move it, but he didn't move it. The big vat was at least one or two hundred catties, and Li Ji's small arms and legs that hadn't grown up really couldn't move.

bottom

Er Gouzi went over to try it, holding the side of the vat with one hand and supporting the ground with the other, he lifted the vat in a daze.

Standing aside, Li Ji swallowed his saliva, this meal is really not for nothing.The clerk at the grocery store stepped down a little, and provoked Thumbs up: "This man is really a strong man!"

Putting down the tank, I picked some more useful ones, and paid for the clerk to put them back together and take them to the rice store so that they could be shipped home together.

The two of them scanned around and left more than one or two taels of silver to go home to buy livestock and buy some odds and ends.

It was the first time for Li Ji to spend more than [-] Wen since he was a child. Although this is not a big deal, for a poor person like Li Ji, it is not too much to say that it is only once in a lifetime.

After buying enough, the shopkeeper of the rice grain store will be a little embarrassed. There are too many reasons for this.I thought two donkey carts would be enough, but now I need to add one more.

Li Ji threw ten copper coins to the shopkeeper of the rice grain shop: "Please trouble the guys, I will take it as a little favor from me to buy some wine for the family to eat."

Seeing that the shopkeeper of the Tongban rice and grain store finally felt better, the three donkey carts could be loaded, so he deliberately poured out a place on the donkey cart and put a cushion for the two of them to sit on. Walk.

After all, the donkey cart could move faster than a person on two legs. It took half an hour to see the village. Finally, it arrived and went straight into the village. The three drivers helped unload everything from the cart.There is a warehouse at home, but it is not big. The corners are cleaned up, and the rice bags are filled one by one. There are three bags of rice that have no place to put them. Finally, two bags are placed in the back room and one bag is placed in the kitchen.

The big water tank was wider than the door frame, so it couldn't be taken into the house at all, so it was put next to the door.The two eiderdown quilts were folded and placed in the closet, and the rest of the things were placed inside and out, and the small courtyard finally looked like a home.

After the driver left, everything was packed, and Li Ji moved a small bench and sat in the yard, copying his hands and having fun.

Er Gouzi squatted beside Li Ji, looking at Li Jile, Li Ji looked down at Er Gouzi, patted Er Gouzi's hair, "Come on, let's cook, mix the noodles at noon, and eat steamed white flour steamed buns tomorrow. "

No one understands the poor's obsession with white flour steamed buns, and no one knows how luxurious white flour steamed buns are for the poor.

Add charcoal to the stove that is about to go out, heat a large pot, put water and rice, and use the stove's frying spoon to make a pickled vegetable stew.Add a few bowls of noodles to the big basin and mix it with water.

Li Ji's mother died when he was very young, and his father's health has always been poor, so Li Ji learned how to cook and steam steamed buns at a very young age, otherwise he would not be able to support himself all these years after his father's death.

Er Gouzi was watching seriously, watching those noodles form a ball without taking his eyes off him. Thinking about the steamed buns with mixed noodles that he ate the day he first came, Er Gouzi was a little greedy.

After the dough is reconciled, put it in the corner of the kang, and use the temperature of the kang to spread it. If it rises well, you can steam the steamed buns at noon tomorrow.

The two of them had lunch, and in the afternoon, some villagers came to inquire about what was going on, and the three road cars were pulling so many things.

Of course, Li Ji didn't hide it. He told the truth, and the big guy couldn't help but take another look at Er Gouzi.Everyone thought Er Gouzi would be a difficult burden to take care of when he went to anyone's house, so how can he be so capable.

In the afternoon, Li Ji took Er Gouzi to circle the fast place in the yard, and asked the villagers who knew carpentry to build a chicken frame and a few chicken coops for laying eggs.When it is done, I will buy some chickens from the villagers and raise chickens.

Being able to eat meat is one thing, laying more eggs to supplement the family, as long as it is enough to spend, there is no need for two dogs to go hunting in the mountains.

The weather is getting colder and colder, and the old quilt at home can be covered on the chicken rack, so that the chickens will not be afraid of freezing to death, and they can still lay eggs.

During dinner, watching Er Gouzi eat [-] dinners in one go, Li Ji watched him keep reducing his rice bowl and then adding more rice. At first, it hurt to see him eat like this, but it was really enjoyable to watch him get used to it.

"Did you eat so much on the mountain?" Li Ji asked.

Er Gouzi thought about it and shook his head: "Eat more, not less, and you can go without eating for several days after a full meal."

Li Ji was taken aback. He guessed that Er Gouzi could not eat enough every day on the mountain. He just listened to Er Gouzi. He ate so much at once not because his stomach could digest so much, but because he was used to being hungry. After a full meal, as long as there is food, I will force myself to eat it all, so that I will be hungry for a few days later.

So, it's not that Er Gouzi can eat a lot, but that he is trying to eat everything Li Ji cooks.Looking at the rice bowl that had bottomed out, Li Ji felt very sad.

When I was a child, I heard from his father that the wolves in the mountains are very good at eating, but they can live well without eating for more than ten days after eating a full meal.In fact, it is not a special ability, but it is forced out because of not being able to eat enough every day.

Li Ji reached out and rubbed Er Gouzi's head: "We will be full every day in the future, so you don't have to force yourself to eat too much, and you will never be hungry. I will cook less in the future. Let's take it easy every day. Eating less and always forcing yourself to eat so much is not good for your health."

Er Gouzi nodded half-understood, and lowered his head to finish the last two mouthfuls of food.