Carrying two buckets of lively fish, Mingnan and Mingbei held their heads high and walked in front with high spirits like fighting heroes. Old Mrs. Li followed behind holding Zhenzhen's little hand.
Seeing the two grandsons in front of her showing off, Grandma Li suppressed the urge to go up and give each of them a pipe: What are you showing off for, you little brats? If it weren't for our treasure, do you think you could catch any fish? Humph!
Old Lady Li couldn't say this out loud, and could only roll her eyes at her grandson from time to time. Zhenzhen looked up at Old Lady Li, fearing that she would not be able to hold back and her eyes would pop out.
After walking half a mile, Mrs. Li squatted down and touched Zhenzhen's little face: "Are you tired, baby? Let me hold you?"
Zhenzhen has never known what tiredness is since she was born. Although her arms and legs are small, she thinks she can walk twenty miles without any problem. She shook her head and smiled sweetly at Old Lady Li: "Baby, I'm not tired."
Old Lady Li looked at Zhenzhen's little face, feeling so sweet in her heart. Her tone was so gentle that Mingbei would get goose bumps if he heard it: "Okay, baby, tell me if you are tired, and I will carry you on my back."
Zhenzhen nodded. Seeing that no one was around, Mrs. Li recalled the wild goat that committed suicide on the gate of her house before the Chinese New Year. She couldn't help but ask Zhenzhen, "Was the goat that we ate before the Chinese New Year the one that Bao called?"
Zhen Zhen nodded, savoring the taste: "It smells so good!"
Although she had guessed the truth, she was still a little shocked when Zhenzhen confirmed it. When she got home, she pulled Wang Sufen to a corner where no one was around and whispered to her, "Not only can our baby take care of the crops, but the animals also listen to her. She must have been very powerful when she was a fairy."
Wang Sufen nodded seriously, and then reminded Mrs. Li: "Now people are not allowed to talk about gods and immortals. They say it is feudal superstition. Don't let others hear it."
"I know." Old Lady Li said with disdain: "Let me tell you, there are some old sayings that you have to believe, and you never know which ones are true. But you can't be too ridiculous. What you said about ancient times or ancient times sounds a bit nonsense to me."
Wang Sufen grinned: "It was just a dream, no one took it seriously, I won't talk about it anymore."
Old Lady Li took out her pipe from her waist, lit it with a match and took two puffs, thinking: "I think our baby is quite greedy, thinking about food all day long. We can't let her bring sheep and rabbits down from the mountain all day long. We should raise something this year."
"Okay." Wang Sufen nodded. "Zhenzhen will be less of a worry when she grows up. I'll have more time. We also have plenty of food. The bean cakes left over from oil pressing can also be used as feed. If not, we can catch some chickens and raise a pig."
Old Mrs. Li took a puff of her pipe and said, "Raising pigs smells too bad, we can't keep them in our yard. Our baby likes cleanliness, and she will definitely not be happy with a whole pig. Anyway, there is a large open space behind our yard. I'll ask Dongzi's father to go to the street and tell them to fence it off and build a pigpen and a stove. I see that Mingnan and Mingbei are not focused on their studies all day long. They show off everywhere after school. I'll let them pick wild vegetables to cook pig food."
After Mingbei gave the fish to Guihua, he was looking for his mother everywhere to show off his great achievements. After searching for a long time, he finally saw two people who looked like underground party members meeting in the corner of the yard. Before he could say "Mom", he heard his grandmother assigning him a difficult task, and he almost fell to his knees.
"Grandma, you are so unreasonable. How could I be so proud? Look at the fish I caught. You can't buy such a big one even if you go to the grocery store and get a ticket." Mingbei wanted to cry but had no tears. He felt that his grandma was the most unreasonable person in his family.
Old Lady Li glanced at her grandson and said slowly, "It's okay if you don't feed him. Anyway, you won't get any of the pork belly stewed with sauerkraut, Sichuan white meat, braised pork, or blood sausage stewed with tofu in winter."
Wang Sufen looked at her son's troubled expression and joined in the conversation, "The pigs we raise at home must weigh at least 200 to 300 kilograms. To be honest, they smell much better than wild boars. Wild boars are too lean, but domestic pigs are different. They are full of fat. Wow, they are really delicious when stewed with braised pork."
"That's right." Old Lady Li lifted the sole of her shoe and tapped her pipe. "Forget it. If the boy doesn't want to raise him, then forget it. I don't want to waste my bean cakes."
Mingbei got anxious when he heard this: "Don't worry, how can I not raise it? Well, I can do it!" Looking back and not seeing Mingnan, Mingbei immediately added: "And my third brother, he is much more capable than me."
Mrs. Li was happy: "Okay, it's settled."
Old Lady Li was a quick person and she sent Li Muwu to the street office to tell him. There were no rural areas in Beicha. Except for a small town in the middle, the rest were forest management offices. Food and clothing were allocated by the state, and every household lived on grain supplies.
For three consecutive years, grain has been delayed in supply. More and more people have been reclaiming wasteland for farming, and many are raising chickens and pigs. All they have to do is tell the street vendor or business operator, and there is no need to hand in the pigs at the end of the year. They eat what they raise themselves, saving them the trouble of going to grain stores and grocery stores to ask for grain and pork. It also reduces the burden on the country.
As soon as Li Muwu said this, the street agreed to let him build a pigpen behind his yard. Li Muwu first went to the forest management office and dragged back some wood. He built a fence around his yard and opened a small door in his original backyard so that he could go directly through the yard without going out the main door.
Now that she has a place to live, she can buy piglets. Old Mrs. Li thinks that her yard is big enough, there are plenty of wild vegetables on the mountain, and there is a lot of food stored at home. She might as well buy some more chickens. Since they are all being raised anyway, she might as well raise more so that she can have meat to eat all year round.
Old Lady Li had the final say in the family, and no one else objected. She took the money and caught ten chickens, and then she took a lot of effort to exchange the money and food for a piglet.
It would take a few days to build a pig pen, after all, she had to drag wood and build a stove, so Old Lady Li kept the pigs in the yard first. Zhenzhen heard the chirping sounds in the yard, climbed down from the kang nimbly, and ran out to watch the fun.
Wow, ten chickens as big as an adult's fist were running around the yard, and the piglets were blocked by a small fence and squatted in the corner. Zhenzhen didn't expect that there would be so many poultry and livestock in her home. She was so happy that she looked at this and that, stroked her chin and thought for a while, then looked up and asked her grandmother: "Have you named them?"
Old Lady Li smiled immediately and patted Zhenzhen's little head: "They are all raised to eat meat, so what name do you want to give them? If you want, go ahead."
Zhenzhen walked up to the milky white piglet with her short legs, looked it up and down, and smiled with her eyes curved: "Call it Braised Pork!" The piglet's legs went weak and it knelt down immediately.
Zhenzhen walked around the yard. Not only did the pigs have names, but all the ten poultry in the house had their own names, such as: stewed chicken, stewed chicken soup, stewed chicken with mushrooms, stewed chicken with potatoes, stewed chicken with carrots... I don't know how she came up with so many food ideas. Mingnan and Mingbei followed behind, drooling all over the floor. They didn't even have the heart to do their homework, and pushed each other out the door. Old Mrs. Li turned around and shouted, "Where are you going?"
"Drag the wood back to build the pigsty!"
"Build a chicken coop!"
Mrs. Li was immediately happy: "What a good name! They are so greedy that they want to work." But as soon as she turned around, she saw that the chicks were all scared. They were so lively that they now drooped their heads. Mrs. Li was at a loss: "Could the chicks we bought not be firm?"
"No." Zhenzhen raised her head and said in a baby voice, "It's very solid."
Looking at the group of listless poultry with half belief and half doubt, Old Mrs. Li thought it would be better to trust her granddaughter for once. With her granddaughter's methods, she probably could make these chickens fly away without any problem.
The newborn chicks were pampered, so Wang Sufen took some crushed millet and soaked it in water for a while. When the rice became soft, she drained the water and put it in a leaky broken basin.
She put the chicken feed among the poultry, but the chicks were shivering and no one dared to move. Wang Sufen was confused when Zhenzhen clapped her hands and said, "Eat quickly."
Immediately, the fluffy chicks quickly pounced over, not looking sick and dying at all, and they ate happily. Seeing the chickens eating and running, Mrs. Li felt relieved. What her granddaughter said was right, they were indeed strong.
The family already had a large chicken coop, which was enough to accommodate all these chicks, but they were too small now, so Mrs. Li didn't put them in the coop at night. Instead, she found two wicker baskets and put them in the kitchen at night. The chicken coop was settled, but the piglet was still kept in the yard.
Greediness can make people diligent. This saying is true for Mingnan and Mingbei. They worked hard to build the pigsty for Li Muwu. They dragged wood and mixed mud. They patched up the big pot that had a loose bottom and built a stove. They finished the work in two or three days. The braised pork that had been trembling with fear under Zhenzhen's eyes all day finally had its own home.
Since raising these poultry and livestock, others can't see anything, but Zhenzhen is very busy. In the morning, she doesn't have time to rinse her mouth and wash her face. She has to go out to call the roll first, open the chicken coop, call a name, and a chicken will run out. After a while, they all come out and stand in a mess in several rows in the yard. Zhenzhen is satisfied and starts to lecture: "Eat well and grow more meat!"
The chicks began to chirp. Zhenzhen tried hard to distinguish their consciousness in her mind. Apart from the instinctive urge to eat, she thought that they had basically no other thoughts.
Zhenzhen only recently discovered that she can understand the sounds made by all animals. Some of them are simple expressions of consciousness, while some slightly smarter ones can even communicate with her.
Among the poultry and livestock sent back today, only the one called Chicken Stewed with Radish seemed to have received the naming intention of Zhenzhen. The walnut-sized chicken could actually see its future stewed appearance in its head, and it was so scared that it became timid and kept chirping in protest.
Zhenzhen was upset as she listened to the chirping sounds in her head. Why was it so difficult to raise chickens and communicate with them? If she wasn't afraid of her family's suspicion, she could make them grow three or four pounds in a minute. Now, she had to comfort them psychologically.
Zhenzhen firmly believes that there is nothing wrong with the names she gave them. It’s just for eating, so it’s better to let them accept the truth as soon as possible.
Mingbei woke up and opened the north window. He stuck his head out and looked at his sister standing in the yard. Standing among a bunch of chickens, she said like a little adult, "Stop making noise. You'll get eaten later if you make noise. You might as well eat more food..."
Mingbei covered his mouth and dared not make a sound. He laughed so hard that tears almost came out. He kicked Mingnan who was still sleeping, waved at him, and said in a low voice: "Hurry up and get up to see our silly sister."
Mingnan crawled out of the bed with a messy head and stretched his head to look out. Zhenzhen continued with her hands behind her back, "What nice names I gave you. Braised pork doesn't have so many problems..."
"Come on, the braised pork scared me so much that my legs were weak for two days. I haven't stood up in this yard." The only one who could communicate, the stewed radish and chicken, said bravely.
"It's not that it's cowardly, it's just that it's suppressed by my aura." Zhenzhen raised her head proudly, trying to prove that she didn't scare the piglet. I just had a strong desire to eat pork and accidentally conveyed some images to it.
"So it's still a coward!"
Zhen Zhen waved her hands, not wanting to pay attention to them anymore. She turned around and walked towards the backyard: "I want to go check out the braised pork."
Walking to the bottom of the window, Mingbei looked at his sister who was not even as high as the window sill, stretched out his hand and flicked her head: "Silly sister, where are you going?"
Zhenzhen covered her head and looked up at Mingbei, then suddenly howled at the top of her lungs: "Grandma, my brother hit me!"
When Mrs. Li heard the noise, she rushed in with her pipe in hand. Mingbei was so frightened that he jumped down from the window sill barefoot and ran out. Mingnan was so happy that he stuck his head out and shouted, "Don't go out the door. There's a hole in the back of your long johns. Your butt is exposed!"
Mingbei could feel the cool breeze blowing from behind his butt without even touching it. He looked down at his bare feet and immediately became timid. While his grandmother hadn't come out of the house yet, he ran to the window and jumped in. Mingnan held him down and shouted at the top of his voice, "Grandma! Grandma! Come here! I caught you!"
As soon as Old Lady Li went out, she quickly turned back, picked up her pipe and hit Mingbei's butt twice. Hearing the squeaking sound from inside, Zhenzhen was so happy that she couldn't straighten her back.
Raising a few poultry, the family suddenly became more lively. Guihua was pregnant, and Mrs. Li didn't ask her to do the heavy housework. The pig raising was basically done by Mingnan and Mingbei. They got up early in the morning to cook pig food, fed the pigs and cleaned the pigsty, then hurried back to the front room to wash, changed into clean clothes, made two big pancakes and went to school.
The chickens in the front yard were Zhenzhen's responsibility. She urged Wang Sufen to prepare chicken feed three times a day. She would hold the bowl and walk up and down to pour the feed into the chicken bowl, then say seriously, "It's time to eat." Then the job was done.
Old Li's family has a lot of chickens now. They still have three laying hens from last year, and now there are ten chicks. Li Muwu is afraid that a weasel will come and take them away, so he wants to raise a dog in the yard.
Nowadays, many families in Beicha keep dogs. They can guard the house and yard in normal times, and they are also good helpers when going hunting in the mountains in winter. Old Li's family used to have a dog, but it died of old age after 15 years. When they wanted to keep another one, the harvest was bad. But now that life is better and there are many chickens at home, Li Muwu got interested again, and brought home a pure black Northeast Wolf Dog a few days later.
This kind of Northeast wolfdog is raised by many people in Beicha. They are very loyal to their owners. The only problem is that they are timid when they are young. If they are frightened, their IQ will be affected and they will be very stupid when they grow up. If they are raised well when they are puppies, they will be a good helper for guarding the house and hunting when they grow up. Three or four dogs can beat a pack of five or six wolves.
After Li Muwu got home, he put the little wolf dog on the ground. He was worried that Zhenzhen would be scared, so he wanted to block Zhenzhen for a while until she got familiar with it. But Zhenzhen liked the little dog as soon as she saw it. She bypassed the burly Li Muwu in front of her, ran to the front of the little black dog, and stretched out her little hand to touch its fur.
The little black dog turned its head and sniffed Zhenzhen's small hand, then immediately relaxed its guard and lay down in an instant, as if letting the man do whatever he wanted.
Old Lady Li came out and saw Zhenzhen being very close to the dog she had just brought back. She smiled and touched her pipe and said, "Our Zhenzhen has a good name. You can give it a name."
Zhenzhen thought for a moment and smiled at Old Lady Li: "Li Mingzhong."
As soon as Li Mingnan and Li Mingbei got out of school, they saw the little wolfdog in the yard of their home. Just as they rushed over, they heard their sister give the dog a crazy name.
"What's Li Mingzhong?" Mingbei was unhappy: "Why does it sound like he's my brother?"
Zhen Zhen nodded at him: "East, West, South, North, and Center!"
"Grandma! Don't play mahjong during the New Year. Look, my sister taught you that!"
The author has something to say: Is it too early to update today?~~~~Some fairies asked if Kaka has a holiday. I have to tell you with tears in my eyes that he hasn’t had a holiday yet, and he is very miserable because of various things~~