The more difficult the times, the more miserable the most vulnerable elderly and children will be.
Although Liu Qiaoer didn't like children very much, she was still very sympathetic towards a hundred-day-old baby.
Early the next morning.
Liu Qiaoer began to arrange their work. Those who needed to fetch water fetched water, and those who needed to chop wood chopped wood. One of the four men was left in the village to take care of everyone, and the other three, along with Xiaoshuang and an old hunter Pei Laoqi, planned to look for prey in the surrounding areas.
"Although it's snowing, there are still prey. We can set a trap." Although Pei Laoqi is old, he still has some experience.
Liu Qiaoer also has some experience.
This experience came from the fact that when she was in the border town in her previous life, Liu Qiaoer also liked to go into the mountains to hunt.
The winter in the border town is long, but having experience is one thing and searching with a space map is another.
Liu Qiaoer doesn't need to know how to hunt, she just needs to use a map. The red dots on the map are where animals are hiding.
The first thing to catch is the rabbit. Rabbits do not hibernate in winter. Although they hide some food, they will often go out to find food. Moreover, it is easy to catch several rabbits in a rabbit nest in winter.
According to the markings on the map, Liu Qiaoer found a nest of rabbits.
Liu Qiaoer dug through the thick snow and quickly found the entrance to the rabbit's nest. It was well covered with weeds and could not be found without careful observation.
"Xiao Cui, you stand there and watch, I'll add some firewood over here."
The entrance of the cave was blocked with firewood, and the insects were smoked out by burning them.
Xiao Cui was quick-eyed and quick-handed. She grabbed one rabbit in each hand and put it in the basket behind her. She caught six rabbits in a row, two big ones and four small ones.
They were so happy: "The big ones can be eaten, and their skins can be peeled off to make clothes, but forget about the small ones, as they still have to be raised."
Liu Qiaoer nodded: "If we release them, they will starve to death. Let's keep them and eat them when they grow up."
In this way, Liu Qiaoer had a considerable harvest in the morning, a total of six big rabbits, seven small ones, two pheasants, and seven or eight eggs.
Over there, Pei Laoqi also had people set up traps. As an experienced hunter, he also caught two pheasants.
"This is deep in the mountains, and no one usually comes here. These chickens are so stupid that they don't run away when they see people."
Everyone went back with a lot of harvest. On the way back, Liu Qiaoer discovered wild wheat.
He waved his hand and asked Pei Laoqi to come over and take a look: "Uncle Qi, look, is this millet? It can be eaten, right?"
Pei Laoqi took a closer look. Although a lot of it was covered by the thick snow, there was still a lot left. He nodded and said, "It's wild and edible, but this kind of wheat is very dark when ground."
At this time, he didn't care so much and waved his hand: "Remember this position. After dinner, we will harvest the wheat back."
Hearing that there was wild wheat, everyone came to see it curiously. Although the grains were not as full as those grown by themselves, each grain had seeds and the area was not small. If we cut the wheat, hulled it and ground it into flour, it would be able to sustain for a while.
"Uncle Qi, Miss Liu, what we made is enough to last until the New Year."
"Yes, as long as we can survive this winter, we will be alive in the spring."
It is cold in winter, so more food is needed, and the land is frozen, which is not conducive to labor.
After returning, the villagers who stayed behind were very happy to see that they had found so much food. At that time, it was already very good to have something to eat.
The people who stayed behind also cooked some sweet potatoes. They were poor people, so they naturally knew how to eat to fill their stomachs and save food. They cut the sweet potatoes into pieces and boiled them, then ground them into flour and made porridge. One bowl of it with the soup was enough for everyone.
Liu Qiaoer threw a rabbit to them and said, "It's cold, eat some meat, otherwise you won't have the energy to work."
The clever woman skillfully skinned the rabbit, cut it open, and cut it into pieces. She was reluctant to throw away even the rabbit's internal organs, so she washed them all and cooked everything except the intestines.
The only regret is that there is no salt. The cooked meat is not tasty and a bit fishy, without any meaty aroma at all.
Liu Qiaoer found that she really couldn't enjoy such a "delicious" thing. She saw other people drinking the soup and thought it tasted good, but she couldn't swallow it.
No salt, no cooking wine, very fishy.
"Let me tell you what to do next. Uncle Pei will take seven or eight people to harvest the wheat this afternoon. Uncle Pei, the five of you will go dig ditches along the stream and divert the water to the flat land. Next spring, we will plant as much wasteland as we can."
"The rest can be used to chop firewood. Don't go far, stay nearby and chop more firewood. At least we won't be too cold in winter. Other ladies, come with me down the mountain to see if there are any blankets or other things in the village. If there are, bring them up. If not, I will go to the city and find a way to get two beds. The adults can live without blankets, but the children can live without clothes."
Everyone agreed, and eight of the thirty-four people followed Uncle Pei. All the strong men and women went.
Liu Qiaoer discovered that although they were all people fleeing famine, they all carried farm tools with them in addition to limited food.
Liu Qiaoer no longer has to worry about farm tools.
Five men followed Grandpa Pei to dig the ditch, and seven or eight women went to collect firewood nearby.
There were a few children, a few old people, and two people left in the yard chopping wood and fetching water.
Liu Qiaoer took Xiaoshuang and two sisters-in-law down the mountain carrying bamboo baskets.
Zhang Lingzhi asked Aunt Pei to help look after the child, while he also carried a bamboo basket and went around collecting herbs, trying to find herbs for stopping bleeding and treating colds. He would then process the herbs before using them as medicine.
For the young doctor Zhang Lingzhi, it was the first time for him to experience the entire process of digging up a medicinal herb growing in a mountain stream and using it as medicine. It was very tedious, and the medicinal effects of the roots, stems and leaves were not the same, so it required careful work and was very troublesome.
He was an imperial physician who could prescribe medicine directly from the Imperial Hospital. He only knew the medicines from the Imperial Medical Clinic in the palace, so he would quickly get whatever was needed, but he never knew where to get them from.
Now, his knowledge system has finally been combined, which is also a test for him.
Everyone had a clear division of labor. Liu Qiaoer led people down the mountain. It took a long time to search from the Taoist temple to the village, but it took very little time to go down the mountain because as long as she had a map, Liu Qiaoer could find the shortest way.
But this road is not easy to walk on, because in some places it is a narrow path and if you are not careful, there will be a cliff behind you.
Fortunately, they are all young and have been working all year round. As long as Liu Qiaoer can get through, they can get through too.
Even so, it took an hour and a half to get down the mountain.
Seeing the dilapidated village where they used to live, some women cried.
"If it weren't for the war, we would have survived even the famine. But this war has wiped out our home."
If it was a year of famine, the imperial court would issue relief grain, and the common people could still hold on until the next spring, when they could plant crops again and dig some wild vegetables to survive.
But it was not a good thing during the war. The government needed men for the war and conscripted the hardest working men in their families to serve in the army. When the men were gone, the pillars of the family were gone, and the family was half ruined.
If there is another famine and there is no food at home, a woman with elderly parents and young children to support will not be able to support herself and her other half will be affected.