Uncle Pei also came. Actually, he also knew how to build a house, but he was old. Plus, there were only four male laborers left, so the construction speed was slow, so he asked them to use adobe bricks to build the house.
Seeing Cui Boxiao's site selection, he praised it again and again: "This is a good one. Building a house by taking advantage of the mountain is the most solid. Even if it rains, there is no need to worry about rocks rolling down from the top of the mountain."
Those digging holes on the mountain, those halfway up the mountain, dig into the rocks on the mountain.
But since the stones cannot be dug, it is better to build it on the hillside.
Cui Boyao led them to cut down trees and build houses. Liu Qiaoer saw that they had helpers and they were almost finished eating, so she took a few women to look for something to eat nearby.
Some people continued to dig canals.
Their primary tasks here are to build houses, find food, and dig canals in preparation for spring irrigation.
There was no sun or moon in the mountains. On this day, Liu Qiaoer led them to find many wild chestnuts.
Although chestnuts are difficult to peel, they can be eaten as flour after being cooked. Liu Qiaoer picked up a lot of chestnuts and took them back to the Taoist temple.
Aunt Pei looked at it for a long time and didn't know what to do: "What is this, it's made of burrs, can it be eaten?"
Liu Qiaoer used a hammer to smash open the shell, revealing the brown fruit. She then cut a cross on it with a dagger and put it in boiling water.
Once all the chestnuts are cooked, the shells can be easily peeled off.
Chestnuts can be eaten raw or dried and ground into flour.
Although the process was complicated, Aunt Pei took a look and thought that this thing was really edible, so she led people to pick it the next day. After returning, she gave it to the older people to peel, cook and grind it into flour.
You can also save some food.
Liu Qiaoer climbed up the tree that day and was picking chestnuts for them. Suddenly, from a distance, she saw a ball of snow that seemed to be moving on the mountain behind the valley.
What was that? A rabbit? No way. Rabbits were small. She couldn't see them at all from such a distance.
Liu Qiaoer squinted her eyes and looked carefully for a while, then shouted in surprise: "There are sheep there? Wild goats... There are quite a few of them..."
If you want to catch a female goat, you can get up. There is a group of them over there, probably seven or eight, of course there are both males and females.
Hearing Liu Qiaoer's shout, the other people who were picking chestnuts straightened up and wanted to see the scenery on the other side of the mountain, but they could not see any.
Liu Qiaoer quickly climbed down from the tree and called everyone: "You guys pick them up first, I'll go find someone. Those sheep are so good, let's try to drive them back."
The first person Liu Qiaoer looked for was Cui Boxiao, who was leading a group of people to build houses and cut wood.
"Cui Boxiao, come quickly..."
There was a group of people chopping wood, including him, two men, and a group of women.
"What is it?"
Cui Boxiao put down the axe, wiped the sweat off his forehead, and ran a few steps: "I found that women are also good at doing work and are very meticulous."
Liu Qiaoer shouted to him, "Find five people. There is a flock of sheep over the mountain. Let's drive them over here."
When Cui Boxiao heard about wild goats, he rubbed his hands excitedly and said, "Great, let's go catch them all."
If you want to drive all the sheep back, you need tactics. Liu Qiaoer knows that she may not be good at this tactic, but Cui Boyiao can.
After finding four or five people, they started running towards the opposite hillside while Cui Boyiao began to make plans.
"I'll be in the front and subdue the leader first. Then, you two will drive them from both sides and bring them together. Finally, Qiao'er and Uncle Qi, you must ensure that you catch the old and young goats that have fallen behind."
"Keep the young goats and eat the old ones."
With this distribution, everyone ran faster, fearing that the wild goats would run away.
To be honest, it looks close, but when you actually walk there, it's very far.
When Liu Qiaoer, Cui Boxiao and their men walked around the mountain road and arrived near a group of sheep, two hours, or four hours, had passed.
Fortunately, they all have good physical fitness, otherwise, it would be really tiring to walk this distance.
After climbing the mountain road for four hours, an ordinary person's legs would become weak.
When they got around the goats, Cui Boxiao said, "Be quiet, don't disturb them."
This group of wild goats were also looking for food everywhere. Under the thin snow on this hillside was a layer of tender grass. It was almost New Year, and some grass was beginning to sprout.
Liu Qiaoer suddenly had an idea and took out a cabbage from the space and handed it to Cui Boyiao.
Cui Boxiao's eyes lit up: "This is good, it can attract them all."
So, Cui Boyao tore the cabbage leaves and placed them on the snow one by one. Sure enough, some sheep saw them and began to follow the smell.
"See? That's the leader, with horns on its head. Wait, I'll lead it over here."
With the help of the cabbage, the leader sheep approached Cui Boxiao while eating the cabbage leaves. When the other sheep saw the leader sheep leaving, they followed.
Liu Qiaoer and Uncle Pei were chasing the lagging sheep from behind. The wild goats were timid and would run away when they were scared by them, looking for their companions.
In this way, the flock of sheep was really driven closer and closer to the Taoist temple.
After feeding the sheep with cabbage, Cui Boxiao easily put a rope around the neck of the leading sheep and tied it up. The last cabbage leaf in his hand attracted it and made it walk in the direction Cui Boxiao instructed.
Things were going well ahead, and they were about to lead a flock of sheep into the Taoist temple. The children in the temple were clapping their hands and looking on, as if they were enjoying the fun.
Cui Boxiao waved at Grandpa Cui's grandson, Cui Yong, and said, "Here, this cabbage is for you. Take the sheep back, raise a few, and slaughter the old ones."
Cui Yong took the cabbage and looked at it. Maybe the cabbage was too good, he stuffed it into his mouth. The leader was stunned and shouted to grab it.
Cui Boxiao and others were also confused. What's wrong with this kid
When the leading sheep saw that the cabbage had been eaten by the child, it raised its horns to fight with the child. Cui Boyiao grabbed the rope and handed the sheep to one of the women.
The woman led the sheep back to the Taoist temple with a smile.
Several sheep followed suit and it was already dark. They kept going back and forth until dark. Liu Qiaoer and her friends did nothing that afternoon. They drove seven wild goats and one goat kid.
After returning to the Taoist temple, everyone was exhausted.
Suddenly, Uncle Pei's granddaughter asked, "Where is my grandpa?"
Liu Qiaoer pointed behind her: "Behind."
Uncle Pei's granddaughter, Pei Qiqi, ran out to look, but couldn't find anyone after looking around.
"Sister, you lost my grandpa..."
Seeing no one around, Liu Qiaoer was also surprised: "This shouldn't be the case. We have been following the flock of sheep..."
Liu Qiaoer was about to go and see, but Cui Boxiao patted her shoulder and said, "Take a rest, I'll go and see..."
Cui Boyao lit a torch and ran out again.
The others drove the sheep to the woodshed. Someone saw that the door of the woodshed was broken and two or three children were guarding the door to prevent the sheep from running out. He quickly repaired the door.
But it was still not enough, so Xiaoshuang, Aunt Five, Yan and others worked together to build a fence and reinforce the wall of the woodshed.
Now the sheep can no longer escape.