Luo was sewing animal skins in the cave when he saw his son who came back in a hurry.
She was wondering why she came back so early today, but in the past she would stay at Meng Sheng's place until it was dark before coming back. When someone approached, she saw Qiu Juan's expression was not very good.
"What's the matter? Furious?" She put down the work in her hand: "Is there something wrong with the collection?"
"No." Qiu Juan dropped the pan on the ground, picked up the gourd on the slate and drank a big mouthful of water.
Luo leaned forward and asked tentatively, "Is that because Meng Sheng bullied you?"
In fact, based on her understanding of Meng Sheng over the past few days, she felt that males treated Qiu Juan well beyond her ideal range, so she naturally didn't think Meng Sheng would bully Qiu Juan.
But when her son angrily admitted that it was him, she was still a little suspicious: "Tell mother, what's wrong?"
"His arm is obviously healed, yet he still lied to me!" Qiu Juan didn't feel like having a fit outside, and when he returned to the cave, his small face was full of anger: "It made me get up early and late in the morning to take care of him, and pretended It’s as if my hand is crippled, and I can’t eat the food until it’s brought to my mouth!”
Luo looked at the male who was nagging and complaining, and couldn't help covering his mouth and laughing.
"Mother! You're still laughing!"
"Okay, okay, I don't laugh, but it's only been ten days, so it may not be too fast. All in all, it's not a bad thing that his arm is healed. Is it possible that you are still looking forward to his arm?" that's not good?"
Qiu Juan frowned, and his tone became weaker: "Of course it's a good thing that he's cured, but he shouldn't lie to me, and make me look like a fool."
Luo couldn't help not laughing, she thought it was some little thing that annoyed her son so much, in her eyes, this little friction was nothing more than the mediator of the relationship between the partners, she comforted and enlightened Qiu Juan: "The days will be so long in the future Well, you are tolerant of small things, he is injured and has nothing to do in the cave every day, just wants you to accompany him, it is not a bad thing."
Qiu Juan's ear tips were a little red, he put the gourd on the slate uncomfortably, and responded lightly.
As soon as the mother and son talked about the matter, a male cry sounded outside the cave.
Luo stretched his neck, looked at his indifferent son, and raised his chin: "Go."
"Don't go." Qiu Juan narrowed his eyes: "Mom, you go, you let him go back."
"Okay, it's time to lose your temper. After I saw you and Meng Sheng together, your temper became more and more weird. He got used to it."
"Mother, who are you targeting!"
Luo shook his head helplessly: "I'm too lazy to care about the small fights between you, if you don't want to talk to him today, go out and send him back."
After speaking, Luo entered his small cave.
Qiu Juan had no choice but to go out.
Standing outside the cave, Meng Sheng saw that Ya Nu had finally come out, and said pitifully, "Why didn't you wait for me, let me chase you all the way!"
Qiu Juan didn't say a word, he said again: "Don't be angry, how about I make you a stronger bow and give it to you? The jute in the cave has already dried."
"Then go back and do it."
"Aren't you going to come with me? At noon today, you said you would..."
He was interrupted by Qiu Juan before he finished speaking: "I didn't say anything, go back quickly, I'm going to rest."
Meng Sheng looked up at the bright sky, it is too early to rest now, he sighed: "Then don't be angry."
"Ok."
The man responded, and Meng Sheng didn't dare to make further progress. He was afraid he would annoy him again, so he would avoid him for ten or eight days: "Well, I'll go back and make you new bows and arrows."
Qiu Juan didn't see him off either, he glanced at his arm and hated that iron could not be made into steel: "As long as you fight hard, Qiu Juan will rub my back tonight!"
The gathering ended in two days. According to Zhong Yang, this year’s gathering was indeed shorter than usual, and it ended earlier. Although it was earlier, it still took time to deal with the aftermath and store the food in the collective cave.
His arm was almost healed, so he went to the food distribution field to instruct the natives how to handle the food.
After discussing with Zhong Yang, the aborigines in the tribe became an assembly line. The males shaved and skinned their prey, and then divided them into chunks. Together, the females are removing the yellow leaves of wild vegetables to dry, taking the berries with less moisture to dry, and putting all the berries with more water into the big pit dug in the cave.
Meng Sheng has seen it before. The pit is equivalent to a cellar. In the past, food storage was mainly stored in the cellar. Although it can extend the storage period to a certain extent, meat should not be stored for too long after all, but berries are fine.
He was not idle, and ran around among the indigenous people: "Smear the salt evenly on the meat, and put it on every corner."
After teaching the females how to pickle, he called Zhongyang, and the two went to the forest to chop a large handful of palm leaves and pine and cypress branches and leaves.
The last time he was with Qiu Juangang, he didn't come to participate in the smoking because he was tired. He just explained a few words to Zhong Yang, and the collection didn't help much this time, so he wanted to store it more carefully.
"Twist the two strands of the palm leaves and stems together. When the meat is smoked, poke a hole in the top and wear the palm. It will not break for a long time. It is very strong." He twisted the rope and pulled it a few times. Show it to the males.
The males learned to rub and tried it one after another: "Yes, Meng Sheng, it's really stronger than vines."
"There is something stronger than this. The hemp in the forest is soaked in the river, the skin is soaked and then dried, and the drawn threads are separated and then twisted into strands. It is much stronger than this, but it is a bit troublesome to make. Palm leaves Much quicker to get started."
He shared some very simple life experiences with the males, such as how to make bacon more fragrant, how to make rope, and how to make soup delicious. Everyone is very interested. After all, it is a wealth of common sense in life, and no one wants to know it.
Tang Dun huddled among the males, rubbing the palm leaves silently. After rubbing a few palm leaves, he was a little happy, and showed it to Tang Yu: "Brother, look, it's really strong."
Tang Yu patted his younger brother's hand away: "What's so good, these delicate jobs are only liked by females, what did you learn to do? This Meng Sheng is really, it's useless to tell everyone, but he actually said that the hunting ground If you use a dozen small particles of thorny tree knots that grow in the edge of the forest to cook meat, the soup will be very good, and the stuff is spicy and spicy, can it be delicious?"
"However, when Zhong Yang and Meng Sheng cooked meat with salt for the first time, you didn't like it, but now you want to eat it every meal."
The brother's honesty made Tang Yu a little ashamed for a while, he raised his voice to try to cover up his inner embarrassment: "You brat, did you mean to be against me, and now you actually talk about me to outsiders!"
Tang Dun shrank his shoulders, moved away silently, and muttered: "It was originally."
After Meng Sheng introduced it to everyone for a while, his mouth felt a little dry, so he didn't continue talking, and stepped aside with Zhong Yang.
"Hey, by the way, Tang Dun sent me a sheep earlier, after the storage is finished today, go to my cave to eat roast lamb."
Zhong Yang's eyes brightened: "Okay!"
It had been a long time since he had eaten something made by Meng Sheng, and he was very excited to be invited.
"Oh, I invited Tang Dun before, but I didn't say which day. I didn't see him just now. Go and tell him for me. I'll go find Qiu Juan."
Zhong Yang readily agreed: "Sure, then I'll go find him."
After the people left, Meng Sheng walked towards Ya'en who was knocking on the salt rock. He thought himself very honest these days, and his good performance should make Qiu Juan not reject him.
"Go to my cave to eat mutton tonight."
Qiu Juan knocked on the rock: "When did you hunt sheep?"
As he spoke, he suddenly remembered something: "The one you want to kill?"
"No, there is one in the cave. It was given by Tang Dun. You haven't been to my cave these days, so you haven't seen it."
Qiu Juan frowned. He knew that Meng Sheng had saved Tang Dun, so it was normal to send a prey as a thank you.
"I also invited Zhong Yang and Tang Dun. When you go back, call Aunt Luo over. I remember that Aunt Luo liked my roasted lamb very much."
Qiu Juan didn't refuse. After eating the roast mutton in Meng Sheng's cave, her mother often said that it was delicious.
"Okay, I'll go back with you to help later."
There was a smile on Meng Sheng's face, and he secretly pinched Yafei's waist: "Ah Juan, you are so virtuous."
"Don't make trouble!" Qiu Juan patted the male's hand away, and quickly hid aside.
Meng Sheng laughed twice, but did not catch up, and went to work on their own.
There are many people in the tribe, the young people are energetic, and their hands and feet are fast. Before the sun sets, they have smoked all the prey and put them in the cave. The chief announced that there will be a grand meeting in a few days. This year's gathering activities are considered perfect. The curtain has come to an end.
Meng Sheng and Qiu Juan left together at the end of the show, and Zhong Yang wanted to stay and clean up the mess, and it was agreed that he would go straight to dinner after it was settled.
The two returned to the cave, and first brought food and cooking utensils to the river to wash. Meng Sheng saw that the stone pot had been used a lot, and usually filled the stone pot with water for cleaning. This time, he simply carried the stone pot to the river. I went to wash it thoroughly.
Qiu Juan was in charge of cleaning the mutton.
"How much lamb should I prepare?"
"This head is very strong, and half of it should be enough."
Qiu Juan calculated, there were five people in the evening, eating half a head was neither too much nor too little. After washing the food, he only knew that the mutton he ate last time had been cut into small pieces, and he didn't know what to do with the rest. .
He wants to learn how to make it, so that he can make it for Luo to eat.
After Qiu Juan filled the stone pot with water, he taught Qiu Juan how to pickle it.
"After dividing the meat, mix it with salt and marinate it evenly, and marinate it for a while, otherwise it will not taste good."
Following Meng Sheng's example, Qiu Juan massaged the mutton with salt to get the smell of mutton.
In order to make seasoning powder conveniently, Meng Sheng built a small container with stones, put the dried fennel, peppercorns, and chili into it, and smashed it with the big goose warm stone by the river, which is very good, although it cannot be completely smashed , but it is already very detailed.
After the water was boiled and the mutton was processed, the two sat opposite each other at the entrance of the cave and pounded the seasoning. Meng Sheng held a bunch of peppers in his arms, and Qiu Juan threw two into it after a while. Seasoning, but Qiu Juan was quite interested.
"Don't touch your eyes after smashing the pepper, it will hurt."
"My hand didn't touch it again."
"You have to wash your hands before touching it."
Qiu Juan raised his hand and smelled it: "Is it very spicy? No!"
"If you don't believe me, try it." He suddenly wiped the corner of Xiongxiong's eyes.
Meng Sheng grabbed restless hands, his face darkened, Qiu Juan froze for a moment, thinking that the male was angry, but in a short while, the male suddenly lowered his head and pecked his finger, and said with a smile, "It really isn't spicy."
Qiu Juan hastily withdrew his hands and put them behind his back. The gentle touch on his fingers made his heart beat a few beats apart.
"Why are you acting like a child?" Meng Sheng couldn't help laughing louder again.
Qiu Juan became furious and threw the goose warm stone to the male: "You can eat it yourself, I'll go back and call mother."
Meng Sheng quickly grabbed Ya-feu's hand: "Don't be angry, hurry up and come back."
Qiu Juan let go of his hand, and walked towards his own cave alone.
The ingredients have been ground almost. In fact, he likes to focus on the taste when eating roast lamb, but the rest of the people are exposed to seasoning, so it should not be very tasty.
There are not many haggis for a sheep, and it needs to be accompanied by a lot of berries. After cooking all the food piecemeal, he made a wooden pot lid before, and the efficiency of the stone pot has improved a lot.
After putting everything into the pot, Zhong Yang had already arrived.
"Isn't it impossible to say, but it turned out that he ran faster than me." "You are sorry to blame me for walking slowly."
Two males came towards the cave noisily, and Meng Sheng greeted them.
Zhong Yang was very familiar with Meng Sheng's cave, and when he entered, he sat down and sniffed the smell of the pot. Tang Dun was invited to dinner for the first time, and he stood awkwardly at the entrance of the cave. He was originally an opponent at the beginning, but now he wanted to eat together.
Perhaps it was because after the brief contact with Meng Sheng before, he felt that this male was very cunning and interesting, or it might be that when Zhong Yang talked about the things Meng Sheng made today, his yearning look made him want to try Meng Sheng's too. craft.
"Sit by yourself, don't be shy."
Meng Sheng looked at the male at the entrance of the cave without moving, and greeted him.
Tang Dun didn't speak, but found a rock and sat down.
"Where's Qiu Juan?"
"Go back and call Aunt Luo."
Meng Sheng cleaned the large stone slab that was roasted by the fire, and the water poured on it with a sound, but it was quickly eaten dry by the fire.
"Have you started the barbecue yet?"
Zhong Yang went around and saw that there was no other food being cooked except for the sound of boiling in the pot and the fragrance wafting out.
"What, are you hungry?"
"I'm not hungry." Zhong Yang suddenly grabbed the silent Tang Dun, "I'm afraid he's hungry."
"Who, who is hungry!" Tang Dun's eyes widened, and he quickly pushed Zhongyang away.
Meng Sheng laughed: "It's becoming more and more shameless."
"Can I compare with you? I learned from you."
"Don't fucking talk nonsense, the chief won't talk to me then."
The two chattered one after the other, and from time to time they even got involved with Tang Dun who was at the side, and the originally boring atmosphere disappeared.
After a while Qiu Juan and Luo arrived at the cave, Meng Sheng made room for the two weaklings, and it was just right for them to sit around the stone slab.
"First roast the mutton, and when you get tired after eating, drink haggis soup to relieve the greasy."
When Zhong Yang heard that he was going to start doing it, he immediately agreed.
Meng Sheng put all the seasoned mutton where he could get it, and put three pieces of mutton on the stone slab, and the hot stone slab immediately sizzled the cold mutton.
During the barbecue time, Luo, as an elder, chatted with Tang Dun a few times, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.
After Meng Sheng roasted the meat for a while, he lightly kicked Zhong Yang beside him: "Sit on the side and replace Qiu Juan."
Zhong Yang was dissatisfied: "There is a need to be so sticky! You have to sit together when you have a meal."
"I taught him to roast meat. Don't you know what the hell you eat? You can eat three pieces of lamb in one sitting."
Several people burst into laughter, Zhong Yang looked naive, moved his buttocks away: "Let's do it, for the sake of eating."
Qiu Juan imitated Meng Sheng's example, he flipped the meat and then he turned it over, and sprinkled any seasonings on top of it, the fennel and prickly ash powder were thrown on the mutton, and when it was ignited by the fire, the aroma immediately rushed towards several people.
It was the first time Tang Dun smelled this wonderful and fragrant smell, and couldn't help taking a deep breath, looking at the small mutton slices with great anticipation.
"I like the meat a bit older or tender."
Zhong Yang was the first to howl: "Be tender, be tender!"
Meng Sheng gave the meat to Zhongyang first, and then gave another piece to Luo. Luo is getting old, and it is not good to eat too much: "Tang Dun, how about you?"
"I, I can do it."
Qiu Juan suggested: "Let's make it tender. I used to eat old ones, which didn't taste as good as tender ones."
Tang Dun nodded incomprehensibly, in short, he was eager to taste it soon, he couldn't help swallowing.
Meng Sheng gave the last piece to Tang Dun, and he and Qiu Juan ate the next round.
The fresh mutton had just been placed on the slate, and Tang Dun took two bites of the mutton with the sound of sizzling and exclaimed.
Everyone froze for a moment, Zhong Yang chewed the meat, and slapped Tang Dun, "What's your name, almost scared me off."
Tang Dun swallowed the meat in his mouth, and said embarrassingly, "It's so, so delicious!"
Meng Sheng laughed: "It's delicious, next time you will come and eat with Zhong Yang."
In front of the delicious food, Tang Dun didn't care about anything else, just nodded his head.
Halfway through the barbecue, the haggis soup in the pot was almost ready. Qiu Juan served a bowl for everyone. Everyone ate the haggis soup and the barbecue at the same time. Tang Dun tasted two delicacies in one night , It's enjoyable, the cramps at the beginning are gone, and I'm eating and drinking with Zhong Yang.
"I really can't get tired of this berry stewed meat, but the ones made by my sister and mother are not as good as Meng Sheng's." Zhong Yang boasted to Tang Dun with a gourd bowl.
Tang Dun ate berries and haggis, with a vague mouth: "I never knew that berries can be stewed, and I want to ask my mother to stew it when I go back."
"Who usually cooks in your cave?"
"It's just my mother, A Tong's craftsmanship, after eating the things she made, I can't eat anything else after a few days of storage."
Zhong Yang laughed loudly: "Isn't Kong Jia very unlucky!"
Tang Dun was stunned: "What's the matter with Guan Kongjia?"
Chang Zhongyang was stunned this time: "Don't you know that Tang Tong and Kong Jia... No, don't they get together?"
"I don't know, I haven't heard A Tong say it."
Meng Sheng picked up two pieces of mutton and stuffed them into their bowls: "Eat as you eat, why talk about those things."
"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhong Yang nodded quickly.
Luo also changed the subject: "I heard that the chief is going to hold a grand event. You young people, do you have someone you like?"
Meng Sheng hooked the shoulders of the person next to him generously, looked at the two males sitting side by side, his eyes were ambiguous: "Huh?"
Tang Dun was very honest: "I've just grown up, I didn't think about it, and my elder brother doesn't have a partner yet, so he can't have a partner first, right?"
After speaking, he looked at Zhong Yang.
"Everyone is watching me! I, I'm not in a hurry."
"I heard the chief and Aunt Shuang talking about it before. They should be in a hurry."
"Meng Sheng, you know how to talk nonsense!"
Luo shook his head helplessly: "Okay, okay, each of you knows that, we elders can't help you make decisions, and take good advantage of the opportunity of the grand event. This is not something that happens every year."
Several people nodded thoughtfully.
It was a bit late to eat a roast mutton meal, but the prepared mutton and the stewed mutton soup were all wiped out. Meng Sheng still underestimated the appetite of Zhong Yang and Tang Dun, and it seemed that they were actually a little bit unsatisfied.
"When it's winter, everyone is free and has nothing to do. Let's get together again at that time. I will prepare something else next time." Meng Sheng sent the two males to the door.
Zhong Yang was very happy and agreed: "When we get together next time, I'll get two pheasants."
Tang Dun hesitated for a moment: "Can I really come next time?"
Meng Sheng patted him on the shoulder: "Of course you can come, as long as you are used to my cooking."
"Then I'll bring some prey here next time!" Tang Dun became visibly excited.
After sending the two away, Meng Sheng returned to the cave, and Qiu Juan had already cleaned up all the pots and bowls.
"My mother and I went back too."
"I'll send you off."
Qiu Juan held the burnt torch: "No need, that's a short way, you can go back with your eyes closed."
Luo Wenwen smiled and said, "Yes, don't bother."
Meng Sheng had no choice but to agree, and sent the two outside the cave to watch the two weaklings leave.
Qiu Juan walked in front and illuminated Luo, Luo's voice was soft: "Ah Hu, mother is talking about the event today, not only for everyone, but also for you, you and Meng Sheng The time we have been together is not short, what is your plan?" "Mother, don't worry about it, I know it well."
Luo sighed: "Mother knows that you are in a good situation in the tribe now, and everyone respects you very much, but don't indulge in this good environment and miss more important things."
"I got it."
Looking at the people who promised to shirk, Luo could only sigh that her son was getting older, and she couldn't interfere in everything.
After Zhongyang and Tang Dun walked together for a certain distance, because their caves were in opposite directions, they could not continue to be together. After Tang Dun and Zhongyang separated, they slipped to the river to take a bath, and the smell of barbecue was washed away. Son to wash away.
He came out with his family's back behind his back, and he knew his elder brother's temper, if he knew that he was hanging out with Meng Sheng and Zhong Yang, he would be scolded.
Although I had to take a shower to go back after running out, the process was a bit complicated, but everything tonight was worth it, since he was young, he followed Tang Yu's ass, obeying him in everything, what he told him to do Whatever they do, the two of them are almost stuck together, so that he doesn't even have any friends to talk to.
Now that he is an adult, he hopes to change and try to live a life that is not so close to his brother.
The river water in the late autumn night was extraordinarily cool, he shrank his body and wrapped the animal skin again, and ran back to the cave.
As soon as he arrived in the woods of the cave, he saw a dark figure from a distance, and before he saw the person clearly, he heard an aggressive and complaining voice: "Where the hell did you go, and you came back so late!"
Tang Dun walked over slowly: "I went to the river to take a bath."
"What kind of bath should I take at night?"
"Brother, I'm an adult, what's the matter with taking a bath in the river?"
"When you become an adult, you go to meet females at night? When you become an adult, you know how to talk back to me?"
Tang Dun lowered his face: "I don't know any females!"
"What are you doing so loudly, guilty?"
The two brothers returned to the cave with their mouths together.