Dressed as a widow, raising cubs, farming and building infrastructure in Ming Dynasty

Chapter 3
Old Man Li was sitting in the yard chopping firewood under the sun, chopping firewood of different lengths and thicknesses into sticks about a foot long and as thick as his fingers.

The older man passed firewood to Old Man Li. The second man was lying in a wooden cradle under the eaves, covered with a quilt, sleeping soundly.

Qin Liu was stunned.

Even though their livelihood is difficult, their barely scraped together family is still struggling hard to fight against the hard life.

Qin Liu went to make lunch, which was still sticky white rice porridge.There was really no taste except for a little bit of salt scraped from the wall of the salt shaker.

While eating, Qin Liu looked a little sighing.

Just drinking porridge will make your stomach full, but if you don't eat salt for a long time, your body will lose strength.

If you don’t eat vegetables and meat, you will have no nutrition and you will easily get sick.

If they had porridge a day, it would cost several hundred pennies to eat for five months, and her net worth was enough to support it.

This poor and remote area lacks medical care and medicine, and severe winter is approaching. If you get sick, it will be a serious matter.

She has to figure it out.

After having lunch and washing the dishes, she put Erlang to sleep and asked Dalang to help him watch, then she went out.

……

Qin Liu went to the rice shop to buy rice, and then bought 36 taels of salt and [-] taels of rapeseed oil from the grocery store. The owner of the grocery store weighed the silver coin she handed over three times. After confirming that it was correct, he found [-] Wen for her. money.

There are people selling vegetables on the roadside.

Chinese cabbage costs two cents a head. People pass by on the road, but almost no one cares.

If there are half-grown children or capable wives at home, they will pick wild vegetables. Who would use their spare money to buy vegetables to take home?

And it’s too expensive!Two pennies can buy more than a pound of rice. Although Chinese cabbage can fill your stomach, you will get hungry quickly.

Back home, the honest man who brought the firewood was standing in the yard, chopping firewood and chatting with Old Man Li.

Qin Liu went into the house, put down his things, and paid the honest man two copper coins.

Old Man Li said gently: "This is Ma Ang, the eldest son of the Ma family. Girl, please call Brother Ma. His father and I used to transport grain to the army, and we both came from military households."

Qin Liu briefly greeted him and said, "Brother Ma, please stay at home for dinner tonight." Then he went into the house to cook.

She poured some oil into the pot, fried the washed and chopped cabbage, sprinkled it with salt, and a bowl of fried cabbage was ready.She simmered another pot of white rice.

When I went out to look again, Ma Ang was gone. The chopped firewood was stacked neatly in the corner of the yard, and the damaged yard door had also been repaired.

Qin Liu was slightly surprised, but didn't say much and asked Old Man Li and Da Lang to have dinner together.

Eating white rice with cabbage, Li Dalang happily took two large bowls and kept praising how delicious they were.

Old Man Li ate in silence without saying a word, but he put it down after eating half a bowl.He said that the remaining half of the rice in the bowl would be soaked in boiling water for breakfast tomorrow.

Qin Liu didn't persuade him much.The elderly often have their own life experiences and deep-rooted concepts that she cannot change and can only wait for them to figure it out on their own.

Washing the dishes after dinner, the cold water made Qin Liu's fingers ache.

But she just flinched, quickly finished her housework, and went to sleep with Erlang, who was already sobbing a little and moaning for his mother.

Their bed was in the west room, with a large kang on the north wall below, a layer of wheat straw on top, and a hard mattress above it.

In October, the weather here is already so cold that water turns to ice.

Qin Liu put Erlang in his arms to keep warm. Covered with a quilt that was not very warm, Qin Liu shivered all night.

It's definitely not going to work like this. I have to buy a few thick beddings and a few sets of winter clothes.They also have to burn the kang.

However, she knows how to spend money, but she doesn't know how to do the technical work of burning a kang.

The next day, Qin Liu raised this problem and asked Old Man Li for advice.

Old Man Li showed a kind expression while sipping the scalding hot porridge.He was finally useful.

It's really a bit embarrassing to eat and drink other people's food all day long.

"After dinner, I'll tell you."

After dinner, he watched Qin Liu boil hot water to wash the dishes, and felt a little pain in his heart: This girl really doesn't know how to live.This handful of firewood was very expensive, but she actually boiled hot water to wash the dishes!
The experience of burning a kang imparted by Old Man Li is very simple: "Stuff wheat straw, tree roots, etc. into the mouth of the kang, use thatch to light the fire, and fan wildly with a fan. When the fire is too big, block the mouth of the pit."

Qin Liu thought it was easy, so he went to the east room and started working.

The east room is the bedroom of Old Man Li and Li Dalang. I think they will be cold at night.

Following Old Man Li's instructions, she stuffed a lot of firewood under the kang, lit the thatch that made the fire, and fanned fiercely with a cattail leaf leaf broken into strands.

A burst of thick smoke hit my face, my nose was sour and astringent from the smoke, and it felt like a knife cutting flesh. I couldn't open my eyes at all, and tears streamed down my face.

Qin Liu didn't know whether it was healed or not, so he didn't dare to fan anymore, so he simply blocked the entrance of the kang with bricks.

She groped out the door and was about to get some well water to wash her face when she vaguely saw someone coming in carrying firewood at the door.

"Uncle Li, I brought you firewood!"

Qin Liu couldn't open his eyes at this time, so he had to say hello: "Brother Ma, you are here, please wait a moment, I, I will wash my face first!"

The coughing sounds of Old Man Li and Dalang were heard in the room, as well as Erlang's crying.

"Hey!"

Ma Ang put down his load of firewood and saw thick smoke coming out of the thatched house, so he asked, "What's going on?"

"It's okay, I, I'm burning the kang!"

Qin Liu was throwing a bucket into the well platform on the right side of the yard to draw water. He tried several times but failed.

Ma Ang simply stepped forward and helped her get a bucket of well water.Qin Liu buried his face in the well water.The cool well water made my red and swollen eyes feel much better.

She washed her hands and wiped her face a few times, and finally she could see clearly.

Da Lang was already standing in the yard with Er Lang in his arms. Old Man Li was holding a bench in each hand and leaning on the bench to move his body. He had just left the house and his empty trouser legs were dragging on the ground, which made him look particularly pitiful.

Qin Liu smiled sheepishly.

Seeing her standing there stupidly, Old Man Li pursed his lips and said, "Go in and take a look."

Qin Liu had no choice but to rush into the house again despite the thick smoke.

The east room was filled with thick smoke, and Ma Ang could be seen squatting in front of the kang, coughing and blocking the gap with something.

When Ma Ang saw her coming in, he coughed and shouted: "Go, cough, bring some water and some mud!"

Qin Liu hurriedly responded, splashed the well water he had just washed on the ground in the yard, poked and stirred the soft mud with a wooden stick, dug a pile, and ran into the east room.

Ma Ang took the wet mud that Qin Liu brought over and filled all the gaps in the kang mouth tightly until no trace of smoke escaped.

He was afraid that it would not be strong enough, so he filled the remaining mud with firewood into the gaps and flattened it.

(End of this chapter)