Quick Transmigration: When Can I Just Lay Down and Wait to Die?

Chapter 290 The Little Deaf-Mute of the Era 6

Liu Yuxi ran over to Niu Xiaolan and tugged at her coat: "Mom, there's a chicken!"

She didn't speak quietly, because even people who can't hear don't speak quietly. As for why the pheasant didn't run away with such a commotion, how would she know? Nobody could ask her.

Niu Xiaolan was a little confused when she heard her words. What chicken? Seeing that the girl kept pointing to the bushes next to her with her little hand, she turned around and saw a fat pheasant lying there, not knowing why it didn't fly away.

Niu Xiaolan made a "shh!" gesture to Liu Yuxi, who then covered her mouth with her small hand. Niu Xiaolan untied the rope in her hand and slowly went around behind the pheasant. The pheasant didn't run away until Niu Xiaolan pressed it down from behind, at which point it seemed to come to its senses and began to struggle.

The main thing is that after Liu Yuxi confirmed that her mother had caught the pheasant, she withdrew her mental energy. The first thing her mother did after catching the pheasant was to twist its neck, and then it was quiet!

Niu Xiaolan twisted the chicken's neck and picked it up. Wow, this chicken is so fat, it weighs almost four pounds. Then she looked at the chicken coop and the wild eggs, picking them out one by one. There were 13 eggs in total, enough for her daughter to eat for a few days.

Niu Xiaolan returned happily, carrying a pheasant and a bag of wild eggs. She left the henhouse behind, just in case another pheasant came to nest next time.

First, put everything on the ground, then started to scoop out the basket, pour out the firewood and wild vegetables, put the pheasant at the bottom, then put some wild vegetables in, then put the wild eggs in, and then covered it with the remaining wild vegetables.

Then he untied the ropes binding Liu Yuxi, tied the dry branches together and laid them horizontally on the basket, then carried the basket on his back, picked up Liu Yuxi, and hurried home.

Liu Yuxi, who had already put her hands down, pointed at the basket in her mother's arms and said, "Mom, chicken, eggs!" She vividly portrayed the normal behavior of a child.

"Shh!" Her mother put her hand to her mouth again, and she covered her mouth with her hand again, then put it down again, laughing. Niu Xiaolan laughed too. Her daughter's hands were covered with dirt from digging wild vegetables. She had covered her face twice, and her little mouth was all dirty, like a little kitten. She wiped her daughter's hands with her sleeve and hurried home with her daughter.

When Niu Xiaolan got home, she put down her basket, first fetched water to wash the mother and daughter, and then took everything out of the basket. She put the wild eggs into a large bowl. The wild eggs were relatively small, and thirteen wild eggs were enough for one large bowl.

She told the three children who had run out after hearing the commotion to gather the wild vegetables, and then she started boiling water. It was hot, so the pheasants needed to be prepared quickly. As for whether to cook them or not, she would decide after everyone came back, and even if she did, she would wait until everyone was asleep.

It's so hard to eat meat in rural areas these days. Although the harvest is much better than in previous years, it only means we can eat a couple more bites of rice per meal. Even though the pigs are raised by rural people, they can only eat meat twice a year when the village slaughters the pigs.

During the busy farming season, families with better financial conditions might buy meat or kill a chicken to nourish their families. As for cured meat, that's practically unheard of, unless the men in the family catch wild chickens or rabbits in the mountains. They're reluctant to eat them normally, so they're cured and saved for the busy farming season or the Lunar New Year.

In rural areas at that time, having scrambled eggs on the table was considered an extra treat.

While the three children were picking wild vegetables, they whispered to Niu Xiaolan about the pheasants and wild eggs. Children these days are more sensible and know that meat should be eaten secretly and not told outsiders. When they heard that the pheasants were caught in the back mountain, they all regretted not going up the mountain with her in the afternoon.

The three of them were whispering amongst themselves, glancing every now and then at the pheasant in the kitchen. It was clear they were planning to go up the mountain to find pheasants. Niu Xiaolan ignored their excitement and coldly said, "Forget about digging for wild vegetables. If you dare to go into the mountains, you three can expect a beating when you get back!"

One sentence was enough to shut the three of them up. They really didn't dare to disobey, after all, the children here had all heard wolves howl. Niu Xiaolan processed the pheasant and hung it into her own well. Yes, there was a well in the corner of Liu Yuxi's front yard, left by the original owner.

Her house should be considered a traditional courtyard house. When her grandfather first arrived here, all four side rooms in the courtyard had collapsed. Only the three main rooms were still in good condition and could be replaced with a new roof.

Her grandfather, Liu Laogen, thought that since he had two sons, even if they occupied good houses, the three of them wouldn't be able to take up many rooms. So, he specifically targeted houses with large yards and few rooms, so that it would be convenient for his sons to build houses later when they grew up.

So he found this courtyard. At that time, the courtyard was overgrown with weeds. When the brothers Liu Dazhu and Liu Erzhu were pulling weeds in the courtyard, they found this well. The well was covered with a wooden plank, which was rotten.

When it was just the three of them living together, he never thought about digging this well. The three men in the family would go to the river to bathe when the weather was warm, and they would fetch water from the village's public well. One tank of water was enough for two days.

Later, Zhang Dani married into the family. Women are diligent, so the family used more water. Sometimes, even a tank of water a day wasn't enough. So, Liu Laogen dug out this well. He didn't know how the groundwater flowed in this area, as the terrain was much higher than the Huai River area. But the well only needed to be dug to a depth of six or seven meters before water came out, and it was even a sweet water well.

Fearing his children might fall in, Liu Laogen built a mud-brick rim around the well so that once the children could reach the edge, they would be able to understand what he was saying. The east wing where her uncle lived and the west wing where her family lived were both rebuilt later by Liu Laogen and his family using mud bricks, with the help of villagers.

After cleaning the chicken, her mother started preparing wild vegetables. Dinner was wild vegetable and sorghum porridge with side dishes. Let alone stir-frying wild vegetables, even making cold dishes would be a waste of seasoning. There was nothing dry for dinner, at most a handful of sorghum rice would be added to the porridge.

Once the porridge is cooked, I put it in a yellow basin to cool. In this hot weather, I don't eat it hot. Of course, tonight I also have a big bowl of wild egg custard, which is being kept warm in the pot. This stuff can't be eaten cold, it's fishy!

Niu Xiaolan gritted her teeth and cracked five wild eggs, adding a lot of water. She thought it was a freebie and that she wouldn't lose out. Of course, this was just what Niu Xiaolan told herself to comfort herself.

Zhang Dani guessed that her family would nag her when they got back. However, she wanted her daughter to eat egg custard for a couple more days, but she couldn't let her daughter eat alone forever. Eggs were so precious these days, they were practically "chicken butt banks"!

Even though these wild eggs were found, they shouldn't be given to Liu Yuxi alone. In any environment, the problem isn't scarcity, but inequality! These are life lessons learned by humankind in daily life!

At this time, her family members also came home from work. They did the same thing: fetch water to wash up, and then they ate their meals. When they saw the big bowl of steamed egg custard, all their eyes were immediately drawn to Niu Xiaolan.