By the time they cleaned up, the sky had already darkened. Qian Mingying and Tian Xiaoku came out with dark faces. They saw that the chimneys in the village were flourishing. They were no longer a wisp of smoke, but a lot darker.
Woof! Woof! Woof! The number of stray dogs and domestic dogs in the village seemed to have suddenly increased. The dogs barked one after another. Shameless came out of the kitchen through the kitchen door and barked when he saw the two people in the dark. However, he went over and sniffed. Then he stretched his neck lazily and stretched his body. Then his ears seemed to twitch. It seemed that there was some movement in the east. Shameless also stretched his neck and barked wildly, together with the other dogs in the village.
"What's wrong? What's this? " Tian Xiaoku was a little curious. She walked to the barrier by the door and stretched her neck to look. After seeing a familiar group of people, Tian Xiaoku hurriedly turned back, "Well, the group of ginseng pickers are back!"
Qian Mingying was holding a broom to sweep the soot off her body. After hearing Tian Xiaoku's words, she couldn't help but reply with an "Okay". When she looked up, she saw Tian Xiaoku looking at her with eager eyes, "What's wrong?"
"They're back!" Tian Xiaoku said again.
"So what if they're back? What does it have to do with us? Let's cook! My stomach is going to be upset. " Qian Mingying finished cleaning and said to Tian Xiaoku. After saying that, she took out a key and opened the door of the lower room, which was used to store some food or tools.
"Let's cook some soup. Use potatoes and cabbage to stew a big bone soup. I'll use the stove to boil some water. Let's cook." Qian Mingying retreated from the lower room with a curtain of cornmeal nests in her hand. Each of the nests was the size of a fist. They looked golden and very appetizing, but they were all frozen stiff.
"Ah? There's still food at home? " Tian Xiaoku came over to help, and asked in surprise. They had only eaten meat stewed with potatoes for the past few meals. Tian Xiaoku thought that Qian Mingying had run out of food at home.
Qian Mingying's heart sunk. Thinking of the large pile of corncobs that he had eaten when he was busy harvesting, Qian Mingying said without revealing anything on his face, "When dad was alive, he prepared some for me. But with my appetite, there's not much left!"
"Oh, I see!" Tian Xiaoku finally let go of her suspicions. After all, based on her understanding of Qian Mingying's appetite, the food that the village gave to the orphan girls should be gone by the time winter came.
"Then I'll go cook!" Tian Xiaoku took the nest and went to the kitchen. "Have a good rest. You'll have to chop the bones later."
Thinking of the frozen chicken, rabbit, and wild boar meat, Tian Xiaoku didn't dare to be careless at all.
"Okay, then I'll go light the iron stove in the room. Let's boil some water and wipe the dust." Qian Mingying was fully aware of his cooking skills. What kind of delicious food could a guy who had been eating nutritious meals for more than 20 years make? Obviously, he could cook it well. You'd have to thank him for it.
Qian Mingying was quite familiar with making a stove. This stove was brought over from Tian Xiaoku's house. Looking at the thick iron sheet, it was quite old. Even during the steel refining period, it was secretly hidden away. Now, there were less than ten people in the village, but it was really good to have such a thing in the winter. It was just that it lacked a chimney pipe. When she brought it back, Qian Mingying spent a lot of effort to make a wall chimney and temporarily connected it with a short iron pipe. She would think about it after this winter.
It was enough to last the winter. A half-black iron kettle was placed on the stove, boiling water. If there was anything bad about the village, it was troublesome to carry water. The best thing about Qian Mingying's house was that they had a pressurized water well, which saved them the trouble of fetching water from the village. However, since they hadn't come back for a few days, a layer of ice had formed on the pressurized water well. Qian Mingying boiled some half-hot water to remove the ice on the pressurized water well first. When the creaking sound was reduced, water began to gush out from the mouth of the manual pressurized water machine.
"Xiaoku, bring me the big bucket in the kitchen!" Qian Mingying pressed the water in the big bucket while calling Tian Xiaoku.
The water had just been drawn out, so it was better to drink it all together. Otherwise, it might be frozen again.
"Ah!" Tian Xiaoku struggled to carry the big wooden bucket. The bucket was made of thick mahogany and weighed about five or six kilograms. It was really difficult to carry it with one hand because it was not strong enough.
"It's done. Put it aside. I'll use it later!" Qian Mingying said to Tian Xiaoku, who was struggling to put it down. Because they had just pressed the water, there was a layer of ice around the pressurized water well. It was a little slippery when they walked on it.
With a thud, the wooden bucket was put down. Tian Xiaoku smoothed his hair. "Do you want me to press it for a while while you rest?"
Qian Mingying heard this and smiled. Seeing that the bucket was full, it was time to change the bucket. Qian Mingying agreed. "Okay, I'll change the bucket."
When Tian Xiaoku heard this, he jumped over excitedly and tried to apply pressure. Unexpectedly, his face turned red. He only applied pressure two or three times. On the other side, Qian Mingying had already smoothly swapped the two of them. Then, she poured the water from the wooden bucket into the large water tank in the kitchen and returned.
"Oh, not bad!" There was a thin layer of water in the changed bucket.
"Here you go!" Tian Xiaoku finally managed to suppress his anger. After hearing Qian Mingying's words, he couldn't help but release his anger. He raised the well handle high up.
"Are you angry? I'm really praising you. I thought that with your little strength, you wouldn't even have a drop of water! " Qian Mingying pressed the bucket with one hand, and the water surged out. It was a sharp contrast with Tian Xiaoku, who was holding his breath with a red face. There was no harm without comparison.
"Zhenzhen …" Tian Xiaoku thought about how to phrase it.
"Zhenzhen is not human!" Qian Mingying interrupted. "I'm not human. I'm God. I'm the God of War!"
"Bah!" Tian Xiaoku spat at Qian Mingying. "You're shameless."
Tian Xiaoku twisted his body, stamped his little feet and ran back to the kitchen.
Qian Mingying, who looked like a military ruffian just now, couldn't help but feel a little depressed. "I'm really lonely. Why doesn't anyone believe me when I speak the truth?"
He put more force in his hands. Splash, splash, splash. The wooden bucket was quickly filled with water.
Qian Mingying and Tian Xiaoku sat on the kang after a simple cleaning in the side building. There was an enamel basin on the kang table. There was wild boar stewed with potatoes, a dustpan of cornbread, two big bowls, a big plate with washed and cut green onions and cabbage, and a small bowl of soy sauce. Qian Mingying drank it in big mouthfuls, and Tian Xiaoku sipped it in small mouthfuls. The two didn't speak, and just ate quietly.
Bang, bang, bang.
Shameless Pi was gnawing on a big pig bone in front of the kang bed. When he heard the noise, he looked at the bone with reluctance. After two or three noises, Shameless Pi did not bark. After a few more noises, out of habit, Shameless Pi barked outside. He seemed to be snorting as he barked, as if he was angry.
"Who is it? He's so restless! "Qian Mingying said reluctantly with half of the pig bone in her mouth. She was about to get off the kang.
Tian Xiaoku stopped her. "Take your time. I'll go and have a look!"
Tian Xiaoku put on a cotton-padded coat and shoes and walked out of the door. It was dark. Qian Mingying couldn't let Tian Xiaoku go out. She also put on shoes and came out. She saw Dahei eating pork ribs and potatoes. Qian Mingying looked at Dahei's silly look. He didn't say anything when someone came. He directly kicked Dahei and pointed to the door. "Don't you know how to bark?"
Dahei blinked its eyes and opened its mouth to howl twice, which made Qian Mingying speechless. "What a stupid beast!"
Tian Xiaoku's voice was heard. "Ah, what are you doing?"
Qian Mingying heard and hurried to the door. She saw the Sangbang's scholar taking the lead. Each of them carried a bag of noodles and walked towards the house.
Qian Mingying hurriedly stopped them. "What are you doing?"
The scholar grinned. "You deserve it!"
Qian Mingying was confused. "You've changed?"
The scholar shook his head. "No! Tomorrow, the other party will send someone to the county. We'll go there to do the handover and food stamps. Our lives are all thanks to you. We're here to give you some as a token of our appreciation. "
Of course, the scholar wouldn't say that he felt that Qian Mingying and the others didn't have anything to eat, so he went to the forest to take an adventure.
Pangzi and the others placed the bags of noodles in front of the house. Seeing that Dahei was nearby, they hurriedly ran out of the door.
"You can go back first. I'll talk to the little sister for a while!" The scholar said to Pangzi and the others. They were naturally overjoyed.
"Can you enter the house?" The scholar looked at Qian Mingying. Qian Mingying gestured for him to enter. The scholar smiled and entered the house. Looking at the food on the table, he smiled embarrassedly. "Sorry, I'm sorry to disturb your meal."
"Then you can come back later?" Qian Mingying picked up her bowl and started eating. She didn't even lift her eyelids. Tian Xiaoku held her bowl embarrassedly and said to the scholar, "Sister, you haven't eaten yet, right? Why don't you have some too? "
Originally, Tian Xiaoku was just being polite. Nowadays, everyone wasn't well-off and most people wouldn't freeload. She didn't expect the scholar to be here just for the sake of freeloading. "Thank you, little sister. I'm starving. Can you get me some more meat?"
Tian Xiaoku, who was about to put her bowl down, was stunned.
"Meat? You're so shameless! " Qian Mingying snatched the bowl from Tian Xiaoku's hands and scooped up a large bone. She then covered it with a large pile of potatoes and stuffed it into the scholar's hands. "There's definitely wine and meat over there. Why fight with us? Finish the bone, you're shameless. "
When the scholar heard Qian Mingying's words, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Okay okay, I'll pay for the food!"
As he spoke, the scholar passed a pile of notes to Qian Mingying. "I'll give you my head. I hope we can form good karma."
"Whether it's fate or not, I don't know. As long as you're not afraid of being hit by the broom, it's up to you!" Qian Mingying said, causing the scholar to choke. Even money can't pave the way.
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