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墨書 Inktalez
When Yezhi and the Cart Master arrived at the rice field, it was already filled with seedlings, and the villagers were busy replanting. Helping to unload wood, the Young Man was instructed by Yezhi to first bring down the soup.
Aunt Zhou saw Yezhi and was about to ask why she was back again, but Yezhi spoke first: "Aunt! I made some meat soup for the villagers, but the wild boar meat is all gone, your little piglet...!"
"What are you talking about! If the wild boar meat is gone, then it's gone. Actually, it's better this way; I won't have to worry about you getting hungry and turning dark and scary," Aunt Zhou said, recalling how Yezhi looked back then, and she chuckled. Yezhi understood and laughed along, but the laughter pulled at her bruised cheek, causing her to wince in pain.
Aunt Zhou noticed this and felt a pang of sympathy but deliberately ignored it and asked, "Girl, did you bring a bowl?"
Yezhi pulled out a bowl, and Aunt Zhou quickly got busy dividing the soup. Initially, the villagers were a bit shy and hesitant, but after Aunt Zhou shouted, "This is my girl's intention; who dares to waste it," they stepped forward.
One Gun Brother was the first to come up, taking a bowl of soup and praising, "Yezhi, this soup is really delicious!"
In fact, there wasn't enough soup for all two hundred villagers to share, but everyone consciously left it for the strong laborers.
Yezhi pulled Village Uncle aside while he was directing the construction of a horse frame. "Uncle, I need to tell you something. Everyone has been working hard for so many days with little sleep and food. This can't go on. I want to gather the children and the best cook in the village, Aunt, to prepare meals for everyone."
Village Uncle stroked his beard and thought Yezhi's suggestion made sense. Starting tonight, people would be needed in the rice field as they had to clear another part of the waterlogged area tomorrow. After thinking for a moment, he patted Yezhi on the shoulder and said seriously, "Then I'll leave it to you!"
"Okay! You can count on me!" Yezhi assured him with a pat on her chest.
"One Egg!" Yezhi called out to One Egg who was replanting seedlings in the rice field.
"Sister Ye, what's up?" One Egg lifted his sweaty face.
"Come here! I need to tell you something!" Yezhi took out a floral handkerchief and offered it to One Egg as a hint for him to wipe his sweat.
"Sister Ye, no need! I'll just get your handkerchief dirty!" One Egg wiped his face with his sleeve instead and grinned widely.
Yezhi said seriously, "One Egg, stop planting seedlings. Go call Er Zhu and Dogzi; we need to hold a small meeting! There's an important task!"
After a while, One Egg returned with Er Zhu wearing a green military cap and the skinny Dogzi. Dogzi had a sharp face but bright eyes that rolled around curiously. He leaned in and asked, "Sister Ye, what important task do you have for me?" Er Zhu also chimed in directly: "Sister Ye, I'm all ears!"
"Starting tomorrow, all meals in this village will be handled by Sister Ye and you kids. Besides the rations everyone contributes, we need to gather some other edible items to ensure everyone is well-fed! What suggestions do you three have? Speak up!"
It was the first time Er Zhu, Dogzi, and One Egg were treated equally by an adult; they were all a bit excited as they scrambled to offer ideas. Dogzi said: "Sister Ye, I noticed that when we were clearing the rice fields, quite a few Mud Roots were turned up. Since we're going to clear more rice fields tomorrow anyway, I can take Zhou Xiaomu and his gang of kids along behind us to collect them! They might not taste great but meat is still meat." Yezhi hadn't figured out what Mud Roots were yet but smiled at hearing it was meat. One Egg wasn't pleased that Dogzi had jumped in first and retorted: "What Mud Roots? Silly name! That's Loach; it has a muddy taste—what's so good about that! Sister Ye...!"
Understanding that Mud Root is Loach's Yezhi, I almost jumped for joy. Loach is a nutritious and delicious food! "Dogzi, the glorious task of collecting Loach is entrusted to you!"
One Egg pouted unhappily, Sister Ye wouldn’t listen to him! "Go on! One Egg!" Yezhi looked at One Egg, signaling him to continue. Only then did One Egg happily start gesturing with his hands: "Sister Ye, I can go up the mountain to catch mountain chickens, and I can…!"
"Sister Ye, there are plenty of wild vegetables and mushrooms in the mountains this season. I can take Er Niu and the others up the mountain to gather them." Er Zhu interrupted One Egg's speech, eager to speak. Yezhi thought this idea was also good; this combination of meat and vegetables would provide comprehensive nutrition. Besides, wild vegetables and mushrooms could be found without going deep into the mountains, and these kids who often roamed the hills would be safe. "Er Zhu, you can take care of this." Er Zhu was so happy he saluted Yezhi. "Zhou Er Zhu guarantees completion of the glorious task entrusted by Sister Ye!" Yezhi chuckled, covering her face; this child had a soldier's spirit.
"Hmph! Sister Ye, I haven't finished speaking yet?" One Egg glared at Er Zhu resentfully and shouted loudly.
"One Egg, you don’t need to say anymore!..." Hearing Yezhi say this, One Egg immediately looked wronged as if about to cry.
Yezhi tapped One Egg on the forehead: "Haven't I told you? A man should bleed but not cry!"
"I’m not crying! I just got sand in my eyes!" One Egg turned his back to Yezhi.
"I’m not listening to Sister Ye! If I don’t wake you up in the morning, you definitely won’t get up!" One Egg turned around and shouted. Er Zhu and Dogzi were already laughing together, joining in: "Yes, Sister Ye is a big lazy pig; she loves sleeping in!" Yezhi retorted indignantly: "I’m doing this for my health; you little brats don’t understand anything!"
…
"Sister Ye, get up! The sun is already shining on your backside!" One Egg shouted loudly while pulling open Aunt Zhou's yard gate.
When One Egg saw Yezhi standing neatly dressed in the yard smiling at him, he felt quite disappointed. Why didn’t she wait for him to arrive before getting up? He thought his little plan was obvious to Yezhi; she poked his forehead and set off toward the mountains first!
"Sister Ye, why aren’t we going? Last time my dad took us over this flower-filled valley into the forest!" One Egg pointed ahead confidently while carrying Zhou Xiaomu on his back.
"One Egg, can you hit a rabbit with that Zhou Xiaomu bow?" Surrounded by colorful flowers, Yezhi asked disdainfully. One Egg retorted defiantly: "Of course I can!"
"Alright then, quietly move thirty steps to the right; there’s a gray rabbit over there!" Yezhi patted One Egg's back, signaling him to look. One Egg quietly moved to the right. "Master, the rabbit is clearly on your left, twenty steps away; why are you lying?" Xiao Fang complained on behalf of One Egg.
"Which is more powerful: the Beast Binding Rope or One Egg’s Zhou Xiaomu bow?" Yezhi had already called Xiao Fang out from Glasses and searched for prey within a hundred meters radius. In this valley alone, there were no less than fifty rabbits. From the images transmitted back by Xiao Fang, Yezhi locked onto several targets and calculated their distances through Glasses. She quietly moved seventeen steps to the left; among the light green scenery was her target—the Big Gray Rabbit—more accurately referred to as Northeast Rabbit—its data floating up: weight, gender, age, nutritional value… Just as she was about to get closer, the Big Gray Rabbit seemed to notice her and bolted away. "Master, quickly throw the Beast Binding Rope!" She reflexively threw out the Beast Binding Rope.
"Master, yay! We caught it!" Xiao Fang cheered as he high-fived Yezhi in celebration. Yezhi was also very happy as she grabbed hold of the Big Gray Rabbit that was struggling with its hind legs bound.
At that moment, One Egg proudly ran over with a blood-dripping gray rabbit in hand: "Sister Ye, I caught a rabbit!"
"I also caught one that’s fatter and bigger than yours! Ha~ha!" Yezhi proudly raised her struggling Big Gray Rabbit. Seeing it, One Egg squinted his eyes into slits with admiration: "Sister Ye, you’re amazing! You can catch live rabbits just using a rope! How did you know there was a rabbit on my right?" Yezhi scratched her nose; that question was hard to answer. She had just been guessing randomly but ended up hitting it right by chance.
"This rabbit has legs and won't stay in one place! Master, Xiao Fang search, you take care of it!" Xiao Fang's eyes sparkled as Yezhi watched the returning images and instructed One Egg to shoot the rabbits. After a busy while, they each hunted three gray rabbits.
Yezhi carried one rabbit in each hand, while the other six were on One Egg's back. The two returned to the village and met up with Aunt Zhou, Aunt Ren Er, and others before taking Cart Master's cart to a vibrant rice field.
"Sister Ye!" Dogzi, covered in black mud, ran towards Yezhi with a wooden bucket, followed by Mud Doll Zhou Xiaomu. "Sister Ye, hug!" Yezhi turned her head deliberately ignoring the muddy Zhou Xiaomu. Turning back to Dogzi, "Sister Ye, look!" Dogzi proudly lifted the bucket filled with thick, lively black Loach.
"I dug a water hole by the stream and filled it up, so I don't have to worry about the Mud Root running away," Dogzi said excitedly.
Yezhi gave Dogzi a thumbs up in praise. He proudly led Zhou Xiaomu, his little companion, to join the other young men as they collected Loach that had been turned up from the ground without bothering the adults.
Arriving at a row of triangular horse racks made of wood, One Egg was cleaning eight plump rabbits. Aunt Zhou, Aunt Ren Er, Mei Zi, and Aunt Li mixed wild vegetables gathered near the water hole with grains to steam into cakes. Observing their skilled movements and the two large pots that could hold all of Yezhi, it was clear that Everyone had often enjoyed communal meals before; this family had everything!
"Sister Ye, the rabbits are ready; I chopped them into small pieces just like you said," One Egg shouted while holding up a shiny silver knife.
With many people and little meat, making soup was the most practical option. Once Aunt Zhou and her team finished cooking their wild vegetable grain cakes, both large iron pots were occupied by her.
Looking at the two large pots of rabbit soup that had little oil or seasoning, Yezhi felt troubled about what to add! She couldn't guarantee the flavor; aside from ginger slices, there weren't many seasonings available. At that moment, Er Zhu returned with about ten little girls and ten little boys carrying small baskets.
"Sister Ye! We gathered so many wild vegetables!" As Aunt Zhou and Aunt Li praised the children's harvest: "Thorny fruit sticks, shepherd's purse, fiddlehead ferns, mugwort, dandelions... oh, and two large baskets of mushrooms. I didn't expect our village's kids to be so capable." "Of course! Our kids from Zhoujiatun are all top-notch!" Aunt Ren Er and Mei Zi chimed in cheerfully. Upon hearing about the mushrooms, Yezhi rushed over with One Egg to wash them in the water hole before dumping them into the two large pots of rabbit soup.
At noon, over two hundred people gathered for a meal by the rice field; it was quite a grand and lively scene. Each person received two wild vegetable grain cakes as big as bowls paired with a steaming bowl of mushroom rabbit soup. Although there was a bit less oil, everyone still enjoyed their meal heartily. Sitting among the crowd with a bowl of soup, Yezhi savored the taste of communal dining and felt very happy, warm, and cozy...
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