Traveling through ancient times as a hunter

Chapter 9 I'm here to grow vegetables for you, not to cook.

Without Brother Yong's help to speak, Shanwazi looked very reserved. He walked ahead and led the way, turning his head and secretly looking at Cheng Duo from time to time.

Cheng Duo was about to talk to him, and asked about the situation by the way, when he heard a half-grown child working on the side of the road greet Shan Wazi: "Brother Dashan, are you going out of the village?"

"Where are you going, can you take us with you..."

Shanwazi usually goes up mountains and down rivers to find something to eat, and occasionally brings children from the village with him, so they want to hang out with him whenever they have the opportunity.

Before they finished speaking, the group of children saw Cheng Duo behind Shan Wazi, and their eyes widened immediately, as if they were facing an enemy.Then someone yelled in alarm, and five or six children quickly scattered, and one even carried a big pannier, running so hard that his shoes almost fell off...

Cheng Duo: "..." It's quite complicated.

He rubbed his nose, and he could imagine that his reputation in the village was about the same as "eating children".

Shanwazi looked at Cheng Duo's appearance, and somehow wanted to laugh.As the saying goes, everything is compared. Seeing that Datou and the others were so afraid of Cheng Duo, he suddenly felt that he was not so afraid anymore.

"What did the villagers tell them?" Cheng Duo couldn't help asking.

Shanwazi's eyes flickered: "Just... just punching a cow to death with one punch or something..." In fact, there are other things, he dare not say.

Cheng Duo: "..." Don't say it, he may really have this ability, and these villagers are not spreading rumors.

"But Brother Yong explained to me that you didn't kill the cow, you just pushed it down..." Shanwazi said, asking Cheng Duo for confirmation with his eyes inadvertently, with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

Shanwazi has seen the scene of other people's slaughtering pigs, three or four adults hold the pigs, and one is in charge of stabbing.Sometimes the pigs squawk too hard, and those grown-ups try their best to press them, and their faces turn red...

And what Cheng Duo knocked down was a cow, a cow much bigger than a pig!He held it down by himself, what a lot of strength!

Cheng Duo noticed Shanwazi's eyes and hesitated for a moment: "When you grow up, your strength will also increase."

"Yeah." Shanwazi nodded, his eyes bright: "When I grow up, I will go to Ershilipu to fight bags like my father and earn a lot of money!"

The corner of Cheng Duo's mouth twitched, and your ideal is to be a laborer?However, compared with the group of people who live like walking corpses in the last days, Shanwazi's simple wish seems more flesh and blood...

Cheng Duo smiled a little complicatedly, and instead of hitting Shanwazi, he quickly changed the subject and talked about the business: "Tell me, where are we going to buy things?"

"Oh……"

After Shanwazi's introduction, Cheng Duo discovered that the self-sufficiency of this ancient village was much stronger than that of a big city.

First of all, they grow their own grain and vegetables, and raise livestock. In addition, some villages also have family businesses such as bean workshops, oil workshops, and blacksmith shops.

Like the bean dregs cake he ate before, it was sold at the oil workshop in Yangshu Village, and it cost a penny a bowl, which was much cheaper than wheat flour.

Because Cheng Duo bought tools first, they first went to the blacksmith's blacksmith's shop in Niujia Village.When passing by a big house that looked good, Cheng Duo found that there were white lanterns and white cloth hanging in front of the house, and a layer of paper money scattered on the ground.Some paper money has been soaked and dried by the rain, sticking to the ground incompletely, a cold and desolate scene...

"What's going on here?"

Shanwazi said in a low voice, "This is Master Niu's house. I heard that he offended bandits, and a dozen members of his family were killed..."

Shanwazi felt a little cold here, so he unconsciously quickened his pace.

After hearing this, Cheng Duo was thoughtful. No wonder the villagers were so scared when he first went to the village. The bandits here are so lawless.If you want to talk about chaos, it will be even more chaotic in the last days, but there are still some superficial controls in each base, at least this kind of massacre will not happen in the base.

"The government doesn't care?"

"I don't know about that." Shanwazi's eyes moved: "But I once heard my father and the uncles who worked together chatting, and they said that the government still accepts filial piety from those bandits..."

But his father didn't let him inquire, for fear that his child would go out and talk nonsense.

That is possible, the collusion of officials and bandits, in the ancient society where county magistrates could be local emperors, it was nothing more than normal.

The two came to the blacksmith's shop. The shop was full of things, such as scissors, kitchen knives, iron pans, hoes, shovels... everything.

However, the finished products sold in ancient blacksmith shops are still different from those sold in modern daily necessities stores. Things like kitchen knives, hoes, and shovels are placed on the shop without wooden handles, and customers need to buy them back and make them themselves.

Cheng Duo bought all the things he needed. Ironware was not cheap in ancient times, and it cost Cheng Duo three taels and five hundred cash for a set.

Because he bought a lot at one time, he was considered a big customer, so blacksmith Niu specially gave him a basket for his convenience.

Cheng Duo put the iron pot on his back, and suddenly asked Blacksmith Niu, "Do you sell weapons like knives or bows?"

Blacksmith Niu was taken aback, and smiled awkwardly: "The guest is joking, how dare I hit those things, isn't it just a matter of life?"

Cheng Duo could almost tell by looking at his expression, if someone paid a lot of money, he would definitely be able to beat him secretly.It's just that I don't dare to promise because of my face.

"To tell you the truth, I'm a hunter. I bought weapons just to go hunting in the mountains. There is no other meaning."

Blacksmith Niu nodded, his face softened a little, but he still didn't say anything.

Cheng Duo didn't force it, let's talk about it later when we get to know each other well.He has now bought an axe, a hatchet, and a small knife for skinning, which are enough for the time being.

After buying ironware, Cheng Duo went to the adjacent carpenter's house to order doors, windows, tables, chairs, benches, beds, cabinets and other furniture.Especially the bed, Cheng Duo has had enough of eating and sleeping in the open, and he is willing to spend more money if he can live more comfortably.

After that, Cheng Duo originally planned to buy clothes and bedding, but Shanwazi told him that they didn't have finished products here.The women weavers can only weave cloth, and every household buys it and sews it by themselves.

However, there were cotton players, so Cheng Duo had several bolts of homemade cloth and two quilts on his body.Fortunately, the weather is getting hotter now, so he doesn't need to buy cotton to make cotton clothes.

In fact, Wudu County is located in the mountains of ten directions. Most of the people here wear leather, and only a few rich people specially make cotton-padded clothes.Even if it is a cotton mattress, you may only buy it once in a lifetime, and that is when you get married.

Of course, there are also those who are too poor and use wheat stalks and straw directly.Shanwazi's family sold all the quilts and directly spread wheat stalks.In fact, this is convenient, because when his youngest brother urinates, he can just take the wet wheat stalks away.

When Cheng Duo heard what Shanwazi said, he simply gave him two pennies and asked him to go back and send him a bundle of wheat stalks, so that when the bed he ordered was not delivered, he could sleep directly on the wheat stalks.

Shanwazi was overjoyed when he heard that a bundle of wheat stalks cost two cents, so he immediately agreed.

Originally, Cheng Duo felt that there were too many things to hold, so he planned to go back first.Unexpectedly, when the two of them walked halfway, they happened to meet the shopkeeper Zhou who was carrying the burden.

Cheng Duo simply wrapped everything in his bag except for women, but he was responsible for delivering it.

Of course, Merchandiser Zhou did not refuse. He usually sells goods in various villages with a burden. Sometimes he is unlucky and sells two hair ropes in one village.This big customer has rounded up most of his stuff, and he wants to order another one!

Zhou Merchant originally thought that his guest's home was in good condition, but who knew that when he went to the place, there were two collapsed houses in front of him...

Merchant Zhou: Here, he won’t encounter someone who tricks him into robbing him, right?

Fortunately, Cheng Duo was very straightforward in giving the money, and even paid a deposit.Shopkeeper Zhou made an appointment with him on the next delivery time, and quickly left with an empty load.

Brother Yong was startled when he saw the pile of goods like a hill: "Why did you buy so many?"

Cheng Duo touched his nose: "It's okay, just have more, save it and use it slowly."

In fact, he was too lazy to choose, and it was not convenient to buy anything in this rural village, so he simply bought everything at once.

Shanwazi was also surprised by Cheng Duo's generosity. This person spent almost five or six taels of silver on shopping all afternoon and paying a deposit!

His father may not be able to earn forty Wen a day, and he spends it in a day, which is almost equal to his father's four months' wages.

No wonder Shanwazi was shocked. Shanwazi's father's ability to find a job in Shilipo was enough to make the villagers envious. Those in the village who only knew how to farm were not as good as him.

It's just that he spends a lot of money living outside. Coupled with debts and many children, the family is still struggling.

Cheng Duo didn't know much about silver at first, but he thought Meng Ji didn't give too much money before. After buying a bunch of them, he looked back and found that silver was quite forbidden to spend.

It seems that he missed that guy, and the soldiers are not poor.

Meng Ji, who returned to the camp, just wanted to smile wryly. When he went to the Rong people before, the general asked him to bring a little extra just in case. In case there was a need to bribe someone, he could play it by ear.

In fact, the money was not only borrowed from the accountant, but also his private house that he had saved over the years.After being taken away by Cheng Duo, he returned to the pre-liberation.

Of course, Meng Ji didn't know what liberation was. He just wanted to use the Rong people he brought back with great difficulty and the roster he had protected with his life to make the general forget about borrowing money from the accountant...

With the money, Cheng Duo went to Mr. Li to buy some grains such as wheat flour, soybeans, and cornmeal (sorghum is too thick, and Cheng Duo didn't want to eat that).Contrary to Cheng Duo's expectations, it seems that there are no sweet potatoes and potatoes in Daxia.However, there are too few paddy fields in Wudu County, and Li Sanye's family does not have any, so he did not buy rice.

Of course, the amount of grain Cheng Duo bought was not too much. He didn't even have a roof tile to protect him from the wind and rain. Did he buy so much grain and wait for it to get moldy?

Speaking of tiles, Cheng Duo finally found out what he forgot.

That night, when he looked at the starry sky with wheat stems and cloth as his pillow, he belatedly remembered that he forgot to ask about tiles.

But before this house was paved with wheat stalks, it seems that in the whole Yang'er Village, there is not a single house with roof tiles.He has been here for so long, and the only decent house he has seen is the house of Mr. Niu who was wiped out.

I don't know where they shipped the tiles from, maybe from that far away market...

When Cheng Duo woke up in the morning, Brother Yong had already arrived. Seeing him extravagantly using a whole piece of cloth under his body as a bed sheet, Brother Yong felt that he was a prodigal.

Cheng Duo yawned and sat up, "You're here? Help me make breakfast, I'll wash up..."

After speaking, without waiting for Brother Yong to agree, he went on his own.

Cheng Duo was squatting by the mountain stream to wash, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Brother Yong go obediently, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled up.It's not that he avoids cooking, but that his cooking skills are really bad.Last night, he managed to get an iron pan and bought oil from Doufang. He extravagantly baked pancakes to eat, but accidentally burned them...

Brother Yong looked at the burnt pot and the layer of soybean oil in it, and kept scolding the prodigal son in his heart.

He put the oil on the noodles in a bowl, washed the pot again, and then steamed a pot of wheat and corn noodles for Cheng Duo.Seeing cabbage next to it, I fried another bowl, just to use up the little leftover oil.

Cheng Duo was very dissatisfied: "It's too bland, put more oil in the cooking next time."

He obviously bought such a big pot, why would he be reluctant to use it?

So much oil, how can it be light?next time...

Brother Yong gritted his teeth angrily: "There will be no next time."

Probably because he couldn't understand Cheng Duo's waste, Brother Yong contradicted him for the first time.

"What?" Cheng Duo didn't react for a while.

Brother Yong glanced at him, his momentum slowly receded, and he muttered softly, "I'm here to grow vegetables for you, not to cook."

Cheng Duo gnawed the cornbread and picked up vegetables for a moment: This little brother is quite smart, it seems that he can't do it if he keeps fooling around...

He thought for a while, and tentatively said, "I can give you money."

"I'll give you ten... two coins for one time, what do you think? Then you can eat with me, and you can eat what I eat... just before the house is built, I will make it myself in the future."

Brother Yong is a little bit tempted, and he cooks a meal for two cents, and the food is also included. There is no more profitable job than this.

"Then, then you are responsible for preparing the ingredients."

"Of course." Cheng Duo nodded, because the little brother was so stingy, he was afraid that he would be asked to prepare the ingredients, this guy would feed him a vegetarian diet every day, and sooner or later he would turn into a rabbit.

"Well, before the house is built." Brother Yong said a little coyly, but he was really happy.Even if Cheng Duo only ate two meals a day, he could still earn four Wen and save his rations.

People depend on food, and the first thing Cheng Duo built was the kitchen.Because he didn't know where to buy tiles, he extravagantly nailed a row of wooden boards on the kitchen roof, and then spread thick wheat stems on top of them.

Although there is no guarantee that it will not leak at all, at least it is much more luxurious than those roofs in the village.

In fact, thanks to Cheng Duo's great strength, cutting down trees is not a problem for him at all.Behind his house is another whole forest. Although Cheng Duo didn't know the species of the tree, he specially picked the thick and strong one to cut the planks.

After the line is drawn and the two ends are opened, a flat wooden board is formed with an axe.

Brother Yong has already cut the weeds in the field, and while digging the ground with a hoe, he cleaned up the grass roots, and when he stopped for a rest, he watched Cheng Duo scratching the board like tofu, envious every day...

Cheng Duo was almost too busy, he put down his work, turned around and picked up the hatchet: "I'll go up the mountain, don't run around."

Brother Yong let out an "oh", and after two days, he has gotten used to it.

This man is a carnivore, and every time he goes up the mountain, he will definitely gain something.Brother Yong couldn't help licking his lips when he thought of the braised rabbit meat he ate yesterday.

Cheng Duo's food here is so good that he wants his house to be repaired slowly...