Chapter 23: Stabilizing the Basics (Part 3)
After teaching his junior brothers to complete the word recognition for the day, Huo Chong took his fourth junior brother to Zhujia Village. When Zhu Erniu saw Huo Chong coming, he quickly opened the door and welcomed Huo Chong in. After Huo Chong and his fourth junior brother entered the courtyard, Zhu Erniu quickly closed the door again. It can be seen that he was still in shock about the disaster that almost caused him to suffer a calamity a few days ago.
The yard had been restored to its original state, at least the broken bricks and tiles on the ground had been cleaned up. Zhu Erniu asked the captain if he would come again.
Huo Chong knew that during the two days when the head of the police was visiting Zhujia Village, Uncle Zhu's gang would not dare to harass Zhu Erniu again. But this kind of thing cannot be used to show off. The two of them sat down, and Huo Chong handed the heavy purse to Zhu Erniu. Zhu Erniu tightly grasped the purse and said a little shyly: "How can I feel embarrassed? I am sorry."
Huo Chong answered readily, "This is the money that Second Brother Zhu should take. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. Second Brother Zhu, please count it and see if I took the wrong amount."
Zhu Erniu no longer mentioned the matter of the head of the police and started to count the money. Although Huo Chong really wanted to give Zhu Erniu money, he regretted it after five minutes. Zhu Erniu really started to count the money in front of Huo Chong, counting one by one, fifteen by twenty. Huo Chong missed the days of mobile payment, where you could just enter the number and it would be done. With this method of counting, it was unknown how long Zhu Erniu would have to count.
Fortunately, Zhu Erniu only counted once and did not count repeatedly. Even so, Huo Chong had already found time to teach his fourth junior brother seven or eight words.
"Brother Huo, the amount of money matches." Zhu Erniu said with a long sigh.
Huo Chong finally taught his fourth apprentice brother how to make wine from potatoes, sweet potatoes, and sat back at the table. He went straight to the point. "Second Brother Zhu, is there anyone growing potatoes here?"
"Potatoes?" Zhu Erniu was a little confused. After Huo Chong explained a little more, Zhu Erniu suddenly understood and answered, "Brother Huo is talking about ground beans. I have seen them."
"Who planted the ground beans?" Huo Chong asked.
Zhu Erniu thought for a moment and said, "We all grow sweet potatoes here, no one grows ground beans. Brother Huo, ground beans are poisonous, no one dares to grow them."
Sweet potato is sweet potato, which is also the word Huo Chong taught his junior. Hearing Zhu Erniu understand this very well, Huo Chong felt that it could save him a lot of effort, so he asked: "Second brother, it would be fine if someone grows it outside. But what's the price?"
Zhu Erniu was puzzled. "Ground beans are cheap. They don't taste good either. What do you want to do with them, brother Huo?"
"Making wine." Huo Chong readily expressed his idea.
"Can ground beans be used to make wine?" Zhu Erniu was still puzzled.
"Why not? It's just that the wine is stronger." Huo Chong is very familiar with potato wine in Europe. It is almost pure starch brewed wine, which is basically equivalent to alcohol. The so-called different flavors refer to the addition of different amounts of distilled water. Huo Chong originally didn't like strong liquor. After confirming this from his bartending friend, Huo Chong never drank a single sip of vodka.
Zhu Erniu thought for a moment and said, "How about Brother Huo go with me to take a look?"
"Okay. When do we leave?" Huo Chong agreed. Xu Youlin had high expectations for the strong liquor, and Huo Chong had the same expectation. And it was still a question whether the current koji was suitable for potato wine. Including the experimental time, it took about two months.
Zhu Erniu suddenly remembered something and said anxiously, "Brother Huo, I heard there are wolves on the road. We have to bring weapons with us."
"Let's set off tomorrow." Huo Chong replied.
When they were going back, the fourth apprentice brother asked, "Big Brother, you are going out again."
"right."
"Take me with you." Fourth Junior Brother Zhu Xiushan begged.
The fourth apprentice brother is sixteen this year, three years younger than the third apprentice brother. He has eaten well these days, and his face is much rosier than when he first met Huo Chong. Like the fifth apprentice brother Zhu Youcai, the fourth apprentice brother is also from Zhujia Village. Huo Chong didn't really want to take him to such an important event.
Finally, he could only say, "Junior brother, your third senior brother hasn't learned as many characters as you have. This time I took him out, and I just wanted to teach him to recognize more characters."
The fourth junior brother was anxious when he heard this, "I will learn to read with you, too."
"I'm sorry to trouble you about this. Lao Liu is only fourteen this year, but actually he's only thirteen. You're going to leave him home alone? I'm worried."
Hearing this, the fourth apprentice brother pouted and became unhappy. Huo Chong couldn't help but laugh, "Fourth apprentice brother, don't be in a hurry now. There are many days to come. If you want to go now, I will have to let you take people with me after I finish the journey. You will have to go even if you don't want to. Don't be in a hurry."
"Really?" Fourth Junior Brother became interested again.
The brothers chatted and laughed all the way. When they arrived at the door of their home, Huo Chong asked his fourth brother to go back first, and he went to the hunter at the village to borrow a hunting fork. Anything of value in the house was taken away when Zhu Youquan broke in. Huo Chong didn't have time to fight again, and after using the hunter's hunting fork to kill a wild boar last time, he felt that the hunter's tools were really useful.
After telling Liu the purpose, Liu nodded repeatedly, "I don't know what happened, but wolves have returned to the mountains since the beginning of spring. Brother Huo, you have to be careful when you go on long journeys."
As he spoke, he went to get two hunting forks. Huo Chong took the hunting forks and asked, "How is sister-in-law? Is she feeling better?"
"Much better, much better. After eating the pig liver , I am not so weird anymore. The cut on my mouth is also healed." The hunter replied quickly. After that, the hunter lowered his voice and asked, "Brother Huo, is your sister-in-law really possessed by evil spirits?"
Huo Chong immediately waved his hands, "Of course not. My sister-in-law is such a bright person, how could so many evil people dare to approach her. Brother Liu, if you want to be possessed by evil spirits, you must have evil hearts first. People say that if you are not from the same family, you will not enter the same door."
Hunter Liu nodded repeatedly. When Huo Chong returned home, he saw that his fourth apprentice brother began to show off to the third and sixth apprentice brothers. Seeing that there was no leftovers in the doghouse, Huo Chong could only sigh in his heart.
The next morning, Huo Chong brought Tie Niu and met up with Zhu Erniu. Zhu Erniu said that the family lived more than fifty miles away, so the three of them pushed two wheelbarrows and headed straight for the family that Zhu Erniu mentioned.
By the evening, the sun had already set behind the mountain. The three of them had just found a place on the side of the road when Huo Chong heard a sound similar to that of a husky. It was still spring, and although the branches and leaves of the trees were dense, there were not many animals. Listening to the wolf howling, Huo Chong couldn't help but laugh and said, "From the sound, it seems that the wolf is very hungry."
The other two were not as relaxed as Huo Chong. They were already holding their hunting forks with nervous faces. After hearing what Huo Chong said, the two were even more frightened. Tie Niu said tremblingly: "Big Brother, don't scare me. If this wolf is hungry, won't it want to eat us even more?"
"What a joke! Wolves are the ancestors of dogs. They only dare to walk outside the fire circle. At that time, our ancestors ate the prey and threw away the bones, and the wolves followed to gnaw on them. In order to gnaw on the bones, they followed our ancestors. Gradually, our ancestors picked up little wolf cubs and raised them. As time went by, they turned into dogs."
The two of them were quite relaxed after hearing what Huo Chong said. Zhu Erniu turned around and asked, "Brother Huo, what you said sounds like the truth. How can a wolf be raised into a dog? If we pick up a wolf cub, can we raise it into a dog?"
Huo Chong replied: "Raise dozens of litters, spend a hundred years, and they will definitely turn into dogs for you to see."
"Another hundred years. Doesn't that mean we have to raise our grandchildren until they grow up? Will we still be able to see them?"
Everyone chatted and laughed, and the tension passed.
However, no one dared to relax during the night watch. Joking aside, it was no joke if a wolf came to bite people. Fortunately, nothing happened that night. The next day, the three of them continued to move forward and arrived at the house of the bean farmer.
When the old man heard that Zhu Erniu had brought people to buy ground beans, he smiled brightly and asked the young man to bring out a basket. While waiting, he patted his chest and said, "I told you, my ground beans are known to everyone in the surrounding area, and everyone says they are good!"
Ignoring the old man's boasting, Huo Chong and the others were disappointed when they took a look at the potatoes. These potatoes were neither improved nor scientifically grown. They were uneven in size and looked crooked.
Seeing Huo Chong's bad face, the old man's boasting became much quieter. When he talked about the price, he didn't dare to ask for too high. Even so, Huo Chong immediately shook his head, "Uncle, do you want to sell these beans at the price of wheat?"
The old man was immediately excited when he heard this, "Why are you talking so rudely, young man? You don't buy my beans, but you can't say my beans are bad!"
Hearing this, Zhu Erniu hurriedly tried to smooth things over. Tieniu rushed to confront the old man, "My senior brother said that ground beans are expensive, so they must be expensive."
"What are you talking about?" the old man said angrily.
Huo Chong immediately stopped his third apprentice brother from arguing with the old man. After the old man cursed a few more times, Huo Chong said, "Master, this field produces at least 1,000 kilograms of beans per mu. Reduce the price you asked for by 50%. I will buy 3,000 kilograms. Otherwise, I will go back."
The old man rolled his eyes, and after a moment he cursed, "Get lost, there is no such cheap price."
Huo Chong stopped bargaining and pulled Zhu Erniu and his third apprentice brother away. Zhu Erniu wanted to bargain with the old man again, but unfortunately he didn't have enough strength and was almost dragged away by Huo Chong. In the end, he could only keep up with Huo Chong's pace and just complained: "Brother Huo, I don't know any other places that grow beans."
"Don't be anxious. If he doesn't sell it to us, who else can he sell it to?" Huo Chong said in a low voice.
As a result, they could not see the man there, and the old man still did not lower the price. The three of them stopped at the intersection, and Zhu Erniu complained again.
Huo Chong also felt that he might not have a deep understanding of agricultural product trading in this era, or that he had bargained too hard. But he had already left, and he didn't want to go back and get ripped off, so he walked and looked around to see if anyone else was also planting beans. After walking for a while, Huo Chong remembered that he had no idea what potato vines looked like.
Moreover, this generation is not flat land. Various high and low slopes block the view, and it is not easy to see other people's land.
But he heard a voice shouting from far behind him, "Brother Zhu, wait a minute."
Huo Chong was delighted and quickly ordered the two of them, "Keep a straight face and don't laugh."
The one who caught up was the old man's son. He caught up with Huo Chong and the others breathlessly and asked, "Do you have cash with you?"
When the other two heard this, their faces became even more serious. Huo Chong silently took out a money bag and shook it. A dull sound of a large number of copper coins rubbing against each other came from it.
The man's face was full of joy. "I can only sell you 500 kilograms. If I sell more, I will lose money."
When they returned to the old man's house to trade, some men came in groups of three or two. Seeing them standing outside, Tie Niu quickly tightened his grip on the hunting fork he had been holding. Huo Chong whispered, "Put the fork down."
"What if they want to rob us?" Tie Niu asked nervously. Judging from where the group of people were standing, they did seem to be about to surround us.
"You've been holding the fork, maybe those guys are afraid that we'll steal it." Huo Chong could only try his best to appease Tie Niu. At the same time, he looked at the hunting fork at his feet. Even if they were fighting each other, Huo Chong personally liked to attack suddenly. Such a posture lacked the preparation for a surprise attack.
Fortunately, the transaction was quite peaceful. After weighing and paying, Huo Chong pushed the cart away, and the group of people dispersed on their own.
A cart weighs more than 200 pounds, so it is very difficult to push it. After walking for more than ten miles, the three of them were exhausted. When they rested, Zhu Erniu and Li Tieniu fell asleep beside the wheelbarrow. Huo Chong didn't want to sleep and didn't dare to sleep, so he simply stood on the high place on the roadside to watch the scenery.
Humans are very adaptable. Huo Chong was once delighted by this idyllic scenery, but now he couldn't feel anything. Just as he was about to stretch his body, he saw a corpse lying in the open space in the distance.
The body looked like a girl, her clothes were dirty, and she was lying stiffly on the ground with her face up.
Huo Chong felt a little reluctant and wanted to bury the girl, but he was worried that he could not bear the stimulation. Just as he was in a dilemma, he saw two gray-yellow wolves approaching the girl's body.
Huo Chong felt that he had no confidence in defeating these two beasts, so he just held the hunting fork tightly. The wild wolves would not hurt anyone after they were full, so Huo Chong and his companions would be much safer even if they walked at night.
The wolves gradually approached and then ran back a few steps. This cautiousness was not like that of a vicious wolf. Finally, the two wolves arrived near the girl's body. One wolf had already started to try to gnaw on the body's legs.
The knife flashed, and the girl raised her arm and swung the knife horizontally. The wolf that was biting the girl's leg made a sound like a dog barking, probably because it was injured.
Oh my god! Huo Chong was shocked. Was she pretending to be dead? After a moment, Huo Chong figured it out rationally. This girl could actually pretend to be dead to lure the wolf over and kill it.
Who is this girl? How dare she do such a dangerous thing?
Before Huo Chong could figure it out, he saw that the two wolves did not flee in panic, but instead faced the girl in a pincer attack. Perhaps they were ferocious after being injured and wanted to fight the girl to the death.
The girl also stood up shakily, holding a knife that was too long for her, ready to fight to the death with the two hungry wolves.
Huo Chong picked up his hunting fork and headed straight for the clearing. He had heard of wolves eating people, but he had never seen one. Killing wild wolves was a legendary story. When the protagonist of the story was a girl, he had to go and see it.
