Knock knock!
"Fellow villagers, please don't go to Jinji Mountain to chop firewood in the near future. Zhao Laosan has discovered four blind bears..."
Xu Dashan walked and banged the gong, and soon the news spread throughout the small mountain village.
Zhao Zheng thought that even though there were intrigues among the villagers, there was still the human touch of the countryside.
When the news reached the Ma family, Ma Dazhu sneered, "Four blind bears? He's talking nonsense! If there really were four, he would have been eaten by the blind bears long ago!"
Old Man Ma said, "Although Zhao Laosan isn't a serious man, he wouldn't lie about something like this. I was the one who found the bear's feces. Now we can basically confirm that the bear didn't hibernate and went down the mountain."
"Dad, we haven't hunted any prey in a while. If this continues, we'll hardly have enough to eat." Ma Ergen said, "If you ask me, we should take the hunting dogs and go to Jinji Mountain. If we can hunt a blind bear, our family will have a better winter."
"The second brother is right. Our family has been hunters for generations. It's not like we haven't hunted bears before." Ma Dazhu was furious. He couldn't provide food to Zheng Chunmei these days and was despised.
His mind is now full of thoughts about letting Zheng Chunmei have some food and getting Hu Niu to recognize him as her godfather.
Old Man Ma was also tempted. "Just these people from our family are not enough. They are four hungry blind bears. It's better to call more people. There are a few good people in Xiaomao Village. Call them together. Dazhu, you go now..."
Ma Dazhu was excited. "Okay, Ergen, you come with me."
....
When they got home, Yang Zhaodi and her two daughters hurried over, some unloading firewood and some handing water.
Zhao Zheng drank some warm water and then sat down on the earthen kang to rest contentedly.
"Father-in-law, did you spot a blind bear on Jinji Mountain today?" Yang Zhaodi said, "I'd better not go to Jinji Mountain anymore. It's too dangerous."
Zhao Zheng smiled and said without explaining, "I won't be going these days."
Hearing this, Yang Zhaodi breathed a sigh of relief and took out the food she had prepared in advance, "Father-in-law, let's eat."
"Are the salted duck eggs ready?"
"It's too obvious during the day, so we do it at night," said Zhang Xiaoe.
Zhao Zheng nodded, that's right, don't show off your wealth.
These days, even eating corn porridge is a treat, not to mention using precious duck eggs to make salted eggs, which would make the villagers jealous and criticize you.
"Father-in-law, my uncle came to our house today."
Zhao Zheng frowned, "What is he doing here?"
Yang Zhaodi sighed, "She said grandma wants you to come over."
"It's definitely not a good thing." Zhao Zheng said with a cold face. He was busy making money and improving his life. It would have been fine if he didn't go to find him, but she actually had the audacity to come to his door.
Yang Zhaodi actually didn't want Zhao Zheng to go, because every time her uncle came, he either asked for money or food, and always found ways to take away the good things from the house.
Grandma was also very partial, favoring my eldest uncle and fourth uncle. Even my married aunt would often come to ask for money.
My father-in-law is the kind of person who is neither loved by my uncle nor my grandmother.
But as a junior, she didn't dare say much about this matter.
Zhang Xiao'e asked nervously, "Uncle, don't you think you know that we have canned persimmons and salted duck eggs?"
Zhao Zhenghao laughed and said, "We made the cans secretly at night. He couldn't possibly know. Even if he knew, I wouldn't give it to him."
Zhang Xiao'e breathed a sigh of relief, but she was still a little skeptical.
My father-in-law is a filial man. He listens to my grandmother very much and treats his eldest brother as his father. Otherwise, our family would not be so miserable.
"Let's not talk about this unlucky thing. Let's eat first, and then we'll make salted duck eggs." Zhao Zheng made up his mind to go and take a look tomorrow.
After eating and drinking, Yang Zhaodi put twenty duck eggs into water and cooked them with salt, then mixed cooking oil and salt into the yellow mud, and finally put the salted duck eggs in.
Only in this way can the salted duck eggs produce oil.
Finally, seal it with a lid and you can eat it after a while.
After working for almost an hour, it was already dark.
But today, Zheng Chunmei didn't come.
Are you angry?
Zhao Zheng sneered, saying, "The dog will come naturally when it is hungry."
...
The next day, Zhao Zheng slept until he woke up naturally.
Wearing a padded jacket and cotton trousers, covered with a cotton-lined mattress, and with the kang providing continuous heating, Zhao Zheng even sweated all over while sleeping.
I took a bucket of hot water and looked into the water tank, and found that it was covered with a thick layer of ice.
"This is horrible weather. The temperature outside must be below minus ten degrees Celsius." Zhao Zheng washed his face, had breakfast and went out. The cold wind made his face hurt.
With a light touch, his face cracked.
His hands also looked very worn.
However, Zhaodi and her sister-in-law were even worse off than him. Not only did they have frostbite on their hands and feet, but they also had frostbite on their faces and ears.
Better-off families would apply wax to keep warm, while the rich and powerful would use ointment. Moreover, they had furs and heaters, so they would not get frostbite at all.
The poor had no clothes to wear, not even wax or oil.
This damn world doesn't give the poor any chance to survive.
He bought two things from the mall and applied them on his hands and face. The oily feeling immediately alleviated the stinging sensation caused by the cold wind.
"Zhaodi, Xiao'e, come here!"
He called the two women over and handed them the clam shells and frostbite cream in his hand. "This is clam oil. I exchanged it for it at the big market before. I forgot to give it to you two the day before yesterday. Apply it on your hands and face to protect your skin from the cold."
"This is frostbite cream. Apply it to the frostbite areas. Apply it frequently. Use less cold water these two days. Heat hot water for washing dishes and clothes. Don't worry about the firewood. I'll find a solution when it runs out."
You should love your own daughter-in-law.
The two women were moved again.
"Father-in-law, have you applied it?" Yang Zhaodi asked.
"I've applied it." Zhao Zheng waved his hand. "I'm going to see my mother. You guys stay home. When I come back, I'll dig a cellar for our house."
Zhao Zheng stayed at home for the past few days to improve the hardware facilities at home.
Looking up at the gloomy sky, he felt that it was likely to snow.
If you don't take precautions in advance, it will be very troublesome.
Soon, Zhao Zheng arrived at the Zhao family house.
The reason why it is called a house is because Zhao Zheng's grandfather was a landlord.
It's just that his grandfather was a prodigal son and squandered all the family fortune, but fortunately he left some land.
Otherwise, Zhao Zheng could only squeeze together with his brothers.
However, the Zhao family's house was almost collapsed, and his eldest brother Zhao Wei had no money to repair it.
"Dad, Third Uncle is here." Nephew Zhao Dabao shouted into the house.
In the memory of my previous life, this kid was an ungrateful person. My previous life was very nice to him, but this kid didn't respect my previous life at all.
Later, after his two sons died in the war, his predecessor became even more servile to his eldest brother's family.
There is an old saying in the countryside that goes, "If you have a nephew standing in front of your door, you are not considered a family without a son."
This is also why the predecessor trusted his elder brother so much.
Besides being foolishly filial and loyal, it's also because he has no descendants!
But his predecessor was also a fool. He never thought that it was because of Zhao Wei's deception that his two adopted sons died tragically on the battlefield!