EBE Chapter 186: Being strong is the real skill
Chapter 186: Being strong is the real skill
Zhou Xing had a distressed look on her face. There was no such person in the Zhou family, but when she was in the village, she had seen men beating their wives, and there were many mothers-in-law who mistreat their daughters-in-law, not to mention those she had seen along the way since she fled. What's worse, not only the daughters-in-law but also the granddaughters and grandchildren were abandoned. Such families were even more terrifying than a den of bandits.
Although Zhou Guo is young, he is very capable and mature in his work, so it is easy for people to overlook his age. Zhou Xing is also desperate and is trying all kinds of methods. She is old and doesn't have many years left at home. Her father is gone, her mother is like this, her grandparents are gone, and her brother is clueless. She really doesn't know what to do in the future, nor what to do with her brothers and sisters. There is no one to help her make decisions.
These things should have been discussed with Li, but Li was busy from day to night, and the two of them rarely had time to sit down and chat alone.
Zhou Guo looked at Zhou Xing in surprise, not knowing that she had so many things weighing on her mind. Thinking about this fucked up ancient times, he comforted her, "It's okay, sister. You still have us. You have so many family members, so many brothers in your natal family. I don't believe that others dare to bully you easily. If you really can't live well, come back. We will build a bigger house and reserve a room for you. When you get married, this room will also be reserved for you. If your in-laws bully you, we will divorce them. Can't the family afford to feed you?"
Zhou Xing burst into laughter, feeling relieved. She smiled and said, "You are talking so logically. Have you forgotten that you will get married when you grow up?"
Zhou Guo said, "I'm still young, who knows what the future will be like, maybe I won't get married for the rest of my life. Sister, don't worry, whether I get married or not, I will always be your backer in the future. If you are wronged, I will definitely go to your house to seek justice for you, and I can knock people down with one punch. When others see that you have such a powerful sister, so many powerful brothers and sisters, and an uncle, who dares to mess with you?"
Zhou Xing touched her head and smiled with tears in her eyes. She didn't know why, but after hearing her sister's words, she was no longer afraid or nervous about the future. "You haven't married yet. You are still a child."
Zhou Guo said seriously, "I'm telling the truth. Just wait and see. Sister, don't be afraid. I'll see. From now on, you can practice with us every morning. Let's do the horse stance first."
Zhou Xing waved her hands in surprise, "Ah, I can't learn it. I'm already so old, and I'm still doing horse stance. If someone sees me doing it, they'll gossip about me."
The horse stance method is indeed not suitable for girls of their age. When everyone was watching for fun and following suit to do the horse stance, parents did not allow the older daughters in the family to come out, and the girls themselves felt embarrassed to watch.
Zhou Guo said, "Who would look at you? It was dark when we got up. We live at the end of the village. Aunt Qian's family is the only one nearby. They are so far away from us. We are our family. Why should you be afraid? I don't ask you to learn any kung fu. Just do horse stance and practice it every day. After one or two years, your lower body will be as stable as a rock. Ordinary people can't withstand a kick from you. If your future husband dares to hit you, you will kick him and break his legs. Will he dare to hit you? He will be obedient to you."
Zhou Xing was silent and thoughtful.
Zhou Guo didn't disturb her and let her think slowly. He continued to stir-fry. After stir-frying for a while, he added water and stewed it. It felt almost the same when cooking meat. After adding water, he added pine mushrooms. There was more meat now, so there was no need to add so many pine mushrooms. There were still so many wild vegetables.
I put in a few handfuls of dry ones, and they became quite swollen after soaking.
Cover with lid and simmer over high heat.
She took this opportunity to pour out the river shrimps in the bamboo tube. There was actually half a bowl of it. When there were too many shrimps in the tube, it became crowded, and without oxygen, many of them died. The taste was bad when they died, so she picked out the living ones, only a small half. She spread the rest in a clean basket and hung it on the fence, waiting for the sun to dry them.
She planned to stir-fry the remaining half bowl with wild onions and add more oil, and leave this dish for her master to drink with wine.
But there was no pot, and there was nothing to put in the iron pot. She took a look and simply moved the stone slab used to fry the mushroom slices yesterday and placed it on the stove that had been set up yesterday. She just had to wait until the shrimps were washed and then she could fry them.
"I've decided!" A voice suddenly appeared beside her, startling her. She turned around and saw Zhou Xing approaching her with sparkling eyes and an excited look on her face. "Guoguo, I've decided. You're right. It's better to rely on myself than on anyone else. Only when I become powerful can others be afraid of me and dare not look down on me. Tomorrow I will stand up with you and do horse stance."
After saying that, he walked excitedly to the pot, lifted the lid, stirred it vigorously with a spatula, then covered the lid with satisfaction, clapped his hands, and sat down by the fire.
Zhou Guo: “…” She didn’t seem to have said that, did she?
"The meal is not ready yet?" said the old man as he walked in from outside.
Zhou Guo looked back and saw the old man coming back from the mountain with a lot of bags and a few dead branches stuck in his hair. How many things did he find that day? Couldn't he transport them all in one trip? Did he have to make a second trip?
"Master, what's in your sacks?" She was curious. The two sacks couldn't be filled with pine mushrooms again, right? Wasn't it said that this thing was hard to find? Now the master could dig four sacks a day by himself?
Zhou Xing also came over to take a look, staring at the prey on the ground in amazement. There were three lively rabbits, a badger, and a dead pheasant. Every time the old man went into the mountains, it was like he went to the city to buy goods. Every time he came back, he would bring a lot of things to the ground.
The old man wiped the sweat off his face. "They are all pine mushrooms. There are a lot of people at home these past two days. Let's give them the fresh ones now. The dry ones should be saved for winter. And this rabbit, keep it alive and raise it together with the previous rabbits. If there is no meat to eat in winter, we can kill it and eat the meat."
Zhou Guo looked at the old man's red face and fell silent. He didn't know how long he had been walking in the mountains to bring back so many things. He was not young anymore. In the final analysis, this family was too poor, which forced the master to run around in the mountains every day.
If she had enough money and ability, why would the old man need to run around in the mountains like this? Wouldn't it be nice to stay at home and grow flowers and vegetables?
"Master, you should stay at home more. If you are really free, how about digging out those acres of land and growing vegetables?" Zhou Guo really couldn't bear to let him go to the mountains. Don't old people like to grow vegetables?
The old man said, "You really think highly of me. How can I grow vegetables? And what will you eat if I stay at home? Do you eat wild vegetables every day?"
Zhou Guo said, "We don't have to eat wild vegetables every day. Once I dig out some vegetables from this few acres of land and plant them, we'll have plenty to eat. When the house is built, we'll build two chicken coops in the backyard and raise some chicks. They'll lay eggs every day, and we'll have both eggs and meat to eat."
The old man squinted at her and said, "The ground hasn't even been turned over yet. How long will it take for your vegetables to grow? Are we going to live on empty air?"