Something is better than nothing, especially in this mountain. It is so rare to be able to drink a bowl of sugar water after traveling for a long time. Liu Shuyang rushed into the house in a hurry.
Lin Jinxiao had some small chairs brought over and asked Chu Nanzhi to sit down first. Then he whispered, "It's getting late today. We've only traveled half the distance. Let's rest here for one night and continue our journey tomorrow."
"Um."
The mountains were already full of dangers, and the situation was even more unpredictable at night. Thinking of the dreams he had been having for the past few days, Chu Nanzhi nodded in obedience.
Inadvertently seeing his chapped lips and looking at the sugar water in his hand, Chu Nanzhi asked with concern: "You didn't drink it?"
"I'm not thirsty."
Lin Jinxiao said calmly, showing a nonchalant expression.
Ma Defu noticed some clues, and shouted towards his uncle Ma Defu, who was nodding and bowing to answer Hu Maoxi in the center of the dam: "Uncle, you are stingy, you are not willing to give out any candy."
When Ma Defu heard this, he ran over with a bitter look on his face, glared at his nephew and explained humbly:
"Mrs. Chu, don't listen to this brat's nonsense. This candy is already in short supply. Qingfu was injured at the beginning of the month. My wife went down the mountain and bought half a catty. There was only the bottom left. The poor man suddenly arrived. In a hurry,
I can't even boil water, let alone boil water."
"Old man, there's no need to say anything. It's very inconvenient for everyone in the Yamen to be here today. I would also like to ask you to prepare more meals and tidy up a few more rooms for the brothers to take turns to rest."
Lin Jinxiao interrupted him and gave instructions.
"What are you talking about, Shangguan?"
Ma Defu crouched and replied with sincerity: "It is really an honor for the poor people to stay here. Besides, Mr. Hu also gave the poor people ten taels of silver. The poor people will do their best to entertain all the poor people."
"Okay, go get ready."
After Lin Jinxiao finished speaking, he saw the water stains on Si Bao's clothes, so he had to take the bowl and feed the little guy some water himself.
Si Bao took a sip, looked at the remaining sugar water in the bowl, and said softly with dark eyes: "Dad, I'll leave this for you to drink."
"Dad, I'll drink it later."
Lin Jinxiao continued to feed the little guy the sugar water with a gentle look on his face, and then handed the bowl to Li Ce.
Seeing this, Chu Nanzhi handed over the sugar water in his hand and ordered: "You can drink mine. After a day of hard work, drink some sugar water to replenish your strength."
"I'll just take a rest."
Lin Jinxiao looked at her thin figure and felt distressed again. He originally wanted to take mother and daughter to the official route, but the distance was too far.
Turning his head to look at the direction of the smoke rising from the hut, he said with a smile: "Drink quickly, the water will be boiled in a while."
Chu Nanzhi took the bowl in Li Ce's hand again, divided half of it and handed it to him, and said gently: "Let's drink together."
Lin Jinxiao squinted at the firm gaze she cast, and did not refuse again. He slowly took the sugar water. Seeing that she had finished drinking the sugar water, he also took a few sips. He couldn't help but pursed his lips and said with a smile: "It's very sweet."
It feels like I have never drunk such sweet sugar water in my life.
The two looked at each other with burning eyes. Hu Maoxi quietly moved a chair over and sat down. He watched the couple push back and forth for a bowl of sugar water with a look of disdain on his face:
But there is no such public display of affection.
He held a large cattail leaf fan he had received from the Ma family in his hand and shook it dissatisfiedly for a while, and finally had to help the two of them change the subject with a sigh:
"Haikang County and Luyan Port are only separated by a mountain, but because of the dangerous Duanlong Mountain and the Lanjiang River, we have to go around for hundreds of miles to cross the road. Now the two counties are combined into one, and the detour
Funing County is not a long-term solution, Lin Xiandi still has to think of some ways to make the roads in this mountain smooth after he takes office."
"Now that the mountain road has been opened, it will be good to allow the hunters to patrol the mountain on time every month in a few days."
As Lin Jinxiao spoke, he couldn't help but secretly glance at Chu Nanzhi, who looked indifferent. He tossed and turned last night and still couldn't figure out why she insisted on making peace with him.
Now that he has become the magistrate of Luyan Port and is in charge of the coastal defense of six counties, he is the wife of a fifth-rank official family. She can be regarded as the most noble woman in the entire Luyan Port, but she has to leave him at this time.
If it were any other woman, she might be eager to come over now and think of ways to please herself, but this woman
I really can't figure it out.
Since I have promised her, I should keep my promise. What I can do now is to open up the trade routes between the two counties for her, which is convenient for her and the people of the two counties.
However, this woman also obeyed his arrangement last night. Sooner or later, he will find a way to get her back to him.
Thinking of this, Lin Jinxiao couldn't help but feel a sly secret of joy in his eyes.
A few people were silent for a while. Hu Maoxi thought of what Lin Jinxiao had ordered today and couldn't help but ask: "Brother Lin Xian, why do you suddenly want to offer a reward for hunting tigers? I have never heard of it after staying in Luyan Port for so many years.
Some people have actually seen tigers in Duanlong Mountain, but the things they heard before must be just rumors and cannot be trusted."
“Nip problems before they happen.”
Lin Jinxiao thought for a moment, no matter why she kept having such strange dreams, taking this opportunity to kill a few more jackals would also reduce the annual burden on the hunters around her. If she could be caught,
The black bear she was talking about in her novel could replenish her body even if she got bear paws.
Black bear meat is the most nutritious and can make up for the body's losses.
Presumably her body is so thin and petite because she is too weak.
When Chu Nanzhi heard the two mentioned the matter of hunting tigers, she quickly slipped away calmly.
This fact was a bit ridiculous. She didn't want to hear that because she had a nightmare, the pretty boy sent people all over the mountain to search for traces of tigers.
She ran to the hut where she had lived before and saw that Ma Laifu was checking the fish fry for her. She also went over and carefully checked each bamboo basket and found that several fish fry were dying in the water. She quickly asked Ma Laifu
He ordered: "Laifu, go and bring me two buckets of clean water."
Then he asked Liu Shuyang and Li Ce to help him pick more willow branches and fresh grass leaves, wash them and bring them over.
Si Bao stood aside and saw her taking out the fish from the bamboo basket, and asked curiously: "Aniang, why did you take the fish out?"
"They don't live long. If they continue to be kept inside, they will affect other fish."
Chu Nanzhi took out seven fish fry with white bellies, the big one weighed almost half a catty, and the small one weighed two or three taels. Then she took it to the kitchen and handed it to Ma Liu. She returned to the hut and changed the water in each bamboo basket.
I put some willow branches and grass leaves back in, which made me feel much more comfortable.
Si Bao looked at the basket not far away that was taller than himself, pouted and continued to ask: "Auntie, will something happen to Damaha?"
With the little guy's reminder, Chu Nanzhi ran to the basket and took a look, and found that two fish had turned white. She went to Ma Liu for a wooden bucket, and took a few fish given by the villagers of Sunjia Village.
The tail was taken out, leaving only the big salmon and the two fish inside, and the water was changed again, so that the basket looked much more spacious.
For dinner in the evening, Ma Liu and her daughters-in-law took out a lot of stored grain to cook. Ma Laifu left a piece of deer hind leg meat to bring to Liu Yun and the other Xiaobao tomorrow, and took all the remaining deer meat.
After coming out to cook for Ma Liu, together with a dozen fish cooked by Chu Nanzhi, I had a sumptuous dinner for nearly a hundred officers.