Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12126

Sun's face showed a hint of difficulty.

"Sigh, even I'm a little stumped when it comes to roasting dog meat."

"Why, Mother?"

"Aren't Hua'er and Lian'er both pregnant? I heard that if a pregnant woman eats dog meat, her child will be born sticking out its tongue and drooling."

amount……

Three black lines appeared on Yang Ruoqing's forehead.

The last time Luo Fengtang sent the rabbit over, it also put Sun in a difficult position.

The reason given is that if a pregnant woman eats rabbit meat, her child will be born with a cleft lip.

The rabbit was cooked, but He Lian'er was too scared to eat any, while Xiao Hua hadn't found out she was pregnant yet, so she ate it.

Later, Xiaohua also found out she was pregnant, so during this time, Mrs. Sun was filled with fear and worry.

"Oh dear, Third Sister-in-law, you're really something! Those claims are all nonsense!" Liu shook her head, denying Sun's concerns.

"Take my son Kang for example. He has a cleft lip, but I didn't eat any rabbit during the ten months I was pregnant with him. These things are all fate. Whatever fate decrees for you is what you are. Don't worry too much. It has absolutely nothing to do with rabbit meat or dog meat!"

Faced with Liu's advice, Sun only responded with a polite, perfunctory smile, without truly acknowledging Liu's words.

Because in Sun's view, Liu had no taboos when it came to eating and drinking, Sun would not really listen to what Liu said.

The eldest Sun asked, "What did the third son say?"

"The third brother meant that dog meat is fine and told me to cook it without worry, but I still think it's better to be cautious," said Madam Sun.

“Mother, the children all want to eat it,” Yang Ruoqing said.

"Yes, Hua'er and Lian'er also advised me to just burn it. At worst, they could just be cautious and not eat it themselves, and give it to the children instead."

"Hey, if all else fails, why don't you take your portion of dog meat to the pasture and eat it with Duo'er and the others?" Yang Ruoqing suggested.

When we get to the pasture, Duo'er and the others can order some other dishes, which will be like a get-together for everyone. Xiao Hua and He Lian'er can eat other things. There's so much dog meat that even just the few kids in the family can't finish it all. But if we include Duo'er and the others, there will be more people, so we can finish it all and have a good time.

Sun had actually been thinking the same thing; she wanted to invite Duo'er over to eat, but after hearing Yang Ruoqing's words, she changed her mind.

He immediately called over Xiaohua and He Lian'er: "Get ready, we're going to visit relatives at the grassland later."

"Yes, Mother, but Father has gone out."

"It's alright, I'll just leave him a message later and tell him to go straight to the pasture for lunch."

After arranging the dog meat, Liu couldn't wait to tell Yang Ruoqing the latest news from Lijia Village.

Of course, the information Liu received came from villagers in the two villages, and perhaps it was mixed with a lot of unofficial historical accounts...

“I heard from the people in Lijia Village that they heard a noise outside in the middle of the night last night. When they went out, they found Li Wei lying on the main road like a dead dog. Everyone said that he was bitten by a dog while stealing it. Five or six dogs were hiding in his yard, but he still denied stealing them, saying that someone framed him…”

"The people of Lijia Village didn't believe it. They found sparrow meat on Li Wei, which had been used to kill the dogs. Those dogs had all eaten the sparrow meat and were now unconscious..."

The dogs didn't die; once the effects of the drug wore off, they woke up and went back to their lively, energetic selves.

However, one big black dog completely disappeared.

"...The family that lost their big black dog is not to be trifled with. They're the kind of people who walk all over the place in Li Family Village. They immediately rushed to Li Wei's house demanding compensation. It's said that they even overturned the bedding off Li Wei's parents' bed and smashed the big and small pots in the kitchen. Everyone went to the village head and reported it to the authorities. They dragged Li Wei to the county government... Hahaha, that Li Wei, he's not getting out of here now!"

……

Three days later, at a construction site deep in the valley on the west side of Mianniu Mountain.

This is a remote place, deep in the mountains. The terrain here is relatively high compared to other places, and the surrounding mountain environment... In view of the floods that have plagued this area in recent years, especially after the new governor of Changhuai Prefecture took office, this is also the governor's hometown.

Therefore, the disaster relief and flood discharge plan, which had been shelved for some time, was immediately retrieved from a pile of dusty documents by the prefect of Qing'an County and put on the agenda with great care.

The county government of Wanghai County, the head of Qingshui Town, and the village heads at all levels all cooperated wholeheartedly, determined to rebuild the reservoir in the mountains within six months!

This reservoir is named 'Xishan Reservoir'.

The Xishan Reservoir has existed for many years. It was formed by the melting snow from the mountains and natural rainwater over the years. There are also underground rivers that connect the reservoir to other places through countless tentacle-like drainage channels, irrigating the fields and crops within hundreds of miles during famine years.

However, due to lack of maintenance, silt accumulated, causing the reservoir's water storage capacity to gradually decline, and in recent years it has become virtually useless.

After Da'an took office as the governor of Changhuai Prefecture, he did not personally mention this matter. However, during a meeting with his subordinates, including the prefect of Qing'an County, when the topic of flooding in this area during the annual plum rain season came up, the prefect of Qing'an County immediately realized that if the Xishan Reservoir could be repaired and reopened, it would allow him, a mere prefect, to make a big splash in front of the governor of Changhuai Prefecture!
Therefore, construction is currently underway in the Xishan Reservoir area.

Repairing a reservoir is physically demanding work, involving clearing ditches, dredging, carrying mud, and building dams...

The labor force for repairing the reservoir mainly consisted of two groups of people: the first group consisted of ordinary people who had been transferred from the Qing'an County area to perform corvée labor, and all of them were able-bodied young men.

The second part consists of prisoners from all the prisons in Qing'an County, who are all numbered and assigned here in batches to do hard labor.

Don't think that you can eat and drink for free just because you've committed a crime and gone to jail. That's not true. There are no sewing machines for you to operate in this day and age, but there are plenty of jobs waiting for you.

The common people who performed corvée labor were law-abiding citizens. Even when building reservoirs, their food, drink, toilet facilities, and resettlement sites were completely separate from those of the prisoners.

The prisoners and laborers had the hardest and most tiring jobs, and their living conditions were the worst.

Take Li Wei, who was just assigned to Xishan Reservoir, for example. The day after he was taken to the county jail by the people of Lijia Village for stealing dogs, he was sent to Xishan Reservoir overnight.

He was assigned to a team that carried soil. Every day, he had to get up before dawn to start working, and he wouldn't eat his first meal until the sun was high in the sky, and his second meal after sunset.

Both meals consisted of a multigrain steamed bun, a bowl of porridge, and half a pound of beans.

Tonight is Li Wei's first night at Xishan Reservoir.

After scooping silt from the reservoir all day, he was so exhausted that his bones felt like they were about to fall apart. He sat down at the foot of the dam and wolfed down the food he was allotted. He then dragged his weary body back to his tent to rest.

The tents where they rested were of a uniform size, with 20 prisoners living in each tent. Everyone slept on the ground, and the tents were connected in one long stretch.

As Li Wei stepped into the tent, a stench of sweat, urine, and other strange smells assaulted his senses, making him vomit up the food he had just eaten!

It was already night, and a kerosene lamp hung in the middle of the tent, swaying and casting a dim light.

Li Wei glanced over and saw that the crowded tents were packed with people. Some were lying on their bedding, sleeping with their legs crossed, while others were not asleep, but were huddled together smoking pipes, chatting and joking, and speaking in different dialects from Qing'an County, creating a noisy scene.

When the crowd saw Li Wei, a complete stranger, enter, they weren't particularly surprised.

They had sent people here to dig the reservoir before the Lunar New Year, many of them serious criminals or death row inmates. A number of them died from exhaustion, or they had to leave when their execution day came. Once someone left, a new face would immediately take their place; it was a common occurrence. So when Li Wei came in, the people only gave him a quick glance and then paid him little attention.

Aside from a few enigmatic gazes, like venomous snakes lurking in the shadows, following Li Wei's figure.

Li Wei lowered his head, not daring to look around. He found his own bed in the corner, lay down, hugged his shoulders, turned his back to the people, and tried his best to close his eyes to leave the vulgar noise behind, pretending that he was not in the same tent as them.

This was the first time he had ever lived in such an environment since he was a child. The people here were all criminals, vicious and wicked.

He fears.

Even when his back was turned, he could still feel that someone was looking at him. It felt as if he were a freshly cooked dish being served.

He was genuinely scared.

Right now, I just want to minimize my presence so that people don't notice me...

Suddenly, a rough hand, with black dirt still stuck under its fingernails, patted his shoulder.

"Bro, asleep?"

A man's voice sounded behind him.

Li Wei was startled and quickly turned around and sat up.

The person who came closer was the one sleeping next to him. He looked to be three to five years older than him, rather thin, and had a sallow complexion.

Li Wei vaguely remembered this person; he had just arrived today, and it seemed that this was the person he was paired with to carry mud.

"Let's get acquainted. My name is He Laoliu, from Fenglin Town. Where are you from?"

"My name is Li Wei, and I'm from Qingshui Town."

"Oh, you look so young, are you 20 or not?"

I am 22 years old this year.

"Oh? You look so young. You're so fair and delicate. You probably don't do much farm work at home, do you?" Old He asked again, seemingly interested in Li Wei's family background.

Li Wei really didn't want to talk about his family. If it were worth mentioning, would he have been exiled here?
Seeing Li Wei lower his head and remain silent, He Laoliu didn't inquire further.

"I'm a few years older than you, and I've been working on digging this reservoir for two months now. From now on, you can call me Sixth Brother, and we'll help each other out!"

"Okay, thank you, Sixth Brother." Li Wei forced a smile, but he didn't dare to relax his vigilance at all.

"Xiaowei, I was arrested for stealing. What about you? What did you do wrong?"

"They falsely accused me of stealing a dog."

"What? You can get arrested for stealing a dog? Whose dog is that precious?"

Li Wei gave a wry smile and remained silent.

Seeing that Li Wei was completely unresponsive, just sitting there with a blanket looking bewildered and fearful, He Laoliu sighed and didn't ask any more questions.

Everyone who comes here goes through this process, and he himself went through it too.

"By the way, Xiaowei, I have a couple of things to remind you," He Laoliu suddenly said in a low voice.

"What?"

"Be careful when you sleep at night, don't sleep too soundly."

"Huh? Why?" Li Wei asked, bewildered.

He came in dressed as a prisoner, without a single copper coin on him. Could it be that someone here is stealing?
"Don't ask so many questions. Just listen to me, you won't go wrong!"

"Oh……"

"What are you guys saying? Turn off the engine and go to sleep! Anyone who makes a sound gets out of here and can't sleep anymore!"

Suddenly, the foreman's shouts came from outside the tent.

The lantern in the previously noisy tent was blown out in one breath, plunging the tent into deathly darkness and silence. The prisoners who had been chatting, joking, and swearing were now completely silent, as if their vocal cords had been cut off.

Finally, it was quiet. Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief. He wouldn't dare to sleep in such an unfamiliar environment.

But he had been so busy for the past two days that he hadn't had a full night's sleep, and today he had spent the whole day shoveling mud. Even if he wanted to stay alert and not close his eyes, he couldn't help it now.

My eyelids were drooping, and I soon fell into a deep sleep.

In the middle of the night, Li Wei had a strange dream!
He dreamed that he returned to Lijia Village and to his own courtyard.

My father's leg injury has healed. He's squatting in the yard sharpening his knife, saying he's getting ready to go to the fields to harvest wheat.

Mother wasn't sick either. She came out of the kitchen carrying a tray with braised pork and rice steaming high in the air.

"Where should we eat?" his mother asked.

His father said, "Let's eat on the stone mill in the yard. We still have to go to the fields after we finish eating!"

"Mom, why is the food so good?" Li Wei asked.

His mother said with a smile, "Look, Xiuxiu bought it!"

As his mother turned to the side, Li Wei saw Xiu Xiu, wearing a floral apron, walking over with a smile from the kitchen door behind her, holding the hand of a little boy whose face he couldn't see clearly.

"Yongxiao, call him Dad."

"father!"

"Hey, good son!" Li Wei immediately stood up, unable to believe what he was seeing.

His mind was a complete mess. Hadn't he and Xiu Xiu divorced? How come Xiu Xiu was still here? And Yong Xiao was here too?
Yongxiao hopped over to Li Wei's side, climbed onto him, and sat on his lap.

The sheer weight made Li Wei wonder to himself, "My son is only two years old, how come he weighs like an adult?"

However, despite his doubts, it was precisely this tangible weight that made Li Wei increasingly believe that this was not a dream, but reality.

All those bad things before were just a dream! Now that he's woken up, he has a wife, son, a warm bed, and white rice and braised pork to eat!
Good times are back!