The pastoral life of the grass tribe chief

Lu Lide and his wife Wang Xiurong finished work and went home first.

"Mom, there's a bag of centella asiatica on the flower stand. Take it home and make soup."

Lu Yao thought of something and called out to Wang Xiurong.

My grandfather was a barefoot doctor, and he saw many Chinese medicinal herbs from a young age.

Since becoming the chieftain of the Grass Clan, he can recognize any herbaceous plant at a glance, and even know its age.

Lu Yao was busy until dark, and only after feeding the dog did he go to Lu Chong's house for braised mutton.

In the past, livestock would search for food before dawn, and village dogs would go into the mountains in packs to hunt prey, rarely returning empty-handed.

The most common prey caught was hare, followed by wild duck and mullet, and sometimes turtles and tortoises, and if you were lucky, you could even catch pangolin.

Nowadays, livestock are all kept in enclosures and eat more than people.

There are fewer wild birds and beasts in the wild, and the village dogs no longer go into the mountains to hunt, losing their wildness.

When Lu Yao arrived at Lu Chong's house, bowls, chopsticks, and beer were laid out on the large round table.

Of course, tonight's main dish is a big pot of braised mutton.

When braising mutton, people in southern Guangdong usually add white radish, dried bean curd sticks, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, dried tangerine peel, ginger, scallions, garlic, soy sauce, salt, and cooking wine. Some people also like to add angelica root, longan, rock sugar, sugarcane, and water chestnuts, etc., which can be selected according to individual tastes.

Lu Chong was still stir-frying vegetables.

Of the four Lu family scoundrels, only Lu Yao likes to eat vegetables; the other three are meat lovers.

Everyone laughed at him, saying he shouldn't have been born in the Year of the Tiger, but rather the Year of the Rabbit.

Lu Liguang and Deng Yunzhi are watching a drama program.

The madman was video chatting with Lu Yang at the kitchen door.

"Old Yao, I'll go back and work for you. A month's salary will be enough to cover my cigarette expenses."

Lu Yang heard Lu Yao greeting Lu Liguang and his wife and shouted loudly.

After graduating from junior high school, he raised fish at home for three years. Seeing that there was no future in it, he changed careers and learned to make pickled noodles. After mastering the craft, he opened his own shop.

Of the four scoundrels of the Lu family, only Lu Yao graduated from university; the other three started their careers after graduating from junior high school.

From childhood to adulthood, the other three have always followed Lu Yao's lead.

Lu Yao is opinionated, calm, wise, and focused. He usually succeeds in whatever he sets his mind to, and rarely fails.

The other three had a blind confidence in Lu Yao.

Their inability doesn't mean Lu Yao is incapable.

Don't even mention raising fish, even growing grass would be more promising than that.

"Damn it, what do you mean? I asked you to work for me and you didn't even acknowledge me. Other people don't want you, yet you still shamelessly fawn over them."

"I've seen despicable people, but I've never seen anyone as despicable as you."

Before Lu Yao could speak, the madman had already erupted in fury.

"Get lost, you single dog."

Lu Yang said.

"Old Yao is single now too."

The madman was unconvinced.

"Old Yao wants to get married, and plenty of women are throwing themselves at him."

"With your awful temper, what woman could stand you? You'd be offered anything and still no one would want you."

"I'm almost embarrassed to say it to you."

Lu Yang scoffed.

"Hmph, what are you so arrogant about?"

"Hmph, now I have someone to drink and eat with."

"Hmph, you can only eat pickled noodles every day."

That madman is a pig farmer after all; he keeps grunting.

"Eat up, no need to wait, it won't taste good if it gets cold."

Lu Chong turned off the stove and came out carrying the vegetables.

"Wu, Yao, you guys drink alcohol, we'll have soft drinks. There's more in the fridge if we run out."

Deng Yunzhi took out disposable cups and distributed them to everyone.

"I don't need it," the madman said, then boasted to Lu Yang. "See how good your second aunt is to me? Aren't you envious and jealous?"

Deng Yunzhi was already used to the way the four of them got along, and smiled without saying a word.

"Second Uncle, Second Aunt, please eat. We have guests."

Lu Yang then ended the video chat.

"It's no fun for Lao Yao and me to drink too much. You should come too. You can go to work tomorrow morning."

"I'll wake you up tomorrow morning if I'm afraid you'll be late."

The madman put away his phone and deliberately handed the beer to Lu Chong to tease him.

"If you're crazy, I'll be crazy with you."

Lu Chong used to live in the town where he worked.

He likes to stay in bed longer and sleep in the dormitory.

I can't sleep well at home. I keep thinking about having to get up early tomorrow, and I wake up before the alarm even goes off.

If you don't sleep well, you'll doze off in the afternoon, and if the manager catches you doing so, you'll be fined.

"Chairman Li is coming fishing tomorrow afternoon and wants me to cook crispy grass carp. He'll probably be there until quite late. Are you coming down?"

Lu Yao asked Lu Chong.

"It depends."

Lu Chongdao.

Lu Yao didn't say anything more.

Lu Chong's coworkers were all drunkards, drinking almost every day.

You definitely shouldn't drink alcohol on an empty stomach; snacks and stir-fries are essential.

It costs at least several hundred yuan a night, and even though everyone takes turns treating, the monthly expenses are still one or two thousand yuan.

With expenses for playing cards, smoking, and drinking beverages, plus car fuel costs, a monthly salary of six or seven thousand is simply not enough to cover expenses.

If he goes home, he can't drink and drive, so he usually doesn't go home unless there's something going on.

"It's not that you can't drink, but you need to be careful about your alcohol tolerance. Don't drink until you're completely drunk every day, or you'll end up like Lao Yang, ruining your stomach. What will you do then?"

The madman started nagging like a mother hen again.

He wasn't afraid of Lu Chong bothering him; the more annoyed Lu Chong, the more enthusiastically he would nag.

Every ten days or so, the two of them would have a falling out.

After not seeing each other for two days, they became unusually affectionate again, apologizing and making amends to each other. After a few drinks, they talked a lot of nonsense, but then they turned on each other and stopped talking.

It's like children playing house; everyone's used to it.

"Brother Wu is right, well said, wonderfully said, absolutely brilliant."

"I'll offer a toast to Brother Wu with water instead of wine."

Lu Chong wasn't angry at all, and just grinned.

"roll."

The madman didn't even glance at him.

Lu Lide and Deng Yunzhi, a married couple, also loved to eat meat. They ate a large pot of mutton until only a few mouthfuls of soup were left.

Lu Yao ate almost the entire plate of vegetables.

After eating, drink tea.

Lu Lide and Deng Yunzhi watched TV until after nine o'clock, then closed the door and went to sleep.

The three of them drank until after 11 p.m.

"Want to grab a late-night snack?"

Lu Chong has a bad habit of leaving things lying around, and he started looking for his car keys again.

"There's nothing good to eat."

Lu Yao picked up the car keys that were lying to the side and tossed them to him.

Familiar places have no scenery.

Similarly, familiar places often lack delicious food.

Even the most delicious food gets boring if you eat it every day.

I used to rarely eat out for late-night snacks, but now that I eat vegetables irrigated by the spring every day, I don't want to eat out at all.

"sleep."

The madman threw down a sentence, started his motorcycle, and drove off without looking back.

From afar, the barking of dogs could be heard, all directed at the madman, the professional dog killer.

For night owls, midnight is still a long way from going to sleep.

Lu Yao, being a night owl, used to go to bed at one or two in the morning when he was working.

Back at Wumutang, he took a sickle and a whetstone and went to the drainage ditch to cut grass.

The hill opposite the house used to be planted with pineapples and fruit trees. The soil was relatively loose, and landslides often occurred after typhoons and rainstorms in the summer. To prevent mudslides from flowing into the pond, a drainage ditch more than a meter wide was dug at the foot of the hill, which was overgrown with thatch and miscellaneous trees.

The ditches used to be teeming with fish and shrimp, but with the overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, they have all become extinct.

When fish farming reaches a certain size, in order to increase yield and reduce costs, people will start raising small fish fry.

In addition to the five-mu pond for raising large fish, Lu Yao's family also has a pond for raising fish weighing two or three jin each, covering more than two mu of water; and a pond for raising small fish fry, covering more than one mu of water.

The three fishponds are connected, and the drainage ditch is 300 meters long.

This doesn't even include the drainage ditches next to the grass fields and vegetable gardens.

If you include it, it's about 500 meters long.

Lu Yao began clearing weeds from both sides of the drainage ditch at the mouth of the ravine.

He finished cleaning more than half of it and then went back to take a shower.

After taking a shower, I lay in bed scrolling through my phone for a while, and then went to sleep once my hair was dry.