How to survive in poverty: I use a simulator to farm

Chapter 10 It was not easy to eat salt in ancient times

There is very little fat in fish meat. If there is no staple food such as wheat, rice and millet, it will take half an hour to digest three bowls of fish in one meal.

For tonight's meal, Chen Feiyan stewed fish and radish in a clay pot, and also cooked more than a pound of hare meat in it.

When it was boiled into a paste, she shared it with the whole family.

As usual, Chen Yixuan, the mainstay of the family, received the most meat.

He drank three bowls in a row and then said to Chen Feiyan in front of him, "Daughter-in-law, do we have to go out and change the salt?"

Chen Feiyan nodded and expressed her plan. "I plan to ask Xiao Yi and his brothers to go to my mother's house tomorrow. When our family goes there, we will send them some radishes and some grilled fish."

In rural areas with extremely low productivity in ancient times, visiting a postpartum mother and giving half a pound of brown sugar was a particularly heavy gift.

Chen Feiyan asked her sons to go to her parents' house and bring radishes and grilled fish, which was not too shabby.

So, Chen Yixuan nodded.

"I know you are aware of these things at home. It's up to you."

The body was so depleted that Chen Yixuan didn't talk to his wife for long before he felt weak and tired.

Chen Feiyan fed him half a bowl of fish soup and asked him to lie down quickly and take a rest.

If you eat enough, get more sleep, and sweat a few times, this disease should be better.

……

After a dreamless night, Chen Feiyan's family woke up early the next morning.

Chen Feiyan cooked and knitted, while Chen Xiaoyi brought back several big fish weighing three to five kilograms from the river.Chen Xiaoer also brought a basket of crabs and lobsters.Chen Xiaosan even caught a big water fish.

The meat that can be put into the mouth is grain.Chen Feiyan packed up all the fish, shrimp and crabs brought by her sons.

There was no oil, no salt, no iron pot at home, so I could only stew it with radishes into a paste.Fool your stomach.

After the family had eaten and drank enough, Chen Feiyan began to talk and gesture with her hands again. Today she went to her parents' house and brought back half a jar of salt.

Chen Xiaoyi couldn't hear, but he could say some simple words.

Chen Xiaoer could hear it, but he opened his mouth and couldn't speak.

As for Chen Xiaosan, he was deaf and mute. With his eyes wide open, he only saw his mother, eldest brother and second brother, who were constantly making gestures.He kept guessing about the intentions of his mother, eldest brother and second brother.

Soon, Chen Xiaoyi understood that there was no salt at home.

Chen Xiaoer even knew that they had to go to grandma and grandpa's house today.Find relatives over there to exchange for some salt.

So, after a few brothers gestured to each other, they went out together wearing the same straw clothes, straw sandals and straw trousers they had worn yesterday, carrying baskets half filled with radishes, and stuffing a few grilled and somewhat crispy fish in their arms. .

Chen Feiyan stood by the door, looking at their disappearing figures for a long time, feeling a little worried.

These brothers are traveling far away this time, and they don’t know if they can get things done.

In the past, when there was no salt at home, Chen Yixuan would go to her parents' house to change it herself...

……

In ancient backward mountain villages, it was impossible to have cement roads, only mountain paths.

Those paths were bumpy, bumpy, and particularly difficult to walk on.

When Chen Xiaoyi was three years old, the conditions at home were not so difficult.Every year, he would go to his grandparents' house with his parents to visit relatives.

Later, when he became more sensible, he even knew the way to his grandma and grandpa's house.

If you walk briskly from home to your grandparents' house, it will take you a whole morning.Chen Xiaoyi and his brothers walked from dawn in the morning until late afternoon.

As soon as the three brothers arrived at their grandparents' house, they saw their tall aunt beating their thin uncle with a pole.Everyone else in the family is fighting. "Stop it, stop it, sister-in-law, it's not easy for my eldest brother! If you beat him up, our whole family will have to spend money to fix it for him!"

"Oh my god, what kind of fate do I have! I haven't enjoyed a single day of happiness since I married into your family..."

Chen Xiaoyi couldn't hear, so he only saw his aunt, suddenly sitting on the ground, starting to roll, and getting up from time to time, patting his thighs, looking up to the sky and shouting something...

He thought to himself, what is this fuss about?
Just as he was looking at it for a while, his grandparents finally noticed the brothers.

And when his aunts saw that he and his brothers were carrying a small basket, they mistakenly thought that his family was out of food again and they were coming to borrow food again!

As a result, everyone became strangely quiet and stared at the brothers with particularly bad expressions.

Knowing that the three brothers were all somewhat disabled and scolding them was in vain, the sisters-in-law quickly looked at each other and immediately broke up with their parents-in-law.

"Father, mother, our family is no longer what it used to be! Brother, he stole too much salt this time, and it was noticed by others. It's hard to say whether our family will be able to get salt next time?"

"Yes, if our family loses the income from selling salt, our family of more than 30 people will have trouble even eating..."

Before the sisters-in-law could finish speaking, Chen Xiaoyi and his brothers quickly put down their heavy backpacks.

Then, Chen Xiaoyi took out the several kilograms of grilled fish hidden on his body and handed them to his grandparents.

"Salt, mother asked us to come and change the salt!"

As soon as these words were spoken, someone whispered.

"How did my sister-in-law's family get so many fresh radishes?"

"You care where she got it? As long as we can eat it. And that grilled fish, why does it taste delicious to me?"

The grandparents of Chen Xiaoyi's brothers also knew that their little daughter's life was not easy. The two elders did not want the things she brought, but their sons and daughters-in-law were watching, so they shook the radishes in several baskets. He landed in his bedroom and brought another wooden bowl of salt to Chen Xiaoyi.

Several of his sons worked in salt wells.Specialized in digging well salt.

This salt well was originally built by a few young people from Laochenwa Village.Later, it was snatched away by people from the government, and it was opened by a few officials from the county government.Later, the government sent government officials to supervise the work, just to prevent these workers from stealing salt and selling it secretly outside.

However, some ordinary people at the bottom have a set of survival wisdom.

In order to get well salt, they often wear clothes and pants made of sun-dried and hollowed-out rough rattan.

Wearing those special trousers and clothes, when you go down into the well, the salty well water will soak your trousers and clothes.

When I get home, I can get rid of the salt in my clothes.

Each person makes half a bowl every day. Over time, the salt saved in a year can be more than half a bucket.

Whether you eat it yourself, sell it quietly to others, or barter it with some of your relatives and friends, it is quite cost-effective.

After all, official salt is too expensive!
If a family of dozens of people eats official salt every day, it will cost nearly one tael of silver.

Farmers work in the fields every day, planting more than ten acres of land, and even after harvesting in autumn, they may not be able to sell it for a huge sum of one or two silver dollars.

……

The grandmother of Chen Xiaoyi and his brothers felt pity for them when they saw that they didn't seem to be very smart. She went to her bedroom in person, took dozens of hawthorn fruits that had been stored for almost a year, and gave them to them.

These hawthorn fruits are so sour that their children didn’t like them after eating them several times.He said that after eating a few, his stomach was finally full and he was hungry again, and he felt panicked.

……

Chen Xiaoyi and his brothers were extremely happy to get these extra red hawthorn fruits.

Chen Xiaoyi even thought that his parents must try this red fruit.

(End of this chapter)