Living in the mountains and forests as hunters

Chapter 6

An Dalang took Zhao Yiyi along the mountain road, which is just north of the village, called the back mountain, from this mountain road all the way up, because it is close to the village, many trees have been cut down and used as building materials for the houses in the village. So the forest is not dense, and because people often collect some wild vegetables on this hillside for practical use, and some farmers catch some game here in their spare time, so the road here is not difficult to walk. If there is no road, there will be a road if there are more people walking, and the road here naturally comes out in this way.

An Dalang led Zhao Yiyi all the way to the top of the mountain, turning around and pulling him up from time to time, so that Zhao Yiyi could walk more smoothly. Although An Dalang didn't speak much during this period, his thoughtfulness was undoubtedly displayed in his actions , Zhao Yiyi saw it in his eyes, and felt a little more at ease in his heart. This man is consistent with the appearance he saw, and he is reassuring. Very good, thinking about the instant noodle-like feelings and marriages in modern society, she suddenly felt that there was nothing wrong with this ancient times.

When the two reached the top of the mountain, Zhao Yiyi was already out of breath. Looking at the mud-stained shoes on her feet, Zhao Yiyi called An Dalang and asked him to put down the big rattan box. He took out the straw sandals inside and put them on, took out an old dress and put it on over the new one, and carried the basket on his back, freeing An Dalang's hand.

An Dalang watched Zhao Yiyi take the initiative to share the burden for him, his eyes were full of joy, and he felt that he had married a good wife, who would love someone, but seeing Zhao Yiyi's exhausted appearance, he couldn't help feeling distressed again, he I'm used to going in and out of the mountains, but my wife is a woman, weaker, and doesn't often walk around in the mountains. It's true that he didn't think carefully, so he just dragged her all the way, I'm afraid she will be exhausted at this time Come on!But he said in a loud voice:
"Daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law, how about I carry you?"

Hearing what An Dalang said, Zhao Yiyi didn't react for a while, and she didn't know if she should be shy, but she thought of other questions in a blink of an eye, and turned her head to ask:

"How far is it?"

Looking around, there is nothing but a forest in this area, what kind of houses look like there!Where is Andalang's house?

"Go west along the ridge, go down to the place where it is about to meet the northwest mountain, cross a small river, and then go north up the mountain for a while."

An Dalang spoke intermittently and clearly, Zhao Yiyi understood after hearing it, but she still didn't know how far she had to go. There are so many mountains in this mountain, she can tell where is where, but she is more careful in her own heart. I sketched out the location of my own village, and roughly got a geographical orientation.As for the invisible house, maybe it is covered by trees!

Just waiting for Zhao Yiyi to finally drag her exhausted body and follow An Dalang to his house, the sky has already started to change color, in the light of dusk, looking at the place surrounded by wooden piles one person tall, she still fell down. Take a breath.

What did she see?Could it be that time and space went back again?Didn't she arrive in a feudal society but in the Stone Age?He, he, he actually lives in a cave!God!This still makes people alive!Yes, in the cave!
An Dalang's home is in a cave on a platform on the mountainside. Outside the cave, maybe for the sake of safety or to guard against wild animals, there are thick wooden piles surrounded by a circle, and the piles are covered with dense Thorn, it seems that the anti-theft work is very good.The entrance of the cave is facing east, which is considered to be sunny, but the door of the large yard with wooden piles is opened to the south, and there is a small path leading to the small river down the mountain.The yard is very large, about 100 square meters long from north to south, about fifteen or six meters long, and about eight or nine meters from east to west. The entrance of the cave is near the south of the yard, and there is a large water tank made of stone at the southernmost corner. Leaning against the stone wall.

Zhao Yiyi took a deep breath, closed her eyes to stabilize her mind, and then opened her eyes again to walk inside. At this time, it is meaningless to worry about whether this is a house or a cave. This is already my future home. isn't it?When I first thought about it, didn't I still think about some kind of mud house, or a tree house for hunting convenience?This is much better than those houses, at least she doesn't have to worry about collapsing in winter because she can't bear the snow, right?Caves also have advantages, not warm in winter and cool in summer!
Zhao Yiyi was constantly building up her mind, trying to make herself appear more peaceful, and focused all her attention on the cave and the yard, so she naturally missed An Dalang's attention as soon as they arrived in the yard. With a slightly uneasy look, he kept staring at Zhao Yiyi. Seeing her shocked look, he felt very uncomfortable. He felt like he had cheated a daughter-in-law. When Zhao Yiyi calmed down, he walked step by step. After entering the yard, he couldn't hide his joy. His wife didn't dislike him anymore, and she was willing to settle here with him. After all, he himself knew whether it was living in a cave or living in a house. Likewise, from the very beginning he never said that he lived in a cave on a mountain.It's not that he wanted to hide it from the beginning, but he really couldn't say it out loud. No one asked him this. At the beginning, Zhao Qian only asked if the place where he lived was big. Do you think it's big?Not to mention the big yard, even the cave is big, so he nodded and said, it's guaranteed to be big!
Well, it still looks like a fraudulent marriage, but he is 21 years old, and finally has a chance to marry a wife, so he wants to let it go!Living alone is too lonely, and he also thinks about having a wife and children, so that he can live a normal life, okay?But he swears, just this time, he will lie to his daughter-in-law this time, and he will be very good to her in the future, very good, as long as it is what the daughter-in-law wants, he will try his best to earn it so that she can live comfortably.

Zhao Yiyi didn't know what An Dalang was thinking at the moment, and she didn't have the time to find out. She was currently looking at the specific situation of her family!The cave is actually not much smaller than the courtyard outside. It is also an elliptical cave with a length from north to south. It is estimated to be 10x6 in size, which means about [-] square meters, but the problem is that there are very few things inside.Let’s talk about the entrance first. The entrance is two meters high and three to four meters wide. It really doesn’t block the wind. Although there is a large wooden fence door, it looks very strong, but Zhao Yiyi is still very uncomfortable. Satisfied, I was secretly thinking about when to rest this door, or make it into a cave dwelling in Shaanxi with a half-person-high wall on both sides, windows on the top, and a one-meter-long door in the middle. It does not delay the lighting, but also looks more comfortable.In the cave, to the south of the entrance is a hearth, but the so-called hearth is nothing more than a few big stones and stone slabs put together. It looks tall, and it is used as a cupboard or something. There are many bottles and cans on it. There is a square table near the stone platform and stools made of wooden piles. You can see it as soon as you enter the door. The lighting is very good, it looks like this is the dining table.On the right side of the door, which is the east side of the cave, against the mountain wall, there is a big bed made of thick logs. Maybe the material is simple, so the bed is very big, and it looks like two meters by two meters. , apart from these, there is actually nothing else in this huge cave. As for the food, it is the same as her family. The mice in this era are very powerful. If they are not placed in such a tank, the food will be fed with these things.But she looked at the cave as if it was very clean!How is it cleaner than her house?Isn't this a cave?Why didn't I see any snakes, insects, rats and ants?
“Very clean!”

Zhao Yiyi didn't know how to ask this question, so she could only ask casually, but fortunately, An Dalang was thinking about how to make his wife satisfied with the family at this time, and when he heard that his wife discovered the benefits of this cave, he hurriedly started said:
"Ah, the medicine has been used. There is a hole in the west side of the mountain, and there is a pool inside. The water is very hot. There are these smelly yellow stones on the edge of the pool. As long as there are such stones, what kind of rats, snakes, etc. , and some bugs didn’t come, I picked some, ground it and sprinkled it on the house, my father taught it, it’s very effective.”

Zhao Yiyi's eyes lit up, what?There is also a hot spring near here, and I knew it was a sulfur hot spring. Although I don't know if it is a place where she can soak in the hot spring comfortably, but the presence of sulfur can indeed reduce many of these annoying things. Not bad!It's been two months since time travel, only she knows how much she hates mice!This time it solved the big problem.Well, maybe I have a chance to take a look at it in the future.

"Is that far away?"

"It's not far, it's not far. I'll take you to see it in a few days. The medicine works."

Seeing that his daughter-in-law was interested in the things here, An Dalang was very happy.Hastily started making promises, the two of them didn't realize it, maybe it was to accommodate each other, maybe it was because they became a family, maybe it was to understand each other, and let the other understand themselves, two people who don't like talking very much, this I talked a lot all day.

After only saying a few words, the clouds in the sky began to darken. An Dalang was the first to recover, and hurriedly took out a lot of firewood from a wooden frame next to the door at the entrance of the cave, and carried them into the cave. , A fire was set up in the middle of the entire cave. This is what they used for heating and lighting at night. The mountain in autumn is already quite cool. He couldn't let his wife get sick the first day she came.By the way, I also told Zhao Yiyi that the food reserves at home, let alone, although An Dalang didn't have a house and looked a bit shabby, he had the same amount of food as Zhao Yiyi's family. In the clay pot in the middle, Just put more than 20 catties of yellow rice, and in another earthen pot was a pheasant he had brought back early in the morning. This was their wedding day, and he always wanted his wife to have a good meal, didn't he!
Hearing that there were pheasants, Zhao Yiyi hurriedly asked An Dalang to take her to the forest outside the yard. An Dalang watched Zhao Yiyi pick a lot of mushrooms, his eyes were very puzzled, he didn't understand, how could this daughter-in-law want This poisonous aunt, fortunately, Zhao Yiyi knew the reason when she saw his expression, and told him very seriously that some of these mushrooms are poisonous, but some are not poisonous. She tried them all, so she dismissed An Dalang's scruples.

It's strange to say that people in this era don't eat mushrooms or fungus. Of course, at the beginning, some people ate those poisonous species, which led to death. To try, but in the end it also left Zhao Yiyi with one less means to make a living for the family. She also thought about letting the family pick mushrooms and dry them and sell them for money, but if no one eats them, what can they do?Who else would want it?
The taste of stewed pheasant and mushrooms is absolutely top-notch. Although the meal made of yellow rice is not very good, this dinner is definitely the most delicious meal that An Dalang has grown up to eat. It's great to get married!He finally doesn't have to live alone, and finally someone cooks for him again, and finally the family is popular again!

(End of this chapter)