The Sweet Little Fulang

   In order to guard against such big beasts, big and deep traps were dug here. Even if rabbits, pheasants or other small wild animals jumped into the traps, they were too light to fall off.

    After a while, the grass and leaves spread on the trap had dried up, but there was a thick layer of fallen leaves on it, which was integrated with other places, so Shen Xuanqing didn't need to be busy to cover it up.

    There were many traps in the northern forest, and he stopped in front of several traps to teach the puppy to recognize them as traps. Dahui was very humane, growled a few times after the puppy stepped on the traps with his thick front paws.

    The puppy was also smart, with wet black eyes, tilting his head to the side to hear Shen Xuanqing telling him that he couldn’t stand on the trap, lowering his head to smell the smell on the ground, and looking over when Dahui growled, and then took a step back with a "bark".

    Seeing that he was unusually smart at such a young age, and learned very quickly, Shen Xuanqing slightly raised his eyebrows and chuckled. It seemed that the two taels silver were not in vain. Back then, it was only seven copper coins for Dahui at the market.

    Shen Xuanqing rested for five days since it rained, and when the weather was good, he took his dogs out to hunt again.

    Lu Gu took the puppy outside to look for medicinal materials, and they brought back a lot of them. They even brought back a bundled wormwood and separated them with fine vines. When they came back, they didn’t had to sort them out. It was good to soak the feet in winter to keep out the cold. It was warm and there were many people in the family, so they must prepare more.

    He found a lot of shanzuyu, which looked like medlars and were bright red. It took too much effort to pick them one by one, so he cut off the branches and carried them back. Dried them and sold them in the medical clinic, and the price was not bad.

[山茱萸 shān zhū yú: Cornus officinalis; sour mountain date; herb associated with longevity]

    Lu Gu took the bamboo plaque and sat in the courtyard to pick shanzuyu fruit. Other grass leaves should be cut into sections, some leaves should be picked, some should be air-dried, and some should be dried in the sun. It was inevitably his hands became dirty and black.

    Although it was not noon yet, it was time to cook when he was hungry, first he heated the water to wash his hands. It was getting colder in the mountains, and even the water was colder than before, so he thought of his Tang Pozi.

    There was the sound of chopping vegetables in the kitchen. Lu Gu was cooking, and the puppy was outside taking a small piece of wood as prey. Shen Xuanqing took him to learn hunting in the forest, and now he was both to have fun and to improve his skills.

    After he and the puppy had eaten a simple meal, Lu Gu cleaned the pot and filled it with clean water. The fire at the bottom of the stove hadn’t been completely extinguished, so he stuffed some straw into it, and it burned quickly. .
 
    After pouring the boiling water into Tang Pozi, he felt a little hot to the touch at first, and if he didn't cover it with a quilt, it would cool down faster.

    Lu Gu went to the box to rummage through the cloth and cotton. This time he came up with some cotton and pieces of cloth. He had never experienced the cold in the mountains, but Wei Lanxiang knew it, so she asked him to bring them up and sew two small square thin quilts that could cover his legs, otherwise when he sitting and working, the legs would be cold and stiff if they didn’t move for a long time.

    He took out the cotton and cloth, saw that the sun outside the window was brighter than before, and took the quilt out and set it on a wooden rack to dry.

    Lu Gu unfolded the quilt, looked up at the blue sky, and thought that the weather would be good tomorrow, this bed was exposed to the sun today, and it would be washed tomorrow, the clean quilt was different and warmer.

    The cotton that Wei Lanxiang brought him was pressed flat at home, otherwise the clumped cotton wouldn’t be easy to sew into the quilt.

    He added a thin piece of firewood to the bottom of the stove to let the small fire burn slowly, moved a chair and sat in the sun to sew the quilt, the cloth was cut, and the quilt was small and thin and could be sewn quickly.

    After a small quilt was sewn, the water in the pot was already boiling, Lu Gu rubbed his neck, got up and poured the water into Tang Pozi first.

    He put Tang Pozi on the bench, folded the small quilt and covered it, then sat down and sewed the second one, which was for Shen Xuanqing.

    The puppy was running around in the yard, and he wanted to bite Qiucai again, but Lu Gu saw him before he could bite, with a light scold, he ran over and rubbed Lu Gu’s legs.

    After the two small quilts were sewn, Lu Gu spread out one to cover his legs, even covering his calves a little, then put Tang Pozi on his lap, and unfolded the other quilt to cover Tang Pozi in the same way. Inside the quilt was warm, even the thighs were hot soon.

    It was so warm.
 
    He couldn't help but smile a little, thinking of such warm things in winter, the smile on his face became more satisfied.

    After sitting and resting for a while, he moved the puppy who wanted to bite the corner of the quilt to the side, and Lu Gu carried Tang Pozi and the quilt back to the room to tidy up.

    Tomorrow, the bed would be disassembled and washed, so he had to take out the washed quilt in the box and cover it at night.

    The wooden box containing the quilt was very big. Besides the quilt on the top, there were several pieces of Shen Xuanqing's clothes underneath. After he took the quilt out, he saw the book stuffed in the gap between the clothes and the box.

    It was still under the quilt before, and Shen Xuanqing didn't know when he stuffed it like this again. Lu Gu was a little puzzled, remembering the last time Shen Xuanqing said that he would teach him how to read when he was free, he wondered if he would use this book to teach him. His mother taught him, but he didn't had any books to read, so he just scribbled on the ground.

    Maybe he also would have books to read.

    Thinking of this, Lu Gu's eyes lit up a little. He remembered that there were three characters in the book’s cover, and he didn't know if it was the Three Character Classic or the Thousand Character Classic that he read in school.