Chapter 513: 512. Old Sheila's Heart
Chapter 513 512. Old Sheila's Heart
After entering June, the barren land has not experienced a single rain.
The seedlings in the wheat fields around Wall Village are already knee-high, and there is a lush green scene in the valley.
Although the rainy season has not yet come, the dry season this year is the best year for Wall Village because the reservoir was built in time before winter last year and was filled with water throughout the winter.
The water pool in the Beigou Grassland has completely dried up, and the rattan grass and thirsty grass on both sides of the ditch have been eaten up by gazelle, leaving only the rhizomes under the ground.
The wheat harvested in autumn last year was running out after a long winter, and then it had to deal with a long dry season.
The drought this year is even more severe. Many villagers in other villages have gone to Hailansa City to seek a living. Some skilled bricklayers and stonemasons have also gone to Wall Village to build reservoirs and flood control dams for artificial drainage channels.
There are a lot of villagers digging wild vegetables and cassava over the Pagros Mountain and entering Oak Ridge. Some women are worried about leaving their children at home to starve, so they usually take their children into the mountain to dig wild vegetables.
When many people pass by the entrance of Wall Village, they will stop and look into the village. They really want to take a good look at the cistern under construction.
Now, the stream in Wall Village is one of the few streams in the barren land with clear water flowing.
The villagers passing by here will fill up their dry water bladders on the side of the stream, and then lean over to drink their fill, before continuing to cross the mountain pass and walk into Oak Ridge.
A group of children from Wall Village are sitting under the big tree at the entrance of the village.
Old Sheila would bring little Peter here every day, and she would think of herself when she saw those old and young villagers with yellow and emaciated faces heading towards Oak Ridge. Ta is going to get married again, and I am afraid that he will also bring little Peter to join the army to dig wild vegetables in Oak Ridge. Life is always full of hardships and helplessness.
Old Sheila would hug little Peter tightly at this time.
Little Peter, who was held in the arms of old Sheila, stared wide-eyed and refused to be idle for a moment.
He looked curiously at the slave camp not far away, and wanted to check out the mysterious house surrounded by reed mats with his friends, and wanted to know how the kobold slaves lived.
Several times I almost got in, but was stopped by the adults in the village in time.
The adults warned these naughty and mischievous children, those kobolds will eat any meat, and the favorite food is children...
The sun was shining warmly on his body. Little Peter showed the jujube shield and wooden sword in his hand to the friends around him, which made those children very envious.
Several old people sitting at the entrance of the village were chatting under the tree, and the topic always turned to Suldak.
The old man asked: "Dake will come back this time, won't he leave again?"
A tall figure appeared in the heart of old Sheila, and said in a calm voice: "He is now a knight in the guard battalion of Hailansa City. As long as the higher-ups issue a mobilization order for war between the planes, he may go to the battlefield at any time."
Another old man had a sour tone of envy: "Yes, Little Duck is the first knight to go out of our Wall Village..."
Old Sheila didn't want to talk about this, her eyes fell on the brown-haired woman who came out of the wasteland not far away.
Her hair was in a mess, and she carried a baby in swaddling on her broad shoulders, and there were two more beside her, the big one holding the small one.
The woman walked very slowly, her skirt was a little torn, and her thin thighs were exposed when she walked. Her face was a little hungry, and the child on her back was holding a piece of thin wicker in his hand, and was crying loudly while feeding it to his mouth. .
The two little ones were also as thin as hemp sticks. They followed behind the woman. Although it was very difficult to walk, they both gritted their teeth and walked forward without making a sound.
Their skirts were a little wet, obviously they had already drank water by the stream.
Hearing the cry of the child, old Sheila stood up from under the tree and walked towards the family.
"Which village are you from?"
Old Sheila was standing on the side of the road, her back was so bent that she had to tilt her head to chat with the woman.
"Yuangang Village..." the woman stopped and said to old Sheila.
She shook the child behind her, trying to put him to sleep. At least she wouldn’t feel too hungry in her dream. As long as she turned over another ridge, she might be able to find some wild vegetables.
But the child refused to sleep no matter what, and cried more and more.
"Come from so far away?"
Old Sheila looked at the child with her head, and stretched out her hand to tease him.
The woman nodded reluctantly.
"Where is the father of the child?" Old Sheila asked casually.
"Died on the battlefield of the plane..." The woman turned her head away, quietly hiding the bitterness on her face.
The child on her back suddenly stopped crying, and the woman looked back in surprise, only to see that old Sheila was taking out a piece of crispy chestnut flour pancake from her bosom, split the pancake in half, and stuffed it tenderly into the mouth. There were two children next to the woman. The older girl wanted to refuse shyly. The younger child stretched out her dirty hands early and held half a pancake in her palm. His eyes were shining, staring at the girl. Zhang Miscellaneous Grain Cake gave off a strange brilliance.
The youngest child on the back grabbed a snow-white toasted wheat cake with both hands and stuffed it into his mouth.
The younger child ran up to the woman holding the half of the multigrain cake. His eyes were full of longing, but he still stood on tiptoe and handed it to the woman, saying in a low voice, "Mom, you eat!"
There were tears in the woman's eyes, but she hardened her heart and said to the younger child: "Ninny, we can't take the cake from grandma, we will starve if we eat it from grandma, bear it any longer, turn over the ridge in front, There are a lot of green wild vegetables behind the mountain."
Old Xi stretched his hand to touch the child's face that was flushed by the wind, and said slowly: "A multigrain pancake is nothing, you can walk there hungry, but the two little ones are already too hungry Now, you have no right to refuse for him, this is for children."
After speaking, he stuffed the remaining half of the multigrain cake into the arms of the older child, then turned and walked back to the dead tree at the entrance of the village.
The woman stood at the entrance of the village and saw the old Sheila sitting under the dead tree, so she silently led the two children, one big and one small, to the mountain pass.
The old people sat under the tree and chattered:
"I don't know how long it will rain..."
"It's almost here, it's already June, and last year there was a heavy rain in late June."
"Damn year, **** plane war!"
…
Dusk, sunset.
The birds looking for food in the wilderness are returning to their nests one after another.
Some villagers slowly climbed over the mountains and walked home.
There are not as many wild vegetables in Oak Ridge as imagined. If you want to dig more wild vegetables, you have to go further into the mountains.
The kobold slaves dragged their exhausted bodies back from the river. After washing themselves, they waited obediently by the big iron pot in the slave camp.
The smell of beans in the multigrain porridge cooked in an iron pot wafted far away. When the women returning from Oak Ridge passed Wall Village, the eyes of some children who followed them would involuntarily look towards the slave camp.
After a group of kobold slaves washed by the river, they sat outside the slave camp and silently ate multigrain porridge.
A lot of multigrain porridge is cooked, because occasionally Wall villagers come here to drink porridge, just to save a dinner. The wheat bran in this kind of multigrain porridge is a bit throat-piercing, but it is definitely not unpalatable Well, the cook who is in charge of distributing the porridge will only ensure that each kobold slave gets a big bowl, and the remaining miscellaneous porridge will not be controlled too strictly, and it is not impossible for the villagers to drink porridge.
If the cook feels that the porridge is not enough, she will add some water to the pot, and stir it casually to make another big pot. Of course, this situation cannot be seen by the old village chief, otherwise he will really scold people .
Rita and Natasha exchanged jobs with women in the village. They came from the reservoir construction site to the slave camp to cook porridge. The main reason is that the women in the village felt that the food at the reservoir construction site was better. After all, the cook can still have a working meal every day, and Rita and Natasha probably are the only women in the village who don't care about this dinner.
Old Sheila took little Peter to sit on the big rock next to the slave camp, waiting for the two of them to get off work.
Andrew and Samira led their horses and walked back from outside the village. The two of them would patrol the barren land every few days, and this time they went out for nearly a week.
Seeing little Peter staring eagerly at the kobold slaves drinking porridge, and licking his lips from time to time, Andrew squatted in front of little Peter, put his arms around his shoulders and asked with a smile:
"Why, hasn't our little knight had dinner yet?"
Little Peter shook his head, stretched out his hand and patted the small cloth bag on his back, indicating that it contained food.
"Then why are you drooling while watching the kobold slaves eating dinner?"
Little Peter replied crisply: "Uncle Andrew, I just want to know what is boiled in the pot, they eat delicious duck!"
Andrew touched Little Peter's head, and said seriously: "That's not delicious, are you really going to try it?"
Hearing what Andrew said, Little Peter became a little hesitant.
Samira came from behind, took out an apple from his pocket and stuffed it for little Peter. Andrew and little Peter made an appointment to test his homework tomorrow morning, and the two led the horse back to the village.
It wasn't until the two left that the kobolds in the slave camp breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. The villagers couldn't feel the strong murderous aura emanating from the two, but their noses could smell the blood, whether it was the butcher behind Andrew , or the quiver hanging on Samira's back waist, all have this strong aura.
…
Kobold slaves will go to the shed to rest after dinner. Their easy-going personality can be easily satisfied no matter where they go.
There was still a little porridge left in the big iron pot. Rita and Natasha were going to scoop out the porridge and scrub the big iron pot well. The day's work was over.
The two were chatting about what to eat for dinner. Suldak came back for dinner tonight. Natasha wanted to make the dinner richer. Little Peter was sitting on the side eating apples. Apples can still be eaten in this season Yes, there is only the half-elf archer under Suldak in the village.
Old Sheila came to Rita, bent down to pick up a big wooden bowl from the big wooden basin, and handed it to Rita.
"Do you want to eat this?" Rita stared wide-eyed, looking at the big wooden bowl in old Sheila's hand, and pointed to the multigrain porridge in the iron pan with a spoon.
When old Sheila faced Rita, she didn't have any scruples in speaking. She stared and said to Rita:
"Can't I have a bowl if I don't eat it?"
"I didn't say that." Rita muttered, and filled a large wooden bowl of multigrain porridge for old Sheila.
Natasha, who was busy at the side, hurried over and said to Old Sheila, "The porridge is a bit cold, how about I warm it up?"
Old Sheila waved her hand and said, "That's good!"
After finishing speaking, he took advantage of the moonlight to walk out of the village entrance. Under the dead tree outside the village entrance, a sallow and thin woman was holding a child in her arms, and two smaller ones were sitting quietly beside her. There, old Sheila walked over with a big wooden bowl and handed it to the woman without saying a word.
Such a large bowl of multigrain porridge is enough for a woman and a few children to eat.
After the woman thanked her, she distributed the porridge to the three young ones. After the three children were full, she poured the rest of the porridge into her stomach.
Then he took advantage of the moonlight and left Wall Village.
It wasn't until the woman and the children had gone away that Rita, who was hiding not far away, stood up, raised her eyebrows and said very dissatisfied with old Sheila:
"Hey, what are you trying to do?"
Old Sheila walked towards the slave camp with an empty wooden bowl without raising her head, and said casually, "Can't you see?"
"But this is against the rules!" Rita expressed her position to the old Sheila.
Old Sheila stopped in her tracks, turned to Rita and asked, "Just because I asked you for a bowl of porridge?"
"You will make it difficult for us." Rita said.
Old Sheila raised her head, stared into Rita's eyes and asked her, "What's the problem?"
Rita argued vigorously: "If other people follow your example, how can we refuse?"
"Why did you refuse?" Old Sheila asked Rita as she stuffed the wooden bowl in her hand.
Rita said: "There is only so much porridge. Whoever eats more is destined to eat less. If too many people are like this, what will those kobold slaves who dig rivers for us eat?"
Old Sheila said very dissatisfied: "They just ate a little leftover, will they be hungry? Have you forgotten the days when you were hungry?"
The dispute between old Sheila and Rita continued until the dinner table. The candles on the table kept dripping wax oil on the candlestick. Little Peter looked at the candles on the candlestick with some fascination. He really wanted to pick the one that kept dancing with a knife. flames.
Natasha sat aside and did not dare to intervene. Seeing that the staple food basket on the dining table was still empty, she took out a basket of white bread from the kitchen.
Dinner is fried steak, which is very tender and only medium rare.
If this kind of meat is overcooked, it will lose a lot of juice and become smaller, so the barbecue eaten by the villagers is basically only medium rare.
There was still a glass of golden cider in front of Suldak, and Natasha silently put a piece of white bread on his plate.
Suldak cut up the fried meat on the plate and distributed it to everyone's plates, then said to old Sheila and Rita with a smile: "Don't argue, in fact, this matter is easy to solve. I'm also discussing this with Uncle Brett..."
(end of this chapter)