Li Xiu hummed an unknown song and crossed the small bridge, the water under the bridge was crystal clear, occasionally a few fish swam by, the river was completely dyed with a layer of green, and in the distance was an endless wheat field, exuding vitality, at the moment Li Xiu pulled out a few Mao needles, peeled off the green clothes outside, revealing the white spikes of tender flowers inside, and then threw them into his mouth and chewed them.

The thatch needle is actually the bud that the thatch has just grown, the common name is Gu Di, and there is also a place called the thatch line, Li Xiu's hometown in his previous life is even more straightforward, directly call it a stick, this thing chews a little fragrant and sweet, and it is very chewy, just like chewing gum makes people can't stop, when Li Xiu was a child, every spring you can see groups of children picking sticks in the fields by the river.

Chewing a big stick in his mouth, he couldn't help but evoke some memories of Li Xiu's childhood in his previous life, although the living conditions at that time were not very good, but compared to the ordinary people of the Tang Dynasty, he didn't know how many times better, at least Li Xiu didn't have to worry about being hungry in his childhood, and he could use electric lights at night, and even when he was in elementary school, he could already watch TV at home, and in this era, ordinary people were even reluctant to light oil lamps at night.

Thinking about the things of the previous life, the feet have not stopped walking towards Liu Lao's family, when he came to the entrance of the village, the big stick in his mouth was also chewed tasteless, so he spit it out and changed to a new one to continue chewing, when he came to Liu Lao's house not far away, he heard the people in his yard shouting pigs from afar, which was mixed with a few sheep calls, just like a horse market selling livestock.

At that moment, Li Xiu stepped into Liu Lao's house, only to see that the whole yard was crowded with people, almost all the five families of the entire Zhuangzi were here, there were three sheep tied under the tree in the west of the yard, several children were teasing them with grass, and a simple fence was tied out in the east, two big black pigs were lying in it and flicking their tails leisurely, and there were more than a dozen little pigs scurrying around in the fence, making cheerful calls from time to time, which also attracted more people to watch.

"Uncle Liu, why do you buy so many livestock?" Li Xiu found Boss Liu in the crowd, and asked a little strangely, yesterday he asked Boss Liu to buy a sheep and a pig, because today is the day when the new yard is completed, such a happy day, it is natural to celebrate, so he asked Boss Liu to buy two sheep and a pig, but he didn't expect him to buy so much.

"You don't know, the master, these pigs and sheep are not only yours, but also the big-eyed son is also going to get married, and the day after tomorrow is set, so I simply bought them together, and they gave them a lot cheaper." Boss Liu was also very happy at this time, Liu Dayan is his own brother, his nephew is about to get married, and he is naturally very happy to be an uncle, speaking of which, if his two sons had not died in battle, I am afraid that he would have even a grandson now.

"Isn't the eldest son of Uncle Big-Eye's family only sixteen, isn't it too early to get married at such a young age?" Li Xiu couldn't help but be surprised when he heard this, sixteen, it is estimated that he is still in junior high school in the next generation, is it really good to get married so early?

"It's not small, if it weren't for the poverty of the family before, the kid should have gotten married as early as last year, and now the days are just a little better, and Big Eyes began to give his son Zhang Luo's marriage, some time ago I went with him to mention the kiss, and the day after tomorrow will do things, and the sooner you get married, you can have a child early!" Boss Liu replied with a natural face, in this era, fifteen or sixteen marriages are simply too common.

Following the customs of the locals, Li Xiu was not good at expressing different opinions on this kind of matter, so he immediately changed the topic and said: "Uncle Liu, since the pigs and sheep are ready, then you can take them to the new yard in a while, let Uncle Big Eyes help slaughter them, and the people in the village will also go together, let's celebrate well!" ”

"Well, everyone in the village knows about it, just wait for your words!" Boss Liu heard that he was excited again when he heard this, during this time Li Xiu's family built a house, although they were busy with the fields, they would go to the construction site to help as long as they were free, the men did some hard work, and the women and children helped cook, which really helped a lot.

Li Xiu was just about to leave after speaking, after all, there were many things on the construction site that he needed to arrange, but when his eyes swept over the piglets in the pigsty, he asked curiously again: "Uncle Liu, are you going to raise so many piglets yourself?" ”

"How can I do it, my family is just a few people, Su Niang and Niang can't raise so many pigs at all, these are the whole Zhuangzi bought together, and each family will take a few heads back to raise, before every Chinese New Year, the oil and salt at home have to come out of the pigs, now there is no need to worry about money, and when it is slaughtered for the New Year, the family can also have a fat year!" Boss Liu's face was about to burst into laughter, since his life was better, he felt like the New Year every day, and there was an indescribable satisfaction in his heart.

Seeing Boss Liu's satisfied look, Li Xiu couldn't help laughing, and then left here and returned home after chatting a few words, taking some oil, salt and other seasonings that had been prepared before and preparing to go to the construction site.

But just when Li Xiu just walked out of the house and saw the peach trees in front of the door that had begun to fall flowers, he suddenly thought of the fact that the red whisk girl came to find her that day, she said that there was a person who could make Li Jing obedient to come to Chang'an, Li Xiu asked who that person was several times, but the red whisk girl didn't want to say more, he only knew when he said it, and Li Xiu was also a little helpless about it.

Came to the new yard with a large bag of spices, only to see that the gray-haired Qiao steward was taking the craftsmen to lay stones in front of the door, in order to facilitate travel in rain and snow, so Li Xiu decided to harden the yard and the road surface in front of the door, although there was no cement, but there were many pebbles in the river, so a cart of pebbles was transported to pave on the ground, all the way to the small bridge by the river, and now there is no paving in front of the door.

"Steward Joe, are you all ready?" Li Xiu asked loudly with a smile at this time, he had already greeted Steward Qiao yesterday.

"It's ready, it's in the open space on the east side of the courtyard, the stove has been built, the fire has risen, and it's waiting for you!" Steward Qiao said with a smile at the moment, after the new yard is built, invite the craftsmen to have a good meal, this is also an unwritten rule, but this meal cannot be eaten in the yard, because after the yard is built, when to make a fire has to be decided by the master himself.

"Okay, the pigs and sheep will be here soon, and we will slaughter and eat them now!" Li Xiu also raised the seasoning in his hand at the moment.

Then he went into the yard and looked, only to see that several main roads in the yard were all hardened with pebbles, and these pebbles were not simply poured up with stones, but first to dig out a road surface, and then pour a layer of stones and then pour a layer of clay after solidifying, and then pave the stones after being solid, so that after paving three layers in a row, the stone road was completed, so that the road surface would not sink in the future.

The whole new courtyard is divided into three courtyards, the outermost layer of which is where the guests and servants live, and the kitchen is also here, the second courtyard is where the more intimate maids live, and the last courtyard is where Li Xiu and his family live, which not only designs a bedroom study, but also a small garden, but unfortunately it is still empty now, and it will become more beautiful when flowers and plants are planted in the future.

After a turn in the yard, Li Xiu went out of the yard satisfied, and it happened that at this time, Boss Liu and the people in the Zhuangzi also drove pigs and sheep, followed by a group of children running and teasing the livestock in front, and sometimes stabbed the buttocks of the animals with branches, which provoked the adults to reprimand, but they didn't care at all, and they were still happy.

At the moment, Li Xiu led Liu Boss and they drove the cattle to the open space in the east, the fire in the open space was burning, and the water in the pot was boiling, seeing this, Liu Dayan immediately commanded everyone to help kill pigs and sheep, and then pieces of cleaned meat were thrown into the pot, at this time, people were short of oil and water in their stomachs, so this completion banquet was also very affordable, except for meat or meat.

Pork is cheap meat, but that is only relative to the aristocracy, for ordinary people, the most commonly eaten pork is still pork, as for the two sheep, they are specially bought for the craftsmen who know how to eat, which is also a kind of respect for the craftsmen.

When the pieces of pork were unloaded and thrown into the pot, Li Xiu saw that the meat was still lean and fat, or almost all of it was lean meat, and only some white fat streaks could be seen in some special parts.

This is also a helpless thing, after all, raising pigs in this era is actually similar to raising sheep, all of which are driven by the children of the family to go outside to graze, and when they come back, they cut a basket of pigweed and keep it for feeding at night, as for the leftovers, there is no leftovers at all, because every meal is not enough to eat, and it is impossible to leave it at all.

The nutrition can't keep up, and the pig is not castrated, and the nature is very active, and the circle can't be circled, which also makes the pig eat fat at all, almost the same as the wild boar, and even the taste of pork is similar to that of the wild boar, the fiber of the lean meat is very thick and strong, and the bad teeth are very difficult to eat.

In the busy crowd, Li Xiu saw the eunuch Wednesday Liang again, only to see that he was still as humble as before, seeing that everyone was nodding and pleasing to the waist, and seeing the work, he was also rushing forward to do it, but because of his special identity, he was disliked wherever he went, and he was not allowed to touch everything that could be eaten, and several ignorant children also laughed around him, it seems that his physical defects are not only known to the craftsmen, but also to the tenants in the Li family's Zhuangzi.

Wednesday Liang curry favor with the crowd for a long time, but no one was willing to let him help at all, and finally had to squat silently by the stove to light the fire, the light of the fire reflected on his pale face, looking an indescribable loneliness.