Northern Song Dynasty, Jiayou three years, Jinghu South Road.

The red sun is slanting in the west, and the wild grass hangs in the sun.

A year of disaster.

Hungry.

Chen Yuansheng lay on the ground, and the wild grass passed through his ears, covering his figure. He was very hungry, so hungry that he didn't have the strength to get up.

"Village, village owner, just like us, we don't have the energy to go down the mountain, even if there is a caravan coming, we can't stop it." Wang Er, who was lying beside Chen Yuansheng, said in a slight and stumbling voice, "Why don't we eat soil." I recognize this, Guanyin soil, I won't be hungry if I eat it. ”

"Eat dirt? Do you want to die? Chen Yuansheng tilted his head and gritted his teeth at Wang Er, who was already hungry and a little swollen, "With me, none of you want to die."

Eat! Find something to eat!

Huzi, you go to see the condom we have under it, and there is no selapse.

Futong, you continue to look for the mouse hole, and find the mouse and food in the hole.

Xiaoyu, Fengzi, you two go to fetch water and boil water.

Xu Jiang, you take the remaining brothers to dig grass roots, dig wild vegetables, and pick up branches.

An hour later, before the sun sets, no matter what the harvest is, they return to the cottage to gather.

With me, don't even think about dying to any of you! ”

The roar used up all of Chen Yuansheng's strength, and when he was exhausted, he barely turned over, smelling the fishy smell of the earth, looking at the sunset hanging on the side of the mountain through the weeds, and his face was full of unwillingness.

His name is Chen Yuansheng, he is a traverser, born thousands of years later, and has a cottage factory.

Inexplicably, he traveled back in time, to a thousand years ago. has become a veritable cottage owner.

Lustful dogs and horses? Drinking in a big bowl? Eating meat in chunks?

Don't think about it, cottage farming is the mainstay, and in ordinary years, it is barely enough to eat and wear, and in a disaster year like this year, it is very problematic to fill your stomach.

Forget it, I don't want to do so much, it's important to collect food.

Chen Yuansheng, who had rested for a while, regained some strength a little, he rolled over with his arm on the ground, and his eyes swept over the land, looking for any ingredients that could be eaten.

The sky is getting dark, and there are weak villagers, gathered together to take stock of the harvest.

Huzi lassoed a pheasant, Futong found three catties of grains, captured five rats alive, Xiaoyu and Fengzi picked up two large tanks of water, and Xu Jiang and the remaining brothers collected a small pile of grassroots wild vegetables.

Chen Yuansheng put down the wild vegetables in his hand and sighed, these foods seem to be a lot, but when they are distributed among ten people, it is not much.

Make a fire, boil water, cook.

Unlike the neon lights of the modern city at night, the boundary where Chen Yuansheng is now located, except for the fire in the cottage, there is no half of the fire within a radius of one mile.

"Huzi, this is yours, Futong, your ......" Chen Yuansheng distributed the food, the wooden rice spoon, shook the multigrain rice made from the firewood fire, shook it out of the pottery urn, put it in the clay bowl, and handed it to the two of them.

Huzi took Tao Wan, but Futong didn't, he was holding a shabby knife that couldn't see its original color, and the mice he caught were disemboweled.

It's a technical job, and you can't be distracted, not just get that poor bit of rat meat out. Also make sure that the skin of the rat is intact, and the internal organs are intact.

The whole process, if put on human beings, is a torture that exterminates humanity. Skinning cramps, cruel to the extreme. However, now it's just a mouse, and it's hard for people to live, so who cares about mice.

"Futong, don't deal with it yet, eat, you have a delicate job, you can't be in a hurry. Eat first, don't go hungry," Chen Yuansheng said.

"Okay." Futong's silent Futong responded. He put down the mouse carcass in his hand and was about to take the bowl and chopsticks.

Chen Yuansheng looked at his blood-stained hands and said, "Futong, you wash your hands with warm water first, it's unhygienic to eat like this." ”

Hygiene, for the people in the cottage, are not familiar, they are quite unfamiliar. It is a word put forward by Chen Yuansheng, the owner of the young village.

Although it is a new word, the people in the cottage are not strange. Because, the entire cottage, including the old owner who has died, Chen Yuansheng is literate alone. He had read a new term from the book, and it was not surprising to say it.

"Yes." Fu used half a gourd to cut a scoop, scooped some boiling water, mixed the cold water in the water tank, and silently washed his hands.

Chen Yuansheng served everyone a meal, and after they were all served, he picked up his bowl, "Everyone eats." Today is lucky, catch a pheasant, a few rats, rare meat, everyone eat quickly. ”

The atmosphere was depressing, except for Chen Yuansheng, no one else spoke, and everyone was eating silently.

Unknown beasts, roaring not far away.

Chen Yuansheng saw that everyone had eaten, and he began to eat it himself. He had been struggling just now, and he was also hungry, as hungry as everyone else, so hungry that he didn't want to talk. But if even he doesn't speak and cheer up, then the fate of this group is really worrying.

The chicken broth has been simmered for a long time, and the pheasant meat is not easy to boil. Compared to a small pheasant, the soup pot is too big.

This was deliberately arranged by Chen Yuansheng, the hungrier he was, the more food he ate. A small pheasant, let alone three or two people to eat, is not enough for one person to eat.

In order to let everyone get the smell of meat, there is no way to cook a big pot of soup.

Warm up with hot soup and fill your stomach with rice.

After dinner, everyone regained some strength, and the conversation began to start.

Everyone chatted and talked about it, there were no lofty ideals that could not be attained, they were all down-to-earth, bits and pieces.

Xu Jiang looked at the churning chicken soup in the pot, swallowed his saliva and said, "If only one day you could live a life where you can eat and dress warmly every day, what do you like to eat the most?" ”

Huzi said in a humble voice, "I like the kind of big meat buns made of finely ground white noodles the most." When I used to flee the famine, I was really envious of watching the son of the lifting family eat this. That smell, that taste, if only I could eat it one day......"

As he spoke, Huzi closed his eyes and imagined a big, white, fragrant and steaming meat bun in front of his eyes.

On the side, Wang Er looked at Huzi's appearance and sneered, "Huzi, do you think this is possible?" I also want to eat white noodles. I'm content to eat 60% every day. It would be better if I could live longer, save some money, marry a mother-in-law, and have a child. ”

"Yes, yes, marry a wife and have children. I am the only one left in our old Liu family, if I don't have children, the old Liu family will be dead. Fengzi echoed Wang Er's words.

"I want to marry a wife too......"

"I want to too!"

"I want to, too." The same sound, from different places.

Only Futong did not speak, he sat quietly in the corner, and by the light of the fire he dismantled several rats that he had found and killed with his own hands.

Chen Yuansheng looked at the deep and boundless starry sky, listened to their words, and secretly made up his mind......

We must let more people live!

Any person is not a number on paper, he is a living person. Everyone who is trying to survive has the right to live.

The next day, Chen Yuansheng woke up early. Although I slept for a few days, the straw-made bed was still very uncomfortable to lie on, and I don't know if I was allergic or something, and there were small red dots on my skin.

The blue bird sings green, and the cedar birch draws new shoots.

The sun was rising, and a drop or two of dew hung on the withered weeds.

Chen Yuansheng took advantage of the fact that the sky was not yet bright, carrying a hoe, and walked towards the backyard of the cottage. The owner of the old village buried some gold there, and today Chen Yuansheng wants to dig them out and exchange them for grain in the city to alleviate the food crisis in the cottage.

The reason why he only dug today is because Chen Yuan's consciousness had been a little blurred for the first two days of his life, and it was not until last night that he remembered the matter of the old village owner burying gold.

After being hungry for a few days, Chen Yuansheng's strength was a little weak, and his movements of waving his arms and picking up the hoe were a little frivolous.

Just as he failed in the first hit and was about to come a second time, a voice suddenly sounded behind him. "The owner of the village! What are you doing? ”

Chen Yuansheng followed the voice and turned his head and saw Wang Er behind him, "Erlang is you, why did you get up so early and don't sleep for a while." ”

As Chen Yuansheng spoke, he hid the hoe behind him, and the range of movement was as small as possible, so that Wang Er would not see his intention to hide something.

"I'm still hungry, I'm hungry, can I see anything to eat...... Wang Er scratched his head with one hand, touched his belly with the other, and said a little shyly. Halfway through speaking, he suddenly felt that something was wrong, and looked at the hoe behind Chen Yuansheng and reacted, "Zhai master, what are you doing with the hoe, do you want to dig ......?"

"That's not going to work! I can't let you do that. Wang Er's voice rose suddenly, "The old village owner can say that this is his lifeline, even if he dies, he can't dig it out casually." Until the owner of the village has learned and can participate in the imperial examination, he can use this money to buy a clean background. ”

Chen Yuansheng was stunned, the rabbit would bite when he was in a hurry, but he didn't expect Wang Er, who usually spoke quite hard, to speak so quickly when he was in a hurry.

He sighed, put down his hoe, looked at Wang Er and said, "Erlang, we can't live now." People are starving to death, what is the use of participating in the imperial examination? ”

Wang Er was speechless, he was silent for a while before he said, "I don't care, what the old village owner said is always right!" ”

"yes, he's right. Learn the art of literature and martial arts, and sell it to the emperor's family. But our mountain is high and the emperor is far away, even if he is really talented, if he doesn't experience a ninety-nine-eighty-one difficulty, I'm afraid he won't be able to see the emperor, let alone most of them die halfway. Chen Yuansheng said half-like to answer Wang Er, half-like to himself.

He raised his head to look at the rising sun, and pretended to be relaxed, "Forget it, I won't dig it first, I guess everyone is awake." I'll talk to everyone about this and see what they think. ”

"Oh." Wang Er saw that Chen Yuansheng had given up digging for gold, and his heart was half lowered, and he was slightly swollen, and he changed back to his original wooden appearance.

Chen Yuansheng and Wang Er, who followed him, returned to the main courtyard of the cottage in three steps and two steps, five steps and seven steps.

Everyone else woke up and started to get busy.

Xiaoyu and Fengzi continued to use yesterday's pot to boil the grains that Futong found yesterday.

On the other side of the same stove, there was another jar of chicken soup, the soup in which was not yet hot, and a layer of yellowish-white solidified oil flowers floated on it.

Xu Jiang and the others washed the wild vegetables they picked in the morning and threw them into the soup pot.

Futong continued to process mouse skins, as well as chicken feathers plucked from pheasant carcasses.

"Futong, the one I asked you to deal with yesterday, have you got it right?" Chen Yuansheng walked up to Futong and asked.

"Alright." Futong replied simply, turned back to the barn, and took out three two-finger-thick wooden poles with sharpened ends and smoked ones.

Chen Yuansheng took one of his hands and held it, raised it and tried to stab it. It is worthy of being a veteran's work, with the right center of gravity, and it is easy for people to use their strength.

"Futong, after eating, you will look for food, and by the way, see if there are any suitable materials, and replace all the weapons in our cottage with this."

"Okay."

"Owner, the porridge is ready!" The little fish shouted.

"Got it!" Chen Yuansheng replied, then clapped his hands vigorously and said, "Everyone put down the work on their hands first and eat." By the way, I have something I want to talk to you about. ”

From near and far, everyone came to the stove one after another, no one ate directly, but stood in a row, like yesterday, waiting for Chen Yuansheng to distribute food.

This is the rule set by the old village owner, "Only if they understand who gave them food, they will know who to listen to", the old village owner said to the former Chen Yuansheng.

Now this Chen Yuansheng agrees with many of the words of the old village owner. Managing people is a science, although the owner of the village has not experienced any professional management training, but many years of practical experience, enough for him to summarize a set of his own simple management theory.

Chen Yuansheng recalled everyone's performance in the past few days, the size of the work they did, and the food they gave to everyone. Some people have more, some people have less, but the gap is not very large, and there is a bottom line of fairness.

The porridge in his own bowl is probably at the bottom of the list. Not because he wasn't hungry, but because he didn't do much physical work, ate too much, and was too unfair to others. He is very clear about his position, he is a manager, not a mountain king who stands on everyone and acts as a blessing.

Of course, there is also the reason why his taste buds are ravaged by modern additives and cannot enjoy the original flavors of the countryside of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Seeing that everyone was eating about the same, Chen Yuansheng also put down the dishes and chopsticks, and he said, "Don't be busy going to work first." Listen to me. ”

Chen Yuansheng paused for a moment, seeing that everyone's eyes fell on himself, before continuing, "Everyone knows about the old village owner burying gold, right? Today I wanted to dig up the gold and exchange it for some food to eat, but Jiro saw it in the morning and stopped me. I would like to ask your opinion on whether this gold should be dug up for food. ”

"The owner of the village! You can't dig it, this is what the old village owner kept for you to buy an innocent background and participate in the imperial examination. But you can't exchange food! Wang Er stood up and said with a "whoosh". As he got up, the rest of the crowd began to talk about it.

Chen Yuansheng waited for the discussion to gradually subside, and then said, "If you have anything you want to ask, you can ask me, and I will answer." ”

Hearing Chen Yuansheng say this, no one asked.

Many people seem to have a thousand words in their chests, but they are like a stuffy gourd, and they don't know what to say when they want to speak.

Besides, they have long been accustomed to obedience, they used to listen to the head of the house and the landlord, then they heard the owner of the village, and now they listen to the owner of the small village. If you ask them questions and ideas, they really don't know what to do.

"Zhai ...... The owner of the village. The only girl in the cottage, Xiaoyu stood up and said a little restrained.

"You say."

"Owner, why are you digging for gold to buy food?" Xiaoyu asked timidly.