dtnovels Chapter 9, Family Gathering Firewood
Chapter 9, Family Gathering Firewood
After finishing work, Lu Yuanqing took his family to the oak forest to collect firewood.
Shihua Village is not located near a mountain, and everything in the village belongs to the public; even straw is not something they can use for firewood at will.
Therefore, every household would go outside to collect firewood to bring home for cooking and boiling water.
There are some near my home, but they've all been picked clean. If I want to pick more, I have to go to the oak forest.
It is said that going up a mountain is easy, but coming down is difficult.
That doesn't make sense here.
Anyway, Lu Yuanbo and Lu Mingdong carried baskets on their backs and rushed downhill until they reached their destination before stopping.
"Third Brother, hurry up!" Lu Yuanbo shouted to Lu Yuanqing, who was walking slowly behind him.
"coming!"
Lu Yuanqing had never felt that life was so fulfilling, tiring, and boring.
Fortunately, he is easy to compromise with; once he accepts reality, he stops worrying about it.
In this place without cell phones, without internet, and without the option to order takeout, he missed it, but he wasn't particularly attached to it.
It's just that suddenly going from a night owl to an early-to-bed, early-to-rise lifestyle with every day feels a little strange.
Without further ado, the group began collecting dried branches from the ground, while Lu Yuanhuan and Lu Mingxi were responsible for bundling them with straw.
Bamboo weaving is very developed in the Sichuan and Chongqing area, and many tools in every household are made of bamboo.
What they have in abundance is the bamboo basket.
The Lu family, including their father, elder brothers, and second elder brother, all knew how to weave. The baskets, winnowing baskets, and other items in the family were all woven by them during the rainy season when farming was not in progress.
Now, it has left a considerable 'wealth' for those who have not learned this skill at all.
Once you've tied a large bundle up, lay it horizontally on your back basket, and you can carry it home.
"Third Brother, Fourth Brother, that's enough, no need to pick up any more." Lu Yuanhuan was calculating that once they picked up the last batch, along with what was left on the ground, they could tie it into a final bundle, and they wouldn't be able to take any more back.
"Okay!" Lu Yuanqing agreed and hurriedly pulled a rather large tree branch back.
The oak forest was overgrown with weeds, and walking through it picking up branches, it was easy to think of the mollusks he hated the most.
Looking at Lu Yuanbo, who boldly rushed into the weeds, Lu Yuanqing admired him greatly. He was truly fearless!
"Yuanbo, that's enough, don't go any further in," Lu Yuanqing called out anxiously.
What if the snake you encounter is venomous?
They're really not afraid of losing their lives just to find pheasant meat!
"Okay, I'll be right back!" Lu Yuanbo said disappointedly.
The last time he came to collect firewood, he encountered a pheasant, but the pheasant flew very fast and he couldn't catch up with it, which was a real pity.
It seems there won't be another chance this time.
Lu Yuanqing shook his head and walked straight back.
He also wanted to eat meat; it smelled delicious, something he had never wanted before.
Especially this body of mine, which is severely lacking in nutrients.
If we didn't raise chickens at home, he would have been so jealous he'd slit his own throat.
"Little sister, you've bundled it up so big. Xiao Dong is still too small to carry it back." Lu Yuanqing's legs trembled as he looked at the bundle of firewood that Lu Yuanhuan had finished.
He was even more afraid that he wouldn't be able to carry it back.
And the way back is uphill, uphill and uphill.
“It’s alright, we’ll carry him the whole way. We’ll rest for a bit, and then we’ll come back to pick him up after we get him back.” Lu Yuanhuan continued working as he explained the plan.
Lu Yuanqing: "..."
Can you come back and pick him up?
"Alright! Fourth Brother, hurry up and come here, it's getting dark, carry him home!" Lu Yuanhuan called out to the people who hadn't returned yet.
"Auntie, help me put it down." Lu Mingxi put her hands on the straps, squatted down slightly, and called to Lu Yuanhuan to help her lift the basket.
"Hey, I'll do it!" Lu Yuanqing, with his sharp eyes, immediately ran over, grabbed the edge of the basket, and with Lu Mingxi's help, the basket was lifted up.
Lu Mingxi slung his basket over his shoulder, bounced it a few times, and said, "I'm off now!"
"Okay, you go first, we'll be right there."
Lu Yuanqing watched Lu Mingxi, her back bent under the weight of the basket, as she climbed step by step. He was terrified, afraid she would fall.
Life is really tough, especially for people in rural areas.
At such a young age, in later generations, they should have been carefree and attending school.
"Third brother, come here, let me help you carry it!" Lu Yuanhuan helped Lu Yuanbo and Lu Mingdong carry it for a bit, and then they went home.
"Then what are you going to do?" Lu Yuanqing asked instinctively.
"Once you've memorized it, just give me a little pull!"
"Oh!" Lu Yuanqing was stunned as she was 'directed'.
Only when you carry the basket on your back do you realize what it means to be unable to straighten your back.
Is it possible that people in the Sichuan and Chongqing region are shorter than northerners because their backs are bent from carrying heavy baskets on their backs since childhood?
Lu Yuanqing, who seems to be only 1.75 meters tall in this life, misses his previous life when he could easily grow to 1.8 meters tall.
Carrying a bundle of firewood, Lu Yuanqing stood still, watching Lu Yuanhuan almost sit down on the ground. She awkwardly tucked the two straps over her shoulders and then reached out to him.
Lu Yuanqing grabbed her wrist and tugged at it. Lu Yuanhuan also exerted her strength to stand up, and finally they both sat up straight.
The way home was really tiring, it was all uphill. After climbing for a while, I would just sit down on any rock or dirt edge that was a little off the ground, regardless of whether it was clean or not, and gasp for breath.
After traveling at a leisurely pace, I finally arrived home after a long and dark journey!
They didn't turn back to pick up Lu Mingdong because Lu Yuanqing was even worse than him, stopping the most times along the way. In the end, Lu Mingdong had already carried him home before he even got home.
Given his age, Lu Yuanhuan and the others didn't think he was too old to carry; they assumed something had happened along the way that delayed them, so no one thought of going back to pick him up.
Lu Yuanqing could only hoarsely make his way home.
Lu Yuanhuan had already started cooking, and Lu Yuanbo had even gone to the village well to fetch more than half a bucket of water to take home.
Lu Yuanqing blushed slightly.
He still has to work hard to adapt to his current life.
There's not much entertainment in the countryside at night. After eating dinner in the dark and washing up briefly, people go back to their rooms to sleep.
Lu Yuanqing lay on the bed, feeling uncomfortable all over his body.
"Hey!"
After a while!
"Hey!"
"Host, is it really that bad?" System 666 rarely appears, but today it has been listening to "sigh" for quite a while.
"I'm so tired! I'm so tired!" Lu Yuanqing said weakly.
I'm so tired every day.
"System! Do you have any super-strength pills or miracle cures in your mission rewards?" Lu Yuanqing asked curiously, "I mean, the kind that makes you incredibly strong and able to do anything with ease."
If he had, then the bundle of firewood he carried back today wouldn't have ruined his old back!
"No!" System 666's cold voice rang out, "Host, don't think about getting something for nothing all day long. You should use your intelligence and talent. No matter how bad the environment is, you can still make a name for yourself."
"Heh!" Lu Yuanqing sneered twice. "You make it sound so easy. You come, I'll switch."
Talk about intelligence and talent, what kind of daydreaming is this?
He was just an ordinary male college graduate, very unremarkable.
"Alright, stop disturbing my sleep!" Lu Yuanqing quickly stopped the system's rebuttal.
His system is useful and does have some use, but I don't know if it's just my imagination, but this guy is no longer a simple system; he's a seasoned veteran, and a very competitive one at that.
Not only does it enjoy being on the winning side, but in several conversations, it has also been trying to encourage Lu Yuanqing to be more ambitious.
Please, who is he? He's just an ordinary guy named Lu Yuanqing, someone who's never even dreamed of being a domineering CEO.
No matter how much the system encouraged him, and no matter how much Lu Yuanqing was worn down by the hard farm work, life had to go on.
Working at sunrise and resting at sunset is the norm in rural areas.
After working for half a month, Lu Yuanqing had managed to barely adapt to his current life.
Even according to Lu Yuanhuan's calculations, the family's food supplies were almost exhausted.
That's normal, after all, we have to consume every day, but there's been no income for a long time.
Lu Yuanqing also couldn't find a suitable reason to take out the three hundred catties of grain from the system space.
That day, after eating as usual, he went to work in the fields.
Lu Yuanqing had already become adept at dawdling.
Just then, an unfamiliar rural woman rushed towards Shihua Village, calling out that she was looking for Lu Yuanqing.
The kind villagers pointed in the direction. The woman recognized Lu Yuanqing and shouted as soon as she saw him, "Lu's third son, your uncle has had an accident!"