Chapter Twenty-Six: Spring Breeze

  Because of the wealth, the Yun family is eating chicken in a clay pot. The braised chicken in the clay pot is absolutely delicious. A few slices of ginger, a few leaves of Sichuan peppercorn, and a handful of salt are enough. The tender and falling-off-the-bone chicken meat keeps floating up and down in the clay pot. The chicken is very fatty, with a thick layer of yellow oil on top. Using it to soak rice is absolutely one of life's greatest pleasures.

  The small eaters can't even control their own saliva, holding a large bowl and staring at the pot with continuous drooling. The not-so-big-or-small female eater has already forgotten to wipe the bamboo floor, her eyes fixed on the pot, occasionally wiping her mouth.

  Only the largest guest was quietly reading a book, seemingly having forgotten that there was still delicious food in the pot. He read page after page with great interest, and Liu Doutou even brought himself a copy of "Bamboo Annals", apparently intending to test his knowledge of history before the Qin dynasty, written by the historian of the Wei state, which differed greatly from what he knew. The thirteen articles were so fascinating that he almost forgot to eat.

  The first one who couldn't bear it was Yun San, walking over to rub his big head against Yun Da's body, he made it clear that in this household, only one person had the final say.

  Yun Dai raised his head, only to find two pairs of resentful eyes. He dryly laughed and threw the prepared scallions into the pot, announcing that dinner was ready. In an instant, three people and a dog sat around the fire pit, each with a large bowl in front of them, filled with steaming white rice.

  One spoon per person, the thickest part of the thigh was given to Yun Er, the breast meat was light and tasteless so it was all given to the cured meat, the chicken head and butt were divided between Yun San, Yun Da took a chicken neck for himself and also poured some oily chicken soup over it.

  With a slap, the cured meat was opened, and Yun San's chicken butt was always being snatched. Humans and dogs were fighting for food, but seeing her pitiful look, another chicken wing was given to her.

  It's not right to talk while eating, this rule is very correct. Chicken soup with rice is the most correct way of eating, what roasted chicken, grilled chicken are completely wasting food materials. A big bowl of hot chicken soup with rice goes down your throat, you can really feel all the happiness in the world.

  Yun Er's face was covered with rice, and now this little fatty's hands were not very used to using chopsticks, so he couldn't grasp them firmly. He picked up a large wooden spoon and scooped up the food. His baby teeth couldn't handle chicken bones, so when he had gnawed on the chicken leg enough, he would put the bone in the bowl of cured meat. The cured meat would happily pick up the chicken bone and crunch it into powder, sucking out the last bit of oil, before putting it in Yun San's food bowl. As a result, even Yun San wouldn't eat the bone residue that had been sucked on.

  The gentle breeze blew in, and it was no longer very cold. The three people and the dog who had just eaten delicious food were all lazily lying on the floor, unwilling to move. Everyone had eaten a lot, and digesting the food was also a kind of happiness.

  "I used to think that McDonald's fried chicken was the best, now I think back and realize how stupid I was." Yun Er spoke without any disguise when only his family members were around, anyway, the foolish salted meat couldn't understand what he was saying.

  "Kids should just be kids, they didn't get to enjoy the fun of childhood before, now heaven is giving them a chance, compensating them, so they should just enjoy life. If you dare say such old-fashioned nonsense again, I'll beat you up."

  Yun Dai was lazily holding a thin bamboo stick to pick his teeth, spat out the meat fibers in his mouth, and planned to take them out for a walk to digest their food. Everyone ate too much tonight, and sleeping would be very uncomfortable.

  The labor is over, and the people in the village have all returned safely, not a single person missing. For some reason, the villagers are filled with reverence for Yun Zheng, and as a result, no one dares to touch his head again. He and Yun Er's hair has grown very long, like hippies, hanging down from their heads. Later, they found it troublesome, so Yun Zheng asked Larou Jizi to braid flower ropes for the two brothers, each tying a ponytail, which swayed back and forth on their heads as they walked, looking quite distinctive. The only downside is that those people always want to pull down Yun Er's pants to verify his little chicken before acknowledging him as a boy.

  "The body, hair and skin received from parents, cannot be easily damaged." Yun Zheng is now a firm feudalism advocate, the children in the village are mostly shaved bald with a sickle, only the two brothers of the Yun family have a full head of beautiful hair.

  Yun Zheng admitted that he was really afraid of using scissors to cut hair, many kids after cutting their hair could no longer recognize themselves, with blood and hair clippings stuck on them, looking like they had been bitten by a dog, while the adults were indulging in the great pleasure of cutting hair with scissors, as for how their own children cried, nobody cared.

  February 2nd, the dragon raises its head; the big warehouse is full, and the small warehouse flows. This is a northern proverb, Yun Zheng naturally knows it, but has never heard that in ancient times there was also a saying about haircutting. After listening to the old clan leader's words, he finally understood that this was for getting rid of lice, and it turned out that this was the legendary Mid-Heaven Festival, where all the Miao villages were either big or small bald-headed, only the Yun brothers became anomalies in the Song Dynasty.

  Cured meat, early in the morning, finished carrying water back and then carried a dustpan filled with ash from outside all the way to the house, even pouring it twice. Told Yun Zheng that this is called "inviting the dragon", so the two brothers of the Yun family need to invite twice.

  Yun Erda's thunderous fart soiled his bed, and as a result, he was kicked to the corner of the wall by Yun Da. The stove ash is not only used to summon dragons, but it also has another function - to repel insects.

  "On the second day of the second month, they recite a different proverb here: 'On the second day of the second month, the dragon raises its head, scorpions and centipedes all show their heads.' Just listening to it makes one's hair stand on end."

  After Yun Zheng told Yun Er the story of a maggot burrowing into a child's ear, then breeding in their brain and finally devouring the child's brains, his eyes widened in terror. He hastily asked for his bed to be filled with ashes from the stove, as he didn't want to have his skull cracked open only to find it crawling with maggots.

  Last winter, the snake that guarded the house and went to hibernate somewhere came back. Yun Sanlang barked at it twice, but found that Yun Daxiong and Yun Erxiong seemed to welcome it very much, so he defaulted its existence.

  Cured meat is really capable, she not only drove away all the insects under the attic, but also turned over the land below, planted a lot of onions, leeks, and vegetables. The most surprising thing is that she carried Yun Er back and forth between the riverbank and the attic, using stones to build a pigpen.

  With a pigpen, there can't be no pigs. Yun Zheng didn't like answering questions about why they had a pigpen but no pigs, so she put down her book and made a special trip to the market, bringing back two small black pigs. As a result, curing meat became another task, always getting up in the middle of the night to go downstairs and check on the two pigs she was raising.

  If you like wisdom, collect and recommend it, thank you very much, there is still one chapter tonight.