Feast of villains

Chapter 100 100. The Crying Little Hedgehog
Winter days are short.

When it was less than five o'clock in the afternoon, the western sky was already glowing.

Nance helped set up the plastic shed, carefully walking along the sides so as not to step on the freshly planted potato seedlings.Next to the potato field was a wheat field, and a wagon full of clods was parked beside it. The wheat seedlings were all covered with snow, and two workers were sitting on the edge of the field smoking their pipes.

The clods in the wagon were stirred and used to spread the corn seeds, but no one had dried them at this time, and the clods were frozen hard.

Li Ting jumped out from one side and shouted to the worker Vasily to pull the cart to the corn field, and then crushed the clods of soil and mixed them with corn seeds and planted them together.

"It's all right, sir, the corn will definitely grow." Vasily replied carelessly.

"Please don't argue," Li Ting shouted hoarsely, "Do as I tell you."

"Yes, sir." Vasily put down his pipe, led the horse and walked towards the cornfield.

Li Ting followed up, picked up a clod of soil, smashed it in the palm of his hand, and kneaded the soil.

The acidity of the land eroded by natural disasters is more or less severely exceeded, and plants can hardly survive.

These soils are an important step in his soil improvement program.

Plant cabbage on the polluted soil first, use the purification ability of cabbage to balance the acid-base index of the land, and then use the soil to grow new crops.As long as the follow-up fertilizer can keep up, the survival of the crop can basically be guaranteed.

Vasily could not be blamed for not mixing the purified earth into the corn seeds in time, but it was annoying nonetheless.

Li Ting tried to calm down his anger more than once, and tried every means to make the plan satisfactory, but the reality was often not satisfactory.

Most of the residents in the town were uneducated. Not only did they not understand the intention of some of his orders, but they also thought that he was always confused and always made people do some laborious and useless work, and there was a serious shortage of manpower.

Vasily came to the cornfield, took out the sieve, and while breaking up the large clods, put corn seeds in the field.

After taking a look at his inflexible hands and feet, Li Ting walked over, took the sieve from him, and prepared to sow the seeds himself.

"Where did you plant it?"

"Master, here." Vasili pointed to a new row of land.

Li Ting walked to the edge of the field, and according to his own ideas, finished the field.

He was no longer young. After bending over to work in the field for a while, his back hurt and his eyes were dizzy.So when he finished sowing a row of fields, he returned the sieve to Vasily and asked him to finish sowing the remaining seeds.

"Oh, sir!" muttered Vassily, "in summer, if there is anything wrong with the field, you can't scold me. You planted it yourself..."

"Uh, you can see for yourself in summer!" Li Ting said out of breath, "In summer, you will know how good the harvest will be on the land I asked you to plant..."

"You are so confident, I believe in you." Vasili smiled, pointing to the field over there and said, "The corn harvested in that corn field last year has doubled our previous year's yield by half. I am really happy."

"Has your family planted corn this year?"

"Ah, sir, of course. I sold a quarter of the corn seeds you gave me earlier this year, and planted the rest on my own land."

"Oh, just plant it, I'll go over there and have a look." Li Ting said, turned around and walked to the end of the experimental field, "Stop talking, and be careful to crush the mud, if something goes wrong, don't blame the master for killing you ..."

"Why! Monsieur, we are all grateful for your..."

Li Ting walked through the experimental field and walked to the foot of the mountain.

Some workers here are building a wooden shed, which is the cowshed that the calf needs when it grows up.The heavy ax cut down the trunk, and the sawman aimed at the black line drawn, and pulled a large pile of sawdust down.

The scene of labor in full swing is very good.

The arable land is in good condition and the crop can be harvested next summer.

The calves, chickens and ducklings are all growing vigorously and will be ready to serve on the table soon.

Everything is perfect, everything is very happy, Li Ting walked out of the experimental field and looked up at the valley ahead.

Dusk has come, the twilight is dim, and the snow-capped mountains are covered under the evening light, showing a stunning orange-pink jelly texture.If you ignore the hidden dangers in the ravine and just look at the scenery, the sunset snow mountain is undoubtedly fascinating.

But that danger is heartbreaking.

In the past few winters, Li Ting also encountered the migration of some strange beasts, and survived the previous few times without any danger.But this year, he didn't have much confidence. According to the hunters who entered the mountain, there were hundreds of wild boars in this herd... His test field was at the foot of the mountain, so he couldn't avoid it.

If it was a pack of wolves, he wouldn't be so afraid.

But wild boars are omnivorous, they eat not only crops, but also seedlings...

The sun set behind the mountain, the shadows extended, and the mountains with unclear layers appeared darker and larger, pressing down heavily towards the ground.

Li Ting felt a little out of breath.

All this is in vain, he thought to himself, the longing for the future of agriculture, since the day he took refuge in this small town, has been a kind of simple despair.He didn't look lonely, but in the eyes of Nance who followed him, he became the decadence of a loser.

"It's all in vain," Nance said, stepping forward.

Li Ting looked back at the visitor, silent.

In the last light, Nance studied him.

He looks like he is in his 50s, his hair is starting to turn gray, and his physique is not bad, he doesn't look old.There is still a faint majesty and calmness in his eyes, which is the natural temperament of a person who once owned countless money, but it is not much anymore.In addition to light, it is more of a sense of decadence. I have been hit hard by the society, and I have resisted desperately, and finally lost.

Perhaps due to the long-term isolation from the world, there was a feeling of disappointment floating in his frowning brows and deeply sunken eyes.

"These wooden stakes alone can't stop the beasts." Nance said, pointing to the half-person-high broken fence beside him.

The corners of Li Ting's eyes trembled, and his lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to refute.

But after all, he couldn't find the confidence to refute. He just trembled and walked back to the small building next to the experimental field with heavy steps.

Nance followed slowly behind him.

It was a row of two-story bungalows, and the window frames and verandahs on the outer walls were all painted with white paint.It's just that the white paint has been yellowed by the sun for a long time, and it has become a kind of nothingness white that seems to have lost everything in the wind and rain.

The heavy wooden door creaked open.

The air is turbid and dusty, like an old house that has been abandoned for many years.

The white and gray walls are covered with black mold spots, and the wooden floor has been worn down quite badly, creaking with every step.

Li Ting entered the door, first wiped off his sweat with a towel, then wiped off the dirt on his hands, and then moved out a coal stove.Holding the tongs, he put the briquettes he burned into the coal stove, and rubbed the matches with his fingers with cracked skin from the cold.His hands are small and black, and they are hands that have been working outdoors for many years.

Nance sat down on the small stool in front of the coal stove.

There was no decent furniture in this room, a wooden bed, a rough table, a storage cabinet, three chairs, and everything else was farm implements.

The things on the table were in disarray, dirty dishes, drinking glasses, pipes, and sawdust all mixed together.Only the hoes and shovels by the wall are arranged in an orderly manner, which is not enough to kill the obsessive-compulsive disorder.

"Do you want tea?" Li Ting asked.

"Okay." Nance nodded.

Li Ting brought an iron kettle covered with thick black ash and put it on the coal stove. While the water was boiling, he took out a machete and some wood, and chipped the stakes.

The kettle started to steam over the coal stove.

Nance held his head, boredly looking at the spout to pass the time.

"You adapt quickly." Li Ting glanced at him and said, "The time in the town is unbearable, and I am like you, and I naturally learned how to pass the time."

"Never thought about going back to the original place?" Nance asked directly.

Li Ting didn't answer this question, but focused on examining the wooden stake he had cut, and put it aside with satisfaction.Then he made tea and poured Nance a cup out of an enamel cup.

The tea is fragrant.

"Thank you," Nance replied curtly.

Li Ting remained silent, filled the pipe with smoke, struck a match and lit it.

After taking a few puffs of cigarettes, he picked up a piece of wood from under his feet and continued to cut the stake.

"It's normal for you to feel uncomfortable, but it doesn't mean that you can't change it. Everyone has a day when they are lucky." Nance drank tea slowly, talking to him casually, "This is not the end of the world, you It’s not that there’s no way out, and there’s no need to make yourself look like everything is empty. You can still work well when you return to the original world.”

"Are you doing a good job?"

"some."

"That's good." Li Ting said, waving the knife, "it's good to work seriously and down-to-earth, otherwise it's easy to dream about things. This town is small and poor, and it can't afford idlers, so everyone is in their own Work hard in this world so that you don't all die."

With a thought in his mind, Nance asked, "Is there something holding you back?"

"Did you see those people outside?" Li Ting glanced out the window.

It was already dark outside, and the afterglow of the sunset was still faintly lingering in the sky above the distant mountain tops.A group of peasant women and old people who had worked all day yelled in twos and threes, and hurried back to the town together.

Nance glanced, then looked back.

"boom!"

The door was kicked open at once.

"Oh, what a pity, my aunt is about to freeze to death." Miss Su rushed in with a lot of dirt on her face, carrying a lot of night chill on her body.

She glanced at the two men in the room, then sat down next to Nance in the last chair and took a swig of hot tea from his enamel cup.The two men didn't speak, so she took off her shoes, put her feet in front of the coal stove to warm herself, and muttered, "If you go to someone's house to be a guest, you have to work in the fields, which really refreshed my understanding, Uncle Li, you It's so weird..."

"Huh~"

Li Ting smiled lightly.

Just when he was about to speak, Li Qingxian came in from the outside with the owl in his arms, and he closed his mouth again.

"No, here you are, help it catch lice." The girl threw the owl to Susha, and walked around the house for a while, flipping through the things in the house.It seemed that she couldn't find anything she was interested in. She frowned, showing a look of disgust, and then turned around and slipped out the door.

After she went out, the whole world seemed to be asleep, so quiet that there was only the roar of the mountain wind.

"Cuckoo!"

Doraemon yelled at Li Ting.

That aggrieved voice was ten thousand times more aggrieved than when Nance sucked it forcibly.

"Don't move around!" Susha patted its little head, brushed off its feathers, and helped it catch the lice brought out from the chicken coop.

The lice that were unfortunately caught were thrown into the coal stove and cremated.

Li Ting put down the work in his hands, held an enamel cup and said: "People who come to work here wake up early every day, eat breakfast in a hurry, and then automatically and consciously devote themselves to their work. Except for occasional laziness and clumsiness, other aspects are good. It’s passable. However, it’s based on my tolerance. Apart from me, they have nowhere to make a living. There are not many of them. Counting long-term workers and some occasional helpers, there are always three to five hundred... "

Nance frowned, and Susha turned her head to look at him. After a while, he sighed and murmured: "You mean, after I leave, these people will starve to death, right?"

"I'm not boasting, but it's true." Li Ting took out the nail clippers from the glove box, and cut his fingernails step by step. "Many seedlings are still in the research stage, and they are not stable enough. Without me watching, they can't grow." Live. I can’t tell you the details, but this is roughly the situation. Surrounded by mountains on three sides, it is relatively closed, and the residents are generally stupid. I can do something with peace of mind. Please do not disclose the situation to the outside world, or if it spreads to the In the ears of the four major grain merchants, this town is about to face disaster."

"Don't worry, I'm pretty reliable when it comes to strictly keeping secrets."

"I'm relieved to hear you say that." Li Ting gathered up the scattered nail shavings and threw them into the coal stove, and then brought out a box of dried sweet potatoes from under the table, chewing with relish, "Eat some, too. Work hard. There is also salt here, you can dip it and eat it together.”

Nance picked up a piece of dried sweet potato and was about to eat it.

"Goo!" Doraemon had never seen this thing before, so he thought it was delicious, and immediately opened his mouth to ask for it.Nance had to feed it a piece first, but it just spit it into Nance's hand after holding it in his mouth for two seconds, "Googoo (this is poison)!"

"So exaggerated?"

Nance wiped it on his clothes and tasted it himself.

It is dry and woody, and the taste is really not good, but it is not bad with a light sweet taste of sweet potatoes when chewing.

"Goo!"

Doraemon immediately started making trouble again.

The chubby body jumped out of Miss Su's arms, and an eagle kicked, and its claws kicked Nance's face.Nance pressed it with his backhand, pressed it against his thigh, and forcibly pulled the hair on its stomach to play with it while it made a sound of "cuckoo (you pervert who eats my saliva)".

Miss Su moved the chair away in disgust, not wanting to be next to this weird pair of owls.

Li Ting watched silently, carefully dipped in an appropriate amount of salt, and chewed the dried sweet potato in a low voice, looking like a polite cricket.

After chewing enough, he drank dry tea in one gulp, put the cup back on the table, took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the corners of his mouth.The handkerchief was as old as his clothes, but it was well cared for and clean.

"You guys stay here for a few days before leaving." He was sitting upright, his chin retracted, "give me some time, I'll organize some seeds and materials, and I'll let you take them away when the time comes. There are also seedlings of livestock, too. It takes time to identify the close blood relationship, and it can be given to you if the distinction is good, otherwise it will not be possible to cultivate on a large scale..."

Nance listened quietly.

In these words, there is a feeling of confession.

"By the way, Mr. Adair, how is your cooking?"

"not bad."

"That's good. Both Qinglian and Qingxian have picky mouths. Especially Qingxian..." When he said this, Li Ting, who had been keeping a straight face, finally smiled a little, "She never I like to eat the meals my mother cooks, which has a lot to do with my mother being a noble lady and not knowing how to cook. If you have good cooking skills, I can entrust them to you with confidence."

There seemed to be some movement outside the house, and Nance looked out.

It was dark outside, but inside the house was a coal stove, and the window panes shone like a mirror.

Due to the high temperature in the room, the glass was covered with a layer of water vapor. He wiped off the water mist with his fingers, and saw a pair of eyes emerging from the window.

When the firelight from the coal stove overlapped with the girl's eyes, a transparent phantom beauty was formed, which almost made people tremble.The girl is like a sensitive and restless cub. The second she is discovered, her eyes disappear from the phantom.

"Is there anything?" Li Ting asked.

Just as Nance was about to speak, Susha interjected first: "I saw an owl flying by."

After all, she secretly kicked Nance's calf, telling him with her eyes not to break the rebellious girl's mind.

Nan Si thought about it, and felt that he should talk to Li Qingxian first, so he didn't point it out. He changed the subject and asked, "Mr. Li is staying here, is he planning to live and die with the experimental field?"

"That's all."

"You are dead, and you are gone. In fact, there is not much difference. The three 500 people can't live either."

"Always have to try."

"Why bother to fight for that little miracle that will hardly happen, save your life, wouldn't it be good to make a comeback?"

"Mr. Adair, it's getting dark." Li Ting stood up suddenly, and said to them, "I'm going to stay and repair the fence tonight, so I'll just sleep here, you guys go back and rest early."

"Okay, let's come back tomorrow." Nance stopped making unnecessary persuasion.

Li Ting gave them a lantern, sent them out, and stood on the corridor for a long time.

In the quiet snowy night, the youngest daughter ran out from nowhere, merged into the small lights, and made Nance carry her back to the distance.

The small back, like a suppressed dream, filled with unrealistic and wonderful atmosphere, disappeared from the field of vision.

God...

Li Ting prayed in his heart.

Even though praying to the gods might not help, he closed his eyes and prayed for blessings.

For the eldest daughter who suffered so much, for the youngest daughter who hated him, for his shameless heart...

※※※※※

When he came out of the room, cold air rushed from his nose to his forehead. Nance sneezed, and his nose kept flowing.

This is the northernmost part of California, with a high altitude and much colder than Shin-Yokohama.As soon as he walked out of the heated place, his nose was stinging with cold, and the cold seemed to penetrate deep into his head.

He walked down the dilapidated stairs, and every step he took made the wooden boards vibrate slightly.

Under the cover of the plastic shed in front, Tingting stands tall on a girl with long pink hair. She lowers her head and sobs softly, and her crying makes people feel cold.

Nance passed with a lamp.

A gust of cold wind blows over, and the long pink hair flutters.

The girl raised her head and blew her nose.

In sight, the uncle with a scarf wrapped around his nose and a hat pulled over his ears walked slowly over the snow with an oil lamp in his hand.The small bungalow behind him has been swallowed by darkness, giving off a feeling of desolation.

"What are you doing here alone?" Nance asked.

"Hate……"

Li Qingxian muttered, and then rushed forward.

Nance felt a warmth approaching him gently. The girl raised her hands, and the cuffs slid down, revealing the color of her shirt.

The color penetrated through the cold air and into his frozen eyelids.

"Carry me back." Li Qingxian sniffed.

"Goo?"

Doraemon tilted his head suspiciously.

The villain is holding Yingying, girl, what are you doing, are you robbing a man?
Nance handed the confused fat chicken and the oil lamp to Susha, bent down with his back to the girl, and said, "For the sake of crying like a kitten, I'll carry you this time, and I won't make an exception."

Li Qingxian hummed weakly, and lay on his back.

The girl who usually struggles like a little hedgehog has a rare docile and well-behaved side.

Susha hugged the aggrieved owl, held the oil lamp, and walked side by side with Nance with a full face.Along the way, they taunted Nance with words such as "Oh, I changed my mind, I don't like my sister and I like my sister", "If you know the law and break the law, you should be severely punished, Chief Adel", "It's a three-year start".

Nance didn't bother to care about her broken mouth.

The night is getting darker and darker, and the whole world is cold and quiet.

Under the cover of snow and night, the roofs of every household in the town look lower than they look during the day.It seemed that the whole town was quietly sinking into the bottomless abyss under the cover of night.

"No matter what the hand touches, it feels very cold." When Su Sha spoke, her lips were a little white from the cold.

Li Qingxian, who was lying on Nan Si's back, looked at her with red eyes: "The coldest day before was more than minus 20 degrees."

"Where's the snow?"

"Snow, it usually covers your calves, but if it falls heavily, it may bury half of you in it."

When they said this, they had already reached the bottom of the town wall.

The road that was just swept during the day was now covered with a thick layer of snow, and when I stepped on it, I sank directly to my knees, and the soles of my feet and toes were already frozen.

However, the girl's weak and warm breath kept blowing behind Nance's ears, which made him feel that the pain of his legs and feet was worth it.

The small town surrounded by mountains is dyed dark blue by the night.

Except for the barking of dogs from time to time, there was no movement, and all the humans had fled to nowhere.

In the yard of the Li family, some vegetables were planted, as well as a tall jujube tree.The branches are covered with thick white snow, and the lower half of the trunk is tightly wrapped in snow.In order to keep out the snow, the eaves of the houses stretch out very long.

As soon as Nance and the others walked under the eaves, the dog next door started barking.

In the quiet courtyard, the living room door was open, revealing bright lights from inside.

Li Qingxian jumped down from behind Nance, and ran towards the house with strides, his long pink hair shaking and shaking.

"Mom, Mom, I'm hungry..."

It sounded very pleasant.

I don't know what she is thinking in her heart, or she is just really hungry, after all, she hasn't eaten all day.

Steam was coming out of the iron pot inside the house, and Mrs. Li stooped down and took out the burnt coal with a small shovel.Hearing the cries outside, she got up, didn't even bother to put on her shoes, and ran out barefoot.

This evening's meal was very enjoyable.

(End of this chapter)