Fist of Imagination

Li Daidi returned home carrying the firewood she had picked up on the mountain and the pig grass she had cut. She piled the firewood under the eaves and began to chop the pig grass with a guillotine.

Pigs have a very diverse diet and there are many wild grasses that can be used as pig grass. The pig grass Li Daidi cut included goose intestines, wild peas, rice bean vines, purslane and water hemp, all of which were picked on the mountainside and near the stream at the entrance of the village. She looked at them one by one, and they were all the ones her mother had taught her to recognize.

Pigs are the money jar and salt jar of the family. The money from selling pigs is used to pay the Dingyin and buy salt. The Ershuan family at the east end of the village accidentally fed the pigs with poisonous grass, which poisoned the two pigs in the family to death. As a result, they could not pay the Dingyin no matter what, and the whole family fled to beg for food.

Li Daidi chopped the pig grass with a guillotine and put it into a wooden basin. She carried the basin to the high stove with great effort. She took out the "Qudeng" made of fir shavings and flint. She hit the flint hard to splash sparks and ignite the "Qudeng" with sulfur. Then she used the burning "Qudeng" to light the tinder braid made of dry wormwood, stuffed it into the stove with firewood, and blew air with a thick bamboo tube to make it burn.

After the fire was lit, the black-faced little girl found two stools, which were higher than the stove by standing on them. She put the pig grass into the pot shakily, added water and bran and cooked it together.

Li Daidi licked the remaining bran on her hands, stirred the pig food in the pot, and covered it with a wooden lid. Thinking back to the iron box and the man-eating monster in the morning, she was still afraid.

She bit her nails, thinking that she couldn't let the monster eat her anyway.

Daddy's arm was broken and he couldn't work well. Mommy's illness was not fully recovered. If she lost the 200 kilograms of millet, it would be difficult to support her younger brother. She was a money-loser. Her younger brother was the future pillar of the family. He had to carry on the family line. She couldn't let him be harmed because of fear.

Li Daidi fed the pigs, cooked and sent the food to the fields, and took her younger brother back home.

Her younger brother was called Li Fugui. Daddy asked Muramasa to give him this name. He was only a little over one year old and couldn't walk yet. He was usually placed in a square wooden cage to prevent him from crawling around.

In the morning, Li Daidi went to collect firewood and pig grass. Her parents took her younger brother with them. The wooden cage and the child were placed under a big tree by the field.

After Li Daidi finished feeding the pigs, she dragged the wooden cage home to look after her younger brother.

It was getting dark. Li Daidi steamed a few steamed buns and cooked a clay pot of bean porridge. She carefully put a little oil and salt in the porridge and mixed it well. Farming is hard work, and food cannot be without oil and salt.

At dusk, Li Daidi's parents came back from the fields.

Li Laosan didn't look angry at all. His left arm was bent and he would rub it with his right hand from time to time. The woman behind him was holding two hoes. Her face was sallow and she was coughing as she walked in.

The two of them put their things down and sat down at a shabby square table. Li Daidi handed his brother in his arms to his mother, and the three of them started to eat the second meal of the day, which was also the last meal of the day.

Li Daidi couldn't sit at the table. She stood by the table and looked at the bean porridge and steamed bread in the bowl. She couldn't help swallowing.

Perhaps the sound of her swallowing was too loud. Li Laosan, who was holding the bowl, put down his chopsticks heavily, and the table was slapped loudly.

"What are you staring at? No work to do?

You only know how to eat! You ate steamed bread in the morning and still want to eat more! You are a starving ghost reincarnated as a money-loser!"

The sickly-looking woman coughed twice and said, "Daidi, go wash your clothes and diapers, don't stand here."

Li Daidi hurried out. If he stood there, his father would beat him again.

Beside the stream at the entrance of the village, there was a wooden basin of clothes next to Li Daidi. She took a clothes pestle and beat the clothes on the stone again and again.

I was hungry again, but the clothes were not washed yet.

Li Daidi touched his stomach, and the elm money steamed bread he had eaten in the mountains before seemed to be uneaten.

The iron box monster said that he could make me full every day. If I could be full every day, I would be willing to be eaten by the monster...

No! There are still two hundred kilograms of millet that I haven't got yet. I can't let the monster eat me.

Li Daidi shook his head vigorously, forgetting everything he shouldn't think about, and continued to beat the clothes vigorously.

"Daidi." A vague voice came from behind. Li Daidi turned around and saw that it was A Niang.

"A Niang." Li Daidi put the clothes and the pestle into the wooden basin and stood up to help her mother.

A Niang's illness has not yet fully recovered. There are many stones by the stream. Don't trip A Niang.

Wang leaned on Li Daidi and took a breath. She covered her mouth with her hand and spit out half of the steamed bun, which was still stained with some beans and leftover porridge.

"Daidi, you can eat this half of the steamed bun."

Li Daidi shook his head like a rattle.

"I won't eat it. A Niang, you have to go to the fields to work. How can you not eat more?"

Wang broke the steamed bun into two halves and stuffed it into Li Daidi's hand.

"A Niang is full today. Half of it will be enough."

Li Daidi then put a quarter of the steamed bun in his hand to his mouth and ate it in small bites.

Wang looked at her daughter tiredly and touched her hair.

"Don't think about eating all the time when you get to your husband's house. You should work more, otherwise your mother-in-law will beat you. When I was a reunion daughter-in-law in the Li family, I ate less and worked more every day, but I was still beaten by your grandmother. You should endure more hardships and talk less, so that your husband's family will like you."

"I know, mother."

Li Daidi lowered his head and ate the steamed bun. He felt that he was not sensible at all for going up the mountain to collect firewood and playing secretly every day. If he grew taller, he could help his father and mother to farm.

...

The moon was in the middle of the sky. Li Laosan and Wang took the children to bed early. After working all day, there was no light or fire at night, so they could only sleep.

Li Daidi secretly got up from the blanket on the stove and tiptoed out of the house.

After drinking the bitter and astringent black water, she was very energetic and didn't want to sleep at night. It must be the magic of the iron box monster.

It would be great if the passing gods took the monster away.

With the help of the moonlight, she walked through the mountains and bushes and found the depression covered by grass and trees.

The iron box stood there alone, without disappearing, and no gods appeared.

Li Daidi's last fantasy was shattered, so he had to walk to the front of the iron box and knocked timidly three times.

"I'm coming."

Dong, dong, dong.

A pleasant sound came from the iron box, and a square light came from the box, and the face of the man-eating monster appeared.

Liang De was relieved when he saw Li Daidi coming alone as promised.

If the little girl didn't come, or brought a group of adults, the situation would be much more troublesome than it is now.

"Put your hand on the vending machine."

"What is a vending machine?"

"Put your hand on this iron box."

"Oh."

Li Daidi reluctantly moved to the vending machine and put his hand on it.

The secret of parenting encyclopedia, the two-phase communication method!

Liang De operated the martial arts spirit according to the law, and the vending machine shone brightly.

Li Daidi's eyes went dark, and he saw countless unfamiliar symbols and pictures flashing through his mind. There was an amber stream running through his heart, warm, and those words and meridian diagrams gradually became clear.

What is Mr. Liang's essence language package?

What is meridian?

What is the principle of martial arts?

What is the ancient boxing of the East?

What is the basic knowledge package for children aged 1 to 10?

What is 1, 10?

What is the multiplication table?

What is the primary school student's self-protection manual?

What is physiological hygiene?

What is Liang De?

Li Daidi was in a daze, and felt his head was dizzy and heavy, as if he had been stuffed with a lot of lead blocks.

But what is cramming and lead blocks?

The light of the vending machine faded, and Li Daidi staggered back his hand. The first thing he said was:

"The shovel of the family! What the hell is this!"

Liang De, who was exhausted, nodded with satisfaction. Not bad, not bad, the pronunciation is clear and loud. Congratulations on becoming the only designated successor of the Lingnan dialect outside the Great Wall in this world.

You can start the next step.