Chapter 849 Settling Down
Da Bao and Little Treasure looked at the table full of food and trembled in fear. Not only was there snake meat, but there were also many small bugs. Even the maggots that grew after the animals they had seen when they were young were present.
“An An, Le Le, Why aren’t you eating? It’s very delicious. Try it.”
“Sister, these, these, these are bugs.”
“I know, this is our food. We’ve been eating this since we were young. It’s very delicious, and very nutritious. Only when n.o.ble guests come to our house will we prepare these. Usually, we eat wild vegetables and dumplings.”
“But we all eat rice.” Da Bao couldn’t help but say. She was almost scared to tears by these bugs. It was so terrifying.
“Rice is something that our chief and the elders can only eat when they grow up. We can’t eat such n.o.ble food. An An, Le Le, do all the people outside eat rice? Wow, Father, the people outside are so rich. We only produce a few hundred catties of grain a year here.”
“Yes, An An, Le Le, tell Uncle Gen what the outside world is like. If you can’t get used to these things, there’s also fish soup. The delicious fish soup has golden laurel snakes in it. It’s the most nouris.h.i.+ng. Golden laurel snakes are very rare in the mountains now. After they’re caught, they’ll be presented to the chief and elders. I secretly left this behind. It’s very delicious.”
“Snake soup?”
“Yes, snake soup. This is the best.”
Ah Tawa even took a big gulp after she said that. Her satisfied look made the two children swallow their saliva.
They had eaten snake soup before. It was something that their G.o.dfather had brought them to eat in the past. It was very delicious, but their mother had said that children should not eat so much wild game, so they had not eaten it again
When they saw Sister Ah Tawa’s expression, their little cravings were immediately aroused.
If they did not eat the bugs, they could just eat the snake soup and wild vegetable b.a.l.l.s.
Da Bao and Little Treasure looked at each other before holding their bowls and taking small sips of the soup. Later, they realized that the soup was really delicious, so they could no longer be reserved and ate without any manners.
It was known that the two children had not eaten these hot dishes for a few days, so once they started eating, they would definitely eat until they were full. “Hahahaha, good, good, eat more, eat more. It’s a blessing to eat more.”
Ah Gen watched the two children eat happily and occasionally picked some wild vegetables for the two children. When they were almost done eating, he slowly inquired about the outside world from the two children.
Fortunately, this Da Bao and Little Treasure were more intelligent than the other children. No matter what he asked, they could answer a little.
In addition, the two children had entered the school. Although they did not know the 5,000-year history of China, they still knew some other things.
Ah Gen now knew that there was no such thing as an emperor in the outside world. There was even something about women and men having equal rights and women being able to go out and do business. It was simply unheard of and shocking.
There was also an academy that men and women could go to.
This was really a wonderful picture for them and made them yearn for it.
In this ancient village, the status of men was always greater than the heavens. Women could only stay at home and have children to take care of the housework and farm work.
Girls would be engaged at the age of 13 and married at the age of 15. Even polygamy was allowed here. However, because it had been pa.s.sed down for thousands of years, the population here was only about 400 people.
It was very rare to have an even distribution. In order to continue their descendants, of course, such polygamy would slowly disappear. However, the clan leader was an exception. They were allowed to have two wives, and they could even have concubines. The most ridiculous thing was that as long as the clan leader took a fancy to them, they could even take over their wives and daughters. Of course, this was something unimaginable to the outside world. However, in this place, the clan leader was the sky, the land… the king of this place.
Other than the king that appeared in the legends, the clan leader was the most important person here.
As for the wives and daughters that had been taken over, when the clan leader got tired of them, they would return them to the men of that family. However, they would not be the slightest bit dissatisfied. They would even think that this was the clan leader praying for their family’s blessings, and that it was an extremely sacred and glorious matter.
It was just that Ah Gen was unwilling to do so.
Ah Gen’s wife had once been favored by the chief. However, Ah Gen and his wife were extremely in love. In order not to be taken over by the chief, his wife eventually committed suicide and died. Therefore, Ah Gen’s family was also looked down upon by the clansmen. They lived in this bamboo house that was the most reliable and the most unsafe. They could only get a little of their food.
Even when Ah Gen was training in the military camp, he would also be ostracized by everyone. He would often be punished by the elders.
The four elders were all the trusted aides of the clan leader. Their army was formed by all the men in the clan who were over 13 years old and under 50 years old. As for why they spent half of their time every day training soldiers instead of farming… No one knew.
No one knew when the legendary king who would lead them to glory and new life would appear.
This was a nation that maintained feudalism, poverty, and decay. Its existence should have disappeared a thousand years ago, but it had strangely continued to exist until now.
“Father, can you be decisive and treat the illness? Does the doctor have a solution?”
At the end of the meal, the father and daughter talked about other topics. However, when root mentioned the boy who was only about 11 years old and the boy who was Ah Tawa’s childhood sweetheart… He sighed heavily in his heart.
He liked Nang Kokang very much. He had been waiting until Ah Tawa was 13 years old to arrange a marriage for the two of them. The two families had also agreed that Nang Kokang’s parents were the only people in the village who did not dislike them.
However, Nang Kokang was sick just like that. It was just a cold. How could he be so sick?
“The doctor has no choice. He said that he will perform a sacrifice and pray for blessings tomorrow. Nang Kokang’s parents have already carried him back.”
Hearing this news, Ah Tawa’s mood immediately fell. Root looked at his daughter and slowly packed his things before leaving.
Little Treasure followed Uncle Gen and wanted to know more about the situation in the village. Big Treasure looked at Ah Tawa’s crying face and wanted to comfort her. “… That’s how it is. The doctor’s medicine is no longer effective, and my Kokang is almost hopeless. Let me tell you, the sacrifice has no effect at all. I’ve seen it before, and those vultures will surround you. Once you’re hopeless, the vultures will eat you up. I don’t want my Kokang to be like this.”
“Sister, didn’t you say that he has a cold? If you have a cold, you just need to take medicine and get an injection.”
Da Bao actually still didn’t understand what Ah Tawa meant, but she knew that a cold was just a minor illness. He would be fine after taking medicine and injections.
Ah Tawa also didn’t understand what Da Bao meant by injections, but Nang Kokang had already taken a lot of medicine. It had no effect at all.
Da Bao saw that Ah Tawa had no reaction, so she thought about it and ran into her bag to take out a box of cold medicine. This was the medicine that Shen Xiaoxiao had prepared for them. She was afraid that there was something wrong with the children, such as a fever or a cough… They did not know.
Of course, the two children had been in good health since they were young. They did not fall ill. Now that they knew that someone had a cold, they took out the medicine. However, Da Bao did not know that this medicine would almost kill them later.