Liu Zhiyan, who was carrying Li Qingning, let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Li Qingling and the others had returned. "I don"t know if Ning Ning is hungry, but she"ll cry the moment she wakes up.Li Qingling looked at his little sister who was crying all over and carefully hugged her, feeling extremely pained. "I should be hungry, let me carry her to Sister Zhang to get some milk to drink." These two days, Sister Zhang had been the one to feed her little sister, so it wasn"t as bad as making her hungry.
"Cat... Mao Mao is also hungry. " Liu Zhirou, who was standing at the side and holding onto the little tiger, spoke in a childish voice.
Li Qingling lowered her head and looked at the little tiger who was also whining in hunger. He couldn"t possibly carry it and go get milk right? What"s that like?
"Feed it some rice soup. I"ll let it stay hungry."
With that, she tightly wrapped Li Qingning up, and carried the dozen of wild eggs back home, and quickly walked towards Sister Zhang"s house with him.
As though she knew that there would be food later, Li Qingning stopped crying and stared at Li Qingling with her eyes wide open.
Seeing her being so obedient, Li Qingling"s heart softened. This was her mother"s little sister born with her life on the line, no matter how difficult it was, she was going to raise her.
When she carried Li Qingning to the entrance of Sister Zhang"s house, and was about to open her mouth to call for someone, she heard Sister Zhang"s husband, Huang Dashan.
"Look, I already told you not to feed that Li family girl. If she drinks, your son won"t be full."
Sister Zhang was a mother, after seeing how pitiful the child was, her heart would always soften a little. "She didn"t drink much, but her son has grown up and has a better appet.i.te.
Huang Dashan was still dissatisfied, "No, this is my son"s food, we can"t let others drink it. Besides, she has a tough life, what will you do if we get rid of our son?"
"This …" When Sister Zhang heard his husband"s words, she hesitated, "Alright, I won"t feed him next time." His son was still the most important.
Hearing these words, Li Qingling really wanted to turn around and leave, but seeing her obedient and cute little sister, she couldn"t move her legs no matter what.
Gritting her teeth, she still called for someone.
Sister Zhang looked at his husband, and told him to open the door. Only after being urged by Sister Zhang did Huang Mountain unwillingly open the door.
Li Qingling pretended not to see Huang Dashan"s ugly expression, but she still called him Big Brother Mountain with a smile. Then, she pa.s.sed the wild egg to him and told him to steam it for his son.
"Xiao Ling, you"re here?" Sister Zhang laughed awkwardly, "Quickly carry Ning Ning over, you must be starving her to death." She didn"t want her son to drink anymore, so she handed him over to Huang Dashan and told him to stew the eggs for her son to eat.
Huang Dashan harrumphed, hugged his son who was on the verge of tears and walked into the kitchen.
Li Qingling thanked Sister Zhang and pa.s.sed her sister to her.
Sister Zhang"s son was almost a year old, and her milk was not particularly nutritious anymore. But there was nothing she could do, in the entire village, she was the only one who was still nursing the baby, so he could only rely on her.
However, after this time, his sister could no longer come over, so as to not arouse their dislike.
She had better think of a way to buy a ewe!
Thinking about this, Li Qingling asked Sister Zhang what she should pay attention to when taking care of infants.
This was the first time she had raised a child.
Sister Zhang looked up and glanced at Li Qingling, feeling sorry for her. It was not easy for someone of such a young age to take care of a family.
She held Li Qingning who had drank her fill up tightly and gently patted her back, allowing her to burp.
She told Li Qingling all the things that she should normally pay attention to, as well as these small details.
Li Qingling listened attentively, and when Sister Zhang finished, he carried her little sister back home.
She returned back to the Liu Family first. As soon as she entered the door, she told Liu Zhimo to find out more about her.
"What"s wrong?" Seeing her pale face, Liu Zhimo asked with concern.
Li Qingling put his little sister who was sleeping once again on the bed to sleep, "Going to someone else"s place to get milk for a long time is not a good thing, I might as well buy a female goat and let Ning Ning drink goat"s milk." His sister was a premature baby, a small lump that could not be nurtured.
He knew her well enough to know what had happened to her to make such a decision, but she did not want to say it, and he did not press her.
"Alright, I"ll go ask around." Liu Zhimo nodded, he patted her shoulders and turned to leave.
Li Qingling covered her sister with the blanket and sighed softly. She stood up and let Li Qingfeng and the others look after her sister, then went home and cleaned up the house before coming over to pick them up.
Without his mother, Li Qingfeng seemed to have grown up overnight. If he sent Li Qingling there sensible, he would take care of his sister.
"Sister …" "Sister …" When Liu Zhirou saw this infant that was younger than him, she was both curious and happy.
Li Qingling hugged her and kissed her. "Yes, sister.
"Alright …"
"So obedient …" Li Qingling kissed her again, then put her in Liu Zhiyan"s embrace and exhorted her once more before returning back to her place.
She had just cleaned up the mess in her house, and Liu Zhimo was back, "There is no one in the village to raise sheep, I can only go to the town to take a look." The villagers were not rich people. It was already good enough for them to let their families eat their fill and dress warmly, why would they buy sheep to raise?
"Alright, I"ll take a look at the town later." Li Qingling put away the things that Mrs. Zhao left behind and closed the door to her room. Then, he followed Liu Zhimo back to her house to get the money.
These two days, her house was full of people. She was afraid that it would not be safe to leave her money at home, so she left it for Liu Zhimo.
"Wait for me at home for a while, I"m going to borrow an oxcart from the village chief." Wait for me at home for a while, I"m going to borrow an oxcart from the village chief.
"Alright …" Li Qingling did not decline, walking indeed took a long time, riding on a carriage was more stable.
Liu Zhimo ran over to the Village Chief"s house to borrow an ox cart, and repeatedly reminded Liu Zhiyan that if they had not returned yet, he would eat first and not wait for them.
Seeing Liu Zhiyan"s response, they were relieved and brought Li Qingling to the town.
They were lucky this time. When they went to the street where the fowl was sold, they saw an uncle selling sheep. It was a ewe with a little lamb on it.
Li Qingling ran over and asked for the price. The uncle asked to buy it as well, for one or two hundred gold coins.
She felt that it was a bit expensive, so she negotiated the price with the old man and talked about buying it for one to two hundred dollars.
When the two of them brought the two sheep back to the village, they met people from the village who had gathered to talk about the mountain after the meal.
When they saw Li Qingling holding onto the two sheep, they were startled for a moment and asked Li Qingling if she had bought the sheep.
In any case, she wouldn"t be able to hide this matter of her buying a sheep from others, so Li Qingling very generously nodded her head, "Little sister doesn"t have milk to drink, I have no choice, I can only borrow money to buy a sheep." She made it clear that she had borrowed money to buy it.
Someone who had good taste asked, "Xiao Ling, is this ewe not cheap?" Who could lend her so much money? Liu Zhimo?
Li Qingling laughed bitterly, "It is not cheap, but what can I do? After a pause, she said, "Aunts and uncles, I"ll be leaving first. Little Sister is still waiting to drink her milk."
When Li Qingling and the others were far away, the villagers started to discuss again. Someone recalled that on the day of Mrs. Zhao"s accident, Li Qingling and Liu Zhimo came back from the outside of the village with baskets in their backs. There was even a wild chicken in the baskets, who knows where they got it from?
Just like that, the villagers spread the news.
Li Qingling, who wholeheartedly wanted to quickly return home and boil some milk for his sister, did not know about the rumors of her earning money by selling her prey, but it did not take long for the news to reach the entire village.
"Wow, wow, we already have sheep." Li Qingling led the sheep back to the Liu Family household.
Liu Zhimo tidied up his backyard and let Li Qingling lead the sheep in to tie them up.
"Have you eaten?" Li Qingling washed her hands and only asked after seeing that the three little fellows were still in high spirits.
Li Qingfeng looked at the sheep and saw that there was no reaction from Liu Zhiyan, he could only answer, "Eat it, and leave some food for you and Zhi Moge, it"s still hot in the pot, you guys go eat it quickly!"
Helplessly shaking her head, Li Qingling looked at the three little animals and said: "Don"t get too close to that ewe, you"ll be kicked, do you understand?"
"Got it." The three of them replied in unison.
Li Qingling went to the kitchen and brought out the brown rice porridge and pickled vegetables. Liu Zhimo, who went to return the oxcart, also came back just in time.
She waved the chopsticks in her hand. "Time to eat."
He went to wash his hands, then scooped a bowl of porridge and sat across from Li Qingling, lowering her head and drinking.
After drinking the brown rice porridge that looked like she would burn her throat, Li Qingling put down the bowl, "Go back to town another day and buy some more rice. The children at home are still growing and can"t drink this porridge often, it doesn"t have any nutrients." They sold their prey for a few dozen taels of silver, which was more than enough for them to live a better life.
Liu Zhimo nodded, he looked at her, and then sighed: "Xiao Ling, I"m afraid that we can"t hide the matter of us going to hunt anymore. Right now, everyone is saying that you earned money selling your prey, and bought sheep."
Hearing this news, Li Qingling was not surprised, when she decided to buy a sheep, she knew that it would give the villagers a huge impact.
Even if she said the money was borrowed, the villagers wouldn"t believe it.
"Since they are already guessing, then I might as well directly tell them. I can even gain a good reputation for myself." She did not think that she could keep this a secret for too long, "Just tell this to the village chief, let him pa.s.s it on to the villagers." The village chief had a high reputation, so he was the best person to do so.
"Alright, let"s make a trip later!" The faster the better, so as to avoid causing others to become more and more outrageous.
Li Qingling agreed, she packed up the tableware and followed Liu Zhimo out to the Village Chief"s house.
The village chief obviously heard the rumors in the village, but he couldn"t believe it. After all, Li Qingling and Liu Zhimo were very young, how could they fight?
Thus, when he saw Li Qingling and Liu Zhimo coming to find him, he immediately said: "For the rumors in the village, it"s fine if you guys listen, but don"t take it to heart."