PFC Chapter 249: Firewood in Our Village
Chapter 249: Firewood in Our Village
Lu Qingqing quickly took off the bow on her back, stood still and aimed at the pheasant.
As it flapped its wings and flew up again, an arrow shot through it.
When Li Rui and his companions saw that they had caught the pheasant, they cheered and ran to pick it up.
Tu Rong raised the pheasant in his hand, turned around and said to Lu Qingqing:
"Daya, this pheasant has a lot of meat. It can be a snack tonight!"
When Li Rui heard the word "meat", he began to look towards the woods again.
Unfortunately, after watching for a long time, there was no movement in the woods.
After turning his gaze back, Li Rui looked at the pheasant's bright tail feathers and couldn't help but sigh:
"It's a pity it's a rooster. If it were a hen, there might be eggs nearby!"
Qu Hong was about to chop down a tree when he heard this and said with a smile:
"It's so cold, I'm afraid the hens won't lay eggs!"
When the fellow disciples around heard this, they all laughed.
Li Rui saw that they were all laughing at him, and raised his head and said:
"What's the matter? Hens are not allowed to lay eggs in winter. Maybe they will!"
Qin Lang came close to Lu Qingqing and whispered:
"Daya, every time Xiaogouzi gets angry, doesn't he look a lot like Senior Brother Li now?"
Lu Qingqing listened to Qin Lang's words and thought about it again. It was true. Even the angle of the chin was somewhat similar!
Several fellow disciples around him also heard Qin Lang's "whispered" words and teased him rudely:
"Really, Li Rui, look, Qin Lang has seen it!"
"Qin Lang never lies. Li Rui, you are going backwards as you grow older."
"..."
Soon, the men behind also came over and were surprised to see the pheasant on the ground.
These days, anything edible is popular, let alone chicken.
After the men finished cutting this area and continued to move forward, they paid special attention to it.
Unfortunately, no more animals were found that could be hunted.
The pheasant was a pleasant surprise, so everyone wasn't too disappointed without it.
Thinking of the extremely cold weather last winter, everyone did not waste any more time and sped up the pace of chopping wood.
Although the weather was cold, the men who were chopping wood with axes didn't feel it at all, and they even started to sweat.
Some people have sweaty hands, and the hands holding the hatchet will start to steam.
The women nearby followed and helped pick up and tie the branches.
Seeing that more and more firewood was being chopped, Lu Tianming arranged for people to transport the firewood back.
Everyone worked until noon before stopping for lunch.
For lunch, we had the cold pancakes we brought with us, and then continued working.
Before going up the mountain, Lu Tianming had already said that they should take advantage of the fact that it didn't snow today and chop more firewood to bring back.
The weather turned cold early this year, and I’m afraid it will be another cold winter.
Everyone worked until it was almost dark before they transported the last batch of firewood back.
When we got home, everyone was too tired to get up.
Chopping wood is not an easy job, not to mention that everyone hardly stopped to chop more wood.
It took a long time before people started to get up and cook.
For dinner, everyone just boiled some hot water and put a griddle on the pot to heat the pancakes.
While we were eating, snowflakes started falling outside again.
When everyone saw this, they couldn't help but groan in pain.
It's not snowing today, but it's already difficult to go up the mountain to chop firewood. It will probably be even more troublesome tomorrow.
Fortunately, the snow is not heavy at the moment.
On the second day, everyone braved the snowy mountain to chop wood. The snow kept falling and coming back.
For five consecutive days, everyone braved the snow and went up the mountain to chop firewood.
Fortunately, the firewood we chopped these days is almost enough.
In addition to the firewood piled up in each house, there was also a large pile of firewood in the yard.
In a normal year, this firewood would be enough to keep everyone warm through the winter.
But the climate in the past two years has been so abnormal that no one is sure.
So they decided to prepare more firewood to be prepared for any eventuality.
That morning, as everyone was preparing to go up the mountain, they met several villagers from Linshan Village at the foot of the mountain.
Seeing that they were about to go up the mountain again, those people said with unfriendly expressions:
"Stranger, I see you've been up in the mountains for many days. Isn't the firewood you've been chopping enough?
You know, this mountain belongs to our Linshan Village!
I've let you cut trees for a few days because of the village chief's kindness. You should also learn to stop when you're ahead!"
Another man next to him said:
"That's right. If you cut down all the trees, what will we have to cut down in the future? This load of firewood will fetch several cents if we sell it!"
While they were talking, Lu Tianming kept looking at them. These men were not very old.
They had been in the mountain village for so long, but it seemed they had never seen these people before.
But since they were on someone else's territory, Lu Tianming still said politely:
"Brother, the temperature is very cold this year, and we just want to chop some firewood..."
Before Lu Tianming could finish, one of the men interrupted:
"You're talking nonsense. With so many of you going up the mountain to chop wood, I counted five or six days of work. How could an ordinary family use so much wood?"
Another man echoed:
"That's right, maybe you want to chop more firewood to sell!
The villagers all say that you have money and food. If you are so rich, why bother fighting with us farmers for the money for firewood?
Lu Tianming listened with a faint smile on his face. After they finished speaking, he spoke:
"You must have misunderstood. We only cut firewood for our own use and have no intention of selling it. Besides, we are not familiar with this place and don't even know which way the firewood gate faces."
One of the men opposite looked at their thick clothes, and suddenly thought of something. He changed the subject and said politely:
"Brother Lu, my brothers are all rough people, and what we said just now was offensive.
I see that you still want to go up the mountain. Is it because you don’t have enough firewood?
Coincidentally, a few of us are specialized in chopping wood.
If you need anything, we can help you."
Lu Tianming and his group looked at the men opposite them. They were dressed like standard farmers, not much different from when they were in the village before.
Everyone in the team understood what they meant, and they knew they wanted to sell them firewood.
Lu Tianfu, Lu Tianxin, the village chief and other farmers did not want to spend the money. They had saved some gold particles before.
But those are to be saved for settling down in the future, building houses and buying land, not to be wasted on firewood, something that can be found everywhere.
Besides, they have lived in the village for so many years, but they have never seen any farmer go to buy firewood.
Just as they were about to refuse, Lu Tianming spoke first:
"Brothers, there are quite a few of us in our team. Could you please allow us to discuss this first? If anyone wants to buy firewood, we can come and talk to you later."
Seeing that Lu Tianming had always been in a good attitude and had an indescribable temperament, the men opposite nodded.
Lu Tianming called the people in the team aside, and when he saw that they were some distance away from those men, he asked in a low voice:
"Everyone knows what happened just now. Each household should send someone to express their opinions. Now, those who don't want to buy firewood, please raise your hands."