26. Pheasant Eggs

He said it tactfully. read

It’s not that I don’t want to marry your sister, it’s just that my family is poor now and there is no fertile land. You will definitely suffer hardship if you marry me. It’s better to wait until I find a title, have a family business, and gain fame before we talk about this matter.

The allusion about finding a feudal lord is from Ban Chao.

But at this moment, it is okay to say that the champion is a prince. The champion is awarded the title of marquis at the age of eighteen, which is the pride of a young man.

"What Brother Bai said is true, it's my fault..."

Zhou Yuan's flushed face softened. Although he wanted Bai Gui to be his sister-in-law. But just now, I made a mistake. I said how much the dowry was, and I felt a little regretful after saying it.

He was afraid that Bai Gui would take it seriously and would not be able to go back and explain.

Of course, if Bai Gui really becomes his sister-in-law, the dowry he will give her will definitely be quite large. Not to mention such big words as "Ten Miles of Hongzhuang", but it is still several times higher than the dowry that an ordinary rich man would pay to marry his daughter.

Young people are rich and kind!

But I am also afraid of being unfilial and disobeying the elders in the family.

"What a pity! What a pity..." Bai Xiaowu sighed at the side, "It's a pity that the Lingling baby of the E family has just been born now."

As soon as this joke came out, the cold atmosphere just now dissipated immediately.

Bai Ling is young now, less than one year old. Therefore, I am not afraid of damaging the reputation of the girl's family if I say anything. If you are eleven or twelve years old, you need to pay attention.

"What are you talking about? There is such a big age difference..."

Lu Zhaohai rolled his eyes.

A few people were enjoying the cool breeze blowing on the hills, and they couldn't help but feel much more relaxed and comfortable. I don’t know who suggested it, why not touch the bird’s nest, shoot some pheasants, and have a picnic when we get back.

Even if children from the countryside read poetry and books, they are still from the countryside at heart.

Some birds are protected animals in later generations, but in the countryside, they are harmful to crops. In your spare time, catching birds is also a way to ensure a good harvest.

We rely on mountains to eat mountains, and we rely on water to eat water.

The land of the villagers on the edge of the Qinling Mountains is barren and the taxes are heavy. Some mountain people can barely survive by hunting.

"Eh, I've eaten braised pork made by cat bears. The pandas got fat from eating them. I didn't know that eating bamboo could make me so fat... That day, I was still studying. My dad saw the cat bears brought back by the hunters and bought one. Large pieces of meat, made into braised pork, not to mention how fragrant it is..."

Zhou Yuan swallowed, his chubby face looking at Qin Ling full of longing.

"The panda is deep in the mountain, don't dare to enter."

Some people are greedy.

"Does it really smell that good?"

Bai Gui's eyelids twitched, pandas are protected animals in future generations. Cat bears are also giant pandas. Killing giant pandas is against the law. However, in the late Qing Dynasty at this time, giant pandas were still a delicacy on the dining table.

There are also giant pandas in the Qinling Mountains, which are a subspecies of giant pandas. Compared with the giant pandas in Shu Province, the giant pandas in Qinling have rounder faces, more like cats than bears, so they are called pandas. ,

"Why are you lying to me?"

Zhou Yuan raised his chin high and said disdainfully.

"Then let me ask my father to buy some cat bear meat from the mountain people next time he goes to Panlong Town to buy medicinal herbs." Bai Xiaowen wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth.

There is also a town in the mountains near Bailuyuan, about thirty miles away, called Panlong Town.

The Bai family has been in the medicinal materials business since Grandpa Bai Jiaxuan's generation, and there is a stone-printed encyclopedia of Qin medicinal materials hidden in the family. With this book, you can go to the mountains to purchase medicinal materials and open a medicinal materials shop in Panlong Town.

The biological mother of the Bai brothers, Bai Wu, is a mountain native. Their father, Shopkeeper Wu, was an apprentice in a medicine shop with Grandpa Bai Jiaxuan. Later, he gave the shop to Shopkeeper Wu, and the Bai family received dividends every year...

As they spoke, they entered the willow forest by the river.

This willow forest is not big. There are no dangerous animals like wolves and tigers in the area of ​​dozens of acres. However, there are many small wild animals such as hares, pheasants, and badgers running back and forth.

As soon as I entered the willow forest, I saw a gray rabbit running into the forest.

Everyone chased him.

"Look, this is a pile of pheasants. It seems that we have found the place where the pheasants lay their eggs." Bai Gui walked to a remote place in the willow forest and pointed to a piece of eggs in the weeds. said.

There are about thirty eggs, which is quite a lot.

"Let's bake these eggs and eat them..."

Bai Xiaowu, who was ready to make a move, suggested. As he said this, he was about to pick up the eggs and prepare to make a fire to roast them.

"These are pheasants. They can hatch into little pheasants. Who knows how many days they took to hatch. They might be feathered eggs..."

Bai Gui thought for a while and said.

"What? A hairy egg?"

Several people quickly put down the eggs in their hands.

Thinking of the horror of raw eggs, they have no desire to eat them.

"Mencius: King Hui of Liang, Part 1" said: "If the farming season is not violated, the grain will not be enough to eat; if the grains are not put into the pond, the fish and turtles will not be enough to eat; if the ax and catty are brought in according to the season, In the mountains and forests, the wood is useless.'"

"Now you and I can't bear to eat these eggs that are about to hatch."

Bai Gui recited a chapter from Mencius, one of the Four Books, without thinking.

This kind of preaching speech is useless to ordinary rural children, but for students who are familiar with the scriptures, it can have a dissuasive effect.

Regardless of whether one is kind-hearted or not, one can turn a blind eye to the sage's teachings. Once this spreads out, it will have a great impact on one's reputation...

Confucian benevolence and etiquette not only restrain the people at the bottom, but also restrain the Confucian scholars themselves.

"The Book of Liang Hui Wang also said: A gentleman stays away from the kitchen." Lu Zhaopeng also began to show off his achievements. He recited softly: "It is said: 'No harm is a benevolent technique, seeing the cow but not the sheep. A gentleman sees the animals alive and cannot bear to see them die; hears their voices and cannot bear to eat their meat. Therefore, a gentleman stays away from the kitchen.'"

The horror of the hairy eggs is also supported by the theory of the scriptures.

Several people put the eggs back to their original place.

"No! Haven't you heard the story that once you find a rabbit nest and catch a rabbit, you can't put it back? Rabbits can smell human breath, and the pheasants are the same. If they find that these eggs have been moved by us, they will definitely peck the shells and peck the little pheasants to death."

Bai Gui stopped them again. He deliberately put these eggs here when he entered the forest just now and took advantage of no one's attention. These eggs are all white-feathered chicken eggs, which can hatch white-feathered chickens.

Extremely precious in this era!

Although the white-feathered chickens were misrepresented in later generations, and were said to be less nutritious than old hens, the white-feathered chickens were actually good breeds that were mated, which were fast to breed, had a high meat yield, and were easy to survive.

In the late Qing Dynasty, white-feathered chickens were not cheaper than domestic chickens. After small-scale breeding, they could be sold at high prices like luxury goods.

The reason why they were not raised before was because they could not be kept!

In the Lu family, once they were discovered, it would become the Lu family's own. Even if the Lu family kept their benevolence and righteousness and did not rob, there would be other families. However, it is different now. He has a certain status, although this status is not very solid and a little vain...

But in two months, he has the confidence to pass the county exam, not to mention the friendship between his classmates. No one will rob them. Besides, the small profits of small-scale breeding will not cause the Bai and Lu families to turn against each other.

When large-scale breeding is carried out, he has the confidence to keep this property.