Chapter 117 Old Huang
Riding a horse is fast. It only took two hours to get from the county town to Liujia Village.
Qin Yao was still jogging back slowly. If she ran at full speed, she would arrive in an hour and a half.
It was around four in the afternoon when we entered the village.
I haven't seen the rice in the paddy fields for only two or three days, but it has already started to turn yellow. It looks like it will be ripe in about a week.
Before, everything was green, and Qin Yao's ten acres of rice were nothing special. But now, at a glance, in the same fertile land by the river, the rice ears in her field are heavy and weighed down in bundles, which are particularly eye-catching.
When Old Man Liu passed by the river, he had no idea how many times he had regretted. If he had followed Qin Yao's example and planted the last thirty acres of land near the river using the rice transplanting method, he would have had a very good harvest this year.
Unfortunately, time cannot be reversed, and it is useless to regret now. I can only comfort myself that there is still a chance and I can plant the best land in this way next year.
Qin Yao rode her horse slowly through the village and came to the river bank. The villagers along the way stared at her in amazement, wondering where she had gone to become so rich and how she could come back on a horse.
No one in the village rides a horse yet. Only Liu Dafu's family has one, but that is a short-legged horse used to pull goods, completely different from Qin Yao's horse which is obviously meant for people to ride.
Her horse's back was almost as tall as an adult man. She looked particularly imposing when riding on it, and everyone had to look up at her.
"Mother!"
The girl's excited call came.
Qin Yao rode across the bridge and arrived in front of the water mill. Dalang and Si Niang, who were guarding the money box in the water mill, ran to meet her.
"Horse?" Dalang exclaimed in surprise. A hand reached out and lifted him onto the horse.
Si Niang looked at it curiously and tentatively compared her height with the horse's with her hand, but she was not even as high as the horse's belly.
"Stretch out your hand." Qin Yao reminded with a smile.
Si Niang was not afraid at all. She stretched out both of her little hands and was immediately carried onto the horse by A Niang and placed in front of her brother.
"Mother, is this our horse?" Si Niang turned her head and asked in surprise.
Dalang was so stunned that he only focused on the colorful ball of thread hanging on the horse's neck. His little hands tightly grasped the arched part of the saddle, and he also held his excited and moving sister in his arms.
Qin Yao nodded and shouted "Gee!", and the horse immediately started running towards the house halfway up the hill.
Erlang and Saburo heard the noise and ran out. When they saw the mother and her two children riding on horses, they opened their mouths in surprise.
The old horse wanted to run wild, but Qin Yao grabbed the reins and forced it to stop.
The high horse hooves rose and fell just above their heads. Erlang and Sanlang stood still, unable to react for a moment.
Qin Yao dismounted, picked up the two children from the horse's back, and ordered the four children to stand in a row in front of her, solemnly introducing the new members of the family.
"From now on, the old horse is a member of our family. You must be nice to it. When the time comes, we will depend on it for our trip to school."
Dalang asked: "Is Lao Ma its name?"
Qin Yao shook her head, "That's not the case."
Erlang immediately said, "Then let's give it a name. How about calling it Lao Huang?"
Qin Yao shrugged and said, "Whatever."
So, the four brothers and sisters reached an agreement and decided to call the horse Lao Huang from now on without asking whether the horse was willing or not.
Sanlang looked at Lao Huang with his bright eyes and said, "Mother, can I take Lao Huang out to eat grass every morning when I catch worms for the chickens?"
"Not for now." Qin Yao said seriously, "The horse is not familiar with us now, don't get close to it casually, or you will get kicked."
The four children lowered their heads: "Okay."
But his enthusiasm for Lao Huang remains unabated, and he has already started thinking about building a nest for Lao Huang so that it has a place to sleep.
There was no stable at home, and Qin Yao had no plans to raise pigs, nor did she build a pigpen, so she could only temporarily move Lao Huang to the wasteland behind the yard and tie him up near the toilet, letting him eat some grass to replenish his strength.
She will build a stable for it as soon as possible. Qin Yao patted Lao Huang's head and said, "Be good."
After taking the things off the horse's back, Qin Yao walked into the house with her hands full.
The four children followed her happily, happier than during the Chinese New Year.
Except for Dalang who still cared about whether his father had successfully entered the academy, the remaining three were completely focused on the oil paper bag in her hand.
A thin piece of oil paper could not cover up the aroma of the food. Si Niang almost put her mouth close to it and bit the food together with the oil paper.
"You look so greedy. Haven't you had enough to eat these days?" Qin Yao asked jokingly.
Knowing that Qin Yao was joking with them, Dalang and the other three shook their heads embarrassedly and smiled at her.
Qin Yao put the things in the main room first, "Don't move, wait for me to come back."
The four siblings nodded obediently: "Yeah!"
She first went back to the house to put down her weapon, then changed into a clean, thin linen dress, and threw the dirty clothes, which were soaked with blood and hardly visible, into the stone trough.
Dalang was very considerate and scooped half a basin of clean water for his stepmother and asked her to wash her face.
There are two large water tanks in the house. Qin Yao had filled them up before leaving home. They are used by the four children on a daily basis, so there is still some water left.
He washed his hands and face, wiped the sweat from his chest and the back of his neck, and the smell of blood, which was no longer very strong, was completely gone.
Qin Yao took a deep breath of the fresh country air. After not sleeping for a day and a night, she suddenly relaxed and felt a little tired.
He patted his face, cheered himself up, walked into the main room, sat down, and opened one of the oil-paper packages under the expectant gaze of his four children.
Inside was a whole roast chicken, five braised pig trotters, and a bowl of sweet and sour spare ribs. These dishes had been cooked an hour and a half ago and were still warm. The aroma was so fragrant that Sanlang's mouth was watering.
Qin Yao smiled and waved to Dalang and Erlang, "Go get the bowl."
The two brothers immediately ran out and ran back with the bowl in their arms.
Qin Yao put the three dishes separately into three large porcelain bowls. With the contrast of porcelain, they looked more tempting.
He looked at the four brothers and sisters who were eager but trying hard to hold back with amusement, and nodded, "Eat."
The four of them did not rush forward like hungry wolves. Dalang asked his younger brothers and sisters to sit down and put a piece of sweet and sour pork ribs in each of their bowls. Only then did Erlang and the other two begin to enjoy the food happily.
"Mother, it's sweet!" Si Niang said in surprise.
Qin Yao also picked up a piece of pork ribs and put it in the bowl to chew, explaining: "This is called sweet and sour pork ribs, sour and sweet, especially appetizing, right?"
"Hmm!" Si Niang said happily, "My brother and I both love it!"
"Eat more if you like it." Qin Yao pinched the twins' tender faces. Looking at the four satisfied little faces in front of her was really healing.
Each of them ate two pieces of ribs to satisfy their cravings, and then stopped eating tacitly.
Dalang asked Qin Yao to cover the vegetables with a straw cover and said happily, "I'll go cook."
Erlang, Sanlang and Si Niang also said that they were going to pick vegetables and actively prepare for the sumptuous dinner tonight.
Qin Yao lay on the chair, her eyes gradually narrowing.
Knowing that she was very tired, the four children in the house slowed down their movements.