Time quickly went by. It was late autumn at the end of September in the tenth year of Dahui's National Harvest Festival. It had been more than half a year since Su Shuiche came to this world.
Tian Dabao had been following Lin Siyao and calling him "Master" for a month and a half.
In addition to the basic horse stance and long punches, which he had to do every day, he had also started to formally practice his qinggong and swordsmanship with Lin Siyao.
The iron sword he used to practice swordsmanship was made by Tian Dafu's aunt's eldest son, Lao Yongfu.
Although it looked heavy and rough, Tian Dabao still liked it very much.
According to Aunt Tian's teasing words, even when he was sleeping, he would not let go of it.
Ever since Lin Siyao accepted Tian Dabao as his disciple, he took the wolf pup for a stroll in the morning. Occasionally, the task of hunting some wild animals was also given to Tian Dabao.
As for himself, he openly hugged his lovely wife and slept until late in the morning, until Tian Dabao was half-hunchbacked and half-dragged by the wolf pup.
Of course, he was definitely not injured, but exhausted from running.
However, this situation gradually began to change in less than a month.
Tian Dabao was no longer exhausted from being brought back by the wolf pup. Instead, he followed the wolf pup from a distance until he arrived at the same time as the wolf pup while panting.
Tian Dabao's results were gratifying and obvious.
He had a good foundation.
Lin Siyao had already seen it.
This was the second reason he accepted him as his disciple.
Without a foundation to practice martial arts, no matter how hard he worked, he could only build a strong and healthy body, but he could not achieve the great success that martial artists wanted.
As for the main reason, of course, it was to have one more person to protect her.
In Lin Siyao's knowledge, other than Su Shuiche, he never made a losing deal.
If Tian Dabao wanted to learn the Mysterious Moving Steps, he would teach him. If he wanted to learn the gorgeous Mysterious Heavenly Sword, he would teach him.
As long as Tian Dabao wanted to learn, he would do his best to teach him.
However, in the future, as long as she has any safety needs, this disciple will protect Mistress with his life.
This was the only condition he offered.
…
During this period, the annual autumn harvest of Blossom Town came as expected by the villagers.
Village Chief Wang Gengfa went to look for Lin Siyao.
There was no other reason. After this season's autumn harvest, the two mu of fertile farmland under the residence would belong to Lin Siyao and his wife.
After harvesting the rice, corn, sorghum, soybeans, and other crops, the remaining stalks needed to be cleaned up. Most importantly, the winter wheat and winter vegetables could be sown.
Wang Gengfa knew that Lin Siyao was a martial artist, so he would definitely be able to do farm work.
Therefore, they hoped that Lin Siyao could help their family harvest the autumn harvest. Of course, the couple would also help clean up the aftermath. They also promised to give Lin Siyao 500 catties of grains and 100 catties of corn.
Lin Siyao didn't say anything and readily agreed.
It wasn't because of the grain reward that Wang Gengfa proposed, but because he wanted to find someone who understood farming to give him a few pointers during the spring planting season.
Yes, Lin Siyao didn't understand farming.
It was an extravagant hope for a man who had only been working as an assassin for more than ten years to be able to farm without learning and familiarizing himself with farming.
He didn't understand farming, so he readily agreed to help during the autumn harvest. Not only did he agree to the village chief's request, he also took the initiative to look for the Lao and Tian families. It wasn't for anything else, but purely to familiarize himself with the autumn harvest and all kinds of farm work.
As for next year's spring planting, the village chief, Lao, and Tian families had already received a favor from him for free. How could they just stand by and watch?
Naturally, they would take the initiative to give him pointers and help.
Therefore, Lin Siyao was definitely not a person who was willing to make a losing deal.
Assassins sometimes understood mutual benefits better than businessmen.
…
Su Shuiche devoted herself to sewing winter clothes and winter quilts to make them more substantial for the winter.
For their winter clothes, she chose a modified double-front jacket that was popular in Suzhou during the Republic of China, rather than the short jacket with a slanted collar that was commonly worn in Dahui.
It was a winter robe that was longer than the knees, with a wide waist and narrow sleeves. The eight buttons were neatly arranged in the middle.
In order to make it easier to wash, the white cotton lining was removable.
Su Shuiche embroidered a sky-blue double-petaled hibiscus on Lin Siyao's black winter robe.
Lin Siyao chose this from the ten or so flower and tree embroidery designs that she had made.
It was also one of her favorite flowers and trees.
The hibiscus flowers were beautiful but not ostentatious. The slender branches were luxuriant but not messy.
It was low-key but gentle and demure.
She was surprised that Lin Siyao would choose it instead of the lush green bamboo, the secluded orchid in the empty valley, the vigorous winter pine, and the icy cold plum …
When she asked him the reason, he replied with a charming smile that was enough to make her drop her jaw and stun her on the spot. The cute dimples on his cheeks were faintly visible again.
Su Shuiche's winter clothes were cherry-red thick cotton cloth that Lin Siyao chose for her. Therefore, it was embroidered with a cluster of dark pink double-petaled wild roses.
Clusters of dark pink roses blossomed unrestrainedly in the dark green bushes, looking very graceful and gorgeous.
This was the embroidery design that she used to like very much but couldn't do as she pleased.
In the eyes of the Old Master of the Su family, wild roses were flowers and trees that were not presentable.
Su Xiu's family had always advocated solemn and noble hibiscus and woody plants.
For example, peony, hibiscus, pine, cypress, and winter plum.
She personally liked wild roses and rattan wisteria very much. However, the Old Master of the Su family strictly ordered her not to waste time on these flowers and trees.
This was because the International Competition didn't need these flowers and trees.
Now, she could openly embroider them on clothes, cushions, and tablecloths. No one would reprimand her for not doing her job properly.
Therefore, after the completion of the two sets of winter clothes, she embroidered a table towel with fragmented wisteria flowers to comfort the wisteria that she loved so much.
Then, she began to sew the thick winter quilt.
Two mattresses were made and two bed covers were made.
The surface of the quilt was made of lake-blue and goose yellow brocade.
On the lake-blue quilt, red lotus flowers and green lotus leaves were embroidered, swaying gracefully in the blue lake water.
On the goose yellow quilt, there were colorful "golden branches and jade leaves" — dark red, crimson, bright yellow, light pink, jade white, light purple, and lotus green. These were the seven peonies of different sizes blooming on the branches.
After the winter quilt was sewn, the autumn harvest in Flowering Town was also coming to an end.
The village head's grain had been completely harvested. Wang Gengfa had Tian Dabao use a handcart to go to his house and bring back the previously agreed upon 500 catties of grains and 100 catties of corn.
Taking advantage of the crisp autumn weather of the past few days, they took turns to dry the grains on the rattan mat that Lin Siyao had personally woven on the grass by the riverbank.
After seven days, the grains were dry and the corn cracked, indicating that they were almost done drying.
In the following few days, after Lin Siyao finished cooking, he had Tian Dabao practice the Profound Shifting Footwork on the plum blossom piles by the riverbank. He himself was busy putting the grains into the large stone mortar that he had just asked the stonemason to make. He used the stone pestle to pound the grains and remove the husks. Then, he placed the pounded grains in a basket and used the wind to remove the husks.
Just like this, one worked on embroidery in the embroidery room, while the other was shelling the grains and threshing the corn by the riverbank.
After the 500 catties of grains were dried, shelled, and ground twice, they only harvested about 160 catties of rice.
They were divided into three piles by Lin Siyao.
Thirty catties were ground into rice flour, thirty catties were prepared to make rice cakes, and the remaining 100 catties of rice were stored in the rice cabinet. Together with the other grains, it shouldn't be a problem to last until the beginning of spring.
After removing all the corn kernels and corn ears, they only harvested 60 catties. Together with the 30 catties of rice, they were sent by Lin Siyao to the only mill in Flowery Town, the Wen Family Mill, to be ground into corn flour.
Like this, their rations for the winter and even the first half of the next year were basically no problems.
Clothes and blankets to keep them warm were also more or less complete.
Oh, that's right. Previously, after Lin Siyao washed them clean, dried them, and sprayed them with a flaming knife several times, they were stored in the cabinet. Su Shuiche had already used up all of them.
She separately made two waistcoats, two pairs of knee pads, a felt hat, and a pair of sleeve cages. The felt hat was Lin Siyao's, and the sleeve cages were Su Shuiche's. Each of them had a set of waistcoats and knee pads.
Although during the sewing process, Lin Siyao did his best to refuse his set, emphasizing that he didn't need it.
But Su Shuiche still made it according to his measurements.
She would rather not use it and keep it at the bottom of the chest.
But what if he couldn't stand the cold winter here?
Miss Su Shuiche, who was wholeheartedly thinking about his daily necessities, completely forgot that Lin Siyao was a martial arts expert born and raised in the country of Dahui. He wasn't like her, who still hadn't experienced the world of ice and snow here.
As for daily ingredients, a lot of vegetables and seasonings had already been planted in the southern courtyard's vegetable garden.
Now, in the two mu of fertile farmland, in addition to a few rows of land planned to grow winter wheat, another row of land had been opened specifically for growing vegetables.
Spinach, cabbage, potatoes, and other cold-resistant vegetables that were easy to grow and mature in the cold winter had already been planted one by one.
For meat, Lin Siyao took the time to take one of the wolf pups, Xiaochun, to Dashi Mountain to wantonly plunder.
They hunted a lot of wild animals that hadn't yet taken shelter in their caves to avoid the winter.
The living animals were raised in the newly built fence next to the chicken and duck house. The dead and injured animals were neatly cut up and cleaned by Lin Siyao, pickled, and air-dried. He only took a few and made them into braised, stewed, and other fresh meat ingredients. He gave two big soup bowls to the Lao Family and the Tian Family to taste as a reward for their daily assistance.
Of course, the two wolf pups' three meals were also sumptuous for several days.
They were so happy that they wanted to rush up Dashi Mountain to continue hunting.
In the end, under Lin Siyao's simple and cold gaze, they obediently nestled in the small wooden house and lay down to bask in the warm early winter sun.
One day, when Tian Dabao was adjusting his breath on the plum blossom pile, he found that in the clear river in front of him, there were actually a lot of carp, crucian carp, and small herring swimming around.
This winding river flowed down from the west side of the valley. Su Shuiche's house was the first house they passed by along the way.
Naturally, there were a lot of fish in the river.
Therefore, Tian Dabao went home for lunch and came back with a large fishing net.
Under the bright and expectant eyes of Su Shuiche and the two wolf pups, Lin Siyao helplessly took the fishing net and went down to the shore to catch fish.
As one could imagine, when the first net came, the other people present were shocked by the lively fish, prawns, and crabs that were jumping around. After that, they were extremely happy and excited.
This not only meant that there would be a sumptuous meal for dinner, but also indicated that in the cold winter in the future, they would have a second kind of meat meal other than wild animal meat that was too smelly: fish, prawns, and crabs.
After fishing for half a day, the fish, prawns, and crabs that they harvested filled all the containers that the two families could take out.
Su Shuiche let Dabao take most of the fish, and then filled a wooden basin for the Lao family.
The rest would be his family's.
After reserving the fresh fish, prawns, and crabs that could be eaten in the next few days, Lin Siyao soaked the rest in salt water. Two days later, the salt water was filtered out, and the fish and prawns that had been thoroughly marinated were strung on thick cotton thread one by one. He hung them on a clothes rack and exposed to the sun for three days, and then hung them in a dry corner of the kitchen.
As a result, they had one more food to eat for the winter.
(To be continued.
If you like this work, you are welcome to come to qidian.com to vote for me. Your support is my greatest motivation.)