Returning to hometown to farm: The apocalypse system arrived ten years earlier?

Chapter 112 Little Cat Licking and Fox Worshiping the Moon (Please subscribe and vote)
This erhu of my grandfather is quite old. The tube has degummed and cracked. It was originally covered with a piece of python skin, but now it is very soft and has small holes. When it snowed heavily before, Li Xiang sent two wild boars. His grandfather thought the wild boar skins were good, so he peeled them off, processed them, and dried them. Now he wants to cover the erhu with the wild boar skins.

When Li Xiang heard this, he said, "Grandpa, I still have some yellow cowhide at home. Why don't I go back and get it?"

Grandpa waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, this wild boar skin is good. This wild boar skin is lighter and softer, and can produce a purer tone. The sound made of cowhide is too thick."

"Oh, I see." Since grandpa said so, Li Xiang gave up and assisted grandpa to help with the skin.

Different skins will produce different tones, which depends on personal preference. In fact, it is best to use wild python skin, but it is difficult to get such a large python skin now. The "Latiao" that Li Xiang caught before were relatively small in size and could not be used to cover the erhu.

After covering it with wild boar skin, we tried it and found that the sound quality was not good. My grandfather checked it and found that there were cracks on the tube. It had been glued with glue before, but it was obvious that the effect was not ideal.

The sound box of my grandfather's erhu seems to be made of rosewood. The wood was originally very good, but it is too old and has traces of insects and rat bites. It's time to replace it.

"I have some red elm wood at home. I'll go get some for you."

This time, Li Xiang went back despite his grandfather's objection.

He also has golden nanmu, but golden nanmu is light and not suitable for making erhu. Red elm wood is harder and heavier, lasts for hundreds of years, and has greater durability and resonance.

Moreover, the sound of red elm wood is as crisp as metal when struck, without the "dull" feeling. Many woods sound dull when struck, and the quality of the erhu made from them is not very high.

Li Xiang had red elm wood in his system warehouse, but it was not easy to create something out of thin air, so he went back and sawed off two large pieces. After thinking for a while, he took out a piece of dried yellow cowhide and sent them to his grandfather together.

Grandpa also loves these traditional musical instruments. Although the sound of the erhu made of yellow cowhide may be a little "thick", it can still be used to make drums. Li Xiang remembers that when he was a child, he lived in his grandfather's house during the holidays. It seems that his grandfather also made a small waist drum for a minority shaman.

The reason why Li Xiang made his own drums in one go was that, in addition to reading information online, he also learned about it when he was a child and knew the general process. In addition, as a superhuman, he had strong hands-on skills.

When grandpa saw the fine red oak wood and yellow cowhide that Li Xiang had brought in, he was so happy that he was even happier than when he received new clothes.

Making erhu is actually not complicated. Grandpa is an old hand and there are ready-made tools at home. Li Xiang helps out and learns the craft. At noon, grandma comes back to cook. After dinner, the two of them continue to work. Grandma hasn't finished visiting relatives yet, so she changes her clothes and goes out to play.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, a brand new wild boar skin erhu was completed!

This little wild boar skin may not be durable, but it doesn’t matter. There will be plenty of wild boars in the future, so I can change it.

The texture of the red elm wood is very beautiful. My grandfather used fine sandpaper to slowly grind and polish it. He said that the erhu does not need to be painted. The neck can be lightly varnished, and as for the sound box, it can be coated with some wax or snake oil ointment used to apply on hands and feet in winter to prevent frostbite and cracking.

Some brands of this snake oil cream are quite cheap, only a few dollars a tube, and the main ingredient is glycerin, and there may be a little snake oil. Anyway, people in the countryside are not so particular, and the erhu is not a particularly expensive instrument.

Snake oil ointment is mainly used to apply to wild boar skin to make it smooth and moisturized and ensure a soft and pleasant sound quality.

This little wild boar didn't have this kind of treatment when it was alive. After it died, it could even be rubbed with human snake oil ointment. That's pretty good.

Grandpa played a piece of music called "Erquan Yingyue" and then a classic piece called "Zanghuayin", which was sad and mournful. Li Xiang beat the rhythm beside him and praised him secretly, thinking that the erhu level of grandpa, a folk artist, was not much worse than those performed on TV. He could even go to the big cities to perform.

Then my grandmother happened to come back and couldn't help complaining: "The New Year is coming soon, and you are playing such an ugly tune, is it auspicious or not?"

Grandpa changed the style of the song and sang "Dreaming of Spring River". Although it was a lot more cheerful, it still felt a little sad.

Because the erhu is an instrument with only two strings, which depend on each other, facing each other like the sun and the moon, but cannot embrace each other, so no matter how you play it, it will inevitably produce a sad tune.

Li Xiang suggested: "Let's play a Golden Snake Dance or Horse Racing!"

My grandfather was quick to accept the advice, and after gathering his emotions, he began.

This is more passionate and sounds better.

I played with my grandfather for the whole afternoon, and when it was time to cook dinner, I helped my grandmother by washing the vegetables, adding firewood to the stove, chatting with her for a while, and even roasted a delicious sweet potato for my little cousin. Of course, I had dinner at my grandparents' house, and it was dark when I got back.

Grandpa had a lot of chestnuts, so he gave Li Xiang a big bag of chestnuts. Grandpa also gave him two newly made bamboo flutes, saying they were toys, so he could take them home and play with them. Li Xiang was not polite.

His hometown is rich in bamboo, and many people can make and play bamboo flutes, and my grandfather is an expert. In addition, he can also use bamboo to weave baskets, winnowing baskets, scoops, dustpans, bamboo chairs, bamboo beds, etc.

In the past, I would take some to sell on the street, but many families make these handmade products themselves and they can’t be sold at a high price, and they can only barely supplement the family income.

The little cousin did not come with them. Although he is in elementary school, he has a lot of homework to do during the winter vacation. Li Xiang asked him to save the difficult ones and he would tutor them when he and his sister go to his home to play later.

My little cousin just had his holiday yesterday. Today is the 18th day of the twelfth lunar month. Primary schools have their holiday a little earlier, but high schools don’t have their holiday until the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month.

……

On the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month, Li Xiang went to the street to buy many large grass carps and some cheap strong liquor, and came back to make cured fish.

Sichuan Province is known as the "Land of Abundance" and has many rivers, so its fishery resources are also quite rich.

Li Xiang bought eighteen large grass carps, all weighing more than ten kilograms, and the largest one weighed twenty kilograms.

To make cured fish, one must naturally use this big grass carp, which is large in size, thin in skin, thick in meat, and fresh in taste. The cured fish is bright in color, strong in cured flavor, and has a good taste. It can maintain its full meat even after long-term storage and tastes particularly delicious.

Fish like silver carp and bighead carp look big, but after being pickled and dried, basically only a "thin shell" is left. There is no meat in it, and it would be a pity to throw it away.

Li Xiang scaled and gutted the big grass carps beside the Dieshu Waterfall. The mother cat and her five cubs were originally playing far away, but they smelled the fishy smell and came running over.

The mother cat and the five little ones are fed elixir porridge by Li Xiang every day. They have eaten all the spicy strips that they had caught before, and now they eat meat porridge with dried fish. They are all strong and healthy, and run as fast as lightning and with great vigor.

Xiaobai is the biggest one. Although he looks simple and honest, he gradually develops a kind of indescribable dominance. Even the cow cats dare not bully him. When the neighbors come to visit, they all praise that these cats are so good-looking.

My grandmother said privately that when there were five kittens in a litter, she was worried that they wouldn’t be able to survive and that a few would die, because if there were too many kittens in a litter, some of the cats would have congenital deficiencies and would be prone to dying. She didn’t expect that they are all growing so well now.

Li Xiang couldn't help but laugh secretly. With all the elixir porridge he ate every day, wild boar meat, snakes, and dried fish as snacks, how could he not grow well? The kittens came over and meowed. The cow cat was more fierce and directly bit the 20-kilogram grass carp with its mouth, trying to drag it away. Li Xiang and his grandmother were dying of laughter.

"Are you biting? Is this a little licking cat?"

Licking and licking, it couldn't hurt it at all. If the big grass carp hadn't been killed by Li Xiang, he would probably have swallowed it in one gulp.

Li Xiang washed his hands, took out his mobile phone, recorded a video of the kittens trying to drag a big fish, and posted it to his self-media account.

The mother cat was smarter and more well-behaved. She did not touch the big fish, but just picked up two fish bubbles, hid aside, and called her kittens to come and eat.

Fish bladder is actually a good thing, also known as fish glue, which has nutritional value such as beauty, enhancing immunity, promoting brain development, protecting eyesight, and increasing appetite. But grandma is too old to bite it, and as for Li Xiang, he really dotes on these kittens, not to mention fish bladders, he is willing to give them the whole fish.

Sure enough, Li Xiang chopped off a meaty fish tail. Fearing that the kittens' mouths were too small to bite it, he cut it several times with a knife. Then he placed it on a large stone slab not far away. The mother cat meowed and brought the little ones over.

As for the fish bubbles just now, they had been eaten up cleanly.

Er Huang and the little fox looked at them with disgust. These two little creatures have become "spirits" now and won't eat anything raw or bloody. Moreover, they are very particular now and won't eat if the dog bowl is dirty.

If the owner doesn't wash, Erhuang will, at the urging of the little fox, carry the dog bowl to the Dieshui Waterfall to rinse.

Although the little fox is a red fox and looks like a ball of fire from a distance, if you look closely from a close distance, you can see that there are some black or white hair of other colors inside its ears, around its nose, on its paws, on its lower jaw and on its belly.

But more than 90% of its body is covered with red hair, which is very rare and precious.

Appearance is secondary. The most important thing is that it is very spiritual and even stronger than Erhuang.

Li Xiang found a breathing method suitable for the demon race in the system, called "Spirit Fox Worshiping the Moon". Foxes, wolves, dogs, etc. can all practice it. It is much simpler than Li Xiang's own "Shennong's Longevity Secret". He quietly teaches it to them in the backyard every night.

According to the description in the technique, this breathing method of the demon race will be more effective when the moon is big. However, there are no extraordinary particles now, and the moon is just an ordinary moon, so it still needs the help of spiritual medicine.

In the end of the dark age, although the moon in the sky is gone, the particles of the lunar attribute are very rich, and it is still possible to practice. "Worshiping the moon or not" is actually just a metaphysical thing and is not important.

As for the kittens, their spirituality was relatively poor, so it was not possible to teach them the breathing method. Li Xiang tried several times, but they did not react at all and did not follow him.

Xiao Sanhua did follow suit, but it was just pure "breathing" and she was unable to comprehend the profound and subtle changes in the breathing method.

Erhuang is actually a little worse, but he found a good wife. The little fox may understand "foreign languages" or "dog language". There are some things that Erhuang does not understand or does not do well, and the little fox will "teach on behalf of the master" and use its fox paws to assist it, pressing on its belly and making "chirp chirp chirp~" in its mouth, as if explaining.

Whenever he saw this kind of situation, Li Xiang felt that this guy was really lucky and was marrying up.

Therefore, Li Xiang treated the little fox better and better. It was because he was afraid that the little fox would dislike the dog and kick his dog away.

Then at night, the backyard of Li Xiang's house became rather weird.

Li Xiang sat on a big rock in the bloodstone jungle, holding a big wine gourd. While drinking, he preached and demonstrated like an experienced master.

Below, the little fox and the dog stood up like obedient primary school students. The fox's and the dog's eyes lit up and they followed suit.

Occasionally, Li Xiang would perform a magic trick, produce a small white porcelain cup, and pour out some spirit wine for the little fox and the dog to taste.

The little fox can drink a lot and likes to drink very much. He knows that the drink contains strong medicinal properties, and his eyes light up when he drinks.

Erhuang's alcohol tolerance is much lower. He would stick out his tongue after just one lick because he couldn't stand the spiciness.

Li Xiang scolded it, saying that it was not even as good as a girl. The little fox also followed Li Xiang to laugh at Erhuang, but Erhuang refused to accept it and licked it several times, then became drunk and could not walk steadily.

Li Xiang is very happy when he has them with him.

These two little things are almost unable to speak.

But sometimes, Li Xiang would miss Da Huang very much. He died tragically and early, otherwise... Well, everyone has their own fate.

He decided that next time he hunted wild boars, he would not use hounds anymore, but would use radar and drones directly.

The drone he bought before was too small and only had an infrared camera, but now there are many drones, civilian versions, that are also equipped with active phased array radars. He can afford one now that he has money.

A separate civilian version of the radar is actually available on the market, and it uses a gallium nitride active phased array.

This is rather abnormal.

You know, some foreign warships, even the Aegis of the United States, are still using passive phased array radars.

The bloodstones in his yard are of very poor quality. They are just large pieces of ordinary stones with some dark red or dark yellow lines or spots on them. They look colorful, but that's all. They are not valuable.

When the neighbors came to visit, they just thought the stones were nice and asked him where he dug them. Li Xiang just made up a story, saying he dug them from such and such hill. The neighbors were old, and even if they knew, they didn't have the energy to deal with these stones.

Not only can it not be dug out, even if it is dug out, it cannot be moved back.

Neighbors naturally wouldn't go digging, even if it was a mountain very close to their home, they didn't have the energy to do that. They just envied Grandma Li Xiang, who had grandchildren to accompany her at home and who managed the home so well. Unlike their own family, there were only two old people and their children and grandchildren had to go out to work to earn money.

Every time this happened, Grandma Li Xiang would smile from ear to ear, and she was so happy.

Li Xiangxin got two flutes and tried to play them.

(End of this chapter)