Rumia's mind gradually came to her senses, and her body felt cold again.
"I...I'm cold..."
She was speaking in a daze and looked quite haggard.
"Don't think too much, drink the hot porridge quickly."
Rurik took a spoonful of the wheat porridge in the wooden bowl and looked at the so-called porridge. It was not cooked at all and should be cooked. He blew the porridge in the spoon to cool it slightly and stuffed it into the girl's mouth.
Rurik is indeed stronger than the average child, so he can withstand the cold better. The two children worked hard on the roof for a long time, and although Rurik was tired, he was still in good spirits.
The meaty wheat kernel was stuffed into her mouth, and Rumia's confused mind felt like an electric shock. The instinct of eating drove her to chew quickly.
After feeding one spoonful, Rurik filled another spoonful, and soon less than half of the bowl was filled.
Otto and Niya looked at the scene in front of them and didn't know what to do for a while.
"Really, I really don't know who is the servant and who is the master." Niya muttered helplessly, with doubts in her eyes.
"It's more like Rurik is her servant. I admit that this girl is a very honest worker, and the care she is receiving now is beyond the limit." That being said, Otto did not stop his son's actions.
"Oh, the precious wheat is for our son to eat, but it turns out that this girl is cheap. Giving her some shark liver would be a good reward, I really didn't expect it..."
Rurik fed Rumia and heard everything his parents said.
After pouring the entire bowl of wheat porridge, he flattened the girl's trembling body from the cold and handed the empty bowl to her mother: "Mom, please fill up another bowl."
"You still want to feed her? My child, she is just a servant."
"Yes! So I can't let her die."
"But..." Niya was very dissatisfied, she muttered and filled the bowl again.
After eating high-calorie food and the animal skin she was wearing was heated by the bonfire, Rumia's cold body gradually recovered.
It has been ten years since she was born, and she has never eaten as much wheat as she does today in her short life.
Even for a Sami like her who lives in the Arctic Circle, the chance of eating wheat is slim.
But wheat is very delicious, even if it is barely shelled wheat kernels cooked over a high fire, it is extremely pleasant to chew.
She regained some of her energy and gently raised her head to warm up the bonfire.
Only then did Rurik pick up the wooden bowl and put the kernels into his mouth.
Niya directly accused the huddled girl with dissatisfaction: "Hey! You poor servant, you should thank your master. You also need to thank me. People like you only deserve to eat some dried fish and moss, but you are allowed to eat it."
When we get to Maizi, listen, if you dare to disobey orders in the future, I will tear your face off!"
Rumia, she heard harsh threatening words from this long Norse sentence. It is a commonplace thing. If you disobey these people's orders, you will be executed.
Rurik was also particularly prickly when he heard this. In his opinion, although his mother was not young, she was usually a gentle being.
Why do you suddenly have a fierce face when facing your own servant?
The sudden change is really shocking.
Rurik put down the half-eaten wooden bowl and looked at his mother in surprise: "Mom, are you threatening her?!"
"Yes! It's a threat. My child, we don't have any extra food. Do you know how precious wheat is?"
"So, it was wrong for me to give it to her?"
"It's a mistake! My child, you are noble, this girl is a humble servant, how could you..."
Seeing that his wife was quite excited, Otto quickly stretched out his big calloused hands and stroked her back: "Okay, okay, after all, you are Rurik's servant, Niya, don't be too demanding."
Mother's words are quite realistic. The best food in the house is the tribute collected from the Novgorod people, a large bag of yellow wheat kernels and a small bag of rye. The total amount is not much.
The largest and most important tribute from the Novgorod people is wheat, which Otto personally led people to collect. In recent years, they have indeed exchanged genuine products such as amber with them to obtain wheat, but the wheat provided by the other party is also limited. It is excessive.
It would be unwise to ask for command and cause them to resist to the death.
Shepherds in the south do not shave the sheep's wool in the spring, but also scrape off the sheep's skin.
Rurik feels that it is obviously unrealistic to talk about human rights and personal equality with his mother now.
In the eyes of others, servants are inferior beings, especially such foreign servants, whose rank is even lower.
If this situation is to be changed, the entire society must be reshaped, and that is the most difficult task.
Rurik didn't mean to criticize his mother at all. He picked up the bag and said: "Mom, you should treat her well! Rumia is very pitiful. Her parents are dead. Why do you want to criticize her? You should know her parents."
How did she die? I am very good friends with her now, we are studying together, she is like my sister."
"Is this what you're saying?!" Niya asked.
"That's right." Rurik raised his head and stared into his mother's eyes: "I once had two brothers, and they died unexpectedly. Originally, there were two more members in our family, but now I am the only child, and I am a little lonely.
I don’t have a brother, it would be nice if I had a sister.”
As he said that, Rurik deliberately supported Rumia's arm and made a gesture of intimacy: "She is very obedient. As long as you treat her well, she will be willing to complete your orders. She is plowing the snow seriously today,
I almost froze to death without realizing it. Fortunately, I found out in time. For such an obedient servant, it would be too bad if she really froze to death.
I think I still need a sister, mom, and maybe you want a daughter too."
Did Niya want a daughter? No! She didn't.
As the leader's wife, Niya also has a huge burden, which is to give birth to a son for the leader. Only sons are qualified to participate in the competition for the next leader.
If a girl is born, Niya's attitude is actually very clear, that is, marry her off as early as possible, and the son-in-law will become a supporter of the son who becomes the leader.
Niya neither denied nor affirmed. She understood that her son wanted to be kind to the girl from the bottom of his heart. There was obviously an atonement plot here.
Indeed, even her husband, who was the leader, wiped out the deer herder's camp with ease, which also resulted in the girl becoming an orphan.
It seems that Rurik felt this was a huge sin.
Kindness? It is very important to be kind to yourself and your allies. Kindness is foolish to treat hostile foreigners!
Niya's attitude never changed. As she got older, her thinking became so-called pedantic.
She broke open a piece of hard rye bread, threw it directly to Rumia who was silent, and said in a calm tone: "Eat, servant, this is a reward for you."
Seeing the black bread at her feet, Rumia looked at it as if she saw gold. She didn't care if it was dirty or not, she just picked it up and ate it with all her strength.
After Rurik finished the snow clearing work, he climbed up to finish the work. During the day, most residents had completed clearing the snow from the roofs of their houses.
The days are getting shorter and Hanukkah is not far away.
Only after lying down did Rurik feel the pain in his muscles. It was rare for him to sleep in his own house that night.
The family slept under the same roof again, and Rurik naturally moved closer to his parents' sleeping nest.
Rumia did not leave either. She warmed herself by the fire and ate a lot of wheat bread. Even after her body temperature rose, she was still very tired.
She was wrapped in a deerskin and sleeping in a warm corner.
She didn't say much, she just curled up in a ball, thinking about too many things in her mind.
"I sleep in the same room as the enemy who killed my father. What can I do? But the enemy's son is really nice to me. Do you want revenge?"
"Maybe if I get up and hold a meat-cutting knife, I can cut the evil man's neck. But in this case, Rurik will lose his father, and he will be very sad."
"The evil man's family gave me food, but they didn't want me to die."
This is Scandinavia, and Rossburg is only a two-day sailing trip from Svealand by water.
Rumia suddenly didn't feel that her father-killing enemies were really evil people. Maybe they were good people in normal times, but for some reason...
Rumia, she suddenly suffered from Stockholm Syndrome.
If she slept in this longhouse, she realized that she would always have many opportunities for revenge, and it seemed that she could take revenge easily.
She gave up, because it was best for herself to give up this idea.
At least Rurik, the son of the evil man, is really a good man.
Rumia is very happy to have such a younger brother. If she can get his blessing in the future, life won't be so bad...
She felt dizzy and her arms and legs ached, apparently from overworking during the day.
She didn't continue to think, and fell asleep holding her stomach, which was full for the first time in her life.
This night, almost all families went to bed early.
Knowing whether there is snow on the roof or in front of the house is exhausting.
People will become weak as a result, and weakness will bring a strong sense of fatigue, and diseases will come to their doorsteps. Strong people can withstand the cold, and the low temperature outdoors also eliminates most viruses, but weak people are still susceptible to diseases.
Because viruses cannot be killed without extreme measures!
The sky gradually brightened, and many residents had already woken up before that. Forced by the cold outside, they preferred to stay in their sleeping dens.
The sleeping bags made of animal skins are extremely comfortable. Although they have no beds or pillows, generations of people like to rest like this.
The long life has also made people discover that as long as they sleep for a long time in the long winter, they don't need to eat too much every day.
Of course, as long as you fall asleep, your energy consumption will be extremely low. In contrast, a full day of heavy physical labor consumes three times the energy of a day of sleeping!
Some families raise hounds to help them hunt small animals, especially ferrets. The hounds eat raw meat, and the protein in the meat can be quickly consumed, providing the hounds with a steady stream of energy.
People can't. People can only quickly obtain energy by eating carbohydrates. It takes time to turn the meat in your stomach into abilities.
And the energy of wheat is three times that of venison.
Rurik was the first to get up. It was dimly lit outside, and the cold wind blew into the house through the cracks in the wooden door. The cold forced him back into his sleeping den.
The feeling of hunger still prompted him to push his mother awake.
"Huh? It's already dawn. Boy, are you hungry?"
"I'm hungry, give me something to eat. Mom, it's dawn."
"All right."
Niya slowly sat up, grabbed Otto's beard, who was sleeping comfortably, and woke him up.
As a leader, Otto was not idle. He would visit some friends, especially the homes of his most loyal subordinates, and also visit the homes of his eldest nephews.
There were only embers left in the bonfire at home, which was already a pile of white-burning coals. Niya threw in a few more black coals, and soon the fire started.
Wheat is precious, and baked bread is even more precious.
She began to boil a piece of pickled wild boar meat and boiled out the pickling salt. The family ate the piece of meat as breakfast. As for the boiled salt water, they drank it directly.
She glanced at the girl who was curled up like a kitten again, sighed slightly and took out the unpalatable shark meat.
After all, he is a servant. Being hungry is a blessing from the master's family. Why should he be picky?
After Rurik regained consciousness, he first looked at the meat cooked in the iron pot and salivated subconsciously. He didn't notice that his mother had also prepared shark meat. Now he just wanted to pull Rumia up and share it later.
Meat cubes.
"Lumia, don't sleep anymore."
Rurik called the girl softly, but the girl was indifferent.
He was reaching out, hoping to wake her up by patting her body. In the end, his little hand touched a hot object.
"What's going on?! Fever?!"
A bad thought came to mind. Rurik touched his armpit to feel the temperature, and then put his hand on the girl's forehead. It was obvious that her head was hotter.
In shock, Rurik simply shook her body, and finally the girl opened her eyes.
She was very haggard. Looking closely, Rurik saw that her lips were white, her eyes were confused, and her whole body was loose.
"Oops! It's just a fever!"
What should we do? In this distant ancient times, a fever was enough to kill a person.
In fact, a pill of amoxicillin, plus some other antipyretic pills, can restore her body temperature in just one or two hours. These medicines do not exist in this time and space. There are only some herbal medicines that can slowly treat colds and fevers.
disease.
Generally speaking, the effects of medicines are quite limited, and survival almost depends on the patient's own resistance.
She has a fever, everything must be related to what happened yesterday.
Are you still thinking about eating? No!
Rurik shook Rumia's body in a panic, trying his best to keep her awake.
The son's strange behavior immediately attracted the attention of Alto and Niya.
"Child, what's going on? Your servant..." Otto asked.
"Dad, she is sick! She is very sick! She will die without treatment."
Otto, he is not cold-blooded enough to sit and watch the death of a servant, not to mention that the servant behaved very obediently yesterday.
He walked over to take a look at the situation, pinched the back of the girl's neck with his thick palms, and easily felt the frightening heat.
"Dad! What should I do?"
"Child, don't panic. There is only one person who can save her now."
"who?"
"Priests. Only priests, Vilia. Don't panic..."
There are no doctors in the tribe at all, so the priests assume the responsibility of doctors, and this is another main job of these priests who refuse marriage and spend the rest of their lives serving the gods. They have indeed mastered certain medical techniques and have indeed cured diseases.
The diseases of some tribesmen are also one of the reasons why they are highly respected.
Otto knelt down and honestly saw the haggard appearance of a terminally ill child, and his heart was strongly touched.
There were supposed to be three children in this family, but yesterday his son's heartfelt words made him deeply moved.
A daughter? Maybe it would be nice to have a daughter...
Otto comforted his son: "Don't worry, the priest will cure her disease."