The arrival of the three fragrant deer gave Xu Shiyan more errands to find food for them.
The fragrant deer loves to nibble on moss, lichen, and young twigs and leaves of pine and fir trees.
In the middle of winter, moss and lichen are hard to find, but there are pine trees. Just cut some from the surrounding forests and throw them into the pen to feed them.
Pair it with some cabbage leaves or something, and you can make a living.
As they watched, the scale of Xu Shiyan's breeding was getting bigger and bigger, and Xu Shixian and Xu Shian were both worried.
"Lao San, if you raise these things, what will you do if you wait for the Chinese New Year to come down the mountain?"
No one is watching on the mountain. How can these sables, otters, etc. be harmed by some ferocious beasts?
If we take it home, how can we have so many things to feed? This thing is not easy to arrange.
"Well, it's really not easy to handle. Let's see when the time comes.
There are not enough of them now, so if that doesn’t work, take them down with them when you go down the mountain.”
Xu Shiyan also thought about this problem, but there is really no good way to solve it at the moment.
Anyway, it’s just a small fight now, and we can arrange it anywhere.
He would put some effort into raising them first, and wait until the whole field was finished. By then it would be time to contract them to households.
If the team still needs him to watch ginseng, then he will build a breeding farm nearby and hire two blind laborers to work on it.
If he didn't need to continue looking at ginseng, he would go down the mountain. The mountain behind his house happened to be quite good, and it would be enough to set up a small breeding farm.
Xu Shixian and his two brothers didn't have any good ideas. This farm was too small for the three brothers to work together.
Of course, he doesn't dare to make things big now, so Xu Shiyan is just fooling around in a small way.
If we build a big breeding farm now, haha, it doesn’t necessarily belong to who.
"Well, I have to remind you, don't make too much of it, otherwise it will make people jealous.
We must not forget the lessons we learned before, and we still have to be careful.
I'm looking at this policy, maybe it will change, take your time, if there is an opportunity, it would be good for the three of us to work together and do something."
On the other side, Xu Shian must give his younger brother a warning.
The brothers all have good intentions, and Xu Shiyan understands that. He knows it well, so he will keep it like this for now and is not in a hurry to expand.
The brothers Xu Shixian and Xu Shian were in the mountains. They followed Xu Shiyan every day, either hunting pine nuts, hunting wild boars, looking for black blind men, picking out badgers, and so on. They always gained something.
It seems that I feel like I am not thinking about Shu and don't want to go home.
I don’t blame them, the point is that my wife goes to work to earn money, and they are idle at home all day long.
My wife always nags that they don’t make any money, but in this winter, the vegetable team has no work, so what are they going to do?
It's better to be in the mountains, even if you can't make any money, you can still haul some food.
The three brothers lived in the mountains until the end of December, and they really saved a lot of things.
On December 30, Xu Shiyan went down the mountain and borrowed two horse-mounted sledges from his team to row all these things down the mountain.
The fragrant deer, sable, and otter were all put into cages and placed on the first sledge.
The sledge in the middle pulls all kinds of food, mainly pine nuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, wild boar, black blind meat and so on.
Finally, four dogs pulled a sledge, which was loaded with food for sables and otters.
Xu Chenghou and his wife have moved to a new house, but they are still with Xu Shiyan during the day.
Xu Chenghou was building furniture for his son in the east room suite, while Zhou Guilan helped look after Xu Haiyuan.
This boy is so naughty. Su Anying has to take care of her daughter, so she can't take care of him.
If Zhou Guilan didn't come to help, Su Anying and her two children might not even be able to eat.
When the three brothers came back, Xu Chenghou and his wife were very happy.
But just after seeing the animals Xu Shiyan brought back, I had a headache. How should I raise them?
"It's okay. Just put them in the three rooms on the east side first. I will go up the mountain after the Chinese New Year and I have to take them up there."
Xu Shiyan had already thought about this matter on the mountain. The three houses on the east end were empty and there was no use keeping them. They were just used to house these animals.
Let's just bury Tai. There won't be any people living in it anyway. It will be closed in a few years.
Xu Chenghou and his wife couldn't understand the idea of living in a human house for animals.
But there was no trick. Who told Xu Shiyan to get so many open-mouthed beasts?
"Hey, I don't know what to tell you. Wouldn't it be nice to take a good look at the ginseng and go hunting? Why do we have to raise these things?
People say that wealth does not count, but how can you make money by doing these things? Don’t waste your time again."
Zhou Guilan was worried, fearing that her son would be working hard in vain and would be burdened and unable to earn any money.
"Mom, if I said I would definitely make money, you wouldn't believe me.
Anyway, it just takes a little effort and doesn't cost anything else, so just keep it.
If it really develops, it will definitely make money in the future, but it won’t have much effect right now.”
Xu Shiyan smiled and didn't argue with his mother. He didn't blame the old man, they had different perceptions.
Developing breeding is not easy in itself. If it cannot be scaled up, it is indeed not very profitable.
Only by expanding the scale and replacing each generation can we see profits.
Take your time, he is not in a hurry, the main thing is that now is not the time, he just wants to lay the groundwork first, seize the opportunity, and talk about it later.
In this way, the otter and sable were placed in cages and placed on a shelf in the adobe main house. The three fragrant deer were released from the cages and locked in the west room.
After all, this is a house, and its shelter from wind and snow is much better than the shed outside.
After settling the animals and moving everything down, Xu Shiyan and Xu Shian drove the horses and sledges back to the team.
Then we returned home and the family chatted together in a lively manner.
Xu Shiyan went up the mountain for more than a month and came back. He was naturally very happy to see his wife and children. He first picked up Xu Haiyuan and threw him twice, making the little guy giggle.
"Son, you are sinking again. Your father can hardly hold you anymore."
Xu Haiyuan is eating very well after weaning. In addition, Zhou Guilan and Su Anying's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are also careful in feeding him. The little guy is not losing weight, but is getting stronger and stronger.
Xu Shiyan hugged his son and threw him a few times, then his arms felt sore. He was afraid that something might happen, so he quickly put his son down.
Where can Xu Haiyuan be willing?
In normal times, no one at home could coax him like this. As a skinny boy, he loved playing exciting games, so he kept grunting and asking Xu Shiyan to throw him a few more times.
Xu Shiyan could only find another way to let his son step on his feet.
Xu Shiyan sat on the edge of the Kang, holding his son and letting him swing on his feet.
Xu Haiyuan had never played like this before, and he became happy all of a sudden. The two of them played for a while, and then Xu Haiyuan calmed down happily.
After coaxing her son, her daughter happened to wake up. Su Anying fed the child and changed the diaper.
Then she handed her daughter to Xu Shiyan and asked him to coax her while Su Anying went to cook.
The little girl who is almost two months old looks much better than when she was just born.
Her little face is white and pink, and her flesh is plump, and her big, dark eyes are bright and watery.
It's so strange that such a little baby has eyelashes that are quite long.
Xu Shiyan is holding his daughter, no matter how he looks at it, he likes it.
"Daughter, you grow up quickly. When you grow up, dad will buy you many beautiful dresses. I will dress you up to be the most beautiful little girl."