T/N: Don't forget to check out the summary here.

Note: This novel is part of my MTL Projects. It is not a fully edited translation.

It was raining in autumn, and the cold bones trembled.

Li Ji shook his hand and shook his patchy coat, looking at the broken thatched house that was repeatedly repaired in front of him, his hand stretched out from his warm sleeves and rubbed his cold red nose, feeling a little complicated.

Opened the door and entered the room, a middle-aged woman in coarse cloth put down the half-washed clothes in her hands: "Fourth Uncle is here, and the child has just woke up, no one is allowed to approach, like a little wolf cub, but amazing."

Li Ji is only sixteen or seventeen years old. The middle-aged woman seems to be twice as old as Li Ji, but Li Ji was born when his father was fifty-two years old, and the seniority in the village is quite high.

The middle-aged woman was led into the back room. Roughly woven mats were lit on the broken soil kang, and the mats were covered with rotten mattresses. There was a man squatting on the mats. There were several wounds and scars all over his body. Only a rag was tied around his waist to block offspring's roots. His hair was messy, his face looked good, he was staring fiercely at Li Ji with a defensive face. It seemed that he could rush to take a bite at any time.

"Er Gouzi?" Li Ji called out, the man didn't answer, he still looked like a cannibal.

"Did you admit it wrong?" Li Ji murmured.

The middle-aged woman hurriedly said: "It should not be wrong. He still wears the necklace that Yan Gu left him, and his eyebrows look a bit like his eyebrows. Can't you try to confess with your blood?"

"Then there's nothing else to try. My sister Yan and I are still two uncles, and the blood doesn't work. That's fine, I'll take it away, so I won't cause you trouble."

The middle-aged woman slapped her thigh: "Fourth Uncle, you are really a living Bodhisattva in our family. In the past few days, my dead ghost and I have had a good day. I asked him in our village and the other surnamed Li didn't plan to recognize him. My husband and I didn't dare to get close, and we gave him no food, so we just squatted on the kang and hit whoever came close. We are just hunters and we can't bear it."

This household register has a Gao surname and is an Hunter. A few days ago, he fell into a trap in the mountain. He was unclothed and dirty. He looked like a savage. He was in a coma. He was treated for injuries at home. The village doctor recognized a piece of inferior jade wrapped in his hair. It was two. It was from Li Yan, a girl from the Li family, ten years ago.

The village can still say a few words to Li Yan. At the beginning, she wanted to go to the city and look at the market, but she didn't know who was cheated by the bad guy and came back with a big belly. It's a shame that the whole family is going to be pregnant before marriage. However, Li Yan stubbornly ran into the cave to dig a hole to disconnect from the family, and feed herself with a big belly.

As a result, the child was lost when he was four or five years old. Some people said that he was taken away by a wolf in the mountains. Others said that the Li family couldn't afford to lose the child and sold the child secretly. In short, there are divergent opinions.

After the child was gone, the Li family wanted to make a fuss about this matter. They thought that Li Yan was a widow and found a good family for her, but Li Yan was sick and died soon after.

For her children in the village, Li Yan was not well-nourished when she was born. The children were thin and had no milk. Many of the children who have been raised so well these days have died, not to mention such a one. As the saying goes, a crooked name is easy to feed, so Li Yan kept calling the child Er Gouzi, but she didn't give her a big name when she arrived.

Now that the child found it, there was no one to throw it back into the mountains. Gao Liehu family had a hard time, and they couldn't keep people. People of the same generation in the village couldn't send them to other people's homes. They could only find their elders to accept him. But when people came over and saw Er Gouzi this way, they were all scared away.

After looking for more than a dozen other people in a row, I found the fourth uncle Li Ji, who was several generations away by blood. In fact, Li Jiren is two years younger than Er Gouzi, but he is an elder anyway.

People want to get away, but how to get them back? This child seems to have grown up in the mountains. There are a lot of beasts deep in the mountains. He must be able to live for so many years without being eaten.

Li Ji took two steps, and Er Gouzi stepped back guardingly and bowed himself.

"Good, Er Gouzi, I am your fourth uncle, come and learn from me, fourth uncle." Li Ji pointed to himself.

Er Gouzi's eyes are a bit complicated, and he is still on guard, opening his mouth and making no sound.

"Don't be afraid!" Li Ji tried to make himself look kind, even if the big nephew opposite him was two years older than him, "I will take you to my house. The conditions of my house are not good, but we can live together. It's fine. Don't be afraid of me. You were four or five years old when you lost it. You should be able to understand now."

Er Gouzi's throat moved, and he said non-standard words: "I don't know you."

The sound is very fuzzy and needs to be distinguished carefully. Li Ji guessed, Er Gouzi really didn't forget to clean it.

"I'll know each other later. You were a child when you lost it. From now on I will teach you how to live your life as an adult. After a while, I will take you to your mother's grave and kowtow."

"Mother…" Er Gouzi's eyes flashed, glowing with water. Er Gouzi was dependent on his mother when he was young, and I am afraid that only the word "niang" is left in the deepest memory.

Li Ji saw that there was a door: "Yes, go find your mother!"

The guard on Er Gouzi's body was finally reduced a lot, his body gradually softened, and his whole body thumped and fell on the rotten mattress.

Li Ji touched Er Gouzi's forehead and burned his hands. The child was still hot, because of the way he was ready to attack at any time. Xu has spent a long time in the deep mountains and wild forests, and has developed an appearance that absolutely can't let the other party see weakness. Otherwise, it may be regarded as a good meal at any time.

Called Xue Langzhong from the village, Xue Langzhong prescribed some herbs. They are all picked up on the mountain by themselves, and they are not expensive, a few copper plates.

Li Ji's distressed straight pinch of tooth flowers is not reluctant, but there are not a few copper plates left in the house, so half of it will be spent.

I asked two people for help and carried Er Gouzi to his own house. The picture of his own house was not much better than that of Gao Liehu's house. It was left by Li Ji's father.

Four brothers Li Ji, uncle Zhong Shuji, second and third brothers did not live to be seven years old, and the eldest brother died two years ago at the age of fifty.

At the beginning, the eldest brother was assigned to build his own house. After the death of the old man, the old house belonged to Li Ji.

Everyone was gone, Li Ji boiled the medicine and put it in. How to feed it was another big problem.

Touching Er Gouzi's head really burned so badly that he couldn't delay any longer. Li Ji broke his mouth and fed half a bowl anyway. The rest hadn't waited for Er Gouzi to wake up.

Er Gouzi is a bit dirty. In fact, the facial features of the person are pretty good, especially the eyes are shiny. If it weren't for the sloppy, pulling out would definitely make most of the girls in the village idiotic.

"This is medicine, and it will be cured if you take it."

Er Gouzi frowned. It may have been a long time before he came up with the forgotten word: "It's awful."

"The good medicine is bitter, it's good for you, drink it obediently, and I will give you sugar water to drink later, come, let's drink it."

Er Gouzi has been alone since he was lost at the age of five. Li Ji's appearance made him very uncomfortable. He took the bowl and took another sip. The whole face wrinkled together, and then he drank all of it.

Li Ji breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this baby is obedient, or else he doesn't know when to toss.

"Let's take a shower, you are too messy." After touching Er Gouzi's weedy hair, Li Ji thought that the razor had been shaved, and he had never seen such a mess.

Er Gouzi obviously didn't understand, and looked at him with his head tilted. He only knows that Li Ji is not harmful to him, so many years of living in the wild has made it easy for him to distinguish bad emotions.

Li Ji went to boil water, and there is no bathtub in the house. The basin for washing clothes is a bit small. It is cold in the season now, and you will catch a cold if you don't soak your whole body.

I borrowed a large bathtub after going out to borrow from two families, and after filling the bath water, I invited his elder nephew to take a bath.

Throwing this ancestor into the bathtub, soaking for a quarter of an hour Li Ji found a handful of towels, let alone, completely different colors. The ashes on his arms can be rubbed into a ball, and Li Ji feels sick before he is half washed.

"Er Gouzi, watch what I do? Have you learned it? Come by yourself. It will be more comfortable after the shower."

Taking the towel, Er Gouzi started rubbing himself on his body according to Li Ji's instructions, and Li Ji began to dredge his hair. All the while, Er Gouzi rubbed himself inside and out. Li Ji hadn't combed his hair yet. Looking at the half-opened hair, Li Ji felt that he really found a good job for himself.

Please take the little ancestor out of the bathtub, and a basin of bath water can be used as ink. I want to wash Er Gouzi again to see the firewood at home. I am not willing to look at it. Now it looks quite clean. I poured the bath water into the bathtub and rinsed it back. I spent an afternoon sitting with Er Gouzi on the broken kang. Then I opened Er Gouzi's hair.

Er Gouzi pulled his neck uncomfortably. The clothes were the clothes of Li Ji's dead father. Li Ji was not fully stretched and dressed. Er Gouzi was dressed just right, but he hadn't worn any clothes for more than ten years and was completely dressed. uneasy.

Li Ji stopped his movements, his thoughts diverted him. It's getting late, it's time to eat

Li Ji looked at his own rice jar, and felt that the teeth hurt again. There is a lot of rice, and there is still half a tank. If Li Ji eats less than two bites alone, it will be enough for the spring of the coming year, but it will be difficult for two people.

Seeing that winter is coming, I have to figure out a way to earn some rice, or go out to borrow some. In the coming year, teaching Er Gouzi to farm or go out to find odd jobs will not be sad.

Just thinking about making some rice porridge and picking up some pickles, someone came over to deliver something. They were all from the village, sent one after another, all of the same race or relatives and neighbors. Not many were sent, half a catty of rice, a catty of miscellaneous grains and noodles, a foot of cloth, a piece of old clothes, three melons and two dates.

No one wants to accept Er Gouzi, and they don't have the energy. It's almost winter and no one has much surplus food. Someone here accepts it. As a relative, it is okay to take out something to help.

Someone sent the steamed mixed noodle buns, which were still warm when they brought them. Li Ji cut some pickles, sprinkled some chili noodles, and started teaching Er Gouzi to make chopsticks. 

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