Zhang Fangyuan was angry for a while. After all, it was his uncle who, in order to win over the villagers, actually invited the Guang family, with whom he had a bad relationship. He thought it was impossible for him to go to their house, but he ran into them when he came back, and ended up in an awkward situation in front of them.

He walked on his own and unknowingly arrived at Haitang Bay, where Xu He had mentioned a good place to mow the grass.

Although this place is called Haitang Bay, there are no crabapple trees. There is only a large flat slope covered with grass, which is still lush even in winter. Going up, you will see an old bamboo forest.

Zhang Fangyuan's anger subsided a little. He thought it was not worth getting upset about these things, so he just cut some grass and fed the horses.

But he felt his body and found that he only had tools for slaughtering pigs. At this moment, a sickle was suddenly handed to him, and his eyes lit up.

"Why are you here?"

Xu He was carrying a small tightly woven backpack and a large hoe: "I should be the one asking you why you are here."

"Your parents are helping my uncle, and your second sister is going over there too, right? Why aren't you going to eat?"

"You didn't go, so it's not surprising that I didn't go either." After saying this, Xu He felt that there was some ambiguity in his words, and added: "It's not good for everyone in the family to go out. My mother asked me to look after the house."

"Since I asked you to look after the house, why are you still coming out?"

After saying this, Zhang Fangyuan felt that he had said the wrong thing. The so-called keeping him as a housekeeper was just because he didn't want anyone to attend the banquet.

"I went to my uncle's house and they invited the Guang family. I didn't get along with them, so I left."

He mentioned what happened just now, and Xu He raised his eyebrows when he heard it: "Don't be angry, you won't feel pain unless the burning coal falls on your instep."

Zhang Fangyuan laughed: "Are you still trying to comfort me?"

"I'm not comforting you, I'm telling the truth." Xu He suddenly remembered that when he was changing medicine in the city, Zhang Fangyuan bought him candied haws to coax him. He always felt that Zhang Fangyuan was treating him like a child, and that saying these words would make him look ridiculous. He felt a little embarrassed and said, "I'll leave first."

"Are you going up the mountain to dig bamboo shoots?"

Xu He glanced at his hoe and responded. The bamboo forest on the Haitang Bay side grows winter bamboo shoots. Peel off the thick outer coat, and you will see the tender yellow inside. They are crispy and fresh when used to make soups and stews. They are only available in winter. After the winter, the bamboo shoots will rot and die in the ground and will not grow into bamboos. It seems as if they were born to be a delicacy.

When the market is good, winter bamboo shoots can be sold for five or six cents per pound, and are what city dwellers call mountain delicacies.

However, winter bamboo shoots are not easy to dig. Unlike ordinary bamboo shoots, they do not grow tall out of the ground and can be found in the mountains. Instead, they are buried in the soil, and you have to dig along the bamboo whips to find them.

There is a reason why this is so expensive. Not only is it delicious, but it also requires a lot of manpower.

"I went to visit the villages this year, but I didn't catch up to pick bamboo shoots. The forest has been turned upside down by the villagers, so it's hard to find bamboo shoots." Zhang Fangyuan put the sickle back into Xu He's backpack and changed his mind about cutting grass: "Come on, I'll go with you to pick bamboo shoots."

Xu He frowned: "This...you come with me..."

Zhang Fangyuan walked ahead with big strides: "Don't worry, most of the villagers went to my uncle's house for dinner today. No one came to this mountain dam, so no one could see it."

"That's not what I'm talking about."

Zhang Fangyuan paused, stroked his chin, and smiled maliciously: "Are you afraid of what I will do to you?"

Xu He glanced at him. Who would be crazy enough to stare at him? How could he look down on a skinny and dark boy without drinking? "I want to know whose bamboo shoots we dug belong to and how to divide them. I only have a hoe here."

Zhang Fangyuan was stunned and couldn't help laughing: "Why are you so obsessed with money?"

Xu He didn't bother to pay attention to him. He grabbed the shoulder rope with both hands and walked to the front alone. It was as if a huge pug was following him. Well, he had heard that there were wild boars in the woods on the other side of Haitang Bay. He was actually a little scared to go to the woods to dig bamboo shoots alone. But now he didn't have to worry about it.

Only the wild boar was afraid of Zhang Fangyuan.

Zhang Shicheng chased all the way to Haitang Bay before he saw Zhang Fangyuan. From a distance, he saw his nephew chatting with the boy for a while and laughing like a fool. He immediately relaxed his brows and did not step forward to interrupt them. He let the two of them go into the forest together.

He went back alone with his hands behind his back.

Zhang Fangyuan took Xu He's hoe and said, "This hoe is what your father used. It's okay for you to hold it, but it will be heavy after a while of work. You should use a smaller hoe."

"We don't care about that much in our family. We just use whatever we have."

"I have knives of all sizes and farming tools at home. If the ones you have at home are not convenient to use after the spring comes, come to my house and I will lend them to you."

Xu He wondered why he was so enthusiastic and responded.

The two men entered the bamboo forest, and the hoe never left Zhang Fangyuan's hand. He was the one digging the soil and digging bamboo shoots.

Xu He only knows how to dig winter bamboo shoots randomly. He just digs wherever the soil is slightly curved. If the soil is turned upside down, he will be like a headless fly. Zhang Fangyuan used to dig winter bamboo shoots frequently. When his father was alive, he was an expert in digging winter bamboo shoots in the village and he passed on some tricks to him.

First of all, winter bamboo shoots grow along the bamboo whips, so you have to dig them along the direction of the bamboo whips. You also have to look at the growth of the bamboo. Bamboo shoots are easy to grow when the bamboo leaves are lush and green. You can't go wrong by finding such a bamboo and finding its bamboo whips to dig.

Soon Zhang Fangyuan used a hoe to pull out the tips of the bamboo shoots, and then dug them up with the roots of the bamboo shoots.

Xu He picked up the winter bamboo shoots as if they were treasures and patted the dirt off them. The short, thick and fat bamboo shoots were honest and cute. Zhang Fangyuan dug them very well and didn't even damage the skin. Unlike him, even if he found the bamboo shoots, he couldn't dig them up with a hoe for a long time, or the hoe would break the bamboo shoots.

He deftly took out a hatchet from his backpack, found a wooden block and cut off the roots of the bamboo shoots one by one, leaving only a round bamboo shoot. This kind of winter bamboo shoots without damaged skin can be preserved longer, look better, and can be sold quickly when brought to the city.

There is no time in the forest. I just feel that the forest in winter is extremely quiet, unlike the spring when birds are flying and singing. The only sound I can hear is the sound of my own labor.

The two of them cooperated well, one digging bamboo shoots while the other processed them. Although they didn't talk much, they would smile knowingly when they dug up big bamboo shoots and carefully put them into the backpack. Zhang Fangyuan actually didn't like doing such boring things in the woods, but with one more person around, the time could be passed much more easily.

There were more and more bamboo shoots in the basket, and neither of them had any intention of leaving. Water drops still dripped onto Zhang Fangyuan's neck. He looked up at the sky outside the dense forest, wiped his face and said, "It seems to be raining."

Xu He was squatting under a dense old tree, chopping bamboo shoots. He stood up and looked at the sky after hearing Zhang Fangyuan's words. The cool rain fell on his face. He nodded: "It's really raining."

"It's getting wet in the bamboo forest. It must be raining hard outside." Zhang Fangyuan put down his hoe and picked up his sickle. He took a few big steps to the cliff and cut some ferns. He rolled them into a hat and gave it to Xu He: "It's good to cover a little. Don't let your hair get wet. It will easily get hot when you go back."

He squatted down and put all the bamboo shoots into the backpack, asked Xu He to help him and carried it on his back. He handed the hoe to Xu He and said, "When we reach the fork in the road later, you can carry the bamboo shoots back. I'll carry you for a while first."

Hearing Zhang Fangyuan's words that all the bamboo shoots should be given to him, Xu He disagreed and said, "We dug them together, so you can take most of them."

"I have nothing to do, and since you like doing business so much, why don't you take it to the city and sell it?"

Although Xu He didn't want to talk about his family affairs with others, he still said: "I have to hand over the money after selling it. Why do I take up so much of your time?"

Zhang Fangyuan paused and said, yes, not everyone is like him, without any supervision, and can spend the money they earn on their own.

Xu He was also thinking: "How about this, I'll take the damaged bamboo shoots home so that I can report to the boss, and you can take the rest home and sell them in the city someday, and then we can split the money?"

Zhang Fangyuan laughed: "Okay."

The two men divided the bamboo shoots. Xu He lent his backpack to Zhang Fangyuan, and he himself scooped up a few damaged bamboo shoots and carried the hoe back. Then the two men went their separate ways on the road.

When Zhang Fangyuan returned, he realized that it was already the afternoon. It was hard to tell the time during rainy days in winter. Remembering that he had not eaten lunch yet, he carefully carried the bamboo shoots back to the back warehouse and put them away. He made some simple food and fed the horse with grass.

After a quick tidy up, it was already dark when I arrived at the yard and I couldn't see the road clearly.

Zhang Fangyuan took the charcoal brazier and lit the charcoal fire in the bedroom. It was very cold recently, the wind was not strong, and the snow did not fall for a long time, which made the weather cold and stuffy. He was afraid that Xiao Hei would catch a cold and it would be difficult for him to recover from his injuries, so he also lit some charcoal for the horse.

When his grandfather divided the family property, his father was in the middle, neither the eldest nor the youngest, so he did not get a share of the ancestral home. He was also an obedient person and gave in to his brothers, and he did not get much land either. The house Zhang Fangyuan lives in now was built after his father got married. There are several large rooms in front and back. When his parents were alive, he felt that it was not very spacious. Now that he is alone, he feels that the house is large and empty.

It is not easy to live alone. One dish can only be cooked for several meals. The food has to be heated up again and again, and the stove can’t burn for long, so the house seems very cold.

After the charcoal fire was lit, the room felt much warmer and more lively.

Zhang Fangyuan had nothing to do, so he simply boiled some water to soak his feet, washed himself, and went to bed. Other families like rainy days because the family does not have to go out to work. They can just take a small piece of bacon from the stove and stir-fry or stew it. Everyone can enjoy a delicious meal and life is so wonderful.

But for a family like his, there is nothing to expect.

The bedroom was warmed by the charcoal fire, and the sound of rain outside was particularly sleep-inducing. Zhang Fangyuan fell asleep soon. In his dream, he seemed to see a new person coming in and out of the house, tidying up the house very well. When he got home, there would be hot meals waiting for him.

But that man had a bad temper. He always controlled him and took all his money. If he wanted to buy anything, he had to report to him. After much persuasion and waiting, he only got twenty cents.

Zhang Fangyuan really wanted to see clearly who dared to be so rude to him. He tried hard to see the face clearly, but there was only a back view. His face blended into the night and could not be seen clearly. Zhang Fangyuan didn't believe it and went forward to hold him down, but suddenly he was startled and the sound of gongs and drums came through the rain, sharply breaking his dream.

He sat up suddenly in bed.

It was dusk and the rain outside was already heavy, but the sound of the rain was mixed with cries echoing through the mountains and the sound of gongs in dreams.

"Someone come quickly! Catch the thief! Someone is stealing things!"