The hook was a little bigger than the hook on a carrying pole, and slightly more curved than the hook on a stove.

The people who were breaking the pine cones climbed the tree, hooked the pine cones on the branches with a pole, and with a little force, the pine cones fell down.

This equipment was created by the professional tower builders after the red pine forest was contracted out.

In order to attack more towers, Sheng Xiping made this thing ahead of time.

In those days, there was no such thing as contracting out red pine forests. Whoever brought things back from the mountains owned them.

When everyone goes into the mountains, everyone relies on their own abilities; whoever is diligent and capable will reap more rewards than others.

Sheng Xiping and the others were all in their prime, agile, strong, and had the right tools, so their harvest was naturally great.

Several people worked together; some climbed the tree to break the tower, while others collected the tower pieces and carried them on their backs.

Generally speaking, a skilled tower-breaker needs two people following behind, to pick up the tower and carry it out.

If you happen to be lucky enough to find a tree with thick pine cones, you can harvest two thousand cones a day as easily as playing a game.

Several people partnered up, and when they got home, they divided the pine cones equally.

After bringing the pine cones home, you have to use a stick to break them open and then pick out the pine nuts from inside.

The purchasing station only accepts pine nuts; they won't accept towers.

Of course, this is something that my younger siblings can do.

Sheng Xiping and his friends only needed to climb trees, break towers, and carry the materials back. The rest of the work was taken care of by the family members during lunch breaks and after school.

Qianchuan Forest Farm is located in a primeval forest, surrounded by trees, especially large red pines.

People say that pine cones are harvested in small quantities every three years and in large quantities every five years. This year, we happened to be in the small harvest season, and the pine cones on the trees are quite thick.

Sheng Xiping and his colleagues worked for about ten days and each of them collected about five or six hundred catties of pine nuts.

Pine trees closer to the forest farm no longer have pine cones. There are some further away, but it's too far to pull a cart, so it's not worth it.

Just as the group was hesitating about whether to go further away to collect pine cones, the first snow fell on the evening of the 15th.