Zhou Yiding sealed the entrance of the cave. The two men walked up for a while with their backpacks on their backs, found a big rock to sit on, took out their lunch boxes and started to eat lunch.

Zhou Huaian found a large leaf, took out the rice ball prepared for Da Huang and placed it on it, "Eat it and go home."

Dahuang looked at him with his tail wagging non-stop, went over and lay down in front of a big tree leaf, ate a rice ball seriously, and then sat there on guard.

Zhou Yiding looked at the old forest across the street and said, "I wish we could go over there someday and take a look."

Zhou Huaian curled his lips, "Forget it, you see Old Shrimp is not a bad guy, but in the end he was still injured like that by a wild animal."

Zhou Yiding thought of Lao Xiazi's lame leg and said, "That's true. If you walk by the river often, you will get your feet wet. If you go in often, sooner or later you will be unable to escape."

"That's right, we can just get some wild game in the woods over here." Zhou Huaian smiled and handed him a cigarette, "Here, a cigarette after dinner is better than a living god."

"Hmm!" Zhou Yiding took the lit cigarette and started smoking while leaning against the tree trunk. After they had satisfied their taste, the two of them picked up their backpacks and walked back.

The woods at noon were brighter than in the morning, but still looked a little eerie. Most of the mushrooms seen on the road had already withered, so the two men and the dog concentrated on their journey.

Along the way, they picked some Selaginella and Large-leafed Olive and stuffed them into the honey barrel. Before they knew it, they arrived at the foot of a ridge and found several moss-covered trees full of wood ears, flowers, and mushrooms. They stopped to rest and picked them.

Suddenly, Zhou Yiding pointed at a large Chinese oak tree and said, "Youngest brother, look, is that Hericium erinaceus growing on that tree?"

Zhou Huaian looked in the direction he pointed and saw a white, furry thing growing on a tree in front of him. It looked a bit like a monkey's head. "That's the Hericium erinaceus. It's hard to find!"

Hericium erinaceus has tender meat, fragrant taste, and delicious flavor. It is known as "mountain treasure Hericium erinaceus and seafood bird's nest"!

It is also a fungus that can be used as both medicine and food. It is mild in nature, sweet in taste, and has the functions of benefiting the five internal organs, aiding digestion, and nourishing the body. It is said to be able to fight cancer.

Zhou Yiding excitedly put the mushrooms in his hand into the basket and said, "Look around. If there is one of these, there will be more nearby."

"Hmm!" Zhou Huaian also put down the mushroom, and the two of them walked over and craned their necks to look for it, "Look, there are some on that tree, and this one, and this one..."

"An Yi, there are some trees around here!" Zhou Yiding was overjoyed, grinning and reaching out to Zhou Huaian, "Give me a net bag, I'll climb up and pick them."

"When you finish picking them one by one, I'll go up with you." Zhou Huaian took out a net bag and handed him three. He walked to a tree, spit some on his hands, and hugged the trunk to climb up like a monkey.

The place where the Hericium erinaceus grew on the Qinggang tree was about three meters above the ground. There were two Hericium erinaceus growing one in front and one behind. He grabbed one and tried to pry it open but failed. He pulled out the dagger hanging at his waist and pried it open. A white and plump Hericium erinaceus with hairy fleshy thorns went into the net bag.

"An Yi, this one weighs at least one kilogram." Zhou Huaian happily picked another one, hung the net bag on his waist, slid to the ground while hugging the tree trunk, put the Hericium erinaceus in the backpack, and climbed up another tree.

The two of them went up and down, panting and tired, and finally they managed to pick all the Hericium erinaceus on the trees.

Zhou Yiding put the net bag in the backpack, sat down on the ground, and looked at Zhou Huaian happily, "I picked nine flowers, which weigh about six or seven kilograms in total."

Zhou Huaian looked at the Hericium erinaceus in the basket with great joy, "I picked seven, probably about five or six kilograms."

Zhou Yiding took out a cigarette and handed it to him. He also lit one and took a puff. "Two years ago, someone from the forest farm picked some and the cooperative gave them 21 kilograms. I wonder if the price has increased now?"

Zhou Huaian took a puff of his cigarette and turned to look at him, "It's rare to come across this thing, why don't you keep some for yourself?"

"It's a real mountain delicacy, so of course I have to get one to taste it!" Zhou Yiding sat up straight and picked up a flower from the basket on his back. "This thing looks really weird! It's furry and really looks like a monkey's head."

"It will look more like a yellow-haired monkey after it dries!" Zhou Huaian put out his cigarette, stood up and stomped a few times, and said to Zhou Yiding, "Let's go. It will be dark by the time we get back."

"Great!" Zhou Yiding also put out his cigarette, then stood up and carried the basket on his back.

They are very careful when smoking in the woods, because there are many dead leaves and branches in the woods. Once there is an unextinguished cigarette butt left, the whole forest will be burned to ashes.

…

On the other side of the ravine, after Yang Chunyan, Zhao Huifang and others had picked all the olives, they continued to walk up and picked some golden thread vine, saxifrage, olives, and arisaema.

Yang Chunyan also found a piece of wupifeng. This grass looks a bit similar to snakeberry. Both like to grow in a humid environment and have medicinal effects on treating lung heat and cough, but wupifeng is more effective for whooping cough in children.

The nature and flavor of Wupifeng is bitter, pungent and cool. When you have adverse symptoms such as intestinal dryness, constipation and large areas of dryness, you can eat more Wupifeng. The substances it contains can stimulate the stomach and intestines, speed up gastrointestinal motility, clear out the heat and toxins in the human body and relieve the symptoms of intestinal dryness.

The scientific name of the five-skin grass is Potentilla obovata, also known as five-skin grass, five-clawed dragon, and snake-containing. It belongs to the genus Potentilla in the Rosaceae family. Its leaves are often composed of five leaflets, the petioles are covered with a layer of light hairs, and it blooms small yellow flowers.

Zhang Xiuxiang and her partner followed and started digging. "If you catch one of these things, you can find a large area of ​​them by following the vine. There used to be a lot of them on the ridges of the fields. When we saw them, we dug them up by the roots."

Yang Chunyan dug up one with its roots, "Last time I saw some on the hillside, but they were all dug up the next day."

Zhao Huifang: "Last time, Xiaowen's cough was cured by eating this. We sent all the ones we collected to Ning'an to sell. This time, we dried some of the ones we picked and saved them."

Yang Chunyan nodded and said, "This piece of dried fruit can only yield five or six kilograms at most. When we have more, we will send it to Ning An to sell."

After digging up the piece of five-skin wind and cleaning it, the three of them continued to move forward with their backpacks on their backs. There were a lot of Acorus calamus growing by the puddle in front of them. This thing was found by the ravine behind the house. The three of them were too lazy to pick them, so they picked the olives on the stones.

After just over two hours, the three people's backpacks were full, and the vines at the edge of the ditch had already covered the ditch.

Zhao Huifang pointed at the hairy fruits on the vines and shouted, "Look, there are so many hairy pears on them."

Zhang Xiuxiang also saw it and said, "It's not very ripe at this time. It will be just right to pick it in half a month."

Yang Chunyan looked at the bamboo forest on the left and said to them excitedly, "Sister-in-law, sister-in-law, there is another bamboo forest here. Let's go up and see if there are any bamboo fungi in the bamboo forest."

Zhang Xiuxiang glanced at the endless bamboo forest and thought that bamboo fungus was quite expensive. If she could find a few kilograms, she could sell them for dozens of dollars.

"That's right!" She climbed up first and pulled Yang Chunyan and Zhao Huifang up as well. Wangcai saw his master coming ashore and hurriedly turned around and followed.

The fallen leaves in the bamboo forest are very thick and feel very soft when stepped on. Yang Chunyan said, "The soil here is fertile. It would have been great if we had discovered this when we were reclaiming land last year."

"Look, I picked one right here!" Zhang Xiuxiang walked forward happily, peeled off the cap of the bamboo fungus, pulled it up and put it in the basket.

Yang Chunyan also plucked up a flower. There were still a few that had not yet bloomed. She said happily, "There are a lot of them. Look, there are still a few bamboo fungus eggs here. They will bloom in the afternoon at the latest."

Zhao Huifang always felt that the forest was eerie and uneasy, "You two should not go in there, it will be troublesome if something happens."

Yang Chunyan comforted him, "I won't go in there. I'll walk 20 to 30 meters in at most. If there's anything, I'll pick it up. If there's nothing, I'll come out."

"That's good. No one comes here. If we encounter a big wild animal, the three of us will be their snacks." Zhao Huifang said, suddenly covering her nose and pointing at a rotten bamboo fungus in front of her. "My god, it really stinks like manure."

All I saw were a few rotten bamboo fungi emitting a foul odor. The black caps were crawling with insects and flies. Even Wangcai ran to Yang Chunyan in disgust.

Yang Chunyan and her two sisters-in-law calmed their energy and plucked up a few bamboo fungi around them. They hurried forward and walked around in the woods for an hour. Each of them picked a full basket of bamboo fungi.

Suddenly, Zhao Huifang jumped up with a scream of "Ah", and covered her chest with her hands in panic.

Yang Chunyan looked back and saw a one-foot-long black-necked snake swimming quickly from the crevice of the rock next to her. It seemed that it was also frightened.

Seeing her face turn pale, he quickly turned around and stepped forward to comfort her: "Sister-in-law, it's okay, Lao Suo has already run away."

Zhao Huifang looked at the direction where the black-necked snake was swimming and felt her heart pounding. "Xiuxiang, Chunyan, the backpacks are full. We need to take these bamboo fungi back to dry them. Also, I feel anxious when I enter the forest. Let's go back."

Hearing her say that she was coming in, they felt nervous. Yang Chunyan and the others did not dare to delay any longer. They thought that the black-necked snake just now might be a warning to the three of them, and they also felt that it was a sign of danger.

"Okay, let's go back." Yang Chunyan turned around and called Wangcai, and the three of them and the dog went down to the ditch and walked back.

Only after walking out of the ditch did Zhao Huifang feel relieved. "I felt eerie and uncomfortable when I entered the bamboo forest just now, but now I feel comfortable."

"Why didn't you tell us that you were feeling unwell?" Zhang Xiuxiang turned around and said, "When I was at my mother's house, my grandfather told me that if you feel uncomfortable or get a chill down your spine after entering the forest, you should leave immediately because there might be something unclean in there."

Yang Chunyan thought of her rebirth and felt that there were some things she had to believe in, so she comforted her, "Maybe you were too tired during this period and didn't get enough rest, so your mind is a little weak. Go back and make some soup to calm your nerves."

Zhao Huifang smiled and said, "Chunyan is still the best. She is not like you. You know I am scared but you still scare me."

Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and pointed at the sun, comforting her: "Look, the sun is shining brightly above your head. We and the dog are here to accompany you. Don't be afraid!" (End of this chapter)