Chapter 36 Harvesting (Part 2) Storytelling, picking pine cones, returning to the village...
Next to Lei was an open bag of chestnuts.
He first used a wooden stick to press the chestnuts open like rolling out dough, then rolled the stick back and forth a few times until the chestnut husks completely split open, revealing the chestnuts inside. After that, he picked them out and put them in another empty bag.
Watching his brother busily working, Neil picked out a handy wooden stick for himself and helped Ray crack the chestnuts.
“Neil, you play with Lamb and the others, don’t bother with all this.”
Ray spoke in a low voice so as not to disturb Lamb and George.
"I think it's quite nice to listen while working!"
Neil answered quietly, mimicking Rye's movements as he pressed down on the chestnut. He accidentally sent the chestnut flying.
How embarrassing! Did my brother not see me?!
Neil glanced at Ray out of the corner of his eye and saw him picking up the pressed chestnuts, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Haha, little Neil, you knocked it flying!"
Oh no, I forgot about the big mouth.
"snort."
Neil ignored Lamb's mockery and continued working.
Seeing that Ray and Neil were pressing chestnuts with great enthusiasm, Lamb and George exchanged a glance and also found sticks to start working.
In no time, three more hardworking figures appeared around the campfire, and the cracking sound of chestnuts being pressed echoed for quite some time.
"well."
Lei sighed.
It's rare to have a camping trip, but the kids have no entertainment and are just keeping me company while I do chores. It's not very interesting.
Let's each tell a story.
Because of Neil, a little boy, Ray changed the traditional ghost story telling segment to a storytelling segment. And it seems that ghosts, mythical creatures, don't exist in this world.
"That's good! I'll start with one."
Lamb wholeheartedly agreed, and George had no objections either.
“This was told to me by Rhys before, and it’s absolutely true and credible.”
Lamb was lost in his memories.
"It was a summer night. Rhys took his game to town to sell, and because it was too late when he had sold it all, he stayed overnight at the town's inn."
"This hotel has been around for several decades. The furniture inside is old-fashioned, but it's all kept very clean. After having dinner at the hotel and washing up, Rhys quickly fell asleep."
"Then what?"
George asked.
Lamb had gone on and on, only mentioning the mundane fact that Reese was staying at a hotel. The listeners were getting impatient.
"Don't rush, the best is yet to come."
Lamb continued.
"In the middle of the night, Rhys was thirsty and wanted to get some water. He vaguely heard footsteps at the door. He thought someone was getting up in the middle of the night and didn't pay any attention. But the sound of walking back and forth kept coming from the corridor, disturbing his sleep."
After a while, the footsteps finally stopped. Rhys thought he could finally go to sleep, but then there was another knock on the door.
No one answered the first door, so it knocked on the second; no one answered the second, so it knocked on the third... Finally, it knocked on Rhys's door.
Strangely, he only heard a knock but didn't see the person. Rhys was too frightened to open the door. The knocking continued for a while longer, and finally, the thing left.
Neil nervously rubbed his arms.
After a while, there was finally no more noise outside. He mustered up his courage and opened the door to check the hallway. Seeing that there was no one outside, he relaxed and prepared to go to sleep, when suddenly!
Lamb suddenly raised his voice, startling Neil and George.
A figure in a gray robe appeared at the end of the corridor and remained motionless. The candlelight was dim, and he tried his best to see the person's face, but he couldn't make it out for a long time, as if a layer of mist shrouded it.
The gray-robed figure began to move forward slowly, and the strange clattering sound rang out again. Rhys felt a chill run down his spine as he watched the man's stiff movements.
Just then, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the corridor. Cold sweat uncontrollably streamed down Rhys's forehead. It turned out that the gray robe didn't house a person at all, but a pale skeleton.
Lamb recounted the story vividly, completely grasping the essence of a camping night talk. Neil was stunned.
"I'm done speaking."
"Is Lisgo staying at the Kako Hotel?"
George asked.
"Yes, this is a true story that he experienced firsthand."
"That's it. Every year, there are a few strange rumors about that hotel."
"What rumor?"
"And then what happened?"
Lamb and Neil's voices rang out simultaneously.
"Later, Rhys didn't sleep at all in the middle of the night, and left the hotel as soon as it was light."
Lamb answered Neil's question.
"What other rumors are there? Tell me quickly."
Lamb, bursting with curiosity, continued to ask George questions.
"It's about the singing at midnight, the people in the murals moving, and black cats being afraid to go into the top-floor rooms. That inn is really eerie; not many people stay there anymore. But strangely, despite all this news, it hasn't gone out of business."
How did you know?
Lamb continued to ask.
“My uncle said so.”
"oh oh."
"Next one, next one, bro, tell us one."
After thinking for a moment, Lai told a modified version of Journey to the West from the Casa Continent.
The eldest brother, second brother, and junior brother Sha were all replaced with beastmen, and each of the gods was assigned an identity from one of the eight major races. The main idea was to distribute blessings evenly.
As expected, a classic literary work like "Journey to the West," suitable for all ages, captivated three children who hadn't been bombarded with information from the internet. They kept telling Lai the story for over an hour before finally letting him go get some water.
Lei took out his water bag, took a big gulp, and looked into the distance.
The shadows of the trees on the mountain swayed gently, and two moons hung in the sky, appearing as pale blue.
The sky is filled with countless stars, and stardust of various colors, carrying planets near and far, forms a stunning star belt. In an era without polluting gas emissions, the starry sky appears exceptionally clear.
"Bro, have you finished your water? Neil's been waiting impatiently!"
"Brother, I'm not in a hurry, please drink slowly!"
Neil quickly refuted Lamb's words.
Lamb's quirk of teasing children often brings a smile to people's faces.
"Here we go, this is the last story."
Lai walked towards the three with a water bag, and a warm and harmonious scene unfolded around the campfire.
This day's experience ultimately became the most unforgettable moment in the memories of Lamb, Neil, and George.
After a good night's sleep, at dawn the next day, Lai got up, relit the campfire, and started cooking.
Knead the dough with cold water, then add water to the leftover broth and bring it to a boil before adding the noodles. When the noodles are half-cooked, Lai adds two large handfuls of green vegetables to the broth.
After the noodles were cooked, Lamb and the others washed up and took their own bowls and chopsticks to eat.
Lai had already eaten, and while they were having breakfast, he led the little mule to a distant spot to drink water and graze. An hour later, Lai returned with the mule and shared some wild fruit he had picked with the three of them.
"Brother, we've already cleaned up the pots and pans, and even fetched some clean water from the river."
Lamb boasted to Ray that he had taken credit for the task.
"good."
When Lai looked, he saw that everything was indeed neatly organized.
"Brother, what's our plan for today?"
Lamb then asked, and Neil and George looked at him with the same expectant gaze.
"Let's go pick pine nuts later. We'll come back for lunch later, and after lunch we'll take a walk around the area and then head back."
"good."
After dinner, the four of them peeled three and a half bags of chestnuts, leaving two large bags empty.
After everything was packed up, the four of them went up the mountain again to pick fruit.
The pine trees grew higher up, closer to the mountainside. It took Lai and his three companions a long time to reach the pine forest, as they walked without stopping.
Pine trees that produce pine nuts are generally quite tall, and the pine trees in this pine forest are tens of meters tall.
George is good at climbing trees, and Rye was forced to develop this skill while escaping the apocalypse. This time, the two of them will climb the tree with poles to knock down pine cones, while Lamb and Neil collect them below.
Pine cones grow at a height of 20 to 30 meters, near the tips of pine branches. If a person falls from this height, they will inevitably suffer serious injury.
Rye and George tied the rope around their waists, binding themselves to the pine tree, leaving only a small gap for them to climb.
"We're going up. Be careful not to get hit by the falling pine cones. Keep an eye on your surroundings at all times."
"knew."
After giving his instructions, Lai climbed the pine tree in front of him.
Without tools, the pine tree trunk is straight and has no extra branches to provide support, making it particularly difficult to climb.
It took Lai a long time to climb to the first thick branch. After straddling it with one leg and resting on it for a while, he picked up a pole and started knocking down pine cones.
Many little squirrels live in the pine forest, each with a big tail standing upright as they run up and down the trees.
Perhaps because few people venture into the mountains, they are not afraid of people at all. They munched on pine nuts while watching Lai and George awkwardly knock down the pine cones.
Heavy pine cones kept falling to the ground, but Lamb and Neil didn't dare pick them up, afraid of accidentally hitting their heads.
Climbing trees and knocking down pine cones are physically demanding tasks. After knocking down pine cones from each tree, Ray and George need to rest for a while.
They worked up and down the hill all morning, and only managed to collect pine cones from eight trees. Fortunately, these pine trees produced a lot of cones, and the eight trees alone filled four bags.
They also decided not to go back for lunch for the time being.
Ray and George each sucked on a piece of candy and climbed the pine tree again, finally stopping only after Lamb and the others had filled more than two bags with pine cones.
The main problem is that if you do too many things, you can't take them all with you at once.
Lamb and Neil kept digging and picking up pine cones to save as much space as possible.
This time, Ray, Lamb, and George each carried two bags of pine cones, and even Neil prepared a small bag of pine nuts.
This harvest was truly fruitful.
For lunch, Lai simply cooked a pot of vegetable soup. Perhaps he was really exhausted. The four of them ate the whole pot of soup, along with four pieces of bread and a small half-basin of roasted chestnuts.
After finishing their meal and resting, Lai and his group began dismantling their tents and packing their belongings.
Two large bags of chestnuts, six bags of pine cones, and some odds and ends of luggage—once all of these were loaded into the car, there was no room for anyone to sit.
The four of them spent another hour peeling pine nuts as quickly as possible.
They used sticks to knock, axes to chop, and with a flurry of activity, they peeled more than three bags of pine cones. The truck bed was finally big enough to comfortably seat a few people.
It was getting late, so after saying goodbye to the men who had stayed behind, Lai drove the mule cart and left with the three of them.
During this time, we saw another team's tents; they were making a fire and cooking dinner, so it seemed they would stay a while longer.
As dusk began to fall, the four finally made it back to the small mountain village.
Rye drove Lamb and George home first, leaving Chestnut and Pine Nut in the car for the time being. The three agreed to come back to Rye's house after breakfast the next day to share their catch from the mountain trip.
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Author's Note: Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2023-07-09 23:51:19 and 2023-07-10 23:53:08!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Dan Nanxing and 10 bottles from Wuren;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
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