Chapter 251: Killing the Wolf and Holding a Banquet for the Entire Hospital
Although Lin Sanqi and Pan Ye couldn't pick any wild vegetables, they felt like they were on a spring outing with the spring breeze on their faces.
Taking advantage of the fact that there was no one around, Lin Sanqi took out a bottle of canned lychees from his backpack, opened it, and handed it to Pan Ye along with the spoon.
When Pan Ye looked at Lin Sanqi, the love in his eyes was almost overflowing.
"Sanqi, what kind of fruit is this? It's so delicious."
"These are lychees, but you won't find fresh lychees in the north. They've traveled thousands of miles from Lingnan to the capital, so they must have gone bad."
Pan Ye blinked his big eyes and asked curiously:
"How could that be? I've read books. During the Tang Dynasty, when Concubine Yang Guifei wanted to eat lychees, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang sent lychees to Chang'an on horseback. Didn't he leave behind a poem: 'A horse gallops through the dusty city, and the concubine smiles. No one knows it's the lychees that are coming.'
Lingnan is farther from Chang'an, yet horses could deliver it there promptly in ancient times. How come, even with trains and cars now available, we can't deliver to Peking in time? Lingnan should be closer to Peking."
Lin Sanqi chuckled and explained:
"You are wrong. The lychees that Yang Guifei ate during the Tang Dynasty were not sent from Lingnan, but from Fuling, Sichuan. The distance is very close, and it can be delivered within two days with an expedited delivery of 800 miles.
If it came from Lingnan, it would take at least ten days or half a month to arrive. During the Opium War, Guangzhou was already fighting the foreigners, and the intelligence didn't reach the emperor in Peking for months. If it were lychees, they would have been dried up long ago."
Pan Ye ate canned fruit while looking at Lin Sanqi with admiration:
"Wow, you know so much! It seems you must read a lot."
Lin Sanqi boasted proudly, "That's right. After get off work, when I have nothing to do, I always keep a book in my hand. I've memorized 300 Tang poems, hum."
In fact, Lin Sanqi was not reading books at all. He read all these on the Internet while studying. It has to be said that with the explosion of information on the Internet, even ordinary people can access a lot of knowledge.
If it were 1960, people with such insights could basically be considered intellectuals.
The two young people were chatting and enjoying the spring breeze, feeling so comfortable. At this time, Pan Ye noticed someone peeling on the opposite hill... and suddenly he felt bad.
"Sanqi, look, there are a few ladies peeling..."
"Where? Peel...? Be careful or you'll be fined a fortune by the Gardening Bureau."
In fact, both of them knew what it meant that a few farmers were peeling...so both young men felt a little depressed.
Lin Sanqi patted his butt and pulled Pan Ye up: "Let's go and take a look."
Half an hour later, Lin Sanqi and Pan Ye arrived at the opposite hilltop and looked curiously at a few old ladies sitting on the ground, chopping with axes...
The ladies obviously saw Lin Sanqi and the others. As soon as they saw their attire, they knew they were city people from the farm at the foot of the mountain, so they all smiled awkwardly.
Lin Sanqi was a bit of a snob, he squatted down and picked up a piece from the basket...
"Auntie, I'm busy. What are you going to do with this...? Use it as medicine or firewood?"
Lin Sanqi was afraid of embarrassment and pretended not to understand... What was it for?
Several old ladies burst into laughter when they heard this:
"Young man, you don't understand. This... is good stuff. You can eat it. It can fill your stomach. You won't feel hungry after eating it."
Lin Sanqi looked left and right, it was just an ordinary piece... He smelled it and it didn't have any taste, so he put it directly into his mouth and started chewing it.
Unexpectedly, a scene from a history book appeared before his eyes. Lin Sanqi was extremely curious. Is this... edible? Is it delicious?
... Lin Sanqi chewed it for a long time before finally biting off a small piece. He then put it in his mouth and chewed it. However, he couldn't taste any flavor after chewing it for a long time, and it was even harder to swallow.
"Pah, ah, ah, Auntie, this... is so hard and tasteless, how can you eat it?"
Hahahaha~~~
Although the old ladies were skinny, they were all in good spirits. When they saw the young men from the city getting revenge, they all laughed so hard that they fell over.
"Young man,...that's not how you eat it. You can't just chew it!"
"Ah, not just chewing it...ah, then how do you eat it?"
An old lady smiled and said:
"To eat... it's best to peel the whole thing off... then tear off the inner layer, dry it in the sun, and then grind it with a stone mill. Then add some cornmeal or white flour to the remaining powder before eating."
Another old lady joked:
"We have cornmeal and white flour. Who eats tree flour? Now we eat... We just chop it off and boil it in a pot with water for an hour, or soak it in water for a day and a night until it's softened before eating."
Lin Sanqi asked reluctantly, "Can you swallow it?"
Several old ladies shook their heads and said, "I can't swallow it. My throat hurts and I can't even speak clearly. But there's nothing we can do. If we don't eat, we'll starve to death."
Lin Sanqi thought of the wild vegetables he had just encountered with the children, so he reminded them:
"Ladies, it's spring now. You can pick some wild vegetables and eat them. It's better than eating... okay?"
Several old ladies laughed bitterly after hearing this:
"We're old and can't walk anymore. Look around at the mountains. Are there any wild vegetables left? The ones we can see have already been picked. To pick them, we have to run deep into the mountains. We can't run. We don't have the energy. We can only eat..."
"Even when we eat..., it's given to us by others. Not all... can be eaten. Only the bark of willow, elm, and poplar trees is edible. If others don't give it to us, we wouldn't even be able to eat...."
Pan Ye was listening nearby and quietly wiping away tears.
Lin Sanqi also sighed heavily. This was still the suburbs of Beijing. If the farmers in the capital were in such a difficult situation, how did the people in other parts of the country survive?
Thinking of this, he recalled the scene when he was coming back from Guangqi and the train passed through Henan. It did not stop at any station and all the curtains had to be drawn.
This damn natural disaster!
Pan Ye nudged Lin Sanqi and whispered, "Do you have any food? Can you give some to the ladies?"
Oh, Lin Sanqi finally came to his senses and quickly took out an oil-paper bag from his backpack:
"Auntie, come here. There are six scallion pancakes here. Just two for each of you three. Eat them quickly."
The three old ladies were stunned for a moment, but then they were ecstatic. They took the cakes and hid them in their clothes, as if they were afraid of being seen by outsiders.
"Thank you, thank you young man, thank you young lady, you are truly the compassionate Guanyin."
Pan Ye quickly moved away and kindly reminded her, "Auntie, please eat your cakes quickly."
The three old ladies were embarrassed: "We will eat it, of course, but we want to take it home and let everyone in the family taste it. It has been a long time since we had such a delicious cake."
Lin Sanqi stood up and took out three 5-yuan bills. An old lady gave him one, and with the old ladies' profuse thanks, he quickly took Pan Ye and left.
On the way back, Pan Ye was still thinking about the scene that had just happened and was still in shock.
"I used to think our family was the hardest hit, so poor we had to pawn everything valuable at home. But after leaving the city and coming to the countryside, I realized how difficult life is for farmers. Lin Sanqi, when do you think this will end?"
Lin Sanqi thought, this is not the end of the world. It was difficult last year, it will be very difficult this year, and next year will be extremely difficult. Facing such a long period of natural disasters, it is really a blessing from the top leadership that the whole country does not collapse.
But I am just a small time traveler, not the Dragon King of the Sea. I cannot bring rain to the drought-stricken areas to alleviate the disaster.
When the two returned to the farm, they saw a large group of people gathered there, all pointing and talking.
Lin Sanqi and Pan Ye's curiosity instantly ignited, and they quickly stepped forward:
"What's wrong?"
"Hey, Chief Lin is here! Chief Lin, look, the hunters are here with the wolf carcass to claim their reward."
Lin Sanqi squeezed to the front and took a look. There were eight bloody wolves lying on the ground. Several hunters were happily chatting with Dean Shen and Vice Dean Ji.
Pan Ye saw the wolf and looked left and right but couldn't make out anything:
"Sanqi, this is a wolf, how come it looks like a dog?"
A hunter nearby laughed out loud after hearing this:
"Little girl, wild wolves look similar to big dogs, but don't underestimate them. These beasts are very aggressive and very smart. It took the 10 of us to kill these 8 wolves, and 5 of them escaped. We have to go back up the mountain."
Another hunter also followed up with a scientific explanation:
"In the wild, the position of the tail can be used as a reference feature to distinguish wolves from dogs. For example, a dog's tail is usually curled upward, while a wolf's tail is downward. Also, a wolf's tail is shorter and thicker than a dog's, with more fluffy hair, and often hangs down between the hind legs."
Dean Shen was also happy to see that most of the wolves had been wiped out:
"Okay, our hospital keeps its word. You can go to the warehouse later to get 800 kilograms of corn flour. The bounty for the remaining five wolves that escaped is still valid. Damn it, if anyone dares to attack our hospital staff, I will kill every wolf in the pack."
When the hunters heard this, they all nodded and bowed with joy.
Even if each person can only get 70 or 80 kilograms, this food, combined with some wild vegetables, is enough to sustain the family for a while.
Dean Shen waved his hand again:
"As usual, skin the wolf and we'll have a dinner tonight and eat wolf meat!!!"
Great~~~
All the staff members of the Chinese medicine hospital were in high spirits. The one who felt the most relieved was Zhu Guangquan, as his daughter was still lying in bed and had not fully recovered.
Ye Wenyao, Ye Shanmin and their family have already been fired and are probably still on their way back to their hometown. One can imagine the miserable life they will live after returning home.
The old people couldn't chew wolf meat, so at night Aunt Li used shepherd's purse and pork as fillings and made shepherd's purse dumplings for them. The old people were so satisfied with the dumplings.
Lin Sanqi specially left 50 raw dumplings for Dean Shen to take back to the city.
It was gradually getting dark, and suddenly, someone outside was shouting again, which was particularly harsh and frightening in the quiet night.
Lin Sanqi was startled when he heard this. He quickly took out a pistol from his pocket and rushed out. Could it be that the wolves came to seek revenge?
(End of this chapter)
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