Chapter 269 Wild Rice Honey
Hearing Hu Jue's voice, they were only puzzled, without the panic and fear they had expected. Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen opened their eyes at the same time and saw that the handkerchief was lying quietly in Hu Jue's hand.
And right in the center of the handkerchief lay several...pieces of dog poop?
Hu Jue even brought his nose closer to sniff it, and finally said with a look of disgust, "It really is dog poop, and there are a few lumps of mud. Who is it that wraps dog poop in a handkerchief?"
Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen chuckled twice: "Hehe... I didn't know, I thought there were bugs in it, hehe... It's alright, you can go back to work, Jue-ge."
After Hu Jue left, the two men looked at each other and their faces turned green at the same time.
So, they spent half the night talking/learning about lampflowers in front of that huge patch of mud and dog poop? And they even brought the dog poop and mud back like treasures? The worst part is, Qin Suisui kept it in her bag all night and all day!!
Qin Suisui's face immediately turned even greener.
Jia Zhenzhen also realized what was happening and couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Pfft, hahaha, Sui Sui, I'll wash your bag for you later, hahaha, you usually put snacks and candies in it, hahaha..."
Without her even needing to remind her, Qin Suisui had already taken everything else out of her bag, thrown the bag into the basin, and pushed Jia Zhenzhen out, saying, "Get out, get out, I'm going to take a bath!"
As Jia Zhenzhen walked out laughing, she reminded her, "Do you want to check again to see if there's any more dog poop hidden somewhere?"
With a "snap," the door slammed shut in front of her.
Qin Suisui took out disinfectant alcohol from her spatial storage and wiped the small items in her bag. She then washed the cloth bag in disinfectant several times before finally feeling a little better.
The next morning, Qin Suisui and the other two woke up to the sounds of insects and birds outside. The cool, refreshing air from the mountains was invigorating and soothing.
On weekends on Qiongtan Island, when Pei Jiuyan went out to sea, she would often take Zanzan to stay in the wild forest. There, she would be woken up by the chirping of insects and birds every day, but the feeling here was completely different from that wild forest.
Today is their third day at the Hongshan Brigade, and they still haven't completed their main quest—finding the lampflower.
So their main purpose today is to go up the mountain to find the lantern flower.
After having breakfast at Captain Li's house, Qin Suisui and the other two carried water bottles, boiled eggs, and stuffed pancakes specially made by Aunt Zhang, and went up the mountain with Li Lao Er and Li Lao San.
With two locals guiding her, Qin Suisui wasn't afraid of getting lost.
The lamp-shaped flower usually grows on mountains at an altitude of over 1,000 meters. Fortunately, Aunt Zhang's house was also located at the end of the village, so they only had to walk a few steps to reach the foot of the mountain.
Worried about returning too late at night, they got up very early. It was only a little past six in the morning, but there were already many people climbing the mountain.
Upon seeing Qin Suisui, the team members greeted her. Aunts and older women also took out rice cakes, buckwheat cakes, corn cakes, and cured meat rice balls from their baskets and fed them to Qin Suisui.
Qin Suisui couldn't refuse at all. Once she accepted food from one person, she had to accept food from another. Before long, her basket was already half full of food.
This made Jia Zhenzhen extremely envious, but when she thought that Qin Suisui had food, she was sure that she wouldn't be shortchanged, and she immediately became happy again.
It was still early, and the higher we went up the mountain, the heavier the fog and dew became.
Li Lao Er and Li Lao San led Qin Suisui and the other two along the steep mountain path. They knew every path well, and whenever they passed a grove, they would show it to Qin Suisui and the others: "Look, that grove grows mushrooms after the rain. It's the grove with the most mushrooms in our area. The mushroom hotpot we had last night was picked by my mother from here."
Last night's mushroom hotpot was so delicious that Qin Suisui would drool just thinking about it, so as soon as she heard Li Laoda talk about it, her mouth watered immediately.
Jia Zhenzhen and she were "birds of a feather". They looked at each other and decided that after picking the lantern flowers today, they would pick mushrooms tomorrow!
The group walked a little further, and Li Laosan pointed to a cliff face and said excitedly, "There are wild beehives over there. We harvested eight catties of them last time! They're the purest wild honey!"
Qin Suisui is craving it again!
She knew about wild jujube honey. This type of honey was hard, smooth as cream, and had a fragrant aroma, hence the name "Yunnan Hard Honey." Moreover, wild jujube honey had the effects of aiding digestion, clearing heat, and detoxifying, making it quite valuable medicinally. If she could get some to add to her pills...
"Brother, we've got honey! It's even bigger than when we came to harvest it last time!" Li Laosan ran back excitedly from the other side of the cliff, gesturing wildly.
"Really?" Li Lao Er was also quite excited. He turned to look at Qin Suisui and the others, a hint of embarrassment on his face: "Well... how about we cut the honey first, otherwise if someone sees it, it will be taken away by someone else."
They thought Qin Suisui and the others wouldn't agree, after all, they had come from afar for the lantern flower, but they underestimated the desires of Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen, two foodies. Upon hearing this, the two nodded and quickly rushed towards the cliff. Their speed was so fast that Li Lao Er didn't even have time to react.
Only when Hu Jue was the only one left did Li Lao Er scratch his head in confusion and then go over with Hu Jue.
Qin Suisui and Jia Zhenzhen lay on the cliff face, looking down. Li Laosan used a stick to clear away the obstructing vegetation so they could see clearly.
Sure enough, there was a large funnel-shaped honeycomb under the plant, with several bees buzzing around on it.
Li Laosan excitedly turned around and shouted to his brother, "Brother, most of the bees are out collecting nectar now, this is a good time to harvest honey!" They usually bring all their tools when they go up the mountain: a rope for climbing, a net to protect their face from being bitten, and a dagger.
To prevent bees from flying around and biting people, Qin Suisui and the others were chased to a more distant place. Li Laosan tied the hemp rope to the tree behind him, held the middle of the rope himself, and used the grass vines in his other hand to lower the wooden bucket down and place it next to Li Laoer.
Both men carried nets, so even with the bees buzzing around, they couldn't bite them. This large bunch of honey looked to weigh at least twelve pounds, but to ensure a continuous supply of honey in the future, they couldn't take it all; they had to leave some for the bees, so they only harvested eight pounds.
When the two people came up excitedly carrying a large bucket of honey, Qin Suisui was extremely envious.
As she ate the honeycomb that Li Lao Er handed her, she exclaimed enviously, "This honey is really good!"
Li Lao Er waved his hand: "Hey, it's nothing. When we get back, I'll have my mom pack it up and you can take it with you when you leave!"
Li Laosan chimed in, "That's right! We can come up the mountain to find honey anytime we want! You don't have this kind of honey where you live, do you?"
Qin Suisui shook her head: "No, I've only ever seen them in books before, this is the first time I've ever seen a real wild honeybee!"
As the group gathered around the bucket of honey, tasting and marveling at it, Li Laosan's left ear suddenly twitched. Qin Suisui's eyes widened in surprise; someone could actually twitch their ear like that!
Before she could even sigh, Li Laosan's expression suddenly changed: "Oh no! Brother! There's movement in the woods!"
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