Chapter 57: The Female General with a Hammer and the Sword-wielding Guard
Yan Jigang shouted very loudly, without even stuttering, and only after he finished shouting did he turn around and look at his sister and brother-in-law.
Before Yan Xue could speak, Qi Fang had already asked, "What grade of leaf?" He held Yan Xue's hand very calmly.
Yan Jigang was so preoccupied with the ginseng that he didn't notice it. His eyes sparkled, "Grade five or six, maybe."
Is this a fifth or sixth grade?
Yan Xue found it a little funny.
And Jigang hadn't noticed. If she swung it again, the bigger the movement, the more attention it would attract. So he just asked calmly, "How many are there?"
This is also about connecting the mountains. The more people who find the clubs come back, the better. Even if there is only one, it is still a lot.
The young boy obviously still remembered his sister's previous instructions, "More...more."
As she spoke, she turned around and raised her little hand to count, then thought of something and turned back again, her eyes finally falling on her sister and brother-in-law's hands in confusion.
"Hold still." Qi Fang naturally changed his grip on Yan Xue's hand to pulling, and said something in a calm voice before letting go.
Yan Jigang instantly realized that his sister had nearly fallen, and his brother-in-law was helping her up. He immediately warned her, "Be careful."
This is really stable. When Yan Jigang turned back, Yan Xue couldn't help but pinch the man's arm.
But since Yan Jigang called him a fool, I had to go and take a look.
Unexpectedly, what Yan Jigang said was a lot really was a lot. The two of them looked down along his treasure-hunting stick, and there was definitely more than just a little red tassel exposed in the grass in front.
Even judging by the size of the ginseng seeds, they were definitely not just the two-year-old ones just now. The young boy was so excited that his face turned red. As if afraid of being heard, he whispered, "Are we going to get rich?"
It is said that people who go into the mountains for the first time have good luck. Yan Xue did not expect that the three of them would have such good luck when they got together.
She arched her brows and was about to say something when her expression changed again, "Be careful!"
Just as she was about to step forward, Qi Fang, whose legs were longer and faster than hers, grabbed the boy's collar and pulled him back.
Before Yan Jigang could react, a large hand blocked his vision. The next second, something fell down from where he had just been. It was a huge snake that was nearly as thick as a bowl.
Half of the snake's body was still wrapped around the tree, its mouth wide open, hissing and spitting out its tongue.
Although Yan Jigang couldn't see, he could hear. His little face turned pale instantly, but he tried to appear calm.
"It's okay. It's normal to have wild animals around Dashen. Just scare them away."
Qi Fang's voice was extremely calm. He took a few steps back and handed him over to Yan Xue.
Yan Xue also hugged him in her arms and patted his shoulder without any panic. "Your brother-in-law was carrying a gun. He was scared away with just one shot."
Wild animals living in these mountains and forests know what is good better than humans, so there are often wild beasts guarding near the ginseng, waiting to eat the red fruits of the ginseng.
Compared with other wild animals, snakes usually do not actively attack humans. If they were not so big, they could even be picked apart with a treasure-hunting stick.
Qi Fang fired a shot into the sky, and the big snake really went back into the tree, and after a while it disappeared.
The crisis came and went in an instant. When Yan Jigang was released by Yan Xue, he was still a little confused.
He blinked, and then blinked again, "Run away now?"
"If I don't run, will we fight for three hundred rounds? This isn't some heavenly treasure from a strange story."
Yan Xue tapped his forehead, and Qi Fang also said "hmm", calmly put away his gun, took out the hammer lock and prepared to go forward to carry the ginseng.
This instantly made Qi's image in Yan Jigang's mind taller, although he was already quite tall.
The young boy couldn't help but tug at his sister's sleeve and whispered, "Sister, brother-in-law is so awesome."
"Our Jigang is really amazing. He found so many ginsengs in one go."
Yan Xue smiled, touched his head, and walked forward with him.
As soon as I got closer, I heard Qi Fang say calmly, "Yes, there is a fifth-grade leaf."
There really was one. Yan Xue looked at Yan Jigang, walked forward and pushed aside the other grass leaves nearby, and soon found a fifth-grade leaf.
The fifth-grade leaves are considered large ginsengs, as thick as a thumb and weighing two or three taels. They can be sold for at least two hundred yuan at a purchasing station, which is equivalent to her and Qi Fang's two and a half months' salary.
"You will be credited with the first achievement this time." She smiled at the young boy, who smiled and frowned. He quickly went to the side and pulled away a tree.
"This!" Yan Jigang's voice suddenly sounded pleasantly surprised. "Sixth-sixth-grade leaf!"
Yan Xue looked over and saw that there were indeed six palm-sized leaves clustered around a cluster of red fruits. What Yan Jigang had said before was absolutely correct. It was indeed a fifth or sixth grade variety.
Now they don't have to look for it elsewhere. It takes three or four hours to carry one ginseng this big. Just these three will take them a whole day to carry.
Moreover, the few of them cleared away the weeds nearby and found another fifth-grade leaf. The rest were third and fourth-grade, which were obviously grown from the big ginseng seed.
Qi Fang first tied the hammer lock to a sixth-grade leaf, while Yan Xue took out a red rope and tied it to a fifth-grade leaf nearby. He called Yan Jigang, "Go find some dead branches nearby."
The forest is deep and the grass is dense, so there are naturally many mosquitoes. Along the way, they used a kind of fungus called old cow liver that they broke off from the trees when they entered the mountain and lit it to smoke the mosquitoes.
For such a large project, we need to light a fire in the upwind direction and cover it with wormwood to prevent mosquitoes and drive away wild animals.
It took them more than a day to carry all four of the largest ginseng trees.
The sixth-grade leaf was several times thicker than a human thumb, and both legs had long roots. A rough weighing it must have been at least four ounces.
Although the three fifth-grade leaves were smaller, they were still as thick as a thumb. As for the third-grade and fourth-grade leaves, the few people only picked and dug up a few fourth-grade leaves, and marked the rest, waiting to dig them up again in a few years.
The seeds on the top of the ginseng were also scattered nearby by several people. This is the rule of freeing the mountains, and a path must be left for later generations.
It is also because of these rules that this mountain has been able to last for hundreds of years and has always nurtured the people who depend on it for their livelihood.
They stayed in the mountains for a total of four days. Seeing that the weather was getting bad and the dry food they brought with them was almost finished, they finally went back.
As soon as he entered the yard, Yan Jigang shouted, "Grandma," and ran in happily like a little bird.
After shouting, he heard no response and found no one in the house. He couldn't help but shout again, and then he heard the voice of the second old lady from the backyard.
The young boy immediately turned around and ran to the backyard, "Grandma! Grandma, we're back!"
"Hey, slow down, don't fall." The old lady hurriedly caught her grandson and asked, "Where's your sister?"
Yan Jigang then noticed that there were other people in the yard and called out, "Brother Chang'an." Then he replied to the second old lady, "Sister, sister, brother-in-law is in the back."
The second old lady called out to the front, "Xiaoxue, come over and see if the fungus is about to come out."
Yan Xue and Qi Fang came in, put down their things, and were washing their hands. When they heard the words, they responded, wiped their clothes quickly, and went to the backyard.
"Chang'an said it seemed like it was about to happen, but I don't understand." The second old lady said to her.
Yan Xue nodded and went to take a look at the piece of wood that Guo Changan was carrying.
Twenty days after the inoculation of the fungus, the bark cap was completely removed. At this time, the drilled holes were full of hyphae and small bumps appeared on the surface of the wood.
"It's about to break out. Let's put it under control." Yan Xue made a prompt decision.
The rack system uses four 1.5-meter-long wooden poles arranged in a herringbone pattern at both ends, with a long pole in the middle, about 70 centimeters off the ground. The logs are placed on one end of the rack and arranged in a herringbone pattern on both sides, tilted about 45 degrees to facilitate the extraction and subsequent harvesting.
The frame had been built before. It was made of wood that was specially reserved when selecting tree stumps and building the house. As soon as the few people entered the door, they didn't even take a breath and immediately started to set up the frame with the logs.
By the time everything was done, half a day had passed. Yan Xue and Qi Fang finally had time to tidy themselves up, go to the bathhouse to take a shower, and then come back to have a hot meal.
The mushrooms they picked were indeed fried with chili peppers by the second old lady. Perhaps it was because of his own discovery, Yan Jigang ate them with great relish, one chopstick after another.
While eating, he told the old lady about what he had seen and heard in the past few days. Although he still stuttered, his desire to express himself was stronger than ever, and his big eyes were always bright.
This was a rare change for a child like him who was once afraid of communicating with others. The second old lady listened carefully, occasionally agreeing with him. After he finished speaking, she looked at Yan Xue and asked, "Isn't it time to register for school these days?"
When he heard the word "school", Yan Jigang's little head immediately dropped. He poked the rice in the bowl with his chopsticks and said nothing.
But during the past few days on the mountain, Yan Xue had already discussed it with him. Upon hearing this, she smiled and said, "Registration has started. Ji Gang and I will go over and take a look tomorrow."
Escaping is never the best choice when facing difficulties. Facing them head-on is the right choice. Yan Jigang cannot hide at home forever and be her younger brother and grandmother's grandson.
She looked at the young boy opposite her and said, "You promised your sister that you would give it a try, right?"
Seeing Yan Jigang didn't say anything, Qi Fang also glanced at him and said, "When you go to school, your brother-in-law will make you a car."
I don’t know whether it was his sister’s encouragement that was more effective or the temptation of the car that was more tempting, but Yan Jigang finally nodded.
Even after finishing the meal, he was still a little listless, which made Huang Fengying, who had just walked in, exclaim, "Ouch!" "What happened? Did your sister scold you?"
Yan Jigang called Aunt Liu first, and was about to shake his head to say no when his eyes were drawn to the thing in her arms, "Puppy!"
"The black lion's cubs are already a month old. I picked out two for you. Do you think they're okay?"
Huang Fengying came in and put down the cardboard box in her arms. Inside, there were two puppies who had just been weaned, huddled together and groaning.
"Why did you deliver it in person?" Yan Xue smiled sheepishly, "Qi Fang and I were just about to go return the gun, and we picked it up while we were there."
Huang Fengying didn't care about these things. "Isn't it because if I stay too long, people will keep thinking about me? Do you think these two are okay?"
The two puppies in the box had broad faces, short muzzles, smooth fur, and compact bodies. They looked like the offspring of excellent hunting dogs. They also looked lively, energetic, and healthy.
Yan Xue naturally had no complaints. She accepted the dog, took the gun, and went to the Liu family with Qi Fang to express her gratitude in person.
When he came back, Yan Jigang was already playing with the puppy. Children have short memories and had obviously temporarily forgotten about going to school.
When he saw his sister and brother-in-law, his eyes lit up. "Sister, what should we name them?"
Yan Xue also leaned over to take a look and asked, "How about calling it health and longevity?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she was looked at by the man next to her, "Changshou is too similar to Chang'an and Changping."
Qi Fang looked down at the two little puppies calmly, "It would be better to call them eighty, ninety, and ten."
Then, whenever she calls the dog at home, "Eighty!" "Eighty!" won't she have to worry that her house will turn into honeycomb coal?
Yan Xue immediately rejected it, "That's too weird. If someone didn't know, they would think we have dozens of dogs at home."
"How about calling them Qi, Qi Dabao, and Yan Xiao, Xiaobao?" Yan Jigang frowned and thought for a long time before suggesting.
Qi Fang immediately asked a soul-searching question: "Which qi?"
The young boy was stunned at the time. "Sister, brother-in-law's Qi? Which Qi could it be?"
The key point is that the other person who almost became his brother-in-law was also named Qi...
Yan Xue guessed that the man had just remembered something, so she ignored him and asked the second old lady, "Can Grandma give me two too?"
The second old lady shook her head, "I can't do that. If you ask me to start, it's Dahei and Erhei."
The two dogs Huang Fengying sent were both black, with only a tuft of white hair on its head and the other's right front paw was white.
"Give me a name that's impressive." Yan Jigang obviously cared about the names of the two new members of the family.
Yan Xue looked at the two dogs carefully again and pointed at the one with white hair. "There's a star on its head. It looks majestic and powerful. Why not call it General?"
"This, this is so majestic!" Yan Jigang's eyes lit up, but then he hesitated, "But Aunt Huang, Huang said it's a female."
"Women can't be generals?" Yan Xue immediately raised an eyebrow. "Comrade Yan Jigang, your idea is very dangerous. The leaders have said that women hold up half the sky."
Yan Jigang thought so too. When he was called Comrade Yan Jigang again, his face instantly turned serious. "General, just call me General! Black General!"
As for the other right front paw, which was white, Yan Xue originally wanted to call it a sword-bearing guard, or simply a guard, but Yan Jigang thought it was not majestic enough, so he called it Da Hu.
The child had no idea what a guard was, he just thought that a tiger was definitely more majestic than a guard.
That night, Yan Jigang put the two dogs' kennels in his own room. It took several urgings from the second old lady before he was willing to put the puppies down and go to sleep.
On the other side, Yan Xue let her hair down and lay down on the kang. She immediately felt all the fatigue from the past few days in the mountains coming back to her.
Seeing that she didn't want to move at all, Qi Fang grabbed her calf and pinched it for her, "It's swollen."
He had noticed it when he was washing his feet just now. Sure enough, Yan Xue pulled her legs back and pinched them herself. "You've been walking in the mountains for several days. Aren't your legs swollen?"
Qi Fang didn't answer, nor did he insist. He supported the quilt with one hand and looked at her. "I'm going to register for Ji Gang tomorrow. Do you need me?"
"No need," Yan Xue said. "If there are too many people, it will be too fussy. He will get nervous."
"Then I'll go to the county tomorrow and sell the ginseng."
Hearing the man mention ginseng, Yan Xue paused and said, "Let's keep the sixth-grade leaf as well, just in case it comes in handy in the future."
Qi Fang naturally had no objection, "All is fine." He then asked, "Is there anything you want?"
"I don't want anything. Just be safe." Yan Xue still remembered the last time she was followed. "I don't know if our report to the police worked last time."
This answer was surprising yet not so surprising. Qi Fang looked up at her and suddenly reached out to turn on the light.
Yan Xue hadn't finished massaging her calves when everything went dark. She couldn't help but pause and asked, "Are you sleepy?"
"No." Qi Fang stood up and leaned over, his lips directly next to her ear, "Let's talk about the story of the female general and the sword-wielding guard."
"Didn't we decide to call you Da Hu?" Yan Xue didn't react at first, but soon someone sucked her earlobe.
"Big Tiger is Big Tiger, and guards are guards." The man's voice was serious, but his lips lingered on the corner of her lips.
It was not until she noticed something poised to strike in the confusion that Yan Xue realized what kind of sword the sword-carrying guard was carrying...
The guards, having endured long days of hardship in the mountains, had swords that were sharp and strong, long and resilient, each strike striking directly at the vital points with undiminished force. Initially, the female general was able to parry, engaging in a back-and-forth exchange. After several rounds, she gradually realized the meaning of "an inch longer, an inch stronger; an inch shorter, an inch more dangerous."
But the female general was able to sit firmly on the position of general, so she was naturally no ordinary person. Not only was she sharp-tongued, she was also good at disarming people.
The guards were young and energetic, and were not prepared for the female general's move. After resisting stubbornly for dozens of rounds, they surrendered.
But youth means a refusal to admit defeat, boundless energy and courage. Soon, the handsome guard rallied and resumed the fight, sword in hand. The female general was ultimately weaker and showing signs of decline, allowing the guards to seize the opportunity and launch a rapid attack, unwilling to accept defeat.
After the battle, the guard sheathed his sword and asked the general, "Who is stronger, me or Lord Qi of Xiaojinchuan?"
The female general praised her, "You are healthy and strong. You can live to be ninety-nine! Can you sleep now?"
She thought that next time she went to take the patient's pulse, she could suggest that the doctor add more antipyretic medicine, as this prescription was obviously not very effective.
The next morning, Qi Fang looked in the mirror first, buttoned his clothes up again, and then went out and told the second old lady that Yan Xue was too tired these days.
It just so happened that Yan Jigang was also exhausted and had not woken up yet. When he opened his eyes, his brother-in-law had already left and his sister was lazily coming out of the house.
"Eat first, don't just play with the general and the guards." Yan Xue didn't have much strength left, but she still reminded her brother, "You have to go to school to register today."
Upon hearing this, Yan Jigang had to withdraw his hand from teasing the puppy, but still looked at his sister, "Yes, it's Da Hu."
The severe snow stopped.
It’s all Qi Fang’s fault. She just mentioned the guards casually. How can she face these two dogs in the future?
The primary school of the forest farm is built in the area of the farm headquarters, and it takes less than ten minutes to walk there from my home.
Because there are not many people in the forest farm, only one class can be enrolled every year. The school is not big, with a small playground and a few bungalows.
Yan Xue brought Yan Jigang in. At a glance, they found that there was a piece of paper on the wall of the principal's office with the words "Registration Office" written on it.
This really saved a lot of trouble. Yan Xue knocked on the door and went in. After explaining her purpose to the principal, who was in his forties and said his surname was He, she took out the materials needed for registration.
Yan Jigang's parents had both passed away, and Yan Xue was now his guardian, so registering his household was relatively easy; Secretary Lang had already helped him get it done. Only the second old lady was a problem, so Yan Xue asked Jin Baozhi to go back to her parents' home to help find someone, and they were temporarily registered in Dahuan Village.
After making sure all the required materials are complete and paying the two-dollar tuition fee for the first semester, your application is complete.
If the family is really poor and cannot afford the tuition, they can still go to school, so there are very few children here who are illiterate.
After completing the registration process, Principal He took them to the adjacent teacher's office and pointed to a female teacher in her thirties, introducing her as "Teacher Liu, your first-grade homeroom teacher."
Yan Xue was about to speak when a yellow-headed man who had been standing with his back to them and facing the wall turned around and said, "Mom..."
The hair was as yellow as hay and a front tooth was missing. It turned out to be the boy who Guan Yanjigang called "little stutterer" that day, but his front tooth had not fallen out yet.
When Teacher Liu heard this, she immediately glared at him, "How many times have I told you to call the teacher at school? Can't you see something's going on here?"
The boy stuck out his tongue and turned back to continue standing in the corner as punishment, but Yan Jigang's face was still tense.
Ever since he was frightened, he has been a little timid. This Teacher Liu came up and was very aggressive, and it was obvious that he was making people stand in the corner as punishment, so he was a little scared.
Yan Xue also noticed her brother's nervousness. She patted his back soothingly and looked at Teacher Liu with a smile, "Hello, teacher."
Teacher Liu nodded, "What's your name?" His tone was still not very gentle.
"Yan Jigang." Principal He obviously still remembered and said to Teacher Liu, "The child is a little shy. Please take better care of him."
Just as he finished speaking, the yellow-haired boy turned around and said, "He's not shy, he's a stutterer."
The air was stagnant at that moment, especially Yan Jigang, whose lips were tightly pursed.
Yan Xue's eyes darkened, and she maintained only a superficial smile as she asked Teacher Liu, "Isn't it a bit unpleasant for your child to say that about others?"
Teacher Liu also felt ashamed and glared at his son. "Who told you to interrupt? If you can stay, please stay. If not, get out!"
But when someone asked her this, her face turned ugly. "Your child should be able to speak, right? Why hasn't he said a word since he walked in?"
This is obviously questioning whether Yan Jigang is a stutterer, or whether Yan Jigang knows how to be polite.
Yan Jigang pursed his lips even tighter when she looked at him, but he was afraid that people would say he was uneducated and blame his sister, so he could only say, "Hello, teacher."
When I got nervous, my stuttering became worse than before.
When the boy heard this, he immediately turned back. He didn't say anything, but his grinning expression clearly said, "I told you he's a stutterer."
Teacher Liu also frowned. "It's difficult for you to communicate with others like this, right? Can you answer questions in class?"
The boy was the only one there that day, and Yan Jigang still mustered up the courage to say that he was speaking in dialect and was not stuttering. However, after being questioned repeatedly, he remained silent.
Yan Xue couldn't bear to watch it any longer. "My brother usually has no problem communicating with others. It might be your attitude that's the problem, teacher."
Teacher Liu obviously didn't like what she heard. She was about to say something when Principal He interrupted her, "Xiao Liu, please get your child out first."
Teacher Liu paused and was about to chase her son out when Yan Xue interrupted her, "No need."
Yan Xue's big eyes curved into a smile, but there was no trace of laughter in them. "I'm sorry I didn't make it clear. We're enrolled in the second grade, not the first."
Teacher Liu was stunned, and Principal He was also a little surprised. "I remember he didn't transfer to another school."
Yan Jigang was indeed not transferring schools, and Yan Xue did originally want him to start from the first grade.
After all, his classmate is younger and simpler, so it is less likely that the older kids in the class will bully him.
Not to mention that Teacher Liu has a naughty son, he himself has a bad temper and is not a patient person. His attitude shows no respect for a child like Yan Jigang who has some minor defects.
Yan Xue was uneasy about leaving her brother to her, so she gently put her arm around Yan Jigang's shoulder and said, "My child has studied before and has completed all the first-grade courses. If you don't believe me, you can make a set of exam papers or give him a few questions to test him."
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