Chapter 28 Pine Forest
Took a nap.
Zhao Yeqing was awakened by Huhu tickling the back of his foot.
The first time she was woken up by someone tapping her instep, she unexpectedly thought it was a bug or a mouse, and she almost kicked it away.
She suddenly raised her foot and scared it. Fortunately, she stopped it later. She thought Huhu was scared and would not come again, but she didn't expect that this guy would not remember.
It will come again next time.
Now she is used to it. At least she is safe at home. As long as no large wild animals break into the house, such as rats and snakes, these two can turn them into toys in minutes.
The first time he took Huhu and Xuebing out, they went for a walk at the foot of the mountain. Zhao Yeqing had just picked a bunch of wild bananas when he turned around and saw younger sister Xuebing holding down the head of a snake, while older sister Huhu was heartlessly playing with the snake's tail behind them.
As an only child and unmarried, she experienced for the first time what it felt like to have a naughty child at home.
Even though it was just a small, non-venomous rat snake, it scared Zhao Yeqing to death. But he couldn't interfere too much at this time, as this was something they had to face.
Zhao Yeqing got up from the bench in a daze. It was already noon outside.
She fed the two babies milk, and now they need milk four or five times a day.
The fur color of Huhu and Xuebing is gradually getting lighter. Compared to the gray color when they were born, you can now faintly see yellow hair growing.
The cloud-like patterns on their bodies, the same as their mother's, are also beginning to take shape.
The leopard's paws are very large, twice the size of a normal cat's, its mouth is relatively long and protruding, and its face is a smaller and cuter version of a naughty leopard.
Perhaps it was because the first person she saw when she opened her eyes was Zhao Yeqing and she treated her as her own mother, so she was particularly clingy and would follow Zhao Yeqing every time she went out.
Zhao Yeqing said in the spring that he wanted to go find tea trees. After the summer came, he felt sleepy every day and finally couldn't help it and decided to go find tea trees.
Tea picking is usually in spring or autumn. In summer, the tea leaves are no longer tender buds but have grown into large leaves, and the taste will be much worse.
But something is better than nothing.
Zhao Yeqing put on his waist basket, took his self-defense weapons, and called the two to go out together.
The weapon is a modified version of the spear she made earlier. After using it to kill an infected person, she was reluctant to touch the spear. Recently, the weather has turned warmer and the snakes in the mountains have been very active, so she put it into use again.
A closer look revealed that the bamboo spear was not durable and the pole had cracked. Zhao Yeqing cut another wooden stick, which was very straight and very easy to wield. It was the kind of stick that all boys could not refuse.
After changing to a wooden pole, the spear became much heavier, but it was not difficult to swing it. She then noticed that her arm muscles had also improved significantly.
Zhao Yeqing looked at the location of tea trees shown in the information and found that they like to grow in places where there is sunlight but not too hot.
It has been said since ancient times that high mountains produce good tea, so she planned to go to the top of the mountain to look for it.
She hadn't seen anyone near the observation tower, so Zhao Yeqing headed to the other side of the mountain top.
On the other side was the pine forest that she had wanted to go to before but had not been able to. The ground was covered with pine needles and leaf mold. The soil there must be acidic and fertile, which was exactly the growth environment that tea trees liked.
Zhao Yeqing walked in front, and the two caterpillars followed closely behind. Sometimes they would be attracted by other small insects, but fortunately, the two caterpillars could now understand Zhao Yeqing calling their names, and would follow him after he called them twice.
Looking down from the top of the mountain, the green of the entire forest is more intense. Compared to the spring time when the light green was mixed among the dark green, the green now is purer. The golden sunlight shines on the leaves, and the whole mountain seems to be filtered.
Sometimes she was glad that she had been living in the mountains when the ground cracked. At least when things were uncertain outside, she could often feel the beauty.
It's not just the vegetables in the vegetable garden that are uncomfortable with the high temperatures this summer. Also, there are many heat-intolerant plants, such as the wild orchids in the mountains.
It is very common among the woods, and often blooms around the Qingming Festival. Although this period is not the flowering season, the branches and leaves should be lush and green. But now, the few plants that are not protected by the shade of the trees and exposed to the sun have wilted.
Zhao Yeqing looked around but didn't see any signs of tea trees. If she went further, she would find a pine forest on the back of the mountain. She thought that since she was already here and couldn't find tea trees, she might as well find some mushrooms in the pine forest so that she wouldn't go home empty-handed.
Over the top of the mountain, you can see the pine forest to the north and the clear lake at the foot of the mountain to the north.
I don't know how many years the pine forest has been growing there. The trees are all quite old and very tall, and their gray-brown trunks are straight and tall, as if they are reaching up to the sky.
The pine tree only has thick branches on the top, while the branches below are bare and as thick as fingers. The branches near the top are covered with thin pine needles and are green all year round.
The pine trees in Meishan do not produce pine nuts, and the pine cones are very small, which are very useful for lighting fires after they dry.
Mushrooms are most abundant in pine forests, hiding under the fallen pine needles.
The thick pine needles under his feet felt a little soft, so Zhao Yeqing used a spear to gently push aside the pine needles and search carefully.
My luck points were maxed out today. Not long after entering the pine forest, I found some wild matsutake mushrooms.
Before he even got close to his nose, he could smell the rich aroma of Matsutake. Zhao Yeqing licked his lips and carefully considered the feasibility of killing a chicken tonight.
Pine forests are a high-incidence area for mushrooms. After finding the matsutake mushrooms, she also found several extra-large tiger paw mushrooms and blue-headed mushrooms.
At first glance, tiger's paw mushrooms look a bit like the fresh shiitake mushrooms sold in the market. This variety is only found in the wild and cannot be cultivated artificially. It is also best eaten fresh. Tiger's paw mushrooms that have been stored for a long time will have a bitter taste. She hasn't eaten it for many years.
The blue-headed mushroom is a small white mushroom with a green top, like a moldy button mushroom.
After entering the pine forest, the two little leopards rolled around on the ground. This was terrain they had never been to before, and everything was new to them.
Picking mushrooms as she walked, Zhao Yeqing found a very conspicuous yellow cluster when she was almost in the middle of the forest. Her face showed joy and she trotted over. There was a cluster of chanterelles on the ground. There were not a few of them, the kind that could be eaten for two meals if you ate them all.
Zhao Yeqing gently placed the chanterelles into the waist basket. To prevent the mushrooms from being crushed, she had placed a lot of pine needles under the waist basket in advance.
When she was about to go back after picking the chanterelles, the two little ones ran to her feet and bit her shoelaces. They bit the shoelaces and pulled back. Zhao Yeqing snatched the shoelaces from their mouths and tied them up, and was about to tell them to stop making a fuss.
Suddenly I heard some unusual noises nearby.
Zhao Yeqing suddenly felt a chill on her back. She looked up and saw a wild boar with black mane and a body length of at least 1.6 meters staring at her motionlessly about 30 meters in front of her.
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