Du Yuhan cooked cornmeal porridge for dinner; the porridge, cooked in a large pot, was especially fragrant. For the main dish, she had hot cake, and for the side dish, she had leftover stewed rabbit from lunch, plus a stir-fried potato and onion dish, which also tasted quite good.
During the meal, Du Yuhan said, "Brother Liu, let's pick some elm seeds from the elm tree tomorrow and make elm seed rice. It's so delicious."
Liu Gang is most interested in food. Back in his hometown, he often climbed trees to pick elm seeds to eat in the spring. He also ate elm seed rice made by his mother, which was indeed delicious.
“Okay, let’s go pick them tomorrow. There’s an old elm tree right outside the door, and there are lots of elm seeds there. I’d completely forgotten about elm seeds if you hadn’t mentioned them. I used to eat a lot of them.”
The next morning, Du Yuhan did not go into the mountains but instead worked with Liu Gang to set up the grape trellis and carefully spread out the grapevines and tied them to the trellis.
After setting up the grape trellis, the two of them went out of the yard and found an elm tree outside the yard with the most elm seeds. Liu Gang, with a cloth bag slung over his shoulder, nimbly climbed up the elm tree.
Du Yuhan watched Liu Gang deftly picking elm seeds from under the tree.
The elm seeds on the elm tree came in clusters and bunches, and Liu Gang could pick a large handful at a time. Before long, the cloth bag he had brought to the tree was full.
Liu Gang tied the bag shut and threw it under the tree.
Du Yuhan called out, "Brother Liu, there are enough elm seeds. You can come down now."
Upon hearing this, Liu Gang nimbly slid down the tree like a monkey.
Du Yuhan brought a vegetable washing basin from home, and the two of them cleaned the elm seeds under the tree.
Du Yuhan washed a large basin of elm seeds several times before stopping, then drained the cleaned elm seeds and set them aside.
Du Yuhan mixed the washed elm seeds with cornmeal and then steamed them.
In addition, she also made a dipping sauce, which she made with minced garlic, vinegar, sesame oil, and chili oil.
Everyone loved the elm seed rice for lunch, mainly because they found the way of eating it novel. The elm seed rice was sweet and delicious, and the taste was even better when dipped in sauce.
This was Han Yixian's first time eating elm seed rice like this. He had eaten elm seed rice before, but he felt that it didn't taste as good as Du Yuhan's.
He knew that in many impoverished areas, elm seeds were a staple food on the table every spring, which could save some grain.
In the afternoon, Du Yuhan and Liu Gang continued to go into the mountains to carry walnuts. It took them two days to collect all the wild walnuts in the mountains and carry them back.
After carrying the walnuts, they went to dig up walnut trees to plant in a corner of the yard.
Liu Gang carried a shovel, while Du Yuhan carried a willow basket.
They also planned to dig up some wild vegetables.
This time, they first dug up a half-grown walnut tree, which was easier to bring home.
On the way back, I picked some wild vegetables when I saw them.
While digging for wild vegetables along the way, Du Yuhan found several cigarette butts under a big tree. She used her small shovel to brush away the fallen leaves and dug up some soil, only to find even more cigarette butts buried in the ground.
These cigarette butts look like they weren't smoked all at once; someone must come here regularly.
Du Yuhan had a gut feeling that something was wrong with these cigarette butts.
She looked up at the unusually tall tree in front of her.
This tree must be very old; its trunk is so thick that it takes a person to wrap their arms around it.
Although the tree has already sprouted buds, the leaves are still very small. Through the branches and leaves, you can see a huge bird's nest on the tree.
Du Yuhan frowned and circled the tree a few times, noticing some faint traces of someone climbing on the trunk.
Upon seeing this, Du Yuhan felt a pang of anxiety. Something seemed to flash through her mind, but she quickly lost her senses.
Without further thought, Du Yuhan turned to Liu Gang and said, "Brother Liu, there's a big bird's nest in this tree. Climb up and see if there are any bird eggs."
She saw how easily Liu Gang climbed the tree while picking elm seeds, so she figured this big tree should be fine too.
Liu Gang came to the tree, looked at it, nodded and said, "No problem, I grew up climbing trees, climbing trees is a piece of cake for me. Watch me."
After saying that, Liu Gang spread his arms and climbed up the tree trunk in a flash.
The bird's nest wasn't at the top of the tree, but in a large branch.
Liu Gang climbed to the height of the bird's nest and looked inside, but there were no bird eggs.
He didn't see the bird eggs, but was surprised to find something wrapped in rubber in the nest.
Liu Gang whispered to Du Yuhan under the big tree, "Yuhan, there's a package wrapped in rubber in this bird's nest."
Upon hearing this, Du Yuhan's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and she whispered to Liu Gang, "Remember how that thing was wrapped, then open it and see what's inside."
Upon hearing this, Liu Gang carefully examined the original state of the rubber bag and then cautiously opened it.
To everyone's surprise, inside was a pistol and a bunch of bullets.
Liu Gang became very nervous when he saw that it was a weapon. He whispered to Du Yuhan under the tree, "Yuhan, there are pistols and bullets wrapped up here."
Upon hearing this, Du Yuhan felt a sense of certainty. She remembered that in her previous life, someone had come to the retirement home to cause trouble, seemingly to assassinate some leading cadre.
Although this matter was classified at the time, they lived very close to the retirement home, so they knew some of the details.
This weapon may have been hidden here by enemy agents.
Du Yuhan whispered to Liu Gang, "Wrap them up exactly as they were and put them back far away. Put them back in their original state so no one can tell they're different."
Liu Gang nodded, restored the items to their original state, and quickly climbed down from the tree.
Upon discovering such an astonishing find, Liu Gang knew it was no ordinary matter; something was definitely about to happen. He even considered the possibility that enemy agents were hiding here.
As a soldier, I do have this much reconnaissance ability.
As soon as Liu Gang came down, he asked, "Yuhan, why don't we take the weapons with us?"
Du Yuhan rolled her eyes at Liu Gang and said, "Are you stupid? If you take the weapon away, the person hiding the weapon will know that they've been discovered as soon as they see the weapon is gone. Wouldn't that alert them?"
Someone hiding weapons here must have something to do. Let's not alert them yet. Let's go back and tell Brother Han, and ask him what to do.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Gang nodded and said, "Yes, you're right. I think it's very likely that enemy agents are hiding here. Let's go back and ask the regimental commander."
The two of them didn't even bother digging for wild vegetables. Du Yuhan quickly restored the soil and fallen leaves she had turned over under the big tree to their original state and then followed Liu Gang home.
The two quickly returned home. As soon as they entered the yard, Liu Gang threw the walnut tree he had brought back into the yard and ran into the house.
Du Yuhan put the basket at the kitchen door and went inside.
As soon as Liu Gang entered the room, he shouted, "Commander, we've discovered a major situation."
Han Yixian saw the two of them rushing into the house in a hurry and asked, "What happened that you're in such a rush?"
Liu Gang then recounted what they had seen in the woods on the mountain.
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