Sheng Xiping, along with his two younger brothers, went to dig for Gastrodia elata four or five more times, thus concluding this season's harvest.
Then we'll have to wait until autumn and next spring to dig up the sprouts.
But getting a chance to shine is all about luck; if you do, you might find a whole bunch, but if you don't, you might not see anything all day.
In mid-to-late July, the second round of tending for young forests began.
Sheng Xiping was about to lead the educated youth team to work on the site where they had previously cleared the saplings.
A few days ago, Zhou Qinglan had no work to do and asked Lao Hu for leave to go back to Songjianghe to visit her parents. She stayed at home for a few days.
Besides Zhou Qinglan, many other educated youths from Songjianghe also took leave to go back home.
Old Hu is a good person; he never makes things difficult for these educated youth.
They're all young people under twenty, away from home for several months, how could they not miss their parents?
With only a few days' vacation, Lao Hu wouldn't have offended so many people.
After returning from Songjiang River, Zhou Qinglan brought Zhang Shuzhen a gauze scarf and Sheng Yunfei and her sister, as well as Sheng Xitai, some delicious snacks and candies.
That evening, Zhang Shuzhen invited Zhou Qinglan to have dinner at the Sheng family's house. The family enjoyed a lively and harmonious time together.
Sun Yunpeng and Du Jiabin also returned to Songjianghe.
They had previously boasted that they would go back and get two guns, and then go hunting in the mountains.
To be honest, these people are quite resourceful; they managed to get their hands on a double-barreled shotgun and an air rifle as well.
The double-barreled shotgun had a lot of recoil, and Sun Yunpeng and his men couldn't quite figure it out for the time being, so they didn't dare to show it off.
As for that air rifle, Du Jiabin, Sun Yunpeng, and others took turns playing with it, shooting birds and such.
These guys are such mediocre marksmen, sometimes they can't even hit a sparrow.
They got really into it and spent all their time comparing their air rifles. Even when they went into the mountains to work, Du Jiabin carried the gun with him.
From where you get off the train to the forest work site, you have to cross a large forest.
Now Du Jiabin and his gang had them cornered. Whether they went in in the morning or came out in the evening, they would fire their guns into the woods, startling the birds into flying in all directions.
Occasionally, they might catch a tit, a mullet, or a small squirrel.
Whenever they made a small gain, Du Jiabin and his group were overjoyed and would show it off to Sheng Xiping and others.
Sheng Xiping never paid any attention to this.
In particular, the group's marksmanship was absolutely terrible in Sheng Xiping's eyes.
If you manage to hit something, it's purely by sheer luck, nothing to brag about.
Just because Sheng Xiping isn't envious doesn't mean others aren't.
After Sun Yunpeng and his group stirred things up, Gao Haining, Wang Jianshe, and a few others were tempted to get their hands on a gun to play with.
In fact, when they were in school, they all made their own muskets.
It's unclear who found the image of the turtle box, copied it onto a wooden board, meticulously carved it into the shape of a turtle box, and then performed a series of operations such as drilling holes.
Then, the prepared thin steel pipe, spring-loaded firing pin, trigger, and other components are installed and fixed on it, and a simple musket is made.
To make it even more realistic, you can apply some black paint to make it look just like the real thing.
The musket was loaded with gunpowder and iron shot from the front, and a paper cannon was attached to the back; it could be fired with a single touch.
Back then, owning a musket was a very prestigious thing among classmates.
Countless boys lingered around, eagerly watching and wanting to try it out.
Actually, this thing is quite dangerous.
There was a student at Dawn who would tinker with a musket and hunt birds in his spare time.
As a result, not only did he fail to hit a single bird, but he also accidentally set off a fuse while loading the gunpowder, breaking one of his own bird eggs, which he had to have removed at Songjianghe Hospital.
Because of this incident, meetings were held in various forest farms, and parents of children with firearms had them confiscated.
At that time, Sheng Xiping was already hunting with Liu Changde. When he could handle a real gun, who would care about a fake one?
However, the muskets of Gao Haining and the others were eventually thrown into the stove and burned by their parents.
A musket is just a small gadget; how can it be compared to a gun?
Even if you don't have a proper hunting rifle, wouldn't it be great to get an air rifle and shoot birds or squirrels?
"Xiping, do you know where I can get one of those things they have? I'd like to get one and play with it too."
During a break from work, Wang Jianshe came over and asked Sheng Xiping a question.
"What do you need that thing for? It's not even enough to kill a bird; it'll probably just knock it out most of the time."
In Sheng Xiping's eyes, the air gun was just a fire poker, utterly useless.
Sheng Xiping dared to say that if he used his slingshot properly, it would be more effective than an air gun.
"Isn't it just envy? Hunting rifles are hard to come by, but an air rifle would be fine too," Wang Jianshe said, scratching his head and chuckling.
There are actually quite a few hunting rifles; many families in the neighboring Dajianchang area own guns.
They have single-barreled shotguns, double-barreled shotguns, 56mm semi-automatic rifles, and even some old-fashioned guns and water-powered shotguns.
But those are all family heirlooms, and they're kept for hunting, so they don't easily sell them.
For example, the security department of the forest farm and the militia platoon of the Dajianchang (a type of forest farm) also had guns.
But that belongs to the public, not to individuals. Unless you have extremely strong connections, you can't produce it.
Nowadays, some stores are also selling hunting rifles.
However, it requires registration with the relevant authorities, and the price is not low, making it unaffordable for most people.
Sheng Xiping had a No. 16 hanging pipe, which was given to him by Liu Changde, and it was hung on the wall of the west room.
Sheng Xiping cherishes it very much and often takes it off to wipe and maintain it.
"You're so idle, what a sucker, spending money to buy that stuff?" Sheng Xiping rolled his eyes.
These men, from eighty to eight years old, seem to all have a special fondness for guns.
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