"There's another one, the balsam flower. We've seen a lot of this flower in the village before." Seeing his father and second grandfather looking at him with confusion, he knew they didn't know which one was scientifically called balsam flower.
"Impatiens flowers are what we used to love using to dye our nails when we were kids. In our village, we call them henna flowers. It's because their scent and sap are the nemesis of snakes. Snakes are most afraid of its pungent smell, so they basically stay away from it."
Grandpa and Dad Yun thought back carefully and realized that many little girls in the village used to like to use flowers to dye their nails, but they had never really paid attention to what exactly they used.
Seeing the two old men looking completely bewildered, Yunqi simply led them to the impatiens flowers still growing by the roadside. "This is an impatiens flower, it just isn't blooming yet."
"So that's it! I just don't know if it's effective against snakes. If it is, it can really be planted on a large scale in the village. This plant is very easy to grow." After seeing the actual plant, the second grandfather and the others realized that this was indeed a balsam flower, which was quite common in the village.
"Let's try catching a live snake sometime." Although Dad Yun was afraid to catch big snakes, he had indeed fought quite a few small snakes.
"Why don't you ask Uncle Nanyao? His medical books should have it recorded." Although Yunqi had read these kinds of books before, he might have a different solution.
"Right, how could we forget him? Come on, let's go find him." After saying that, the second grandfather grabbed Yun Zhiming's hand in a hurry, wanting to go directly to Yunnan Medicine.
"Uncle, slow down." Unable to deal with his impatient uncle, he could only ask Yunqi to take the two children back and wait for him to return so they could set off the traps together.
Watching his father being dragged along by his second grandfather, he couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing. His second grandfather was quite old, yet he acted like a young man, always on a whim.
Before she even reached her own yard, she saw her husband walking over with a basin.
"Brother Cheng, where are we going?"
"While the snake gall is still fresh, I'll take it to Uncle Yao first. You all go back first."
"It's going to be lively at Uncle Yao's place now, everyone's rushing there."
Si Cheng looked at his wife, puzzled. "Who else went there?"
"My second grandfather and father went over there to ask if there were any good ways to deal with snakes."
Junjun and Lele, no longer seeing the ferocious snake from before, went over and hugged Sicheng's legs, clamoring for a hug.
Thinking of the snake's head in the basin, Si Cheng didn't want to scare the two little rascals again, so he coaxed them to go home first and promised to bring them candy when they got home.
"But didn't Mom forbid us from eating them?" At this moment, they had obviously forgotten that when their great-grandfather gave them candy, none of the adults said anything.
"No, wait a minute, I'll have Mom send them to you. But you have to be good at home." Si Cheng knew that the two little ones had been frightened today, so he gestured for Yun Qi to bring them some candy to appease them and distract them a little.
When the father-in-law and son-in-law returned, Yun's mother and Yun Qi had already prepared the meal.
"Have you found a solution yet?" Yun Qi served each of them a large bowl of rice before sitting down in his own seat.
"I did find a few, but I'm afraid the weather isn't suitable for transplantation right now. Let's look for some and try them out first." They went off excitedly, and although they found a few, the weather wasn't right, and they were afraid the transplants wouldn't be successful.
"There shouldn't be any major problems. Let's try the ones that are easy to grow first. Weren't we worried that the rice harvest would be poor? It seems we'll still get some harvest."
"Alright, hurry up and eat! Don't you know what time it is?" Yun's mother first put some food on Junjun and Lele's plates, handed them small spoons, and told them to eat first.
Upon hearing the Empress Dowager's speech, everyone put aside the topic and ate their meal first.
After finishing their meal, Si Cheng told Yun Qi that he might have to go into the mountains with Yunnan medicine practitioners to search for and see if they could transplant some medicinal herbs back.
Yun's father started arranging the fish traps in the yard. "Xiaoqi's mom, you take Junjun and Lele for a nap later, and we'll put these fish traps in. Tomorrow we'll have a whole fish feast!"
"You're already talking big before you've even started. Alright, you two can go and do it yourselves." He said, feeding Lele a bite of food.
After Yunqi finished clearing away the dishes and chopsticks on the table, he called his mother aside and told her that they had encountered a king cobra on the mountain. The two little rascals had witnessed the whole thing and might be a little frightened. He asked his mother to keep an eye on them and pat their heads a few times.
"Don't take them out next time. Ah Cheng spoils them too much. He takes them wherever he wants to go. Doesn't he know what time it is? There are poisonous insects everywhere. They're just scared now. What will you do if they get bitten?" Since it concerns Yun Ma's two precious children, even Si Cheng, her most favored son-in-law, couldn't get a good word from her. She glared at him fiercely.
Seeing his usually kind and gentle mother-in-law suddenly glare at him like that, Si Cheng stood aside, speechless. He had no choice but to take the blame for his two little ones' mistakes.
After glaring at her son-in-law, Yun's mother turned to Junjun and Lele and smiled warmly, calling them her darlings. The speed at which she changed her expression left the whole family stunned.
When Yun Zhiming arrived at the lake with his daughter and son-in-law, there were already villagers sitting in twos and threes fishing. They greeted each other along the way, asked about their catch, and it took them a while to find a suitable place to put the fish traps.
"The water isn't that deep here, let's stop here." Si Cheng found a spot he thought was suitable for placing the fish trap and put the bag he was carrying directly on the ground.
"I hope for lots of big catches and a bountiful harvest." Yunqi even clasped his hands together and prayed everywhere, being very superstitious.
"When have you ever been more superstitious than your dad?"
"This is not superstition, it is a beautiful expectation, an expectation of a good harvest."
While the father and daughter were chatting and laughing, Si Cheng had already put the chopped snake meat into the earth cage and tied a long rope to one end of the earth dragon.
He lowered the fish trap along the lakeshore and tied one end of the line to a large rock on one side.
"The fish traps are set. We'll come back to collect them tomorrow. Let's go fishing now and try to have some extra food for dinner." Mr. Yun called to his daughter and son-in-law and walked to a secluded spot. People often come here to fish, so the weeds around the area are usually cleared away from time to time.
"It's as if we've always treated you badly. Our family has never lacked these things."
"How can these be the same? What you harvest with your own hands tastes better than anything else."
There might be quite a few fish in the underground river at the bottom of this lake. In less than two hours, I caught more than ten fish of various sizes.
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