Chapter 164: 163: Burnt Forest
By the end of the meal, the three of them were full. Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding helped pick up the bowls and went to collect the Polygonatum odoratum they had picked in the afternoon.
After Yang Chunyan cleaned the stove, she went to help sort out the Polygonatum odoratum and hang it on the eaves to prevent it from rotting.
After they scooped up some hot water to wash up, Zhou Huaian took her to Zhou Yiding's room.
"Yan'er, you sleep in this room. Yiding and I will sleep in Uncle Daqing's room next door. Close the door after you go to bed. Call me if you need anything."
According to the local custom, men and women must sleep in separate rooms when they return to their parents' home after marriage, not to mention when they visit relatives or friends' homes.
Seeing that he looked worried, Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "Don't worry, the wall is so high, and there are Dahei and Dahuang in the yard, so nothing will happen."
"Okay! I'll call you tomorrow morning!" Zhou Huaian said, kissed her quickly, turned around and ran away.
Yang Chunyan touched her lips, put down the oil lamp, closed the door, and lay down on the bed.
I fell asleep listening to the chirping of insects, frogs and night owls outside.
The next day, just after dawn, Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding were awakened by the alarm clock and they got up immediately.
Yang Chunyan next door also heard the noise, got out of bed, put on her coat, opened the door and went out.
Zhou Huaian opened the door and saw her, and walked forward with a smile, "Yan'er, Yiding and I want to go up the mountain to see the black goats. It's still dark now, how about you go back to sleep for a while?"
"No." Yang Chunyan glanced at him and Zhou Yiding, "I'll go boil the leftover mutton soup from last night and cook some cabbage and leftover rice. How about we have hot rice?"
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding responded in unison.
After breakfast, the taro and potatoes that were cooked as dry food were cooked. The three of them put the dry food into bags, added some pickled cowpeas, and went out with Dahuang and Dahei.
It was still dark at this time, and the forest was filled with fog. After entering the forest, it became even darker and the forest was eerie.
Dahei and Dahuang occasionally bark at the birds in the trees, and will run to chase the pretty little birds in the bushes.
Suddenly, a gray rabbit was frightened by Dahuang and ran out from behind a tree stump with a "whoosh". Dahei jumped up and caught it with his claws, bit it on the neck, and ran towards Zhou Yiding with his tail wagging.
Yang Chunyan looked at Dahei in surprise, "Too amazing, as fast as lightning."
Zhou Huaian said proudly, "Isn't it amazing? Last time I went to Xu's house, I picked out a dog with a green face and green hair, with some brown hair on its chin and neck, which looked a bit like Dahei. I asked them to keep it for us, and I will go to Xu's house in a few days to bring the dog back."
"After you bring it home, when it grows up, don't feed it too much. Wait for it to go up the mountain to find food by itself." Zhou Yiding took the rabbit whose throat was bitten off by Dahei and patted Dahei's head. "Be good, I'll stew it for both of you when we get home."
Dahei and Dahuang proudly circled around Zhou Yiding, then rushed forward and ran away.
By the time the three of them reached the middle of the mountain, it was already daybreak.
There were more large trees around, and their canopies blocked the light, making the forest darker.
After walking out of the forest, the three climbed up a large rock and saw the bare, gray-black tree trunks left behind after the wildfire.
Zhou Yiding turned his head and looked at Zhou Huaian, "Do you remember? Two years ago, in the middle of the night, there was a sudden loud thunder, and the thunder was like brushing the ground. My old man said that it was that night that the whole area was burned down, and there was a big pit underneath."
Zhou Huaian: "We also heard it at the foot of the mountain. My grandfather said that it might be a spirit that has achieved enlightenment and is going through the heavenly thunder tribulation when it ascends to heaven."
"My old man also said so. The cadres in the bureau said he had feudal superstitious ideas and said that he was not allowed to become a spirit now."
Yang Chunyan thought about her rebirth and felt that there might really be gods in this world, we just don’t know about them!
She squatted down and looked at the densely packed small-leafed olive trees growing on the rocks. She leaned over and looked down, only to see a number of rabbit orchids growing on the slope below the rocks.
The flowers of the rabbit orchid are beautiful in shape but rarely have fragrance.
The morning breeze blew, and she vaguely smelled a fragrance drifting with the morning mist. She sniffed and looked around, and felt that it was the scent of Magnolia officinalis.
Yang Chunyan turned around to tell Zhou Huaian about her discovery, but saw that he was only thinking about hunting. He and Zhou Yiding just stretched their necks to look at the valley below, looking for black goats.
"Haha! I saw it." Zhou Yiding happily pulled Zhou Huaian and pointed at the black goat moving in the valley, "Look, it's really down there."
Zhou Huaian and Yang Chunyan looked in the direction he pointed and saw it, "Yan'er, follow us, don't run or fall."
Yang Chunyan looked at the steep slope below and said, "You guys go, I'll pull these rabbit orchids here."
Zhou Huaian said: "There is not even a shadow of a person here. I am worried about you being here."
Zhou Yiding felt that Yang Chunyan couldn't keep up, so he said to Zhou Huaian: "Youngest, how about this, I'll let Da Huang stay here to accompany my sister-in-law."
Yang Chunyan nodded, "Yes, let Da Huang wait for me here."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian said anxiously, "Just stay here and don't go anywhere."
Yang Chunyan glared at him in reproach. "I'm not a three-year-old child. I've picked all the small-leaved olives on the rocks, and you guys might have come up too."
Zhou Yiding took out a rope and waved at Da Huang, tied it and handed the rope to Yang Chunyan, "Sister-in-law, don't leave, we'll go down the mountain and get a few black goats and come back up."
"Yes!" Yang Chunyan, holding the unhappy looking Dahuang, watched the two men running down with guns and Dahei.
She tied the rhubarb to a small bush next to the rock, and when she saw it lying obediently on the rock, she began to harvest the small-leafed olives on the rock.
Stone olive: scientific name Stone olive, also known as fruit leaf, is a perennial epiphytic herb. The rhizome is thick and horizontal, with oblong or mortise-oblong fleshy pseudobulbs.
It has the effects of clearing away heat and nourishing yin, resolving phlegm and relieving cough, moistening the lungs and promoting fluid production, promoting blood circulation and relieving pain. It can be used externally to treat chronic osteomyelitis, traumatic injuries, fractures, and traumatic bleeding.
Some of the leafy olives have leaves that are obovate-elliptical, oblanceolate-elliptical or nearly oblong, while the leaves of the small-leaved olive are only as long as a little finger.
The stone olive plant can grow close to stones or branches, and it can also grow well if there is a little humus on the rocks.
Yang Chunyan used a sickle to pry up the rotten soil that was sticking to the olive trees, and by pulling it up she could uncover a large piece of soil.
She harvested all the olives on the rocks, and left some around the rocks, and soon a large patch of olives would grow again.
At this time, another gust of wind blew, and she seemed to smell the fragrance of Magnolia officinalis again.
She kept sniffing, searching the rocks for the direction from which the fragrance came. Finally, she looked towards the woods in the southwest and felt that the fragrance was coming from there.
Yang Chunyan stood for a while, and after determining the location, she sat on the rock to clean the olives.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding had already run to the foot of the mountain. They could see clearly that there was only a small group of black goats, about seven or eight in number.
The muscle fibers of domestic black goats are fine and not very hard. The meat is tender, delicious, has little mutton smell, and has high nutritional value.
Wild black goats grow in the mountains and forests. The grass they eat contains a lot of herbs, so their meat is more delicious and has higher nutritional value.
(End of this chapter)
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