Chapter 82-83: Encounter with a Wild Boar
Several women followed him and continued to harvest two patches of Polygonum multiflorum vines. They only dug up four Polygonum multiflorum vines as big as sweet potatoes, but they did harvest a lot of Polygonum multiflorum vines.
Zhou Huaian led a few people to the place where they caught wild bees yesterday, put down their backpacks, and said, "This is the last place. We will go home after we finish harvesting wild bees."
After selling Magnolia officinalis twice, my heart has grown bigger. When I think of the money I made from selling Polygonum multiflorum, I don’t feel anything anymore.
Yang Chunyan looked at the forest ahead and said to Zhao Huifang and the other two, "Sister-in-law, you guys pick the Polygonum multiflorum vines and Polygonum multiflorum here. Huai'an and I will go to the forest to see if we can find Ganoderma lucidum or other herbs."
"Okay, be careful!" Zhao Huifang responded.
Zhou Huaian tied the two ends of the urea bag with a hemp rope and put it on his shoulder. He held a machete in one hand and a medicine hoe in the other, and walked into the woods with Yang Chunyan.
The two walked up about 20 to 30 meters, and Yang Chunyan saw a bunch of lavender flowers in front of them. "Huai'an, there should be kudzu vines ahead."
Zhou Huaian followed the direction she pointed and saw the clusters of flowers that looked like Emei bean flowers. "That's Kudzu."
The two men walked quickly forward and saw that the slope was covered with kudzu vines. Some of them had climbed up the big trees around the hillside, and some shriveled kudzu pods were hanging on the branches.
Zhou Huaian used a medicine hoe to pull away the hanging vines and saw a kudzu stem thicker than an adult's thumb just below the slope.
It is rare to find such thick wild kudzu roots because wild boars like to dig up and eat them. Once they find them, they will be eaten clean.
The two used the medicine hoe to pull apart the kudzu vines and found a few more roots nearby. "Yan'er, look at how thick the stems are, the kudzu roots underneath should be quite large."
Yang Chunyan nodded, "Let's cut the kudzu vines first."
Kudzu leaves look somewhat similar to soybean leaves, with a layer of light brown hairs on them, but the leaves are much larger than soybean leaves.
The three-leaf kudzu vine is very tough and is perfect for bundling firewood.
The two men dug down along the main vine trunk, and a small section of kudzu root thicker than an adult's calf emerged from the ground.
"My God, I don't know how long it has grown, but it's so thick." Zhou Huaian panted and leaned on the handle of the hoe, "Yan'er, it may take some time to dig it all out. Let's go back and eat some dry food before digging again."
Yang Chunyan also felt a little hungry. "Okay, let's go back and eat. Call my sister-in-law and the others to come dig together."
Zhou Huaian dug some soil to cover the Pueraria root, picked up the urea bag and the medicine hoe and went back to the bottom of the slope, where he saw Zhao Huifang and the other two already pulling the Polygonum multiflorum vine.
Yang Chunyan said, "Sister-in-law, there are a few nests of kudzu roots up there. Let's eat first and then go up and dig them up."
Li Qiuyue kicked the Polygonum multiflorum placed aside and said, "Look, we dug out three more pieces this big."
Yang Chunyan took a look and said, "Not bad, it looks about a pound heavier."
Zhou Huaian took out a rice basket from his backpack, which contained a few rice balls made from various grains, some salted vegetables, and half a salted duck egg:
"My mother was very nice to us and even cooked salted duck eggs for us."
Zhang Xiuxiang joked, "Youngest, I see you've been getting more energetic these days!"
"That's right. I want to work hard until the day when I can eat white rice every day."
Zhou Huaian said as he handed a rice ball to Yang Chunyan, who took a big bite of the rice ball and said, "Ah! It would be delicious if it was wrapped in white rice."
Li Qiuyue glanced at him and said, "Youngest brother, if you use all the money you earned yesterday to buy rice, it will be enough for you to eat for the whole year."
Zhou Huaian felt uncomfortable after hearing this, "Third sister-in-law, we had the same meal this morning, why is yours so sour?"
Li Qiuyue didn't expect Zhou Huaian to be so rude, and she felt a little embarrassed, "You damn youngest, you can't stand such sharp words!"
Zhao Huifang looked at her, "Qiuyue, hurry up and say 'Puh,' you can't say that on the mountain."
Li Qiuyue pouted awkwardly a few times, "Youngest, Third Sister-in-law doesn't mean that!"
"I know you have a bad mouth!" Zhou Huaian said as he picked up the rice ball, sat on the hoe handle, and started eating it in big mouthfuls.
Seeing Li Qiuyue standing there with a red face, Yang Chunyan smiled and pulled her, "Third sister-in-law, come and sit on the hoe handle to eat."
Li Qiuyue forced a smile and sat down obediently.
After eating the rice balls, the few of them piled the Polygonum multiflorum vines together, and climbed up the slope with their backpacks on their backs. When they reached the hillside, Zhou Huaian dug up the soil and said, "Look, this thick Pueraria root, is it going to become a spirit?"
Zhang Xiuxiang: "It's quite thick, but it's still a long way from becoming a sperm!"
"Wow!" Zhao Huifang exclaimed, "This is the first time I've seen such a thick kudzu root."
Zhou Huaian pointed to the left side of the mound and said, "There are still a few trees over there. Let's dig them quickly, otherwise we won't be able to dig them out until dark."
"Yes!" Several women picked up hoes, walked over, and started digging along the roots.
Yang Chunyan and Zhou Huaian continued digging the root they had just dug for more than half an hour, and it grew out to one meter.
Zhou Huaian hoe it into two sections, dug it out and put it aside, while Yang Chunyan bent over and worked hard.
Suddenly a dark shadow rushed down the mountain and headed straight for Yang Chunyan.
"Yan'er, hide quickly!" Zhou Huaian shouted, picked up the kudzu root and threw it at the wild boar. He immediately grabbed the medicine hoe at his feet and shouted anxiously, "Yan'er, sister-in-law, you guys quickly climb up the tree!"
The kudzu root hit the wild boar and broke into several pieces. The wild boar turned its head and rushed towards Zhou Huaian.
Yang Chunyan came to her senses and saw the trap on the wild boar's hoof. She was worried that the mad wild boar would attack Zhou Huaian at all costs.
She hurriedly picked up the medicine hoe and used the pickaxe end to chop at the wild boar. The pickaxe hit the wild boar's butt with a "puff". She felt like she was chopping on a tree stump. Her wrist was sore from the shock and she almost lost her grip on the hoe handle.
"Huaian, there is a trap on the wild boar's hoof."
The wild boar howled "Ah~Ah~" and turned around to attack Yang Chunyan.
Zhou Huaian also found the trap and discovered that the wild boar's lower mouth shell was broken, with a piece of bloody meat hanging down.
Although the wild boar was injured, its power when it went crazy could not be underestimated. It ran at a speed that was not much slower than before, limping on one front hoof. He shouted anxiously, "You bitch, don't worry about me, just run!"
Seeing that Yang Chunyan was unable to dodge and fell to the ground, he swung the pickaxe and used all his strength to chop at the wild boar. The pickaxe sank into the flesh and stuck in the wild boar's neck and could not be pulled out.
"Ah~Ah~" The wild boar let out a shrill howl, turned around and rushed towards Zhou Huaian with the medicine hoe on its head.
Zhao Huifang and the other two panicked and shouted, "Youngest, quickly climb up the tree!"
Zhou Huaian hugged the fir tree and climbed up. Before he reached the top, the wild boar rushed under the tree and bit his leg with its fangs that held half a piece of meat.
"Huaian, leg~" Seeing this, Yang Chunyan thought of Zhou Huaian who had a broken leg in her previous life. She no longer cared about anything else and rushed over again with the hoe. She hit the wild boar on the back with the hoe. Her wrist felt sore and the hoe fell to the ground.
Zhou Huaian was extremely anxious and shouted, "Yan'er, run!"
(End of this chapter)
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