Chapter 193 192: Alienation
Zhou Yiding smiled bitterly, "Da Kuan was busy for a long time just to load the bullet, and then he heard the howling of wild boars in the forest, and he turned around and ran away in fear."
"Dahei and Dahuang were both injured. I couldn't move them. Erchun ran a few steps and realized that I couldn't keep up. He ran back and picked up Dahei, and then we ran away."
"Not loyal!"
Zhou Huaian didn't expect such a thing to happen. He recalled how furious he was when he learned that Cai Ermei had stolen his business. What He Dakuan had done was so hurtful. He had caused trouble himself and abandoned his friend and ran away.
Patting his shoulder, "Don't be angry, the most important thing is that he's back. Your sister-in-law said that people change as they grow up. If we can get along, we should keep in touch with each other as before. If we can't get along, we should distance ourselves from each other!"
"Hmm!" Zhou Yiding went back to lie on the bed and sighed, "Sometimes I think it was better when I was a kid!"
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "After what happened with Cai Ermei, I felt the same way. How nice it would be if I didn't grow up."
"How can you get a wife and carry on the family line if you don't grow up?" Zhou Yiding rolled his eyes at him and blew out the oil lamp.
Soon the sound of two people sleeping soundly could be heard in the room.
Yang Chunyan heard the alarm clock next door ringing in a daze. She turned over and sat up, took a match to light the oil lamp, put on her clothes and went out. The air in the mountains was damp and cold in the morning.
She first went to check on the two dogs and sprinkled some hemostatic powder on their wounds before going out to Zhou Huaian's room and knocking gently on the door, "Huaian, get up."
Zhou Huaian, who was lying in bed with his eyes squinted, heard a knock on the door and quickly sat up, "I'm here."
After Yang Chunyan went to the kitchen to wash up, she put the steamed buns and dumplings in the pot, went to the stove to light the fire, and then Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding came.
Zhou Huaian: "Yan'er, heat up the steamed buns and let's go pack up."
"Okay, I'll heat up the soup I left for Gouzi last night."
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian took the flashlight and carried the backpack and followed Zhou Yiding.
The two men came back from behind the house carrying wild animals on their backs. They put the musk deer, pheasants and hares in the backpack containing herbs, tied two black goats to the backpack containing tree ganoderma, and put another goat and wild honey in another backpack.
Zhou Huaian went to call Xu Erchun and the other two, and Zhou Yiding brought a bowl of pig's trotter soup left over from last night to Gou Zi. Seeing that Gou Zi ate much faster than yesterday, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He patted the dog's head and said, "Just stay home and be nice. I'll go to town to get an injection and some medicine and come back."
After they packed up and ate the steamed buns, Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding picked up their guns and prepared to go out.
When Xu Erchun and his companion saw the black goat tied to the backpack, they said enviously, "If we hadn't been greedy last night, we could have sold that wild boar and porcupine for a hundred yuan."
Zhou Huaian patted him on the shoulder and said, "As long as he's fine, that's better than anything else."
He Dakuan said embarrassedly: "Yiding has a leg injury, let me carry the backpack!"
Zhou Huaian pointed at the backpack and said, "This is for you."
"Okay!" He Dakuan nodded, squatted down and carried the backpack.
Xu Erchun took a look and said, "What about me? My legs are not injured, so it's no problem for me to carry one on my back."
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "It's not that easy if you want to work. When we get tired, you can help replace us."
Xu Erchun smiled and nodded, "No problem!"
Zhou Huaian picked up the backpack containing musk deer and gave it to Yang Chunyan, while he carried the heaviest one on his own back.
Yang Chunyan turned on the flashlight and said, "Let's go."
The group walked out of the hospital. It was past three in the morning and it was pitch black outside.
The dark forest was eerie and from time to time there were creepy cries of night owls, like a monster with its mouth wide open.
Zhou Yiding's leg was injured, so the group's speed slowed down a lot, but fortunately they got down the mountain smoothly. It was already six o'clock when they arrived at Zhou's house, and Zhou Huaishan and his mother were waiting anxiously at the door.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Huaishan hurried into the yard to pack their things, while Zhou Yiding, Xu Erchun and He Dakuan said goodbye and left.
Mother Zhou looked at the wild animals and smiled so hard that she couldn't close her mouth. "Youngest and Yiding are lucky!"
Zhou Huaian said proudly: "There is also a musk deer and wild honey below!"
"You and Yiding have gained a lot from this trip!"
Yang Chunyan took the musk deer out of the basket on her back and said, "Mom, musk deer are only this big."
Mother Zhou nodded, "This thing only grows this big. There used to be more of them in the forest, but now there are far fewer. You should be careful on the road since you have so many valuable things with you."
Zhou Huaian said hurriedly: "Mom, we got up at two o'clock, Yan'er won't go with us, let her have a good sleep at home."
Mother Zhou turned her head and looked at Yang Chunyan. "Yes, the two brothers can go. You go take a nap. I'll call you when it's daybreak. We still have to harvest rapeseed today."
Yang Chunyan nodded and said to Zhou Huaian: "Then be careful on the road. It's best to stop a tractor when you get to the asphalt road."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian and Zhou Huaishan went to Ning'an, one pushing a chicken bus and the other riding a bicycle.
Yang Chunyan saw the two off, went back to wash her face, lay down, and soon fell asleep.
When I woke up, it was already bright. I quickly got dressed and left the room, and saw Zhou Xiaoru, Zhou Xiaowen and Zhou Xiaolin sitting at the door of the main room.
When Zhou Xiaolin saw her, she slapped her face and said, "Shame on you, shame on you, Auntie, you're sleeping late!"
Yang Chunyan's heart melted when she saw her, and she went forward to hug her, "Xiaoyao, you didn't sleep in!"
"No!" Zhou Xiaolin said in a baby voice.
Zhou Xiaoru: "Aunt, grandma said there's hot rice in the pot."
"Okay, grandma, are they all going to harvest rapeseed?"
"Yeah! My grandma asked us to look after the house."
"Okay, stay at home and watch over the house. I'll go harvest the seeds after dinner!"
Yang Chunyan put Zhou Xiaolin down, washed her face quickly, went to the kitchen to get out the warm food, put on a straw hat, took a sickle, went out the back door and went to the rapeseed field on the back mountain.
Zhou Jiakang and several children were playing house on the edge of a field. One of them was holding a handful of sour grass flowers in his hand and chewing some sour grass leaves in his mouth. He kept saying they tasted sour while eating and kept stuffing more into his mouth.
Seeing her coming over, Zhou Jiakang handed her a handful and said, "Aunt, eat some sour grass."
Yang Chunyan took it and ate two petals of the leaves. "It's too sour. Eat less. If you eat too much, you won't be able to chew it."
Xiaoyue from Zhou Huaizhong's family handed her a few purple flowers, "Aunt, the flowers are for you!"
Yang Chunyan took it and tied it on her hair. "It looks good."
The little girl touched her little bun shyly.
Yang Chunyan looked at the sour grass growing on the edge of the field, which had already formed pods.
Sour grass is what the locals call it. Its scientific name is Oxalis rubra, which is a perennial upright herbaceous plant of the Oxalidaceae family and the genus Oxalis. Other names include big sour grass, flower grass, etc.
The three leaflets of red Oxalis are oblate and inverted heart-shaped, with a concave apex and rounded angles on both sides. The back is light green, and the stipules are oblong with a narrow and pointed apex. They open during the day and close at night.
The flowers are yellow, pink, or purple-red and the fruits are cylindrical. When ripe, the peel cracks and shoots out like a bullet.
Because its stems and leaves contain oxalic acid, they taste sour and thirst-quenching, so the locals call it sour grass. The bulb below tastes a bit sweet, just like radish.
(End of this chapter)
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