"Don't worry, he's still here!" The man stepped forward to support him, "He was beaten half to death. Let's send him to the police station. You take your sister-in-law back first. I'll stay there and ask about the child's whereabouts."
The familiar person came forward and comforted the couple.
"I forgot just now and I was a little too harsh. Let's send him to the police station and let them question him first."
"Since this bastard is here, he should know the whereabouts of Xiaoer. We'll know after the police interrogate him."
"Then send it over quickly. The sooner you ask, the sooner you can get the news." The man helped his wife away.
Everyone looked at the couple and their hatred for the kidnapper increased. If he could not bear legal responsibility for beating someone to death, everyone would really beat him to death on the spot.
After reaching a consensus, the nearby residents went home and dragged a small cart used for selling vegetables. The Xiao family and several other men lifted the crutches, whose hands and feet had been broken, onto the cart.
The older man said to Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding, "Young men, you are the ones who caught the kidnapper. You should go to the police station with Xiao Qiang and the others and tell them what happened."
Zhou Huaian nodded, "Okay! Let's go too."
The Xiao family father and son then realized that it was the two who saved the child. They bowed to them gratefully and said, "Thank you, thank you so much, otherwise our family..."
Zhou Huaian and the others hurriedly said, "It's just a piece of cake. Anyone who sees this will lend a hand."
Director Xiao said gratefully, "Young man, thank you so much, thank you so much. After we send the kidnapper to the police station, you two must come to my house and have a simple meal."
He was terrified just thinking about it. His daughter-in-law was not at home today, and when the old woman went into the house to get something, the child would be gone when she came out. If his grandson was gone...
"Really, no need, we just happened to meet"
"Thank goodness I met you, otherwise the child would be miserable."
Zhou Huaian picked up the sack and dagger on the ground. Xiao Qiang and the man pulled the crutches towards the police station. Director Xiao also asked him to bring Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding to his home for dinner.
A group of people went to the police station, and the police took the kidnapper in. Zhou Huaian and the other man told them what had happened. When they saw Xiao Qiang and a few others talking to the police from the police station, the two of them returned to the street and drove the tractor back.
When the tractor was halfway there, it met Zhou Huaishan, who was hunched over and pedaling his bicycle hard.
As soon as he saw the two of them, he asked, "Why are you here? Has Aunt Datian been selected?"
"Don't worry, third brother. Xiang Qunying's reputation in the village has long been ruined. Aunt Datian will definitely be chosen. I came to Ning'an..." Zhou Huaian recounted what had happened.
"You didn't see his look. The youngest and I felt pain just watching!"
Zhou Huaishan laughed with glee, "It's what he deserves. It would be better if the egg yolk was broken apart."
When they got home, Zhou's mother held little Jiuer in her arms and stood outside the main hall doorway basking in the sun. Zhou Huaian came forward and kissed her son, then took him in his arms, "Oh, dear boy, let me hold you!"
"Mom, has Aunt Datian been selected?"
"They've been elected. Your uncle Datian is the brigade secretary, your boss is the team leader, and your aunt Datian was elected as the women's director with unanimous votes." Zhou's mother said happily, "Haha, didn't you see that when Xiang Qunying saw that he didn't have a single vote, his face turned green!"
Aunt Datian became the director of the women's team, and there was a small team leader at home. Zhou Huaishan and Zhou Huaian felt relieved.
He thought of collecting Artemisia argyi, "Mom, go tell Aunt Datian and Aunt Qian to dig more Artemisia argyi. Don't want old ones, just the ones that are three inches long."
"Okay, I'll go tell them right away." Mother Zhou took off her apron and left.
Zhou Huaian carried Xiao Jiuer back to the room. Seeing Yang Chunyan squinting her eyes while listening to the radio, he walked up to her with a smile, "Yan'er, I am so happy today. Zhou Huaixing, that idiot..."
Yang Chunyan didn't expect this to be the outcome. "He's not stupid, he's just too greedy. Otherwise, how could he be deceived again and again!"
Zhou Huaian kissed Xiao Jiuer and said, "Little one, look how smart your mother is and how reasonable her words are!"
Yang Chunyan slapped him in annoyance, "How can you praise me like that!"
"Hehe!" Zhou Huaian sat next to her, "There is also something happy. Doctor Xiao Wang and my younger sister have already returned to Hengshan. Yiding and I did a good thing today..."
Yang Chunyan thought of those kidnapped children. It was okay if they were sold to families who wanted children, but it was pitiful if they were forced to become beggars. "That's great! It's really a great thing! You are capable and deserve praise!"
Zhou Huaian put Xiao Jiuer in the cradle and approached with a playful smile, "Wife, it's not enough to just talk, let's do something substantial!"
"Go!" Yang Chunyan hit him, "You're just thinking about nonsense in broad daylight. There are the most Artemisia argyi in the big pit in the back mountain. If you work quickly, you can dig a few baskets in an afternoon."
"Okay! Let's not do anything substantial, but just give me a kiss, okay?" Zhou Huaian said, pointing at his own face.
Yang Chunyan smiled and glanced at him, leaned forward and gave him a kiss, then pushed him away, "Go get a straw hat and go quickly."
"Oh!" Zhou Huaian walked out slowly and closed the door.
When the old man heard that he wanted to dig Artemisia argyi, he also took a medicine hoe and carried a basket and followed him up the mountain towards the big pit. The March bubbles had already turned yellow on the way. Zhou Huaian picked a handful and put it in his mouth, and a sweet and sour taste filled his mouth.
After going up the hill, I saw mugwort, Artemisia annua and Artemisia argyi everywhere on the hillside.
"Youngest, don't cut the Artemisia annua and Artemisia selengensis. The ones that grow on the ground are the best."
"Great!" Zhou Huaian used a medicine hoe to dig up a plant of Artemisia argyi with its roots, shook it a few times, and put it into his backpack with his backhand.
Around the Qingming Festival, it is the season for Artemisia capillaris to grow. There are clusters of them everywhere on the slope. The father and son dug as they walked up the mountain, and soon they had filled half of their backpack.
Zhou Huaian also found a few Cistanche deserticola and honeysuckle on the roadside. When the father and son arrived at the edge of the big pit, he leaned over the wooden fence and looked down. The pit was about twenty meters deep. Looking from above, it looked like an extra-large flat basin.
"Grandpa, I don't think this big pit is natural. It might have been dug here by someone who was mining something in the past."
"It's been there since we were kids, who knows where it came from? Look at how well the grass and vines are growing below. It's a shame not to raise cattle."
"Grandpa, wait another two years and let my mom and old man live here too. Then I'll buy a few cows and raise them."
"Sure, in a few years when Xiao Jiuer is older, I will bring him to the back hills to herd cattle."
"Today, Ding Dingmao and I caught a kidnapper in the county town, a little boy of two or three years old... Everyone said that they would not dare to let children play outside in the future."
"These bastards should be beaten to death if caught! There were also kidnappers who abducted children in the town during the New Year. Next time you go to town, ask Yumei and Haili to look after the children."
"I'll go back and tell Ding Ding Mao that he's going to town tomorrow." Zhou Huaian shook the Artemisia selengensis he dug up and put it in his backpack. "Grandpa, this is what Mom used to blanch and make a cold dish with, right?"
"Yes, in the past when we had nothing to eat, we would go up the mountain to dig these things up and bring them back to make cakes." The old man laughed, "We haven't eaten them this year yet! Go back and wash some, mash them, and ask your mom to make cakes for us."
He had never dreamed that there would be a day when he would make Artemisia annua cake as a snack.
Zhou Huaian smiled and nodded, "Eat steamed yerba, Chunyan likes it too!"
"She can eat something sweet. The sprout filling is too salty and not good for her!"
"Grandpa, you see there are some zongba leaves down there. I'll go cut some and bring them back to make zongba leaves, which are perfect for making zongba!"
"Go down through the fence gate in front. Be careful."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian opened the fence and walked down carefully.
"Oh shit~" He accidentally stepped on a mossy stone, which caused the sickle in his hand to swing out after a few shakes, and he finally slid down the slope.
Fortunately, the grass on the slope was thick and there was a bush underneath. After he slid down, he quickly grabbed one.
"Youngest, what happened to you?" came the old man's anxious shout from above. He was lying on the fence and couldn't see clearly what was happening below through the bushes.
Zhou Huaian looked up and shouted, "It's okay, I accidentally slipped down, Grandpa, please don't come down, there is moss down there and it's very slippery. I'll cut some zongba leaves and come up."
As he spoke, he turned over and sat up, rubbing his bruised knee. His calf also felt a little sore, probably because he was hit by a rock when he slid down.
"Fuck! I just did a good deed today, but instead of getting any praise, I ended up sitting on the saxaul board!" Zhou Huaian stood up and brushed off the grass debris on his body. Suddenly, he saw that the small shrubs were covered with Polygonum multiflorum vines. "So the reward is here!"
He picked up a branch and knocked it around, but after searching for a long time he couldn't find the taproot.
"Youngest, why haven't you come up yet? Did you fall and hurt your leg?" the old man above asked worriedly.
"I found a lot of Polygonum multiflorum vines, so I'll come up and get the medicine hoe!" Zhou Huaian looked around but couldn't find a sickle, so he climbed up with the help of a branch.
Suddenly, he was scented with the fragrance of flowers and was attracted by the plants on the slope in front of him on the left. He climbed towards the front left with great joy. Everywhere he looked, he saw Dendrobium officinale.
Wild Dendrobium officinale (also known as Wanzhangxu) is a national second-level protected plant.
It is slightly cold in nature and sweet in taste. It enters the stomach meridian and kidney meridian. It has the effects of nourishing the stomach, promoting fluid production, nourishing yin and clearing away heat.
The stem is erect, cylindrical, as thick as a middle finger, and the leaves are like bamboo leaves, 9-35 cm long, 2-4 mm thick, unbranched, and have many nodes; the leaves are in two rows, papery, oblong-lanceolate, and the edges and midribs are often lavender.
The bracts are light white, the sepals and petals are yellow-green, oblong-lanceolate, and the lip is white. The capsule is oblong with 3 edges. The flowering period is from March to June.
"Oh my god! I've grown a lot! This is the first time I've seen so many Dendrobium officinale. I don't know how many years they have been growing here."
March is the season when Dendrobium officinale flowers bloom. The cliff on the slope is covered with a sea of light yellow-green flowers from top to bottom. The black spots on the petals are like a pair of eyes, very much like a bird with wings.
He wished he had a camera to take a picture of it.
"Youngest, what are you doing?" The old man was worried because he hadn't climbed up for so long, so he found a wooden stick and came down. (End of this chapter)
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