Zhou Huaian nodded happily, "I originally planned to go and take a look, but I was worried about your sister-in-law being alone in the mountains. Now that Xuejiao is here, they have company, so let's go over there and take a look. It would be great if we can get a musk deer."
"If you want to get that thing, you still have to rely on luck." Zhou Yiding said, and then remembered something, "After dinner, I'll take you to the beehive to have a look. There are already little bees in it."
"So fast?" Zhou Huaian looked at him in surprise and took out the cigarette from his mouth. "You have all five beehives?"
Zhou Yiding smiled and said, "Both. I put two beehives next to the wild beehive I found last time I took a poop. I took out a queen cell from the beehive and put it in the beehive. I also melted some beeswax and smeared it on the entrance of the beehive to lure in a nest of small black bees."
"There are three more beehives. One is placed under the rock, and the other is placed under the agarwood forest. When the beehives are full, we will move them to the nearby forest."
"Yes." Zhou Huaian took two puffs of his cigarette and picked up the colander. "I'll take the mushrooms back to the pot. Go and see if your Xuejiao is here?"
Zhou Yiding nodded somewhat embarrassedly, "Then I'll go!"
"Go!" Zhou Huaian smiled and slapped him, then sent the mushrooms back to the kitchen. As soon as he reached the door, he started laughing, "Yan'er, Ding Ding Mao went to pick up Xue Jiao. I was wondering why he got up so early in the morning to pick mushrooms!"
Yang Chunyan looked at him in surprise, "So Xuejiao is coming? Then we are just here to be the light bulbs!"
"What's the big deal? It's good that Xuejiao is here! I feel more at ease when I go to the fire forest with Ding Ding Cat."
"Then we'll go into the mountains to pick mushrooms and herbs. If you want to go, feel free to go."
"Well! We plan to stay there for one night before coming back. Hopefully we can have a good harvest this time."
"Don't be greedy, safety is the most important thing." Yang Chunyan took the basket and looked at it. "You tear the matsutake mushrooms and I'll slice the sand buns."
"Got it." Zhou Huaian stood next to the stove, "Do you want to stir-fry chicken offal?"
"Chicken offal is better stir-fried." Yang Chunyan said as she opened the lid of the pot, and the rich aroma of chicken filled her nose. "Today's mushroom chicken stew is perfect."
Zhou Huaian sniffed, "Of course, Matsutake, morels, chanterelles, these are all good things."
Yang Chunyan sliced the sand buns and put them into the pot, then picked up other mushrooms and put them into the pot. She caught a few plump big-foot mushrooms and said, "Huaian, how about we pick out the big-foot mushrooms and stir-fry them into a dish?"
"Yes, I'll go pick a handful of green and red peppers to stir-fry." Zhou Huaian put the shredded matsutake mushrooms in the pot and went to the vegetable garden in the yard.
After Yang Chunyan put the mushrooms into the pot, she began to wash the rice, cook it, prepare the dipping water, chopped green onion, chili pepper, minced garlic, pepper powder, cooked chili oil, salt, and a handful of sesame seeds she had just brought from the bag, then pour in the soy sauce and mix well.
The rice is cooked, and the ingredients for dipping sauce and stir-fry are all ready, but Zhou Yiding and the other two are nowhere to be seen.
Zhou Huaian rubbed his stomach, "Oh! It's been more than an hour. Could it be that Ding Ding Mao has gone down the mountain to pick him up? My stomach is growling."
Yang Chunyan looked at her watch. "It's not twelve o'clock yet. Xuejiao has walked less on the mountain road, so she is slower than us."
"We're back!" Zhou Yiding led Wan Xuejiao into the yard with a smile on his face, "We can smell the aroma of mushroom chicken outside."
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "We're finally here. I've been drooling for quite some time."
"Sister-in-law, Brother Zhou." Wan Xue greeted the two with a smile.
Yang Chunyan agreed with a smile and started to clean the pot and cook. The ingredients had been prepared long ago. Zhou Huaian kept the fire burning and the food was ready on a plate in no time.
The four of them sat around the small square table and started eating happily.
The mushroom chicken was so delicious that you could swallow it with your tongue, the spicy and fragrant pickled pepper chicken offal, and the spicy stir-fried bigfoot mushrooms with green and red peppers. The four of them were a little full.
Zhou Huaian and Zhou Yiding came out of the kitchen and sat down on the bamboo chairs on the steps, rubbing their stomachs and saying, "When you are full, you are lazy and hungry, you feel anxious. It's really true."
Zhou Yiding smiled and took out a cigarette and handed it to him. "Are we going to the Huoshao Forest in the morning, or in the afternoon?"
Zhou Huaian took it, lit it and took a sip, "I have already discussed this with your sister-in-law, have you discussed this with Xuejiao?"
Zhou Yiding looked back at Wan Xuejiao who was cleaning up in the kitchen and said with a smile, "As I said. We'll leave Da Huang to keep them company and take Da Hei up the mountain."
"My dogs Wangcai and Laifu have to guard the new house, otherwise I would have brought them along for the trip this time."
Zhou Huaian stood up and said, "Let's go pack up and take a look at the ditch first. Prepare some dry food tonight and go up the mountain tomorrow morning."
"Uh-huh!"
Yang Chunyan and Wan Xuejiao cleaned up the kitchen and prepared the things they would need for going out.
"Are we going up the mountain now?" Yang Chunyan asked.
Zhou Huaian put the gun on his back and said, "Let's go check the beehives first. After we prepare some dry food tonight, we'll go tomorrow morning."
After hearing this, Yang Chunyan looked at Wan Xuejiao and asked, "Do you want to change clothes before going into the mountains?"
Wan Xuejiao nodded, "I'll go change it."
After she came out, the four of them took the dog out, led by Zhou Yiding, and walked diagonally through the woods behind towards the beehives.
The dead leaves in this forest are very thick, giving off a smell of rotten soil, and stepping on them feels like walking on a thick mat.
Dahei and Dahuang ran in front for a while, then turned back and waited for the others.
After climbing up the hillside, there is a shrub forest. Zhou Yiding pointed ahead and said, "There is a bunch of wild grapes there. They taste good, but they are not yet ripe."
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "Does it taste as good as the one in the bamboo forest?"
Zhou Yiding shook his head, "That one is still delicious."
The four of them continued walking forward and arrived at the place where the beehives were placed. Zhou Huaian and the other person went to see the beehives, while Yang Chunyan walked towards the vines on the slope with dark red fruits hanging on them.
Wan Xuejiao was afraid that the bees would follow her and walked forward. She saw her chopping off a vine with a knife, "Sister-in-law, what kind of herb is this? The fruit is pretty good."
Yang Chunyan showed her the cut vine. "This is the small blood vine, also called Xuetong, which is also a herb. Just like the chicken blood vine, after a while of being cut, the cut end will turn red."
After seeing it, Wan Xuejiao said, "I know about Cistanche deserticola. My husband bought some to make wine during the Dragon Boat Festival. He said it can cure rheumatism."
Yang Chunyan picked up the knife and continued chopping. "This is also very useful. The roots and leaves can be crushed and applied externally to treat fractures. The leaves can be crushed to treat boils, breast abscesses, redness and swelling, and bleeding from cuts."
Wan Xuejiao went back and got the machete. "It has so many uses. I have to remember them well."
Yang Chunyan dug up a small blood vine with its roots. "You have to learn some things if you want to grow herbs in the future. For vine-like herbs like this, we can keep the roots and plant them around the edge of the field. When they grow up, we can make fences and sell them for money."
Wan Xuejiao took note of it carefully and said gratefully, "Thank you, sister-in-law. Yiding said that the mountain land he rented was all cultivated by Brother Zhou and his friends who drove the tractor to help him. He didn't even take care of it." (End of this chapter)
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