Chapter 162 Chapter 161: Gone
"Don't worry, there are people guarding this forest. Apart from the logging team, few people come here." Zhou Yiding handed the hunting rifle to Zhou Huaian, "You hold the gun, and I'll carry it."
Zhou Huaian took the gun and put it on his shoulder. The two men and the dog walked back. "Ding Ding Cat, have you seen musk deer in the mountains?"
Zhou Yiding shook his head and said, "I haven't seen it. I heard that you have to go to the old forest to catch musk deer."
Zhou Huaian glanced at the high mountains in the distance and said, "My wife won't let me go to the old forest, for fear of encountering a bear."
"Tsk tsk!" Zhou Yiding glanced at him sideways, "I remember some people didn't say that before they got married!"
"Your child is still young, you will know after you get married." Zhou Huaian smiled and walked forward, "Have you thought about your relationship with Chaotianjiao?"
"My old man said if you like it, you should look everywhere. I haven't made up my mind yet."
"I don't think it's a big deal. Look at the kids on the team. They've all been wearing open-crotch pants since they were little. Besides, the chili pepper doesn't mind you and wants to be with you. Why are you being so shy as a man?"
"I'm not the only one who feels awkward. I noticed that she looked unnatural when she saw me."
"Hehe! I think you are just a dead duck, with a stubborn mouth!"
As they were talking, they returned to the place where they had dug the Chonglou. They found the backpack was there, but Yang Chunyan was gone.
Zhou Huaian's face turned pale with fear. He turned around in panic and shouted to all around, "Yan'er, Yan'er..."
The two dogs also barked.
Zhou Yiding was also dumbfounded. He threw the black goat to the ground and walked forward to pick up the backpack. "Youngest brother, the medicine hoe is gone but the medicine is still there. Did your sister-in-law go to dig herbs?"
"Huai'an, come here, I'm here!" At this time, Yang Chunyan's voice came from the woods on the right.
Dahuang and Dahei ran towards the woods on the right.
Zhou Huaian hurriedly followed him, and was relieved when he saw the talent. "You scared me to death. What are you digging here?"
"Polygonatum!" Yang Chunyan wiped her sweat and happily pointed at the plants on the slope that looked like big bamboo leaves with a bunch of white flowers under the leaves.
Polygonatum sibiricum is also known as tiger ginger and chicken-head ginseng.
It is sweet and neutral in nature, strong in flavor but light in flavor, and enters the spleen, lungs, and kidneys. It can nourish the lungs, spleen, and kidneys, and is a product that replenishes both qi and yin. Polygonatum can be chewed to fill the stomach, so ancient books say that it can help people survive bad years.
In the eyes of ancient health experts, Polygonatum sibiricum is a medicine for prolonging life. Du Fu, a great poet in the Tang Dynasty, also highly praised Polygonatum sibiricum and wrote the poem "Sweep away the white hair with Polygonatum sibiricum, and you will see her face as ice and snow in the future."
There are two kinds of polygonatum. One kind has two alternate leaves and wide leaves, which are ginger-shaped and multi-flowered. Another kind has slender leaves and three or five leaves in a whorl, which is Yunnan polygonatum. Another kind is chicken-headed polygonatum. Among the three kinds of polygonatum, the multi-flowered polygonatum is more valuable.
Huangjing likes to grow in the shade of moist, deep, fertile and loose hillsides. Its fleshy roots will not start to grow until the third year, and it only grows one section a year, so Huangjing absorbs the essence of the land.
The tubers of Polygonatum multiflorum are long nodules of varying lengths, often connected by several nodules. The surface is grayish yellow or yellowish brown, rough, and there are protruding disc-shaped stem scars on the upper side of the nodules.
Zhou Yiding also caught up and said after looking at it: "This is tiger ginger. There are also some by the ditch south of the house. The flowers are very beautiful."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "This is good for your health. I'll make some to stew when I get home later."
She was very happy, there were so many good things in the forest farm. She decided to go back to Ning'an tomorrow and come here to look for good things!
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian said to Zhou Yiding, "There are so many, it will take a while to dig them out. Let's go get them and help her dig."
The two of them moved the things over, and Zhou Huaian took over Yang Chunyan's medicine hoe, "I'll dig, you go clean up."
"Hmm!" Yang Chunyan thought about it and said to the two, "You pick the ones with longer and thicker stems and dig them up, and leave the smaller ones."
"Yes!" The two men picked up their hoes and started working.
Yang Chunyan cut off the stem of the Polygonatum odoratum she dug out with a knife, shook off the mud on it, and counted the bulbs. "One bulb lasts for one year, four years, five, six... nineteen years."
The three of them were busy for almost an hour before they packed up the Polygonatum and put it into urea bags.
The smallest Polygonatum has about ten sections, and the largest has nineteen sections. It feels heavy and plump in the hand, and is pleasing to the eye.
"Yan'er, my stomach is growling after walking for a while." Zhou Huaian took out a hemp rope and tied two urea bags together without waiting for her to answer. "Oh~ It's still a bit heavy!"
"Let me help you!" Zhou Yiding hurried forward to help him lift it up and put it on his shoulders.
Zhou Huaian held the medicine hoe and nodded to Yang Chunyan, "Let's go."
The two dogs ran forward in a flash.
Zhou Yiding carried the black goat and followed the two men. "It's a bit late. Let's pick some mushrooms on the road and bring them back to make mutton soup tonight."
Zhou Huaian nodded, "The soup you cooked is delicious, I'll help you later."
On the way back, the three of them picked up the mushrooms they saw on the way there. When they arrived at the yard, their backpacks were already filled with seven or eight kilograms of mushrooms.
It was already dark when the three returned to the yard, and the creepy cries of night owls could be heard from the woods from time to time.
Zhou Yiding opened the door, put the things at the gate of the yard, and then carried the black goat and went to the cave at the foot of the mountain behind the house with Zhou Huaian.
When we reached the cave entrance, the steam coming out of it was chilly.
The entrance of the cave was just big enough for one person to enter. Zhou Huaian, holding a flashlight, followed Zhou Yiding into the cave.
It was not big and pitch black inside. There was a deep trench about one or two feet wide against the rock wall on the right. The water inside was black and cold, and you couldn't see the bottom even with a flashlight.
After the two of them walked in about five or six steps, they saw a large wooden box leaning against the rock wall.
It was really cold inside, and Zhou Huaian couldn't help but shiver, "Oh my! It's colder in the cave than in the cold winter."
"My old man said this is a natural ice cellar. When the weather gets hot, you can put the meat in it and eat it for more than ten days without any problem."
Zhou Yiding stopped and put the black goat on the ground, then turned around and said proudly: "The water in this ditch is also ice-cold when it flows outside. Drinking a sip of it is like drinking ice water and it chills my heart."
"This cave is great! It would be even better if it was at the foot of the mountain. The fresh mushrooms I picked could be kept for a few more days."
"That's it!" Zhou Yiding took out the key to open the copper lock on the cabinet and took out a leg of mutton. "This is the blue sheep that my old man sent down from the forest farm. Its meat tastes more tender than that of black goat."
Zhou Huaian helped him put the black goat into the box. "It's still more comfortable to guard the forest in the mountains. The bullets used for hunting are all shot."
"There are regulations every month. If you exceed the stipulated amount, you have to buy more with your own money. But the price is cheaper than buying in the store. I bought two boxes for you. You can take them with you when you go down the mountain."
Zhou Huaian patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thanks!"
The two men carried the mutton out of the cave and returned to the yard, where they saw Yang Chunyan picking vegetables in the vegetable field with a flashlight.
Zhou Yiding smiled and said, "Go help your sister-in-law pick the radishes, I'll go fetch some water."
"Yes!" Zhou Huaian walked to the vegetable field with a flashlight, "Yan'er, what kind of vegetables did Uncle Daqing grow?"
(End of this chapter)
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