The two men climbed up the mountain from under the rock and saw two men with hunting rifles coming up from a small path nearby and walking towards the path in the direction of the forest farm.
Zhou Yiding looked at the man with gray hair and a gun on his back, "Youngest brother, that guy behind me looks like Lin Weidong?"
Before Zhou Huaian responded, Lin Weidong had already walked towards them, looking at them excitedly, "Brother Zhou, do you live nearby?"
"We are from the Funiu Brigade." Zhou Huaian remembered that he had told him where they were from before, but he might have forgotten because he was in a daze.
"Brother-in-law, is he your relative? Why haven't I seen him before?" The young man with him walked over.
Lin Weidong introduced him with a smile, "Xiaobo, these are the two Zhou brothers who saved me at the forest farm last time."
Yuan Xiaobo looked at the guns the two men were carrying and asked, "Do you two brothers also like hunting?"
Zhou Huaian looked at his double-barreled shotgun and said, "We are timid, so we bring a gun with us up the mountain just for self-defense."
After hearing this, Yuan Xiaobo said with a look of regret: "It's such a pity to carry such a good gun for self-defense! Why don't you sell the gun..."
"Xiao Bo, how can you talk like that?" Lin Weidong glared at him and looked at the two of them embarrassedly. "Brother Zhou, after I got back, I remembered that I forgot to ask for your specific address, and I never came to thank you for saving my life!"
Zhou Huaian smiled faintly and said, "Really don't worry about it, we also divided the money!"
Lin Weidong's face flushed. "We have an appointment with someone to meet at the path over there. I will visit you after I get out of the mountain."
Zhou Huaian said politely: "Welcome to play."
"Then I won't keep you any longer. I'll be leaving first!" Lin Weidong clasped his fists towards the two of them and strode away.
Zhou Yiding walked a few steps and curled his lips and said, "Is what Lao Lin said true or false? You forgot our specific address. Could it be that you also forgot the forest farm?"
"We have been paid, so we just need to listen to what he says." Zhou Huaian looked back and asked, "Do you think they are going to the forest farm or the old forest?"
"It's been much colder in the mountains these past two days. Judging from their appearance, they should be heading to the forest farm."
"After we plant the rapeseed seedlings, we'll go to the forest farm."
The two men climbed up the second ridge and saw three jujube trees that were about thirty meters tall and as thick as buckets. The trees were full of jujubes, with only a few lonely yellow leaves left on the branches.
After experiencing several white frosts, the jujube trees on the tree have turned into an attractive brown color. Now they are hanging on the bare branches, swaying left and right in the air to show off their plump figure.
There are two persimmon trees at the bottom of the slope. The ground is littered with rotten persimmons that have been pecked by birds, emitting a sour smell in the sun.
"Fuck! It's so thick!" Zhou Huaian put down his backpack and kicked the tree trunk. Not a single bunch of jujubes fell off, but the few leaves on the branches also floated away.
"Save some energy!" Zhou Yiding put down his gun and hoe, looked up at the twisted brown fruits on the tree, and asked, "Are you going to go up or am I going to go up?"
Zhou Huaian shook his head, "It's too high, no one can climb up. If you accidentally fall down, you'll have to treat everyone to a feast."
"What are you afraid of? We have climbed higher and thinner ones before, but you are too scared to climb something like this."
"The older you get, the less courageous you become. Have you heard that?" Zhou Huaian patted the tree in front of him. "These three jujubes will weigh at least a thousand kilograms if they are all picked. I think we should go down the mountain and cut a hard spring and carry it up, and use a sickle to cut it."
"That's fine!" Zhou Yiding picked up his gun and medicine hoe, "Go down the mountain and call Old Xu and Lin Wu to come with us."
"Oh! I forgot to tell you that we're having dinner at my eldest brother's house tonight. They went to town to buy groceries early in the morning."
"How's Jiaming? Is he in pain?"
"It doesn't hurt anywhere, but the bruises on my face look a little scary."
…
At the foot of the mountain, Yang Chunyan, mother-in-law, daughter-in-law and their children were picking vegetables in the vegetable field, while Zhou Xiaolin was looking after her two younger brothers.
Xiaolong was eating a piece of mint candy with his hands full of saliva. Xiaojiuer looked around the vegetable garden for a while but couldn't find any cabbage worms, so he started to hum because of the itchiness.
"Brother Jiuer, sister will blow up a balloon for you!"
Zhou Xiaolin pinched two garlic sprouts and rubbed them gently in her palm. The skin on the back of the garlic sprouts separated in layers, and then she gently tied a knot at one end of the garlic sprout leaves.
Put the garlic sprout leaves near your mouth and blow gently, the garlic sprout leaves will swell up like balloons.
Xiao Jiuer took it, blew it a few times, and then kneaded it into pieces. He squatted there and played with it for a while, then picked up a small wooden stick and dug in the soil. He dug out the dogfish hidden in the soil.
The little guy wasn't afraid and just grabbed the things and put them into the pocket of his bib.
Zhou Xiaolin screamed when she saw this, "Grandma, look at my brother Jiuer, he put the dog in his bib."
"You little rascal, you put all the stinky things in your bib." Zhou's mother hurriedly pulled his bib to pour out the dirt, and said to Yang Chunyan in anger and amusement, "Look, he can find anything hidden in the mud."
"Feed the ducks!" Xiao Jiuer hurriedly squatted down and grabbed a few.
Yang Chunyan quickly picked a piece of green leaf to help him wrap up the dogfish. "Put it inside the leaf and go feed the ducks with Sister Xiaolin."
"Sister, feed the ducks!" Xiao Jiuer pulled Zhou Xiaolin towards the woods next to them.
Zhang Xiuxiang said with a smile: "Your Jiuer looks so angry, why does he like to catch insects? He hates cabbage worms and dog caterpillars."
Yang Chunyan smiled and said, "The dried tugouzi is also a traditional Chinese medicine."
"Ah!" Li Qiuyue looked at her in surprise, "Tugouzi is also a traditional Chinese medicine. This thing stinks even more than a stink bug."
Yang Chunyan smiled and nodded, "I saw my old man pick some and dry them to make medicine. He said it can reduce swelling, treat abdominal distension, asthma, ulcers, and insomnia at night."
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "There are a lot of soybeans in the fields. You can bite off the bean sprouts as soon as they grow out. They can also dig holes, float on water, and fly with their two wings. If you see a dog running around during the day, it is likely to rain."
Li Qiuyue: "I know. My mother used to scold me, Li Laoer, saying that I was like a country boy who wanted to learn everything but was not good at anything. He couldn't fly high and couldn't dig deep into the ground.
Even floating water can't swim far, too much can't be eaten, too many skills can't support the family. The third child is raking the land, and following him can catch a lot in a day. "
Mother Zhou: "Wait for the kids to come back and ask them to catch the vegetables. Wash the vegetables. Wait for your sister-in-law and the others to come back and help cook."
The scientific name of the mole cricket is mole cricket. In some places, it is also called farming dog, digging dog, and borer. In the Northeast, it is called ground cricket.
It is yellowish-brown in color, with a long and narrow body, a small head with bulging eyes, a pair of small wings on its back, and two digging feet at the front of its body that can quickly dig holes in the soil.
It is said that scientists have also used bionics to design a shovel for digging and mining minerals based on its unique structure.
The local dog lives hidden in the soil, hiding during the day and coming out at night, digging holes everywhere underground. It not only gnaws newly planted seeds, but also eats the tender stems and roots of plants.
They also dig holes around paddy fields and are a representative pest that farmers hate.
Mole crickets are cold in nature and salty in taste. They have the functions of reducing swelling and detoxification. In the Compendium of Materia Medica, it was once recorded that mole crickets have a smelly smell, taste salty when eaten, are cold in nature, and are non-toxic. They can treat abdominal distension, asthma, ulcers, and insomnia.
The mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law pulled out all the vegetables that grew too densely in the field. They pulled two full baskets from the three fields, brought them to the gate of the yard, pulled up straw stools to sit on, used a knife to cut off the roots and stems, picked off the yellow leaves, put them in the baskets, and took them to the ditch to wash.
Hang it on the wire on the upper floor. After the water is dried, boil the water. After the stems are softened, place them in a large vat. Then scoop up the water and pour it on the stems. Press it with a large stone. You can eat it in a week.
As soon as Yang Chunyan came down from upstairs, Zhou Huaian entered the yard, "Yan'er, we found three jujubes as thick as buckets on the second beam. I plan to take them all down and make wine."
"That's right!" Yang Chunyan took the fried broad beans he handed over. They were dry and hard to chew. Thinking of the crispy salted broad beans, she started to eat them. "I still have some broad beans at home. I'll fry some salted broad beans later."
"Cook whatever you want to eat!" Zhou Huaian took the sickle, "Ding Ding Mao, Lao Xu and Lin Wu are still waiting for me, Xiangwu doesn't have to wait for me to eat." After saying that, he picked up the sickle and left.
"Be careful. If the tree is too high, don't climb up." Yang Chunyan hurriedly chased after him and warned.
"I understand." Zhou Huaian waved his hand, and while his son wasn't looking, he got on his bike and ran away.
Yang Chunyan went to the warehouse at the corner and took out a bag. She saw that there were still five or six pounds of broad beans in it. She carried it to the TV room. Zhang Xiuxiang saw that she wanted to stir-fry the broad beans, so she followed her to the kitchen.
Zhang Xiuxiang smiled and said, "In the past, when the busy farming season came, there was no money to buy meat for the old man and his family to eat with wine, so my mother liked to stir-fry broad beans, soybeans, and peas to make salted beans."
"I like to eat it, too. Dried broad beans are too hard on the teeth, so salted broad beans are better." Yang Chunyan recalled the old days, "In the past, whenever I felt uncomfortable with heartburn after eating sweet potatoes, my husband would let us eat a few raw broad beans, and we would not have heartburn."
"What I hate eating the most now is sweet potatoes. I am tired of eating them. Every time I see them, my mouth starts watering."
Rinse the broad beans in a colander, then fry in a pan until the bean shells on both sides turn yellow. Shovel them out and put them into a bowl. While the broad beans are still hot, pour the sour water scooped out from the kimchi jar into the bowl containing the broad beans.
With a "pop" sound, bubbles appeared from the broad beans in the bowl and a salty and sour taste spread out. Yang Chunyan hurriedly used a bowl that she had prepared in advance to cover the bowl upside down.
Wait until the broad beans in the bowl are soaked until they are crispy inside and out, and the salty, sour and slightly spicy broad beans are ready.
"Chunyan, don't cook at noon, come to my place to eat." Zhao Huifang walked in hurriedly.
"I didn't cook, I just made a bowl of salted beans, and I'm waiting to go to your house to eat!" Yang Chunyan said with a smile, "What vegetables did you buy?"
"Thinking that they were all young people with big appetites, I bought more than 10 kilograms of beef, a pig's head, two kilograms of pork belly, and more than 10 kilograms of pork belly. After dinner, I cleaned the pig's head and braised it."
Zhao Huifang paused for a moment, "Cook the pig tongue and pig ears for a cold salad, stew the beef with radish, cut most of the pork belly into braised pork, and cut a small part into twice-cooked pork, and stir-fry two small pieces of meat, and stir-fry some shredded potatoes."
"That's enough meat and vegetables! You and my second sister-in-law can bring the dried broad beans and salted beans to your house, and I'll go to the wine cellar to get the marinade ingredients."
"That's great!" Zhao Huifang picked up the salted beans and left with Zhang Xiuxiang. (End of this chapter)
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