Although Xiao Xuxu and Xiao Yuanyuan hadn't seen each other for a while, they quickly became close when they met. Xiao Yuanyuan took out some of her toys and generously shared them with Xiao Xuxu.
Unfortunately, little Xuxu is still too young to understand anything. Once he grabs something with his little hands, he puts it into his mouth.
"Brother, this is a toy and you can't eat it." Xiao Yuanyuan said seriously and reached out to take the toy out of Xiao Xuxu's mouth.
"Ah ah..." Little Xuxu, who can only call mom and dad, can only use "ah ah" to express his confusion.
Xiao Yuanyuan was fiddling with the toy in her hand, which was a bamboo doll toy. Children in the countryside, of course, could not go to the store to buy fashionable toys like people in the city, but they were not short of toys. As long as they picked up a straight stick, they could play with it as a sword for most of the day.
In addition, people with good craftsmanship can also weave various small animals out of grass to play with, while girls will use willow branches and flowers to weave wreaths to wear as fun.
The bamboo man in Xiao Yuanyuan's hand is also a common memory of many rural children. It is the image of a person made of thin bamboo and rope. When the rope is swung, the bamboo man will move along, creating fun.
The bamboo man in Xiao Yuanyuan's hand was made by Gao Zhuang for her to play with in his spare time. It is a toy that Xiao Yuanyuan likes very much. At this time, she is fiddling with the rope to control the bamboo man to make corresponding movements.
"Ahh..." Xiao Xuxu's eyes lit up. He pointed at the bamboo man excitedly, and kept making "ahhh" sounds with his saliva dripping with excitement.
"It seems that Xiao Xuxu likes it too. Come, uncle will make one for you right away." Seeing this, Gao Zhuang immediately started to work.
There were some bamboo branches piled in the corner. Gao Zhuang picked them up and started working. First, he used a knife to cut the bamboo branches into suitable sizes, and then arranged the branches into the shape of a person.
After making sure it can be placed properly, use a rope to pass through the bamboo branches and secure it.
Gao Zhuang has been thinking a lot about making these things in the past one or two years, so he can make them quickly and well. In a short time, a new bamboo man is ready.
"Here!" Gao Zhuang handed the newly made bamboo doll to Xiao Xuxu. Xiao Xuxu grinned and looked happy after getting the new toy.
Gao Mingcheng had been observing Gao Zhuang's movements, feeling a little emotional.
These things were what he often played with when he was a child. Unfortunately, when he lived again and had more life experiences in the future, he also forgot a lot of things.
For example, how to make bamboo figures and how to weave grasshoppers out of straw, etc. These things seemed to have become very distant things in his memory.
In the kitchen, Xi Nainai lost the opportunity to cook and could only sit on a low stool and cook. The new chef was He Xiuman. She moved quickly and efficiently, and the dishes she cooked were delicious.
Xuanyimei also stayed in the kitchen, chatting with her grandmother and He Xiuman, leaving the two men in the yard to take care of the baby.
"Have you visited Grandma Mingcheng? She seems to have recovered well these days. Sometimes I see her walking around the village with a cane." Grandma Xi said, and added, "The cane was made by Mingcheng's father when he went into the mountains to cut trees. It's pretty good. I heard Grandma Mingcheng praise it several times."
Before, Gao Mingcheng had inadvertently questioned Luo Xiaohua why he didn't prepare a wheelchair for Grandma Gao, causing Grandma Gao to lie in bed for more than 40 days. Now that Grandma Gao had removed the plaster, Gao Yuanjian had very neatly prepared a crutch for her.
A walking stick is not a rare item for the villagers. They just need to go into the mountains, select a suitable tree, cut it down, peel it and trim it, and that's it.
Except that they are not as sophisticated as those sold in stores, their functions are similar.
"After dinner, Mingcheng and I will take the children to see grandma." Xuanyuemei said.
Now that people have come to the old village, it would be unreasonable if they didn’t visit.
"We should go and see her. She was in good spirits before, but after this fall, she looks several years older." The grandmother was quite emotional.
She is a few years younger than Grandma Gao, but in recent years, she has gradually felt some fatigue when working in the fields.
Fortunately, Gao Zhuang grew up and successfully married a good wife, and gave her a lovely great-granddaughter!
The happiness of life makes grandma feel particularly satisfied and she also begins to cherish her body.
In the past, she would go out in the dark whenever possible, but now she dares not to do so. She has now installed a light bulb in her room. When she gets up at night, she pulls the light cord first and then gets up, so she can avoid falling accidentally.
This is what my grandmother did, and she also said the same thing when chatting with her peers, advising everyone not to be frugal and to take care of their health.
Unfortunately, some people always think she is exaggerating.
"The last dish is ready, everyone can eat!" He Xiuman's clear voice rang out, and Gao Zhuang in the yard immediately walked into the kitchen and brought the cooked dishes to the table in the main room.
Normally when they ate at home, they would eat in the kitchen for convenience, but today they had guests, so naturally they had to be more formal.
The dishes were quite rich, including a large plate of stir-fried rabbit meat, a plate of scrambled eggs with peppers, a plate of stir-fried eggplant with peppers, a plate of water spinach and a bowl of loofah soup.
He Xiuman’s cooking skills are pretty good. Although her methods are nothing fancy, the taste is very good.
At the dinner table, everyone praised He Xiuman's cooking skills, and she felt embarrassed by the praise.
After a hearty meal, there was naturally some chatting, and during the chat, Gao Mingcheng learned about some things in the village.
For example, if someone died, but because it was from the third room and they lived quite far away, Gao Mingcheng did not need to attend the funeral. He just felt a little sad about the impermanence of life after hearing about it.
No one can stop the torrent of history, and the impermanence of life is also regrettable.
When people die, new life is born, and this is how the colorful world is formed.
Gao Mingcheng heard a familiar name from his grandmother's mouth.
"Two days ago, someone came to announce the good news that Gao Feifei had given birth to a son, and called Gao Feifei's parents to come and have a full-moon banquet."
"Gao Feifei's parents were willing to spend money this time. They bought some soft cotton cloth and asked Dong Feixia to help make a few sets of clothes for the children, saying that they were for their grandson."
Grandma smiled and talked about gossip in the village.
There is a custom here that when a grandmother buys new clothes for her child, if the mother's family loves her daughter, they will buy more. If not, they will just buy one piece as a token of appreciation.
Some people even use a few old clothes to make up the number.
Gao Feifei's family is extremely patriarchal and does not value Gao Feifei as a daughter very much.
When Gao Feifei became pregnant, she was abused by her husband and had a miscarriage. When she returned to the village, none of her family members came forward to support her. Instead, Gao Mingcheng gathered a group of people to suppress the arrogance of Gao Feifei's husband.
From then on, Gao Feifei stood up straight and had a status in her husband's family. Now that she had a boy, her status was naturally more secure.
Perhaps because of this, Gao Feifei's family was willing to show goodwill and specially made new clothes for the child.
The time spent gossiping always passes by quickly, and when everyone is still enjoying it, it is already 2:30 in the afternoon.
Gao Mingcheng stood up and said to the many beauties around him, "Let's go see grandma."
"Okay." Xuanyuemei also stood up and walked towards her parents-in-law's house with Gao Mingcheng.
As for Xiao Xuxu, who is less than one year old, is now lying on the bed and taking a nap with Xiao Yuanyuan!
After visiting Grandma Gao, Gao Mingcheng said to Xuanyuemei, "You stay with Grandma Xiao and take care of Xiao Xuxu. I'm going home to do some work. I'll come back in an hour to pick you up and take you to the county."
Children need to take a nap, but not too long, about two hours is enough. Gao Mingcheng estimated the time and came. When he returned to Niuweiling and finished his work, little Xuxu was about to get up.
"Okay." Xuanyuemei agreed. Xiao Xuxu was sleeping here, so she naturally couldn't leave.
So the couple split up and Gao Mingcheng returned to Niuweiling alone.
As the day of picking herbs approached, he decided to go into the mountains to see how the herbs were growing. When he was alone, he could climb the mountain very quickly. It took an ordinary person a day to walk up and down the mountain, but he only needed one or two hours.
Due to time constraints, he did not plan to go deep into the mountains, and just walked around the hillside of Niuweiling.
As a result, as soon as we walked into the shady woods, we saw many traces of snakes.
Following the principle of "I won't move unless the enemy does", Gao Mingcheng didn't attack the snakes. He could eat snake meat, but many other people didn't eat it, and neither did Gao Shufang and the others, so there was no need to catch the snakes.
Of course, if there are snakes in Xiaofushan, they must be caught.
Who said Xiaofushan is his territory!
Ignoring the snakes hanging upside down on the branches, Gao Mingcheng continued walking forward, looking left and right along the way, observing the vegetation in the mountains.
The plants in this mountain are all treasures if you can recognize them, and all those you can’t recognize are just weeds.
Fortunately, Gao Mingcheng has two lifetimes of experience and can recognize quite a few types of vegetation.
If short videos were popular nowadays, Gao Mingcheng could make a few videos about going into the mountains and identifying hundreds of herbs.
Gao Mingcheng walked quickly along the way, and then he heard the sound of gurgling water. It turned out that there was a ditch nearby.
The water resources here are not abundant. There are no big rivers at all. The only streams and reservoirs are unable to breed abundant aquatic animals.
But fortunately, they still have the common varieties here.
For example, in the water source areas in the mountains, there are wild small fish and shrimps, as well as bullfrogs, stone frogs and other creatures.
You can also occasionally see wild ducks, but their numbers are extremely small.
As Gao Mingcheng walked, he looked at the bullfrogs in the ditch and felt a little itchy.
Bullfrogs are not active and often lie on rocks. They are large in size and have delicious meat, which is really something you don't want to miss.
Even though he didn't bring a bag, Gao Mingcheng thought for a moment and decided to catch a few bullfrogs. He could then tie their feet with wild grass and carry them in a bunch.
If ordinary people want to catch bullfrogs, it is best to come at night and shine a light on the bullfrogs. The bullfrogs will then not move and allow people to catch them.
There is also another way to catch it. It is said that bullfrogs will eat snakes, so you take a taro stalk with the leaves removed and place it by the water, then simulate the movement of a snake swimming. When the bullfrog finds you, it will pounce on you and hold on to the taro stalk tightly and will not let go.
Snakes can strangle their prey, and bullfrogs can also strangle snakes. At this time, even if you hold the taro stalk and shake it up and down, the bullfrog will not fall off.
And it's not just one bullfrog that will hold on to the taro stalk tightly, all the bullfrogs nearby will also hold on to it.
So, you can harvest several bullfrogs with one taro stalk.
The efficiency of this capture is also quite good.
Of course, Gao Mingcheng doesn't need these two methods. He catches bullfrogs by speed, accuracy and ruthlessness!
Gao Mingcheng caught two bullfrogs with his bare hands in a lightning speed and threw them to the ground. The two bullfrogs died immediately. At this time, he started to catch new bullfrogs.
But at this moment, the bullfrogs had already noticed something was wrong and began to become agitated.
Before the situation became completely chaotic, Gao Mingcheng caught a few more bullfrogs. When the bullfrogs started jumping around everywhere, he couldn't attack them all and could only focus on one of them and then take the opportunity to catch it.
Once you catch it, just throw it to the ground and the bullfrog will faint.
It only took five or six minutes in total, and we got a dozen bullfrogs.
After skinning and removing the internal organs, it was enough for a dish, so he stopped.
I pulled some cowgrass from nearby and tied the bullfrog's feet to make it easier to carry.
Speaking of which, no one has eaten bullfrog this year, no wonder he couldn't walk after seeing the bullfrog.
Gao Mingcheng looked at the bullfrogs that were gradually calming down, and thought to himself that he would have to bring a bag with him next time he went into the mountains so that he could catch more at one time.
There are few people in this mountain, and animals reproduce in an orderly manner. Although it is not to the extent of "hitting roe deer with a stick, scooping fish with a ladle, and pheasants flying into the rice pot", as long as you go into the mountain to hunt, you will always get something.
Carrying a dozen bullfrogs, I glanced at the Lushan brand watch on my wrist and realized that it was already past three in the afternoon.
After Gao Mingcheng made money, he bought two Rolexes, one for Huang Dazhi and one for himself. However, these two watches are currently in the collection stage and are not used very often in daily life.
The watch on Gao Mingcheng's wrist is the first watch he bought after his rebirth. The Lushan brand watch is also the first independently produced watch in Jiangxi, so it is still of great commemorative value.
At that time, the Nanchang Watch Factory, which produced Lushan brand watches, was still a major taxpayer in the province. Unfortunately, after the 1990s, imported watches became ubiquitous, and watches shifted from having a timing function to a decorative function. The watch factory became like a declining star and could hardly survive.
By 1998, the watch factory had completely ceased production, and Lushan brand watches became a memory of the times.
"It's almost time to go down the mountain." Gao Mingcheng muttered, and ran quickly with a dozen bullfrogs in his hand.
It is said that going up a mountain is easy but going down is difficult, especially when encountering steep sections, one has to be extremely careful.
But this did not pose a problem for Gao Mingcheng. If he encountered a steep slope, he would just jump down, land steadily, and then continue running down the mountain.
So for him, going down the mountain was like a gust of wind and he arrived in a flash.
As soon as we reached the foot of the mountain, three dogs came towards us following the scent.
Gao Mingcheng saw that Da Huang seemed very curious about the bullfrog in his hand, so he laughed and said, "You can't eat this!"
Bullfrogs have many parasites, so they must be eaten cooked, not raw. Also, if dogs eat bullfrog bones, it will be difficult for them to digest.
Gao Mingcheng would be going to the county soon, so he naturally had no time to cook bullfrog for Sangou.
He could only say: "Next time, I'll make more and cook a pot for you guys too!"
When it comes to food, the three dogs were very smart and barked at Gao Mingcheng one after another.
Gao Mingcheng processed the bullfrog first, removing the head, skin and internal organs, and the remaining meat was edible.
After dealing with the bullfrogs, he took a basket and went to the fields to pick vegetables.
Another half an hour passed in busy work. After he loaded all the things he was going to take into the car, he headed towards the old village to pick up Xuanmei and Xiao Xuxu.
The afternoon sun was shining brightly, casting a golden glow on his body. (End of this chapter)
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