Chapter 47
Because he went in and out of the forest so often to pick bayberries, Gu Ran had become familiar with the terrain around the island forest, so his initial vigilance towards the forest was reduced.
Now her range of activities is limited to the area where the bayberry trees are and the bamboo forest.
Operating in the area between these two places, Gu Ran set three traps, all of which were a combination of earth pits and ropes.
Generally, rope traps are used to catch small animals. They are simple and effective. Just fix one end of the rope in one place - it can be tied to a tree trunk or tied around a rock, and the other end is tied to the ground. There is also a small ring at the end with a simple wooden switch. When a small animal accidentally steps on it, the switch will be triggered and the leg will be buckled, making it unable to escape.
The earth pit trap is to dig a deep pit in the ground. It is usually dug very deep, at least to a depth that the prey cannot climb out. However, when combined with a rope trap, it does not need to be dug so deep.
Dig a hole in a place where you can fix the rope, with a depth of about one meter or more. Then throw the other end of the rope in, put some food that can last for a few days underneath, pick wild grass and flowers to make a lid for camouflage, and bury the hole.
The reason why the two traps are mixed together is that the rope trap was originally a wait-and-see type, that is, after setting the trap, you wait by the side and retrieve it immediately after hunting the small animals, otherwise these captured small animals may be eaten by other big animals in the forest.
Earth pit traps usually contain iron nails or iron teeth to pierce the prey, causing injury or death, making it impossible for the prey to move or leave easily.
Gu Ran made this change because she couldn't go to Dayu Forest every day. She couldn't guard the rope trap to collect prey, nor could she let the prey that fell into the earth pit trap rot and stink.
Combining the two, the struggling small animals that fall into the pit trap will step on the rope and cannot leave, but the food left behind is enough for the small animals to eat for several days, avoiding the worst result of only getting rotten meat when retrieving the prey.
After entering the forest that day, I picked the last few late-ripening bayberries from the bayberry trees and planned to take them home to eat, so I went to check out the nearest rope trap first.
Previous traps have caught a pheasant, two hares, a squirrel, and a pangolin.
Gu Ran released the pangolin and collected the other prey. The rest became daily meat reserves and were placed in space grid No. 8 after processing.
After the two hare and squirrel skins were tanned, they were taken to the Hefeng Fur Shop and exchanged for more than a hundred coins.
As for bamboo rats, she also came in to catch them every seven days, keeping the meat and selling the skins. Including the extra bamboo rat she sold to Manager Zheng, she earned more than two taels of silver.
These bamboo rats reproduce quickly, with habits similar to those of wild rabbits. They are mating season all year round and can give birth to cubs every two months, with one to six babies each time. They are a large family in the animal kingdom. In his first life, Gu Ran had heard rumors of bamboo rats rampant and damaging farmland.
Gu Ran walked to the trap, but unfortunately, he missed it!
After rearranging the rope and pulling away the nearby weeds to hide it, Gu Ran went to look for the second trap.
The second trap was dug deeper and covered with a straw lid, on which some broken soil and dead grass were placed for camouflage.
After walking over, Gu Ran saw that the straw lid and the disguise were intact. Knowing that his escape was empty, he went directly to the third trap.
Finally, there was something to gain this time.
A pheasant with beautiful feathers had its claws trapped in a noose. It was flapping its wings and turning around in the trap.
She had eaten it once before. The pheasant meat from the mountains was so delicious!
Gu Ran looked at the pheasant, estimating it to be about six pounds, and was very happy. After knocking it unconscious, he tied up its claws with the rope he brought with him and threw it into the bamboo basket.
He set up the trap again and then walked towards the woods.
Although she frequently went in and out of Dayu Forest in the past month, she basically went straight to the bayberry trees because she had to come in to pick bayberries in the afternoon, make bayberry juice when she returned, cook and wash up in the evening, and get up early the next morning to go to Donglin Township, which all took time.
What's more, she also needs to make sure she gets enough rest and recuperates.
So in addition to making a living, you must also eat well and sleep well.
Therefore, apart from checking the three traps, no one went to other places in the forest.
There is no end to making money. Anyway, she now has a house and land, she has a roof over her head and clothes to wear. Even the food she has stored is enough for her to eat for a year. There is really no need to toil all day and all night and force herself to work hard to make money.
So, she set a limit for herself, and from then on she would save at least two taels of silver every month. If she wanted to earn more money, it would depend on her mood.
Just like in her first life, she was in the studio, and she only had to complete a certain amount of line drawings every month. She worked from nine to five with two days off, and went to and from get off work on time. She used the rest of her time to experience life.
For Gu Ran, who had found a way to make a living, to earn two taels of silver, he only needed to catch a few bamboo rats every month, carefully tan their skins and sell them to the Hefeng Fur Shop. If all else failed, he could sell some game to the gourmet shopkeeper Zheng.
She decided to quit while she was ahead.
Now that my bayberry business has stopped, I don’t have to run around from today on, so I can take a few days off for myself during the remaining days of this month.
Gu Ran then decided to expand the scope of his exploration in the forest, as a leisure activity, and to see if he could find any good things.
*
The sun at the end of May was already very scorching. I felt the heat after just a few steps in the sparsely wooded area outside the forest.
Gu Ran first went east in the forest, looking for a place with shade. He began to sweat not long after walking. Looking at the surrounding mountain scenery, Gu Ran found a rock in the shade, put the bundle of dry wormwood grass in his hand aside, sat down with half bent over, pulled down the mask, took a few breaths, and then took out the iced green plum juice from the workshop and started drinking it.
This green plum juice was made from the green plums that Village Chief Wu had given her when he came to visit her. That night, she made the entire basket of green plums into sauce.
After making some money from selling bayberry drinks, he went to visit Village Chief Wu again and bought two baskets of green plums from her.
Because green plums can be found everywhere in Xiaxi Village and even in Donglin Township, the price is not high. Village Chief Wu originally wanted to give them to her for free, but Gu Ran insisted on giving her two hundred coins.
Because although green plums are abundant and cheap, every household will keep them to make green plum wine, brew green plum sauce, or pickle dried plums as snacks for children at home. It is also a necessary food in life.
She made green plum jam with all the green plums she got, and stored three jars of green plum jam. She also made some dried green plums, and picked some to brew when cooking or drinking.
Especially Gu Ran You Bing, once refrigerated, it is delicious and refreshing.
As Gu Ran drank the green plum juice sip by sip, he kept hearing various calls from the mountains.
Needless to say, there are birds singing, and there are also the calls of unknown animals and the chirping of insects. Among them, the call of summer cicadas is the clearest and the loudest.
Gu Ran put the green plum juice into the workshop and put on his mask. Only then did he hear another rustling sound approaching amid the cicadas' chirping.
She bent down and picked up the bundle of dry moxa that was still smoking and unburned on the ground, and grabbed the hoe with her other hand.
This hoe is currently used to replace the firewood stick for self-defense and as a hiking pole.
When the sound stopped, Gu Ran also noticed the thing approaching.
It's a snake!
The creatures that once made Gu Ran happy to see them in winter were now extremely dangerous to him.
Because at that time the snakes were in hibernation, their reactions were slow and they had no resistance, but now the snakes are in their active period, they are insidious and cunning and move quickly.
The snake in front of him also discovered Gu Ran. It coiled its long body into a ball, raised its triangular head in front high, and made a hissing sound with its tongue.
Looking at the golden and black ring patterns on the snake's body, you can tell that it is a golden krait.
This is a venomous snake with poisonous substances in its front grooved teeth. It is poisonous and would be fatal to Gu Ran. However, snakes of the genus Krait are relatively gentle and move slowly. They do not like to actively attack people.
So Gu Ran confronted the golden ring snake, motionless, hoping first not to emit a dangerous aura that would provoke the snake.
Sure enough, after a while, the golden ring snake looked at Gu Ran motionlessly, as if it had lost interest. In addition, it smelled the scent of mugwort and was extremely displeased. Not long after, it lowered its head again, and its body rustled against the ground as it slowly slid away from Gu Ran's sight.
The crisis was over, and Gu Ran slowly collapsed back onto the rock, breaking out in a cold sweat.
Fortunately, everything is fine!
It took a while for Gu Ran to realize that she was scared out of her wits: she had a workshop and could hide in it the moment she saw the snake!
Gu Ran was speechless to himself.
Encountering the snake meant that his luck for the day had come to an end, so Gu Ran did not move forward but turned back.
On the way back, we came across a small river. The bottom was clearly visible and there were many river shrimps swimming in it.
When Gu Ran was planning to bring a small bucket to catch shrimps next time, he felt a dull pain in his ankle. He looked down and found that the rope of his right trouser leg, which had been tied, had loosened at some point, exposing the skin underneath, which was red and swollen.
I don’t know if I got contaminated by something poisonous while walking in the woods.
Gu Ran quickly squatted down and washed the skin on the surface of his ankle with river water. Then he looked around and saw a field of wild gardenias. He picked a handful of them, put the flowers and leaves into his mouth, chewed them into pieces, and then applied them to the wound on his ankle.
Wild gardenia flowers and leaves can be used for external application to reduce swelling and relieve pain because they contain a drug called gardenia jasminoides.
Gu Ran was worried, so he took out a spare cloth belt to wrap his ankle, tied up his trouser legs again, and went back to the place where he had just encountered the golden ring snake to look for it again.
If her guess was correct, and kraits often appeared near the rocks, then something her ankle touched might have been contaminated from that area, perhaps the saliva of a krait.
Generally, such places will grow herbs that can detoxify.
After quickly arriving near the rock, Gu Ran squatted down and looked carefully. Sure enough, he found the leaves of the vine Trichosanthes climbing all over the back of the rock. He immediately picked a few and planned to return to the river to use the Trichosanthes leaves to reduce swelling and detoxify.
When I loosened the rope and untied the cloth, I found that the swollen area where I had applied the crushed gardenia leaves was no longer painful and the redness had faded, which seemed to be working.
Gu Ran looked at the betel leaves in his hand and decided to take them back. Then he picked a large bunch of white gardenias and took them back.
Gardenia is also a delicious dish that should not be missed.
When he returned home, Gu Ran's legs had subsided and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Having escaped a disaster, he had to celebrate properly, so Gu Ran decided to have diced chicken with gardenia for dinner today.
I washed the freshly picked bayberries today, soaked them in salt water, and put them aside for now. I will wash some more after dinner and use them to make tonight’s meal. As for the staple food, I will eat laohua noodles!
Laohua rice noodles are a kind of fine rice noodles. They are cooked as soon as they are dipped in water. If they are not taken out in time, they will dissolve in the water, hence the name Laohua.
But before that, Gu Ran processed the pheasants he caught today, took out the amount to be mixed with laohua powder and eaten today, and put the rest of the chicken into space grid No. 8.
Now the space in space grid No. 8 was divided and managed by Gu Ran. After making money, she first went to find Village Chief Wu to introduce a carpenter to her, and then he built several large wooden shelves for her according to the size requirements. After moving into the small house, she moved them into the space grid.
The four hundred cubic meters in size are divided into different categories: for storing staple foods such as rice, flour, and rice noodles; for storing fresh food such as meat and fish; for storing fruits and vegetables; for storing oil, salt, tea, and vinegar; and there is also a special section for storing jam, wine, and so on.
The weather is hot, and in order to be able to drink iced drinks at any time, Gu Ran also set up a cold storage area in this limited space. He filled the wooden boxes with ice outside, put the prepared bayberry juice and green plum water into the boxes for refrigeration, and then moved them in here.
After all, the space in No. 8 can only keep objects in their original state. If you want to drink ice drinks, you can only refrigerate them in advance and then put them in.
However, iced drinks outside consume ice, and as the ice melts, the iced drinks gradually become cold. But iced drinks stored in the refrigerator are easy to bring in, can remain cold, and do not consume ice, which is also very nice!
The various rations stored in it now were bought with the money she earned from selling bayberry drinks these days. The quantity is not much yet, but it will become more abundant in the future as she slowly purchases more with the money she earns.
Back in the kitchen, Gu Ran started preparing today's dinner.
Laohua powder is the easiest to cook. Just boil water and blanch it. Add it to the end. First stir-fry the gardenia, then the diced pheasant, and then mix the three together.
Remove the core of the gardenia, wash it clean, boil water and add a few drops of oil, blanch it in the pot, remove it from the pot and drain the water, then stir-fry it in hot oil, add salt and pesto sauce to taste, and then serve.
Heat the oil in the pot again, add shredded ginger and perilla, then put the diced marinated pheasant in, add the ingredients and stir-fry until 80% cooked, then put the gardenia in, add a small spoonful of water and bring to a boil, then remove from the pot and put it in a bowl.
Finally, pour in the flour and stir, sprinkle with chopped green onions, and you can eat the flour.
It goes without saying that the diced pheasant is delicious. The taste of gardenia itself is sweet and refreshing. After being mixed with chicken juice, the taste becomes mellow. And when the powder is stained with gardenia and chicken juice at the same time, it is even more delicious!
After dinner, since he didn't need to set up the stall the next day, there was no need to boil bayberry water and refrigerate it. After eating the bayberries to help digestion, Gu Ran washed up early and went to bed. By the way, he put the bayberries into space No. 8 and waited to make bayberry preserves as a snack the next day.
Bayberry preserves are also easy to make.
First put the borneol sugar into the ceramic jar, add water and bring to a boil, then put all the washed and drained bayberries in, then add water to cover the bayberries, bring to a boil over high heat, add a little firewood, turn to low heat, and then simmer slowly. During this time, use a shovel to constantly turn the bayberries to make sure that every one of them is soaked in the sugar water.
When the sugar water gradually decreases and the bayberries have absorbed all the juice, turn off the heat, scoop up the bayberries and put them in a grate, squeeze the bayberries to drain the water, and put the bayberry juice in a bowl, which can also be used to make tea.
Put the drained bayberries into a basket, spread them out one by one, and place them in a cool place in the patio to dry. Before nightfall, collect them, coat them with sugar, and store them in jars.
It can be used as a snack or to enhance the flavor of dishes.
Gu Ran took out the talisman paper from the workshop and cut it into thin strips. He grabbed the talisman pen and wrote "bayberry candied" on the back. He then glued the strips with rice and stuck it on the jar. He then put it in the jam area in space grid number eight.
After ordering a large wooden frame from a carpenter, Gu Ran also asked a porcelain craftsman to make many jars, cans and bottles. They were all the simplest kind, without any patterns, pure original colors, large and small, specially used to store sauces or dried fruits and preserves for himself.
Now there are only three small jars of green plum jam, a jar of bayberry juice, two jars of dried chrysanthemum, a jar of dandelions, and this small jar of bayberry preserves in this column.
She felt that the items were too few and decided to collect a few more in the future.
After putting away the bayberry preserves, I took the remaining bayberry juice to make a drink of the chilled white wine that had been taken from the tenth space grid, when I saw the civet cat squatting under the support pole in the courtyard.
Seeing it glance at the empty plate and then look at her, Gu Ran instantly understood what it meant.
Usually there are shrimps and fishes in the plate all the time, but today and yesterday, there have been no shrimps or fishes for two consecutive days. I guess Huali is wondering what's going on?
Humans, why are there no fish?
After more than half a month of feeding, the civet cat has developed a habit of coming here regularly to find food. When it sees Gu Ran, it is no longer as wary as it was at the beginning.
Gu Ran took a few sips of bayberry juice and was hesitating whether to harden his heart and ignore it this time when a thunder suddenly sounded in the clear sky. The cat was so frightened that its fur stood on end. It looked at the sky with its teeth bared, then jumped onto the roof and ran away.
Gu Ran walked to the patio and looked up at the sky.
Although the weather is still clear and the sun is as warm as ever, the wind has become cooler.
I guess the situation will change tomorrow.
Gu Ran then collected all the leather, dried goods, etc. that had been drying outside during the day.
The skins were naturally from bamboo rats and wild rabbits, and the dry goods were from wild grasses such as mugwort, wild chrysanthemums, dandelions, etc. that Gu Ran saw when he went into the mountains to pick bayberries, so he picked some back every day.
Needless to say, every household here burns mugwort to fumigate insects because it is common and not expensive in pharmacies. Ordinary people will pick mugwort as soon as they see it at home, dry it and keep it for their own use.
Because Gu Ran had just arrived, he was caught off guard and had no way to prepare. At first, he got some from Village Chief Wu, and then he bought some at the pharmacy himself.
Now that I have seen them in the mountains, I naturally pick them and dry them for my own use.
As for flowers like wild chrysanthemums and dandelions, Gu Ran planned to dry them and use them to make tea.
Gu Ran was not wrong. Before the next day, it started to rain heavily at night.
*
Fujian is hot, and most of its areas are close to rivers and seas, so there are many typhoons and heavy rains.
Although Xiaxi Village is not close to the sea, it has many rain clouds and naturally rains a lot.
It rained for four or five days straight that day. Gu Ran did not go out, but stayed in the small house, eating and drinking, and also cleaned up the two small rooms on the corner building that he rarely visited.
When I went up, I found that the small room had an excellent view. Looking out into the distance, I could see the entire scenery in front of the house.
The sky, which was originally as blue as a mirror, has now become gloomy. The heavy rice seedlings in the paddy fields seem to be unable to bear the weight and have bent down. Ripples spread out in circles on the surface of the paddy fields.
The island forest in the rain is no longer as lush and green as it was on a sunny day, and is shrouded in heavy mist.
After listening to the sound of raindrops falling on the roof tiles for a while, Gu Ran turned around and looked around the room.
The wing room is only about 20 square meters. Originally, this small side room on the beech tree was used as a tower for lookout and defense. However, there was no need for security in the village, so it was converted into a small house for living.
Gu Ran saw that the upstairs room was more ventilated and cooler than the downstairs, and thought it would be a good choice to use it as a study.
And compared to my own workshop, the space is bigger and the scenery is better.
However, I can't afford a study now, such as a desk, cabinets, pens, inkstones, and books, but there is no need to. I'd better keep it as it is. It can be used as a small building for rest. When I like, I can come up and sit and enjoy the scenery.
When Gu Ran went downstairs, he looked at the raindrops still falling to the ground like beads and thought it would be nice to roast something to eat on this rainy day.
He immediately returned to the kitchen, found the porcelain basin in which he had burned his prison uniform when he arrived at the cottage, moved it under the eaves, and selected some branches of suitable size, lit them, and put them in the basin.
Seeing the fire starting, he made a rack with branches and then took out the stored river fish from space grid No. 8.
There are river shrimps, scallops and clams, but of course there are more river fish and sea fish.
Since fish are abundant and cheap here, why don’t you buy some fresh river and seafood when you prepare food for yourself?
Whether it is grilled fish or grilled shrimp, the taste is still fresh.
Because during the roasting process, the heat locks in all the original flavors of the fish and shrimp. Unlike steaming or boiling, the flavor of the fish and shrimp will be lost more or less. Therefore, the taste of fish and shrimp after roasting is actually the freshest and sweetest. Even on the basis of the original flavor, after condensing all the freshness, the taste is even more mellow.
Gu Ran moved a small table and sat next to the porcelain basin. He threaded two slender bamboo swordfish with branches and placed them on the basin.
This saury looks a bit like a Pacific saury, but she doesn't know if it is a Pacific saury. When she bought the fish from the fishermen at the dock, they called it saury.
Like saury, this fish is also long and slender. Gu Ran thought that the two fish were a bit similar, perhaps from the same family. The fisherman also said that this fish tastes good when grilled or dried. So Gu Ran bought some and planned to try it when he had time to see if it tasted like saury when grilled. Today happened to be his chance.
While waiting for the saury to be cooked, Gu Ran took the prepared bamboo sticks, threaded a few river shrimps on them, and grilled them on the side.
River shrimps are much quicker to grill than saury.
When one side is roasted red, turn it over and you can eat it immediately after the other side turns red.
It’s fast and grilled to perfection, and the shrimp tastes sweetest when they’re just cooked.
If the speed is too slow and the shrimp is overcooked, the shrimp will lose a lot of juice and the taste will be worse.
If you roast the shrimp for too long, they will become firm. Although they are not as sweet as the first two cases, the meat is firm and chewy, and they have a unique flavor.
In short, it depends on personal preference.
Gu Ran was the type of person who liked to eat the river shrimps as soon as they turned red, so he roasted them quickly. One was cooked after another. Gu Ran was not in a hurry to roast them. He put the skewered shrimps on a plate, roasted them one by one, and ate them while they were hot. He enjoyed it so much.
While peeling shrimps and eating them, Gu Ran watched the raindrops falling from the sky and took out some iced bayberry water.
Eat a bite of shrimp and drink a sip of bayberry water, it feels so delicious.
While Gu Ran was leisurely eating grilled shrimps, a meow was heard amid the rain.
When Gu Ran looked over, he saw the cat on the eaves, its fur wet from the rain, looking pitiful.
Huali saw Gu Ran on the eaves, and the cat's paws hesitantly hung in the air for a while before retracting.
Gu Ran didn't move. He peeled the shrimp in his hand, threw it into the bamboo basket containing shrimp shells, put it in his mouth and ate it, looking at the cat in the rain without dodging.
Huali cried out sadly again, looked back, and stared at Gu Ran again. After a while, maybe because the smell of grilled fish was too tempting, or because she was convinced that Gu Ran had no ill will towards her these days, or maybe because she still wanted to find food in the yard, in any case, Huali tentatively stretched out her claws again and looked at Gu Ran.
Gu Ran didn't move.
So Huali climbed to the edge of the eaves, jumped down, and quickly walked under the eaves. He shook off his wet hair, looked at Gu Ran again, and then looked at the plate where fish and shrimps were usually placed.
Nature is also empty.
Huali turned its head, and Gu Ran actually saw disappointment on the cat's face.
"Meow!"
Huali called out to Gu Ran timidly, then walked slowly towards this side, smelling the fragrance of fish.
When he was about to get close to Gu Ran, he stopped again, stood there looking at Gu Ran, and called out again: "Meow?"
"Want some fish?"
Gu Ran asked this question, and the cat immediately hunched its body, looking very alert.
She took down a bamboo swordfish, tore off a small piece, pinched it with her hand, and handed it to Huali.
The cat didn't want to run away, but when the meat was stretched out in front of it, it smelled the familiar smell and hesitated. Finally, the temptation of delicious food overwhelmed everything else. It stretched out its little tongue to lick it, and then came closer, stretched out its little mouth and grabbed the fish.
Gu Ran let go, seeing that Huali hadn't held the fish firmly in his mouth and the fish fell to the ground, he lowered his head and started eating.
He looked extremely hungry, but he ate slowly and gracefully, taking small bites at a time. After he finished eating, he raised his head and looked at Gu Ran again.
Seeing Hua Li looking at him eagerly, Gu Ran offered the fish to her without any tact and continued eating.
Huali saw that Ran was eating the fish meat that was meant for him. He waited for a while, and seeing that she had no intention of feeding him, he did not go forward to ask for it, but meowed softly again.
It seemed to be reminding Gu Ran that its cat was still there!
"Want some fish?"
Gu Ran asked again.
Huali was not on guard this time and waited, thinking that Gu Ran would feed her another piece.
After all, after this human made this strange sound just now, it was left to the fish itself.
As a result, Huali waited for a while, but no fish meat came. He just watched Gu Ran eat piece after piece. He became anxious and meowed again.
Gu Ran turned his head and looked at it, then asked, "Do you want to eat fish?"
"Meow!" Huali called out tentatively.
After hearing the response, Gu Ran tore off another piece of fish and handed it to Huali. Huali was happy and lowered her head to eat again. After she finished eating, she meowed twice and walked closer to Gu Ran.
"Do you still want to eat fish?"
“Meow!”
The cat already understood what the humans meant. After barking a few times, it got another piece of meat.
The cat with a small stomach didn't eat much. After eating four pieces of meat, it stopped meowing, squatted aside, and began to wash its face and comb its hair that was tangled up by the rain.
Gu Ran looked at Hua Li for a while before clearing away the brazier and plates.
The catfish asked for food but remained alert. When it saw Gu Ran making some moves, it stepped aside. Seeing that she didn't pay any attention to it, it continued to be calm.
When Gu Ran finished her work, Huali was already curled up under the eaves, staring at the raindrops falling to the ground with her cat-like eyes. Her furry ears were moving and her tail was swaying slowly, making her seem more relaxed than her.
Gu Ran smiled slightly and went back into the house.
In his first life, Gu Ran also had a cat, an orange cat that looked almost identical to this tabby cat.
It was a stray cat I found outside a store while shopping with my best friend.
The cat was still young at that time. It was a kitten about one or two months old. It could be held in one hand. Its fur was spread out and it was meowing pitifully on the side of the road.
An orange tabby cat like this one is so common that it has the highest abandonment rate among all cat breeds.
That day, Gu Ran felt pity and took the tabby cat home. He raised it for several years and kept it at home until he got into trouble.
When I was a monk, I would occasionally think about it and wonder how it was doing. But with my parents helping to take care of it, I didn't worry about it dying.
That scheming cat was a clever little ghost who had won the hearts of her parents within a month of arriving at home. She had turned everyone in the family into her slaves and must be living a more comfortable life than her!
From that day on, the civet cat stayed in Gu Ran's cottage and refused to leave. Of course, this was also because Gu Ran had been eating shrimp or fish for several days in a row, both of which were civet cat's favorites.
Ever since it mastered the trick of communicating with humans, Huali would meow at Gu Ran whenever it saw him eating, and it would get food as expected.
There is a place to burrow and enough food, and seeing that it is raining so hard outside, the civet cat naturally wants to stay.
After a few days of harmony between the man and the cat, the sky cleared up.
Gu Ran looked at the wet ground in front of and behind the house, grabbed a hoe, and went to the house at the back.
The originally dry fields were moistened by the rain and naturally became easier to loosen.
She was planning to plant some green onions and ginger on the land behind the house. If she didn't do it now, when would she?
So Gu Ran took a hoe and started working alone.
In her first life, Gu Ran had never farmed, but in her second life, she did farm with her parents, although she was not very professional - her technology points were not in cultivating crops, but in other areas.
Just as Gu Ran raised her hoe, she saw Village Chief Wu trotting towards her in a hurry, a look of panic on his face.
Did something happen?
When the hoe hit the ground, Village Chief Wu was already shouting at her: "Gu Erniang, what are you doing?"
What are you doing? Hoeing the ground!
Gu Ran was still in a daze when Village Chief Wu ran over, grabbed her arm, and angrily said, "Why are you hoeing the land at this time? Have you forgotten what I told you: on rainy and cloudy days, you have to pay attention to the situation in the Dayu Forest ahead?"
Gu Ran really forgot.
Because she claimed to know the principles of miasma, she did not have the same fear and dread of the island's forests as the local villagers.
What will happen to Lantau Forest on rainy and cloudy days?
Gu Ran grabbed a hoe and walked to the side of the cottage to look at the Dayu Forest. He understood why Village Chief Wu was in a panic: after the rain, a black mist emerged from the sky above the Dayu Forest. The black mist overflowed from all over the edge of the forest and spread in all directions.
It's miasma!
Because of the rain, the forest lost its exposure to sunlight, and various humid and toxic gases condensed together in the low air. They were suppressed by the rain during the rain, so nothing happened. But after the rain stopped, with the wind brought by the rain, the miasma would rise or dissipate, and it would slowly drift to the residential area of the villagers.
If ordinary people accidentally breathe in these miasma, they will naturally become poisoned and sick, and in serious cases they will lose their lives.
This is why the villagers in Xiaxi are so afraid of malaria.
This is also the reason why no one is willing to settle in Xiaxi Village, which is too close to the island forest.
It is also the main reason why Xiaxi Village has a small population.
"What are you still standing there for? Hurry, go home, pack up your things, and close the doors and windows. If you see the miasma coming towards your house, don't stay and come to my house immediately." Village Chief Wu patted Gu Ran's arm vigorously and urged, "Go quickly, it will be too late if you are late."
Gu Ran's small house is the closest to Dayu Forest, so the miasma will naturally invade her house the fastest, so she cannot stay there until the miasma dissipates.
Gu Ran grabbed the hoe and hurried back into the house. Village Chief Wu followed her in and helped her close the doors and windows.
Gu Ran grabbed his clothes and stuffed them into his bag, then remembered the things he had left in the kitchen. Seeing that Village Chief Wu was still closing the doors and windows of the main hall for him, he quickly ran into the kitchen and put all the dry food, salt, sauce, vinegar, etc. into space grid number eight.
Although I know the principle of miasma, if the miasma drifts into this house, the food contaminated by the miasma will probably be inedible. It would be a pure waste to keep it in the kitchen. It would be better to hide it in the space.
"Is that all right?"
"And there's a cat!"
"What?"
Just as Gu Ran was about to explain, he saw the cat jump onto the eaves and leave. He changed his tone and said, "It's okay. It's okay."
"Let's go."
Gu Ran locked the door and hurriedly left with Village Chief Wu, carrying his bag. He looked back and saw that the miasma was slowly drifting towards this side. He then looked at the houses of Xiaxi Villagers scattered everywhere, and the villagers in front of the houses who were nervously paying attention to the movements on the other side of Dayu Forest. Suddenly, he understood why these villagers did not live together.
The miasma has no fixed direction. If the houses are built together, once the miasma moves towards one house, all the houses in the area will become uninhabitable.
If they disperse, the miasma will have limited places to go. If miasma comes to a house on one side, people can run to a villager's house on the other side to stay overnight.
Only when the dark clouds gradually dissipate, the weather clears up, and the miasma dissipates can they return to their own house.
Gu Ran followed Village Chief Wu into the Wu family.
Village chief Wu's house is one of only three families whose houses are built together. These three families are all relatives of Village chief Wu.
Village Chief Wu's house is a large house with three rooms and two courtyards. Gu Ran was arranged to live in a small room in the front yard facing the patio.
The village chief's house, no, not only the village chief's house, but other people's houses also started burning mugwort and white grass in order to purify the surrounding air and drive away mosquitoes. When it rains, mosquitoes breed more, and poisonous insects such as centipedes and scorpions that usually hide in corners will come out to move around. So every time it rains, after the rain stops, they have to fumigate with dry mugwort. This is also the time when the people in Xiaxi Village are most worried: if they are not careful, their lives will be in danger.
Looking at the aroma of herbs wafting from every household, Gu Ran truly realized for the first time that he had been exiled here.
In an environment that could be regarded as a place of exile, it was natural that one could not live a stable life like ordinary people. She had thought everything was too simple before, and thought that she could live a leisurely life in her own small house.
I'm afraid of the miasma. I have to move as soon as it rains. It rains a lot in Fujian. How many times do I have to move in a year?
Fortunately, the people who have lived in Xiaxi Village for a long time are already experienced in dealing with it, so this time the invasion of miasma did not cause any casualties. However, Village Chief Wu still took this opportunity to teach Gu Ran a lesson, and told him that after the rain, he must go to the small side house on the beech tree as soon as possible to pay attention to the drifting of miasma, and saving his life is the top priority.
Gu Ran nodded in agreement.
By the time the dark clouds had dispersed and the miasma had dissipated, it was already the afternoon of the next day. Gu Ran returned to his small house and first went to see the Dayu Forest, which seemed to have regained its peace.
It seemed to have regained its vitality and was still lush and green, but her impression of the island forest had been renewed in her mind, and she realized how harsh this place was.
Before entering the house, Gu Ran put on a mask and saw that the situation inside was the same as before she left. However, Gu Ran's hearing was better than that of ordinary people, and she noticed that there were more subtle sounds of insects crawling in the house than usual.
According to the instructions of Village Chief Wu, when entering the house, open all the doors and windows to ventilate the room, and then burn mugwort to fumigate the entire house.
When she walked to the front of the main hall, Gu Ran saw the figure of the tabby cat appear under the eaves. It was happily catching insects by itself. When it saw Gu Ran coming back, it ran to her, meowed and rubbed against her trouser legs.
This cat came back earlier than me!
Not afraid of yourself anymore?
Did you get some benefits from staying in the house for the first few days?
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