It's already February, and there's not much time left until the Lunar New Year. Wild vegetables are growing very abundantly on the mountain.
Yu Yao has already dug up some wild vegetables such as purslane, purslane, and dragon claw vegetable. Sun Yu and the others have also dug up quite a lot, but there is still no sign of the thunder bamboo shoots that Sun Yu's sister-in-law is looking for.
Sun Yu looked puzzled: "There shouldn't be any. Although it's not March yet, the temperature and climate are suitable for the growth of thunder bamboo shoots. How could there be none?"
Su Meihua comforted her, "Let's look for more places, after all, it's a bit early this year."
"It's alright. If you can't find it here, I'll take you to my valley to look for it. It's definitely there."
Thunder bamboo shoots prefer to grow in moist places, such as along streams, on field ridges, in mountain valleys, and at the foot of hills.
Yu Yao specifically chose to look at these kinds of places.
Sixteen followed Yu Yao, sometimes chasing butterflies in the grass, sometimes nibbling on wild vegetables in the mountains. Then, one day, she accidentally stepped into a hole and rolled down the slope.
Yu Yao was startled.
Fortunately, the hounds are tough and were unharmed.
She walked down the slope, about to reprimand Sixteen, when she suddenly saw a cluster of tall, cylindrical plants beside the ravine, with white flowers with yellow centers blooming on them.
It was the thunder bamboo shoot they had been searching for all day.
Thunder bamboo shoots. (Image included)
Yu Yao immediately called Sun Yu and the others over.
Sun Yu saw the bamboo shoots by the ravine and smiled broadly: "Yu Yao has such sharp eyes, you even found such a hidden place."
"This isn't my doing, it's Sixteen's. If it hadn't been playing around and rolled down the slope, I wouldn't have found it."
These bamboo shoots are not tall and look like they just sprouted recently, when they are at their tenderest.
Thunder bamboo shoots are called that because they look very much like bamboo shoots, with cylindrical stems, pointed tops, and segmented stems, just like bamboo shoots that have just emerged from the soil.
From March to October each year, you can likely find this wild vegetable on the islanders' tables.
After they finished picking the first patch of bamboo shoots, they found a clump of them in a nearby mountain valley. After the first and second times, bamboo shoots seemed to suddenly appear, and they found several more in succession.
Yu Yao's little basket was full of picking.
The four of them had picked a lot of wild vegetables and started walking down the mountain. As they passed through a forest, Sixteen suddenly barked.
When Yu Yao looked over, she saw Sixteen rushing towards her, his nose and mouth a little swollen.
Sun Yu glanced at Sixteen's condition and immediately knew, "He was stung by a bee."
Sixteen barked and tugged at Yu Yao's trouser leg, trying to pull her towards the mountains.
Yu Yao patted its head and asked, "Do you want us to come with you?"
Sixteen barked twice, as if in response.
Sun Yu and the others were all surprised. "This puppy is so smart. No wonder it has hunting dog blood."
The nearby forests had been cleared and there was no danger. Yu Yao and the others followed behind Sixteen into the forest.
Before long, we arrived at a wild fruit forest.
The fruit trees were laden with bunches of red and green fruit, some already red and some still green.
“It’s a wild lychee forest.” Su Meihua looked at the lychees around her with delight. “These lychees are all early-ripening varieties, and some of them are already edible.”
While other lychee trees were still in bloom, the wild lychees here were already edible.
Yu Yao picked a lychee and tasted it.
Although they are small, with large pits and little flesh, they taste sweet and sour with a strong lychee flavor, and are quite delicious.
Aunt Ge and Sun Yu looked at Sixteen with great admiration: "Your dog is so smart, it actually led us to a wild lychee grove. What are we waiting for? Let's pick some lychees!"
If you encounter something like this unclaimed item on the mountain, it's fate; if you don't pick it, you won't find it again.
However, it seemed that Sixteen's destination was not the lychee grove. When it saw Yu Yao stop, it barked anxiously.
"Sister-in-law Sun Yu, you pick them first, I'll go with Sixteen to take a look."
"Go quickly and come back soon, we'll be waiting for you here."
Yu Yao followed behind Sixteen for several dozen meters, and then saw Sixteen barking incessantly at a lush lychee tree.
He called out while turning back to look at Yu Yao.
Yu Yao looked in the direction Sixteen was yelling.
Among the layers of branches of the lychee tree, there was a huge beehive, and bees were constantly flying into the hive to collect pollen from the lychee blossoms.
Lychee honey, what a wonderful thing!
Yu Yao was somewhat delighted.
This beehive must weigh at least several dozen kilograms, and these wild bees are quite fierce. Sixteen's nose and mouth were swollen from the stings, so it won't be easy to get the honey.
Sixteen was still barking, so Yu Yao quickly called it back, "Sixteen, stop barking, I'll avenge you in a bit."
Yu Yao returned to the lychee grove and told Sun Yu's sister-in-law and the others about discovering the beehive.
All three of them were very excited.
In those days, few people raised bees. If you wanted to eat honey, you had to get it from beehives in the wild. Supply and marketing cooperatives also sold honey, but it was always in short supply.
In the end, Aunt Ge came up with a solution: she lit a fire under the lychee tree and used the smoke from the damp firewood to drive the bees away.
Aunt Ge and Yu Yao stayed on the mountain, while Sun Yu and Su Meihua took the wild vegetables and wild lychees to Su Meihua's house for temporary storage, and then brought an enamel basin to store the honey.
After Sun Yu and Su Meihua went down the mountain, Ge Jinhua and Yu Yao collected some wet firewood from nearby.
"Yu Yao, give me your coat, I'll go light the fire." Ge Jinhua had done this before in the countryside and was experienced.
Yu Yao didn't stand on ceremony. She handed her coat to Ge Jinhua and then hugged Sixteen and hid.
"Aunt Ge, please be careful."
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
