Chapter 384: Mountains and Valleys
"Where?"
Lin Heng looked over curiously, but saw nothing.
"Awoo~" Xiongba obviously also discovered it, and it seemed that because Lin Heng didn't see it, it was very anxious.
Xiulan pointed him in a direction and whispered, "Look, the grass is still moving in the thatch next to the mulberry tree. You'll be able to see the chicken's butt in a while."
Lin Heng stared at it for a long time before finally seeing it.
It's just like looking for something. Sometimes it's right at hand but you just can't find it.
"It's chicken tonight."
Lin Heng said with a smile, put down the bow bag and took out the bow and arrow. The distance was more than thirty meters, but he was full of confidence.
With a whoosh, a sharp arrow pierced the sky and shot into the grass. Then, with a scream from Gada, all the noise disappeared.
“Ouch~”
Xiongba immediately showed a Samoyed smile and ran over to pick up the pheasant.
“Woof woof!”
But this time it did not return immediately, but instead called out.
"Are there any pheasant eggs? Let's go and have a look."
Lin Heng was puzzled, and he and Xiulan put down their things and walked over.
When she got closer, Xiulan was pleasantly surprised: "There really are pheasant eggs, but unfortunately there are only four."
"It looks like it was just harvested recently. You can take it back and eat it now." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Picking up the pheasant, it weighs about three pounds and is already very fat.
It is not difficult to understand why pheasants are still laying eggs in July.
Pheasants normally start laying eggs in May, but if the number of chicks hatched is small or the eggs are stolen, they will continue laying eggs until enough pheasants are hatched.
This pheasant was probably quite unlucky. It was still laying eggs, but the first brood probably didn't hatch. As a result, it's dead now.
But Lin Heng had no choice, this was how nature was.
"Let's go pick the magic leaves." Xiulan said softly after taking the eggs.
"Well, let's go."
Lin Heng drained the pheasant's blood and threw it into a backpack before walking up the mountain.
When they reached the top of the mountain, they searched for a while and finally found the turtledove leaves here. This thing has a very strange smell and can be smelled from a long distance.
"Not bad, I can make two kilograms of tofu."
Xiulan looked at the leaves on the tree and nodded, saying, "I haven't eaten them for many days and I've been craving for them recently."
Lin Heng helped pick the fruits and they were done in about ten minutes.
After picking the leaves, Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and asked, "Are you waiting for me here, or are you going hunting with me?"
"With you, I'll help you." Xiulan said after thinking for a while.
"Okay, be careful with snakes."
After Lin Heng said this, he took the bow and arrow and started searching around with Xiongba. This area was a desolate slope of dragon beard grass, but there were traces of rabbits.
He didn't expect to find any big prey at his doorstep, so just hunting rabbits, pheasants, etc. would be enough.
With Xiongba around, this thing is easy to defeat as long as we can find it.
However, the two men and the dog searched for a long time but found nothing. Finally, Lin Heng shook his head helplessly: "It seems that what they said before about there being rabbits here is probably false. Let's go to the soybean field below and take a look."
"Okay." Xiulan nodded and followed Lin Heng quietly.
It's almost time to harvest the soybeans, and rabbits and deer will go to steal the soybeans. Lin Heng came to the soybean field on the mountain and found that there was already someone there. When he got closer, he saw that it was Wang Kaidian.
"Uncle Wang, did you hit it?" Lin Heng asked with a smile.
"No, I'm going to guard it for a while." Wang Kaidian said with a silly smile.
"Then let's go somewhere else."
Lin Heng nodded and pulled Xiulan to go downstairs. If you are not hunting in a team, try not to get too close to others to avoid conflicts.
Because both sides have lethal weapons, once a dispute arises, it may lead to a major accident.
Wang Kaidian smiled and pointed to a place for the two of them: "You can go to the yellow willow tree row above. There are a lot of bamboo partridges over there, all looking for food in the forest. I even shot two bamboo partridges the day before yesterday."
"Okay, let's go up and try it." Lin Heng nodded and took Xiulan over there.
After they walked away, Xiulan asked, "Do you think it's true?"
Lin Heng turned around and said, "I think so. It's not too far away, so let's go and have a look. I remember there are a lot of Pinellia ternata on the mountain over there, and Bamboo Partridge likes to eat it."
After walking for more than ten minutes, the two arrived at the row of yellow willow trees. The yellow willow trees are actually cotinus coggygria, which are everywhere in this place.
However, the two walked for a long time and didn't find anything. However, they saw a lot of blackberries on the roadside, which tasted quite good when picked and eaten.
The two were too lazy to leave, so they just picked some cranberries here to eat for a while, and planned to take some back for Xiaoxia.
"Listen, is that the call of a muntjac?"
Suddenly, Xiulan stopped and pointed upwards.
"It's the call of a muntjac, but I don't think it's hopeful. Muntjacs in this area are very cautious."
Although Lin Heng said this, he still started walking upstairs, and Xiulan followed him from a distance.
After climbing the mountain for twenty minutes, we finally got closer, but the muntjac stopped calling. We stopped and waited for a while and found that the calling had spread to a ravine farther away.
"There's really no hope. You've made this trip in vain." Xiulan climbed up, blinked and smiled.
"Then let's take a look at the scenery. We'll go down and see if we can catch some bamboo partridges or something. It's easier to catch them at dusk."
Lin Heng pointed to the seat next to him and signaled her to sit over there.
Xiulan sat down with a smile, fanning herself with her hands. After climbing so high, she was only breathing slightly, but her head was covered with sweat from the heat.
This place is not the top of the mountain yet, as the wind is blocked by the trees, but you can already see the mountains and valleys in the distance.
The setting sun is at the end of the undulating mountains. Above our heads is the sky which is gradually turning red. The mountains and forests are silent, and occasionally we can see two birds flying into the sky.
The two of them watched quietly for a while. Xiongba first played around nearby for a while, then came back and lay down at Lin Heng's feet to rest when he was tired.
After resting for about ten minutes, Lin Heng stood up and stretched out his hand, saying, "Let's go, wife, let's go home."
"Go home!"
Xiulan took his hand and stood up, and the two walked back one after the other. Lin Heng searched the row of yellow willow trees again, but still found no trace of prey.
The main reason is that the leaves have fallen now, making it difficult to find, and even Xiongba is powerless to do anything.
On the way back, I encountered two turtledoves, but they were resting too high and I couldn't hit them at all.
Lin Heng has become accustomed to this situation. He has been hunting for ten days but has come up empty-handed nine days ago. He is lucky to have caught a pheasant today.
As they walked down the mountain, Lin Heng asked, "By the way, wife, do you want to go back to your parents' home this year?"
"Forget it. My parents only came to see this place last year. Let's wait until our son is older." Xiulan said after thinking for a while.
Lin Heng smiled and said, "If you want to go, we can find a time to go back."
Xiulan shook her head: "I don't have such plans for the time being. It's not convenient to go out with such a young child."
As they were talking, the two soon returned home. Xiulan fed the child and washed the fairy leaves with Caiyun.
Lin Heng blanched and cleaned the pheasant, then stewed the whole chicken and the eggs in a casserole, adding matsutake mushrooms and morels, as well as chestnuts, lotus seeds and red dates.
Simmer for two hours and it will be just right for dinner when it gets dark.
Xiulan made the magical tofu and put it aside before preparing dinner.
She wanted to eat spicy hotpot today, so she got a lot of vegetables, as well as some weird wild vegetables like pumpkin tips and purslane, and a piece of herring, and cooked them all with hotpot base.
Dinner was a spicy hot pot, a plate of cold tofu, and a pheasant stewed with matsutake and morel mushrooms.
After it was done, I called my parents over to eat together.
Lin Heng smiled as he ate: "This spicy hotpot is good in every way, except that it's missing a beef meatball."
"I think you have become a picky eater. Pork and fish are not enough for you." Lin's mother rolled her eyes.
Xiaoxia, who was eating pheasant eggs in Lin's mother's arms, raised her head and said crisply, "Grandma, I want to eat beef balls, too."
Facing Xiaoxia, Lin's mother immediately put on a smiling face: "Then wait a few days and let grandma go to the town to see if there is any for sale. If there is, I will buy some for you to eat."
Lin Heng: “…”
"Mom, let's kill a lamb and barbecue it in a few days." Lin Heng looked at his mother and smiled again.
"Eat if you want to. Too much will make it hard to feed the pig." When it comes to mutton, Lin's mother agreed.
This is because the original ewe gave birth to two lambs this year, plus the two that grew up last year, there are five lambs in total. It is not easy to raise so many lambs by roaming outside.
"Okay, let's find a time to kill the meat and then have a barbecue." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"Then second brother, you have to kill it before I go to school. I also want to eat roasted lamb." Caiyun said jokingly.
"Xiaoxia also likes to eat roasted lamb." Xiaoxia said, raising her little hand.
Lin Heng nodded and said, "No problem, I'll kill him in a few days."
They ate and talked, and soon finished the spicy hotpot, and then shared the stewed pheasant.
The chicken soup stewed with mushrooms was very fragrant and everyone finished the soup as soon as it was served.
After the pheasant was shared, only a little bit of the tofu was left.
The next morning, Lin Heng woke up and heard the sound of rain outside. He opened the window and saw that it was raining quite heavily.
"I originally wanted to go hunting today, but it looks like there's no hope." Lin Heng shook his head helplessly.
"Take a rest and get up." Xiulan looked at him and said.
Lin Heng nodded and lay in bed for a while, but he couldn't fall asleep. As long as he went to bed early at night, he couldn't fall asleep in the morning.
He took a book and read for a while, then got up to exercise. With nothing to do during the day, he read to his wife and daughter in the house and played educational games with Xiaoxia.
Xiulan took out the sewing machine to do needlework, and Caiyun helped and learned at the same time. In the minds of women in this era, cooking and needlework are two must-learn skills.
The rain lasted for three days. During these two days, they picked some tender corn and cooked corn porridge. They also used the crushed tender corn to ferment and make steamed buns.
It was already the 19th when the rain stopped. Lin Heng was at home looking after the children, while Xiulan, Caiyun and Lin's mother went out to pick mushrooms together.
The two children in the crib are now very good at crawling. Sometimes they will crawl together and fight, and then cry loudly and wait for Lin Heng to come and hug them.
I don’t know if it’s because babies of this era generally have strong resistance, or if they both have good physiques, but they had three minor illnesses when they were only six months old, but they were usually healthy.
When Lin Heng was bored at home, he would play with his two sons, letting them crawl around in the crib like a cat. It was fun and beneficial to their growth.
Xiulan and the others came back at noon, but their harvest was not good. They picked up two or three kilograms of chanterelles, more than ten kilograms of broom mushrooms, and more than twenty kilograms of tea tree mushrooms.
"There are not as many mushrooms these days as before." Xiulan shook her head.
Caiyun said, "I guess the good mushrooms in June have all run out, and now the forest is full of unfamiliar mushrooms."
"I'll try again in the afternoon. If there's no result, I won't lose weight." Lin's mother was a little unwilling.
Lin Heng smiled and said, "It's OK. Anyway, the mushrooms we picked this year are enough to last until the New Year."
Picking mushrooms has now become a way to feel the joy of harvest, and no one is obsessed with selling them for money.
"Let's wait until September, when we'll also have Matsutake and pine mushrooms," Xiulan said with a smile.
At noon, they fried some chanterelles and stir-fried some dried tea tree mushrooms, which are very fragrant when stir-fried.
After dinner, Lin Heng went to Hongfeng Mountain to check on the fish and shrimp. It would be a good idea to come and take a look after fishing.
When he came over, Father Lin was feeding grass carp with hay, and he could hear the sound of splashing water in the pond.
"There is so much grass now that the cattle and sheep can't eat it all. If there were other ponds, I would like to raise some grass carp."
Father Lin said as he looked at the grass carps scrambling for food.
“When the black goats give birth in September and October, things will be better. If I can’t use them all myself, I’ll give them away.” Lin Heng said after thinking for a while.
These grass carps have grown very fast this summer and now weigh three or four kilograms. If they are fed every day, they will weigh six or seven kilograms by winter.
"It's not a lot extra. I'm too lazy to give any of it away to important relatives except your third father. I'll dry it and store it. If the cattle and sheep can't finish eating it, I'll use it as firewood." Father Lin said with a smile.
While his father was feeding the grass carp, Lin Heng looked at each pond one by one to check the condition of the shrimp ponds.
After making sure there was no problem, he took his father to the mountain to harvest two barrels of honey that had not been harvested in the spring.
As the rose wall grows longer and with the addition of several dogs, Red Maple Mountain is now safer and it is difficult for ordinary people to come in.
When he has enough money, he will surround the place with barbed wire, which will raise the security level to a higher level.
The plum fish fry on the mountain have grown a lot recently, and now weigh about one or two pounds. Feeding them with feed allows them to grow much faster than naturally.
The number of ginseng seedlings in the ginseng garden is more than half less than last year. Some of them are dead, while others are in a dormant state and may grow out next year.
The ginseng plants have grown tall, but they have only been planted for two years, so they will have to wait until next year to bloom and bear fruit.
Once the seeds are collected, we can cooperate with the village party secretary to set up a cooperative, and he will not charge any money for providing ginseng seeds.
After checking the ginseng, Lin Heng put on a bee-proof hat and cut the honey. Unfortunately, he got stung twice on his hand this time.
"Are you okay, son?" Father Lin asked.
"It's okay. We've harvested three or four pounds of honey this time. Take it back for you and my mom to eat. We still have more than ten pounds in the house."
Lin Heng waved his hand and looked at his father and said, "There is not much honey in these two boxes of bees. It may be caused by the persecution of hornets."
"Then give it to your mother. I don't eat this stuff. It's too sweet." Father Lin waved his hand and said.
The two men were carrying their things and slowly walking down the mountain. They were discussing when to slaughter the sheep when they saw their third father Lin Xutao running over in a hurry, as if something big had happened.
(End of this chapter)
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