Chapter 390 The Fool Comes Again
"You two continue hunting, I'll carry the badger and walk behind."
Father Lin looked at the two of them and said.
Hearing his father say this, Lin Heng nodded in agreement, wiped the blood off the dagger, put it away and continued exploring.
However, it was very dark now, and the calls of the Golden Rooster and Bamboo Partridge could not be heard. Without any sound, they could not be seen through the thick leaves.
However, Lin Heng did find two hedgehogs in succession. When these guys saw the flashlight, they curled up into a ball of thorns. He shot them with one arrow and took them back for Xiongba and Fengshou to eat.
Not finding any other prey, the three turned and walked towards the shelter.
It was already past nine o'clock when they came back. After they lit a fire, they first collected the dried mountain products and put them in bags. Then they simply laid out the various mountain products they had made today to cool, otherwise they would get spoiled overnight in such a hot day.
After they finished all this, they set up two tripods and a horizontal pole to hang the badgers for skinning.
While Lin's father and eldest brother were skinning the chickens, Lin Heng took Xiongba to the stream at the foot of the mountain to get three bamboo chickens. When they were getting them, they found that many holes had been gnawed by stream groupers and tadpoles on the chickens.
He took another look at the turtle in the bag by the stream, chopped up and cleaned the three bamboo chickens, then immediately added some oil, wild peppercorns and black fungus to stir-fry the chicken.
Then I stir-fried the pine mushrooms, chanterelles, and a bunch of pleurotus ostreatus that I picked up today. After the water was fried out and poured out, I stir-fried them together with the bamboo chicken meat. I also luxuriously added a matsutake mushroom to enhance the flavor.
After the meat was fried, Lin Heng added some noodles and the sauerkraut he brought from the house and started eating. He finished the noodles first, then ate the chicken and mushrooms while drinking rice wine.
Xiongba and Fengshou received a dog, a roasted hedgehog, noodle soup and chicken bones.
By the time they finished their meal, it was already eleven o'clock. They cut the badger into small strips and took them all, along with the internal organs, to the stream to process them, while also washing the pots and dishes.
After the things were processed, they were placed in a pond further up. The pond where the bamboo partridges were kept was too small to accommodate them.
The pool of water they found was under a small waterfall three meters high. The water was freezing cold and half a meter deep, so it was no problem to put the badger in it.
They kept the large intestine and badger fat from the internal organs, and cut up the remaining small intestine, pig stomach, heart, liver, and kidneys, preparing to take them back and fry them for tomorrow morning.
The lungs, meat from the neck, and the head of the badger were also taken back and cooked in a pot at night. When they were cooked through, they were taken apart the next morning and fed to Xiongba and Fengshou.
After finishing this, Lin Heng installed two clamps on the side as usual. These were the last two he had with him. He had twelve in total, and he had installed them all.
It was already midnight when we walked back. The crescent moon was bright in the sky, and the Milky Way was shining brightly. There were no more chirping of insects or birds, and the forest was eerily quiet and deep.
"We've been here for three days, but we don't seem to have found any black bear footprints." On the way back, Lin's father asked curiously.
"I guess there are no more nearby. The black bears' activity area is too large. Each bear has its own territory. I don't think there will be any more black bears here in the short term." Lin Heng explained.
"I also think that it is too difficult to find black bears nearby. It is more reliable to go to Changping County to hunt black bears." Lin Yue said.
As they were talking, they quickly returned to the shelter, fried the badger's innards, boiled the pig's head and lungs, and then hurriedly lay down to rest.
We walk 20 to 30 kilometers every day, crossing mountains and ridges. Even if we are in good health, we can't help but feel tired.
The next morning, although they were woken up by the birds at dawn, the three of them were reluctant to get up. They slept until nine in the morning, then got up and washed their faces by the stream.
After coming back, they hung up their own mountain products to dry. Even though they were all family members, Lin Heng still insisted on sharing among them. Distribution according to work was the most reasonable, and dividing everything equally was the most stupid idea.
Lin Heng now didn't know how many mountain products he had. He had a snakeskin bag full of dried Ganoderma lucidum, and a lot of other herbs and various miscellaneous items. He had no way of estimating how many there were, so he could only go back and count them in detail.
After drying the herbs, they had their meal and continued their journey up the mountain. Their enthusiasm had faded a little today, and they were a little tired, so they headed further downstream to see if there were any good things.
However, today's harvest was very poor. I only dug a few yams and picked some mushrooms, but there were not many Ganoderma lucidum.
The only good thing was the discovery of a particularly thick Polygonum multiflorum, which happened to be growing on the stone skin and was very easy to dig out. It was a large Polygonum multiflorum weighing about eight or nine kilograms.
This thing was sliced into slices when we got back to the camp and spread on the ground to dry; it would have been too heavy to carry back in one piece.
Moreover, Polygonum multiflorum cannot be eaten directly and needs to be processed before use.
They were not discouraged by the failure on the fourth day. They treated it as a rest, came back early in the afternoon and went to bed early.
On the fifth day, in the morning they took three pounds of badger meat, rubbed it with salt, and then took their tools to go deeper into the mountains, hoping to have a better harvest.
Then deeper in the mountain, the harvest was still average, not much Ganoderma lucidum, and not many precious herbs. Of course, compared to the vicinity of the village, there were definitely many more.
They picked a lot of Hericium erinaceus that day. The kidney grass growing on the trees in the deep mountains was also very good. They picked some and took them home to make tea.
The next two days were not very ideal. I looked everywhere for ginseng, but found no trace of it. I also did not harvest much other herbs.
There was nothing to catch with the traps I put down, so the harvest was mediocre.
The only gain was that they went to the mountain stream with a net bag to catch fish at night. They caught more than five kilograms of big stream zebrafish and two turtles, which were discovered by Lin Yue and Lin's father respectively.
Lin Heng found a small grass tortoise and had to take it back to Xiaoxia to raise as a pet.
At dusk on the seventh day, they fried badger meat and ate bamboo tube rice.
This is the last meal of badger meat, and all that is left is some badger fat.
They hadn't caught anything else in the past few days. For three people and two dogs, a hog badger weighing twenty kilograms was not a lot for them.
Especially if you exercise a lot every day, you eat a lot and eat a lot of meat.
While eating, Father Lin smiled and shook his head: "It seems that we won't be able to find ginseng this time."
There is no moon or stars today. Thick clouds cover everything. There are only bright flames and sporadic fireflies in the mountains and forests.
Lin Yue sighed and said, "It looks like there is no hope. I guess even if there is ginseng, the seeds have been eaten. It's too difficult to find it. I'm not that lucky."
"Son, you have the best luck. You have found ginseng twice. If you look for it again, maybe you will find it again." Father Lin said with a smile.
Lin Heng shook his head: "Dad, you are the luckiest person this time. You can't even meet me, let alone me."
Ginseng definitely exists, but it is very difficult to find. There are green plants everywhere in the mountains and forests, many of which look very similar to ginseng, so it is very easy to miss it.
If the seeds are red, it is easy to find, but usually birds eat the seeds as soon as they turn red. It is a matter of luck for people to find ginseng. You have to walk to a place where there are ginseng and find ginseng seeds that have not been eaten.
But the probability is too small, and failure is normal. In reality, there is no such thing as success if you work hard.
If you try your best and still can't find it, then you can only accept this reality.
"It looks like it's going to rain soon. We only have enough food for one day. We should leave now. We don't know what's going on back home."
Lin Heng took a bite of his meal and said to his father and elder brother.
"Yes, it's time to go. We'll go back tomorrow morning." Father Lin also said.
He was also worried about the situation in the house. Although his third child helped at home, it was better for him to be there to raise the shrimps.
Although I told Lin's mother to turn on the aerator for a few hours every day and feed the fish one-third of the usual amount when I left, there would basically be no problems.
But I always worry that it won’t be worth it if I mess up the main business of the house.
"Well, let's go back. It's time to harvest corn." Lin Yue also nodded. There was no reason for him to stay any longer if he couldn't find ginseng.
There were too many green leaves these past two days, making hunting difficult.
Go back and pack up, take a rest and prepare to go hunting in Changping County after the leaves fall in autumn.
"Although we didn't catch any prey, we still had a good harvest on this trip." Father Lin said with a smile.
The most valuable thing is Ganoderma lucidum, and they got a lot of it.
After dinner, Lin Heng lay on the bed and missed his wife and children.
The next morning, they got up early. Father Lin cooked here, while Lin Heng and his eldest brother went to collect the noose and clips.
As expected, the noose and clamps on both sides of the stream found nothing. Lin Heng guessed that the light from their fire scared the animals nearby.
Walking upstream along the stream for a short distance, the two men were suddenly stunned.
“Ahhh!!”
Seeing the two people approaching, a silly roe deer let out a scream and began to jump and struggle violently.
But the movement was not big, its front legs were clamped firmly, and blood was constantly flowing out.
"Don't come forward."
Lin Heng first called Ergou, then took out a bow and arrow, walked closer, and shot the roe deer in the neck with an arrow, killing it.
“Ouch!!”
Seeing the roe deer fall, the two dogs couldn't wait to run over and lick the blood.
"Brother, I didn't expect that you would catch a roe deer in your trap just when we were about to go back. You are so lucky." Lin Yue patted Lin Heng's shoulder in shock.
"It seems that my luck has finally come." Lin Heng was also very happy. This roe deer weighed about 40 kilograms, and it was a male roe deer.
After taking off the clamps, the two men continued to collect several other clamps and the Yama King's Hanging Device.
Their traps and hooks do not use bait because bait can easily attract small animals such as mice.
So either don't go up, or if you go up, it's a bigger one.
Just like fishing with corn, small fish won’t eat it, so the big fish will eat it.
The traps set on the animal trails are likely to catch large prey if they pass by.
"Let's go. Even though we didn't get ginseng this time, it's still a relatively successful outcome."
Lin Heng picked up the roe deer and said with a smile.
"With this roe deer, our trip is definitely worthwhile." Lin Yue nodded with a smile.
When the two returned to the camp, Father Lin was still packing up and didn't notice them.
"Dad, look what we brought back." Lin Heng shouted with a smile.
"Hey. Is this a big roe deer?"
"That's great! I can go back with pride this time!"
When Father Lin saw this thing, he was so excited that he ran over to check it out and was completely surprised.
"Haha, I was lucky to catch it with the clamp. This is also the biggest prey I've harvested this time." Lin Heng said with a smile.
"The timing is perfect. We can take it home today and freeze it. It won't go bad at all." Lin Yue also said.
After looking at it and weighing it, Father Lin calmed down and said with a smile, "Hurry up and eat. After eating, let's go back and try to get home before dark."
The two of them nodded. The task of returning for three people was very heavy and the journey was too long.
Breakfast was rice, but we put all the rice in, which seemed a bit too much. The dish was stir-fried mushrooms with spicy sauce, and there were no other vegetables.
After finishing the meal, the three of them cleaned up everything that needed to be cleaned up.
When they came, Lin Heng carried a backpack, his elder brother carried a bamboo backpack, and Lin's father carried a shoulder pole and a bag.
But he couldn't do the same when he went back. Lin Heng carried the backpack on his back, put the backpack at the bottom of the backpack, and put the roe deer and some small items he had hunted today on top, weighing more than 60 kilograms.
Father Lin and eldest brother were both carrying loads on shoulder poles, which mainly contained herbs and other things from the past few days. Each person was carrying about 70 to 80 kilograms.
Originally, most of them wouldn’t be so heavy if they were dried, but there were some wet ones dug up yesterday, and a lot of wild yams, which could not be dried.
After cleaning up, Lin Heng walked in front with a long-handled hatchet to clear the way, but the two people carrying the poles walked behind.
On the way back, there was no time to look at any prey, as the things were so heavy that it was hard to breathe.
With such heavy stuff and the difficult mountain road to walk on, the three of them moved much slower than when they came.
He had originally planned to come back and pick some wax gourds and schisandra chinensis, but when he got there he had no longer thought about it. He just picked wild grapes from a tree and put them in his backpack to take back.
It was already half past seven in the evening by the time they could see the village, and they had left at seven in the morning.
And this time they traveled in a straight line, unlike the previous time when they went there to look for Ganoderma lucidum and took a detour.
This shows how heavy the load is.
I was originally thinking about how to respond to the curious questioning of the villagers, but I simply saved myself the trouble this time because it was already eight o'clock when I got home and most people had gone back to their rooms.
But it is inevitable that you still have to pass by the door of someone's house, and you will definitely be discovered.
The front door of his great grandfather's house was one of the only roads to pass through. When his family saw Lin Heng and his companions carrying so many things, especially a roe deer passing by, they all fell into deathly silence.
Father Lin only greeted my mother and said that he would send some meat to her in a few days.
Although the old lady was very bad and extremely biased, as a son, Lin's father could not break off ties with Lin Heng as decisively as he did and completely ignore him.
In addition to this one, there are two other houses whose doors you must pass by, and I don't want to take the long detour because it's too far.
When those people who were originally enjoying the cool air saw what the three people had reaped, they were stunned for a moment, followed by a series of questions.
Lin Heng only said that he had shot a roe deer and got some common herbs like epimedium, but he did not mention the specific hunting place.
After returning to the house, Lin Heng knocked on the door and shouted, "Xiu Lan, I'm back, open the door quickly."
“Here it comes!”
"It's Daddy, Daddy, we missed you so much!"
"Second brother and the others are finally back, that's great!"
Before the door was opened, excited and happy voices came from the yard, and you could hear them running over to open the door.
(End of this chapter)
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