Chapter 316: Collecting Bees on a Rainy Day
"What happened?"
Lin Heng looked at his father and said.
"The house of Liu Xiancun collapsed, and the old man Liu Guangyong who was sleeping in the back room was buried. He was gone."
Father Lin walked under the tarpaulin and said.
"Ah!" Lin Heng was stunned.
Xiulan opened her mouth slightly: "Oh my God, why is this so unlucky."
Father Lin sat down and shook his head, saying, "The location of his house is not very good. It collapsed several times before but he didn't take it seriously. This time it all collapsed. Fortunately, only one person died."
Lin Heng poured a cup of tea for his father and asked, "What should we do now?"
Father Lin took a sip of tea and said, "Secretary Tian has organized some people to help. First, get the people and things out, and then help with the reconstruction. I guess your brother and I went to help. Your brother is still there, so I came back first."
"Then I won't help." Lin Heng said. He didn't like to join in the fun.
Father Lin looked at him and said, "I think they might ask us to borrow money. What do you think we should do?"
Lin Heng thought for a moment and said, "If you can help me, I'll help you a little. I won't ask him for interest even if he writes the IOU."
Xiulan also nodded in agreement. Help in emergencies rather than poverty relief is something that should be done.
Father Lin nodded and said, "That's what I mean. If he comes to borrow money, we'll lend him some. If he doesn't come, forget it. Liu Xiancun is an average person, but old man Liu Guangyong is a good person. He has helped our family several times in the past."
After chatting for a while, Lin Heng went down the mountain with his father. He put on a raincoat and rode back to the village to take a look. He could see the collapsed area from a distance.
He didn't look closely, but went home to feed the chickens and ducks, picked some fruits and vegetables, and then took half a pound of Panax notoginseng, sliced it, and ground it into powder with a medicine grinder and sieved it.
After finishing, I packed it up, picked up a few books and returned to Hongfeng Mountain.
Lin Heng handed the Panax notoginseng powder to his mother and said, "Mom, take this half a pound of Panax notoginseng powder. You and my dad can drink some every day. It's good for our health."
"This is the wild Panax notoginseng you dug, right? It's such an expensive thing, why don't you sell it and grind it into powder for us to drink!" Lin's mother took the Panax notoginseng powder and looked distressed.
Lin Heng smiled and waved his hand: "Health is not as important as money. I specially left three pounds for us to eat. I'll get you some more after you finish drinking."
"Just drink it if he gives it to you." said Father Lin.
Mother Lin glared at him and said, "Why waste these good things?"
Lin Heng watched his parents bickering and said, "Mom, this stuff has a shelf life of half a year after it's ground into powder. It will go bad if you don't drink it."
After saying that, he took the fruits and vegetables and went up the mountain. As long as his mother knew that they could not be put away, she would definitely eat them even if she felt sorry for them. He knew his mother too well.
To deal with her, you have to get things done first, otherwise she won't be willing to spend money.
On the mountain, Caiyun was playing checkers with Xiaoxia and Xiulan. This was a high-end checkers game with a chessboard and marbles, which was a gift that Lin Heng bought for Caiyun.
Seeing Lin Heng, Caiyun smiled and waved: "Brother, come and play checkers. The loser will cook later."
"Wait for me to cut a melon and then I'll come." Lin Heng said as he raised the things in his hand.
He went into the house, cut the cantaloupe into small pieces, and took it out. He also made some Panax notoginseng powder and gave it to Caiyun: "Panax notoginseng powder, try it and see how it tastes."
He also kept some for himself.
Caiyun looked at Lin Heng: "Why don't you give it to my sister-in-law?"
"She can't drink Panax notoginseng while she's pregnant. Just eating fruit is enough." Lin Heng picked up a piece of cantaloupe and stuffed it into Xiulan's mouth.
Xiulan glared at him, and if Caiyun hadn't been there, she would have really wanted to bite his finger.
"Then I'll try it. Thank you, second brother." Caiyun smiled brightly, picked up the cup and took a sip, then commented, "It tastes a little bitter, but also a little sweet."
"Auntie, let me try it~" Xiaoxia looked like a greedy little cat.
"Here!" Caiyun fed him a mouthful with a smile.
"Puff, puff, it's so bitter~" Xiaoxia vomited wildly, sticking out her tongue as if she was about to die.
Lin Heng handed her a piece of cantaloupe, and the four of them played checkers for a while. Xiaoxia's competitive spirit was aroused, and she was very unwilling to accept the loss, so she wanted to play again.
Then everyone played for the whole morning, but in the end they all let her win and gave her some tips, which was why she won. But for a three-year-old, this was already very valuable.
It was still raining after lunch. In the afternoon, Lin Heng took Xiongba for a walk around Red Maple Mountain. There were already quite a few mushrooms in the forest.
The most common one here is the tea tree mushroom, also known as the false honey fungus. They grow in large bunches on rotten tree stumps, and Lin Heng’s picking bags are unable to hold some of them.
“Awoooooo~”
He was picking them up when in the distance Xiongba made a wolf-like call.
Lin Heng looked up and saw a hilltop about 300 to 400 meters ahead of him. He walked over and took a look. He immediately became happy: "Okay, okay, I'll go back and get you some meat."
In this piece of woodland, there are many orange-yellow 'small corals' holding up the dead leaves, standing tall in the rain, so beautiful that people can't bear to pick them.
This is a very good coral mushroom, and it tastes perfect when stir-fried with meat.
“Woof woof!”
Xiongba cheered and ran around happily.
After picking up the coral fungi, he went home, mainly because the bag was full of them.
"You got so much." Xiulan said in surprise when she saw Lin Heng coming back with the bag.
"There are a lot of mushrooms on the mountain behind here, and I haven't picked many porcini mushrooms yet." Lin Heng said with a smile.
Xiulan nodded: "We can't finish all of these tonight."
After picking the mushrooms, they made a dish of stir-fried tea tree mushrooms and a dish of stir-fried coral mushrooms with bacon in the evening.
After the four of them finished their meal happily, Caiyun returned to the foot of the mountain. Lin Heng and the other two played for a while and went to bed early when it got dark. They played for a while and fell asleep to the sound of rain.
The next day was already August 10th, and it was still raining, with moderate rain levels.
A small number of belongings were finally rescued from Liu Xiancun's home in the village, and the body of the old man Liu Guangyong was also found.
The funeral was started that day, and people were asked for help everywhere. Lin Heng's mother helped to wash dishes, and his father helped to serve plates.
Borrowing money was inevitable. Liu Xiancun borrowed money from many families in the village. In those days, no one was rich and could borrow very little. Gifts were usually three kilograms of rice and two kilograms of noodles. It was considered good to borrow one or two yuan.
The village party secretary Tian Dongfu came with Lin Heng to his home. After discussion, Lin Heng lent him fifty yuan, and Tian Dongfu witnessed the writing of the IOU.
We only help in emergencies, not in poverty. If you come to borrow money for other reasons, it is absolutely impossible.
The money Lin Heng borrowed was more than any previous loan Liu Xiancun had ever made, and the man was so excited that he almost knelt down.
Because their parents went to help, Lin Heng and Caiyun were the only ones doing the work here today, feeding the cattle, sheep and shrimps.
In the blink of an eye, it was the morning of the 11th. When Lin Heng's family woke up, they were shocked: "Oh my God, there is such a thick fog!"
"It's so dark that you can't see your hand in front of you!" Lin Heng stretched out his hands and found that he couldn't see clearly.
It was the first time Xiaoxia saw such a thick fog. She opened her eyes wide and looked a little dazed. After getting familiar with it, she made all kinds of strange movements in the fog and asked her parents if they could see her.
"But the rain doesn't seem to stop." Xiulan said while washing her face after exercise.
"It's still drizzling, but it should be clear tomorrow." Lin Heng said, looking at the sky. The sky was already blue and the clouds had turned white.
"I hope it will clear up soon." Xiulan said with emotion. She was now hoping that the rain would stop.
After breakfast, Lin Heng called his eldest brother when he returned to his house in the village: "Brother, are you going to the mountains to pick mushrooms today?"
Lin Yue nodded: "Let's go, the rain is not heavy now."
"Well then, I was planning to ask you to go collect bees with me." Lin Heng said, spreading his hands.
Lin Yue quickly said, "That's fine too. I can go back there and pick mushrooms."
"Okay, wait for me and we'll set off." Lin Heng nodded with a smile.
I went back to the house to get some clothes, fed the cows, chickens, ducks and dogs, and then returned to Red Maple Mountain with my eldest brother.
They set off, carrying the fir beehives that had just been made on a rainy day in a backpack and the tools for catching bees.
I was not in a hurry on the way, I picked mushrooms as I walked. There were not many valuable mushrooms at the moment, mostly porcini, tea tree mushrooms and coral mushrooms, and the number of chanterelles was less.
The more valuable ones are Ganoderma lucidum and Pseudo-headed mushrooms, while Matsutake mushrooms are not yet ready to produce mushrooms.
Lin Heng didn’t pick many Ganoderma lucidum this year, as he sold them all last time.
At noon, the fog in the forest was much thinner, and drizzle was still falling. Both of them were picking mushrooms in raincoats.
Lin Heng followed Xiong Ba and occasionally picked up two blue-headed mushrooms and a Ganoderma. His elder brother picked up everything he saw, and by the time he got to the location, his backpack was half full.
After walking for an hour, Lin Heng pointed to a stone step ahead and said, "We've arrived. It's right there in front."
Lin Yue was a little puzzled: "Why can't I see any bees flying away? Is this beehive still there?"
"Let's take a closer look." Lin Heng said a little uncertainly. Sometimes, if someone finds out, they might burn the honey.
Because most people don’t know how to collect honey and are afraid of being stung, they will resort to this simplest and most brutal method.
When he got closer and took a look, Lin Heng felt relieved: "It's just because it rained that we didn't go out. There are still two of them at the door, and there are no signs of fire."
"Then let's get started." Lin Yue nodded, took out the dry pine needles he brought from home, and went to find some pine branches and fresh leaves. He started a fire on the spot, ready to make smoke at any time.
Lin Heng used a hoe to dig the nest little by little, and soon saw the beehive. After seeing the state of the bees, he was a little surprised: "This bee colony has grown a lot stronger than last year, and there are two more honeycombs."
Lin Yue said happily: "That's great, this kind of bee colony will be easy to raise when we get back."
"And I estimate that I can harvest four or five kilograms of honey." Lin Heng said with a smile. This spring honey is so full.
Last year this bee colony was only average, but this year one can tell it is a strong colony just by looking at the densely packed bees.
Suppressing his excitement, Lin Heng began to collect the bees. The bees that had already built nests were much more difficult to collect than the bees that clump together on trees.
As soon as the stones were broken open, many bees flew up, but because it was still raining and very cold, they could not fly high and did not pose much threat.
This is also the reason why he chose to come today.
He took out a small bamboo cage from his pocket. Today he was going to try another way to catch bees, which was to go to the king.
It is not difficult to find the queen bee. It is larger than ordinary bees and other bees will gather around it.
Lin Heng soon found this guy. He was obviously longer than other bees and darker in color.
After finding it, Lin Heng tried to catch it, but it was much bigger than he had imagined, and the bee flew away before he could get close.
After finally getting the bamboo cage close, a bee hit him through his clothes.
“Oh my god!”
He immediately shrank back in pain.
"Do you want me to light a cigarette?" Lin Yue asked quickly.
Lin Heng rolled up his sleeves and took a look. There was a red dot on his forearm. It was so painful that he wanted to burn it all.
"No, I'll try again. It's even harder to see in the smoke." He shook his head.
This time he first smeared some honey on a bamboo basket to attract bees, but when he found that it didn't have much effect, he smeared honey on a small bamboo cage and moved closer to seduce the queen bee.
Just as he got close to his hand, he was stung twice in succession. He gritted his teeth at the back of his mouth. The pain was too painful. A strong colony does have its disadvantages. These bees are too protective of their queen.
He endured the pain and manipulated it carefully. The queen bee seemed to have tasted the honey and drilled in. Lin Heng quickly clamped the bamboo strips and tied the queen bee inside.
Then he placed the small bamboo cage in the bamboo basket, and immediately most of the male bees moved over and surrounded the queen bee.
Lin Heng stuck the bamboo basket into the ground and ran to the side to sort out his wounds.
"The price this time is too high." Lin Heng looked at the three red spots on his arm and shook his head, feeling so painful that he wanted to punch the tree.
"Why don't I do it?" Lin Yue said.
"Goodbye, big brother. It's easier to be covered if you haven't done it before." Lin Heng shook his head. At least he had a hat, so the bees couldn't sting his head and neck.
After applying some cooling oil, he took a dagger and first cut the honey combs, then carefully cut off the honeycombs with the roots, and used the prepared bamboo sticks to pierce them and placed them in the beehive.
The last step is to transfer the queen bee into the cage. He doesn't dare to release the queen bee from the bamboo cage immediately, so he puts the cage in first. After almost all the worker bees are in, he immediately closes the lid, leaving only a small opening to release the queen bee, and then quickly closes the lid to lock all the bees in.
After tying up the beehive with ropes, Lin Heng took a deep breath and said, "Finally it worked. It wasn't in vain that I got stung twice."
"I'll squeeze out the bee venom for you. You're really trying too hard." Lin Yue looked scared. He himself couldn't even stand being stung.
"It's okay. I'm not allergic to bee venom. The pain will go away in a while." Lin Heng smiled and waved his hands. He asked, "Brother, I'm going to go back directly. Are you going to continue picking mushrooms?"
"Then I'll continue picking mushrooms. You be careful when you go back." Lin Yue nodded.
"Okay." Lin Heng nodded, put the beehive into the backpack, and walked back with the harvested honey.
After returning home at around ten o'clock, Lin Heng went straight into the ginseng garden. After a summer of growth, the ginseng and weeds and shrubs now merged into one.
The beehives were placed in the center. He had already built a stone platform half a meter high here, so the beehives would not get wet.
After putting the beehive in place, he did not open the passage for the bees to enter and exit for the time being, letting them stay for a day to get familiar with the environment inside.
"Wife, I was stung badly by a bee this time!"
After releasing the bees and returning home, Lin Heng started complaining from afar.
(End of this chapter)
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