Chapter 50 Chapter 50 Return to the Green Mountains Even the best cook cannot cook without rice...
The air in the morning is always exceptionally fresh, and the sunrise shines through the mist onto the small village.
Zhao Mingsheng stretched and walked out of the house. The moment she stepped into the yard, she felt as if there was something extra under her feet.
It should be said that not only under her feet, but also in the yard, wherever her eyes go, there is "gold" everywhere.
This gold is not that gold.
She held onto the door frame and lifted her right foot tremblingly. The smell of chicken manure from under the embroidered soles of her shoes rushed from the tip of her nose to the top of her head.
Sure enough, she stepped on...
Zhao Mingsheng returned to the house, changed into a new pair of embroidered shoes, and cleaned the dirty embroidered shoes bit by bit.
The water used for washing was not wasted. She used it to wash the yard. After washing it several times, she finally washed away the dirt on the stone slabs. When the midsummer breeze blew, the smell in the yard suddenly became much better.
Although the chicks are cute, it is really hard to clean up the "gold" all over the yard!
The makers of "gold" were humming happily without realizing it. When they saw Zhao Mingsheng had finished cleaning, they were not afraid of strangers and gathered around him, chirping and opening their little mouths to beg for food.
Zhao Mingsheng sighed helplessly, grabbed a handful of millet from a clay pot beside him and scattered it on the ground.
It's not their fault, it's because she didn't provide them with a good home.
While having breakfast, Zhao Mingsheng casually mentioned that he wanted to build a nest for the chicks. Upon hearing this, Zhao's father quickly swallowed the steamed bun in his mouth and volunteered.
"I'll do it, I'll do it!"
Zhao Mingsheng glanced at him suspiciously. A while ago, Cui Ergou accidentally broke the study stool. It had been broken for ages, and Zhao's father hadn't been able to fix it, so he had to ask Aunt Wang's husband to help.
Father Zhao was deeply hurt by his daughter's gaze. He patted his chest and assured her:
"Just leave it to me, girl! I can definitely build something as simple as a chicken coop before dark!"
Since Zhao's father said so, Zhao Mingsheng had no choice but to give him full authority to build the chicken coop.
Last night, Aunt Wang suddenly came to the Zhao family's door.
"Girl, we're going into the mountains to pick fruits tomorrow. Do you want to go?"
Zhao Mingsheng was stunned for a moment: "Green fruit?"
"Look at my memory." Aunt Wang slapped her forehead and said, "I almost forgot you just returned to our village."
She explained with a smile, "Every household in Qingshan Village makes green wine. Green fruit is one of the raw materials for making green wine, and now is the season when green fruit is ripe."
Zhao Mingsheng had no interest in fresh fruits, and her family didn't make wine. Just as she was about to decline Aunt Wang's kindness, she suddenly remembered something and asked:
"Aunt Wang, where are you going to pick fruits?"
Aunt Wang pointed to the mountains in the distance. "It's a bit far. We have to climb over this mountain and then walk deeper into the mountain for half a day. The round trip will take two or three days at the fastest, and four or five days at the slowest."
When Zhao Mingsheng heard they were heading deep into the mountains, her eyes lit up. While she wasn't interested in the green fruit, she was interested in the droppings of the orange-footed flying squirrels... deep in the mountains!
The prescription given by Zhao's father was missing only this last ingredient: the feces of the cold-worm.
Zhao's father's old leg injury recently recurred, so he couldn't take Zhao Mingsheng into the mountains to look for the orange-footed flying squirrel. If he let her go into the mountains alone, Zhao's father would be even more worried.
Because the deeper you go into the mountains, the more dangers there are. Even if you are lucky enough not to encounter any danger, you may still get lost in the mountains. Even many experienced people get lost deep in the mountains.
Therefore, Zhao's father never agreed to let Zhao Mingsheng look for the cicada feces.
She thought to herself, now that she followed the villagers into the mountains, her father would be relieved, right?
Sure enough, after Zhao Mingsheng's repeated requests, Zhao's father finally agreed.
"Then I'm leaving!"
After breakfast, Zhao Mingsheng said goodbye to his family, carrying the backpack he had packed last night.
Zhao's father was busy studying how to build a chicken coop. When he heard Zhao Mingsheng's words, he ran into the pharmacy and came out with a cloth bag in his hand. When he opened it, he saw a bunch of emergency medicine inside.
"Take these with you."
Zhao Mingsheng took the heavy cloth bag and opened it. Inside was a bunch of emergency medicines for healing wounds, as well as some powder to repel snakes and insects.
It should have been made by Zhao's father overnight.
Zhao Mingsheng was so moved that she was speechless. However, her father buried his head in his chicken coop again and waved at her without even looking up. "Let's go, be safe and come back soon."
Zhao Mingsheng, carrying a bamboo basket, arrived at the village entrance to meet up with Aunt Wang and the others. There were indeed many people with them, both men and women, but most of them were young and middle-aged.
There was only one person who looked a little older. Everyone around him respectfully called him Uncle Cao. It seemed that he had a high seniority in Qingshan Village.
Zhao Mingsheng only learned from Aunt Wang that Uncle Cao grew up in Qingshan Village and had been running around in the mountains since he was a child. He was always there when they went to pick fruits every year, and no one was more familiar with the route to pick fruits than him.
Although his temples were a little gray, his movements were no less agile than those young men.
The group chatted and laughed along the way, and the atmosphere was quite relaxed and cheerful. However, this pleasant atmosphere suddenly changed when they reached the foot of the mountain.
The reason was a dispute over who would lead the team.
"It would be meaningless for everyone if I were to lead the team."
Uncle Cao jumped onto a big rock nimbly and spoke in his broad and loud voice.
He held his head high and chest out, like a brave and selfless leader.
It's just that this leader is getting old and is increasingly unable to convince the crowd...
The young leader followed closely behind, having long coveted his position. This time, he finally lost his patience and deliberately raised a questioning voice.
"Uncle Cao, can you do it? Don't let it be like last year." Sun Jia Dalang shouted loudly in the crowd.
What happened last year? Zhao Mingsheng looked at Aunt Wang suspiciously, and saw that her expression also froze for a moment.
It wouldn't matter if the young man didn't mention it, but when he mentioned it, everyone remembered that last year when Uncle Cao was leading a team and they were walking on a winding mountain road, the soil under someone's feet slipped, and he missed a step and fell down with the soil.
Fortunately, no one was killed in the end, but he broke his leg and now walks with a limp, so he didn't come to pick the fruits this time.
"The road we took last time caused Da Niu to break his leg, and it hasn't healed yet..." someone echoed in a low voice with a sympathetic look.
"Uncle Cao is old, how can we blame him?" Some people said that they did not blame Uncle Cao, but in their hearts they agreed that he was dying.
More and more people began to talk about it. They respected Uncle Cao. Having the experienced Uncle Cao in the team was more like a reassurance to them.
But what happened last year was like a thorn in their hearts, stuck there. Whenever someone brought it up, they felt a dull pain in their throats.
"you......"
Uncle Cao's mouth twitched slightly, and he wanted to say something but ultimately fell silent.
This time last year, there was a lot of rain, which softened the soil on the mountain and caused a small landslide.
But he was also careless. He knew that there might be a landslide due to heavy rain, but at that time he looked at the dry road surface and thought that there was nothing to worry about, so he didn't think too much about it.
If he had chosen another path, would this have happened?
Whenever he dreamed of the same scene in the middle of the night and woke himself up, he would ask himself this question.
He felt that he had an unshirkable responsibility for this. After a long silence, Uncle Cao stepped down from the stone and spoke.
"Okay, I won't be the leader anymore. You guys pick someone else." His voice sounded a little lonely, far less energetic than at the beginning.
After some recommendations, the young leader successfully emerged.
It was the Sun Dalang from before.
Live by the mountain, live by the water. Most families in Qingshan Village earn some extra income from the mountains besides farming to support their families.
Sun Dalang had been following his family in the mountains since he was young, and had accumulated a lot of skills, especially knowing the way. So it was natural for him to be recommended.
At this moment, his face was full of smugness, and he shouted loudly: "Everyone follow me! We are leaving!"
After saying this, Sun Dalang walked in front with his chest puffed out, like a rooster that had won a fight.
Zhao Mingsheng quickly lowered his head and followed their pace.
Zhao Mingsheng secretly glanced at Uncle Cao. He had a dejected look on his face and walked silently at the end, as if he had been left behind by the crowd.
Zhao Mingsheng fell two steps behind. She opened her mouth and was about to say something when Aunt Wang tugged at her sleeve, "Hurry up and catch up with everyone."
Zhao Mingsheng had no choice but to give up, swallowed the words he hadn't said, lowered his head and followed everyone's pace.
Apart from the small incident at the beginning, the atmosphere was quite harmonious during the rest of the process.
After all, we are all from the same village and are neighbors. If someone slips or trips because he is not paying attention to the road, someone will immediately pull him up and lend a hand.
Zhao Mingsheng also found many herbs growing well on the roadside. She memorized them one by one and planned to pick them when she came back.
This harmonious atmosphere was disturbed again at noon.
"Sun, Sun Dalang!" Aunt Wang panted, "Can you please walk slower? I can't keep up."
As soon as he said this, Sun Dalang turned around and stared at Aunt Wang, asking, "Am I walking fast?"
He glanced at the sun, his tone unconsciously impatient: "According to the plan, we should have almost reached the top of the mountain by now, but we are only halfway up the mountain!"
"Let's rest for a while before we go." Zhao Mingsheng suggested to him.
She had noticed that Aunt Wang was breathing heavily, so she silently supported her arm and shared some of the weight, but it still didn't work because Aunt Wang had consumed too much energy.
She looked around and saw that there were many people in this situation, but they all gritted their teeth and endured it.
"But the plan..."
"We need to rest!"
Zhao Mingsheng's tone was serious and firm. She looked into his eyes without flinching. She didn't care about the plan. She just knew that if they didn't rest, Aunt Wang and the others would not be able to hold on.
"That's right."
Sun Dalang was defeated by her gaze, "Okay, okay, then let's rest there and get something to eat." He pointed to a slightly flat open space not far away.
After making all these arrangements, he muttered softly, "Women are trouble."
Zhao Mingsheng: ...
Was he blind? Couldn't he see that many young and middle-aged people breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that they could finally rest?
For the first time, Zhao Mingsheng rolled her eyes without regard for etiquette. Forget it, she couldn't wake up a person who was pretending to be blind.
Zhao Mingsheng helped Aunt Wang sit down on the stone.
"Drink some water and take a rest." She fetched some water from the stream and handed it to Aunt Wang.
After drinking some water, Aunt Wang finally felt better after a while.
"My daughter, thank you so much this time!" Aunt Wang patted the back of Zhao Mingsheng's hand gratefully. If it weren't for Zhao Mingsheng, she might have lost her life here.
As she was taking pictures, she suddenly started to think again.
"I'm not usually this exhausted," she asked, puzzled. "Why am I running out of energy so quickly today? I wasn't this tired last year."
There were about seventeen or eighteen people in the group this time, and there were four or five strong women like her who usually helped in the fields. They were all veterans who had picked fresh fruits last year. At this moment, they were also very tired and sighed one by one.
Of course, people with thin arms and legs like Zhao Mingsheng are an exception, but Aunt Wang brought her along after seeing her strength.
"It's because of the unstable pace." A deep voice answered for her.
"If your pace gets messed up, your breathing will naturally get messed up too. If your breathing gets messed up, your energy consumption will be huge."
Aunt Wang slapped her head and said excitedly, "That's right! Whenever Sun Dalang walks fast, I rush to catch up. But when I catch up, he slows down again. If I keep doing this, I'll be exhausted."
She actually noticed something, but she couldn't figure out the key point. Plus, she thought she was the only one in this situation, so she was too embarrassed to speak up until she couldn't help it.
At first glance, everyone seemed to have the same problem. That must be Sun Dalang's problem. The young man was still inexperienced and couldn't keep his pace!
She was just about to praise who was so smart when she suddenly thought of the problem. As a result, when she turned around, she saw Uncle Cao standing with his hands behind his back, looking at them with a smile.
"Uncle Cao... Uncle Cao." Aunt Wang called out with some stammering. After all, it was not fair for them to choose another team leader before.
Zhao Mingsheng followed suit and called out, "Hello, Uncle Cao."
But it caused the people in front of him to burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, girl, based on seniority, you should call me grandpa."
Zhao Mingsheng took it calmly and called out obediently, "Hello, Grandpa Cao."
Uncle Cao nodded in satisfaction. "I heard that you are a good cook, can you cook a meal for grandpa?"
"I'm afraid that won't work..."
This made Zhao Mingsheng feel a little embarrassed. A good cook cannot cook without rice, but there is not even a pot in this desolate wilderness. How can she cook?
As if he had guessed what she was thinking, Uncle Cao pulled out an iron pot from behind his back like a magic trick.
Zhao Mingsheng: ???
My goodness, this pot looks like it weighs at least 7 or 8 kilograms. I really don't know how he could carry such a heavy pot for such a long time without getting red in the face or out of breath. His physical fitness is better than those young and middle-aged people.
There was a hint of admiration in Zhao Mingsheng's eyes when he looked at him.
"Is it okay now?" Uncle Cao grinned, "I'm old now, and I like to eat something warm."
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