Chapter 43 The Snake Brother is Discovered
Li Jianbin and Jiang Zhen believed that since they were already here, they would devote themselves more to Xia Wu's career than to his own.
Every day she would get up early and go to Xia Wu's house to have a buffalo milk breakfast. After breakfast, she would take a stroll in the village. Jiang Zhen would occasionally help pick strawberries, and she would eat a small portion of them herself.
When the sun came out, the couple put on their windbreakers, were fully equipped, and went up the mountain with instruments and drawings.
During the days when Xia Wu was filming the video, he didn't have time to accompany them up the mountain, so Yang Guojun accompanied them instead.
Yantou Mountain is neither big nor small, but many places are overgrown with weeds. Fortunately, it is winter now and there are few traces of snakes. If it were in other seasons, they would probably have to alert the snakes before going up the mountain.
Soon, the professional Li Jianbin and Jiang Zhen had a general idea of the mountain and were almost done with the drawing.
Xia Wu wanted to transplant fruit trees in winter. Deciduous fruit trees like peach, plum and apricot happened to have a higher survival rate when transplanted in winter. After planning the planting area, Xia Wu started thinking of ways to buy fruit trees.
Previously, a group member [Xue Pan] gave her some advice, saying that there was a kind of blood peach in their hometown that was very delicious, and strongly recommended that Xia Wu plant some on the mountain.
Xia Wu has looked up a lot of information. Blood peach is a relatively special variety of peach, also called cinnabar red peach or Chinese blood peach. Its appearance is dark red, and the flesh and juice inside are bright red. It has a high nutritional value.
The main nutritional values include iron supplementation, blood nourishment, anti-oxidation and mineral supplementation.
Blood peaches have strong adaptability and a unique taste. They are crisp and sweet when they first mature. When the outside is not particularly red, you can take a bite and the inside is also red. After they mature, the inside gradually softens and the color turns dark red.
Xia Wu added Xue Pan's WeChat in the group and quickly connected. She got straight to the point and asked, "I'm planning to plant some of those blood peaches you mentioned last time on the mountain. Do you have any channels that sell seedlings? Could you please contact them for me?"
Xue Pan did not disappoint her: "That's great! I asked my relatives in my hometown to help inquire about it before. There are many blood peaches growing in our area. The price is related to the age of the seedlings. One-year-old seedlings can be bought for less than five yuan, and the older they are, the more expensive they are. Especially the blood peach variety, it takes three or four years to bloom and bear fruit. I suggest you buy five-year-old seedlings. If you transplant them properly this year, they will bloom and bear fruit by next spring and summer and you will be able to reap profits."
Every time [Xue Pan] could give relatively pertinent suggestions. Xia Wu had done her homework in advance and knew that this was indeed the case. She also planned to buy five-year-old saplings.
"Okay, what's the price of five-year-old saplings? Please ask for me. I want to buy 100."
"I'll go ask for you now, and let you know as soon as I have any news."
In addition to blood peaches, Xia Wu also plans to plant some juicy peaches. After all, peaches are a fruit that appeals to both hard and soft tastes, and Xia Wu really likes the taste of juicy peaches.
Last time she asked her family, the three men didn't know much about fruits and answered that they were all edible, but Liu Guizhen said she liked to eat peaches.
After comprehensive consideration, Xia Wu decided to plant 100 peach trees of each type.
In addition to peaches, there are also plums, apricots, plums, and pears. These fruits are quite common and their audience is not particularly wide, but in order to provide nectar for bees, Xia Wu plans to plant fifty of each of the four types of fruit trees.
Yang Guojun said that there is a kind of apricot in Donghua Town called Sun Apricot. The flesh is golden yellow, delicate and soft, juicy and sweet. There are some orchards locally, and he happens to know someone who grows Sun Apricots.
So Xia Wu left the task of buying the sun apricot seedlings to his father.
As for plums, Xia Wu plans to plant medium-ripening varieties, for fear that the ripening periods of peaches, plums, apricots and pears will coincide and he will be too busy.
Finally, she decided to buy saplings of honey plums, which usually mature between late June and early July.
There were no honey plum trees planted in their area, so Xia Wu could only buy them online. Finally, a friend in her group recommended that she go to a specialized agricultural website to buy them.
After all, it is an official website, with fair prices and open channels, so there is no need to worry about getting the wrong product after all the hard work.
As soon as Xia Wu entered the agricultural network, it was like a mouse entering a rice jar.
This is a communication platform specially prepared by the government for rural residents. It usually publishes some animal and plant breeding and planting experiences, international agricultural and sideline product price trends, and some national policies.
There are also many people in the Rural Affairs Forum. After registering and logging in, you can accumulate points to post. Xia Wu accumulated 20 points by browsing posts and liking them in the forum, and then quickly started a post.
[Location: Donghua Town, Tong City, looking to buy 50 five-year-old honey plum trees, price negotiable]
Xia Wu's account ID is still [Xia Xia from the Mountains]. After posting, she waited for a few minutes, refreshing the page again and again, but no one replied.
Xia Wu had no choice but to divert his attention and look for suitable pear varieties on the Sannong website.
There are more varieties of pears, and each one has a different taste. Xia Wu was almost dazzled by the choices. At a glance, he saw a red post.
[International blueberry prices are rising. When will domestic blueberry prices come down?]
I clicked on it and saw a lot of replies from rural people all over the country. Blueberries are primarily produced overseas. China has actually introduced blueberry cultivation a long time ago, but there's little experience, and the growing areas are limited. The taste may not be as good as foreign blueberries, and the price can't be raised. Management and harvesting costs are too high, and even after three to five years of planting, you might not even be able to recoup your costs.
A good post turned into a complaining conference, with some people venting their emotions in the post, saying that they had no idea why they set up a blueberry planting base a few years ago, and now not only is the whole family suffering from it, but they have also lost money.
"These are six-year-old blueberry seedlings. If anyone wants to take them over, please contact me privately. They're sold cheaply."
You can post in the forum. This poor blueberry grower posted a photo of the blueberry seedlings in his greenhouse. It looks like there are a lot of fruits, which is quite pleasing.
Blueberries are good things. Xia Wu thought about it and realized that his own mountain was so big that he didn't have to worry about planting more blueberries.
So she sent a private message to the unfortunate man named Pang Dafu, "Hello, what's the price of six-year-old blueberry seedlings? Can you send them to Tong City by express?"
The surprises on the Sannong website are more than just that. After spending an afternoon browsing, Xia Wu learned about the cultivation of various rare plants. In addition to fruit trees, many people also grow vegetables and flowers. As long as it can be grown in soil or water, it can be found here.
The breeding area is even more amazing. Chickens, ducks and geese are a piece of cake. Some people even raise crocodiles and deer...
The variety of things made Xia Wu linger.
She was browsing the website in front of the computer when Li Jianbin, Jiang Zhen and Yang Guojun returned from Yantou Mountain.
"I've never seen such a big snake before, nor have I heard anyone in the village mention it. It shouldn't be possible. Snakes hibernate in winter, so why is it still lying in the mountains?"
"Luckily it was a non-venomous snake, it really scared me to death!"
When Xia Wu heard the voice, he was moved and hurriedly asked about the situation.
"What's wrong? Is there a snake on the mountain?"
Jiang Zhen's face was pale, and she hadn't completely calmed down from the shock.
After all, she was the first one to see the snake, and Jiang Zhen was very afraid of soft-bodied animals like snakes. She was so scared that her throat was almost broken. Li Jianbin rushed over first and saw it too.
He gestured with his hands, "This is such a big snake, it must be a python, right? My God, I've never seen anything this big before. You really have such a great place here."
Xia Wu made some honey tea for Jiang Zhen and patted her back gently to comfort her. She was certain in her heart that the big guy on the mountain must be the snake brother who appeared in front of her window at night.
"Actually, there's no need to be afraid. It's a rat snake, not poisonous. Wherever it is, at least the entire mountain is free of poisonous snakes!"
Yang Guojun's words confirmed Xia Wu's guess.
"It's okay. The drawing is almost done. You don't have to keep going up the mountain. I'll have people start weeding, clearing the land, and digging tree pits these days. I think the fruit tree seedlings will arrive soon."
Jiang Zhen gradually recovered from his shock and asked, "Have you found the saplings?"
Xia Wu nodded. "Yes, the people in our group are quite capable. They can answer any question you ask. Xue Pan said he wanted to buy peach saplings from his family. I've also found channels for other saplings."
Li Jianbin: "Then we should leave soon. We've been here for so long and have finished our work. If we don't leave now, the snow might make it even harder to travel."
All good things must come to an end. Despite this, Xia Wu tried her best to keep them, but Li Jianbin and his wife were determined to leave, so she had no choice but to invite them to meet next time.
"You must come back next year. I think the harvest will start on the mountain after May. I will let you enjoy a feast then."
"Don't worry, you don't have to tell us that we will definitely come again!"
Li Jianbin also told Yang Guofeng that they would be leaving Yanggou Village soon, and reminded him that there was a big snake on the mountain, so he asked the villagers to be careful when going up the mountain.
Yang Guofeng thought that the big snake had scared them away, and he was determined to arrest the rat snake that didn't hibernate and give them an explanation.
Li Jianbin was at a loss for words and could only say that the couple had originally planned a trip before the New Year and had to leave, but they would definitely come back next year.
Before they left, Xia Wu's family prepared a table of delicious food and gave Li Jianbin money for the design of the duo act. They could not resist Xia Wu's insistence and accepted the 6,000 yuan.
Before leaving, they brought back a lot of local specialties in large and small bags.
Xia Wu prepared a jar of strawberry honey for them, weighing about five kilograms.
I also packed another five kilograms, put it in a jar, and sent it to Ma Fangzhou.
"Okay, you don't have to see me off, we're leaving!"
Li Jianbin was driving, and Jiang Zhen was waving goodbye to everyone in the back seat. Xia Wu waved vigorously, "Drive slowly, and we must come again next year!"
Until the car gradually drove away, the people who came to see it off slowly dispersed.
According to the drawings drawn by Li Jianbin and Jiang Zhen, Xia Wu is going to start planting trees on the mountain, and he will have to find help from the village.
This was what I had agreed upon with Yang Guofeng.
Xia Wu has put the village's winter bamboo shoots and wild fungus on the shelves for a few days now, and has sold at least a thousand kilograms of winter bamboo shoots and dozens of kilograms of wild fungus.
The villagers made a small profit, and Xia Wu negotiated the express price with the express station again, and finally got it down to 50% off.
Yang Guofeng was convinced by Xia Wu and naturally spared no effort to help her.
What's more, Xia Wu hired people to go up the mountain to open up wasteland and dig holes, and he didn't do it without paying.
"This time I'm going up the mountain, I have to catch that rat snake. Why would I come to your little hill instead of staying in Zimu Mountain?"
Yang Guofeng always felt that Jiang Zhen and his wife were scared away by a rat snake.
No matter how big the snake is, it probably can't resist so many people wanting to catch it.
Xia Wu was a little worried about the big snake. After all, he had been feeding it for so long, and the snake brother didn't have any bad intentions. He just wanted to drink some spiritual spring water, so he didn't hibernate for this.
Snakes hibernate. How can a snake go against its nature just to drink a few sips of water?
Anyway, Xia Wu decided to have a chat with Brother Snake at night.
At 2:50 in the morning, Brother Snake arrived as promised. Xia Wu didn't even need an alarm clock. She woke up on time at this time. She turned on the light and opened the curtains and saw a big snake with its neck tilted back and its tongue hanging out, waiting for her to feed it.
It’s no wonder Jiang Zhen was so scared by such a big snake.
Xia Wu poured spiritual spring water into the dish specially used by Brother Snake, opened the window, and placed the dish in front of it.
"Brother Snake," Xia Wu called it softly, but then she thought, that's not right. How could she be sure that this was a brother snake and not a sister snake? How could she determine the gender of a snake?
But this is not the point, it’s not important.
Xia Wu shook his head to get rid of his messy thoughts.
The big snake stopped drinking water quite humanly when she called it, and looked up at Xia Wu. It was quite stimulating to be stared at by the snake's eyes.
Xia Wu cleared his throat and continued, "Look at you, why aren't you hibernating? A friend of mine saw you on the mountain the day before yesterday and was scared. I'm going to dig holes and plant trees on the mountain, so a lot of people will have to go up there. Why don't you hibernate to avoid being caught and made into soup? It's not easy for you to grow up like this, isn't it?"
The big snake tilted its head and spit out its tongue, not knowing whether it understood or not.
"Be good, come back in the spring, and I'll feed you again, okay?"
The big snake just kept hissing and spitting out its tongue.
Suddenly, he heard footsteps in the yard. He thought someone was getting up to go to the bathroom at night. Xia Wu quickly turned off the lights, fearing that someone would see the big snake in front of the window.
"Brother Snake, finish your drink and leave quickly. Remember not to come back tomorrow. Come back in the spring!"
Xia Wu turned off the lights in time and no one noticed that a snake had been on her windowsill. Five minutes later, when Xia Wu brought the plate into the house, the big snake had finished drinking and run away.
After more than a month, Bugs Bunny still hasn't adapted to living with his terrifying natural enemy. Even just ten minutes is enough to scare him to death.
Xia Wu crawled into the bed, coiled up around Bugs Bunny and tried to comfort him, only then did the little rabbit stop trembling.
Not long after, Xia Wu fell into a sweet dream again.
The next day, those who were supposed to pick strawberries continued to pick strawberries. Yang Guofeng found six people in the village, four men and two women, all of whom were considered young and strong in the village and good at work. They brought their own farm tools and went up the mountain to weed and clear the land, and then dig tree pits.
Considering the ecological environment on the mountain, Xia Wu rejected the proposal of spraying pesticides to remove weeds, and could only rely on manual labor to remove weeds and bushes.
Xia Wu followed Brother Snake up the mountain, fearing that Brother Snake had not listened to her last night. If he appeared in front of people today, no one would be afraid of his big size.
Everyone in the village is a ruthless person. When they heard that there was a rat snake more than two meters long on the mountain, they were eager to catch it. If they sold it to a restaurant in town, they could make at least a few thousand dollars.
After hearing this, Xia Wu was worried about Brother Snake.
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