Qiu Xiaohuan didn't want to go. She was exhausted from the autumn harvest and finally had a few days' rest while repairing the house. She was so upset that she found work for herself again. "If you want to go, go ahead. I don't want to eat anything. Even if I do, I can ask the villagers to buy it for me."
Li Lili's family wasn't well off, and she really wanted to get some mountain produce back home, not for herself but to send back home. Perhaps her mother would be happy and send her more money. So she hit Qiu Xiaohuan's soft spot: "Go ahead, go ahead! Maybe the male educated youth are going there too. It would be fun to go together!"
Qiu Xiaohuan was no longer tired when she heard this, and said hypocritically, "Then, then I should not miss the event that everyone is participating in. You guys go out and wait for me for a while. I'll change my clothes and come over."
She liked Yan Xudong and always wanted to talk to him, but Yan Xudong had always been unattainable since he was a child. Being unattainable also had its advantages. At least no girl could get close to him. This time, Qiu Xiaohuan had been with him in Kaoshan Village for nearly twenty days, and the number of times she had been able to talk to him was very few.
During the autumn harvest, she specially sent a pound of sugar to the team leader to switch to Yan Xudong's group, but he was always busy working and ignored her. Even when he talked, it was to those country people. As soon as she got involved, he would stop talking. He was like this in front of others, let alone when they were alone. There was no chance for them to be alone at all.
Niu Feifei curled her lips. Qiu Xiaohuan's feelings for Yan Xudong were obvious to everyone. It was a pity that the flower had feelings but the water was heartless.
When Liu Yanlin went back to ask the male educated youth, he found that they were all very interested in going up the mountain to pick up mountain products and expressed their desire to go.
A group of people waited at the gate of the courtyard for a long time with bamboo baskets on their backs, and Qiu Xiaohuan finally arrived wearing a military uniform and carrying an army green backpack.
Yan Xudong glanced at her and said to the others, "Let's go."
When Qiu Xiaohuan saw her lover's gaze on her, her cheeks instantly flushed. She felt her heart pounding like a deer and her palms were sweating. She was lowering her head and was busy being shy when she suddenly heard "Let's go". She thought he was talking to her, so she quickly agreed and jogged to catch up.
I secretly felt lucky that my skin had gotten a little tan from doing farm work every day recently, otherwise I would have been noticed and blushed.
Liu Yanqing and Liu Yanlin were walking behind. Liu Yanlin whispered in her sister's ear, "Sister, is there something wrong with Qiu Zhiqing?" and pointed to her head.
Liu Yanqing suppressed a laugh and slapped him, "Shut up!"
"After all, who would dress like this to work?" Liu Yanlin muttered softly.
Because these educated youth from the city had never been to the mountains, and they heard that there were snakes and insects everywhere on the North Mountain, and even various ferocious beasts in the deep mountains, Yan Xudong specially went to Wang Songbai's house to find the brother and sister to act as guides.
During the autumn harvest, Wang Songbai and Yan Xudong were in the same group. At first, he had some opinions about this group of educated youth from the city. However, after a few days of getting to know them, he found that although Yan Xudong looked gentle, he was very hardworking. Even when his palms were worn out, he never frowned. He looked like a real man. Then he began to get familiar with him.
This time, Yan Xudong came to him because he wanted to find a local to lead them so that they could get familiar with the area first and then go up the mountain by themselves.
Wang Songbai was responsible for leading several male educated youth, and his sister Wang Songhua led the female educated youth. The group of more than ten people passing through the village was very eye-catching.
When Tian Cai and Luo Xiuyan were carrying soapberries and chestnuts back, they happened to meet these people on the top of the mountain.
After greeting each other, Tian Cai pulled Luo Xiuyan down the mountain. She was in a hurry to wash and soak the soap nuts. There were many steps to make soap, and she had to squeeze in time to do it these days. After all, she still had to store food all over the mountains.
In the morning, Tian Cai took out the soapberries soaked in water, rubbed them, washed them clean, and hung them on the bamboo mat in the yard to dry. After dinner, he openly carried the bamboo basket and went to find Luo Xiuyan.
The two of them have been full of passion these days, as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
After the crooked chestnut tree, they came across a smaller one in a valley. Many of the chestnuts that fell from this tree had been eaten by something, so Tian Cai continued to climb up and knock down the chestnuts. The two of them carried basket after basket back home.
Sometimes he really had to go up and down the mountain several times a day, and Tian Cai couldn't help but sigh that his cellar was too small.
She felt a little addicted. The feeling of having a good harvest every day was amazing! She didn’t feel tired at all!
After loading the chestnuts and drying them in the yard for a day, the prickly, thorny shell will crack open and the chestnuts will fall out with a gentle peel.
The steep slopes south of the village were covered with hazelnut trees, which were picked clean by the villagers at the beginning. Tian Cai led Luo Xiuyan directly into the mountains, and came out that day with a full load of hazelnuts.
Every time they took the path discovered by Tian Cai, they would quietly head home. Otherwise, if Aunt Ding knew how many mountain products they had picked, she would definitely get conjunctivitis.
This woman became much more obedient after being punished by Tian Cai last time. She no longer dared to follow the two men up the mountain. However, this did not stop her from being jealous at home.
"Cai Cai, thanks to you, I have collected much more mountain products this year than my mother and sister-in-law combined! I will make you a pair of cotton shoes later. My mother sews very good soles!" Luo Xiuyan said happily. If Tian Cai had not led her here, she would not have dared to come here at all, and she would not have known that there were so many mountain products in the deep mountains, and no one had picked them!
Tian Cai waved her hand indifferently, but she still didn't hesitate to ask for the cotton shoes. After all, she couldn't afford the cotton shoes from the supply and marketing cooperative.
The two of them helped each other. She was a mushroom lover and only knew a few types of mushrooms. It was only with Luo Xiuyan's help that she realized that mushrooms that looked similar could be divided into so many types.
"This is hazel mushroom. It's delicious when stewed with chicken. The chicken stew with mushrooms we usually eat uses hazel mushrooms." Luo Xiuyan pushed aside a fallen leaf and pointed to the clusters of brown mushrooms underneath. "Don't be fooled by their appearance, but they're delicious. Pick them, dry them, and store them well. You can eat them all winter long."
"This is a horse dung bag. It should be a medicinal herb. My mother said it can stop bleeding." Tian Cai also recognized the thing that Luo Xiuyan pointed to. This thing is indeed a medicinal herb, commonly known as horse dung bag, and its scientific name is puffball. It can reduce swelling, relieve pain, stop bleeding, and treat frostbite. It has different effects when used with different medicines.
Tian Cai squatted down and carefully picked the round bags and put them in the basket, but he accidentally broke one of them.
"This small one is a flower-faced mushroom, and the big one is an oil mushroom. Oil mushrooms grow in large patches. There must be more around here. Let's look for them."
Sure enough, the two found several large oil mushrooms in the grass half a meter apart, and each filled half a basket.
Moreover, she is not afraid of any number of poisonous insects in the mountains. Ever since she put on the insect repellent bag made by Tian Cai, not even insects, let alone snakes, will come near her.
After more than half a month of hard work, the backyard of Tian Cai's family was filled with pecans, hazelnuts, mushrooms, and unpeeled pine cones, while only a small portion was symbolically dried in the front yard.
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