Chapter 20 It Takes a Village
It is difficult to walk in this mixed forest. Ferns, raspberries, sea buckthorns, and many unknown shrubs and vines are entangled with each other. If you are not careful, you will get caught by the thorns.
The raspberries were bright red and the sea buckthorns were golden yellow. Su Ying picked a few raspberries to quench her thirst.
"Aying, why are you eating random things? Be careful, they might be poisonous!" Su Boyan was so scared that he dared to eat something he didn't know.
"Brother, this is raspberry, also known as prickly pear, it is delicious, sour and sweet, especially thirst-quenching! Try it." He handed a few to his brother.
"Is it really edible?" Su Boyan looked at the juicy raspberries, and his mouth felt sour. He wanted to eat them but didn't dare to.
"Brother, feel free to eat it. The girl is right. This is edible!" Hu Zi said as he picked a big and plump one and put it in his mouth.
Seeing this, Su Boyan also tried to take one and put it in his mouth. He chewed it gently, and the sweet and sour juice filled his mouth. It was sour and sweet, and very thirst-quenching.
"It's really delicious. I'll pick some when I go back. Xiaotao will definitely like it." Su Boyan smiled as he ate wild fruits in the mountains for the first time.
"Well, let's pick some sea buckthorns too." Su Ying pointed to the golden wild fruits with thorns.
"Can this be eaten?" Su Boyan's cognition was broken.
"There are a lot of wild fruits on the mountain, and there's a lot to eat. Although there are many ferocious beasts in such a mountain, people won't starve to death easily." Su Ying said with a smile.
"Aying, you are really amazing. The books you read are so useful!" Su Boyan was convinced.
"What's so amazing about that? When people are extremely hungry, they will eat poisonous food. This is something our ancestors learned by sacrificing their lives."
Su Ying pointed at the dried ferns and said, "This is called mountain fern. It's the tender shoots that grow in the spring. They're very tender and can be eaten."
"I went to the southern mountain, talking about picking ferns; but I had not seen the gentleman, and I was worried. Now that I have seen him, and now that I have met him, my heart is at peace." Su Boyan recited "The Book of Songs. Zhaonan. Grass Insects".
"Yes, that's what I'm talking about. Our ancestors have been eating it for a long time." Su Ying nodded. "This kind of fern can be found everywhere on the hillsides in the countryside."
Bracken is picked in spring from March to May. The tenderer the better. If the top is curled and loose like a fist, it is not worth picking.
"Girl, do you know all this?" Hu Zi realized that Su Ying was also knowledgeable and it was not just about knowing a few words.
"Everyone in the countryside knows about it, so what's so strange about it?" Su Ying said with a smile.
"Then why doesn't brother know?" Hu Zi was curious.
"My brother studies in college and seldom goes to the countryside, so naturally he knows little." The original owner often went to the countryside with his father to interact with farmers.
"Oh, no wonder!" Hu Zi suddenly realized, "When food is scarce in the spring, every household in the village goes up the mountain to pick bracken."
"Not only the young shoots of fern are edible, but the rhizomes underneath are also edible!" Su Ying's eyes lit up as she looked at a large area of wild fern.
"How can you eat the rhizome? You can't even chew it." Hu Zi disagreed.
"I didn't ask you to chew it. I asked you to mash the rhizomes and squeeze out the juice inside. The fern root powder after sedimentation and drying can be stored as food, used in cooking, or used as food!" Su Ying scratched Hu Zi's little nose.
"Ah? Really?" Hu Zi's eyes widened and he cried out in pain, "Oh, what a pity! So many fern roots, and so much food was thrown away in vain!"
During the lean season between spring and summer, I was so hungry every day I felt dizzy and dizzy. It was such a miserable feeling! I had no idea that I didn't have to starve.
The child couldn't keep things secret, so he didn't say much at the moment and hurried forward in a hurry, wanting to finish the work quickly and go back to tell his family.
"Hu Zi, slow down. Be careful not to get scratched on the face by the thorns! These fern roots are everywhere in the mountains. You can't run away. Don't worry." Su Ying was amused and told Hu Zi to be careful.
"Ah? Girl, you know?" Hu Zi was surprised that Su Ying could see through his thoughts and felt a little guilty.
"I would be just as anxious if I were in your shoes! No one wants to go hungry!" Su Ying felt that children were the most innocent, and everything was written on their faces.
"Don't worry, there are so many things to eat. I will teach you one by one when we get back. From now on, you will never have to go hungry again!" Su Ying said with a smile while holding Hu Zi's hand.
"Really? Girl! What else can we eat?" Hu Zi couldn't wait any longer when he heard that.
"Kudzu! That's a better treasure than fern roots. The whole tree is a treasure. The bark can be used to weave kudzu cloth, and the roots, stems, leaves, and flowers are all medicinal. The roots are not only medicinal, but like wild bracken, they can also be processed into powder and eaten as food."
"Really? Really?" Hu Zi was about to jump up, pulling Su Ying to walk faster, urging, "Come on, girl, hurry up! Hurry!"
"Slow down!" Su Boyan was struggling to catch up, but the thorny vines kept getting him hooked.
He was also very excited when he heard this. They didn't have to go into the mountains. Fern root powder and kudzu root powder alone could solve their food shortage for the past few months.
"Who grows these ramie?" Su Ying saw a lot of ramie among the vines.
"Wild ones, there are plenty of them. And the kudzu vines you mentioned are everywhere around the village, so they're not rare." Hu Zi said, "Would you like to catch some when we get back?"
I didn't expect that such an inconspicuous thing could have such a big effect, but it was ignored by everyone. It deserves to starve. Hu Zi felt sick when he thought about how he had been hungry for so many years!
"Let's talk about it later!" Without any tools, it would be difficult for several people to pry it apart with their hands, and they also had to be careful not to get hooked by the thorns and scratch their faces.
We walked for another half an hour while chatting and laughing, and finally walked out of this difficult and thorny place. What came into view was a large bare stone mountain.
"We've arrived at Qingshi Mountain." Hu Zi wiped the sweat off his face and pointed in front of him.
It's a long, bare patch that doesn't fit in among the mountains, just squeezed in abruptly in the middle.
Su Ying thought it was a small hill, but it turned out to be a whole mountain. Only a small part of the mountain was covered with green vegetation, and most of it was bare.
"We come here to make slate, floor tiles, and burn lime," Hu Zi introduced.
The surface of bluestone is actually grayish white, and its main component is limestone, which is the main component of burning lime and cement, and is also a solvent for iron and steel smelting.
This bluestone mountain is hidden in the deep mountains and is unknown to the world.
At that time, the demand for lime was small, the iron smelting technology was backward, and the amount of bluestone mined was small, so this bluestone from the deep mountains was preserved intact.
"Where is the lime kiln in our village?" Su Ying looked around but couldn't find it.
"Follow me, girl!" Hu Zi took Su Ying to a slope at a corner.
A small kiln was dug on the slope according to the terrain. Most of the ancient lime kilns were built on the hillside.
Dig a hole about ten meters deep and six or seven meters wide from the slope, build a furnace with bricks or stones, make a material pool on top, and then cover it with a rainproof shed, and a simple lime kiln is built.
This traditional, ancient open-air lime kiln has primitive and extensive technology, high energy consumption and low input-output ratio.
During the production process, it not only pollutes the environment, but also causes serious damage to the health of producers.
There is a shack not far away, which is the temporary residence of the kiln workers. It has been vacant for a long time. After being exposed to wind and sun, the thatch has rotted and fallen off, leaving only a frame made of branches.
Don’t underestimate this small kiln. It took the efforts of the entire village and took a lot of time and effort to build.
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