The leisurely life of farmers in mountain villages

Chapter 12
Before it fell into ambush, the weather was already unbearably hot.After breakfast, Wang Shaodong felt that it was unbearably hot at home, so he decided to find a place to cool off at Wujiayuzi in Nanshan.

Taohualing Village is surrounded by mountains in the east, west and south, and faces a small river in the north, which is the source of the Mowen River, a tributary of the Wen River.

The surrounding mountains, commonly known by the villagers of Taohualing Village, are East SX Mountain and Nanshan Mountain. In fact, on the map of Luzhong City, this continuous mountain range belongs to the Lianhua Mountain Range, which is a branch of the Taishan Mountain Range.Among them, the Nanshan Mountain is steep, and there is a cliff with a drop of more than [-] meters on the mountain. The local people call it Yanwangzi.Weeds are overgrown at the bottom of the cliff, and there is a mountain spring flowing from the cracks in the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. Even in the hot weather, the mountain spring is very cool, and it is definitely a good place to escape the heat.

In the previous life, every summer vacation, Wang Shaodong often went to the shade of the mountain spring to cool off.With a novel in my arms, lying on the smooth stone in the shade under the cliff, drinking a sip of mountain spring water when I was thirsty, and gathering a pile of sweet potatoes roasted by a campfire when I was hungry, I just wanted to be happy.

Yan Wang's nose is three miles away from Wang's chicken farm, because the three miles of mountain roads are not easy to walk, so even if it is such a good summer resort, in the midsummer season, few villagers in Taohualing Village are keen on this place .

The male laborers in the village are busy going out to work to earn money to support their families, while the women take care of the housework and take care of the children, so the people who can go to Taohualing Village, the best summer resort in hot weather, are idlers like Wang Shaodong.

Taohualing Village has a small population, and there are only three people of the same age as Wang Shaodong, namely Zheng Hui, Zheng Tao, and Ma Lili.And Zheng Hui and Zheng Tao went to the south to work after graduating from junior high school. As for Ma Lili, it is not appropriate to invite her to Yan Wang's nose to enjoy the coolness, so after eating in the morning, Wang Shaodong planned to go to that previous life alone. It has been a summer resort countless times.

On the way, Wang Shaodong saw many newly dead sparrows, turtledoves and pigeons on the side of the road, and he felt uneasy. He knew that the bird flu was probably not far from Taohualing Village.And next, whether the He Jiaqing family can escape this natural disaster can only be resigned to fate.

After walking less than 200 meters, just entering the mountain road, Wang Shaodong was already hot and sweaty all over his body.

I didn't bring water with me, because after arriving at the foot of the mountain, there will be many mountain springs on the side of the mountain road.

These mountain springs will become active during the rainy season in July. The cold spring water flows out from the cracks in the stones and gathers into a small stream on the side of the mountain road.The creeks in several ravines finally flowed into the source of the Mowen River.

Among the dozen or so mountain springs in total, the one under the Yan Wangzi cliff has the largest water flow and the largest spring eye, so the people in Taohualing Village call it the "Old Spring".

Except for the old spring, all other mountain springs will stop flowing after the dry season, but only the old spring will flow continuously in all seasons.

In the season of July, the creatures on the mountain began to be active. After entering the mountain, Wang Shaodong planned to replenish some water in the nearest mountain spring, but before he reached the edge of the mountain spring, he heard a flapping sound, and a hare came from the grass next to the mountain spring. Inside ran up the hill.

The mountain spring has nourished the people of Taohualing Village, as well as countless creatures on the mountain.

In 2002, the villagers of Taohualing Village had not yet started to use highly toxic pesticides and high-residue chemical fertilizers when farming. Therefore, in this era, the surrounding environment of Taohualing Village is still very good.

Lying on the edge of the spring, Gudongdong drank the spring water happily, and Wang Shaodong felt cool all over.

Pure natural mountain spring water without any pollution is much healthier and cleaner than the so-called mineral water in later generations.

Standing up, Wang Shaodong looked up at the sun above his head, as if he was laughing at the raging sun that was baking the earth, but that was all.

At this time, a big blue-headed migratory locust jumped forward on the side of the path. Wang Shaodong saw it, bent over and threw his hands quickly, and pressed the grasshopper under his hands.Then, he picked a thicker foxtail from the side of the road and strung up the grasshoppers he caught.

There are many kinds of grasshoppers on the mountain. Although the green-headed migratory locust is big, its taste is not as good as a small grasshopper that can't fly but can jump only on the top of the mountain.The local people call the grasshopper that can jump "tiaobazhang", which means that it can jump eight zhang at a time.With this strength, he can definitely go to the Olympics.

"Tiaobazhang" has well-developed thighs, and the thighs are full of high-protein lean meat, which is a standard delicacy.

Because he followed his uncle Zhao Shihai to run on the mountain since he was a child, Wang Shaodong also accumulated a lot of knowledge on the mountain.Just talking about catching grasshoppers is also very knowledgeable.

There are many kinds of grasshoppers on the mountain, and different grasshoppers will appear in different places.

Apart from the green-headed migratory locusts that often haunt the roadside, there is also a "slightly grasshopper" with a thin and long belly full of seeds. The taste of "slightly grasshopper" is better than that of "green-headed migratory locust", which is mainly due to the large number of grasshopper eggs in its abdomen. After frying, it chews like bean paste, but the taste is far better than bean paste.

In addition, in this season, there are piles of gray grasshoppers in the damp grass nests, which the local people call "camel dark".This is a kind of grasshopper with very strong reproductive ability and strong destructive ability. It is said that this thing is poisonous, because they always lay their eggs on cow dung or sheep dung, which makes people feel disgusting, so this kind of grasshopper No one likes to catch and eat.

On the mountains around Taohualing, there is also a giant grasshopper, which is commonly known locally as "cow grasshopper".This kind of grasshopper likes to bask in the sun on bluestone slabs, and their size is absolutely despising the existence of other similar species in the grasshopper family. The weight of an adult female "cow grasshopper" is almost equivalent to the largest "green-headed migratory locust" " Twice the weight.Because the grasshoppers are so big, they have almost lost the ability to fly and have limited jumping ability, so it is always a thrill to find them on a rock.But it's a pity that this kind of giant grasshopper has a very bad taste. If it is not deep-fried, it is almost like eating a piece of unpalatable bark.

"Tiaobazhang", "Green-headed Migratory Locust", "Slightly Grasshopper" and "Cow Grasshopper" are already very common in July. This season, when going up the mountain to catch grasshoppers, it is mainly to catch these four species.If we wait another two months, when autumn comes, there will be "winter fairies" and a large number of praying mantises on the mountain for those who go up the mountain to attack.Of course, praying mantises and grasshoppers are not of the same species, but this did not prevent Wang Shaodong from killing them all.

All the way to the bottom of Yan Wang's nose cliff, Wang Shaodong had already caught two large bunches of grasshoppers, most of which were migratory locusts, all of which were strung with foxtails.

Wang Shaodong said in his heart: I will be hungry at noon later, and roasted sweet potatoes will be eaten as a meal. This dish is grilled grasshoppers.

(End of this chapter)