Return to the small mountain village in 1986

Gao Mingcheng thought that everything would be fine if he handed the little boy to the police station, but he never expected that in the afternoon, Xiao Song would personally send the little boy back to him.

Xiao Song said with a smile: "This child is afraid of strangers and can't stay in our place. He kept saying that he wanted to find you, so the Higher Bureau simply asked me to deliver it to you. The Higher Bureau said that he would contact Ji'an as soon as possible. See if someone has lost a child over there. If the situation is right, take the child over to recognize him. During this period, let him live with you first."

Everyone has been sent over, what can Gao Mingcheng say?
  It was just a matter of having an extra pair of dishes and chopsticks, so he graciously agreed and let Hu Yinchen take care of the little boy while taking care of Xiao Xuxu.

It's just that without a name, it's always difficult to call it.

And he couldn't pronounce the name "little bastard".

"Well, let's call him Little Potato." Gao Mingcheng gave him a nickname casually. He felt that the child was as small as a potato.

Besides, potatoes are a crop with high yields, and the meaning is quite good.

"Xiao Xuxu, call me Brother Tudou!" Gao Mingcheng teased Xiao Xuxu to call someone, but Xiao Xuxu only vaguely called out the word "Guo Guo".

"Xiaodou, this is my son Xiaoxu. You can play with him from now on. I have to be busy doing things and I don't have time to take you with me." Gao Mingcheng said.

Little Potato is also very easy to feed. Basically, Gao Mingcheng does whatever he says. He is very well-behaved, but he looks timid from time to time.

Perhaps because of his character, the trafficker was careless and didn't guard him tightly, allowing him to find an opportunity to seek help from Gao Mingcheng and escape from his unknown fate.

Having an extra mouth to eat at home is not a big deal for Gao Mingcheng. Even Gao Shufang, who cooks, is not unhappy about it. How much can a little kid eat?

In this way, Gao Mingcheng spent a few more leisurely days. When Gao Mingli was on vacation, he asked Gao Mingli to drive his tractor back to the village and bring him eggs and vegetables.

When someone calls him, he doesn't want to move.

Just being quiet and restless, Gao Mingcheng figured it was time to pick the camellia seeds, so Gao Mingcheng prepared to go back to the village.

He picks about one or two thousand kilograms of fresh fruit tea seeds every year. After drying and shelling, one hundred kilograms of fresh fruit can produce thirty kilograms of dry tea seeds. The dried tea seeds are sent to the oil pressing workshop, and one hundred kilograms of dried tea seeds are produced. It can produce about twenty kilograms of oil. In this way, he can get more than a hundred kilograms of camellia oil every year.

This tea oil, combined with lard, is enough for his family to make snacks for a year.

Gao Mingcheng was going back to the village to work, but Xiaodou had become familiar with Xiao Xuxu and was not as clingy to Gao Mingcheng as he was at the beginning. This made Gao Mingcheng relieved, but there was no specific news from the police. No one came to take Little Potato away.

Gao Mingcheng exchanged a few words with Duo Mei, and then returned to the village with a cart of purchased plastic bottles. These plastic bottles can be used to hold honey, wine, and oil, and have many uses.

It is now five or six days after the frost, and after the frost, it means that winter has arrived, and it will be colder in the morning and evening, and there may even be frost.

Most of the fertile fields in Gaojia Village are connected together. If you look down on the entire village from the sky, you will find that the village and the fertile fields are divided into two parts, separated by a dirt road in the middle.

The rice in the field has been harvested long ago, but the sparrows can still forage here. When Gao Mingcheng drove his tractor by, a large number of sparrows flew up with flapping wings and hid in nearby branches.

In addition to the sparrows, there are some ducks feeding in the field.

Gao Mingcheng looked at those shelducks and felt that it was time for him to make arrangements.

So after returning home, he went to find Aunt Liu and asked her where she could buy ducks and geese.

The last time I bought chickens, Aunt Liu helped me find out. Aunt Liu said: "At this time, I'm afraid there are no ducks or geese to sell."

Gao Mingcheng was not in a hurry and said: "It's okay. You can ask around first, whether it's a duck or a goose. There's no need to buy too many, just a dozen or so will be fine."

Aunt Liu knew it well and immediately said: "Okay, if you encounter it, I will buy it for you first."

"Okay." Gao Mingcheng nodded and saw about ten kilograms of camellia seeds piled under the eaves of Aunt Liu's house.

So he said: "Auntie, you only picked so many? Are you going to sell dried tea seeds or fresh fruits?"

Aunt Liu said helplessly: "Everyone at home is busy and we really don't have time to pick. The good places for picking have been picked by the people in the village. In the past few days, the tea seeds in the brigade are also picking, and the tea seeds in Junling are also picked. Laoji, there are always people collecting fresh fruits and dried tea seeds every time.”

"The camellia seeds I have were picked by the way when I went to work in the fields. They are just sold as fresh fruits, and they are not worth a lot of money. I don't have time to go to the market these days, so I will dry them first and then wait for them when I have time. Take it and sell it for dried tea seeds.”

Gao Mingcheng learned about this year's camellia seed market, and then he had an idea. He unloaded the plastic bottles from the truck bed, took a few bags and went into the mountains.

The black tiger and the elf had long been looking forward to the return of their master, and followed behind Gao Mingcheng. Only Dahuang, who was filled with motherly love, was lying in the yard basking in the sun, while the two little black dumplings were playing beside Dahuang.

There are two places where Gao Mingcheng picks tea seeds. One is the top of Xiaofu Mountain.

He planted fruit trees on the mountainside and at the foot of the mountain, but planted Camellia oleifera trees on the top of the mountain because the location of the top of the mountain was not suitable for fruit trees to grow.

Another place is deep in the mountains.

The mountains stretch endlessly, and there are many vegetations in the mountains, including many wild Camellia oleifera trees.

Especially on the mountain top adjacent to the camellia oleifera managed by the brigade, there are more wild camellia oleifera trees.

Entering the mountain from the brigade side is easier for picking, but entering the mountain from Niuweiling side requires climbing over two mountains. For others, the journey is too far.

But for Gao Mingcheng, it was just so-so!
  For lower tea trees, you only need to reach out to pick them, while for taller tea trees, you need to climb up to pick them. At the end of the day, you will be covered in dust and sweat from head to toe.

Gao Mingcheng worked hard for three days before picking all the camellia seeds that could be picked. The weather was good this year, and there were a lot of camellia seeds in the mountains. The fresh fruits were quite large. He estimated that he picked more than [-] kilograms of fresh fruits this year.

But when you pick the fresh fruit, things have just begun. Next, you have to dry it, wait for the fresh fruit to crack, and then get out the tea seeds inside.

But this matter is not urgent. We have to wait for the fresh fruits to split before we can get busy.

Taking advantage of his short leisure, Gao Mingcheng came to the old village and planned to visit Grandma Xi and Grandma.

But when he passed by, he found a family wearing sackcloth and mourning attending a funeral.

Gao Mingcheng was stunned. In the past few days, he went out early and came back late. He stayed in the mountains to work every day, and no one came to inform him, so he didn't know anyone was old.

After asking someone, I found out that an old lady from the second room was missing. This person had a good relationship with Grandma Gao, so Gao Mingcheng saw the sadness on his grandmother's face and seemed to feel deeply. (End of chapter)