Return to the small mountain village in 1986

Chapter 681 Picking lotus pods and catching fish
After letting Gao Shufang and the others get out of the car, Gao Mingcheng continued to start the car. Two minutes later, the car stopped under the paulownia tree on the other side of Niuweiling.

Before I even got out of the car, I heard sounds such as barking dogs and sheep.

The lamb's cry was very tender. When he heard the sound, Xiao Xuxu immediately remembered that the ewe at home was pregnant and was about to give birth!

"Breathe sheep! I want to see sheep baa!"

Xiao Xuxu was lying on the car window, trying to get out of the car.

Gao Mingcheng got out of the car, opened the door, and took Xiao Xuxu out of the car.

Xiao Xuxu, who is almost three years old, already has some weight. Gao Mingcheng did not stop Duo Mei from hugging him, but now that Duo Mei is pregnant again, Gao Mingcheng will not let Duo Mei hold Xiao Xuxu anymore.

"Let's go, I'll take you to see the sheep!" Gao Mingcheng held Xiao Xuxu in front and walked in front. He didn't forget to turn around and say: "The things are just in the truck compartment. Don't worry about it. I'll come down and get them."

Duo Mei smiled angrily and said: "How much can an empty bottle weigh?"

She was so stubborn, she immediately reached out and took out two empty bottles, and raised her chin slightly towards Ming Cheng in a demonstration.

Goats usually give birth to two babies a year, with one litter giving birth to two to three lambs. However, Gao Mingcheng's goats breed naturally without artificial intervention, so they may not be able to give birth to two babies a year.

Therefore, when it comes to educating his children, he does not intend to be like the older generation in the village, who keep talking about how hard he works and how filial he wants his children to be.

As for being filial and not being filial, if parents are good to their children, how many children will be unfilial?

Xiao Xuxu is still young, and he is often attracted by the colorful pictures in the cartoons he watches. As for the stories in the cartoons, he cannot fully understand them, but he occasionally remembers a few words, which is also normal.

After holding Xiao Xuxu in his arms and looking at the lamb for a while, Gao Mingcheng put Xiao Xuxu down and said, "See for yourself. Don't go into the sheepfold. Be careful of the goat biting you!"

The sheep knelt down to breastfeed and the crow fed back, this is what was mentioned in one of the cartoons.

In this life, Gao Mingcheng only hopes that his eldest son can be safe and happy, and that his younger son can have a smooth life and not go astray again.

"Well, I won't go in." Xiao Xuxu said with assurance.

The courtyard door of the house was ajar, and it opened with a slight push.

"Yeah, the lambs kneel down to drink milk!" Xiao Xuxu suddenly became excited, and he said loudly: "Dad, is this the sheep that kneels down to drink milk in the cartoon? Dad, why do they kneel down to drink milk? Milk!”

After doing this, Gao Mingcheng said to Duo Mei, "You stay with Xiao Xuxu at home, and I'll go wandering in the mountains and fields."

Xiao Xuxu had no idea before, but now that he saw the lamb kneeling and sucking milk, he suddenly remembered it.

Gao Mingcheng was very open-minded and felt that he would never make the same mistake again in his life.

He has never been naughty, and overall, he is quite reassuring.

Gao Mingcheng came to the car outside the house and saw that there were still some bottles that had not been taken out, so he took them all down and put them in the miscellaneous room.

However, by looking at the feeding status of the lambs, Gao Mingcheng could tell which ewe had given birth to two babies and which ewe had given birth to three babies.

The ewe didn't know when she gave birth to the lamb. There were five lambs in the sheepfold now, and they all looked like a small ball. They were squeezed into the ewe's belly and were sucking milk.

Xiao Xuxu looked at Gao Mingcheng with ignorant eyes. Gao Mingcheng thought for a while and found that he couldn't say such nonsense as being grateful to his parents, so he said: "When the lamb was born, its bones were not well developed and it could not stand. It was stable, so I knelt down to drink milk. When the lamb got older, it was too tall to sit under the ewe’s belly and had to bend its neck. This would definitely be uncomfortable, so I still had to kneel down. The front legs drink milk.”

Gao Mingcheng has been rebellious since he was a child. He doesn't listen to his family very much. He must be filial to his parents in terms of money, but there is still some emotional estrangement.

Following the sound, Gao Mingcheng carried Xiao Xuxu to the sheep pen.

Gao Mingcheng smiled helplessly, well, I really can’t afford to offend a pregnant woman!
He gave in and let her be.

"Okay." Duo Mei responded, not having any intention of going to the mountains.

The slope of Xiaofu Mountain is not high, and the mountain road was properly repaired when fruit trees were planted. Now it is not too difficult to climb the mountain to pick fruits, but for a pregnant woman, there is no need to climb the mountain.

Gao Mingcheng walked quickly, as if he was about to fly, and he reached the foot of Xiaofu Mountain in the blink of an eye.

At the foot of the mountain, there is a pond on one side, a chicken coop on the other, a spacious road in the middle, and a shed at the end of the road.

Gao Mingcheng noticed that the lotus pods in the pond had grown older, and the lotus seeds in the lotus pods were slightly raised. The hard shell wrapping the lotus seeds looked greener and harder.

Lotus seeds like this are fully mature lotus seeds. After being picked, the shell can be peeled off and dried in the sun, and later used to stew meat and make porridge.

If the lotus seeds are more tender, you can eat them raw directly. The tender lotus seeds taste sweet, just like eating fruits, and the lotus heart is not too bitter.

However, old lotus seeds taste dry, have no moisture or sweetness, and the lotus heart is also very bitter.

These are two ways to eat it, but obviously it is no longer possible to eat tender lotus seeds.

Gao Mingcheng reached out and picked a lotus pod near the roadside. When he peeled it open, he found that the lotus seeds inside were indeed old.

He put it on the ground casually, not intending to get the lotus seeds now.

Gao Mingcheng walked around the pond and continued walking, ready to see how the fruit trees in the mountains were growing.

There are quite a lot of orange trees in Xiaofushan, half of them are sugar oranges and half are local tangerines. The sugar tangerines are small, but the tangerines are very big. Although the oranges are still green now, But it looks like it's already as big as a child's fist, and it can grow even longer in the back.

And the bigger the tree, the more and bigger the fruit it bears.

In addition to oranges and grapefruits, the fruit trees that bear fruit at this time also include chestnuts and persimmons. However, there were not many of these two kinds of fruit trees. Gao Mingcheng only bought a few fruit seedlings at the nearby market at the beginning, but he never bought any more.

Chestnuts are delicious, but they are troublesome to peel and difficult to store. They are either prone to insects or simply dry out.

Gao Mingcheng thought it was troublesome, so he didn't want to grow more. He thought it would be enough for himself.

The same is true for persimmons. The persimmons he grows are local persimmons. They are not very big and have average sweetness and appearance. However, they have a large yield and don’t have many insects. They are still very easy to grow.

Just planting two persimmon trees would be enough for their whole family to eat!

And when a persimmon tree reaches its peak fruiting period, a tree can be densely packed with persimmons! It makes you feel like you can’t finish it, or you can’t finish it at all!
Of course, because the persimmon trees bought by Gao Mingcheng were not grafted, they took a long time to bear fruit. Although they are bearing fruit now, they are still in the early fruiting period, so there are not many persimmons on the tree.

Gao Mingcheng's eyes passed over these fruit trees and continued walking forward.

Then he saw the peach and pear trees that were somewhat bald. It was not yet the time for the autumn wind to sweep away the fallen leaves, but the leaves of the peach and pear trees were already missing. They looked like lonely old people with a few leaves. A sense of desolation. Although these trees have finished bearing fruit, they will still need to be fertilized in the autumn so that they can sprout more branches, leaves and flower buds next year.

Gao Mingcheng walked quickly in the mountains, as agile as an ape climbing a mountain, and soon arrived at the location where the navel orange tree was planted.

The navel orange trees have been planted for a while. You can now tell whether they are dead or alive. Those trees whose leaves have begun to dry out are basically dead.

Gao Mingcheng noticed that the leaves of several trees had dried up, but the soil at their roots was still wet. Apparently Chen Dasong and the others still watered these fruit trees and did not abandon them immediately.

Gao Mingcheng didn't pull it out yet. He planned to observe it again and wait until next spring. If new shoots hadn't sprouted yet, it wouldn't be too late to pull it out.

The other navel orange trees should look alive, but don't be careless and continue to take care of them carefully. Only when the trees are fully grown can you rest assured.

After circling around the navel orange tree, he did not go back the same way, but went down the mountain from here and returned home around Xiaofu Mountain.

Along the way, he observed the surrounding environment and thought about how to build the road at the foot of the mountain.

The foot of the mountain is not flat. There are small earth mounds, small ravines, and thickets of miscellaneous trees, especially the very small wild bamboos, which grow in large numbers and densely, and are difficult to clean.

As for bamboo, it doesn't matter if you cut off the top part. As long as the bamboo whip is still in the soil, a large number of bamboo shoots will come out the next year.

By the way, in spring, it's not bad to come here to pull bamboo shoots. These bamboo shoots are thin and small, with a relatively tender texture, unlike moso bamboo, which is very big.

However, Gao Mingcheng would rather eat bamboo shoots!
Moso bamboo shoots are so big that one bamboo shoot can stir-fry a whole plate of vegetables. How convenient!
Unlike these small bamboo shoots, it takes a long time just to peel them, which is too tiring!
So if Gao Mingcheng saw such a small bamboo shoot, he would rather trample it down with his feet than pull it out and eat it.

Gao Mingcheng estimated in his mind how much time it would take to build the road. Weeds and trees had to be eradicated, ravines had to be filled, and hills had to be leveled to make it easier for cars to enter and exit.

After some calculations, he had an idea.

Although he is not at home often and leaves everything to Chen Dasong, he knows how many people are needed for a job and how many days it will take.

If something is wrong after checking the account books, Gao Mingcheng will promptly raise questions.

Precisely because he is not the kind of person who doesn't understand anything, even if Chen Dasong is careful, he does not dare to do anything too obvious. At most, he leaves the work to people he knows well as a favor.

After returning to the pond, Gao Mingcheng took off his clothes and pants and went into the water wearing only a pair of shorts.

Before entering the water, he simply did a few stretching exercises to prevent sudden cramps in the water.

He was already sweating after walking for such a long time, and now that he got into the water, he felt very cool.

Affected by the weather, the water level in the pond has dropped a lot, and the deepest point has just reached Gao Mingcheng's chest.

The lotus roots were planted in shallow water. Standing there, the water level only reached Gao Mingcheng's waist.

He had a lotus pod in each hand and enjoyed picking it. After picking it off, he threw the lotus pod directly to the shore and picked it up together later.

At this moment, Gao Mingcheng heard Xiao Xuxu calling him.

"Dad, I want to pick it too!" Xiao Xuxu looked eager to try and started to put his little feet into the water, but was stopped in time by Duomei.

Gao Mingcheng laughed, walked to the shore, and said, "Don't go into the water, daddy is holding Qingzhai!"

Duo Meixiao scolded: "Just let him get used to you!"

Duomei has long discovered that compared with other people in the village, Gao Mingcheng is very good to his son. He is willing to hold his son and play with him when he is free. Unlike some people who do not hold their children at all and are not willing to talk to them. Only when the children grow up will they be willing to do something with their children.

Gao Mingcheng held Xiao Xuxu in his arms and led him to a place full of lotus pods. He motioned to Xiao Xuxu to reach out and pick them, and reminded Xiao Xuxu that there were some small thorns on the skin of the lotus pods, which would prick their hands.

It's just that this reminder was a little late. Xiao Xuxu couldn't wait to pick it, and then he was stabbed.

"Ouch, it hurts!" Xiao Xuxu pouted, almost wanting to cry.

Gao Mingcheng laughed rudely and asked, "Do you still want to pick it off?"

Xiao Xuxu's face was full of tangles, wanting to pick it up but also being afraid.

Gao Mingcheng held him with one hand and picked off a lotus pod with the other hand. He broke off the stem below, leaving only a smooth lotus pod for Xiao Xuxu.

"Take it and play with it! Unfortunately, you are too old to eat it directly. Wait until next year when dad takes you to pick tender lotus seeds to eat! Then I will get you a small boat for you to paddle in the water!"

Xiao Xuxu was full of surprises when he painted this big cake. His eyes widened even with the many beauties, and he said in disbelief: "You want to get him a boat?"

Gao Mingcheng laughed and said: "What's so difficult about this? The bathtub at home can be used as a boat for him, or I can get a tire inner tube. After it is inflated, it can float on the water. On."

This is true, as long as the mind does not slip, there are always more methods than difficulties!

Gao Mingcheng sent Xiao Xuxu, who had become addicted, back to the shore, and continued to pick lotus pods by himself.

Zhang Chengyuan usually does the work in the fields, but Gao Mingcheng is a person who has a clear eye for work. Every time he comes home, he will do something conveniently.

Duo Mei saw that there were already many lotus pods piled up on the shore, so she went to the shed in front and got a diabolo basket. She picked up all the lotus pods into the bamboo basket. Xiao Xuxu saw them and picked them up too. It was a lot of fun.

After they all picked it up, Gao Mingcheng had almost done it.

After all, this is the first time I have planted lotus roots this year. Although they have bloomed and bear fruit, there are not many. Some lotus pods are even empty, or only a few lotus seeds are good, while others are shriveled.

"Mingcheng, it's almost time. We should go to the old village later." Duo Mei glanced at the watch on his wrist, and the time already showed eleven o'clock.

Under normal circumstances, the banquet will start around 12 o'clock. If it is later, it may not be until 12:30.

However, they are not easy to get to, so you have to go a little in advance.

Although the lotus pods have been picked, Gao Mingcheng doesn't want to go ashore just yet. He is already wet, so he must get wet enough!

He began to bend down to catch fish and said, "Don't worry, I'll catch a few fish first!"

When he was picking lotus pods before, he always felt that a fish bumped into his feet. At that time, he wanted to catch a fish!
The fish in the pond include wild fish and fry he bought, but most of the wild fish have become food for predatory fish.

Gao Mingcheng groped in the water, preparing to get a big fish.

(End of this chapter)