Return to the small mountain village in 1986

On the second day of the frost, Gao Mingcheng drove back to Gaojiacun. Before the car stopped, several dogs at home ran over to greet him.

Gao Mingcheng got out of the car and interacted with the black tiger elves for a while before he was able to escape.

When he entered the village, he saw that large areas of rice fields were empty, some deciduous trees had begun to lose their leaves, and the leaves on the treetops looked much sparser.

There are large areas of waterbirds foraging in the rice fields. When people approach, the waterbirds will spread their wings and flee quickly.

Most of these waterfowl are white, and when they spread their wings, they look quite big, which is very attractive to people. Unfortunately, they are not edible because waterfowl don’t have much meat. After removing their feathers, they are basically It's bones, and the meat doesn't taste good, a bit fishy and sour.

People in the village generally don't catch waterfowl for food. Their favorite thing to catch is turtle doves, followed by sparrows.

The acre of rice field belonging to Gao Mingcheng has also been harvested. At this time, the threshed rice is spread out in the yard to dry.

The average rice yield in Gaojia Village is only about 600 kilograms per mu. Some families who are good at planting can have a higher yield of 650 kilograms per mu. However, if management is neglected, the yield per mu is 400 to 500 kilograms. normal.

Growing rice is not an easy task. In addition to high-quality rice seeds, it also requires careful management, including seedling cultivation, transplanting, fertilizing, spraying pesticides, and pulling out weeds, etc.

In addition to human efforts, it also depends on whether the weather is favorable. Due to the terrain, Gaojia Village is not afraid of waterlogging, but it is afraid of drought and wind. When strong winds occur, rice ears will fall down, which will also cause large-scale production losses.

There are also birds stealing food.

Thanks to the tea groves planted by farms in the 1960s, Gaojia Village is rich in tea tree resources. Gao Mingcheng quietly broke into the tea groves and found many suitable saplings to take away. .

Tea oil is good for your health, and tea oil is quite expensive. A pound of tea oil is more expensive than a pound of honey. It costs ten yuan a pound!
If Gao Mingcheng sells the tea oil squeezed out every year, he can make a lot of money.

Therefore, Gao Mingcheng's first choice was to enter Niuweiling to look for wild tea trees in the mountains and pick tea seeds.

By chewing the rice, Gao Mingcheng can know the moisture content of the rice and whether he should continue to dry it.

After the rice matures, the golden rice immediately attracts sparrows and other birds to join in the feast. Even if people harvest it, they will be pecked by birds during the process of spreading it out to dry.

It's a pity that he doesn't sell it at all. He even takes the oil-pressed tea leaves home. The tea leaves can be used to wash hair and make fertilizer. If you choose not to use tea leaves, then after pressing the oil, you don’t need to pay wages to the oil pressing workshop. The tea leaves will be worth the wages.

Gao Mingcheng squatted down, stretched out his hand to pull out the rice drying in the yard, picked up a grain, blew on it, as if blowing away the dust on the surface, and then put it in his mouth and ate it like melon seeds. got up.

He knew that there were a lot of tricks in this retention fee, and he also knew that the burden of retention fees on farmers was getting heavier year by year, but there was nothing he could do about it. This was the tide of the times, and it was difficult for him to resist it alone, so he could only spend money to spend it. disaster.

The public grain is paid for free, and the grain purchased is calculated at the lowest price in the market and is used to pay rural retention fees.

Well, it is relatively dry. After drying today, it can be bagged and put away!
Gao Mingcheng commented in his heart. He walked into the miscellaneous room and took out two large snakeskin bags. They were the kind of feed bags that weighed 100 kilograms. They were quite strong and easy to use.

The black tiger and the elf followed him as always, one person and two dogs walking through the dense forest. Gao Mingcheng kept looking up and looking around, looking for the tea tree.

According to Gao Mingcheng's past experience, his rice yield is about 550 kilograms per mu. After it is dried, it needs to be lighter.

Because they have to pay public grain and rural areas for retention. Since people in the village don't have much cash on hand, the retention fee can be replaced by grain, which is called grain purchase.

A small patch of Camellia oleifera trees was also planted on the top of Xiaofu Mountain. Some were Camellia oleifera trees that originally grew in Xiaofu Mountain and were later transplanted to the top of the mountain by Gao Mingcheng. Some were small trees that Gao Mingcheng obtained from deep in the mountains.

Some wild Camellia oleifera trees grow very tall, and they are in dense forests. When people walk on the ground, it is easy to ignore them. You have to look up at the crown of the tree. When you see the Camellia oleifera seeds hanging on the crown, you know that you have to climb the tree to pick them. .

The camellia oleifera tree at the top of Xiaofu Mountain is always picked last. After all, it is our own territory and no one is competing for it.

But not much of this food could reach Gao Mingcheng's mouth.

He was going to go into the mountains to collect camellia seeds.

After Gao Mingcheng found a camellia tree, he climbed up the tree nimbly while carrying a bag.

Because the fee is based on the lowest price, some people would rather pay the deposit fee. Gao Mingcheng paid for it with money.

Gao Mingcheng climbed on the branch, picking tea seeds with one hand and holding the bag with the other. If he had a companion, it would be best for one person to climb the tree and knock the tea seeds to the ground with a stick, and the other person to pick them up on the ground. The two of them cooperate, This is quite convenient.

However, Gao Mingcheng doesn't like to go into the mountains with others, so he picks tea seeds by himself every year. Fortunately, he can easily climb and descend trees even if he is carrying a large bag of tea seeds.

Gao Mingcheng was like an ape, constantly climbing trees to pick tea seeds.

Black Tiger and Elf sat beside them slightly bored, looking at the busy Gao Mingcheng with a pair of dark dog eyes.

Gao Mingcheng worked hard for a long time and finally picked two bags of tea seeds.

He pulled a handful of vines and used it as a rope to tie the mouth of the bag, then he carried a bag on one shoulder and prepared to go down the mountain.

The mountain road was rugged and sometimes too steep to get a foothold, so he simply jumped all the way down, carrying a two hundred kilogram weight on his shoulders, which didn't affect anything at all.

The two dogs, the black tiger and the elf, are naturally more flexible. They scurry around in the bushes and make some noises from time to time.

Seeing a hare fleeing quickly under the harassment of two dogs, Gao Mingcheng secretly thought: "It's getting cold, it's time to eat roasted rabbit!"

When you get back, take your knife with you and get some hares to fight for the tooth festival!

By the way, there are also bullfrogs. The bullfrogs are getting fat at this time. You can catch a bag of bullfrogs along the way and stir-fry a plate of spicy bullfrogs. It will definitely go well with wine!

Gao Mingcheng's mind was already filled with all kinds of delicious, tasty and tasty food. Before he could even eat it, his stomach began to sing an empty city plan.

After sending the two bags of tea seeds home, Gao Mingcheng poured the tea seeds on the steps under the eaves and prepared to continue into the mountains.

In addition to holding the two bags as usual, Gao Mingcheng went to find two knives and put them on his waist. He also took a plastic bag and put it in his trouser pocket.

The two silly dogs, Black Tiger and Elf, continued to follow Gao Mingcheng into the mountains to work. Unlike Dahuang, who was lazy, he just stood at the door, wagging his tail to send his master off.

Dahei and Xiaohei, born from Rhubarb, have unlimited energy, but they are a bit small and have not been into the mountains. They are more accustomed to staying in the chicken coop than in the mountains. Sometimes they will go to the sheep herding area, and they seem to be somewhat interested in the job of a shepherd dog. Gao Mingcheng is not at home all year round. To be honest, his relationship with Dahuang, Dahei and Xiaohei is average. After all, Dahuang came from outside the country halfway and rarely gets along with Dahei and Xiaohei. There is not much tacit understanding between them, unlike Heihu and Heihu. Elves, they can understand Gao Mingcheng's movements and cooperate with each other tacitly.

There are few people here in Niuweiling, but it is not that no one comes here at all. People from the village will also come here to get firewood and medicinal materials, but their range of activities is only at the foot of the mountain and halfway up the mountain. They cannot go into the deep mountains. I don’t dare to go in at will.

For Gao Mingcheng, the treasures in the deep mountains are like searching for something in a bag.

This time when he went to the mountains to pick tea seeds, he took a look at the Poria cocos he had planted before. He did not go into the mountains to collect Poria cocos this year. At this time, the Poria cocos in the mountains, whether planted by him or wild, seemed to be in good condition.

It is worth mentioning that he saw the Polygonatum japonica he had transplanted before.

The leaves of Polygonatum japonica are a bit like bamboo leaves, growing together in clusters. They are quite beautiful. Gao Mingcheng touched the leaves of Polygonatum odoratum casually, and then strode across.

Huang Jing is still too young to be harvested, so he plans to dig it again next year.

Of course, Huang Jing was spared, but when Gao Mingcheng encountered yam, he was not ready to let yam go.

There are either no wild yams in the mountains, or they grow together in large clumps. The vines of yam climb along the branches. If there are no branches to rely on, they will spread directly on the ground, full of vitality.

Among the heart-shaped green leaves, there are finger-sized yam beans growing densely. These yam beans can be picked and cooked to eat, or they can be spread in the ground and propagated as yam seeds.

Gao Mingcheng picked a handful of yam beans, but not for eating, but to collect seeds. It was too far away from home. He planned to collect some yam beans and scatter them on the wasteland near the house next spring.

Yams have a very strong reproductive capacity. They can be said to take root in the ground. Even if they are not managed, they will still grow vigorously. At most, they just need enough years to grow.

After Gao Mingcheng collected two large handfuls of yam beans, he also left the lush yam field. It wasn't that he didn't want to dig yams, but he didn't take a hoe!
The soil in the mountains is very hard. Without a hoe, digging with bare hands would be tiring.

After Gao Mingcheng planned to pick all the tea seeds, he would go into the mountains to dig yams, and then take them back to the county to eat with his wife and children.

Yam stewed pork ribs, nutritious and delicious!
Gao Mingcheng walked all the way, looking for the camellia oleifera tree. Once he found it, he climbed up the tree and started picking tea seeds. When the bags were full, his stomach began to growl.

Black Tiger and Elf are about the same. Gao Mingcheng is not at home, and the food standards of the two dogs are average. They are short of oil and water in their bellies!
"Black Tiger, Elf, go find the rabbit!" Gao Mingcheng ordered. As soon as he finished speaking, Black Tiger and Elf, who were lying on the ground, stood up instantly, and the whole dog became energetic.

"Woof woof." The two dogs barked excitedly and began to look up for traces of prey in the air.

After leaving the job of finding prey to the two dogs, Gao Mingcheng was quite relieved. He carried two bags of tea seeds and followed the two dogs, his eyes constantly scanning the woods.

I originally thought it would be good to look for rabbits while going down the mountain, but unexpectedly, the black tiger and the elf ran away in another direction.

After walking for a long time, no trace of the rabbit was found. Gao Mingcheng began to wonder if the rabbits were hiding in the cave at this time.

When he heard the gurgling water, Gao Mingcheng looked around and found that he had arrived at the water source with bullfrogs.

This water source is a relatively large water source in the mountains, and many bullfrogs have thrived here in previous years.

There are many mountains and rocks in the water. Gao Mingcheng can pass smoothly by stepping on these rocks protruding from the water.

"Black Tiger, Elf, let's go see if there are any bullfrogs." Gao Mingcheng put down the tea seeds on his shoulders and placed them on the ground, then took out the plastic bag in his trouser pocket and prepared to head towards the bullfrogs.

Bullfrogs like to live in groups. From a distance, the water surface is a large group of bullfrogs. If it were normal, the bullfrogs would have stayed away as soon as Gao Mingcheng passed by.

Unfortunately, it’s autumn now.

Although the current temperature is not enough to cause bullfrogs to hibernate, the low temperature will also make bullfrogs less likely to move and even make less calls.

For many people in later generations, bullfrogs can often be seen in aquatic products stores, and every time they see bullfrogs, they are very quiet, lying there and moving.

Are bullfrogs naturally averse to moving?

Of course not, there are two reasons for this. One is that the bullfrogs in aquatic products stores all come from farms. The breeding density in the farms is high, and the frogs do not grow freely and have no room to move at all, so they have developed the habit of waiting for food.

Another is that the aquatic product store lowers the temperature of the water to between 10 and 20 degrees, which puts the bullfrog in a drowsy state and doesn't like to scream or move.

The temperature in the mountains is low, and the current water temperature may only be around ten degrees. The bullfrogs in the water are lying on the rocks protruding from the water, motionless.

Gao Mingcheng shook open the bag and started picking up bullfrogs.

Yes, it’s not catching, it’s picking up!

In order to prepare for the upcoming hibernation, the bullfrogs have already eaten plumply. Each of them looks very plump and mouth-watering.

Gao Mingcheng picked up a full bag and then stopped with satisfaction.

This is probably the last bullfrog meal we eat this year, because when the temperature drops a few degrees lower, the bullfrogs will hibernate and will not wake up until the following spring.

Bullfrogs that have just woken up are not tasty either, because their fat will be consumed during hibernation. After hibernation ends, the bullfrogs lose weight one by one, and their resistance is reduced, making them prone to diseases and natural enemies.

Gao Mingcheng was carrying a bag of bullfrogs, whistling in a great mood, and then said to Black Tiger and Elf: "Go down the mountain and go home!"

I have no luck with rabbits for the time being. I will try my luck in the mountains again in the evening.

Gao Mingcheng carried the tea seeds and the bullfrog, and led the two dogs down the mountain in high spirits.

After two trips to the mountain in a row, plus the time spent in the mountain, it was already past two o'clock in the afternoon after we came down from the mountain.

But what made Gao Mingcheng feel good was that on the table in his main room, there was a large bowl covered with a plate. When he opened the plate, he saw a large bowl full of food underneath.

Although the food was a little cold, the aroma of the vegetables still made Gao Mingcheng feel very tempted. (End of chapter)