My village can't be like this

Chapter 40

The grandpa and grandson started from home and walked all the way into the mountain along the small river ditch behind the village.

This small river ditch is actually not small, but it is a bit small compared with the big river.

It is a river flowing out of the Dishuitan, with a lot of water, which provides irrigation water for the nearby farmland.

Along the way, the grandfather and grandson chatted, asking questions and answering each other. Xiaohu followed Zhang An obediently, walking behind at a leisurely pace.

Sometimes when I meet people in the village, I also say hello to Mr. Zhang.

Zhang Erye's family has always picked all kinds of herbs and processed them. Except for the ones that are usually sold in the town or county, there are still a lot left in the family.

Now that medical care is underdeveloped, everyone has gone to Zhang Erye for some minor illnesses and pains, and took herbal medicine home to eat.

Moreover, although Zhang Erye is not the oldest group, his seniority is very high in the village.

Many people in the village already called Uncle Zhang An, and Second Master Zhang must have a higher seniority.

Today's weather is quite face-saving. After several days of continuous light rain, I got off work and replaced it with a bright and sunny sun.

In the mountains and forests in the early morning, it may be because the fish, insects, birds and animals from all walks of life have not yet woken up, but there is still silence.

At this time, the sunlight shines on the ground through the sparse branches, which looks a bit like the lights controlled by the lighting engineer on the stage.

Under the sunlight, the dew in the mountains was slowly turned into mist, floating in the mountains and forests.

After all the way into the mountains and forests, the moist fresh air woke up Zhang An's sleepy brain.

Although there is still a little smell of rotting leaves on the ground.

Although the second grandfather is over 60 years old, he still walks briskly on his strong legs in the mountains.

There is no sign of aging at all.

The further you go into the mountains, the denser the woods will be, and the people who walk in the mountains will be covered by weeds after a period of time.

The road is difficult to walk, sometimes it is soft soil, and sometimes it is exposed rocks.

Anyway, all the way is uphill and downhill, which is different from the mountains and forests in the northeast.

If Zhang An walked alone, he wouldn't feel tired, but if he walked with Second Grandpa, he definitely couldn't keep walking forever.

"Second Master, let's take a break and drink some water."

The second grandfather also agreed, found a rock and sat down.

He is very calm now. When he was young, he would not find it hard to run in the mountains for a day. Now that he is old, he starts to pant after walking for a while, and he still has to obey his old age.

Zhang An handed the kettle to the second master, which contained tea made from the spring water in the space, so that the second master could recover his strength.

"The tea leaves in your house are really fragrant, and your mother's skill in frying tea is also very good."

"This is from last year. The second master thinks it tastes good. When the new tea is picked this year and fried, I will send some over there."

When it was time to pick tea at home in a few days, Zhang An picked all the tea leaves in the space, took them out and asked his mother to fry them.

"Second Master, is there any ginseng in our mountains? The books say that ginseng is very valuable."

"There must be ginseng. There is nothing in such a big mountain. It's just that the valuable ginseng is old, and the small ginseng seedlings are worthless. A ginseng wants to grow from ginseng seedlings in the mountains. The land is good, and it can’t be eaten by the livestock in the mountains, so it’s too hard to find old ginseng.”

Zhang Erye patiently talked to Zhang An, and then told Zhang An about some growth characteristics of ginseng and the main places where it grows.

"Second Master, have you ever dug up ginseng before?"

Hearing Zhang An ask this question, Zhang Erye began to recall the past.

"I have dug it, and I have dug it a few times. At that time, Grandpa Ni and the others were no longer there. Your grandpa took our brothers and me to live in a mud house in the village. From the beginning, he was the only one earning money. The work points supported the few of us, and later I was able to earn work points, so the family became more relaxed.

At that time, I met an old Chinese doctor who was sent to our brigade. He had a bad temper, and many people couldn't get along with him, but I had a thick skin. No matter how much he cursed, I went to him every day.

After a long time, he stopped swearing, and studied with him for several years. Although he didn't know how to see a doctor and give acupuncture, he learned the ability to recognize flowers and plants.

Then one year, in July and August, wild boars came down from the mountains every year to spoil the corn in the fields, so the brigade organized people to hunt wild boars in the mountains, and I walked with your grandfather, carrying the gun given by the brigade.

Then I met a wild boar from behind. That guy was like a small hillside, a big man of three or four hundred catties, with a bunch of cubs behind him.

At that time, I panicked, and I was hit by it from a distance. I didn't expect to be hit, but I was driven crazy by him, and I kept attacking us.

Your grandpa said to go separately, let me run first, and let him attract it from behind, but no matter how he beat the animal, he kept chasing me, and it ran after me. At that time, we ran very fast, here in the woods.

I just kept my head down and ran, and I didn't know where I was going. I slipped down the mountain and rolled down the mountain, and fell into a small corner of the hill.

When I got up, I didn't find the wild boar chasing it down, but I saw two ginseng sticks in that small corner. When I dug it up, I saw that it was not too small. It was already late at night when I finally brought it back.

They searched for me for a long time but couldn't find me. They thought I was gone.I was really scared that time, I've never been so scared before.

I didn't dare to show your grandpa those two ginseng sticks until everyone was sleeping.But you can’t take it out at that time, you have to pay the public if you take it out, and the family still owes a lot of debts, so you definitely can’t pay the public. Just stay like this for more than ten years. After the opening, your third grandpa will go Served as a soldier, and finally failed to return.

At that time, everyone was still living in the old house now, and other people’s houses were built in new houses. After everyone discussed it, they took the two ginseng sticks to the county and sold them. It's time to have the money to start a new house.

It's just a pity that your grandpa and grandma left shortly after the new house was built. You were young at that time, and when they left, they said that they had to pay it back, but in fact, when they were young, they took the rest of us with us. I have suffered so much that my body is already failing.

If I knew it earlier, I would definitely keep one, but it's useless to regret it later. "

This was the first time in Zhang An's two lifetimes that he heard his elders talk about the past. In those years, it was not easy for people in the mountains, especially for people like grandpa whose parents had long since disappeared.

The eldest brother is like a father, and the eldest sister-in-law is like a mother. It is very difficult to drag along several younger brothers, but they have not given up. Now, they can no longer find the sense of responsibility they used to have.

After the second grandfather finished speaking, the whole person fell into a gloomy atmosphere.

This is not good for the elderly, so Zhang An changed the subject.

"Second Lord, tell me, can we find a ginseng plant today? If we find it, our family will get rich."

Hearing Zhang An's words, Zhang Erye didn't hit him, but smiled and encouraged him: "Then you can sharpen your eyes today, or it will be difficult."

(End of this chapter)