My village can't be like this

Chapter 414 Cutting Paint in the Mountains
Early in the morning, the sky swept away the gloom of the previous few days, and the fiery red sun shone on the earth.

Even though Zhang An got up a little later in the morning, he could still see the mountains in the distance covered with red clouds.

Sure enough, it rains heavily during the Qingming Festival, and the sun shines brightly after the Qingming Festival.

This kind of weather is the most pleasant. Zhang Anxin moved around freely, playing tricks in the yard.

"Xiao An, are you okay today?"

Zhang An had just finished warming up and was about to get into the zone when Zhang and his party came down the mountain.

"There's nothing busy these two days. What's wrong with you, godfather?"

Zhang An was a little curious, because Zhang and his party didn't ask him for anything easily.

"If you have nothing to do, come with me to the mountains to cut paint. Spring has started relatively early this year, so it's time to cut paint."

Zhang and his party waved the paint-cutting knife in their hands to Zhang An, as well as the bag of shells they were carrying, which were specially used to hold paint.

This paint is the gum exuded from the lacquer tree, and it is a paint that has been passed down in China for thousands of years.

Although they are all called paints, they are not the kind of paints made with curing agents in the chemical industry.

This thing cut from the lacquer tree has a very nice name in our country since ancient times, called lacquer or raw lacquer.

Our country has a long history and a very rich cultural heritage. The resin of the lacquer tree began to be applied thousands of years ago.

At that time, someone discovered that using paint like this on furniture or other appliances would keep it from rotting for many years, so later carpenters began to pay attention to this thing.

Although Zhang Yixing is not a carpenter, he is also using this thing.

Because the ink strips he uses himself use these raw lacquers.

Every year from early April to August or September, it is the season for cutting paint.

Spring started relatively early this year, and it has already reached mid-April, which is also the time when the first cut lacquer is harvested.

Although in the endless mountains behind the village, there are towering sumac trees growing everywhere.

But if you go late, others may have taken over the sumac trees in the mountains.

Although many people are allergic to sumac, as long as they are close to it, they will be allergic, some pustules will grow on their bodies, which will last for a long time, and they will itch unbearably.

But this thing is very expensive, and many people in the mountains will cut it off and sell it to people who collect paint.

And many families with elderly people at home will prepare raw lacquer in advance.

After all, this thing is difficult to rot after being painted, so many people in the mountains will use it to paint longevity materials.

Especially for the ethnic minorities in the mountains, in addition to longevity materials, they also have some of their daily utensils.

But now there is a market for local lacquerware, and the price is very expensive, so now lacquerware exists more as a handicraft.

Zhang and his party counted the days and felt that it was almost time, so they prepared to go into the mountains to cut paint.

When Zhang An went to his place to get ink sticks before, he had a strong interest in making ink.

So when Zhang and his party were preparing to go into the mountains today, they came here specially to call Zhang An.

"Okay, I've never cut paint before. I'm going to try it today."

Anyway, being idle is idle, and going to the mountains to see things you have never seen before is also a reward.

Although breakfast had already been eaten, Wang Fang heard that Zhang An was going to the mountains with Zhang and his party, so she returned to the kitchen to prepare lunch.

Then he filled two aluminum lunch boxes full of food for the two of them.

In fact, Zhang Yixing brought his own food, but he didn't have to go to that trouble. He just brought some dry goods such as rice cakes.

Prepare to go into the mountains, and when it's time to eat, light a small fire, roast it, and eat it directly.

But now that he saw Wang Fang preparing a lunch box for them to take into the mountains, he put the lunch box into his pocket very happily, regardless of the rice cakes in the bag.

Zhang An put on clothes specially designed for going into the mountains, but their family had never been in the habit of cutting paint, so they didn't have a paint-cutting knife.

But where was Zhang and his party? He knew that Zhang An would definitely go with him, so he brought them over with him.

"I'm ready, let's go."

Zhang An carried a small basket on his back, which was actually a medicine basket with a medicine hoe inside.

He planned to go into the mountains later and dig out any medicinal materials if he saw them.

"Daddy, give me the clam shell to carry."

On the way, Zhang An saw Zhang and his party carrying most of their pockets of shells, and offered to carry them himself.

"It's better for me to carry it. These are all stained with soil paint, so you won't be allowed to take them and get them stained everywhere. Moreover, since there are only one or two kilograms of stuff here, it doesn't take much effort to carry it."

Zhang Yi Xing shook his head and rejected Zhang An's kindness.

Zhang An didn't insist. Although these clam shells looked like they had more than half a pocket, they were really very light.

These shells are actually a kind of container. After the lacquer tree is separated, it will be stuck under the opening to catch the raw lacquer seeping out of the bark.

Suddenly, Zhang An heard some movement behind him, and when he looked back, he realized that the little tiger that was just lying in the nest had followed behind him.

"Hey, how did you know I was going out?"

Zhang An didn't go into the mountains to play today, so he didn't plan to take Xiaohu and the others with him. He didn't even say anything when he left just now.

I just don’t know how Xiaohu knew that he was going into the mountain, and now he followed him quietly.

But now that they have followed him, if Zhang An chases it back, it will not agree.

Instead of letting him follow you secretly, it's better to let him follow you directly, so that you can have more companions on the road.

And this little thing is getting smarter and smarter now, because it knows that after being discovered by Zhang An, it will be driven home.

So when we walked such a long way just now, it followed us from a distance.

It wasn't until it entered the mountains that it ran out to follow Zhang An. After all, it was too far away from home, and Zhang An wouldn't call it back.

In this way, two people and one dog walked through the mountains, starting from home in the morning. They walked for nearly three or four hours and arrived at their destination near noon.

After all, sumac is a nuisance to many people, and the villagers will not let it grow around the village.

Only in the deep mountains far away from human habitation can they take root.

When they arrived at the place, Zhang and his party began to teach Zhang An how to cut lacquer.

Take a lacquer cutter and make a few cuts on the lacquer tree to cut a small piece of bark into an inverted figure of eight.

In this way, the shells brought are stuck underneath, and a sumac tree has been cut.

Although it seems simple, for those who have never had it done, it will still take some time to get it done properly.

It was Zhang An's first time doing it, so he was a little hesitant when cutting.

Sometimes I feel that the incision I made is too big, and sometimes it feels like it is too small.

Sometimes it feels like the bark has not been cut to the end, and sometimes it feels like it has been cut into the trunk.So Zhang and his party had already cut far away, but Zhang An was still behind.

After cutting twenty or thirty sumac trees, Zhang An became more proficient.

After cutting for about an hour or two, the two stopped to prepare for lunch.

I originally brought two lunch boxes, which was enough for them both to pay attention to.

But now the tiger is coming, and Zhang An doesn't want it to starve.

So I divided some of my own rice and fed it to Xiaohu, and then made a small fire to bake some of the sticky cakes that Zhang and his party brought.

After all, he eats so much that a box of rice is just enough to fill his stomach.

Now Xiaohu has divided some of it, and there is no difference between eating it and not eating it.

After Zhang An got the fire going, Xiaohu finished the lunch that Zhang An gave him and then dove into the mountain.

After a while, he came back with his tail wagging and a rabbit in his mouth.

"Oh, Xiaohu is pretty good. He was worried that we wouldn't have enough to eat, so he even gave us extra meals."

Zhang and his party couldn't help but feel a little happy when they saw the rabbit brought by the little tiger.

In fact, he didn't know that for Xiaohu, these were all basic operations.

I am used to going into the mountains with Zhang An, and they are basically looking for food.

Every time Zhang An gets angry, he probably knows it’s time to eat.

"If I had known, I wouldn't have cared about it. This mountain is like its home, yet I was worried that it would starve."

Originally, we had to rush to cut the paint, but Xiaohu caught a rabbit and it took some time just to process it.

"Forget it, even if you don't catch it, you'll catch it. Let's clean it up first. I don't think you've eaten much. Anyway, you're not just here today."

Zhang and his party didn't think it was a waste of time. They cut the paint for their own use, so it didn't make any difference whether it was done earlier or later.

Unlike other lacquer farmers who cut paint every day in a hurry, for fear of wasting their time, cutting a few less grains, and less harvesting.

After the rabbit was roasted, Zhang and his party ate a rabbit leg, followed by the roasted rice cake, and ate with gusto.

Zhang An ate half of the dog, and the remaining half went into Xiaohu's dog's belly.

It really depends on what kind of dog a person raises. Zhang An, a loser owner, raises dogs that are also losers.

Half a lunch box and half a rabbit. After eating, this guy was still licking his mouth, feeling a little unsatisfied.

After eating, the two continued to look for sumac trees in the woods and cut lacquer trees.

They kept cutting until three or four o'clock in the afternoon, and then they started to turn around and prepare to finish the painting.

Because after cutting the paint, it will take about two hours to harvest the raw paint.

After all, it was just a small scratch, and not much paint actually flowed out.

The paint that just flows out at this time is still gray-white and very thick.

In fact, there is another reason, because I am worried that my cut paint will be collected by others.

After all, this is a mountain, not someone’s specially planted lacquer forest.

It was getting dark before I knew it, but at this time, Zhang An, Zhang and his party also finished collecting the paint they had cut today.

"Why is it only a little bit? I think we cut hundreds of trees today. This may be difficult even for a pound."

But in the end, looking at the paint in the pot, Zhang An felt a little dissatisfied.

The lacquer pot that Zhang and his party brought was about three kilograms. It was not even half full, let alone half full, but only about one-third full.

"How much more do you want? This paint is inherently difficult to cut, and it's because you came with me. It's good to be able to get one pound. If I do it by myself, I can get half a pound at most."

Although the cutting was slow at first, he was a young man after all, and after he became proficient in cutting, his movements were faster than Zhang Yixing's.

In this way, the two of them went into the mountain for more than ten days and finally cut more than ten kilograms of paint liquid.

So why are lacquerware so expensive? Why are raw lacquer so expensive? This is why they are so expensive.

Because each tree can only be cut a few times, and each cut can only harvest a little bit of paint.

The ancients also often said that one pound of lacquer can be collected by walking hundreds of miles and cutting thousands of knives in the mountains.

"Hey, this paint is too difficult to cut. I really won't come here anymore."

This was Zhang An's first time to cut paint, but after these days, he decided never to come again.

Because it's really not easy. It takes a whole day to cut and only a tiny bit of paint is left at the end.

When he thought about running such a long distance every day just for a few taels of paint, he felt that it was not worthwhile and he couldn't muster the motivation at all.

"You are thinking not to go now. When your father comes to do something about it later, I guess you will have to run faster."

Although Zhang An's grandparents have gone, there are still Zhang Erye and several other elderly people.

According to Zhang An's temperament, Zhang An and his party felt that when the time came, Zhang An would definitely run faster than anyone else.

"This is easy to handle. I'll go outside to collect it when the time comes. There are plenty of people to cut it anyway."

Although this paint will definitely need to be used on many places in the house in the future, he really doesn't want to do it himself again.

Anyway, there are so many people in the mountains who cut paint and sell it to people who collect paint outside, so Zhang An feels that it is not impossible to spend money to collect it.

"You are still young and don't know the truth behind this. It is better to cut the paint yourself if you buy it from others. If someone cuts it and sells it to you, the paint will be of no use. And you are really here." When you need to use it, you will definitely have it on hand? This is a product that is sold in a hurry but not at a high price."

People in the mountains are simple and honest, but when they get involved with money, they are no longer simple and honest.

This paint is very difficult to cut, so many people who specialize in cutting and selling paint add some unknown things to it after receiving the paint.

Although it looks the same and smells the same, the effect is different.

The saying that gold can be fake but paint cannot be real has been circulating among lacquer farmers and dealers, and it is not unreasonable.

Mountain people attach great importance to the longevity materials used after the death of the elderly, because many people feel that this is not a question of quality, but involves some things that cannot be explained scientifically.

So when it comes to things, most people will do it themselves and prepare in advance.

From the fact that some old people in the mountains began to prepare longevity materials for themselves when they were still relatively strong, we can know that they attach great importance to this issue.

This is not just a matter of size, but more of a matter of not trusting the product after buying it, so you have to look at it yourself.

Zhang An actually thought of this, so when he was on the mountain, he transplanted many lacquer trees directly into the space.

With just a little cultivation, you can grow a large area in your space.

If the family needs it in the future, he will go directly to the space to cut it.

Moreover, Zhang An believed that the lacquer produced from lacquer trees grown in space would definitely be better than those harvested from mountains.

(End of this chapter)