My village can't be like this

Chapter 680 Guarding the Treasure Mountain Without Knowing It
"Okay, I've rested enough, let's keep going."

The fat man, who had just recovered his strength by drinking the space spring water, suddenly felt that he was able to do it again.

Zhang An naturally had no objection. Given his and Su Ying's physical fitness, such a short mountain road did not cause them any impact at all. Resting here for a while was just to take care of the couple.

"Then let's continue. This time I'll take you to a deeper place."

When Fatty came here before, he also climbed the mountain with us.

But I have always been close to the periphery and have never gone deep inside to take a look.

In the mountains, the scenery in the deep mountains and outside the mountains are completely two different things. It can be said that the deeper you go, the more you feel.

"That's great. Although we all say we've climbed mountains, we've never seen what the mountains really look like. It's a pity that I didn't know when Chen Ze and Lao Ding went hunting with you in the mountains last time, otherwise I would have gone with them."

The fat man felt very resentful when he thought about the time when Zhang An took Ding Yi and Chen Ze to the mountains for a trip.

He didn't know about this at first, but Ding Yi always showed off in front of him.

He became even more angry when he found out that the two men had gone hunting and spent the night in the mountains after entering the mountains.

"Zhang An, when I lose all this fat, you have to take us to the mountains for another trip. We'll prepare some more things and play in the mountains for a few more days before we come out."

The fat man knew that it was unrealistic to pester Zhang An to take him to the mountains to play.

After all, with his current weight, it would be a huge torture for him to walk into the mountains.

Not to mention this, even if you get into the mountains, if you encounter something, you probably won’t be able to escape even if you want to.

So he made up his mind to ask Zhang An to make a weight loss recipe for you, and after getting rid of the excess fat, he would let Zhang An take them into the mountains to play.

"Okay, okay, okay. As long as you can lose weight normally and maintain your physical fitness, I will take you to the mountains to experience it."

Seeing that the fat man was very interested in going into the mountains, Zhang An would naturally not refuse.

If there were other people here, and they heard the fat guy say that he wanted to go into the mountains to play for a few days, they would definitely say that he had nothing to do.

Because in most mountains, people would always wish to have one more day of leisure, and no one would want to go into the mountains for nothing.

But Zhang An, who came back from the future, understood it very well. After all, the thoughts in rich people's minds are definitely different from those in ordinary people's minds.

However, it is no problem for him to bring a few people into the mountains now. As long as they don't go to the deepest part of the mountains, there will be no safety hazards.

After all, in recent years, with the invasion of many people into the mountains, most of the ferocious beasts that originally threatened humans have fled into the deepest parts of the mountains.

This can be seen from the fact that there have been few signs of wild boars coming down the mountain in recent years.

"Speaking of which, Zhang An, are there any wild fruits to pick in the mountains this season? I remember when I came to your house before, the group of children in the village brought back a lot of things from the mountains. To be honest, some of the wild fruits are really delicious."

The fat man went into the mountains not just to see the scenery. He is not a man with such sentiments.

Once you enter the mountains, you naturally have to do some fun things, otherwise the trip would be in vain.

For example, the last time they came, they had a picnic in the mountains and caught wild crabs. Even if nothing else, at least they had the experience.

It is obviously unrealistic to make any big moves this time. After all, there is not enough time and no advance preparation.

But it would be nice to be able to pick some wild fruits myself.

Fatty has a very good relationship with the group of naughty kids in the village. Whenever they go to the mountains to get something delicious, if Fatty is there, they will give him some.

Looking at their carefree and free childhood, the fat guy was actually very envious.

Since I didn’t have this experience when I was a child, it’s not a bad idea to experience it now. Just think of it as buying the ticket after getting on the bus.

"It's definitely not possible now. Most wild fruits in the mountains mature in autumn. At this time of year, most wild fruits in the mountains are still blooming and pollinating. But there are some. During this period, more dream fruits mature. You can pay a little attention when you leave later."

Apart from Mengzi, Zhang An couldn't think of any edible wild fruits in this place.

Even if there is, it is probably just a tiny bit now and cannot be eaten at all.

Sure enough, after hearing what Zhang An said, the fat man looked around all the way.

"Zhang An, what is that thing? Can I eat it?"

After walking for a while, the fat man suddenly pointed to a ridge in front of him and asked Zhang An.

Zhang An looked in the direction he pointed and suddenly saw several wild mulberry trees growing in a crooked pattern.

In addition to the dense mulberry leaves, there are also many black mulberries hanging on the mulberry tree.

"Those are mulberries. They are edible and taste pretty good."

Zhang An couldn't help but admire the fat man's attentiveness, because most of the mulberries were hidden by mulberry leaves, and if you didn't look carefully, you really couldn't see them.

When the fat man heard Zhang An say that thing was mulberry, he suddenly felt nostalgic.

He had never eaten this thing before. It was given to him by a group of children after he arrived in Changqing Village.

What’s more, the ones that the other children gave him were the biggest and most delicious ones.

"Those are mulberries. I remember Ermao and the others gave them to me before. They were delicious, just like fruits. Let's rest here for a while and pick some mulberries. My Zilin has definitely never eaten them before."

As the fat man spoke, he looked at Zhang Zilin beside him.

Zhang Zilin shook her head and said, "I've heard of this thing, but I've never eaten it."

"Then let's rest here for a while. You two stay here and watch Qiqi, while Fatty and I will go pick some and bring them back."

Zhang An handed little Siqi, who was riding on his shoulders, to Su Ying, and then he led the fat man to climb down along the rocks at the bottom of the mountain road.

Although the mulberry tree was not far from them, they still needed some effort to climb over mountains and cross rivers to get there.

The fat man was quite heavy, so he had to be careful with every step he took, but with Zhang An leading the way in front of him, he only had to follow the path Zhang An had walked.

"Huh, we're finally here. These mulberry trees may not look big, but they bear a lot of mulberries."

It took them more than ten minutes to reach the mulberry tree.

I reached out and picked a few dark mulberries from the tree and put them in my mouth. The sour and sweet taste immediately burst out in my mouth.

"It's over. I left the bamboo basket with them. What should I use to put it in? How about I take off my clothes to put it in?"

The fat man only ate a few and was about to pick some to bring back for Zhang Zilin and the others to taste. But at this moment, he remembered that he seemed to have left the only bamboo basket that could hold things on the road and did not bring it with him.

If he had brought a knife, he could have just cut the branches and carried them back, but unfortunately Zhang An didn't even bring a knife with him.

At this time, he remembered that when the children in the village shared wild fruits with him, they often put them in their clothes pockets.

So, he wanted to take off his clothes and put them in his pocket after he was done.

"No, I brought a plastic bag."

As Zhang An spoke, he immediately took out a small plastic bag from his pocket.

In fact, he didn't plan to bring this thing with him when he went out, but he had put some of it in his space before, and it was very convenient to take it out now.

"It's not easy to wash off the mulberry juice. If you really take off your clothes to hold it, it will be a waste."

The fat man's clothes are not cheap. He would think it a pity if they were ruined after being used to carry mulberries once.

Seeing Zhang An take out the plastic bag, the fat man began to pick mulberries seriously.

The two mulberry trees were not tall and were rather crooked. Both of them were tall, so they did not need to climb the trees, they could just stand under the trees and pick the fruits.

Even if there are some places that are out of reach, you can still get them by tiptoeing a little and bending the branches down.

The plastic bag was not big and after more than ten minutes, it could no longer hold anything.

"Okay, that's all. If there are more, there won't be room for them."

Seeing the fat man still picking fruits, Zhang An quickly shouted.

"Uh, okay, then I won't pick it."

When the fat man saw that the plastic bag was full, he put the fruits he had just picked into his mouth and ate them.

"Here, you carry it first, and I'll pick up a couple of leaves to take with me."

Zhang An handed a full bag of mulberries to the fat man, but asked him to carry it temporarily as he would have to carry it himself later.

After all, the way back requires climbing and crawling. It is difficult for the fat man to walk by himself, and if he is asked to carry several kilograms of mulberries, I am afraid he will drop them on the ground every few steps.

"Um, what are you going to do with these leaves? Are you going to use them to feed the silkworms?"

The fat man knew that mulberry leaves could be used to raise silkworms, but he was very curious about why Zhang An had to travel so far to get some mulberry leaves to bring back.

"You are raising silkworms, but you have already noticed that your hands are black. This stuff cannot be easily washed off, but if you rub the mulberry leaves to extract the juice, it will be easy to wash clean."

Zhang An picked up two large handfuls of mulberry leaves, thinking that they would be enough for them.

On the way back, Fatty was much more experienced than when he came here, but unfortunately he was climbing up when he went back, and he still needed Zhang An to pull him up in some places.

"We are back. Look, we picked a lot of mulberries."

As soon as he got back on the road, the fat man couldn't wait to show off the fruits of his labor.

Unfortunately, Su Ying and Zhang Zilin were not his supporting actors. The only one who would talk to him was Xiao Siqi, whose mind was now only on the full bag of mulberries. After all, he was a well-known foodie.

"It seems to taste really good, but a little sour. It would be better if it was a little sweeter."

Zhang Zilin ate a few and immediately felt that they were okay.

"It's not the mulberries' fault, they aren't originally so sour. It's just that the mulberries are planted in a land with little nutrition, so the mulberries are a little sour. The mulberries from the mulberry forest behind our village would taste much sweeter than this. But whether sour or sweet, they all have their own characteristics."

The two mulberry trees just now seemed to have grown out of the cracks in the rocks, and there was hardly any mud to be seen.

So this means that the mulberries they produce will not taste very good and will not be very big.

But after eating it, Zhang An was surprised that, apart from being a little sour, it was actually quite sweet.

It is really admirable that such fruits can be produced under such conditions. Therefore, when Zhang An was picking mulberry leaves, he did not break the branches directly and took them back, as a respect for the two mulberries.

"Ah, there are still some in your village? But I've been here so many times, how come I didn't find any? Doesn't that mean I missed it last year?"

The fat man originally thought that the mulberries the children gave him before were picked in the mountains, but now it seems that they were picked in the mountains that Zhang An mentioned.

"Of course there are. In the past, when my grandmother was around, many families in the village raised silkworms, so they planted a mulberry forest not far from the village. But now, not many people raise silkworms, so naturally, no one takes care of the mulberry forest."

As for the mulberry forest in Changqing Village, Zhang An witnessed with his own eyes the process of it being fought over and then ignored.

In all these years, the last time mulberry leaves were picked in the mulberry forest was probably before he got married, when his two aunts made a silk quilt specifically for him.

"Well, since there is a mulberry forest, you should make use of it. It would be a pity to abandon it. Although no one raises silkworms now, the mulberries taste good. There are many people coming to your village, so you can sell mulberries in this season."

When the fat man heard Zhang An say that no one was taking care of the mulberry forest, he felt a little puzzled.

These mulberries taste pretty good. If we pick them and sell them to tourists in the next two days, there should be a lot of people willing to buy them.

"Oh, that's right. I wouldn't have thought of this if you hadn't mentioned it. I'll talk to my uncle about this when I get back, and then he'll give you credit for it."

If the fat man hadn't mentioned it, Zhang An really wouldn't have thought of it.

You should know that in later generations, mulberries are a very popular fruit, and the price is not low.

Looking back now, Zhang An really feels like his village is guarding a treasure trove without even realizing it.

So Zhang An thought that he must talk about this with his uncle Zhang Jianwen after returning home.

The mulberry forest in the village is not small, it is about ten acres of mountain land. If they are all well taken care of and produce mulberries, it will definitely bring in a lot of income.

Especially since mulberries are ripe during the May Day holiday, and with so many tourists in the village now, there is no need to buy them elsewhere; they can be consumed in the village.

But it’s not Zhang An’s fault. After all, he no longer has to worry about how to make money, so it’s normal that he didn’t expect these things.

However, how this should be done, I'm afraid, can only be decided by the village.

After all, the mulberry forest is there and the land does not belong to anyone.

If the villagers were really allowed to pick the fruits and sell them themselves, I'm afraid the problem would be not the scarcity of fruits but the inequality of their distribution.

(End of this chapter)