Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 139 My grandma is also your mother, right?
He had been planning to go into the mountains the next day, but as he was getting ready after daybreak, Yu Dejin went out and reminded him that today was the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Only then did he remember.

I have been so busy recently that I even forgot such an important day.

The Mid-Autumn Festival here is also called "August 15th", which actually means the same thing.

There are two key tasks that must be completed on this day.

One thing, of course, is making mooncakes and eating them as a family.

Another thing is to burn paper for the elderly, which is also called visiting the ancestral graves.

When it comes to the Yu family, it is also quite complicated. First, Yu Dejin's generation has to visit the graves of their grandparents, that is, Yu Qiutang's great-grandfather and great-grandmother.

After that, he took all the younger generations to visit Yu Qiutang’s grandfather’s grave.

According to the rules, only men go to the cemetery.

It’s not that there is discrimination against women or anything, but according to legend, the graves are filled with too much negative energy and can cause great harm to women.

Since this is the case, and Yu Dejin is the eldest in the family, he should be the one to organize this matter.

All the brothers, nephews and sons would gather outside Yu Dejin's house. After everyone was present, the eldest grandson Yu Qiujiang would carry the soul-guiding banner and walk all the way to the ancestral grave.

The entourage will bring some paper for burning, various fruits, as well as prepared moon cakes, dumplings, spicy red noodles, roujiamo, etc. After burning the paper at the grave, they will break the paper into pieces and sprinkle them on the grave.

Normally one cannot be absent from such events, but Yu Demu did have something to do today, so he asked Yu Qiushan to bring his younger brother Yu Qiuhai back. Yu Qiuhai is only six years old this year and has just entered the first grade. He is a chubby little boy.

The Yu family now has neither too many nor too few male members.

Yu Dejin's family includes Yu Qiutang and Yu Qiushi.

Yu Demu's family includes Yu Qiushan and Yu Qiuhai.

Yu Qiuyuan is the only one in Yu Deshui's family.

Yu Dehuo's family name is Wang Ruixiang, but Wang Ruixiang took his mother's surname and is no longer included in the family tree here.

Then there is Yu Qiujiang from the Yude Tujia ethnic group.

There were six boys in total.

As for girls, there are exactly six.

They are Yu Chunxing, Yu Chuntao and Yu Chunmei from Yu Dejin's family.

Yu Chunying from Yu Demu’s family.

Yu Chunzhu from Yu Deshui's family.

And Yu Chunju from Yu Detujia.

The fourth child, Yu Dehuo's family, originally had a pair of twin girls, but the children were not lucky. They fell into the river when they were two or three years old and died together.

No one wanted to talk about this matter, and it gradually became a thing of the past.

However, although it is a traditional custom, because of what happened to my grandmother recently, the burning of paper this time seemed quite unceremonious.

No one from Fourth Uncle Yu Dehuo’s family came.

It was said that Wang Ruixiang was not at home, and Yu had a fever and was lying on the kang and couldn't get up.

Yu Dejin looked at the sparse crowd, suppressed his unhappiness, and reluctantly walked around the grave.

Then each family dispersed and visited their own graves.

For example, Yu Qiujiang burned paper for his parents, while Yu Qiutang and his father burned paper for his mother and Yu Chunmei's mother.

Yu Chunmei's mother gave birth to three daughters and no son, so Yu Qiutang had to take her place.

Of course Yu Qiushi followed suit.

He has become much more honest recently, and Yu Qiutang doesn't spend much time paying attention to him. He just gives him some warnings occasionally to teach him a lesson and stop causing trouble. He believes that he may not always have the chance to clean up his mess.

Since the last incident, Yu Qiushi has had a new understanding of his brother Yu Qiutang. After seeing how capable he is, he is willing to listen to him.

Seeing that her son was getting better, Chen Meidi naturally didn't say much, and the family remained generally dull and stable.

After burning paper for his two deceased wives, Yu Dejin was in a very depressed mood. After saying a few words, he took Yu Qiushi away.

Yu Qiutang sat alone in front of his mother's grave for an hour or two.

Trying to remember something about my mother.

But it ultimately failed.

This made him very disappointed.

No matter how much he loves his kind mother in his heart, time will still dilute this feeling, to the point where he can't even remember what his mother looks like unless he thinks about it deliberately.

I couldn't help feeling sad.

Mother is probably the softest memory in all men's hearts. A gentle man must have had a gentle mother.

Just like a strong and independent man, the father must be strong.

Because today is August 15th, Mi Yali was finally taken home by Mi Wenzhong.

Yu Qiutang planned for a long time but forgot about the festival.

It can only be said that people’s calculations are not as good as God’s calculations.

I can only hope that my nagging mother-in-law won’t worry too much and won’t let Miali come out again.

There was no work at the construction site today. Everyone was doing the same thing as Yu Qiutang. After lunch, Yu Chunmei began to knead the dough and chop the stuffing to make mooncakes.

At this time, there are actually take-out mooncakes on the market, mainly snow skin and five-nut ones, but people here basically don’t buy them to eat, but choose to make them themselves.

Either steamed or baked.

If steaming, just let the dough rise, roll out two large pancakes with a diameter of about 40 to 50 centimeters, put various chopped fruits and dried nuts in the middle, press the edges with a clean comb to seal, and use the comb to press many beautiful fine lines on the surface of the pancake.

Then it takes about the same time as steaming buns normally.

After being taken out of the pot, the steamed mooncakes will be cut into small pieces of various shapes. They taste fragrant and delicious, retaining the original flavor of the fruit to the greatest extent.

If it is branded, it will be much more delicate.

Generally, cakes are made in various shapes, including animals, flowers, mythological characters, etc., which are all kinds of strange.

Baked mooncakes will taste sweeter because some of their moisture is baked dry, but they will lose some of their fruity flavor.

Some people prefer steamed mooncakes, while others prefer baked ones. So, in order to reconcile the conflict, housewives usually steam some and bake some. On this day of reunion, try not to disappoint the children and make them cry.

The two children had gone to school and had not yet returned home, so Yu Qiutang sat in front of the stove to help Yu Chunmei light the fire.

There is no Mid-Autumn Festival holiday at this time, except for winter and summer vacations and Teacher's Day. Even if it rains knives from the sky, children and teachers have to go to school as usual.

"Thank goodness for you, otherwise no one would visit my mother's grave, and the wormwood on the grave would have grown very tall." Yu Chunmei said helplessly while rolling the pancake.

Yu Qiutang lamented that the custom of burning paper at graves on such a reunion day was very strange.

I don't know who first came up with this weird idea.

It would be nice for the family to be together happily, eating fruits, mooncakes, and drinking some wine.

It just so happens that I have to visit the grave in the morning.

Just say that no one can feel comfortable after coming back from visiting the graves of their loved ones, let alone have the mood to eat mooncakes. Fortunately, women don’t have to go, otherwise they would be saddened by the scene and probably wouldn’t have the energy to make mooncakes when they come back.

"Not really. When we went there, the grave was clean."

"Ah, who did that?"

Yu Qiutang smiled and said, "Who else could it be?" Yu Chunmei glanced at him and suddenly realized that it must be her father.

"That's good."

Yu Chunmei was relieved, "I saw my second sister in the last episode. She said she would come back to visit soon."

"Come back, I haven't seen you for several months, and I miss you so much."

"Yeah, that's right. Who told her to marry far away..."

There were too many factors involved in this matter, and Yu Qiutang didn't want to continue talking about it, so he changed the subject and mentioned that he, Yu Qiujiang, and Yu Qiuyuan were going to the mountains tomorrow, and asked her to pay more attention to things at home.

Although Wang Haofeng does not need to be treated as an outsider, he is a bit careless and may not have considered many things carefully.

Yu Chunmei agreed.

When it was getting dark, the sky suddenly cleared up, the clouds dispersed, and a big golden moon appeared in the sky.

The two groups of people who were originally separated in the troglodyte courtyard were called together by Yu Dejin. They set up a table in the yard and ate moon cakes and fruits together.

Yu Qiutang wanted to refuse at first, but after thinking it over, he finally agreed.

However, it is difficult to tell how much sincerity is behind this superficial harmony.

"Dad, try this steamed thing I made."

Yu Chunmei handed Yu Dejin a piece of cut steamed mooncake.

"Okay," Yu Dejin took a bite, looked at the mooncake with nostalgia, and sighed, "The mooncakes you made taste very similar to the ones your mother made. They taste sweet but not greasy. They are delicious."

"As long as it tastes good, I've steamed a few pots and will send some to you later."

Then he pushed the plate in front of Yu Qiushi and said, "Qiushi, you guys eat too."

"Good."

Yu Qiushi pulled over the plate, drew the biggest one for himself, and then pushed it to Wang Chunhua next to him. Wang Chunhua also took a piece and pushed the plate in front of Chen Meidi.

Chen Meidi had just heard Yu Dejin mention Gao Meiying, Yu Chunmei's mother. She felt a little unhappy and didn't want to eat, so she pushed the plate back.

Yu Qiutang saw this and refused to give in. He took one piece for himself and pushed the remaining two pieces to Yu Xiaowei and Yu Xiaoyun.

He didn't indulge Chen Meidi either.

At this time, if you don't make trouble, everyone will live in peace. If you have to make trouble, then you will torture each other.

Of course no one cares about anyone else.

"I heard from my brother Shanzi in the afternoon that my second uncle didn't get the musk, so tomorrow morning I plan to go into the mountains with my brother Jiang and Yuanzi."

Yu Qiutang handed a banana pear to his father.

"Into the mountains?"

Yu Dejin's hand hovered in the air, and after a slight hesitation, he said, "Are you saying that you want to go musk deer hunting?"

"Well, if you can't buy it, you can only find a way yourself."

"Oh."

Yu Dejin took the pear back, twisted the stem, and asked, "Are there musk deer in the mountains here?"

Banana pear is a kind of pear that looks very much like a wine gourd. It is very sweet. When it is tender, it is so hard that you can't bite it. When it is ripe, it will fall directly from the tree and become a bag of water.

Therefore, they are usually picked when they are still green and buried in grains, just like covering persimmons, to slowly ripen them.

It is really fragrant, glutinous and delicious, and can be said to be the most delicious variety of all pears.

Unfortunately, the yield of this kind of pear is very low, and it has gradually been hybridized. Although the yield has increased a lot, the taste is not as good as before.

"Yes, there are probably forest musk deer near us. If we walk to the back, we might even encounter horse musk deer or black musk deer."

Black musk deer is the original musk deer.

Musk deer is actually a separate animal. Many people think that musk deer is a kind of deer because the word "musk" contains the character "deer". In fact, it is not.

Musk deer are a separate genus of the family Musk Deer.

There are seven or eight common species of musk deer in our country, of which there were originally three species in the Qinling Mountains. However, due to people's repeated disturbances and hunting, and continuous encroachment on musk deer resources, the number of musk deer has continued to decline.

The Spanish musk deer were slightly better, but the forest musk deer and the wild musk deer disappeared from the Qinling Mountains in a short period of time.

All genera of Musk Deer are protected species.

The forest musk deer and the wild musk deer in Qinling Mountains are both first-class protected animals, while the red musk deer is also a second-class protected animal.

Nowadays, people are no longer allowed to hunt wild musk deer, and instead they are artificially bred after going through qualified procedures.

Yu Dejin didn't know much, but he knew that musk deer generally live at very high altitudes. High altitude means danger, so he felt a little nervous.

"If not, wait a few more days and see if your uncle can come up with a solution."

Yu Qiutang knew that his father was concerned, and smiled, "Dad, my grandma is also your mother, so you can't expect everything from my second uncle now. You are the eldest in the family, so you should give more.

You are not as rich as my second uncle, so you should do more than him, otherwise, it will seem that you are not considerate enough, and after a long time, what can you say in front of others? "

Yu Dejin was slightly stunned.

What the son said certainly made sense, but what could he say? Ever since his two wives passed away, he always felt that life lacked the drive it once had and felt it was meaningless.

Not active anymore.

The current living condition is more like maintaining the status quo. As long as we can maintain basic life and avoid collapse, it’s fine.

Dazed.

"That's true, but the mountains are too dangerous. You're not a professional hunter, so you don't have the skills that other people have. What if something goes wrong?"

Yu Qiutang laughed and said, "Dad, there is no risk in doing anything. If you sit at home and do nothing, the roof will collapse. People always have to move forward when they are alive, right?"

When Chen Meidi heard Yu Qiutang say this, she couldn't help but look at him.

Although she is a woman and a bit selfish and petty, she is more insightful than Yu Dejin in some aspects. After hearing what Yu Qiutang said, she immediately discovered a problem: Yu Qiutang is more ambitious than before.

This seems to be a simple truth.

But it is actually very difficult to do.

Many people waste their lives because they don't have a clear mind and are always in a daze...

Before Chen Meidi got married, she had learned about Yu Dejin from others, but for some reason, after she got married, she always felt that her husband was not as enterprising as others said.

He was barely fifty years old, but he looked old and as if he was going to collapse at any moment, gasping for breath from exhaustion.

I couldn't figure it out before, but now I suddenly understand.

Correct.

It's just that he lacks the spirit of Yu Qiutang.

Although one is older and the other is younger, there is a big difference in their energy.

"Hey, look at you, the child is being filial to his grandmother and your mother, why are you opposing it? You should support it." Chen Meidi interrupted.

"You know shit!"

Yu Dejin retorted angrily, "What do you know? You think going to the mountains is like going back to your mother's home. If you want to go, just go. You are really short-sighted."

Chen Meidi's original intention was to awaken Yu Dejin's ambition by supporting Yu Qiutang, but she didn't expect to be scolded in front of the children, and she was immediately embarrassed.

"What do you mean, Yu Dejin? I'm giving you face, right? You've been going too far recently. I haven't given you face in front of others or behind others. Who do you think you are? You're the emperor, so your words are the imperial decree and others have to listen to you. If others don't agree with you, you curse them?"

(End of this chapter)