Manor Romance

Chapter 8 Delicious in the Mountains
"Your father and the others are really powerful. If you follow you, you won't have to be afraid of starvation wherever you go." Along the way, Yun Li followed them, and saw a lot of new things, which also gave him a lot of knowledge. He sincerely admires them. road.

"It's nothing special, people in the mountains know this, but the things the teacher told us before are more interesting, and they are very different from what we saw on TV." Huang Yanli was still very happy when she heard Yunli's approval. A girl of her age inevitably has a deep longing for a colorful life outside.

When they returned, the four wild ducks had been processed. Huang Yanli's father, Huang Damin, dug a shallow pit with dry branches and lit a fire on it, while her mother, Xu Yin, was taking the small wild bamboo shoots, fungus, and wild mushrooms that she picked earlier. , wild vegetables, etc. are stuffed into the belly of the wild duck one by one, and sealed with grass and vines.

"What's the magical effect of putting this in?" Yunli also noticed that before sealing it, Brother Chen would stuff a few finger-sized gray stones into the stomach of each wild duck and mix them with wild vegetables.

"Lick it, and you'll understand." Brother Chen threw one of the stones to Yunli, and said slyly.

Although Yunli thought it was absurd, but he has always been eager to learn, so he had nothing to worry about. He observed carefully a few times and found nothing special, so he followed Brother Chen's instructions, put the stone to his mouth, and licked it tentatively. for a moment.

Soon, the answer travels from the taste buds to the brain.

"It turned out to be an ore with salt in it. In this way, while seasoning, you can also use the heat-gathering properties of the ore to increase the internal temperature and speed up the cooking speed. It kills two birds with one stone." Yun Li smacked his lips, suddenly said.

"It seems that you have spent the past six months in vain. Hurry up and bring the plantain leaves. Brother, I will pass on a famous dish to you today. After you learn it, you won't have to worry about finding a wife, haha!" Brother Chen said, Made everyone amused.

He picked out the two smaller wild ducks, handed one of them to Yunli, and motioned Yunli to follow his steps, then carried the ducks and roasted them back and forth over the fire, until the skin of the wild ducks was completely dry. Roasted until it was slightly yellowed, Brother Chen took back the wild duck, wrapped it in banana leaves, and finally smeared a thick layer of silt on the surface of the leaves.

"After baking, the speed of wrapping should be fast. You don't need too many leaves. Two layers are enough." Brother Chen completed the whole process very quickly, and Yunli is not bad, so he can probably keep up with the progress. On some key points, Brother Chen still needs to point out from the side.

After a while, two lumps of mud sticks wrapped with wild ducks are made. Turn off the fire, put the two mud-wrapped wild ducks into the pit, and wait for the charcoal fire to bake them.

The other two larger wild ducks are grilled. After the wood burns through and forms hot charcoal, Huang Damin puts them on wooden sticks to bake.The purpose of this is to use a specific high temperature to quickly cook the food, and to lock the moisture in the food without scorching the food, which is similar to the principle of the oven we usually use.

Several people gathered around the fire, under the shade of the big tree, chatted, ate wild fruits, smelled the aroma, and looked forward to the food that was about to be completed.

"By the way, at the wild duck's nest before, you seem to have said that there is a delicacy missing, what kind of delicacy is that?" Yun Li recalled their previous conversation, so he asked the question.

"Your boy has been in Lu Town for half a year. Do you know why this Lu Town is called Lu Town, and why Banlu Mountain is called Banlu Mountain?" Old Brother Chen's style remained unchanged, and he still didn't directly give Yunli an answer.

Yun Li looked at the expressions of the people, obviously, they all knew the inside story, and he was not slow, he could understand the general idea after thinking about it, but he still couldn't help asking for proof:
"That is to say, there used to be deer herds in this mountain?"

"A sika deer with gray and white spots is a unique species here, and it has been extinct for 30 years." It was Mr. Chen who explained the reason.

"At that time, when a child was born in any family, they would go to the mountains to catch a spotted deer and slaughter it at the full moon. The two horns would be reserved for the newborn baby, which could ward off evil spirits and protect health. But in Ali's generation, only There is no more spotted deer to catch." Huang Yanli's mother, Xu Yin, still knew about the spotted deer very well, and couldn't help but recall the past.

"During my grandfather's generation, there were still a lot of spotted deer. Later, when the economy opened up, some people hunted spotted deer in large numbers and smuggled them to the border to sell them for money. Then they exterminated them. Wild ducks like these also It is much less than a few years ago, fortunately, the villagers are aware of this, and they will stop doing the same thing, otherwise this mountain will be destroyed in the hands of our generation."

Huang Damin sighed while flipping the wooden stick in his hand, and the two wild ducks kept emitting oily flowers, so Huang Damin overlapped them so that the oil spread all over the body, and the color looked more attractive.

"It can be known from some ancient books that there were records of spotted deer activities here thousands of years ago. It is a pity that they are extinct." As a teacher, Brother Chen is also very sad about this.

He is also a native of Luzhen. He still has the pair of spotted antlers that his parents took when he was born. Although he has no children, he does not want this tradition to end.

Even though they no longer need to rely on the resources in the mountains, they can survive very well, but for the mountain people, they have a unique feeling for the mountains. This feeling has been rooted in their hearts since childhood, and I am afraid that nothing can replace it.

Yunli is not from the mountains, but he can understand a thing or two from the feelings shown by Brother Chen and the others. He also hopes that his manor can make some contributions to the people here.

"The wild ducks are ready, come and eat first." Huang Damin's shout broke everyone's contemplation, and the two scorched wild ducks also attracted everyone's attention again.

Huang Yanli's mother, Xu Yin, put two wild ducks on a banana leaf, grabbed a foot with each hand, and easily separated the wild ducks, revealing the steaming vegetables inside.

After picking out the stones that had been put in before with a small bamboo branch, Xu Yin divided the wild duck and vegetables into five portions, wrapped them in plantain leaves, and distributed them to everyone one by one.

When going out, in the mountains and in the wild, everyone is not a particular person, so they just pick it up with their hands and eat it.

The freshly roasted wild duck was still quite hot, and the vegetable dishes inside were soaked in oil and were also very hot, but Yunli didn't have that patience, so he grinned and ate while breathing.

Yunli is not a gourmet person, and he doesn’t pay much attention to his usual three meals, as long as he can fill his stomach. Since he came to Luzhen to support education, under the influence of Brother Chen, he began to pursue delicious food, and this roasted wild duck , is definitely one of the most delicious food he has ever eaten in his life.

The wild duck's skin is crispy but not greasy, and the meat is firm and tender. It only needs a little salt to bring out its game flavor to the extreme.The vegetarian dishes wrapped in the inside show their own unique flavors after being soaked in the gravy of the wild duck. The small wild bamboo shoots are fresh and crisp, the wild mushrooms are blended with the gravy, both meat and vegetables, the fungus is soft and glutinous, and the mountain vegetables are fragrant and cooked. Eating, each has its own flavor, mixed to eat, and unique, quite interesting.

The wild duck was not big, and five people ate it separately, and it was quickly wiped out. Everyone ate differently, but they all had the same mood, and the meaning was still unfinished.

"This little thing, no matter how many times you eat it, you won't feel tired." Brother Chen grabbed a handful of leaves to wipe his hands, and said with a smile.

"That's right, when we went into the mountains before, we could eat four or five of them by ourselves, but now we can only do tooth-making sacrifices to satisfy our addiction." Huang Damin echoed, while continuing to add firewood to the fire, and the remaining two beggars Wild ducks still need some time to roast.

"By the way, where is there enough water in this mountain? After walking for a long time, I haven't found a single place." While everyone was waiting, Yun Li asked.

This trip into the mountain, he is not just here for fun, the water shortage in the west of Xiaolu Mountain can actually be solved by diverting water from Banlu Mountain, but after walking for a long time, he did not find a suitable water source, which is amazing It made him very confused.

"Mr. Yun, you have asked the right person this time. The water sources of the Spotted Deer Mountain are concentrated on the opposite side, and the streams that flow to this side are all small streams. Therefore, both Dalu Mountain and Xiaolu Mountain are dry land, which is not suitable for farming. .”

As a farmer in Shanglu Village, Huang Damin naturally knew Banlu Mountain very well, so he pointed to the direction and introduced the situation to Yunli. Seeing Yunli's sad face, he had no choice but to continue to add:

"In fact, there is a water source. At the junction of Banlu Mountain, Xiaolu Mountain and Dalu Mountain, there is a flat valley. During the rainy season, a large amount of rainwater will accumulate here, which is very similar to a wetland. Those bosses in the past, They are all taking advantage of the rainy season to hire people to dig canals to divert water, but the amount of water stored in the rainy season is different every year, and if you are unlucky, you will not be able to divert much water in a year."

"Boss Zhao, who planted fruit trees in the past, couldn't bear fruit because of the dry season, and couldn't even get back the money. We helped dig those diversion canals." Xu Yin also added from the side.

Yunli's earliest idea was to divert water from Banlu Mountain, but after listening to Huang Damin's statement, he realized that this method is not easy to implement.First of all, the rainfall is unstable, which cannot be controlled by human beings. Yunli can't pin the hope of the manor on God's will.Secondly, planting crops is different from planting fruit trees and bamboo. It requires stable irrigation to ensure a good harvest.

In fact, the best way is to build an automatic irrigation system with pipelines, which can not only obtain a stable water supply, but also greatly save manpower. However, the cost required is not a small amount, and Yunli cannot afford it now .The contract fee for Little Deer Mountain alone cost most of his savings, and the funds on hand now will be used for the next batch of crops.

(End of this chapter)