Carry a fountain with you

Chapter 216
"Liu Junhao, where's our bald-tailed old hen?" Zhang Qian came out of school early in the afternoon, and deliberately took the opportunity of feeding to count the hens in the yard, only to find that one was missing.

"It's that yellow bald tail... Will it peck at Professor Zhao?" Although there are seventy or eighty chickens in the yard, Liu Junhao is quite impressed with the hen.The main reason is that its characteristics are very obvious, its whole body is golden yellow, but there are few old feathers on its tail.

"Go over and have a look, I'm sure it's not here... 咕咕咕咕..." Zhang Qian started to shout again, and the chickens and ducks were scurrying around with the corn kernels in her hand.To say that Zhang Qian likes to feed the chickens and ducks, watching them crowded around her, feels a sense of accomplishment.

Liu Junhao went out to check, but he was really not there.

"Let me just say, I didn't see it when I was feeding the children two days ago. Could it be eaten by weasels?"

"There should be no weasels in this area." Liu Junhao also wondered whether the number of hens in his yard had only increased, or was it the first time that it had decreased.As for being ruined by weasels, it seems unlikely after thinking about it.Xiaopi and Doudou wander around the neighborhood all day long, no weasel dares to make a home here.Besides, weasels usually steal chickens at night?The bald-tailed hen was huge, and it probably weighed seven or eight catties after plucking its feathers. An ordinary weasel was really no match for it.

I remember one time in the summer when Liu Junhao went to the woods to crack a cicada shell, he saw it fighting with a red snake with thick wrists.

"Then let's go out and look for it!" Zhang Qian became anxious.

"Don't look for it, you will come back when you come back," Liu Junhao comforted.If it was really eaten by animals, I can't find it now.

"There's no one like you, you don't care about losing your own things."

While the two were talking, a bald-tailed hen came out of the yard clucking.

"Look, let me just say, this is not coming back." He felt that he was very prescient, how could the hen in the yard be lost.

After the hen pecked on the ground for a while, it sneaked out of the waterway again.

"It's getting dark, what does it want to do?" At this point, the hen fumbled into the nest.

The two secretly followed behind, and before going far, they saw the hen crawling into the haystack.This haystack is the one outside the gate of the elementary school. A few days ago, when the weather turned cold and the red rabbit had no fodder, Liu Junhao pulled the haystack back.

As soon as they got to the back of the haystack, the bald-tailed hen ran out clucking as soon as she saw someone.

This guy used the firewood haystack as a delivery room. Liu Junhao stretched his head to look deep into the haystack, and there were a dozen white eggs inside.It seems that it has not been a day or two to hide eggs in private.

They confiscated them all, and he let Zhang Qian carry them around in his clothes, while he bent down and reached for the eggs.

"Ah, why is this egg cracked?" Zhang Qian exclaimed as she took an egg.

"Normal, it was cracked by the frost." Liu Junhao was very familiar with this situation because he often picked up open eggs in the firewood pile when he was a child.

You can't put this kind of eggs, so you can just make scrambled eggs at night.

Of course, before the two left, they deliberately covered the chicken coop to prevent the bald tail from dropping eggs outside.

Unexpectedly, as soon as they turned around, the hen ran over screaming again.

"I have to kill it to eat meat during the Chinese New Year," Liu Junhao said bitterly.

Speaking of Chinese New Year, the days go by so fast, and it will be a little more than a month before the new year.

This year can be regarded as the first year they have spent together, so they must prepare well, and it is best to start acting early.

Thinking of this, Liu Junhao took another aim at the piece of lotus root in the ditch in front of the door.Pick lotus seeds in summer and dig lotus roots in winter. Generally, lotus roots can be dug in November.It's just that many people dig the lotus root in the twelfth lunar month in order to make it last for a few more months.

He eats the lotus root at home, so he doesn't have to wait another month.While the weather is not too cold now, pick some at noon and dig some first.

After discussing it with Professor Zhao, he immediately agreed, even saying that his bones are brittle these days, and he is looking for an opportunity to exercise.

The water in the ditch is very deep, if you want to dig lotus root, you must drain the water.That's a big project, and it will take at least a whole day if you really do it.The last time they discussed it, they simply touched some on the side and forgot to dig the deep ones when they had time to find a pump.

Digging only at the side is naturally much easier. You don’t even need to wear rubber shoes, just jump into the water with your bare feet and trousers rolled up.

Mr. Wang saw something interesting on the side, and wanted to go down to help, but Professor Zhao hurriedly stopped him.

His body has only been raised for more than half a month. Although he has recovered very well recently, he can't stand such a toss.

The two were inexperienced in the water just now, so they could only grope along the stems of the dried lotus leaves.But the lotus stem has been soaked in water for several months, and it has become rotten, and it will be broken if it is not careful.

Therefore, the two of them can say that they followed their feelings. They didn't touch a few lotus roots, but they caught a lot of loaches, eels, crabs, etc.

Liu Junhao didn't care at first, and threw all the fish he caught to the water ducks to eat.However, as more and more loaches were thrown ashore, he quickly changed his mind and asked Lao Wang to pick them up on the road with a small bucket.

It is said that this ditch is swept at least five or six times a day by the water duck Qingzhuang, but there are still a lot of fish in it, and they grow very fat under the nourishment of the mud.

Take the loach caught by Liu Junhao as an example. Its body is much thicker than a one-yuan coin. He weighed it casually, and it weighs two or two.

They kept throwing fish up below, and Mr. Wang was a little jealous when he picked it up. He yelled, "I want to join the fish in Linyuan, why don't you join in?", and then went straight down into the ditch regardless of Professor Zhao's objection.

"Lotus roots are not dug like this, you should step on them with your feet," Lao Wang quickly found the trick to touch the lotus roots.Lightly step on the lotus root in the mud with your feet, and then walk along the mud.When you find a suitable lotus joint, step on it hard, and the fresh lotus joint will break off from it.Then hook it with the back of your foot, and the lotus root will be taken out of the water.

The lotus root just out of the water does not need to be washed, it is just raised in mud like this, and it can be kept for a month or two without spoiling.

"Look at this lotus root, it's really top-grade." Mr. Wang suddenly excitedly pulled a long lotus root out of the mud, and then washed it back and forth in the water several times.

Both Liu Junhao and Professor Zhao turned their heads: the lotus root joints are really gratifying. After being washed in water, they are as clean as jade.
"Plop..." Pharaoh was excited, when suddenly his foot slipped and he staggered in the water.

"Be careful..." Liu Junhao had sharp eyesight and quick hands, and hurriedly helped him up from behind, so he didn't fall down.

"Why are there big rocks in the water?" The old man said with lingering fear after standing still.

"There should be no stones in this area?" Liu Junhao was a little confused. He had already checked when he planted the lotus root, and there were no big rocks in this area at all.

"Under my left foot is... eh... plop..." Before he finished speaking, his body staggered again, "What, what is in the water, how can it move..."

"I just said that your legs are still not good, so go ashore quickly." Professor Zhao thought he was swaying, and hurriedly urged.

"There is really something, if you don't believe me, I will find it out for you." Mr. Wang stretched out his hand to move the "big rock" in the water, but he didn't touch it, but felt that the "stone" moved again.

"There is really something!" Liu Junhao got close and saw a dark object slowly sliding towards the distance in the muddy water.

"Big fish?" Professor Zhao also came over.

Now the three people forgot to step on the lotus root and surrounded them one by one.

Liu Junhao's eyes were quick and his hands were quick. Seeing the black shadow swimming towards him, he immediately reached out and pressed it, and then threw it hard, and it had already been thrown to the shore.

"Old Turtle!!" Professor Zhao saw the prototype of that thing at this moment, "The one with the longevity character?"

"It should be, why did you get into the ditch?" Liu Junhao nodded, and then went ashore barefoot.

This old turtle disappeared suddenly last month. Zhang Qian searched the yard several times, but found nothing.Liu Junhao regretted it quite a bit. He should have put it in the stone lock if he knew it earlier, so why can't he throw it away? Now he can only blame himself for being unlucky.

Just when they thought they couldn't find it, they found this thing laying in the sun to warm it at noon one day.

It disappeared again in the afternoon, and neither of them was worried this time, knowing that it must have hibernated, but it should still be in the yard.

It is expected that this thing will drill into the mud to spend the winter. Think about it, the mud keeps warm in winter, isn't it the ideal place for hibernation.

Liu Junhao just wanted to wipe off the mud on the old turtle's shell with his hands, but he didn't expect that before he touched the old turtle, the guy suddenly stretched out his head and bit his fingers straight.

Good guy, he was taken aback and quickly withdrew his hands.

"Are you okay?" Professor Zhao caught up.

"It's okay." Liu Junhao was still a little dazed. The old turtle who was awakened from hibernation was really unreasonable, and even bit his master.Fortunately, I had a quick reaction, otherwise I would have been bitten.If you are bitten by an old turtle, don't struggle, this thing is timid, the more you struggle, the tighter it bites, it won't let go.

If you want to let this thing loosen, you usually put the old turtle into the water, so that it will loosen automatically.

"I'll get some water to wash it, and see if the longevity character is obvious." Old Wang also knew the story of the old turtle, and was very interested in the pattern on its back.

After pouring a large bucket of water, the old turtle immediately showed his "true body".

"Hey, there is no word... This is not the original one," Professor Zhao shouted dumbly.Although the old turtle in front of him was about the same size as the previous one, the shell was quite different.The shell of this old turtle was covered with dark green algae, and some small snails were mixed in it, which suddenly looked like a moving stone.

"This old turtle doesn't seem to be from the river. Could it be that it came down from the Dayan Pond?" Liu Junhao also interjected.His deduction is based on a basis, the bottom of the river is sandy soil, the color of the turtle shell is much smoother, only the old turtles living in the mud pond have this appearance.

One of the sources of this ditch is Dayantang, where there are many wild old turtles, and the fur boy even caught one in summer.

* * *
Seeing that there are many questions about loose sugar in the comments, let me explain again.

I have deduced the cause of this thing in the previous chapter, so far, I think it is a reasonable explanation.

I checked on Baidu today, and I didn’t come across anyone who wrote a similar experience, so I can’t give extra information.

In fact, having said that, there are many wonders in the world, but many novel things are rarely recorded.

For example, when I first wrote about the honey in the reed tube, some readers raised questions.In fact, there is real honey. It took me a lot of effort to find a few similar experiences on the Internet.

There are also cicadas, this thing should not be uncommon, but there are very few mentions on the Internet.

The same is true for the pine candy this time. I think many people have eaten this thing, but the strange thing is that I can't find it online.

(End of this chapter)