Farming Beneath the Changbai Mountains

Xue and the others sat on the bullock cart and did not dare to walk too fast. They walked for more than an hour before they arrived at the venue. Mrs. Xue helped Huixin get out of the car, Mrs. Zhu helped take the baggage, and then several people walked into the ginseng market.

Mrs. Chen has not let go since her son's wife and daughter-in-law left. Now she saw the daughters-in-law coming in with their daughters in their arms, and she finally felt relieved. "Quick, go in the house, Huixin, how are you doing these days?" the old lady asked, holding her daughter's hand.

It has been four months since Huixin got married. She has never been away from her mother since she was a child. She has not seen her mother for four months, and she has been wronged in the Tao family. She burst into tears. He lay down in his mother's arms and cried.

When Mrs. Chen saw her daughter like this, she knew that her daughter might have been wronged, and couldn't help but sigh. "Come on, let's go into the house first. After all, this place is not as good as our old home. I didn't want you to come here, but my mother really misses you." Mrs. Chen took her daughter's hand and walked into the house.

Huixin wiped her tears and followed her mother into the house, looking around the room. Compared with the ones at home, these five houses are smaller, and they are still wooden houses. I guess they won't be too warm in winter. I also feel sad for my parents, who have to suffer such a crime at such an old age. Xue and Zhu followed into the house, while Zhixin and Zhiming went to visit the venue. Wenhan naturally followed.

The ladies sat on the kang, and Mrs. Chen asked how Huixin was doing at Tao's house. Hui Xin didn't say anything and kept crying. Here Xue and Zhu talked about what they saw and heard in Tao's house. "Mom, that old woman from the Tao family is really hateful. Seeing that Huixin is so good-tempered, she just tries to squeeze her out."

Mrs. Chen still sighed, "I have guessed this a long time ago. She didn't want to see Huixin in the first place, so naturally she couldn't treat her well. But I didn't expect that Huixin was pregnant now, and they refused to stop. That's all, first. Let's stay at home for a while, just in time to see Qing Nian's attitude. He had said that he wanted to separate the family at the beginning. Although this is not a big deal, it is not easy for them to bully Huixin like this. Come and pick her up, we won’t go back, my mother just wants to be close to my daughter for a few more days.”

Zhu went out and came back with some things, which were originally intended to be given to the Tao family. I was a little angry at Tao's house just now, so I simply didn't take these things out and took them all back now. "Mom, it's almost noon. I'm going to pick up the fish and the rabbit. Let's get some food to replenish Huixin at noon today."

Mrs. Chen nodded after seeing this, "Leave more fish for Hui Xin, and Hui Xin is not allowed to eat the rabbit. Women cannot eat rabbits when they are pregnant. Be careful that the child will have a three-petal mouth." There is an old rule that says that when you are pregnant, There are many things that women cannot eat. For example, if you eat dog meat, children will bite you, if you eat rabbits, children will have three-petal mouths, and if you eat ducks, children will not be able to distinguish their limbs after eating it. Although these are not scientific, people still believe in them and implement them resolutely.

Mrs. Zhu nodded, "If mother hadn't said it, I would have forgotten it. Come on, I'll pickle one of the rabbits and stew them all. I'll stew all the fish and let Huixin eat some." With that, Zhu said Mr. Xue went out. When Mr. Xue saw it, he followed him out. "Mom, it's almost time to cook, I'll go help."

Jinghan and the others were not in the house, but ran into the woods again. There are very few people coming to this forest, so there are a lot of medicinal materials. They have to go into the mountains to collect herbs every day. "Second brother, it's almost noon, that's it for today."

Wen Cheng looked at the medicinal materials in the basket on his back and said, "Okay, that's it, let's go home. Big brother will be back soon, and I hope my little aunt will come back too. We haven't seen my little aunt for some time." As he said, Wen Cheng carried a basket on his back and led Jing Han, Jing Wan, Jing Xian, Wen Xuan and Wen Chang home.

As they were walking, suddenly a pheasant came out of the grass and passed by them. "Pheasant." Wen Cheng took out the slingshot from his pocket and shot the good projectiles in the direction where the pheasant fell. This slingshot is made of a rope made of animal sinews. The specially treated animal sinews are very elastic, so this time, it can shoot quite far.

Jinghan also took out his slingshot and shot three pellets in the same direction where the pheasant landed. This three-shot shooting technique was Zhixin's specialty. Unexpectedly, the person who learned it best was Jinghan.

There was a sound of a pheasant in pain in the grass. Wen Cheng and the others hurriedly ran into the grass, only to see the pheasant lying on the ground with its legs still kicking and blood flowing out of its head. Wencheng picked up the pheasant and said, "That's great, now we have something delicious to eat."

Jinghan looked at the pheasant and sighed in her heart about the benefits of living in the mountains. In the Northeast, there is a saying that goes like this: a stick beats a roe deer with a gourd to scoop out fish, and a pheasant flies into the rice pot. This means that the Northeast used to be like this. Now that I live in the mountains, I can really experience this feeling. Pheasants are very common in the mountains. Sometimes Zhixin will set several traps and almost always catch pheasants. This pheasant has a habit called crossing the grass. That is to say, as long as there is a wooden stick lying across the path of the pheasant, it will walk around it. So as long as you find the place where pheasants often hang out, put two sticks horizontally, leave an opening between the two sticks, and then tie a snare, you can usually catch the pheasants. However, like today, it was their first time to catch a pheasant, so everyone was very excited.

Carrying the pheasant, I continued walking home. After a while, I arrived at the gate of Shenchangzi. After entering the door, I came to the house and saw Mrs. Chen, Huixin and Jingya chatting there. "Grandma, you see, we shot a pheasant, and it was just left for my little aunt to recuperate." Wen Cheng showed the pheasant to Mrs. Chen.

Mrs. Chen took a look and saw that the pheasant was not small yet. It probably weighed three to four kilograms. "You guys are really capable. Okay, we've already stewed the rabbit for noon. Let's save the chicken for the evening. We're in the mountains, so there's nothing wrong with it." Otherwise, I have to get some game to entertain your little aunt," Mrs. Chen said with a smile.

Huixin was no longer sad at this time. She was very happy looking at the nephews and nieces in front of her, "Jinghan, Jingwan, Jingxian, come here quickly and let Auntie take a look at you. Why are you all turning black?" Are you running up the mountain all day long? Jinghan, don't make Jingwan and Jingxian so wild that they become like tomboys," Huixin joked.

Jingwan sat next to her little aunt. She had a stronger temper than Jingya, but she was not as wild as Jinghan. She was somewhere between the two. "Little aunt, it's okay. You have to have something to do, otherwise it will be too boring to be idle. We are still young, so naturally we are not as able to sit still as the elder sister. When we are free in winter, we will be able to live happily."

Jingxian was different. She also came to Huixin's side. "Little aunt, the second sister said that girls should be more powerful so that they won't be bullied in the future. I think it's good for the second sister to do this. Today the second sister will shoot a slingshot." , it can be fired three times in a row, which is awesome.”

After listening to Jingxian's words, Huixin thought about herself and couldn't help but nodded, "Yes, girls should be more aggressive, but your second sister is a bit too much. Jingxian, you can't be like your second sister. Did you hear that?”

Jinghan listened on the sidelines and wanted to roll her eyes helplessly. She has such a temperament, and when she comes to the mountains, there are so many good things attracting her, how can she not be wild? Every day she felt that if she was not allowed to go into the mountains to get something, she would feel uncomfortable all over. She just loves to drag things around the house, but there's nothing she can do about it.

Mrs. Chen quickly hugged Jinghan over and said with a smile, "Don't talk about us Jinghan. If it weren't for Jinghan, our family wouldn't be squatting now. Where can we have food and housing like now? Can we still eat these wild animals? "This is true. If Jinghan hadn't come up with the idea, they would just be renting a house and saving money as a family, right? How can you imagine that now, you can earn 300 yuan every day just from selling fish, plus there are prey from time to time, you can also sell a lot of money. Waiting until autumn, you can still get thirty taels of silver. Now it seems that these thirty taels are the net remaining. Calculating this year, you can still earn forty or fifty taels. If you add the hammer, you can buy a house and land in a few years.

"Grandma, it's better not to talk about this in the future. It's just an idea I suddenly came up with. When we go up the mountain, our father and third uncle must accept their responsibility, and my brothers must be able to do it. Only then can we live a stable life. I don't have it either." What are you doing?" Jinghan doesn't take credit. She is a little girl, no matter how talented she is, it will be in vain if her father and brother are incompetent.

Mrs. Chen was stunned for a moment, then smiled, "Okay, let's not talk about it. After all, we have a few good children in our family, and all of them are willing to endure hardships. Grandma is content with having grandchildren like you."

At this time, Zhixin and the others also came back from outside. Zhiming was carrying a stick on his shoulders, with a snake coiled on it. When Mrs. Chen saw it, she said, "Didn't I tell you that these things are not easy to harm? Let them go quickly."

"Mom, I don't want to hurt it. It's been chasing me. It's looking for death, so it can't blame us." The brothers were walking together just now, and the snake came out of the grass and followed Zhiming. It raised its head to spit out the message and wanted to bite someone. Zhi Ming and Zhi Xin could not let it go and beat it directly. If children encounter this, or people who come to work in the field accidentally encounter it, they may be bitten.

Jinghan saw that the snake was not small, and then thought of the pheasant they shot, which happened to be a good dish. "Grandma, let's use this snake and pheasant soup tonight. The dragon and phoenix soup is very tonic. Let my little aunt drink more to replenish her body."

"You have so many bad ideas, why don't you ask for dragon and phoenix soup? Okay, I listen to you, let's try it too and see what this dragon and phoenix soup tastes like." Mrs. Chen agreed. Anyway, we eat it anyway, so we might as well eat it in a different way.