Chapter 8 Feeding the pigs without eating them
The mountains are densely forested, the morning mist is thick, and there are faint roars of wild beasts in the distance, adding a bit of depth and terror to Woniu Mountain. Although scary, the mountain forest is also generous. Various fungi thrive among the rotten leaves at the bottom of the trees, and there are also patches of wild fruits and unknown flowers and plants.
After walking in the forest for about a stick of incense, Zhu Shouyi gradually slowed down, carefully checked the ground around him, and then motioned to Zhu Pingan and the others to stand there and not move. Immediately afterwards, Zhu Shouyi put down the basket behind him, gently placed it in the grass aside, and then took out some ropes from it.
“This kind of footprints are those of a hare. The hare doesn’t like to take detours and will just walk all the way to the dark side and jump around. So when you put it on, you need to place it higher. The surrounding flowers and plants are Don't destroy it, keep it as it is. Rabbits are very timid. They don't dare to leave when the flowers and plants change..." Zhu Shouyi put on the trap and gave it to him. The two sons explained how to set a trap on a hare. "The rabbit jumps and walks quickly and will not pay attention to the trap we set. As long as it runs into the trap, it will never come out."
Zhu Ping An noticed that the nooses his father put on were very simple. They were made of readily available materials, such as sticks, branches and ropes. Two nooses were made from the ropes. The first set is used to catch hares. If the rabbit gets into this set, it will be tightly strangled. The second cover is a protective cover that can block the first cover, leaving a minimum size to protect the rabbit's life. This chain set is indispensable. The first set catches the rabbit, and the second set ensures that it catches a live rabbit.
After setting three traps, Zhu's father led his two sons to go around and take another route, saying that if they were lucky, they could see the fat rabbit when they came back down the mountain.
Slowly, the group of three people also gradually gained something: two pheasants, which Zhu’s father found a pheasant nest and caught outside the chicken nest; a large carp weighing two or three kilograms Five, this was caught in a mountain stream , the stream is very shallow, a piece of water is blocked with stones, there are many fish in it, these are caught by picking up the heavy ones, otherwise we can catch more than ten; we also picked about ten kilograms of mountain mushrooms and fungus, Zhu Ping'an I also contributed about a pound.
While passing by a bamboo forest, Zhu Ping'an thought of the bamboo shoots mentioned in A Bite of China, so he yelled for bamboo shoots. After hearing this, Zhu's father's eyes lit up, and he put down the bamboo basket obediently. He took out a pickaxe from inside.
Zhu’s father is a master at digging bamboo shoots. He can tell where and how big the bamboo shoots are just from the color of the bamboo leaves. After a while, he dug up almost eight or nine bamboo shoots, all of which are short and thick. When planted, each one is about twenty centimeters, and they are tender and perfect to eat. We also have bacon at home, and green bamboo shoots are the most delicious when paired with bacon.
At noon, we ate in the mountains. We picked some wild fruits, caught three slightly larger fish in the mountain stream and grilled them over a fire. We also had dry food brought from home, especially the old ones. Dad actually found a gourd, cut it open and cleaned it and made a fish soup with stream water. The milky white fish soup rolled in the gourd. The purest and natural smell of the fish soup was simply irresistible. Dad’s basket looked like a jingle cat. His pockets are full of salt.
With his mouth full of oil and his belly bulging, Zhu Pingan felt that this meal was the most filling and best meal he had eaten since coming to Ming Dynasty. It was a hundred times better than what he had eaten at home.
After eating, we took a short rest and then started looking for good things in the mountains again.
The small animals in the mountains are very alert. Maybe they are scared of being beaten by hunters. They all seem to have become spirits, and the slightest movement disappears without a trace. At this time, Zhu Pingan missed the silly roe deer in that distant era. If only there was one here, he would definitely be able to catch it easily.
Unfortunately, this is the Anhui and Hubei area, and there are no silly roe deer. Although there were no silly roe deers, Zhu Pingan still discovered something good. There were large white and golden flowers blooming under the tree over there.
It turned out to be honeysuckle. Zhu Pingan's eyes lit up and he immediately ran over.
"Xie'er, don't run around." Zhu's father hurriedly followed.
Zhu Pingan ran to the honeysuckle and checked carefully. The flowers were all long like sticks, thick at the top and thin at the bottom, a little curved. The surface of the flower was yellow-white or green-white. There is a layer of fluff on it. Zhu Pingan looked at it for a while and found that it was indeed the honeysuckle described in the "Compendium of Materia Medica". According to the records I have read before, honeysuckle can be said to be the easiest traditional Chinese medicine to prepare. After simple sun-drying and drying in the shade, you can get traditional Chinese medicine that can be used by medical students. "Compendium of Materia Medica" records: bitter, cold in nature, good at clearing away poisonous evils on the upper burner and muscle surface. If it can be included in Materia Medica, the price will not be too cheap.
Pick these honeysuckles, take them home, dry them and sell them to pharmacies. It might be a good way to make money.
Zhu Pingan made a mark nearby. If he can sell it for money this time, he can come directly to pick it in the future. There are a lot of honeysuckle here, so Zhu Pingan picked the best ones and only picked the buds. Because this mining method yields the finest honeysuckle, which is the most valuable.
When Zhu's father chased after him worriedly, Zhu Ping'an was picking flowers with his butt stuck out, not to mention how happy he looked.
Picking flowers?
The corners of Zhu's father's eyes twitched a little. Isn't his youngest son a libertine who hangs out among women? !
"Why are you picking flowers? Let's go, daddy will take you to pick fruits to eat!" Zhu's father felt that he had the obligation to correct his son's bad buds.
Zhu Ping'an raised his head and glanced at Zhu's father, shook his head and continued to pick.
"The fruit is very sweet and delicious." Father Zhu continued to work hard.
"This can be sold for money." Zhu Pingan muttered while picking flowers.
Father Zhu curled his lips, how much can these wild flowers be sold for? There are wild flowers and weeds everywhere in the mountains and plains, but there is no one selling them for money! He patiently told his son, "People in the city also buy peonies and roses when buying flowers. Not this kind of flower. If you feed this kind of flower to pigs, the pigs won't even eat it!"
The pigs won't even eat it! eat?
See, this is why the people in the village are so poor!
Whether it can be sold for money is not using pigs as judges!
"Brother, let me help you." Zhu Pingchuan felt sorry for his brother, put down the basket and helped pick flowers.
He thought very simply, what his younger brother wanted, his elder brother would get it.
"Then you can only pick this kind of flower." Zhu Pingan took out a standard high-quality honeysuckle and showed it to Zhu Pingchuan.
“Yes.” The simple and honest elder brother nodded and helped pick honeysuckle. (End of this chapter)