Chapter 170 Yeren Ditch
Two thousand yuan is really a lot of money. If it weren’t for the fact that the production of eggs and duck eggs at home could not keep up, and it would take several days to save before selling, the money would definitely be even more terrifying. After Wang Susu settled the account, she finally understood why Chen Ling wanted to build a bigger place.
This is actually quite good.
But she is a little worried. She is pregnant and will not be able to help her when her belly gets bigger. I wonder if Chen Ling will be able to come here alone in the coming year...
Chen Ling didn't know what his little wife was thinking.
After a long lunch, he went to the woodshed and put the sheep out.
There were two little lambs, black and white. When Chen Ling opened the door and came in, they came over. They stretched out their little heads and sniffed and rubbed Chen Ling's hands. Their short tails twitched from time to time. Shake it a few times quickly, and the sound is sweet, just like a puppy.
They are seven or eight days old now, and they are very lively.
The flesh on her body hasn’t grown yet, so she looks a little thin. Her ears are big, droopy, and cute, like the two thick braids hanging down by a little girl.
Chen Ling knelt down and touched them, then took the rope and led the sheep out.
"Baa baa baa, hurry up and follow."
In the past few days, every afternoon, taking advantage of the warm sunshine, Chen Ling would go to the slope to herd sheep.
Arrived outside the village, no one is busy in the fields now, everything is very clean.
The breeze was blowing and the sun was just right, so Chen Ling pulled some dry thatch and put it under his arm. When he got to the slope, he found a place to lie down in the sun and let the big sheep lead the little ones to eat around them. Grass.
The lambs don’t know how to eat grass yet. If you bring them over, they can learn from the ewes and get used to them. Just like people, when you drink breast milk when you are young, you must supplement it with other foods, otherwise you will not be able to eat other things after weaning.
But now that they have milk to drink, they have no intention of eating grass, so they just care about having fun.
Bouncing, light and comfortable, not restless for a moment.
The weather was fine and the sun was warm. When Chen Ling was about to fall asleep, his nose suddenly felt itchy. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was Wang Zhenzhen, the little girl, leading a group of little children in the village, each holding hands. Everyone was holding dogtail grass and laughing and playing tricks around him.
Seeing him open his eyes, he immediately ran away with a huff.
When Chen Ling saw this, he feigned anger and shouted: "You girl, you have brought trouble to me. I won't have anything to eat when I go back tonight."
"If you don't want to eat, then you won't eat."
Wang Zhenzhen is not afraid of this the most. Instead, he makes a face and laughs at him: "No wonder people say that brother-in-law, you are such a lazy person that you even fell asleep while tending the sheep. , you don’t know if someone else has taken one away.”
“Nonsense, the dog is watching not far away, who dares to take our sheep...”
“Eh”< br>
Halfway through, Chen Ling sat up and looked at them strangely: "What are you doing here?"
This group of skin monkeys had bamboo poles, hooks, and snakeskin bags, and the battle was quite big. Don’t be idle and want to go to the mountains to find honeycombs and collect honey.
"The pecans are ripe, let's go and beat the pecans."
The little kids answered in unison.
“Hitting pecans? Do your family members know about this?”
“Yes, the people in the mountains are much older now, and there are people everywhere, so there is no need to be afraid.”
< br>
Chen Ling thought so too.
A few days have passed since the frost, and it is the time to go to the pecans.
There are many people walking into the mountains these days, basically every day, picking wild grapes and hawthorns, picking jujubes, persimmons, and pecans. The wild fruits after the frost taste sweet and less rough and sour.
Like pecans, the green skin wrapped around many walnut shells will become wrinkled and shriveled after frost, making it easier to separate.
Pick it and take it home. You can keep it to eat or take it to the market to sell for money.
"Uncle Fugui, we have beaten pecans for you to share. Can you share some goat's milk for me to drink?"
Zhu Wa'er heard Wang Zhenzhen say that he drinks goat's milk every day, how fragrant and good it is. After drinking it, I was immediately greedy, my eyes rolling around as I stared at the milk bags of the two ewes.
As soon as he said this, other little kids also started shouting, saying that they had beaten pecans and offered him goat's milk to drink.
Among these little babies, Liu Nier is the skinniest and wildest. When others were yelling and yelling next to him, he had already wiped his nose and lay down behind the dairy goat, holding the milk bag in his mouth and started sucking. Good guy, this saves you even the time of squeezing.
Chen Ling quickly grabbed the ewes and turned them around to hit people. Fortunately, in the past few days, I have become accustomed to people milking her cows. Liu Nier, a monkey, will not be angry if she drinks her milk.
"Your child is a dog, so he can talk about anything. Didn't you tell me that goat's milk cannot be drunk raw? Raw milk will become dilute." Chen Ling kicked his butt and scolded him with a smile.
Liu Nier only received two slaps on her butt when she was kicked, and she only focused on drinking milk. After drinking for a while, she knelt on the ground and wiped her mouth, and smiled at Chen Ling: "My sheep It’s not bred, and it doesn’t produce milk at all. I used to drink it from my grandpa’s sheep after they gave birth to lambs, but they didn’t have as much milk as Uncle Fugui’s sheep.”
Chen Ling was speechless.
This is not the first time this kid has done something like this, no wonder he is so violent.
“You’re so good, baby. Doesn’t raw goat’s milk taste weird?”
"Hey, it's not weird if you drink too much, it's just a bit fishy. Ah, I'm full..."
Liu Nier touched her belly and shook her head, looking like she was quite enjoying herself. pride.
Hearing what he said, the other little kids couldn't help but swallow their saliva and looked at the milk bag of Chen Ling's sheep with eager eyes, but they didn't dare to dig under the sheep's belly in front of Chen Ling. I can only look at it warmly.
“Brother-in-law, doesn’t the freshly squeezed goat’s milk taste better than the cooked goat’s milk?”
Watching Liu Nier enjoying herself, Wang Zhenzhen was also full of curiosity and curiosity. doubt.
"This... everyone's taste is different."
"Generally, raw goat milk cannot be drunk directly, as it is prone to diarrhea."
Chen Ling knew that the little ones were greedy, so he said: "This way Well, you don’t have to go to school tomorrow. Whoever gets up early, come to my house to express milk, and I’ll cook it for you. If you get up late and can’t drink milk, you can’t blame me then.”
"Okay, okay, I will definitely get up the earliest."
"I have to get up early too. Uncle Fugui, I hit pecans today, and I will hit them again tomorrow. I will give you a big one every day. Bag..."
When they heard that Chen Ling was going to give them goat's milk, these little guys jumped up and down with joy and were extremely excited.
After a while of commotion, everyone took their own things and went to the mountain to crack walnuts excitedly. They looked very energetic.
The sun was gradually heading west, and the hillside was no longer as warm as in the afternoon. Chen Ling saw that the lambs were tired from playing, so he led them home.
After returning home, Wang Susu was outside the courtyard, chatting with the women in the village and sitting and sewing. Chen Ling looked at the house and saw that there was nothing else to do at home, so she put the sheep into the woodshed and picked up the bamboo pole. I tied the sickle, called the two dogs, and went to the mountain to hunt walnuts.
In the late autumn season, a patch of white flowers stand out against the black and green hillsides in the distance. They are the cotton grown by the villagers on their own land, and there are also small patches of soybeans. When you walk closer, you can still see the flowers left by the hares. Feces, obviously there are hares hiding in this patch of land.
Further away in the sagebrush, the cries of pheasants could be heard from time to time. Chen Ling bent down, picked up a stone and threw it over. Suddenly a group of plump pheasants flew up and disappeared into the mountains in the blink of an eye.
The two dogs wanted to chase after him, but they were stopped by him. I just came here to hunt walnuts today when I had nothing to do, so I temporarily let these pheasants have a chance to survive.
After walking for a few more minutes, we walked completely into the mountains. There were no crops here anymore. At a glance, we saw golden, crimson, and green, from bottom to top, all the layers of forest were dyed, making everything beautiful.
Knowing that the pecans on the outside will definitely be destroyed. Chen Ling walked across it with his dog and searched for more than ten minutes before he found an untouched tree. This hickory plant is tall and strong, and there are many walnut saplings as tall as one person growing around it.
Looking at the egg-sized green-skinned walnuts on the branches, Chen Ling knew that most of these walnuts were a bit difficult to peel. Some walnut trees grow in different locations and are affected by different climates. Same.
This hickory tree is like this. Many other walnut trees have lost all their leaves, and the green bark of the walnut tree is wilted and wrinkled. It is still full of leaves, and the walnut skin is green and fresh. The green skin wrapped around the walnut shell is also called "Qinglongyi". The juice inside contains toxins, so you must be careful when peeling it. It is dangerous if it splashes into your eyes. Although it has no effect if you touch it with your hands, it is difficult to wash off the juice once it touches your hands. You can only wait for it to disappear slowly.
Because of this, villagers seldom remove the green skin by hand when picking walnuts. After picking them, they mostly put them in a ventilated place to dry naturally in the shade. In just a few days, the walnut skin will become wrinkled and shriveled, and the green skin and walnut will naturally separate.
After frosting, the process will be accelerated and the taste will be better.
Chen Ling picked a walnut, found a stone nearby, used the leaves to rub off the green skin of the walnut, and then smashed it, revealing the white and tender walnut kernels, which were also covered with a thin layer. Clothes like cicada wings.
Peel off the film with your hands, put it in your mouth and taste it. The crispy, fragrant and tender feeling immediately fills the tip of your tongue.
"It's ripe and tastes good."
Chen Ling nodded. The core looked green, so there was nothing wrong with it.
The tree was full of pecans, and I had not finished packing two bags. At this time, two dogs ran over barking from a distance, followed by Wang Zhenzhen, Liu Nier and a group of little ghosts.
“Brother-in-law!”
"Uncle Fugui!"
"We are here to help you!"
Coming over, these monkeys hugged the trunk, climbed up the tree with a swish, and took out the scissors. Help him pick it.
"Why are you here? All of you are empty-handed. Didn't you hit the walnuts?"
"If you hit them, let the second uncle and the others help carry them back. We saw the black walnuts. I have two kids, so I knew you must be going up the mountain too, so I followed you.”
"That's it."
Soon, another bag full of walnuts was filled.
He said to the leather monkeys on the tree: "Okay, if you don't fight, you won't be able to take any more with you."
"Come on, slow down, I will follow you . ”
“The stone under this tree is poking your feet, so you are not allowed to jump down. ”
"I know, Uncle Fugui, we are down."
Seeing Chen Ling stretching out his arms to catch them under the tree, these little devils laughed and deliberately stood tall while pretending to be unsteady. He looked like this and shouted, "Oh, oh, oh, oh, I'm going to fall." He threw himself into Chen Ling's arms.
"The skinny monkey deserves a beating. If he makes a fuss again, he will have no milk to drink tomorrow."
"I'm not afraid that my head will fall apart."
Chen Linghu's face was sullen, and there was a smile on each buttocks. Gave a few slaps.
This trick works very well, and everyone becomes honest immediately.
"Brother-in-law, look, there are gourds and melons. Let's take them back to stir-fry and eat them."
Walking down the mountain with three big bags of pecans, Wang Zhenzhen's eyes suddenly lit up and he pointed at a big bag of pecans. Katanofuji shouted.
Looking carefully, there are indeed many gourds hidden under the broad yellow leaves.
Gourd melon is also called gourd, or gourd. It belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae. The kind in front of you is long and can be cooked and eaten. There are also the kind with a big belly. The shell becomes hard when it is old. The melon pulp inside can be used as a water scoop, which is more common in rural areas.
"Pick it, just pick the tender ones."
Chen Ling walked over and took a look. He originally thought there were several gourd vines growing together, but when he got closer, he discovered that there was only one.
The roots of the vines close to the ground are as thick as eggs, and the yellowed leaves on the edges are as big as cattail fans, very dense. There are large and small gourds on the vines, some with thorns, and some with bald shells. They were basically completely aged, and felt very solid. I counted them silently, and there were more than twenty of them.
Generally, in the eighth and ninth months of the lunar calendar, the gourds and melons grown by farmers have turned yellow and become old. This means that some places in the mountains have special terrain and different temperatures, which make it darker than outside.
Wang Zhenzhen took the children to pick a few fresher gourds and melons, and each of them held one or two in their arms and continued walking down the mountain.
After walking a few steps, the dead branches under a big tree suddenly stood up.
Bite directly on Chen Ling's calf.
Chen Ling felt a chill in his heart. Before his brain could react, his body had already reacted and he avoided two or three steps in the blink of an eye. At the same time, the two dogs reacted quickly and jumped out to fight with each other.
"It's a homespun bag, it's a homespun bag, little aunt, get out of the way..."
The little dolls also started shouting and hurriedly pulled Wang Zhenzhen and Chen Ling to stand together.
"This homespun bag is so big!"
After Chen Ling saw the situation in front of him clearly, he was shocked.
This large gray-brown snake is as thick as an adult's arm and more than two meters long. It is relatively rare for a homespun bag to have such a size.
Homespun bag is a kind of venomous viper that is common in local mountain villages. It is usually thirty or forty centimeters long. This snake is highly venomous and can kill an adult within a few hours if not rescued in time. The mountain doll is very familiar with this thing.
Homespun bags rarely attack humans on their own initiative. If there is a big movement around them, they will retreat on their own initiative. This is also the origin of what people in the mountains often say, "to alert the snake to the grass".
However, the one in front of me is obviously an exception, and it will actually attack on its own initiative. And the size is beyond imagination. I don’t know how many years it is. If bitten by it, even a tiger would be poisoned to death.
Unfortunately, I met two dogs from Chen Ling’s family today. They were choked on their vital points before they could fight back. The huge snake body kept curling and twisting, trying to wrap around the legs of Xiao Jin’s dog, but Xiao Jin was sharp. His teeth cut him open, and his head was bitten to pieces.
At this time, Liu Nier pointed at the homespun bag and said: "Uncle Fugui, if this homespun bag can grow so big, it must have escaped from Yeren Ditch."
"Listen to grandma and the others. It is said that there used to be many black-haired savages living in Savage Valley. When people and animals went in, they slaughtered them and threw them into big pots to cook and eat them. Four teams and five teams went around there when they went to hunt in the mountains. "
“Have you heard this story?”
"I must have heard of it."
Chen Ling smiled and glanced to the north, which was the direction of Yerengou.
It is said to be a ditch, but it is actually a deep valley. It is located to the west of his thirty acres of land and can be seen within a short walk.
Because it is extremely deep and the inner walls around it go straight up and down, people and animals cannot get up if they fall in, so it is said to be quite scary among the mountain people.
I heard from the old people that in the past, I could hear people crying and shouting, lighting torches and jumping around, which meant that the savages were offering sacrifices to the mountain.
There are many stories like this in the village, which are quite scary for children.
In fact, based on Chen Ling's current knowledge, he can basically conclude that it was a sinkhole created by a meteorite. However, as time passed, the landform changed drastically and became what it looked like later.
During the earthquake a few years ago, the side close to the village collapsed. The internal terrain became more dangerous and no one came close to it. Therefore, there are no less venomous snakes and other strange things in there than in the deep mountains.
"When you come to the mountains to play in the future, don't run over there. Be careful and let the savages in the ditch grab your ankles, pull them into the ditch, stew them and eat them. No one will dare to save you then."< br>
“If you don’t go, we definitely won’t go.”
These skinny monkeys were most afraid of this. They immediately turned pale with fright and shook their heads like a rattle.
The little ones were frightened, but Chen Ling was thinking in his heart that he would go to the Yeren Valley to have a look someday when he had time.
After all, that place is not far from my own land. When a farm is built in the future, people will live in it and raise things. If there is any venomous snake or the like, crawling out of the savage ditch, it will bite people. not good.
(End of this chapter)