Chapter 285: Cow braying in the deep forest
After walking downhill for a while, the forest became denser and denser. The roadside was full of all kinds of messy shrubs and green vines, with bees flying on them and various crickets and insects chirping among them.
Pheasants and hares would occasionally appear on the road, causing Qin Yueru and her daughter to scream.
Suddenly, a row of wild geese appeared in the sky ahead, chirping all the way and flying diagonally to the northwest.
“Wow, look, the geese are flying here.”
A row of wild geese passed by, and another row of wild geese flew over. In a short period of time, five or six groups of wild geese flew over.
The geese passing by in the clear sky are quite spectacular.
After Qin Yueru and her daughter looked at the wild geese and laughed for a while, Qin Yueru suddenly frowned: "Look, Fugui, don't they all say that the wild geese fly south? Why do these wild geese fly north?"
Chen Ling raised his head and glanced, "Well, maybe I'm looking for food. Or maybe I'm looking for a place with water."
In the past, the place where wild geese and migratory birds gathered was in the north of the city. There is nothing unusual about Dumb Lake and Chenwangzhuang Reservoir in the west of the city.
"Then the wild geese have probably flown to your side."
Qin Yueru became happy when she heard this, "We will go to see the wild geese after the Mid-Autumn Festival."
Little Lizi also raised his little head and looked at the sky and kept nodding: "Uncle, I will go with my mother. You can catch two wild geese for me, okay?"
"Okay, I will catch them for you then. Raise a group of geese, and next spring we will eat the eggs laid by the geese."
Chen Ling smiled and waved his cattle whip.
At this time, Gedaitai Forest Farm arrived, and he slowly stopped the bullock cart.
On the autumn morning, the sun was still very hot, but fortunately there was wind, which made the lush trees in the forest farm rustle.
In the cool autumn wind, the sun seems to be no longer so hot, bringing bursts of comfort.
Before entering the forest farm, there is still a section of road with twists and turns, which is paved with gravel.
At the end of the gravel road, there is a square earth platform with a temple built on the earth platform, but this temple looks more desolate and dilapidated than other temples in the city.
There is also a tall honey locust tree next to the temple platform. The tree is covered with red cloth strips, and there are traces of incense candles under the tree.
In the hearts of the people nearby, although this Geda Terrace is not as spiritual as the legend says, they still come here to offer incense on every first and fifteenth day of the Lunar New Year.
Stop here and wait for Liang Hongyu and the others to lead the cows and follow them.
Chen Ling untied the ox cart and let the little white ox take the two oxen to graze everywhere in the forest.
A few of them walked along the road in the forest to the foot of Tubao Ridge south of Ledatai.
There is a bridge over there, and under the bridge is a river made of stone. There are two large ponds made of bluestone on both sides of the river, which were used by the forest farm to store water.
Now the forest farm workers have dispersed long ago. Not far from the large pond, the open space that was once filled with timber is now covered with weeds and wild flowers, making it look desolate and empty.
Xiao Lizi saw flowers over there and wanted Qin Yueru to take her to pick them.
Chen Ling stopped the mother and daughter, picked up two yellow thorn sticks from the side, and gave them to them, asking them to use the grass to go there, otherwise it would be bad if there were snakes and insects in the grass.
"Uncle is so kind."
Xiao Lizi took the stick with a smile, and ran over hand in hand with Qin Yueru.
Wang Susu followed her son in her arms.
"They all went to play. Come on, uncle, let's start fishing."
Chen Ling smiled and handed out the fishing rod to Qin Rong first.
Liang Hongyu laughed when she saw it: "Even though we live in the county town now, we don't come to this forest farm very often. We just come here to cool off when it gets hot in the summer. On weekdays, we usually go to the river bank to graze cattle." , your uncle still has chess friends in Nanqiaotou, herding cattle and playing chess, it’s very comfortable.”
Qin Rong couldn't help but smile when he heard this. He looked quite proud.
Isn’t it?
Although we are living a prosperous life in the capital, being humble and petty, looking at others' glances everywhere, really kills our ambitions and makes us feel very frustrated.
He was also an ambitious young man at the beginning. He didn't want to ask for anything, let alone stand in the way of others.
Besides, they were not rich or wealthy at that time, and everyone’s living standards were not much different.
He went for Liang Hongyu.
As a result, my son couldn’t bear his last name.
Now that I think about it, it’s better to go back to my hometown.
Eating is good, sleeping is good, life is enjoyable, and the old couple is more harmonious together than in the past few decades. After the old couple's mentality improves, they live longer and younger.
It must be said that Chen Ling did not contribute to this. If she had not recognized him, Liang Hongyu would definitely not have made up her mind to stay here.
"Fishing, when it comes to fishing, you must have bait."
Qin Rong glanced at Chen Ling happily, patted his butt and stood up: "Come on, let me go to the bullock cart to get the bait. I forgot to take it just now. "
"What bait are you looking for, uncle?"
Chen Ling shouted, "I can catch the two grasshoppers on the spot."
Qin Rong took the lead. He waved his hand at him without looking back: "How about chasing grasshoppers? I'm here specifically to catch big carp. I heard that the carp in the river here is big. The last time you caught a big carp, I want to try it too." How about trying the carp here?”
When fishing, it is natural to prepare the bait first.
What kind of fish you want to catch, just use what kind of bait you want.
For example, crucian carp likes to eat meat. When fishing crucian carp, grasshoppers, earthworms and the like are used as bait.
Carp like to eat vegetarian food. Generally, when fishing for carp, soybean meal, wheat bran and the like mixed with liquor and sesame oil are used as bait.
Using insects as bait is naturally inappropriate.
"Big carp? This river only has so little water, how big a carp can there be? I'm afraid it's not as big as the carp raised in the pond."
Chen Ling glanced at the small river channel in front of him, which was only two meters long. It's so wide. There are bluestone-paved river banks on both sides of the river bank, and the water inside is quite clear.
There are a lot of small fish and shrimps in this kind of river channel. When it comes to big fish, it can't be said that there are none. It can only be said that there are relatively few, at least not in this shallow water area.
"I don't know either, your uncle said he has a secret recipe."
Liang Hongyu said, then smiled and pushed him, "Hurry up and catch yours, I'll wait and see You are fishing.”
"Okay."
Chen Ling smiled at the old lady, walked to the grass next to him, kicked a few times, pounced on two grasshoppers, and started fishing.
Seeing this, the old lady also went to catch grasshoppers. After catching seven or eight grasshoppers, she strung them with grass, sat next to him, and saved him bait.
Soon, the fish was hooked, and it was not too small.
“Oh, I got hooked so quickly.”
The old lady exclaimed, then frowned, "What is this grass carp? Doesn't grass carp eat grass? Why does it eat grasshoppers?"
"Eat it, and it also eats earthworms?" Chen Ling Untie the grass carp and throw it into the bucket.
At this time Qin Rongxian also brought his bait.
Chen Ling took a look and saw that it wasn’t really a secret recipe, it was just wine grains.
“What are you talking about? Fishing is so exciting?”
"Just now Fugui caught a grass carp with a grasshopper. You see, grass carp actually eats grasshoppers. Fugui said it also eats earthworms. I never heard people say that grass carp eats grass and can eat several kilograms a day."
"Ah? They also eat grasshoppers and earthworms? Is that so? I haven't heard of it either."
Qin Rongxian was also quite surprised. He really didn't pay attention to it. He only knew that grass carp is a vegetarian. Grass, otherwise how could it be called grass carp?
“Eat, eat them all, uncle, if you don’t believe it, let’s compete. I use grasshoppers, you use your own bait. Let’s see who catches more grass carp later.”< br>
“Okay, let’s compare.”
Qin Rongxian was full of confidence and said that he had a secret recipe and was not afraid.
Liang Hongyu also moved the little horse over and sat down: "Okay, I will be the referee for you."
Then the two of them sat on both sides, far apart so that they would not affect each other.
At the beginning, Qin Rongxian was really good here. Nothing else. The bait mixed with distiller's grains was so fragrant. There were not many people coming to catch fish in the small river channel of the forest farm. If he did this, what kind of carp could he get? , grass carp, and crucian carp bit the hook one after another, and fish of all sizes filled up half a bucket in a while.
In this day and age, there are simply not too many fish in rivers and ditches in the wild. There is no need to talk about any skills. As soon as Qin Rongxian's bait enters the water, a layer of fish will appear on the water's edge.
If it weren't for two people competing, he would just grab it with the net.
Chen Ling should be quieter here.
But look carefully, every time he throws the rod, there are fish on the hook, including crucian carp and grass carp.
Soon, Liang Hongyu ran out of grasshoppers in her hand. The old lady went to grab two more strings for him to use.
After a while, the grasshoppers were all used up again. After going back and forth a few times, Chen Ling's bucket was filled with more than half a bucket of fish.
"Rong Xian, come and see, there are so many grass carp caught by Fugui, more and bigger than yours."
"Oh, it's true, this grass carp eats Do grasshoppers also eat so fiercely? "
Qin Rong came over first, bent down and took a look, and his eyes suddenly widened.
In his previous understanding, this grass carp only eats grass, and it is very vicious when eating grass.
Especially in summer, grass carp can eat one-half of its body weight in grass every day. As long as there is enough grass, it can grow into a big fish of about ten pounds in three years, which is very domineering.
But I didn’t expect this thing to eat grasshoppers, which really surprised the old man.
Chen Ling said to the two of them: "This grass carp is also omnivorous. There is no grass to eat in winter, but it also eats small fish and shrimps. There is nothing strange about it."
" Uncle, do you want to fish with a grasshopper? Look at how big my grasshopper is. My aunt caught it for me."
At this time, Xiao Lizi ran over and grabbed a big dark green mantis. Come to him.
This mantis is really big, longer than the little girl's hand, and its belly is bulging, like a small hand grenade.
Because it was caught in someone's hand, a pair of wings made "chichichichi" sounds like farting.
However, its two pairs of large pliers have been broken off by Wang Susu, leaving only two small ones, otherwise the big pliers would definitely hurt the little girl.
But even so, the eyes on the triangular head were fierce, and the mouth wanted to bite the little girl's hand.
“Oh, this is not a grasshopper, this is a big praying mantis.”
After Chen Ling saw it, he took it and touched the belly of the praying mantis, then put down the fishing rod and said: "This is a female praying mantis. Come, uncle will bake it for you and eat it."
"This is really good." Do you want to eat it? It looks so fierce.”
When the little girl heard that this thing was edible, she tilted her head and looked at the mantis in her hand, feeling very confused.
"It's edible. You can touch its big belly. It's full of mantis seeds. When roasted over fire, it will be very fragrant."
The little girl heard this and touched it carefully with her hands. Touching the mantis' big belly, it was really too big. It felt soft and could not move back and forth.
Little Lizi's eyes widened as soon as he touched it: "Uncle, look, its big belly is still moving."
Chen Ling nodded, "Well, this kind of mantis tastes best when roasted. Come on, let's go Roast. ”
This is obviously at the point where it is about to lay eggs. It is full of mantis eggs, which is a good thing.
Wang Susu was holding her child and talking and laughing with Qin Yueru on the bridge.
Seeing Chen Ling lighting a fire with little chestnuts, he said, "Aling, what are you doing? Don't bring little chestnuts to eat blindly."
"Nothing to do, just roast a praying mantis."
"Roasting a praying mantis is worse than roasting two skewers of grasshoppers. You forgot that last time you were at home and said that there were worms in the belly of the praying mantis, which were unclean and looked like hair. ”
“Well, that’s an iron worm, don’t worry, I’ve seen it, there’s definitely not one here.”
If there are iron worms here, this mantis will be there. But they won’t survive until it’s time to lay eggs.
So I took Little Chestnut and found a lot of dead leaves and branches in the woods and lit a fire in the open space by the water.
At this time, Qin Rongxian and Liang Hongyu heard them talk about roasting mantises, so they caught two more mantises.
Chen Ling shook his head when he saw it: "These two are males. There is nothing in their stomachs. It is better to grab a few old poles."
The male praying mantis is not safe either. You can't tell. Are there any bugs?
The female praying mantis is better. As long as it looks like it is about to lay eggs at any moment, but it is still alive and well, there must be no bugs in its belly.
“I haven’t seen one that big here, so why don’t we just listen to Su Su and let’s catch some grasshoppers.” Liang Hongyu said.
"No, Auntie, the grasshoppers haven't grown to that stage yet. Today's grasshoppers can be fried, but not roasted. They won't taste good after being roasted."
The eggs of the current grasshoppers have not yet grown in their stomachs. Get up and bake it. After the belly is burnt, there is only ashes left, and you can't eat anything.
When the grasshopper grows for more than ten days, its belly will also be swollen and roasted. When the belly is burnt, there are still yellow eggs, which are burnt and strong, like egg yolks.
"Okay, let's wait a few more days."
Qin Rongxian smiled helplessly, "We don't dare to compare with you in terms of food."
Then they watched Chen Ling and Xiao Lizi squat on the ground, using matches to light a fire with dead branches and leaves. After the open fire burned out, they put the female mantis on top.
"Xiaoli is ready. It's time to count. Pull it with a stick ten times and you can eat it."
When Chen Ling said this, the little girl suddenly became serious and used the stick in her hand to The yellow thorn stick was gently pulled up on the charcoal fire, and while pulling it, he was chanting: "One, two, three..."
When he reached ten, Chen Ling took the charred stick from the charcoal fire. He took out the mantis, knocked it lightly on the stone twice, and opened the mantis's charred belly. The yellow, roasted mantis eggs were immediately exposed inside.
A piece as big as the belly of a thumb, Chen Ling blew off the ash on it and handed it to the little girl, "Here, it's baked, try to see if it tastes good."
The little chestnut carefully ate it into his mouth, and his eyes suddenly lit up: "It's delicious, very fragrant, uncle, let's catch a few more praying mantises."
"That's right, Fugui will catch a few more, We want to eat too."
Seeing her daughter enjoying the meal, Qin Yueru also walked off the bridge, waving her hands and shouting.
She is like this, she is tall, but speaks in a delicate voice, and her eyes are crooked when she smiles, just like a silly elder sister.
Moreover, she never treated Chen Ling as an outsider from the beginning, and she was not very polite in her words.
But strangely it's not offensive.
Although Chen Ling didn't know the reason, he had already gotten used to it after being together so many times, so he turned around and said to her: "If you want to eat it, just catch it yourself, and I will bake it for you."
"I'm afraid of praying mantises, and I don't dare to catch them."
Qin Yueru shook her head, then looked at Wang Susu with a smile: "Susu, help me catch them, and I'll help you look after the doll."
>
“Hey, mom is a fool and a coward. She doesn’t even dare to catch a praying mantis. If a praying mantis is scary, I dare to catch it and play with it.”
When Xiao Lizi saw her like this, she chuckled. She was becoming more and more bold as she learned from Wang Zhenzhen.
Praying Mantis dares to hold it in her hand, isn’t it a hundred times stronger than her mother?
"Look, you are being laughed at by your daughter."
Liang Hongyu glanced at her daughter, and then said to Wang Susu: "Susu, please leave her alone. Let her catch it if she wants to eat it. I She must be cured of this problem."
Wang Susu just pursed her lips and smiled.
She knew that the old lady was soft-hearted and had a strong mouth, otherwise she would not have been able to raise such a delicate daughter.
Sure enough, not long after she finished speaking, the old lady took the lead and went to the forest to catch mantises for her daughter and granddaughter.
Qin Yueru and Wang Susu followed with their children, beating the grass with yellow wattle sticks and looking for the praying mantis outside.
It’s just a play anyway.
There were a lot of praying mantises in the woods. They caught several large female praying mantises in a short time and threaded their necks with dogtail grass.
These mantises compete with each other fiercely. Even if they are pierced by grass, they will not rest at ease. Some of them rub their wings, some struggle endlessly, and some even fight.
The little guy in Wang Susu's arms was so happy that he couldn't move his eyes away.
They were having fun when the cows grazing not far away suddenly let out a "moo" sound. It was two cattle barking, the sound was very loud, and it sounded very panicked.
"What's wrong? What happened to the cow?"
Chen Ling and Qin Rongxian went back to the shore to fish. When they heard the cow braying, they quickly dropped their fishing rods and ran over. .
In this situation, Wang Susu and others did not dare to go over to check with their children, naturally they did not know what was going on.
He just said worriedly: "Don't worry about what's going on in the forest. If a cow gets frightened, something bad will happen."
Chen Ling looked over there and saw Seeing the little white cow looking back with a calm expression, he immediately felt relieved and said, "It's okay. Look, the little white cow is looking back at us. It must be okay like this."
Then he walked over Go over there and see what's going on.
When he saw this, he breathed a sigh of relief and said with a happy face: "Good guy, I really can't find anything after wearing iron shoes. It doesn't take any effort to get here. I can't find anything good in the mountains." Yes, I didn’t expect such a big one hidden in the forest farm here.”
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This chapter is an additional update for the July monthly ticket.
There are 79 chapters left.
(End of this chapter)