Siheyuan: The Temptation of the Mountains

"Brother Ze hasn't been here for a long time." The eight-year-old twins Lin Wen and Lin Wu immediately pulled up their pants and trotted to surround Lin Ze in the middle.

Other younger children also swarmed over.

"Xiao Wen, Xiao Wu, are your parents home?"

Lin Wu said, "My father is working in the fields. My mother is at home and is going to dig wild vegetables soon."

"Okay, you guys play, I have something to do with your mom."

"Okay, Brother Ze, what are you guys standing there for? Why don't you say hello to my brother Ze?"

After hearing Lin Wu's words, the other naked kids who were even younger hurriedly said, "Uncle Ze, you are busy..."

"Goodbye, Grandpa Ze."

Lin Ze nodded and smiled, "Okay, okay, I'll bring you some candy next time."

When Lin Ze walked into Lin Musheng's house, he saw a woman with an apron tied around her waist, chopping wild vegetables to feed two old hens.

This woman was Lin Ze’s aunt, Wang Erni.

"Auntie, good afternoon, do you need any help?"

Lin Ze approached the chicken coop. Wang Erni looked up and saw that it was Lin Ze. She quickly stood up and wiped her hands with the apron around her waist.

"Xiao Ze is back. Auntie doesn't need any help here. What are you doing in the countryside?"

Lin Ze felt a little regretful. He was still some distance away from the chicken coop, otherwise he would have tried to see if the chicken manure could be collected.

"I came to see my grandparents. They said my uncle has some grain seeds. I want to see what the grain seeds look like."

"Isn't this a trivial matter? Auntie will show it to you right away!"

Wang Erni was outgoing and forthright. As she spoke, she led Lin Ze into the side room and showed him the small bags of grain seeds that Lin Musheng had stored.

“Here, these are rice seeds.”

“This is wheat seed.”

“This is sorghum seed.”

"Corn seed."

"These lumps with roots are sweet potatoes and potato seeds."

When Wang Erni was showing the seeds to Lin Ze, Lin Ze collected two or three seeds of each kind.

After this collection, there were as many as seven kinds of crop seeds in his space, and only three kinds were left for reclaiming new land.

"Aunt, are these the only seeds we have at home?"

Wang Erni nodded, then shook her head, "There are still some soybean and peanut seeds, but your uncle has sent them to the fields to plant the seedlings."

"There's not a single one left at home?"

"There's not a single one left. I'm afraid Xiaoze will have to wait until next year to learn more."

"That's such a pity." Lin Ze frowned slightly. In those days, the crops in the fields were guarded by militiamen with guns.

After all, people were so hungry that they had to eat wild vegetables and tree bark. The crops in the fields were not sprayed with pesticides and no one was watching over them, so not even a single seed was left.

Wang Erni collected the seeds. At this time, Liu Ying's voice rang out from outside, "Xiao Ze, Lin Ze!"

"Aunt, grandma called me. I'll come to visit you next time."

"Hey, okay Xiaoze, take care."

When Lin Ze returned to Lin Changgui's house, Liu Ying had already cooked wild vegetable corn porridge and two steamed buns made of sorghum cornmeal for Lin Ze.

"Nana, this is too much."

"Not much. People say that you are eating me to death, little brat. A young man like you must eat enough to grow taller!" Liu Ying said firmly.

Lin Changgui sat happily in the recliner and echoed, "Who dares not to feed my eldest grandson and mess with her?"

"You old man, does that mean Xiaoze is your grandson, not mine?" Liu Ying said angrily.

Liu Ying is Lin Changgui's second wife. Lin Changgui is ten years older than Liu Ying. Lin Zhengguo and Lin Musheng are half-brothers.

Liu Ying knew that Lin Changgui liked his eldest grandson Lin Ze the most. Because of her love for him, she also loved this eldest grandson the most.

Lin Ze watched the two people scolding each other with a smile, and stopped being polite. He ate the bowl of corn and wild vegetable porridge and the steamed bread made of sorghum cornmeal.

It's a bit hard, but luckily he is young and has good teeth.

After eating and drinking, Lin Ze washed the dishes quickly, stood straight like a soldier, and followed the old lady.

"Grandma, is there any other task you need me to do?"

"Ok?"

Seeing that his eldest grandson seemed to be eager to find more work to do, Liu Ying couldn't help but scan the entire courtyard.

Unlike Lin Musheng's family, Lin Changgui's family did not raise livestock.

"There is nothing for you to do. If you are bored at home, go to the mountains with your grandma and your aunt to dig wild vegetables and pick mushrooms."

Liu Ying asked tentatively. After all, Lin Ze's family lived in the city, and she was afraid that he would look down on the wild vegetables in the countryside.

Lin Ze brought ten kilograms of sorghum flour, but they had nothing to give in return, and they felt a little guilty.

"Okay, I'll go up the mountain with you guys."

Lin Ze still has high expectations for Dashan. In his previous life, Dashan was simply his world.

When there were no enemies, it was common for their special forces to get pheasants, wild ducks, wild boars, etc., cut them into pieces, smear them with salt and mud, and stew them over charcoal fire.

Liu Ying had no idea that what Lin Ze meant by going into the mountains was completely different from what they meant by going into the mountains.

Liu Ying and Wang Erni, together with some women from the village, as well as young boys and girls, dug wild vegetables and picked mushrooms halfway up the Dongshan Mountain.

Lin Ze picked some mushrooms and dug some wild vegetables and put them in the bamboo basket behind him, and then his attention diverted.

We walked deeper and deeper, gradually moving away from the crowd.

The resources deep in the mountains are far better than those halfway up the mountain.

He picked a lot of chanterelles, white boletus, chicken mushrooms, and even picked half a pound of mulberries from a tree.

Soon, Lin Ze saw his first satisfactory target of the day, a pheasant.

Lin Ze was a little excited, and silently said in his heart, "Collect!"

[Sorry host, the distance is not enough to receive it. ]

"Not far enough?"

Lin Ze immediately crawled on the grass, moving his body little by little, approaching the grass where the pheasant was.

Twenty meters, fifteen meters, eight meters, five meters, "Collect!"

[Congratulations to the host for successfully collecting and obtaining pheasant x1]

"Hey, not bad."

Lin Ze used his mind to stare at the motionless pheasant in the space warehouse and said cheerfully, "A good start, keep up the good work."

Soon, there was a second pheasant, a third nest of rabbits, and a fourth nest of pheasants and eggs.

All of them were collected by Lin Ze using the same method.

Lin Ze discovered that the farthest distance he could collect supplies was five meters, and he would not be able to get the supplies any further away.

This discovery made Lin Ze both disappointed and satisfied.

After sunset, Lin Ze did not plan to search for supplies anymore.

He put the bamboo basket back on his back and put two pheasants with broken necks and a nest of twenty pheasant eggs into the basket.

As soon as we came out of the mountains, we saw Liu Ying and Wang Erni looking up halfway up the mountain.

"Lin Ze, Lin Ze, you little brat, I told you not to go into the mountains, why are you so disobedient?!" Liu Ying was furious.

She and Wang Erni searched for Lin Ze for a full half an hour. If they hadn't seen that it was getting dark and they didn't dare to go into the mountains, they would probably have gone into the mountains together to look for Lin Ze.