The Sweet Little Fulang

The days passed quickly, and it was several days in the blink of an eye.

It's almost winter, and the wild animals in the mountains that should be put on autumn fat are full of fat. When the weather gets colder, the ones that should hibernate will hibernate.

Shen Xuanqing often hunts wild rabbits and pheasants. It is not a rare thing. He has brought a big dog to hunt badgers these days. Whether it is a badger or a badger, the fat is pasted. The fur is the thickest in winter. It is late autumn and early winter. It is a good time to hunt before they hibernate.

In addition to fur, the refined badger seed oil is also a good thing. It can be used as medicine, and the price charged by the medical clinic is not bad. In winter, you can apply some on the dry hands and feet and it will moisturize, so you don't have to suffer from chapped skin.

This thing is ferocious, with sharp teeth. Sometimes it is hunted by hounds, and it dares to attack the hounds when it is in a hurry. It is also powerful in punching holes. It is connected to each other underground and has several exits. It is difficult for ordinary people to grasp.

But it is often said that "eight catties of badgers and seven catties of oil" can be sold for money, and the price is not low. Naturally, many people will think of ways to go to the mountains to catch them. Or it was smoky, and all the methods available were used.

Shen Xuanqing got some badgers last year. Badger skin and badger oil are not as expensive as fox fur, but you can sell some more.In addition to selling money to pay off debts, I left half a can of oil for my family to wipe my hands and feet, and I used a lot in the past winter.

The big gray and the little dog have been used to catching them for the past two years, and they know how powerful this thing is. After the badger is forced out of the hole, it will avoid the sharp teeth that bite it. The three big dogs are not afraid of hunting and biting.

Sometimes the badgers are too fierce, and they will bite and fight with the dogs for a while. Some idlers in the village go to the mountains to hunt badgers in winter. Several men bring dogs, just like dogs chasing rabbits, they like to watch the scenes of rounding up and biting.

But Shen Xuanqing didn't have this kind of leisure time. Since he was studying art, the most common thing he did was hunting, and he lost interest in watching such scenes a long time ago.

He didn't want to delay, so the long knife he carried came in handy. His knife was long and heavy, with a thick and solid back. , one or two blows can knock the badger unconscious, and once he puts it in a sack and carries it back, his hands seem to be sophisticated and neat.

The reason why he didn't use the blade was because he felt that the blood gushing from the severed head would not be easy to take back, and it would take a lot of time to bleed and skin them in the mountains.

Of course, sometimes you can’t control your strength, and it’s not uncommon for a knife to smash a badger to pieces and kill it. Shen Xuanqing doesn’t think he missed it. He doesn’t like badger meat. up.

He traveled in the deep forest for six or seven days and brought back a lot of prey, including hares, pheasants, and a dozen fat badgers.

Shen Xuanqing was busy outside, and Lu Gu was not idle either. He picked as many wild vegetables and fungi as he could find, as well as medicinal materials and fireweed. They were dried in the sun for a few days, and he went to pick two baskets of wild bath beads. The thing was green and wet just after picking it, and the basket was quite heavy, so he rested several times on the way.

Six or seven days after clearing up, the sky changed again, with heavy clouds.

Although it didn't rain or snow, it was hard to go out when the wind was blowing, the sand and rocks were blowing up, and it was hard to open your eyes.

Both of them didn't go out today, the courtyard door was closed, so as not to keep blowing in.

It was too cold in the afternoon and the two lit a brazier to warm up the fire. Shen Xuanqing took a sip of hot water, looked at the sky outside and said to Lu Gu: "If there is no wind tomorrow, let Dahui go back and find Big Brother and Mother to come up and rest for a while. Evening, pack up and go home the day after tomorrow.”

Lu Gu poked the sweet roots in the brazier with a branch, and replied, "Then I'll clean it up tomorrow."

There are a lot of things to take down the mountain, but the cart is too heavy for the two of them, and the field is not busy recently, so it is easier for two more people to pull the cart together.

Whether it is roasted or steamed, the sweetness of sweet nest roots is quite light. The country people don’t eat so many tricks. When warming in the fire in winter, bury a few in the fire and roast them. It’s just a snack, and it’s warm in your hand. Also warm.

The pups and big dogs were also around the brazier, squatting in a circle, like people, seeing the pups squatting for a while and wanting to get down, Lu Gu dragged their sacks over, otherwise they would lie on the ground. It's too cold on the ground.

The sweet root was roasted, Shen Xuanqing pulled out the branch, some of the outer skin was scorched and blackened, it was too hot to handle, so he let it dry on the ground.

It didn't taste good even if it was cold, so he picked up the big one on the ground, blew it and broke it with his hands, handed half of it to Lu Gu, and said, "It's still hot, blow it before eating."

Lu Gu took the half piece, it was really hot, so he could only hold it with two hands alternately, the skin was easy to peel after it was cooked.

It didn’t eat when it was taken out of the fire, the pup just looked up, now seeing the two of them talking, he knew it was edible, got up and rubbed against Lu Gu’s calf, and barked twice Sound, obviously wanting to beg for food.

"Don't worry, let them eat when it's cold." Shen Xuanqing said.

That being the case, Lu Gu didn't feed the puppies, and the puppies who hadn't eaten anything barked and kept looking at them.

Lu Gu didn't give it to him until it was finally warmed up. Unlike other dogs in the village, he always ate well, but now he disliked the sweet corn root, which was not meaty and had a bland taste. After two or three mouthfuls, he lay back on the sack No more asking for it.

The wind stopped in the middle of the night, and early the next morning, Shen Xuanqing found an unwanted rag, wrote two characters on it with Lu Gu's embroidered brush, "hui" and "duo", and stuffed it with Lu Gu's little finger. In such a large and delicate bamboo tube, a small twisted hemp rope was passed through the eye of the bamboo tube, and hung on Dahui's neck.

He didn't go down the mountain until a few days after the beginning of winter last year, the year before last, and it was relatively late. Before going up the mountain this time, he didn't discuss with his family about going down earlier. If only Dahui ran down today, Shen Yaoqing might think that he was meeting halfway and wrote The words will be understood.

Both his brothers had studied, the character "Hui" means that they are going down the mountain to go home and they will not come up again, and the word "Duo" means that there are too many things, Shen Yaoqing naturally knew what it meant after reading it.

After feeding a few pieces of meat to Dahui and Dabai, Shen Xuanqing patted the necks of the two dogs and said, they ran out the door and disappeared soon.

Having nothing else to do after breakfast, Lu Gu let the chickens and ducks out and locked them in the big fence outside for them to be eaten. The first thing he did when he returned to the yard was to go into the low house to look at the wild vegetables and dried vegetables he had dried. For bacteria, what you eat is the most important thing.

The low house is cool and dry, and if you bring too much food, you will put it here in case the kitchen water is too wet all day long. Seeing Shen Xuanqing coming in, he asked, "Do you want to take the quilt back?"

Lu Gu doesn't know about going down the mountain for a winter, so he must ask.

"No, I'll come up again in the spring of next year. Put it in a box and close it tightly. Next year, pick a sunny day and go to the mountain early, turn it out and let it dry for a whole day, and then it will be covered at night."

Shen Xuanqing glanced at the rice sacks and flour sacks while talking, and there was only half a sack left. He said, "There is no need to take away the food. It won't germinate and be damp in winter, and you can still eat it next year."

"En." Lu Gu nodded, and glanced at the bag of dried mushrooms he had saved. The cloth bag was full, and it was placed on the ground at about the height of his calf. Looking at it, he was very satisfied, and happily packed it with Shen Xuanqing.