RPAGF Chapter 270 Digging bamboo shoots
Chapter 270 Digging bamboo shoots
They say that if you live on the mountain, you can eat the mountain. This is true.
After a continuous drizzle for several days, new and strange things have begun to appear in various places in the mountains and forests.
It was early March when flowers blossomed all over the mountains and the fruit trees in the forest began to bloom. The small animals that had not been seen in the forest for a long time also began to become busy.
Hsinchu School also officially opened, and the sound of students reading could be heard from somewhere in the village.
Xu Yuan took Xu Zhi, carrying a backpack and a hoe, and walked into the forest.
The wild vegetables at this time are the freshest and most delicious.
Along the way up the mountain, we met several village women and young girls walking in front of us, each carrying a backpack and exploring everywhere.
Make a wish and slow down your pace a bit so as not to disturb others.
Ferns can be seen everywhere on the roadside. You can grab a handful of them. They are all just sprouting, and the bigger ones have already been picked.
The two sisters who made a wish walked along the avenue, walked to a fork in the road, and came to a place where bamboos grew.
The bamboos stand tall and straight, and the bamboo leaves in the forest rustle in the mountain breeze. From time to time, three or two leaves fall with the wind and land on the ground. The sunlight shines through the gaps in the bamboo branches and is reflected on the ground.
Few people have ever set foot in this forest.
Looking at the tender bamboo shoots with pointed buds emerging from the ground, Xuyuan smiled knowingly.
He put down the backpack, picked up the hoe, and said to Xu Zhi, "Start digging."
"Yeah." Xu Zhi saw the small tips popping out of the ground, his face full of excitement, and he started digging with a hoe.
……
By the village ditch.
Women huddled together in groups of three or four, with their trouser legs rolled up, bent over, or squatting by the ditch, pinching something with their hands.
"This is so tender."
"Yes, I didn't expect that the ditch I dug last year would come alive this year. Look, this large area of wild celery is growing so well."
"There are so many of them, it's good. I'll pick them all and sell them in the county town for money."
Several women began to chat happily.
"We have finally settled down these days."
"Yes, it's just that it's been a long time since there was a happy event in the village."
Chen Biyun, who was not far away, listened to the loud chatter of these women. When they talked about weddings, she felt a little depressed. After the Lantern Festival, her mother, for some unknown reason, started to arrange her own marriage and began to inquire about unmarried men of marriageable age in the village and other villages.
"Biyun, although marriage is free now, when your mother was your age, she had already married. Your parents can't be with you forever. You will become an old maid when you grow up."
His mother's words flashed through his mind, and he couldn't help but increase the strength of his grip on the wild celery, making a crisp sound.
A hand slapped over, "Kid, did the wild celery bite you? Why are you squeezing it so tightly? It's almost broken."
Qiu Chunfen said angrily, snatching the wild celery from Chen Biyun's hand, "This is such a good vegetable, why are you ruining it?"
"By the way, how is your daughter Yuncai's marriage going?" A woman tied a bunch of wild celery with straw stalks and put them neatly in a backpack, then asked the woman next to her.
"What else can I do? It's just like that. The young guys in the village with better conditions don't like my family, and I don't like those with worse conditions either." Zhang Xiamei sighed, feeling a little helpless.
"Look at the way you are picking, you may not be able to succeed even if you continue to pick for a few years. Look at this young man, he has good character, is motivated, kind and filial. The key is that your family's Yuncai is good, isn't that enough?"
"Yeah, after all, how can a good family like us? We are not a treasure trove."
"Yun Yun's mother, doesn't Yun Yun have anyone she likes? They've been trying to matchmake her for so long, it doesn't make sense." A short and fat woman on the other side cautiously probed.
"Huh, why not?" Zhang Xiamei got angry when she thought of this.
Upon hearing this, the women were shocked and their eyes lit up instantly.
"Who is it? Tell me."
Zhang Xiamei looked at the gossiping faces, her face looked a little unhappy, and she angrily said: "I won't tell you, do you want me to tell you about my Yuncai after dinner? I won't tell you, and let you guess."
"What are you saying? We don't have that much free time."
"I won't tell you. I don't like it anyway. There's no need to say it. Go pick some wild celery."
Chen Biyun was listening on the side and instantly felt deep sympathy for the girl Yuncai.
……
Li Yuncai, who was the subject of the women's discussion, was currently helping an old woman pull weeds in the vegetable garden.
The vegetable garden was square and surrounded by bamboo. In the air outside, a few chickens were walking slowly, pecking at the ground with their claws.
The old woman smiled kindly at Li Yuncai and gestured with her hand.
Li Yuncai shook his head, "I'm not tired."
Aunt Luo looked at the little girl in front of her, who was about sixteen or seventeen years old, wearing a coarse green linen coat, with a pretty face and a smile on her face, and her cloudy eyes darkened.
"Cai'er, you don't have to come to help us. If your mother sees you, she will start to talk again." Grandpa Luo came in carrying a hoe. He had a head full of white hair and a hunched back. When he saw a little girl in the vegetable garden, he tried to persuade her.
"Grandpa Luo, it's okay. It's not a very heavy job. I just came to see you." Li Yuncai stood up and brushed off the mud and dust on his body.
"Thank you for coming here often. This house is shabby and I don't have much to offer you. I, an old man, feel a little guilty about this." Grandpa Luo knew that the girl in front of him favored his grandson, but as a mother, she probably didn't want her daughter to suffer after marrying here. She was always in a bad mood every time she saw her own boy, and she tried everywhere to arrange a marriage for the girl, but after so much time, nothing had come to fruition.
But since moving here and following Yuan Yatou to grow those rare things he had never seen before, life has finally gotten better. His two grandsons are able to go to school. This is the thing that Grandpa Luo is most grateful for in his life.
Even if I go, I will have no regrets.
"Grandpa Luo, why are you being so polite to me? My family's situation is not much better. Brother Xiqing is not at home, so I have to come and see you from time to time on his behalf."
Grandma Luo nodded gratefully. Because she couldn't speak, she could only walk forward and grab Li Yuncai's hand, and patted the back of her hand with her old hand.
"Okay, it's almost time. I should go back, Grandpa Luo and Grandma Luo."
Li Yuncai waved his hand, turned around and left the courtyard.
"Old woman, why is Xifei so unlucky? This girl is so nice." Grandpa Luo couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Li Yuncai who was walking away.
Aunt Luo shook her head slightly, closed her eyes helplessly, and turned into the house.
……
In the bamboo forest.
Xuyuan put the last bamboo shoot into the backpack and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Looking at Xu Zhi who was still digging happily, he shouted to her, "Let's go, Xiaozhi, there's no room left. Come back tomorrow when you have time."
"I know, sister."