Chapter 346: Harvest, Reclamation
"It's so cold, brother!"
Lin Yue came out of his room a while after Lin Heng came out.
"It's really cold, after all, it's over the frost."
Lin Heng nodded, he was a little uncomfortable just coming out of the soft bed.
The sky before dawn was extremely dark, and it was very damp and cold outside.
The frost had already passed, and it was about to start winter, and frost was about to begin on the ground.
Lin Yue asked while moving: "Where are we going? Lizi Mountain or somewhere else."
Lin Heng glanced at Xiongba and asked: "You go up the mountain every day recently, where do you think is suitable?"
Today, I brought Xiongba and a dog, Fengshou stayed at home to watch the house, and the safety factor would be much higher with a dog in the house.
"I just hunt bamboo chickens and golden chickens near my home. Recently, I heard that there are prey in Sanyegou, Baishigou, Lizi Mountain, and Sanchagou. I don't know which one is more suitable."
Lin Yue explained, after all, he was still a novice and didn't know enough about these.
Lin Heng thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go to Lizi Mountain. The probability of hunting wild boars there should be a little higher."
Wild boars like chestnuts very much, so there should be a lot of traces there. Compared with other places, the possibility is greater.
It's not that he wants to hunt wild boars. He wants to hunt roe deer, muntjacs, and even black bears, but the number of those animals is too small compared to wild boars.
After comprehensive consideration, it is more reliable to search for wild boars instead of air force.
"Okay, let's go to Lizi Mountain to hunt wild boars." Lin Yue nodded in agreement.
The two of them discussed and walked up the road. Lizi Mountain is at the junction of Shimen Village. He found the body of a clouded leopard there last year.
The wind was stronger on the road, and it was cool. They discussed hunting methods while walking.
Eating steamed buns, they walked until dawn. At this time, hundreds of birds were singing, the mountains and forests were peaceful, and all kinds of animals became active.
The two brothers Lin Heng had already reached the halfway point of Chestnut Mountain. The chestnuts here had been picked up almost completely, and no one came here now.
Lin Heng and his eldest brother searched up the mountain at a 45-degree angle. After walking a few steps, Lin Heng found a guy holding chestnuts and running to a branch.
This was a gray squirrel. Lin Heng took a look at it, slowly took out a small slingshot from his waist, and took out small glass beads he bought in the city from another small cloth bag.
At a distance of five or six meters, after aiming, it shot out with a bang. With the muffled sound of the impact, the gray squirrel also fell down.
When Xiongba picked it up, Lin Heng took it and weighed it. It was about half a pound. The gray squirrel had already changed its fur, and its fur felt shiny and smooth.
"Not bad, I won't be empty-handed today." Lin Heng grinned.
Where there are many chestnuts, there are also many squirrels. Squirrel meat is also delicious, with a fresh fragrance, and the fur is also quite valuable.
Throwing it into the backpack, Lin Heng took a few steps and found another red squirrel, but unfortunately he missed the target this time.
Xiongba walked in front to find the traces of prey, and Lin Heng followed behind, shooting squirrels by the way.
At half past ten, they crossed the Chestnut Mountain, where they saw many traces of wild boars digging the soil, but they failed to track the prey.
After crossing the Chestnut Mountain, Lin Heng began to set traps and wire ropes.
There are many traces of wild boar activities here. After setting them up, we may get something tomorrow.
"Hey, pheasant!"
Lin Heng, who was setting the trap, was stunned, and immediately took out his bow and arrow and touched the bushes in front. Unexpectedly, a pheasant flew over openly.
Ten minutes later, he walked back with an expressionless face. He finally found a pheasant but missed it.
Because the grass was too thick, he missed the target and the pheasant ran away. Without the pheasant, he could only continue to set traps.
Before they knew it, it was already noon. Lin Heng and his elder brother climbed to the top of an unknown mountain. Looking up, they saw a forest covered in red and yellow.
"Let's take a break here and have lunch." Lin Heng looked at his elder brother and said.
"Okay." Lin Yue nodded and took out food from his bag.
Lin Heng only brought steamed buns and water. What surprised him was that his elder brother actually brought soft pancakes, some shredded potatoes and fermented bean curd with chili peppers.
"You'll be in the mood to hunt only if you eat well. You should eat too. I brought it for you." Lin Yue said with a smile.
"Thank you, elder brother." Lin Heng naturally wouldn't be polite to his elder brother. He picked up the chopsticks and started eating.
Because they brought more food, Xiongba could also eat some.
It must not be full, otherwise it would have no motivation to continue looking for prey.
"Brother, you've harvested enough today, but unfortunately my slingshot is not as accurate as yours. I only shot three squirrels." Lin Yue sighed while eating.
"I'm lucky today." Lin Heng laughed. Although he didn't catch any big prey in the morning, he shot eight squirrels with a slingshot.
They weighed four or five kilograms in total, and the squirrel skin could be sold for twenty or thirty yuan.
This thing looks small, but it's not easy to shoot. You can only use a slingshot and a trap. The hunting rifle will smash it all in a short time.
"Oh, I hope there will be some harvest in the afternoon." Lin Yue shook his head and sighed.
After eating, the two continued to explore the forest, looking for traces of wild boars.
Lin Heng unexpectedly found that there were many enoki mushrooms in this forest, and there were also a few oyster mushrooms. Lin Heng picked them up happily and prepared to go home for a hot pot.
He didn't pick mushrooms much this autumn, and didn't pick up hericium erinaceus, matsutake, etc. It's not that he didn't want to, but he was busy and didn't have time. There were still several heavy rains in mid-October.
However, although he didn't pick it up, his family didn't lack these things to eat. First, his parents had some, and he would also take some back from the purchasing station to eat.
Lin Heng was happily picking up clusters of beautiful enoki mushrooms when he suddenly heard an exclamation from his elder brother not far away: "Brother, I found something here!"
"What?"
Lin Heng asked softly. When he walked over, he immediately saw it. It turned out to be a tickle tree. It seemed that wild boars were using it recently.
Lin Yue whispered: "This is a major discovery. I think it is easy to catch wild boars by setting some traps around this tree."
"The possibility is very high." Lin Heng nodded, looked around, and found the animal track where two wild boars were walking and lowered the big animal trap.
The tickle tree is easy to recognize. Wild boars have polished the top of it. Generally speaking, wild boars will come and scratch it when they are full. Living in the wild, they are harassed by various bugs, so scratching is essential.
"Let's go, don't damage this place, don't break even a branch."
After Lin Heng laid out the clamps, he made a mark and said, "Don't dare to leave this kind of clamps for a long time, otherwise they will easily hurt people, even in such inaccessible places."
After setting up the bear trap, the two of them searched eagerly. Lin Heng took Xiong Ba to find the wild boar hole.
The reason why they came to this place was because they followed Xiong Ba. They had no decision. This Itchy Tree showed that the general direction Xiong Ba was looking for was correct.
Perhaps wild boars are too good at running. After searching for an entire afternoon, no wild boars were found nearby.
"It's so normal. This thing can run hundreds of miles a day." Lin Heng shook his head.
Lin Yue nodded, looked at the sky and said, "It's a pity, we can only go back first."
"Go back and walk along the ditch to see if you can encounter golden roosters and bamboo roosters." Lin Heng nodded and said.
They all carry flashlights, and it is easier to find pheasants and golden pheasants in the area beside the ditch than in other seasons.
Walking into the ditch, the first living thing Lin Heng saw was a big red squirrel, and he immediately chased it.
Unfortunately the guy ended up jumping to the top of a tree and he didn't have a chance.
Unknowingly, the sky was already dusk, and the setting sun left only a hint of red. The two stood quietly observing.
At this moment, not only can we hear the calls of muntjac and roe deer, but we can also see golden pheasants flying to the trees where they rest at night.
"There are bamboo chickens flying over in the thorn cedar forest over there." Lin Yue said excitedly.
"I heard there seemed to be two golden roosters crowing on that mountain raft." Lin Heng also said something, and the two immediately separated.
When they reached it, it was completely dark. There were no stars or moon in the sky, and the night was extremely dark.
Lin Heng searched for a long time before he found his golden rooster resting on a tree branch.
Two heather-gray hens look quite plump.
Lin Heng took the arrows and shot them down accurately. Each one in his hand weighed a pound and a half. Autumn things are so plump.
boom!
At this time, there was a loud noise in the forest at the foot of the mountain, and Lin Heng hurriedly walked towards it.
"How's it going, big brother!"
Lin Heng asked in a low voice.
"Hey, I shot six bamboo chickens, what about you?" Lin Yue's excited voice rang out.
"I'm two hen golden roosters, how come they are almost the same." Lin Heng walked over with the golden rooster in hand.
"Autumn prey is easier to hunt. Today is fine." Lin Yue said happily.
After saying a few words, they took Xiongba back. By the time they got home, it was already 12 o'clock in the evening, and they were too far away.
Unfortunately, they couldn't find any new prey on the way home, and they didn't want a few hedgehogs.
"Second brother, you are finally back. We almost thought you wouldn't come back today."
Caiyun opened the door and said with a smile.
"I traveled too far while hunting." Lin Heng explained and locked the courtyard door.
Entering the house, Xiaoxia was already lying on the sofa and fell asleep. Xiulan covered her with a summer quilt.
"Two golden roosters, the harvest is not bad!" Xiulan looked at the golden roosters in his hand and smiled.
"Not only that, but also fungi and squirrels."
Lin Heng opened the bag and put the things out.
"Eight squirrels, and so many enoki mushrooms!" Caiyun's eyes widened.
"That's amazing!" Xiulan also praised in surprise.
Neither of them were surprised that they didn't catch the wild boar. If it were so easy to hunt, everyone would go hunting.
"Let's put down the trap and see if we can get wild boar tomorrow." Lin Heng said.
"The food is ready. Let's hunt for prey after eating." Xiulan said.
Caiyun had already gone to the kitchen to bring the rice. It was just for Lin Heng, a bowl of rice and a small bowl of vegetables, which included fried pickled beans with bacon and half of garlic-flavored green vegetables.
Lin Heng had been hungry for a long time. He was eating and chatting with the two of them.
After he finished eating, Caiyun boiled the water, scalded the golden rooster, removed the fur, disembowelled it, and left basically all the internal organs. They wanted to eat chicken noodles.
The two golden roosters were put into the freezer for storage, leaving the offal for eating chicken noodles tomorrow.
Squirrels are easier to handle. Just make a circle around the neck and pull hard to pull off the skin.
The skin of the squirrel was stretched out and hung under the eaves to dry in the shade, and the internal organs and head were boiled and fed to Xiongba and Fengshou. They would eat the meat of one squirrel.
By the time he finished washing and resting, it was already two o'clock in the morning the next day.
"You should go to bed early, it's too late." Lin Heng got into the fragrant quilt and said.
"I took a nap in the afternoon and couldn't fall asleep even if I went to bed early." Xiulan leaned against him and said something, and then asked softly: "Do you want to get up early tomorrow morning too?"
"No, let's go at 6 or 7 o'clock. It's useless to go too early." Lin Heng shook his head.
"That's fine." Xiulan nodded, stopped talking, and rested next to Lin Heng.
The next morning, Lin Heng got up early and exercised tirelessly. He almost never stopped. Even if he was delayed by other things, he would make up for it or exercise at night.
Giving up is too easy. Persistence day after day is more challenging, and it will also be the best way to educate children by example.
After breakfast, he and his elder brother went to Lizi Mountain excitedly, looking forward to a harvest.
On the way, he was still looking forward to what to do if the wild boar grew up and couldn't be taken back, what to do if the roe deer and muntjac were caught, etc.
However, reality gave them a wake-up call. After a circle, they didn't see any big prey.
There was no itchy tree either. Only three small traps caught three squirrels.
"This shouldn't be!" Lin Yue couldn't understand.
Lin Heng drank a mouthful of water and shook his head, saying, "Wild boars have many itching trees, so they may not come here. Or maybe we have been discovered. Anyway, let's take the traps back and come back next week."
Lin Yue thought about it and shook his head, saying, "Leave it for two more days, I'll come and take it."
"That's fine." Lin Heng didn't refuse, and the two continued to search on the mountain.
Today's harvest was not as good as yesterday. When he returned home in the evening, he shot a willow-leaf chicken (blood pheasant) and five or six pounds of enoki mushrooms.
But because he came back early, tonight's meal was rich, including the squirrel he made yesterday.
Squirrel meat tastes firm and has a special flavor, which is very good.
The disadvantage is that there is less meat and more bones, and most of them were given to Xiongba Fengshou.
As Monday came and Caiyun went to school, Lin Heng took care of Xiulan at home and began to plan the work of reclaiming Hongfeng Mountain with his father.
After discussion, the two thought it would be better to call 20 people, and notified all his third father, third uncle and uncle-in-law, and called a dozen more people.
The next day, Tuesday, we started working. The daily wage was 70 cents, not as high as before.
But even so, many people were still willing to come. There were not many opportunities to make money in the countryside.
He didn't need to guide the land reclamation, as his father and others were very familiar with it.
Lin Heng also had some free time, and took Xiulan and Xiaoxia to experience the last few days of autumn.
The autumn winds were like wild knives, and no one dared not to be tamed in front of them.
It was Thursday in the blink of an eye. This morning, Lin Heng was drying things, and suddenly there was a lively discussion outside.
"What's going on?" Xiulan, who was leaning on a chair to bask in the sun, asked curiously.
As the two were talking, the discussion suddenly approached, and there was a knock on the door.