Acorn trees are widely distributed throughout Yunzhou, including in the mountains near Xiaoshi Village and here in Suijin Town.
The powder made from acorn squash can satisfy hunger, but it tastes bitter and astringent and difficult to swallow. People who are short of food will prepare some to survive the famine months.
In the past, Song Zhenping and Xiao An would often burn some acorns to wrap their bellies.
Now Song Liyun was going to pick up acorns. He also thought it was a way to save food, but it was already a little late.
The most important thing was that it was dangerous to go up the mountain. He would rather carry a few more rocks than take risks with his younger brothers and sisters.
"It's good to pick up acorns, but there are many wild animals in the mountains around Suijin Town. You and Xiao An should not go there. If you have time, go get some rhizome from the river. I'll make some pairs of straw sandals tonight."
It was already cold now, Xiao An was wearing cotton shoes that didn't fit her feet, and Song Zhenping was still wearing a pair of cloth shoes with exposed heels.
He had to work on the construction site and was reluctant to wear more rags.
When ordering clothes from the needlework sister-in-law in the town, Song Liyun ordered shoes for the three of them, but it took time to make the shoes and it would take two days to pick them up.
Song Liyun responded lightly and didn't say anything more. Anyway, she just wanted to say something.
As long as Song Zhenping goes out tomorrow, he will take Hei Jin and Xiao An up the mountain.
Knowing that her family would also start eating acorn noodles, Song Zhenping looked at the white flour steamed buns on the table early the next morning and felt a little embarrassed about the eggs:
"Yun'er, we can buy cereals now, so don't take any more from there. We won't eat these steamed buns and eggs.
In five days, the construction site will be completed, and I will be able to collect some wages and buy some coarse grains to survive the winter.
Uncle Qin said that military households like us can take on jobs in the military camp and earn some small money. I can also cut firewood and sell it to the barracks."
In his calculation, even if he stopped working, he would go up the mountain to collect firewood every day and sell it to the military camp. As long as he could get back a pound of corn flour, his brother and sister would be able to survive the winter.
When spring comes, the ground will be plowed and corn will be planted. The family will also raise chickens and there will be eggs to eat.
After cutting grass every day, they can also raise pigs. In a few months, once the grain is harvested and the pigs are killed, Xiao An and the second sister can buy some good clothes.
The more he thought about it, the happier he became, and his eyes turned slightly red, as if he had already seen the golden grain piled up in the granary, and the pigs and chickens running around in circles.
Xiao An drank millet porridge and took another bite of boiled egg yolk. Seeing that Song Zhenping said that he would never eat eggs again, he quickly put down the bowl and pushed his steamed bun over: "Brother, eat!"
Song Zhenping waved his hand: "Brother, I have it here. Xiao An can eat it by himself."
Xiao An refuses to obey.
He was scared of hunger. He finally had such a delicious meal now, and he was worried that if his brother told him not to eat it, he would not be able to eat it again in the future.
At this time, he kept stuffing steamed buns and eggs into Song Zhenping's mouth, choking and making Song Zhenping roll his eyes.
Song Liyun smiled as she watched the two brothers interact.
Song Zhenping said that if you don't boil eggs, you won't boil them. She really doesn't have many eggs in her space.
Now apart from grain, the only meat left is two chickens, one pound of meat and one pig. We have to think of other ways to compensate for protein.
Song Zhenping swallowed the steamed buns and eggs with difficulty, knowing that Xiao An loved him and could not blame him.
When Song Zhenping, who was looking forward to the future, left home to go to work, Song Liyun took Xiao An to the attic.
Heijin held the iron chain with one hand and grabbed the door frame with the other hand, hanging the characters in the air, staring straight at the yard through the gap in the wooden boards.
When Xiao An's figure appeared in sight, he jumped up and down with excitement, making the chains clank.
The next second, it saw the woman appearing behind Xiao An, and it felt like another stick was hit in the face.
Hei Jin made a grimace, somersaulted back into his nest, covered his head with his hands, and pretended to be sleeping.
"Bang" Song Liyun kicked open the wooden door of the attic, looked at Hei Jin who was pretending to sleep and laughed: "I don't know how to pretend to be asleep, my tail is still moving around."
Hei Jin was stunned and subconsciously grabbed his own tail, but it was in vain.
Its tail had been chopped off in the disaster five years ago, and as a result, its entire body rolled out of the nest accidentally.
Seeing Hei Jin lying on the ground with his arms and legs spread out, Xiao An giggled.
Song Liyun is angry and funny.
I don’t know how Heijin teased Xiao An. The shy Xiao An was very timid at first, but when he was with Heijin, he started laughing out loud in just half a day.
After staying for a while, Song Liyun took Hei Jin and Xiao An out of the house.
Ruijin Town has a small population, and the population is concentrated in the central area of the town.
Song Liyun brought out the black gold, but no one noticed it at all.
The two of them and the monkey walked through the woods outside Baolinju and headed straight to the upper reaches of Huangsha River in Suijin Town.
The mountains near Ruijin Town have been picked up by the people in the town. If you want to pick up the best acorns, you need to cross the Yellow Sand River.
It was the first time for Song Liyun to go to the river. He didn't know where the river was deep or shallow, or where it was suitable to cross.
But she has the most experienced guide, Black Gold.
The dry reeds by the river are higher than people's heads, making it difficult to walk.
Song Liyun carried Xiao An on his back, and under the leadership of Hei Jin, he accurately found a foot-wide path in the grass and neatly bypassed the reeds.
After walking two miles away, a wide river beach with slow water flow appeared in front of us.
This was once a gold mining field.
One mile long and five hundred meters wide, piles of sifted sand and stones are piled up like mountains, scattered and undulating on the river. If you use these piles of stones, you can cross the river in the dry season.
But... things are not as expected.
Five years later, these abandoned stone piles have become overgrown with weeds, and due to river erosion, the distance between the stone piles has reached three meters in some cases.
It would be difficult for people to jump across such a distance.
When they arrived at the river, Song Liyun untied the black gold chain.
The monkey easily jumped over the pile of rocks and turned back to scream at Song Liyun.
He also jumped back and forth like a show off, showing off all kinds of tricks, and his eyes were full of provocation.
It has been detained all these times and can no longer hold it in any longer.
If you can't beat this shrew, you can't even beat her in the long jump.
Song Liyun looked calm, and first tied Xiao An to himself with a cloth belt, and then...under the dumbfounded eyes of Xiao An and Hei Jin, he "transformed" into a long ladder.
The long ladder was stretched across two piles of rocks. Song Liyun briefly tested the stability and stepped onto the long ladder to cross the river in long strides.
Repeat this several times, and Ruijin Town becomes the other side of the river.
Song Liyun stood at the foot of the mountain, retracting the long ladder with a movement of his hand, and then said to Heijin: "Lead the way. If you dare to do something wrong, I will destroy the pile of rocks and let you stay on the mountain and freeze to death."
Heijin was honest when Song Liyun took out the long ladder and stepped onto the river bank. When he heard the threat, he just pretended not to understand.
It danced happily with Xiao An, who was still carrying it, saying that it was quite familiar with this area and wanted Xiao An to get down to the ground and play with it.
"Monkey, don't even think about kidnapping Xiao An!"
Song Liyun kicked Hei Jin over.
Although this guy acted honestly in front of Song Liyun, he still didn't believe it too much.
Especially in a mountain like this, if Xiao An was led to a cliff by it, it would be too late to regret it.
Heijin was very familiar with this mountain forest. He took Song Liyun out of the forest and soon discovered a large dense oak tree.
No one has been here before, and the acorns whether they fell on the ground or hanging on the trees were all densely packed.
Black Gold's injury had scabbed over, which did not prevent it from climbing the tree, so Song Liyun drove her to the tree to harvest the fruit, while she and Xiao An picked up acorns on the ground.