A dozen people left at once, carrying dry food and oxen, and went to the Shenmu tribe.
Within a few months, the open space in front of the cave had become overgrown with weeds.
The fish returned to their old places, and soon brought firewood and lit a bonfire.
Everyone ate some dried meat with boiling water and found two caves to stay for one night.
Early the next morning, Yu pointed to the bamboo forest to the east of the cave and said, "Mufeng, through that bamboo forest is a valley, and there seems to be a chestnut forest in it."
Mufeng nodded, "Let's go in and take a look."
Everyone walked eastward, passed through a bush, and walked for more than half an hour before reaching the mouth of the valley.
As expected, there was a large chestnut tree in the valley, with green and yellow thorn balls hanging all over the branches.
Yuzi looked back at Yao Xiaoqing, "Xiaoqing, this forest is full of chestnuts. I'm afraid they are from the Shenmu tribe?"
Yao Xiaoqing nodded, "It's very possible."
"From now on, all the open space to the north of our tribe will be planted with chestnuts."
"Now that's good, we can harvest a lot of fruits from this chestnut forest." He smiled and picked up the machete and chopped down a dozen long bamboo poles. "Let's go up the tree and hit chestnuts."
Mufeng gave the cow rope to Yao Xiaoqing and said, "Xiaoqing, take the cow farther away, and we will go up the tree and knock down the chestnuts."
"Okay!" The two led the ox and retreated to the edge of the bamboo forest.
A dozen men holding long bamboo poles climbed up the chestnut tree like monkeys, banging the thorn balls on the branches.
The thorny balls fell like hailstones one after another. Standing under the tree, you would definitely get a bloody head.
Yao Xiaoqing watched for a while, pointed to the foot of the mountain and said to the taro: "You watch here, I'll go over there to see if there is any ramie."
Taro Zi took the cow rope and said, "Xiaoqing, there is no one in the mountain, please be careful."
Yao Xiaoqing waved the engineering shovel, "I'm holding the shovel, I'm not afraid."
She knocked on the grass and walked towards the foot of the mountain to the north. After walking not far, she saw a small ravine. Both sides of the ravine were covered with ramie trees as tall as a person, and they were already full of ramie seeds.
Further forward, the shrubs at the foot of the mountain are covered with kudzu and yam vines. The yam vines are covered with brown yam beans. Some kudzu vines also have bunches of lavender flowers.
Yao Xiaoqing felt that these ramie and yam must have been cultivated artificially, while the kudzu vine was wild. The news of the demise of the Shenmu tribe must not have spread yet, so no one came here to collect it.
She hurried back to the chestnut forest and saw that the trees were covered with chestnut balls. She shouted loudly: "Brother, come down first and get the chestnuts over here. Two people will go over there with us to dig the sweet potatoes."
Go to kudzu."
Mufeng, the pig and the bull came down from the tree and smiled happily: "Xiaoqing, where did you find the yam and kudzu?"
Yao Xiaoqing pointed to the foot of the mountain to the north, "There are a lot of yam, kudzu, and ramie over there. It looks like I will be busy here for a few days."
Mufeng nodded, "It's best if you're busy, let Yu and Lu go with you."
"Yeah!" Yao Xiaoqing and Yu Zi took out their backpacks from the bamboo basket, took their sickles, and walked towards the foot of the mountain to the north.
Yu and Lu followed with hoes, and the three of them laughed happily when they saw the yam and kudzu.
Yao Xiaoqing pointed at the kudzu and said to the fish: "Fish, dig the potatoes first and then the kudzu. Don't throw away the kudzu. When you pile it up there, pull it back to the tribe."
"good!"
Yu Helu began to cut the potato vines. As soon as he pulled the potato vines, the potato beans fell down.
Yao Xiaoqing and Yuzi were busy picking up the yam beans that had fallen on the ground and putting them into their baskets. It took four people two days to dig out all the yam beans, and the yam beans picked up three bamboo baskets full of them.
.
The dug up potatoes and chestnuts were all carried to the cave of the Shenmu tribe for storage. Looking at the mountains of potatoes and chestnuts piled up in the cave, I thought that there were also a lot of kudzu and chestnuts. Everyone was excited.
Very happy.
The bull laughed and said, "It's better to grow food. Next year, plant all the open land with potatoes, so you don't have to collect food everywhere in the future."
She smiled and nodded, "This chestnut forest is not bad. Let's plant the open space full of chestnut trees in the future."
Yao Xiaoqing was also very happy, "Brother, please send the yams back to the tribe first, bring Shan Amu and the others over here, and bring all the four oxen over here, and then bring a few baskets over."
Mu Feng smiled and nodded, "Okay, Pig, Yu, Lu and I will go back first. You guys have to be careful here."
The bull smiled and said: "I know, you have to be careful on the road."
A group of people happily put the potatoes into bamboo baskets and put them on the racks. After watching the four people walk away, they took sickles, hoes and bamboo poles and walked towards the foot of the mountain.
Several people first collected the seeds on the kudzu root, then cut all the kudzu vines, peeled off the leaves from the kudzu vine and piled them aside.
That piece of kudzu root was probably because few people dug it. The dug kudzu root was as big as an adult's thigh. Yao Xiaoqing picked up one and weighed it, and found that it weighed thirty or forty kilograms.
Taro looked at the valley and said, "Xiaoqing, there must be a lot of kudzu and sweet potatoes in this valley."
Yao Xiaoqing nodded, "Let Mu Feng and the others find those things in the valley. Let's dig them back first. The millet in the fields will also be harvested."
Xiong Niu looked at the two men sweating profusely and said, "Xiaoqing, you go cut the ramie, and we will dig up these kudzu roots."
Yao Xiaoqing shook his head and said: "Some of the ramie is ripe, so the ramie seeds need to be packed in baskets."
Taro asked in confusion, "Xiaoqing, what is the use of ramie?"
Yao Xiaoqing thought for a while, "The leaves of ramie can be fed to the livestock of the tribe, and the rubber bands peeled off the hemp stalks can be used to make hemp ropes, hemp threads, and can also be used to weave sacks, linen cloth, and make cloth shoes."
Taro raised his head, "Is the hemp rope like the rope we twist from rattan bark? What are the sacks, linen cloth, and cloth shoes?"
Yao Xiaoqing looked at her angrily, "I can't explain it to you either. I'll find out when I get it back and make it."
The dug kudzu roots were piled there like a hill, and they were carried back to the cave one by one until the sun went down.
The next day, the four of them went to the foot of the mountain at dawn and worked all day to dig up all the kudzu roots.
At dusk, Mufeng brought more than 20 women to the Shenmu tribe. When he saw a large chestnut tree, he was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.
Shan Amu said to Big Tree Amu: "If we knock down this piece of chestnut, we won't be able to finish it until spring."
Dashu Amu nodded repeatedly, "Yes! No wonder the people of the Shenmu tribe never go out to exchange for food. It turns out that they guard such a large chestnut forest."
When they saw those thick kudzu roots, the women cheered again. They busily picked up the chestnuts scattered on the ground, carried them to the entrance of the cave, and piled them in the open space.
After simply eating some dried meat, it got dark. Everyone lit a bonfire. Everyone gathered around the bonfire, digging chestnut thorn balls with their feet. One foot pressed on one side, and the other stepped on the other side.
If you push hard, the chestnut ball will crack and the chestnut will peel out from the thorn ball.
More than thirty people worked until midnight to get the mountains of chestnuts out of the thorn balls.