Mrs. Zhang stuffed a handful of wild fruits into her mouth with excitement, and the next moment she was so sour that the corners of her mouth twitched, but her son picked the wild fruits for her with his own hands, so no matter how sour they were, they were sweet to her heart.
Seeing that she was eating so happily, the others hurriedly came over to pick wild fruits. Regardless of whether they were delicious or not, they were stuttering. They could quench their thirst and ward off hunger. It was great.
After picking wild fruits, I found a large bush of wild vegetables in front of me, such as white grass, wild onions, sweet grass roots...
At first, everyone was so exhausted that they only had half a life left. But when they saw that the food they were eating was as if they had been injected with chicken blood, they immediately came back to life with full health.
The advancing team temporarily stopped because of this patch of wild vegetables. Men, women, old and young all put down their packages and dug for wild vegetables.
Some dug up two and couldn't wait to stuff them into their mouths. They peeled off the roots and took a bite. The meat was tender and tender, with plenty of moisture and a faint sweetness. Although it was a bit small, it was better than nothing.
A group of people dug wild vegetables for half an hour, and every household received a good harvest. It was getting late at this time, and it was obviously not a wise choice to continue climbing, so the village chief asked everyone to rest where they were for the night.
That night, every household drank hot porridge with wild vegetables and grains. They were used to eating dry grains, but suddenly it tasted so delicious to eat fresh vegetables.
After the meal, a young man in the village chewed sweet thatch roots and suggested to the village chief: "Why don't we just live on the mountain? When we are hungry, we can dig wild vegetables and hunt. When it rains, we can go home directly."
The village chief glared at him: "What about water? You can't quench your thirst just by chewing thatch roots, even if your teeth chew up sparks!"
"Not only is drinking water a problem, these mosquitoes are enough for us to drink a pot!"
Old Man Shu had a big bag on his face and swatted the mosquitoes while muttering: "The mosquitoes here are really big! If we don't have a way to control them, I guess we will have to be carried away by these annoying things until midnight!"
I don’t know what’s going on, but there are so many mosquitoes on this mountain. They are so big that they can catch up with blowflies. They are also extremely venomous and can bite people in a big bite.
When I was busy working, I didn’t realize how powerful they were. When I was about to go to sleep... my dear, the buzzing in my ears felt like a conference.
Yanyan was not spared. She was kissed by mosquitoes several times, and her cheeks were red and swollen. After killing several large mosquitoes, Mrs. Shu had no choice but to take out a gown and cover her from head to toe.
Wrapped up tightly.
In this way, mosquitoes were prevented, but it was hot, the vegetation in the mountains was lush, and the air was not circulated. Wrapping up in a gown was no different from wearing a cotton-padded jacket in the dog days of summer. Soon I was covered in stinky sweat.
This is not possible. If you cover yourself up overnight, you will not be bitten to death by mosquitoes, but will be suffocated to death.
Mrs. Shu felt sorry for the little ones, so she asked a few people to look around with torches to see if there were mugwort and lemongrass that could repel mosquitoes. They could cut some and bring them back to smoke the mosquitoes.
Other families were also unbearably bitten by mosquitoes, so a man from each family went out together with Ming.
A group of men were divided into two groups just like they were looking for water before, and they were looking for herbs in the east and west directions.
Shu Mingli's group headed east. This time, everyone did not dare to let Tang Dashan take the lead. Instead, the experienced Shu Mingli and Gu Dayong took the lead.
Tang Dashan followed closely behind them, talking excitedly all the way: "Uncle Gu, brother Mingli, do you think we can still catch wild boars this time?"
A man from another household laughed at him: "Brother Dashan, weren't you the timidest before? You didn't even dare to climb mountains. Why are you so active these two times?"
Tang Dashan puffed up his chest unconvinced, "Who said I'm timid? I'm not timid! In the past, my father was afraid that something would happen to me and wouldn't let me go up the mountain. Now no one cares about me, so I must perform well!"
What's more important is that he has already boasted in front of his daughter that he will bring back a wild boar with his own ability. A man must not lose face in front of his daughter!
Seeing that he was filled with indignation, the man smiled and did not argue with him, "Okay, you are very brave. If you encounter something later, you have to keep your word and rush to the front."
As soon as he finished speaking, there were rustling footsteps in the grass in front of him. Tang Dashan shivered and hugged Shu Mingli's arm like a koala, "Brother, there is something ahead."
Shu Mingli took a closer look, and then smiled, "It's just a pheasant. It scares you."
As he spoke, he drew out his arm, raised his bow and shot an arrow. He heard a scream, and the pheasant flapped its wings and fell.
"Brother, you are amazing!" Tang Dashan patted his shoulder excitedly and ran quickly to the grass to pick up the pheasants. Unexpectedly, he stepped on something along the way. After a crash, he fell into a big pit.
The other four hurriedly ran over to save the man. The large pit was about two meters deep and square in shape. The surrounding soil had not yet dried. It was obviously a hunting pit dug not long ago by others.
Gu Dayong looked around and muttered suspiciously: "Strange, why is there a hunting pit here? Is it possible that someone lives on the mountain?"
"Can people live in these barren mountains and ridges where mosquitoes have grown up?" Shu Mingli also turned around and looked around. The forest was so gloomy that even the moon could not be seen. It was indeed a bit scary.
At this time, Tang Dashan at the bottom of the pit couldn't help it anymore. He covered his buttocks and cried out: "Can you pull me up first? My tail bone seems to be broken!"
"Wait, we'll be here soon!" Shu Mingli warned, took out the machete from his waist and went to the side to chop some vines, then threw the vines into the pit and pulled the person up.
When the person just emerged and had no time to check his injuries, several firelights suddenly appeared in the depths of Lin Fei. Behind the firelights, there was a large group of people.
At the same time, the people over there also noticed Shu Mingli and others and were rushing towards their direction.
Shu Mingli felt flustered for no reason. He looked at Gu Dayong alertly and asked, "Are these... refugees fleeing famine?"
Gu Dayong shook his head, having bad thoughts in his mind, and subconsciously touched the machete on his back.
The other two men were also affected by the tense atmosphere. They helped Tang Dashan up one on the left and the other on the right, and asked tremblingly: "What should we do now? Run away?"
"Run? Can you forget where to run?" Gu Dayong asked back.
If the refugees are okay, but if they are unlucky and run into bandits, running back at this time will harm the whole village!
Shu Mingli also thought of this, took a deep breath and said: "Let's wait here to see what they want to do. Once we find something wrong, we will run to the mountains immediately.
No matter what, we must not let them know that there are people down there. It doesn’t matter if something happens to us, the more important thing is to protect our family members!”
Thinking of their parents, wives and children at home, the men suddenly gained courage. Tang Dashan even beat his butt and stood up again, "Yes, let's just insist that there is no one else. These days, no one stipulates that several men cannot escape together!"
"
While he was talking, the group of people had already rushed over in an encirclement manner. The closer they got, the more nervous Shu Mingli became, because quite a few of them had weapons in their hands.