Chapter 75: Encountering strange beasts in the valley (please collect and recommend)
Author: Han Ming
Chapter 75: Encountering strange beasts in the valley (please collect and recommend)
The arrival of a group of evil relatives is just an episode in the prosperous life of Zhang An's family.
Time passed day by day, and it soon came to May, when there is more rain.
On May 5th, celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival, sprinkle realgar and eat rice dumplings.
The fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year is the Dragon Boat Festival that has been handed down for generations. It is also called the Duanyang Festival in many places.
In ancient times, it was specially used to commemorate the day when Qu Yuan committed suicide by throwing himself into the Miluo River on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.
It is a major folk festival where most people collectively worship gods and ancestors, pray for blessings and ward off evil spirits, celebrate, entertain and eat.
The Dragon Boat Festival is a lively festival in most places in the south.
Now the Dragon Boat Festival has not been added to the national legal holiday, so today's children have to get up early to go to school.
Changqing belongs to the southwest mountainous area. During the Dragon Boat Festival, there are also customs of making rice dumplings, hanging mugwort and sprinkling realgar.
It is said that after Qu Yuan threw himself into the river, the local people made many rice dumplings to prevent the fish in the river from eating Qu Yuan's body, so they made many rice dumplings and threw them into the river to feed the fish to preserve Qu Yuan's body.
So today, in many places, many rice dumplings are thrown into the water during the sacrificial ceremony before dragon boat races.
Speaking of dragon boat racing, the first time Zhang An saw a dragon boat race was in a big coastal city in the south.
The Chaoshan people over there celebrate the Dragon Boat Festival very grandly. They hold a dragon boat race every year, and there are quite a few people participating.
They attach great importance to this dragon boat race, just like the Miao people in the mountains singing folk songs.
In the outer areas of Wumeng Mountain, most folk song competitions between villages are caused by the release of water to irrigate paddy fields.
In many places, water flow is blocked, it is difficult to release water, and the amount of water may not be enough. Therefore, in the past, large-scale armed fights between villages often occurred in order to compete for water to irrigate rice.
Zhang An only saw this once, and the fight was so fierce that the two sides tried their best to win. The winner would be able to release the water. In order to have a good harvest, everyone had to do that.
Later, due to various reasons, the bad habit of fighting for water was gradually abandoned, and it was changed to a folk song competition between villages. Everyone called their own troops and faced each other across the ditch. Whoever won the water would get it.
In later generations, there was no need to compete for water. The two villages worked together to buy some things, such as cattle, pigs, etc. as rewards.
The topic is a little skewed, and dragon boat racing in some regions during the Dragon Boat Festival is also like this. Not only does the ranking bring bonuses, it also represents one's own collective honor.
In later generations, many dragon boat competitions not only awarded prizes for first, second, and third places, but also awarded medals, so everyone took this event seriously.
It feels good to say this out loud.
Although the Dragon Boat Festival in Changqing is not so grand, it is still full of traditional atmosphere.
The morning before, Zhang An's mother had already picked up the glutinous rice at home and poured it into a bucket to soak.
Because this rice is new rice from last year and is not used for making rice cakes, it does not need to be soaked for so long.
After Zhang An finished washing, the family had breakfast early.
Zhang An's father, Zhang Jianguo, was going to the mountains to cut mugwort.
Every year when mowing wormwood, Zhang Jianguo would cut a lot and prepare some for Zhang An's second grandfather's house, fourth grandfather's house, and his two uncles' houses.
Zhang An, on the other hand, was assigned by his mother to pick sorghum leaves in his own field.
Although there is a big river in Changqing Village, the reed leaves by the river are very small and not as big as sorghum leaves.
Therefore, villagers are used to picking sorghum leaves from the fields and bringing them back to make rice dumplings.
Zhang An carried the basket and took Xiaohu out of the house.
Now the three tigers in the family have their own division of labor. Xiaohu likes to follow Zhang An every day. He will follow Zhang An when he goes out, and he will lie down at home when Zhang An doesn't go out.
And Dahu likes to follow Zhang An's father, Zhang Jianguo, whether he is visiting other people's homes or working in the fields, Dahu likes to follow him.
The remaining two tigers mostly stay at home and look after the house, and also follow Zhang An's mother Wang Fang around the village.
Go out from the back of the village and walk straight ahead along the mountain road.
At this time in the mountains, the corn that everyone planted has grown very tall, and it feels like it is about to bloom.
Zhang An walked very quickly, and while the sun was not shining very bright, he hurried to the field to pick sorghum leaves and brought them back.
Otherwise, at noon, the sun will be scorching and it will still be quite uncomfortable.
Zhang An's family grows some sorghum every year in their farmland, but it's not too much, just a few dozen kilograms.
Because the sorghum used to make cakes is quite delicious, the old Wang family who bakes wine in the village will buy sorghum from everyone every year to bake wine.
I just don’t know why after arriving, there are fewer and fewer people planting it.
In the corn field, the corn grown was growing very well. If Zhang An hadn't been so tall, he would have been scratched in the face by the corn leaves in the corn forest.
After passing through the valley forest, we came to the corner of the field where sorghum is grown.
Sorghum plants are much thinner than bracts, but they are not short in height, otherwise they cannot be called sorghum.
Zhang An picked the sorghum with the best leaves and started picking. However, he couldn't just hold a sheep and pick a few leaves from each plant.
From the beginning to the end of the field, I picked half a basket of sorghum leaves in less than half an hour.
The task is successfully completed, call it a day and go home.
Zhang An, carrying a basket filled with sorghum leaves, had already reached the edge of his second uncle's house.
I found that there was a bit too much movement in the Baogu field at my second uncle's house.
At this time, Baogu has not yet bloomed, so no one at home should come to see it. Moreover, the second uncle's family had just come to weed a few days ago, so the ground was clean.
Could it be a wild boar? This thought came to Zhang An's mind.
There was definitely no one inside, Zhang An put down the basket and walked towards the area where the waves were swaying.
Many of the corn poles inside have been knocked down.
All I saw was a tiger cub, about the size of a tiger cub, gnawing on the crisp and tender corn stalks in the corn field.
Is this a deer?
Zhang An held Xiaohu down and quietly moved closer.
No, this is not a deer. Zhang An has seen deer deer before. Fourth grandfather also hunted one before. Zhang An ate several meals of deer meat.
The two ears on this guy's head were always standing up, as if he was observing any disturbance.
Zhang An looked carefully and discovered that this thing had several nostrils on its face.
At this time, Zhang An recognized it. This guy was the Four Eyes in the Mountain. It looked like a small, four-eyed creature, which was quite consistent with the legendary beast.
It screams very scary at night, and old people often say that this thing is unlucky, because every time they hear it scream, an old man will die nearby.
In Zhang An's later generations, there were very few of these things. Many people caught them, and they were all included in the list of national protected animals.
At this time, Zhang An was like playing a card collecting game, with new cards appearing in the card pool, and his hobby of collecting was faintly emerging.
Since this thing was seen by Zhang An, it must be a thief.
He immediately ordered Xiaohu to surround him from the other side, and Zhang An surrounded him from this side.
Four Eyes quickly spotted a man and a dog. As he watched the two-legged beast in front of him step closer to him, it actually made a sound like a dog barking, which almost made Xiaohu confused.
Could it be that they met the same kind of people?
The rear is the sill of this land, and there are only two ways out, the front and the side.
But it was blocked by Zhang An and Xiaohu, so Zhang An wasn't worried about it running out in front of him and Xiaohu.
Soon, Four Eyes was forced under the ridge by Zhang An and Xiaohu. It wanted to run, but there was no place for it to run.
The ridge at the back was several meters high, and it tried twice but failed to reach it.
Seeing the four eyes that had been forced to the corner of the ground, the little tiger made a quick attack and instantly jumped up and threw it to the ground.
For a moment, Zhang An felt that his dog was becoming more and more like a wolf, sinister, cruel, and fast.
Finally, Zhang An walked over and brought it and Xiaohu into the space.
Zhang An was no longer afraid of it running away at this time, and asked Xiaohu to let go of it and watch it carefully.
It turns out that everyone calls it Four Eyes for good reason. This guy's name is Muntjac, and he has several nostrils on his face. From a distance, people think they are eyes, so he calls it Four Eyes.
This guy is timid by nature. He usually comes out to look for food at night, and occasionally in the morning. At other times, he sleeps in hidden woods.
They are cautious by nature, and basically follow the same route every time they come out. Even if they are discovered by others, they will escape to other places while being hunted, and will return to their original place when they are safe.
It is a relatively nostalgic animal, but for people with experience in the mountains, this is the biggest weakness of the muntjac.
Although there are two long fangs in its mouth, it was not used when the tiger pounced on it just now. Zhang An really couldn't figure out what the use of these long fangs would be.
Zhang An saw its bulging belly and thought it was full, so it didn't run away just now.
But when I think about it, this thing usually only comes out at night. If it's not too hungry, it probably won't come out during the day.
At that moment, Zhang An touched its belly. Because the belly was unusually big, he could actually feel movement inside.
Only then did Zhang An realize that this guy was actually a female muntjac with cubs.
No wonder there are no horns on her head. Judging from the size of her belly, she must have been pregnant for a long time.
"Little muntjac, you are lucky to have met me today. If you had met anyone else, you would have suffered."
When he first entered the space, the little guy was a little nervous because he was scared by the tiger and suddenly arrived in a strange place.
But after confronting Zhang An in space for a long time, after seeing that Zhang An had no ill intentions towards him, this guy actually stood up and ate grass in a leisurely manner, and even ran to the fish pond to drink water.
After changing his timid appearance before, he is not afraid of Zhang An at all. If he were another person, he might not be treated so well.
Zhang An doesn't plan to keep this thing in the space. Since he plans to build a farmhouse for his parents, he must create some gimmicks to attract everyone, so Zhang An plans to take this thing home and raise it directly.
Zhang An believes that many people will be curious about this guy.
After it gives birth to cubs, won't it become a domesticated one?