"Uncle Fourth, thank you so much. By the way, there are three loaches in the bucket. Come and see if it's worth it."
Wang Cuihua suddenly remembered something, ran to the kitchen house quickly, and came out carrying a bucket.
Niu Chun was a little surprised, "I'll take a look, but sister-in-law, don't have high hopes. It's already very difficult for such a loach to appear."
Considering the ferocity of the mutated loaches, Niudan had already smashed these three loaches to death when he was in the space, and their heads were smashed to pieces.
Niu Chun looked at the three big ones in the bucket and touched Niudan's head in surprise, "Good boy, you caught such a big loach, how did you do it?"
"That is, pick them up with a dung basket and then stone them to death."
Niu Dan gestured with his hands.
Niu Chun didn't pay any attention to it. He squatted down, stretched out his hand and touched the body of the loach, and put some blood into his mouth. His eyes lit up and he nodded to the people around him.
Niu Gen and his wife suddenly smiled, because this meant that the three loaches in the bucket were equally valuable.
"pity."
"What's the pity?"
Niu Gen felt nervous.
"It's a pity that the loach was smashed to death. If it had been alive, the price would have been several times higher!"
Niu Chun shook his head. For warriors, such great supplements were always in short supply.
These loaches most likely metamorphosed because they swallowed some natural and earthly treasures. If they were living creatures, they could be raised, which would be equivalent to a cornucopia.
"How many times can it be doubled? No, I have to look for it. Maybe I can catch some alive."
Niu Gen said, put on his bamboo hat and walked quickly outside.
"Brother Chun, let's go take a look too."
Niu Fugui couldn't sit still anymore, so he called Niu Chun together and chased after him.
"Let's catch the loaches. Let's go quickly as well."
Da Ya's face was full of joy.
Niu Dan glanced at Wang Cuihua, as steady as a mountain, unmoved at all.
"Da Ya, children can't go to the lake to play. There are man-eating fish monsters in the lake that specialize in eating children!"
Wang Cuihua pretended to be gloomy.
Sure enough, upon hearing this, the two sisters suddenly looked frightened.
"Then what should my father do? I, I will call him back!"
"No, the fish monster only dares to eat children. It will only hide when it sees adults."
Wang Cuihua consoled her.
Niu Dan rolled his eyes, saying this would be a lie to kindergarten children, but no one who has been to elementary school would believe it.
When the two girls heard this, they immediately felt relieved.
About half an hour later, Niu Gen and the others came back. It was easy to see from their disappointed faces that they had gained nothing from their trip.
"Is it possible that we didn't find a place?"
Niu Gen threw two loaches as thick as his thumb into a wooden barrel and said without giving up: "Son, are you sure you touched the loaches by the lake?"
"Well, it's right by the lake."
"Take me to see it."
"Why are you looking at it? The lake is only such a big place. We have already walked around it three times. It is luck to find this thing, and it is God's will if we don't find it. Don't be stubborn."
Niu Fugui looked away.
"What the old man said makes sense. Why didn't so many people in Niujia Village get caught? Why did Niu Dan get caught? This is the fate of destiny. We can't force it. It's not too late now.
Brother and I will go to the county to sell the loaches first."
"Let's do it like this. When you come back, remember to buy some meat and eggs to replenish your body."
Niu Fugui warned.
"I understand."
Niu Gen stopped insisting, turned around and entered the house to start packing.
Niu Dan followed Niu Dan and took Niu Gen's arm, "Dad, I want to go too!"
"no!"
Niu Gen patted Niu Dan's little hand away without hesitation, "There are many traffickers in the county, but we can't let you go. Just stay at home. Dad will buy you candied haws when he comes back."
This is not an excuse, but it is true. Someone in the village lost a child in the county.
In order to dispel her son's thoughts, Wang Cuihua took out a small bamboo basket from the corner and stuffed it into Niudan's hand. "Now that the rain has stopped, I have time to help my mother dig some wild vegetables."
The basket in his hand made Niu Dan feel strange and familiar at the same time. Through the memory in his mind, Niu Dan had used this basket to collect cow dung, dig wild vegetables, collect firewood, and carry grain since he was four years old.
The life of rural children is so simple and unpretentious.
So the father and son went out together. The difference was that Niu Gen got on the ox cart prepared by Niu Chun and left the village, while Niu Dan could only lead two followers and walked slowly towards the dirt slope not far from the village.
.
"Dan, stop digging for wild vegetables. They don't taste good. Let's go catch loaches."
Daya still misses the loach, and Erya, who has two snotty noses hanging by her side, nods her head sharply while pecking at the rice, with expectant eyes in her eyes.
"There is a fish monster in the lake that eats children!"
"We don't go to the lake, let's go to the fields to catch them!"
Da Ya looked at the fields not far away, as if she saw countless loaches waving towards her, hissing, and her saliva could not help but flow out.
"If you don't go, there will be no loaches in the fields. I want to dig wild vegetables."
The cow egg remained unmoved.
"Humph, if you don't go, we will go by ourselves and we won't play with you anymore."
Da Ya got angry, took her sister and walked away angrily. The boat of friendship capsized quickly.
Niu Dan didn't pay attention. The kid didn't have an overnight feud and would probably come to play with him again tomorrow.
After searching around the soil slope, I found only five white mugwort trees, and all the young leaves on them had been picked.
Fortunately, after digging wild vegetables for so many years, he has a secret base of his own.
Leaving the slope and passing through a small forest not far away, a steep mountain wall appeared in front of it. The mountain wall was a thousand blades high, with clouds and mist lingering on it, making it impossible to see the top.
After walking along the mountain wall for a short distance, Niudan opened up the areas covered by climbing vines, revealing a slit. The slit was shaped like a triangle, narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with only room for a child to walk through.
Niudan put down the bamboo basket on his back, pushed it into the slit below, then lay down and got in.
There is a layer of hay inside the corridor. The light gets darker and darker as you go inside, until it turns completely black. After crawling in the darkness for a while, the light begins to recover. The originally narrow corridor begins to widen and become taller, until it can fully accommodate the cow egg and stand up.
walk.
After walking for dozens of steps, the front became clear and bright.
This is a naturally formed small sinkhole, surrounded by unattainable cliffs. At the top is an irregular hole through which light gray clouds can be seen.
According to the memory in his mind, Niudan accidentally discovered this place a year ago when he was playing hide-and-seek with his friends in the village. He was so happy at the time that he regarded this place as his own secret base. Every time he went outside, he could not pick wild vegetables.
Whenever you come here, you can pick a big basket.
Over thousands of years, this small sinkhole has formed its own unique ecological environment. Green vegetation covers the entire bottom of the sinkhole, most of which are bushes. In the middle is a bottomless small pool. It is very possible that
Connected to the underground river.
At a glance, you can easily find three or five different types of wild vegetables in the lush bushes, including common field chrysanthemums, wolfberry buds, white mugwort, nightshade and so on.