Druid's Country Retirement

Chapter 262 Bamboo Rat
Back to the camp with a basket full of bamboo shoots.

At this time, a herringbone-shaped bamboo shed had been set up in the camp, and Li Hongqi and Shawa were doing the final process of covering the roof with bamboo leaves.

Seeing Brother Hongbing came back from digging bamboo shoots, Li Hongqi showed off triumphantly, "Brother, look at my craftsmanship, the bamboo shed is not bad! It is windproof and rainproof, and there is a firepit inside."

When the tired princess and cub saw the bamboo shed, they ran in, found a comfortable corner, and cuddled together.

Li Hongbing glanced at it, curled his lips.

It's ugly, and there's still a face.

Turning the back basket to the ground, more than a dozen bamboo shoots rolled on the ground.

"Brother, I really let you plan bamboo shoots." Li Hongqi was surprised.

Going into the mountains to dig bamboo shoots in August, in rural terms, means getting water in the head.

If you have the time and energy to plan bamboo shoots in the mountains, it is better to go into the mountains to dig for medicine and sell the products for money.

"Why, are you going to see my joke?" Li Hongbing smiled and looked at Li Hongqi who had been exposed.

"Wh...how can it be!" Li Hongqi laughed, and suddenly saw a few gray-haired mice among the bamboo shoots, and immediately shouted in surprise, "Bamboo mice, today is a lucky day."

"It's more than good food, let's start a fire."

Picking up the bamboo shoots and coming to the stream, Li Hongbing peeled off the bamboo shoots with a sickle, revealing the white flesh of the bamboo shoots, and a scent of bamboo came to his face.

On the other side, Li Hongqi had already built a fire, using dead bamboo as firewood, and it made crackling noises when burning.

"Brother, the fire is ready."

Li Hongbing returned to the camp with the cleaned bamboo shoots in his arms, handed them to Shawa, turned around and chopped a few bamboo poles from the bamboo forest, and split the tops with a knife.

Then split the end with a bamboo pole, pick up a bamboo mouse and roast it on the fire.

When the animal fur came into contact with the flame, it was quickly burned to fly ash, the burnt surface was charred, and the air was filled with an unpleasant smell.

"Brother, four are not enough!" Li Hongqi swallowed and spit as he looked at the four bamboo mice.

"What's the rush, there's more to come later."

Without raising his head, Li Hongbing put one burnt bamboo mouse aside, picked up the second one and roasted it.

Anna and Nannan were squatting beside them, watching with relish, covering their mouths while watching, accusing Dad of his cruel behavior.

cruel?

It will be so delicious that your jaws will drop!
Ignoring the accusations of the two little girls, Li Hongbing picked up the baked bamboo rats and walked towards the river, suddenly stopped and said to the two girls who were following, "You two play together, it will be very scary later!"

Scary!

Anna was not afraid, and forced her reluctant daughter to follow behind.

Li Hongbing didn't say anything when he saw this, he didn't listen to the adults, he was at a disadvantage.

When I came to the river, I found a stone, put the bamboo mouse on the stone, raised the knife with my hand, cut off the head of the bamboo mouse with one knife, and blood spurted out.

Wow!
The frightened faces of the two little girls turned pale in an instant, and they ran towards the bamboo shed chattering.

Just now I said I wouldn’t let you follow, but now I know it’s scary!
Li Hongbing raised the corner of his mouth, cut open the bamboo mouse's stomach with a knife, took out the internal organs and threw them directly into the stream.

The smell of blood and viscera diffused in the stream, which soon attracted dense stream fish to come out to fight.

For a moment, the waves rolled on the water surface.

Li Hongbing looked at the chubby stream fish in the water, and thoughtfully put the bamboo mouse's internal organs aside.

Soon, the four bamboo mice were cleaned up, propped up with bamboo poles, and let the mountain wind dry them.

Ooooooo!
The wolfhounds returned with a full load.

Each wolf dog had one or two fat bamboo mice in its mouth. It could be seen that these bamboo mice lived a good life on the bamboo mountain. They were fat and strong, and their fur was greasy.

Throwing away the bamboo rats, the wolf dogs immediately turned and ran back to the bamboo forest.

"Hongqi, you are here to deal with the bamboo mice. I will stew the bamboo shoots first. Remember not to throw away the internal organs. I will use them to catch fish later."

"Here we come!" Li Hongqi picked up the bamboo mouse, singed it first, and then disemboweled it.

Back in the bamboo shed, Li Hongbing cut the bamboo shoots into pieces and soaked them in clean water, then washed the cured pork chops he brought from home, and chopped them into large pieces.

On the other side, Shawa also built an earthen stove and boiled a pot of hot water.

"Master, the water is boiling!"

"understood."

Li Hongbing threw the cured pork into the pot to soak in the water, and then took out the onion, ginger and garlic prepared in advance and put them into the pot to remove the fishy smell.

"Silly boy, there is a wild pepper tree outside the corner of the river ahead, go and pick some leaves and wild pepper. By the way, I'm picking up a bunch of perilla leaves."

Oh!
Sha Wa put down the firewood in his hand.

"Father, what are we doing?" After being frightened just now, Anna and her daughter came to Li Hongbing's side again after regaining consciousness.

Li Hongbing thought for a while, then pointed to the earthen stove, "Just keep an eye on the fire, add more firewood when the fire is low, and be careful not to cut your hands."

"Understood!" The two girls squatted beside the earthen stove with great interest, studying the size of the flame.

Next, Li Hongbing took the sickle and picked up a bamboo pole left over from the bamboo shed from the ground, and lightly stroked the blade along the bamboo wall, and a bamboo strip appeared.

As the hand raised the knife, the bamboo sticks fell to the ground one by one.

Seeing that it was almost enough, Li Hongbing picked up the bamboo strips and began to weave the bamboo cage. First weave the bottom of the cage according to the nine horizontal and vertical strips.

The cage body is woven in the same way, with nine bamboo strips cross-woven together, weaving towards the mouth of the cage round by round.

Soon, a crooked bamboo cage was completed. Li Hongbing was very satisfied with the bamboo cage in his hand. Although it looked ugly, it didn't affect its use.

He raised his head and found two small heads beside him.

The two pairs of big eyes released admiration, which gave Li Hongbing a great sense of arrogance.

"Go, let's take you to catch fish."

Carrying the bamboo cage, he brought the two girls to the creek. Li Hongqi was still busy cleaning up the bamboo rats. More than a dozen bamboo poles with dead bamboo rats had already been erected by the river.

Li Hongbing put the internal organs of bamboo rats into a bamboo cage, found a place with deep water and aquatic plants, submerged the bamboo cage, and passed on his experience to the two girls beside him, "Wait for half an hour before coming back to collect the cage."

Back at the camp, the cured pork ribs boiled in a big pot had emitted bursts of unique aroma. Li Hongbing then threw peppers, star anise, and cinnamon into the pot, covered the pot again and stewed.

"Grandpa, I picked them all up."

The silly boy came back with half a branch of wild peppercorns on his shoulders and a bunch of perilla seeds with their roots and seedlings in his hand.

"It doesn't take so much." Li Hongbing smiled wryly. The branches of wild peppercorns were not viable, but the Suzi roots were still there, and they were buried on the spot beside the bamboo forest.

By the creek, Li Hongqi shouted loudly that he was tired.

"Brother, tell the big flowers not to catch them, I'm too busy."

It's only been a while, Li Hongqi has more than a dozen bamboo mice around him, no wonder he is tired.

It seems that the bamboo mice in Zhushan have reached the point of flooding. Bamboo mice usually have 3 or 5 litters, and 2 to 4 litters a year. In a few years, Zhushan will be over.

Li Hongbing rolled up his sleeves and simply led the fire to the riverside. One of them singed his hair and the other cleaned his internal organs.

After a while, the silly boy also ran over to help, and even the two girls lost the fear just now, and one of them took a bamboo pole and put a bamboo mouse on the fire to singe.

It was noon in a flash, and the river bank was full of bamboo poles. Looking around, one bamboo pole was carrying bamboo mice swinging in the mountain wind. The picture was not to mention weird.

Everyone is also hungry.

"Okay, that's enough." Li Hongbing stopped the wolfhounds who were about to enter the mountain.

Start preparing lunch.

The bacon stewed in the cauldron exuded a tempting aroma. Li Hongbing put the chopped bamboo shoots into the pot, and asked Li Hongqi to bring ten dried bamboo mice, and asked Shawa to chop a few bamboo tubes.

After air-drying the mouse, chop it into small pieces and throw it into cold water to soak away the last blood.

Shawa came back with a bundle of bamboo tubes. Li Hongbing cut a hole in the bamboo wall with a knife, put rice into the bamboo tube, filled it with clean water, sealed the hole, and roasted it in the fire.

"Father, there are still fish, there are still fish!" Anna kept reminding Li Hongbing for fear that Li Hongbing would forget.

"You two and Brother Shawa go to collect the bamboo cages." Li Hongbing took off in a hurry, so he had no time to take care of these things.

"Let's go, catch fish."

Anna took her daughter and ran happily to the river.

When you come back.

The three of them were empty-handed.

"Where's the fish?" Li Hongbing asked curiously, obviously there were many fish in the creek, and he couldn't catch all of them.

The silly boy lowered his head and groaned for a long time, "Let it go!!"

Released?

Li Hongbing turned his head to look at the two girls, Anna raised her head in disbelief and said, "Yuyu are so cute, why are you catching them?"

At a young age, you will be able to watch your face and order food. Why don't you let go of bamboo mice, but let go of fish.

If I knew this earlier, why would I bother weaving bamboo cages.

"!!!" Li Hongbing was speechless.

"Forget it, forget it! There's enough food for lunch!" Li Hongqi hurriedly made peace.

Li Hongbing shook his head helplessly, then turned around and continued to work on the dishes. Behind him, Anna and her daughter made a yes gesture, covering their mouths and snickering.

Soak the bamboo mice in cold water, remove and control the water.

Put aside the cured row bamboo shoot soup on the earthen stove, and put the frying pan on the shelf.

Heat the oil in a pan, heat the oil until it is boiling hot and smoke, put in the bamboo rat meat that has been drained of water, when the hot oil touches the meat, there is a stinging sound of oil splashes, scaring the two girls to hide quickly.

When the skin and flesh of the bamboo mouse are tightened, Li Hongbing scoops up the meat, puts the onion, ginger, and garlic into the remaining hot oil, and when the color changes slightly, pour in the prepared chili and Chinese prickly ash. When the aroma comes out, turn to high heat and stir-fry quickly.

When the fragrance of the seasoning bursts out, quickly add the fried bamboo rat meat and stir fry evenly, add salt and soy sauce to adjust the color, pour the cut bamboo shoots into the pot together, add mountain spring water to stew, put the wild pepper fruit, leaves , perilla leaves, put them into the pot together, these two kinds of leaves can suppress the fishy smell of bamboo mouse meat and increase the aroma.

Finally, cover the lid and simmer over high heat.

Half an hour passed.

In the eager eyes of big and small, Li Hongbing picked up the lid of the pot, and a seductive aroma rose into the air.

Li Hongbing picked up a piece of oily bamboo rat meat and put it into his mouth, chewing slowly, the skin was smooth and the meat was smooth, with a delicate taste, adults and children squatting around the earthen stove all salivated.

"Dinner!"

Hearing the word "serve dinner", everyone cheered and picked up the bowls and chopsticks made of bamboo.

Pick out the charred bamboo tube from the fire, split it with a knife, and the bamboo and rice fragrance mixed with it floated out.

The bacon is salty, the bamboo shoots are crispy and sweet, the bamboo rats are fragrant, and the bamboo rice is fragrant.

Everyone's appetite was great, and they wolfed down the bamboo bowls and started to eat.

Especially Anna, who said before that she would not eat such ugly meat, but then she ate more actively than anyone else, her mouth was full of meat, and her chopsticks kept sticking into the pot.

Animals can't eat oily and salty food. Each wolf dog has 3 processed bamboo rats, and even the princess and bear cub are given one.

When the mountain wind blows, there are dark waves in the bamboo mountain, and one wave pushes the other wave, and it rushes to a long distance. Pieces of bamboo sway in the wind, making a rattling sound, which makes people feel refreshed.

Had lunch.

Everyone ate their stomachs, lying in a mess in the bamboo shed, too lazy to move, watching the silly boy with envy as he swept away the rest of the food.

"Brother, what are you doing this afternoon?" Li Hongqi asked while hiccupping.

Li Hongbing was about to respond, when suddenly the dogs who were dozing by the bamboo shed raised their ears, as if they had sensed something, they quickly rushed to the stream, with low growls from their throats.

Ooooooo!
Woohoo!

"Something is approaching."

Hearing the warning and danger from the roar of the wolf dogs, Li Hongbing felt overwhelmed and ran out of the bamboo shed to the stream, followed by Hongqi, Shawa and the two girls.

The wolfhounds kept looking at the river, roaring constantly, and the danger loomed.

The deep and sonorous roar echoed in the bamboo mountain, no bird was startled, and no other animals responded.

This is not good news.

If there are no predators in the woods, the sound of the wolfdogs will definitely startle the birds. At this time, their roars did not scare the birds away, which proves that there are no birds in the woods.

In other words, when Li Hongbing and his party were in the bamboo shed, some animals were already attracted by the smell of bamboo mice, and the birds left at that time.

Sure enough, not for a while.

I saw the bushes on the other side of the creek shaking.

A black figure came out slowly.

It's a bear!

It weighs at least 200 kilograms by visual inspection, and there is an obvious yellow-white crescent-shaped stripe on the chest, but this bear seems to be in a very bad condition, its fur is covered with dead leaves and mud, and its body is emaciated.

Hearing the warning growls from the wolf dogs, the bear did not back down, but continued to move towards the creek. When it reached the edge of the stream, it straightened up, waving its two bear paws in the air, as if responding to the warnings of the wolf dogs.

"Brother, what should we do? Do you want to do it or not?" Li Hongqi stared nervously and excitedly at the approaching black bear, and clenched the hatchet in his hand.

Bear blind!

Caogou Village has not hunted such a big guy for many years.

In the 70s and 300s, I heard that hunters in the village caught it and sold a bear for more than 300 yuan. Then [-] yuan would be worth more than [-] yuan now.

And in this place where the birds don't shit, there are knives and dogs, it is absolutely possible to take this blind bear down, and then find someone to sell it secretly, and people will make a fortune without knowing it.

It's exciting to think about!

Li Hongbing slapped Li Hongqi directly on the back of the head.

"Aren't you stupid? I'm the head of the Animal Rescue Station, and I lead the bear hunt. I know the law and break the law."

After finishing talking, he looked at the black bear for a while, "Don't worry about it, it should be hungry and attracted by the bamboo rat meat, so it won't accuse us."

"Big Flower, come back, don't mess with it!"

(End of this chapter)