Druid's Country Retirement

Baipiya.

Located to the east of Yuanbao Mountain in Caogou Village, it is the only way to enter the mountain. There are barrel-thick white-barked pine trees all over the mountains and plains. Every October, the white-barked pine cones mature, but there are not many white-barked pine trees that can produce pine cones. It all depends on your eyesight. A pine cone as big as a fist can't produce many pine nuts.

Even so, pine cones are one of the few snacks for the children in Caogou Village. After breaking them down, they roast them by the fire pit. The roasted pine nuts are fragrant and sweet, and their mouths are full of pine oil.

Carrying long bamboo poles and woven bags, the group walked to Baipi Ya with laughter and laughter.

The thick, towering white-bark pine branches grow criss-crossed, stretching out an umbrella-shaped canopy, completely blocking the sky. There is a thick layer of fallen pine needles on the ground, and the air is filled with the natural smell of decaying dead leaves.

Fortunately, there is no spicy food this season, so there is no need to wrap your body tightly.

"Start looking! Work in groups of two." Li Hongbing carried a bamboo pole to distribute the team.

The voice just fell.

Those old bachelors are like vicious dogs rushing to the girl they like.

"Ah, Village Chief Li said we can only work in teams of two." the girls said in embarrassment.

For this reason, Shengli and Yongqiang almost got into a fight, with verbal provocations and physical conflicts escalating.

The three girls seemed to be accustomed to this kind of jealousy, and they stood aside and watched the fun with smiles.

silly bird.

You two get into a jealous fight, but others are laughing at you.

Don't be ashamed.

He stepped forward and kicked one of them to the ground, and then slapped him with a bamboo pole. Li Hongbing was angry and scolded him, "Aren't you two superiors? You two started fighting in a playful way. Believe it or not, I've beaten you two." "

After being beaten, the two became honest, and others also followed suit.

As the old saying goes, help your relatives but not your family.

Shan Xing's good impression of the three girls was gone. It was obvious that San Nier did it on purpose, "Brother, how could they do this? Even if they fight, they don't even know how to persuade them."

Ha ha!

Li Hongbing put away the bamboo pole and pulled Shan Xing to walk in another direction. As he walked, he whispered, "Girls in the city are different from us in the mountains. Don't be stupid when we meet in the future. Just say whatever you ask!"

"Do you want to be like the queen who hides her sword in her smile?" Shan Xing nodded seriously.

Ah!
Li Hongbing paused in his steps and turned to look at Shan Xing who felt guilty, "It's not that I promised not to watch The Legend of Zhen Huan. I didn't deal with it deeply enough."

Not profound enough?

Shan Xing's face turned red. He stretched out his hand and pinched Li Hongbing's waist several times. He angrily walked into the pine forest carrying the woven bag.

hey-hey! !
Li Hongbing showed a playful smile, picked up the bamboo pole and raised his head to look for pine cones on the branches of the pine forest.

Due to the lush pine branches in the pine forest, the sunlight is blocked and the line of sight is disturbed. Looking for pine cones is a test of your eyesight.

Li Hongbing curled his lips when he heard girls exclaiming and cheering from time to time in the forest. A group of wanderers were chatting with each other while popping pine cones.

"Brother, there are pine cones here." Shan Xing stood in front of a whitebark pine more than 20 meters high, pointing up at the branches.

Looking up, there are fist-sized pine cones hanging on the pine branches.

Li Hongbing held up the bamboo pole and gestured for a long time, but the bamboo pole was too short and it was useless to find it.

Climbing trees is okay, but the problem is that I didn’t bring any tree tools, so I put away the bamboo poles in frustration.

"It's too high. Let's get another one."

Sudden.

In the pine forest, the sun shone dappledly on the ground, and a small black shadow flashed across the sunlight.

Ah!
Li Hongbing raised his head again, and saw a tree mouse squatting on the branch, looking at him with wide eyes.

Tree mice are the name of the forest area. To put it bluntly, they are squirrels.

When Li Hongbing was a child, he often dug out squirrel nests. Every year in October, when the crops on the ground were basically harvested, digging mouse holes and squirrel nests became a popular activity in the village.

At that time, there were a lot of rats in the countryside. Not only were there a lot of rats in the village, but there were also a lot of voles, especially in autumn when the crops in the fields were maturing.

In order to store food for the winter, voles use their mouths to steal the grain grown by farmers. The crawling habits of voles are similar to that of house mice, and they also walk in a straight line.

They often crawl along the route, and the weeds are removed, and they only transport food for a few days, so they go back and forth frequently, and their hiding places can be found quickly along the route.

Voles store food regardless of priority. They store whatever crops are next to their holes. For example, next to a peanut field, voles store peanuts, next to a corn field they store corn, and next to a soybean field they store soybeans.

Moreover, voles are just like hares, they can make "three burrows". Some mouse burrows are just a pretense, or they are not really dug through. Such holes are called "sky burrows". If you use an iron lift or a wooden handle to dig down, most of them will not be able to find the bottom. So there is no need to dig such a hole.

Whenever the farm work is done, the adults in the village will carry farm tools, search for mouse holes in the ground, and then use iron shovels to dig open its "home" to find stored grain. With luck, a mouse hole can harvest forty or fifty. Kilograms of grain.

At that time, the voles didn't care who stole the grain. Naturally, whoever dug it belonged to whomever dug it. Forty or fifty kilograms of grain per hole. Even if people didn't eat it, they could take it back and feed it to the animals. It was like picking up for nothing.

The adults dug mouse holes, but the children had no chance to do so, so they had to dig squirrel food holes.

Compared with vole holes, squirrel holes have less food but more wild fruits, and squirrels store food in one nest in the east and one in the west. When buried under heavy snow, sometimes squirrels don’t remember where they have stored the wild fruits. Li Hongbing remembered I once dug a squirrel nest and dug up more than 20 kilograms of wild walnuts.

In addition to digging squirrel nests, there will also be competitions to see who raises obedient squirrels and who raises smart squirrels.

Catching squirrels is very simple. Use a thick bamboo tube with only one opening left. Then place the bamboo tube in a tree where squirrels often climb. Sprinkle some peanuts about 3 meters away, and the children will hide and wait for the squirrels to appear.

As long as the squirrel comes out to eat peanuts, the children will jump out and yell to drive the squirrel up the tree. When the squirrel is driven with no way to escape, the squirrel will burrow into the bamboo tube.

When you catch a squirrel, block the mouth of the bamboo tube and take out the household fire tongs to pinch the squirrel out. Be careful at this time. The squirrel's teeth are very fast and one bite will leave two bloody holes.

Tie the legs with a fine hemp rope and tie them to a tree for a period of time. The longer they grow, the bigger and more mature they become, so there is no need to tie them. After they are mature, they will burrow randomly all day long on the body, burrowing through vests, and through large pants. When you get out, you won't be afraid of anyone at all.

Li Hongbing caught one when he was a child. He raised it to be more obedient, except for the bad body odor. Unfortunately, one day the villagers came to the old house to seek treatment from his grandfather. When they saw the squirrel, they thought it was running in from outside and slapped it away. It was shot to death abruptly.

For this reason, Li Hongbing burst into tears and rolled all over the floor. At that time, children were not as valuable as they are now, and adults regarded it as a joke. After seeing it, they did whatever they had to do, but the villager looked guilty.

The next day, a nest of turtle doves arrived. They had feathers but were not very good at flying.

Consider it compensation!
Li Hongbing was very happy and called his friends to make a fire and share it together.

Well, the mountain apricot also has a wing.

But from that day on, Li Hongbing stopped raising squirrels. Instead, he went up the mountain to catch squirrels and sold them to the greedy idlers in the village. After all, no matter how small the squirrels were, they were still meat. Catching a few of them was enough to buy snacks.

After coming back to his senses, Li Hongbing took out a handful of peanuts from his pocket, spread them flat in the palm of his hand, and spread the original power outward.

The squirrels on the branches were originally very scared. The ancestors in their blood had warned them to stay away from these ferocious two-legged beasts, but the two-legged beasts under the tree had an attraction to get close to them.

Braving up his courage, the squirrel cautiously jumped between the branches, getting closer and closer to the two-legged beast. The attraction became more and more irresistible, until it jumped on the two-legged beast's paw, lowered its head and quickly cracked open the peanut shell. Pop peanut kernels into your mouth.

A face with oval seeds will become a bigger pumpkin face in seconds.

Li Hongbing took the opportunity to send a ray of original power into the squirrel's body.

The squirrel, which had obtained the power of its origin, was stunned for a moment. Its big eyes flashed with a gleam of wisdom. It quickly ate the peanut kernels in its cheeks, jumped on Li Hongbing's shoulders, and shook its little head.

"You're full, can you do me a favor?"

The squirrel nodded immediately.

Li Hongbing pointed to the pine cones hanging on the branches of the white-bark pine trees and said, "Help me pick the pine cones."

Chi Chi! The squirrel jumped to the trunk of the whitebark pine tree, grabbed the branches with its small paws, and shuttled flexibly through the tree. Its tail kept swaying to maintain its balance. In a blink of an eye, it climbed to the pine cone, hugged the pine cone with its paws and shook it. .

Li Hongbing quickly shouted, "Just hit it down, no need to shake it."

Shan Xing, who was walking ahead looking for pine cones, stopped and turned around with a puzzled look on his face, "Brother, who are you talking to!"

"Pine cone hunter helper, we will just pick it up later." Li Hongbing smiled mysteriously.

helper!

There are only two people here, no help.

They cannot climb trees, so the meerkats are digging sweet potatoes in the vegetable fields.

Just when Shan Xing was guessing.

Snapped!
A pine cone fell from the top of the pine tree and landed on the thick fallen leaves of pine needles.

"Look, the pine cones are here!" Li Hongbing leaned over to pick up the pine cones, opened the hard shell outside, and took out the pine nuts. The pine nuts of the whitebark pine are different from the pine nuts that are often eaten, and the shape is closer to an oval.

Put it in your mouth and crack it open with your teeth. The pulp has a crisp texture and a rich pine aroma.

Still the same old taste.

"Xing'er, have a taste." Li Hongbing pulled out all the pine nuts in the pine cone, only seven or eight.

clap clap!

Two more pine cones fell from the top of the tree.

This time Shan Xing saw clearly who the helper was. A tree mouse jumped on the branches, looking for pine cones.

The beautiful eyes immediately glared at some lazy person.

"You are so lazy that you can even get a helper to pop a pine cone."

As for why Brother Hongbing allowed the tree mice to work, Shan Xing didn't bother to think about it. Anyway, the animals in the house were smarter than the last, so it wouldn't be a surprise if there were more tree mice.

With the help of the squirrel, the two quickly picked up a woven bag full of pine cones.

jiji!

The squirrel jumped from the tree trunk to Li Hongbing's shoulder, straightened up, and pointed its little paws deep into the woods.

Said there are better fruits inside.

"It's enough. I've left some food for you to keep for the winter!" Li Hongbing scratched the squirrel's chin with his fingers. The squirrel narrowed its eyes in enjoyment, "I'm going home. You can go play by yourself. You won't be able to find food in the future." , just go to the big oak tree and find me."

When the squirrel heard that they were about to be separated, the squirrel was a little reluctant and chirped.

Li Hongbing picked up the squirrel and placed it next to the tree trunk. The squirrel grabbed the trunk and looked at him reluctantly.

"Obey, the forest is your home, let's go!"

"gone!"

After that, he picked up the woven bag filled with pine cones and walked out of the forest.

I have gained a lot, but others are not so lucky.

All of them were dressed like human beings and looked like dogs. Going into the woods was simply a nuisance. They didn't hit many pine cones, but the people were in a state of disarray.

The three female teachers from Wanwan were even more unlucky, especially the chatty Zhang Xinyi. Her clothes were stained with mud, her cute face was as muddy as a mud egg, her hair was full of pine needles, and she looked like she was about to cry.

Hongqi and Yongqiang, who were accompanying him, had their heads drooped and were not jealous.

"Hey! What's wrong with you?" Li Hongbing asked deliberately.

I didn't ask if it was okay, but when I asked Zhang Xinyi, she burst into tears and cried so hard that it rained down on her.

Tears welled up from his eyes, leaving two traces of mud on his face.

Li Hongbing suppressed a smile and looked at Li Hongqi, "What's going on? It's fine going into the forest."

"I didn't know there was a hole in the forest." Li Hongqi felt aggrieved. "As soon as she entered the forest, she ran around. I told her to walk along the roots of the trees. There were thick leaves falling in the forest. Before I finished speaking, Just listen and you will see someone!"

There is a picture!

Li Hongbing reviewed the scene in his mind.

Zhang Xinyi probably jumped directly into the pit at that time. It rained heavily in the mountains and puddles often washed out. The accumulated water could not be drained out, forming a mud pit.

"I hate you, I hate you so much!" Zhang Xinyi glared at Li Hongqi. The mud smelled so bad. There seemed to be a smell in it. The more she thought about it, the more disgusting she became.

vomit!
It was fun to hit pine cones in the afternoon.

Anyway, Li Hongbing gained a lot. He hit a bag of pine cones and saw a good show.

As for what happened to Zhang Xinyi who jumped into the mud pit later, it had nothing to do with me. With so many suitors around her, it was not her turn to worry.

The harvested pine cones are spread in the rice fields and left to dry in the sun for a few days, and the pine nuts can be easily pulled out.

Chirp!

The cry of meerkats echoed in the courtyard walkway.

Li Hongbing looked up and saw a group of meerkats jumping into the rice field. They first ran to the stone trough beside the well to drink water, and then ran to Li Hongbing, talking about today's results.

"What, I dug a lot of big sweet potatoes again!"

"You guys are great. I'll give you extra food tonight. Go and rest for a while. I'll call you when the food is ready."

After being praised, the meerkats jumped into the warm dog kennel, snuggled up to the heater and fell asleep.

Checking the time, it was almost time for school to end. Li Hongbing planned to pick Anna up and take the children from Qinglong Village home for a meal. After all, he was also an uncle.

Say hello to Shan Xing.

Walked out of the courtyard and walked towards the village.

When we arrived at school, the school bell just rang.

The children flew out of the cage like a group of birds, running, playing, and rushing out of the school gate.

next moment.

The child who was bouncing around and full of energy just now calmed down instantly.

"Red Soldier, you should be able to control these little hozens." Uncle Dahai smiled broadly.

Li Hongbing straightened his face and looked at the children with their heads raised in front of him, "Have you finished your homework? Have you memorized the books? You all go home now. If I see someone playing outside, I'll take care of your legs. Do you hear me?"

"heard it!"

Amid a group of feeble replies, Li Hongbing nodded with satisfaction, thinking that this was how I was dealt with by the adults back then, and you little trash were playing with what I left behind.

"Li Anna, come here, stop hiding!"

(End of this chapter)