Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Chapter 1127 An eagle catches a rabbit faster than a dog

Although neither Wang Xiaomei nor Wang Xiaoli knew what everyone was laughing at, seeing that everyone was laughing, they also laughed along, and their laughter was quite serious and happy.

You know what, kids are really interesting; they can bring joy to people unexpectedly.

After laughing, Wang Dazhu, Wang An, and Huang Zhong went to the back room to wash their hands, while Liu Guilan and Huang Li also went to the back room and brought up the dishes and rice that were still warm in the pot.

During lunch, Liu Guilan said to Wang Dazhu:
"Dazhu, if you're free after noon, go to the mill and grind some rice and some flour. Let's taste what this year's new rice and flour taste like."

Any crop tastes best and has the strongest aroma when it is freshly harvested, but as time goes by, the natural aroma of the grain gradually fades.

Upon hearing this, Wang Dazhu thought for a moment and said:

"Grinding wheat flour is fine, but grinding rice is too much trouble. Otherwise, we can just go to the processing plant in the village to process it directly, which will save us a lot of trouble."

Liu Guilan nodded and said:

"That's true. Grinding rice in the mill is too much work, it would be better to go directly to the processing plant."

As we all know, removing the husks from rice is an extremely laborious task if you use a millstone to grind it down. It requires grinding many times, otherwise the husks simply cannot be removed.

Relatively speaking, milling wheat is acceptable, because after milling the wheat, you can simply filter it through a fine sieve or a basket. After filtering, the sieve contains wheat husks, also called wheat bran, and the wheat flour is underneath.

Hearing their conversation, Wang An volunteered to speak:

"I'll just drive my four-wheeled vehicle to the county to process it, and then I'll take some rice and flour to my older sister and a few friends."

The friends Wang An mentioned were naturally Wu Dong and Wang Shuai, but they had been very busy for a while, seemingly with exercises and other matters, so Wang An hadn't been able to contact them much. He didn't know what the situation was now.

After Wang An finished speaking, Wang Dazhu nodded and said:
"Yeah, give them some, give them a lot. You've really troubled them a lot this year. By the way, shouldn't we take that chainsaw back to Wu Dong? Winter's almost here, they need to do their inventory checks, right?"

Wang An thought for a moment, then said with a grin:

"I need to take it back. I'll have him get me a new one, hehehehe."

Upon hearing this, Wang Dazhu rolled his eyes at Wang An and said:

"Where are you going to get so many new ones for you to use? You're so demanding, it's good enough if they can lend you one."

Wang An smiled but didn't explain much, mainly because Wang Dazhu and the others had no idea what was going on.

Liu Guilan didn't reply, but instead asked:

"Then I'll wash some more wheat this afternoon, and then process more tomorrow."

Before being milled, wheat is different from other grains because some wheat stalks are blown down by the wind, causing the ears of wheat to touch the soil. When harvesting wheat, the fallen wheat stalks are mixed in with the soil.

Moreover, wheat needs to be dried after threshing, and a lot of dirt will get mixed in. As a result, if the wheat grains are not washed before processing, the white flour will taste very gritty.

The reason why rice, millet, or sorghum can be processed directly without washing is because the processed product is rice, which needs to be washed once or twice before being put into the pot.

As for corn, it is normally very clean. If it is covered in mud, it also needs to be washed before processing.

However, this refers to cornmeal for human consumption. If it's cornmeal for livestock consumption, it doesn't matter if it's a little dusty or not.

And so, amidst the ongoing discussion, the group finished their lunch.

It wasn't until after the meal that Wang An remembered to ask:

"By the way, why didn't I see Sister Shen Wei today? What did she do?"

After hearing Wang An's words, Mu Xueqing said, "Sister Shen Wei said her mother-in-law is not well. After that, Sister Shen Wei took her mother-in-law to the township health center in a donkey cart."

Wang An nodded upon hearing this, but he knew in his heart that Shen Wei's mother-in-law was probably in serious trouble, and even if she went to the clinic, they wouldn't be able to find anything wrong.

If things continue as they are, Shen Wei's mother-in-law will pass away next month.

There's nothing that can be done; birth, aging, sickness, and death are simply part of the natural order of life, and Wang An has no power to stop them.

But to be honest, Shen Wei is a really good woman. You know, even though her husband is gone, she still takes care of her paralyzed mother-in-law. And when her mother-in-law is sick, she doesn't choose to ignore her, but goes to the clinic to take her to see a doctor.

Such a woman is definitely a kind and loyal old lady.

After dinner, Wang An led Mu Xueqing back to her room for a nap.

Feeling rather bored after waking up, Wang An went to the old house and said to Huang Zhong, who was repairing a slingshot fork:

"Xiao Zhong, come on, let's go catch rabbits!"

Upon hearing the mention of catching rabbits, Huang Zhong immediately perked up and asked Wang An with a broad smile:

"Catching rabbits? Hehe, I'd love to catch rabbits."

As he spoke, Huang Zhong jumped directly from the kang (a heated brick bed) to the floor, asking as he put on his shoes:

"Brother, the snow is too thin. We probably won't be able to catch up, right?"

In the north, after a snowfall, many people go up the mountain to chase rabbits. They do it by hand, without using dogs. However, chasing rabbits requires a certain depth of snow; if it's too thin, it won't work because people can't catch the rabbits.

However, the snow shouldn't be too thick, because if it's too thick, people can't run. A snow depth of about ten centimeters is best for chasing rabbits.

Upon hearing this, Wang An was taken aback at first, then vigorously rubbed Huang Zhong's head and said with a smile:

"I meant to catch rabbits. When did I say I was going to chase rabbits? Chasing rabbits is too tiring for a gay guy. I'm not going to chase those things."

Huang Zhong scratched his head, then suddenly realized and said:

"Yeah, bro, you have so many dogs, it'd be so fast to chase them away, hehehe. I forgot."

Seeing that Huang Zhong had finished putting on his shoes, Wang An said as he walked out:
"We don't need dogs. Our dogs are for hunting large livestock, so we'll try to keep them out of this kind of work. We'll take the eagles with us; eagles catch rabbits faster than dogs."

Huang Zhong, like a little shadow, jogged after Wang An while asking:

"Can those eagles catch rabbits? I think they're pretty good at catching mice and big-eyed thieves."

Wang An's four eagles now hunt for their own food, catching whatever they want to eat, but they still need to be fed by someone to get it into their mouths.

The main issue is that Wang An absolutely cannot let go so quickly when it comes to feeding themselves. As I said before, what if they run away after they learn to feed themselves?
After Huang Zhong finished asking the question, Wang An replied without turning his head:

"They catch big-eyed thieves and mice because they believe that big-eyed thief meat and mouse meat taste better than rabbit meat; otherwise, they would catch rabbits instead."

As they talked, the two walked into the storeroom of the new courtyard.

Wang An tied two pieces of leather to his shoulders and two more to his forearms. Then he put his fingers in his mouth and whistled three times in the direction of the four eagles.

As the whistle blew, Da Jin, Xiao Jin, Da Cang, and Xiao Cang flew out of the shed.

(End of this chapter)