Xing'an Mountains 1984: Starting from climbing mountains to support the family

Chapter 229 Dad, help! Sixth sister scares me again
After finishing his meal, Chen Weidong came into the room, took out the two crying little golden eagles and placed them on the ground.
The two little eagles always regarded Chen Weidong as their mother. As soon as she came out of the house, they opened their mouths and followed Chen Weidong closely.

Chen Weidong went to the wooden house and cut a piece of fresh wolf meat. He cut the meat into strips and fed them to the two golden eagle cubs one by one.

After feeding the golden eagle, he fed the dog and all the livestock at home. Chen Weidong started training the two golden eagles for a while.

The little foxes lay on the chicken coop, watching Chen Weidong training the eagle lazily, and occasionally whining and acting coquettishly towards Chen Weidong.

After training the golden eagle, Chen Weidong cut about 20 kilograms of wolf meat, put it in a sack and carried it to his eldest brother Chen Weihai's home.

"Sister-in-law! Are you home?" Chen Weidong shouted at the gate of the yard.

"At home! Weidong is here, and the voice of sister-in-law Yang Xuehua can be heard from inside the room.

"Ah."

"Weidong, come in!" The door opened and Yang Xuehua greeted him warmly.

After Chen Weidong entered the room, he casually put the bag on the ground.

"Weidong, what are you holding?" Yang Xuehua asked when she saw the bag on the ground.

"We killed a wild wolf in the mountains this time. I'll give one to you and your parents!"

Chen Weidong smiled.

"Weidong, what are you doing? My family has no shortage of meat. We haven't finished eating the meat that Xueting brought last time. You can keep this to sell for money..."

"Sister-in-law, wolf meat is not worth much. There is not much, just over ten kilograms. As long as wolf meat is processed well, it is more delicious than dog meat. I know that my brother likes it!"

Chen Weidong smiled. He finished, and before Yang Xuehua could speak, he continued, "Sister-in-law, I came here today to ask for your help!"

"Help? Weidong, if you have anything to say, just tell me directly. How can sister-in-law refuse?"

Yang Xuehua said cheerfully.

"Sister-in-law, haven't we caught a lot of frogs in the mountains? Xueting is pregnant and it's inconvenient for her to catch some frogs. Please help me deal with the frogs. I'll pay you two dollars a day."

Chen Weidong stated his purpose.

"It doesn't matter whether it's money or not. Your sister-in-law will work for you later! We are a family, why should we be polite?" Yang Xuehua said with a smile.

"Sister-in-law, you must take this money. Not only you, but also Aunt Guifang... all help out, and the price is the same! If you don't want money, that's not appropriate! I'll ask my mother to help later, and they all have money."

"Okay, that's fine!"

Yang Xuehua also knew Chen Weidong's good intentions, so she nodded.

"Sister-in-law, you will go to Third Aunt's house later! By the way, sister-in-law, where is Big Brother going?"

"Your eldest brother just went out not long ago! He is working in the fields. If you need help, just go to the field in the south."

Yang Xuehua said.

"Well, that's fine!"

Chen Weidong wanted to talk to Chen Weihai about the pig farm, but his elder brother was not there.
Moreover, Chen Weidong also has a new idea about setting up a small pig farm for his elder brother Chen Weihai. Chen Weidong plans to have a detailed discussion with his elder brother Chen Weihai after he is done with this busy period.

Then, Chen Weidong took another piece of wolf meat and went to find his mother Wu Xiuqin. After telling her about the work, Wu Xiuqin readily agreed.

Chen Weidong and his three companions caught three sacks of forest frogs this time, and they had to deal with them today.

It is quite troublesome to deal with wood frogs. You need to clean them first, then slaughter them, control the blood, and then hang them up to dry.

Because it is a spring forest frog, there is no need to remove the internal organs or anything like that, just bleed it and dry it.

If it is a summer forest frog, then the internal organs, impurities, etc. need to be removed.

Soon a group of women came to Liu Guifang's house to process the frogs.

I don't know who leaked the news, but when Chen Weidong went there, he saw a lot of old women who had come to join in the fun and were chatting nearby.

Seeing the small mountain of sacks piled up in the yard, all the old ladies started hooting again.

Everyone says Weidong is so awesome!
What? I’m so lucky that I can encounter so many forest frogs when I go into the mountains.

What, Liu Xueting is so lucky, she married a good man and so on.

Chen Weidong dealt with it, and then explained to his mother and Third Aunt the method of making dried forest frogs. Li Shengli did not come, and only Wang Xiuli came. Shitou's wife even called her sister over!

Then Chen Weidong arranged the tasks for Shitou and Bingzi.
Their task today was to fetch water. After all, a lot of water was needed to clean the frogs.

Chen Weidong did not help. He had to go back home to process the wolf meat and finish making the dog food before he could come to help.

At noon, Chen Weidong had lunch at his third aunt's house. His mother, sister-in-law, Shitou's wife... everyone who came to help was there. Third aunt Liu Guifang treated them to delicious food and wine. At Chen Weidong's request, she also stewed a big pot of vegetables with forest frogs.

Chen Weidong only helped in the afternoon. Liu Xueting wanted to come and help in the morning, but was stopped by Chen Weidong.

After Sanni finished her meal, she and her three sisters ran over to find their father!
In the yard, the adults were dealing with forest frogs, and the little kid was running around in the yard.

"Wow! Dad, my third sister, fourth sister, and sixth sister are bullying me again!"

Wu Ni walked with her short legs and cried out in panic.

Chen Weidong looked over and saw Xiaoliu holding a wood frog in each of his two little hands, chasing Xiaowu around.
Chen Weidong was speechless. Xiaoliu was afraid of wolves, but she was not afraid of toads at all. When she was a child, she dared to catch frogs and put them in her mouth.
Now that she is older, she knows that some things cannot be eaten alive! But she is not afraid of frogs and toads at all.

"Wow, wow, wow! Dad, help!"

Xiaowu ran around everywhere, but Xiaoliu didn't want to let her go and kept chasing her.

Until Xiaowu jumped into Chen Weidong's arms, hiding his little face in Chen Weidong's clothes, Xiaoliu ran over with two forest frogs.

"Sister, look at the little toad!"

"I don't want to see it! Take it away!"

Xiaowu didn't dare to look.

"You little girl, you scared your sister and made her cry. She won't play with you anymore!"

Chen Weidong took the frog from Xiaoliu's hand and spanked her again!

The little girl giggled: "It doesn't hurt at all!"

Chen Weidong pinched her pink little face. "Wu Ni, it's ok. Your sister's frog was thrown away by dad." "Dad, Liu Mei must have some more on her!"

The little kid just glanced at Xiaoliu and said in a baby voice.

Chen Weidong glanced at Xiaoliu.

This little girl's pockets are bulging, could it be...

Chen Weidong picked up Xiaoliu and reached into her pocket.

Good guy!
One, two, three...seven, wherever there is space, there are frogs!

Chen Weidong didn't know when she had hidden so much money in her pocket, but in order to prevent them from making trouble, he still let Sanni take the three little kids home.

After the little girls left, the yard became much quieter.

Soon, at the end of the day, the group finally finished processing all the forest frogs.

The forest frogs were tied with ropes and hung upside down on the shelf. They were so densely packed that they looked like vampire bats in the movie, which could scare people with trypophobia to death.

Many of the shelves are freshly made, otherwise they wouldn’t have so many shelves at home.

In order to dry these forest frogs, Chen Weidong and Shitou Bingzi built a large shed at Bingzi's house, and moved all the racks for tying forest frogs into the shed.

The drying of wood frogs is called drying, but it cannot be exposed to the sun, and ventilation is required, so it can be dried naturally by ventilation.

After finishing the work, Chen Weidong took out money on the spot, two yuan per person: "Mom, Third Aunt... I will trouble you in a few days."

~

The next day, Da Ni and Er Ni did not go to school, so Chen Weidong drove a donkey cart and the family of eight went to the countryside. While going to the market, they also asked a blacksmith to make anti-wolf collars for the dogs.

After staying at home for three days, Chen Weidong saw that everyone had rested enough, so he took Li Shengli and the other two into the mountains again.

There are still Gastrodia elata and forest frogs waiting for them in the mountains. After this season, not only will it be hard to catch forest frogs,
Gastrodia elata will also sprout, and then the nutrients in the rhizomes will be absorbed by the branches and leaves, and they will become shriveled, and their value will plummet. At that time, we will have to wait until autumn for new rhizomes to grow.

In order to get more back, Chen Weidong and his two companions put a cart on the big guy, which could be considered a "carriage".

After arriving at the destination, the four of them got busy that night. It must be said that the valley was really a treasure land. There were a lot of forest frogs in the river. Even after so many days, there were still many forest frogs crawling out of the river and running into the mountains and forests.

Although not as many as last time, Chen Weidong and his team still caught two sacks of forest frogs.

In the rest of the time, I dug five or six sacks of Gastrodia elata.

This trip into the mountains was so rewarding!
I'll probably be busy for a while after I get back.

Whether it is processing Gastrodia elata or Rana sylvatica, it takes a lot of time. Rana sylvatica needs to be dried into dried Rana sylvatica, and Gastrodia elata also needs to be processed twice before it can be sold at a higher price.

There are many ways to calculate the price of Gastrodia elata. Different places of origin have different processing methods. The simplest one is like Chen Weidong who chose to wash it and sell it directly to save trouble last year.
This kind of Tianma is the cheapest. In addition, there are many ways to prepare Tianma. The common preparation methods are:

1. Steaming method: First, wash the Gastrodia elata, steam it in a basket until it is cooked, slice it into slices and dry it in the sun. This method can remove the mucus in Gastrodia elata and enhance its medicinal effect.

2. Cooking method: Wash the Gastrodia elata and put it into a pot, add an appropriate amount of water and cook until cooked, slice into slices and dry in the sun. This method can also remove the mucus in Gastrodia elata and improve the efficacy of the medicine.

3. Stir-frying method: Wash the Gastrodia elata and put it into a pot, add an appropriate amount of oil and stir-fry until the surface is slightly yellow, take it out and let it cool, slice it and dry it in the sun. This method can enhance the aroma and taste of Gastrodia elata.

4. Honey making method: Wash the Gastrodia elata and put it into a pot, add an appropriate amount of honey and water, cook until the honey juice is absorbed, take it out and let it cool, slice it and dry it in the sun. This method can increase the sweetness and medicinal effect of Gastrodia elata.

5. Wine making method: Wash the Gastrodia elata and soak it in wine for a period of time, take it out to dry, slice it and dry it in the sun. This method can enhance the medicinal effect and taste of Gastrodia elata.

Previously, Chen Weidong sold Tianma at 3.6 yuan per pound in the county town, and processed Tianma at 1.1 yuan per pound.
Now I heard that the price of processed Gastrodia elata has risen to 2.5 yuan per catty, which is more than double the price of last year.
In fact, Gastrodia elata was very cheap before, but after 1983, the price began to rise rapidly.
Chen Weidong remembered that in recent years, the price of Gastrodia elata would change every year. By 1988, the price of first-grade Gastrodia elata had reached 80 to 90 yuan per catty, second-grade Gastrodia elata at around 70 yuan, and third-grade Gastrodia elata at around 50 yuan.

In 1989, the price of first-class products dropped to around 25 yuan.

After the 1990s, with the surge in production, prices continued to decline, reaching a low of more than ten yuan.

It was not until 1992 that the price began to rise again. After that, the price fluctuated until 2001, after which the price had another major breakthrough, reaching more than 100 yuan per catty.

At the same time, the price of Gastrodia elata began to differentiate between artificially cultivated and wild ones.

After loading all the gastrodia elata into the car, they fished out the sacks containing the forest frogs soaked in the river, and then loaded them into the carriage, and then the group started to go home.

Along the way, Chen Weidong and his three companions suffered a lot. In some places, an empty cart could pass, but a fully loaded carriage could not.

The four men could only unload the things, drive the big man over first, then carry the sacks over, and then load them onto the carriage.
This went on for a while. At noon, the four of them simply ate a few sticky bean buns.
He drank some cold boiled water, fed the dog, and continued on his way.

This time, the four of them returned to Jiuqutun after dark.

Go home and rest for a night.

The next step is to process the forest frogs. After processing the forest frogs, start to clean all the Gastrodia elata and put them in a basket to drain the moisture.

Then, starting tomorrow, we will actually prepare Gastrodia elata.

Chen Weidong uses the cooking method. He first washes it clean, drains the water, puts it in a pot to cook, then slices it and dries it.

If you want to preserve it for a long time, you must

It needs to be dried in the sun, otherwise it will easily get moldy.

He didn't plan to sell this batch of Gastrodia elata right now. Now was different from before. They were short of money before, but now they were not short of money. If they kept it for another year, the price might increase five or six times.

Only a fool would sell it now!
The storage of Gastrodia elata is very simple, as long as there is no water.

Unfortunately, there are still too few houses in the house for storage, and Bingzi's house doesn't have much space either.

However, thinking about my new house, it will only take one or two months to be built. Together with the later decoration and yard cleaning, the house will be completed in three months at most. Then I won’t have to worry about having no place to put it!

The Gastrodia elata was washed clean the day before. The next day, Chen Weidong and his people put the Gastrodia elata in a pot and boiled it with clean water. Then he asked his sister-in-law and others to go home and get a kitchen knife and a chopping board to cut all the Gastrodia elata into slices.

It took me four days of busy work to get rid of all the forest frogs and gastrodia elata.

So, Chen Weidong continued to take Li Shengli and the other two into the mountains.

As the third batch of Gastrodia elata was processed, the construction of Chen Weidong's house returned to normal.

The women in the village still go into the mountains from time to time to pick wild vegetables and other mountain products, but the men have all returned.

After all, it has been raining for more than ten days, and most of the mushrooms, fungus, and other things in the nearby mountains have been collected. The remaining wild vegetables are not worthy of the gentlemen going up the mountain.

(End of this chapter)