Return to the small mountain village in 1981

Chapter 75: 75: Taken twice

"A few dollars is still too little. Wait for him to come back and search for the money. Just leave him two cents at most!" Zhou's mother looked at her angrily, "You are good at everything, but you are a bit soft-tempered and too shameless. Thin."

Yang Chunyan blushed a little after hearing this, "..." She is several decades old, and her skin is already thicker than Thousand Layer Bottom.

Mother Zhou remembered what happened to Li Qiuyue and patted her hand, "Yan'er, your third sister-in-law has a strong personality and is a little jealous when she sees you making so much money. Third brother You said something about her last night, and my mother also said it today. Don’t take it to heart if you beat her up!”

"I know the temperament of my third sister-in-law, and I won't take it to heart."

"And the second brother, that money-crazed guy, your old man scolded him again this morning."

"Don't worry, we don't take it to heart." Yang Chunyan said and stood up, "Huai'an said that he would go to the mountains to dig herbs and find honeycombs to harvest honey to sell. I pulled a few feet of nylon yarn back and made two caps for him. Bee hat.”

Mother Zhou thought for a moment, "I'll give you two straw hats with broken brims, sew nylon yarn on the top, and sew a hemp rope on the bottom. Just tighten it and tie it up when you use it."

Yang Chunyan didn't expect Zhou's mother to think of her together, and said with a smile: "I also bought two canvas hats."

"Of course it would be best to have a hat. You go get it and I will sew it with you."

"Yeah!" Yang Chunyan went back and brought out a straw hat, nylon yarn, steel wire and elastic bands. The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law sat at the door of the main room and started sewing bee hats.

First, measure the size of the hat, then cut the nylon yarn and sew it into a barrel shape, sew one end to the brim, sew the elastic band into the other end, and then sew the steel wire two or three inches away from the elastic band, and the bee hat is done. .

Yang Chunyan put the bee hat on her head and let it hang down naturally. The steel wire supported the nylon gauze, and the elastic band was tightened around the neck so that the bees could not get in.

She took off the bee hat and said with a smile: "Okay, I'll take it with me when I go up the mountain tomorrow. If I can find a few old beehives, the harvest will be better than digging for herbs."

Mother Zhou looked at the bee hat over and over in her hand, "My youngest used to clamor for me to give him money to buy him a bee hat. He was fooling around outside every day and never got a penny back.

The little money I have in my hand I wish I could break it in half and use it instead of buying him these frivolous things. "

"In the past, private trading was not allowed. Everyone worked in the production team every day. There were many cheating and cheating workers, and there was no free time all year round. Now I do it for myself. After the work is done, you can go catch eels and fish. , look for honey and sell it on the street for money.”

Mother Zhou really thought about it, "You young people have better brains. When we are old, we will know how to dig in the dirt."

"The management was too tight in the past few years, and everyone didn't react for a while."

Yang Chunyan said, taking the finished bee hat back and putting it away, and started making mosquito coils.

Zhou's mother also came to help after seeing it. Yang Chunyan asked her to help grind the charcoal into powder. She took the elm bark to the stone mill, ground the elm bark into powder, and sifted it twice with flour.

Zhou's mother also pounded the charcoal, and Yang Chunyan asked her to sift the charcoal powder and put it there for later use.

Then grind the wild chrysanthemum, mint, and mugwort into powder and pour it into the basin. Then pour the charcoal powdered elm noodles into the basin, add water and knead it into a ball. Break off one piece and knead it into noodles, flatten them, and then shape them into a small conical tower shape. Put it inside the dustpan.

Mother Zhou smiled and said, "Is this thing really useful?"

"It works. Wormwood, mint and wild chrysanthemums can repel mosquitoes!"

****
Zhou Huaian and Xu Erchun have now reached the second mountain ridge. The mountains are covered with flowers and industrious little bees can be seen everywhere.

Along the way to Zhou Huaian, I didn't find the Magnolia officinalis tree, but I saw several clusters of Polygonum multiflorum vines.

Xu Erchun, who was walking in front, shouted, "Young man, come here quickly and take a look, what's on the pine tree?" Zhou Huaian stepped forward and saw a pine tree that only two people could hug, but nothing else.

"You're so stupid!" Xu Erchun patted him and pointed excitedly upward, "Look at the first tree fork above, what is there?"

Zhou Huaian stretched his neck and looked at the large honey hanging on the branch of the tree that was thicker than his legs. Thousands of black bees tightly wrapped the hive, which made people salivate. "Oh my God, I still have it." It’s the first time I’ve seen such a long crotch!”

Xu Erchun turned to look at him, "What's going on? Bring the bee hats and harvest again tomorrow?"

Zhou Huaian didn't look back, "Come tomorrow? Do you think it's just the two of us looking for beehives? Cut some more wormwood and smoke them away, and I'll go up the tree to cut the honey!"

The bees that produce honey are called black bees by people here.It is also a type of bee. This type of bee has a strong ability to protect the hive. The worker bees are irritable and fierce.

Even during the busy collecting season, the guardian bees that guard the hive never leave the hive exposed.

When a storm hits the hive or the sun shines on the hive, the worker bees will tangle with each other and pile up on top of the hive to protect the hive.

The worker bees of the little black bee are alert and fierce by nature. When people approach, the guard bees below the hive will immediately be on alert. If the hive is touched, they will immediately fly out and attack.

Xu Erchun was a little scared, "I think it's better to forget it. If you don't do it right, you'll get stung by little black wasps more than ten times!"

"Bah~" Zhou Huaian spat, "You crow's mouth, if I want to sting you, I will sting you!"

"Okay, okay, sting me, sting me!" Xu Erchun searched around with a hoe, cut some wild chrysanthemums and mugwort, and carried them back to the tree to pile them up.

Zhou Huaian had already used a machete to clear away the vines and shrubs under the tree. "Tie a handful of mugwort to a bamboo pole and hold it up to smoke out the little black bees."

"I want it!" Xu Erchun tied up the mugwort, and Zhou Huaian lit the dry mugwort he brought with him and placed it under the haystack. After a while, the thick smoke dispersed.

The guardian bees hanging in layers on the large hive on the fork of the tree began to buzz and flap their wings and fled in all directions.

Zhou Huaian tied the urea bag to his waist and climbed up to the first tree fork like a monkey. He sat astride the tree fork and drove away the remaining small black bees on the hive. Suddenly, a nail was nailed to him. A sting on the upper lip.

Zhou Huaian's mouth twitched in pain, "You old crow, I just got stung by a bee!"

Xu Erchun held up the mugwort and looked at him sympathetically, "Hurry up and cut the honey, wait until the little black bee comes back!"

"Old crow, there are a lot of bee pupae, let's keep the bee pupae and come to get the honey next time!"

"Okay, hurry up, otherwise when the little black bee comes back, you will become a black-faced steamed bun!"

Zhou Huaian glared at him, reluctantly hung the rope tied to the urea bag on a branch, lay down on the fork of the tree, carefully cut off the honey spleen one by one and put it into a sack. After the honey spleen was cut open, it turned amber. The nectar exudes an alluring sweet taste.

"Mom, it's so comfortable. This piece weighs three to four pounds!"

After hearing this, Xu Erchun laughed so hard that he couldn't even see his eyes. "My youngest, after cutting them all, it's six or seven pounds, right?"

"You can say so much if you don't talk too much!" Zhou Huaian smiled so much that he showed his white teeth and was stung again at the corner of his eye. "Damn it! Come on again, I'll kill you first. Look at my skinny skin and tender flesh. It’s so relaxing to be dormant, right?”

(End of this chapter)