Even though the cold autumn weather made the atmosphere more serious, it did not affect the people eating meat and chatting around the campfire at all.
Back inside, Bai Qi used the fire pit to boil water and warm himself up.
The village at the foot of the mountain is colder than the city.
Every household has a fire pit and a heated kang, otherwise it would be impossible to survive the winter.
"What's going on with Shrimp Head?"
A pit was dug in the middle of the big house, the surrounding area was tamped with soil, and dry firewood was set up for burning. Bai Qi hung the boss's copper kettle on the barb and looked back at his brother.
"He ate too much mutton and his stomach was turbulent, so he went outside to find a hut and squatted there."
Bai Ming didn't feel embarrassed to talk about it, so he asked Xiatou to secretly pull the red string on his trousers.
"You should wash your face and go to bed early. After traveling dozens of miles on the mountain road, you were almost knocked apart by that bullock cart.
After we moved into the inner city and lived in a bigger house, we built a stable in the backyard and raised two fat and strong horses. "
The firewood crackled in the fire pit, and Bai Qi said casually:
"If you are small, you can buy a pony. When you feed it until it is tall and strong, you will grow into an adult."
Bai Ming's face was full of expectations. His brother always kept what he promised him and never cheated.
"You have just sensed the energy and blood, and take good care of it. Work hard every day to stand upright. Exercises like drawing the bow and shooting arrows are too strenuous, so don't touch it for the time being."
Bai Qi explained a few more words. Bai Ming's progress in martial arts training is actually not slow, and his reactions are quite quick. He can understand it after just one sentence.
Unlike Xia Tou, who always gets dizzy every time he holds a book, and has difficulty memorizing boxing formulas.
"Brother, that Miss Zhu likes you very much."
Bai Ming sat on the small bench and suddenly said.
"You are a little kid but a big kid, what do you know?"
Bai Qi put down the tongs and flicked his fingers to his brother's head:
"You are so anxious to find a sister-in-law with your brother, do you want to separate the family as soon as possible?"
Bai Ming covered his forehead and pursed his lips and said:
"Brother Xia Tou said that men make a lot of money just to marry a good-looking wife.
Miss Zhu is so beautiful that no one in Heihe County can match her, and she is just right for my brother. "
Bai Qi picked up the boiling copper kettle and poured two basins of hot water:
"Miss Zhu, a rich and powerful family in the county is worthy of me, a fisherman from the Heishui River? You can say so, do you really think of my brother as some kind of rare treasure?
If these words fall into other ears, they will definitely laugh at you and make you want to eat swan meat. "
Bai Ming frowned tightly, as if he didn't want to hear such words. He wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by Bai Qi:
"Take off your socks by yourself, iron your feet, lie down on the kang and go to sleep."
"oh."
Bai Ming obeyed the instructions honestly, muttering in his heart:
"When I grow up and have the skills, I will definitely find the most beautiful woman in the world to be my brother's mother-in-law, hum!"
He put his feet into the hot water, then retracted them gently and quickly, going back and forth several times before finally putting them in completely.
Xiatou, who had just crossed the threshold, saw the two brothers sitting on the hot bed and shouted:
"Why didn't you leave some hot water for me?"
…
…
In the next few days, Bai Qi stayed at Caishen Village, practicing archery with his bow and arrows during the day, and improving his boxing skills at night.
Occasionally, I wanted to relax, so I went to Longkan Mountain with He Tai, Song Qiying, Zhu Linger and others to see the scenery of Laolin.
He was quite lucky, as he had the ability to identify medicinal herbs and had collected six or seven fifty-year-old wild ginseng.
For an ordinary herb picker, this would be a good harvest that would not worry about food and drink for half a month.
"Brother, I found the Anomatis you just mentioned again!"
Deep in the old forest that blocks the sky and the sun, Bai Qi is walking in front, Bai Ming is in the middle, and Xia Tou follows behind.
This is called "gathering".
According to Shenbazi, there is a saying of "going alone and returning twice" when entering the mountains.
Usually three, five or seven people go together in groups, which is called "going alone".
As for "double return", it means seeking good fortune, and ginseng and mountain products are also regarded as "numbers", which means that this trip will definitely not be empty-handed.
"Where?"
Xiantou was the first to respond, and the three of them lined up in a row, each keeping a dozen steps apart.
This is also the emphasis on driving up the mountain, which is called "Pai stick".
The front one is the "head stick", the middle one is called the "waist stick", and the outer one is the "side stick".
The head stick is used to explore the road, the waist stick is used to search for goods, and the side stick is used to mark the route. The jargon is "beating the kid" to avoid going back and forth.
Each has his or her own division of labor!
"It's really Anomatis. The veins of the leaves are clear, as if gold threads are flowing. Brother, you have really sharp eyes. Yesterday, you also discovered the injured little bird buried in the grass."
Bai Qi stopped and followed the direction pointed by his brother. Sure enough, he found a large area of Anomatis under the shade of the tree, and quickly asked Xiantou to dig.
This substance is mild in nature and sweet in taste. It can remove dampness, detoxify, and relieve pain and calmness. Those practitioners who are suffering from secret injuries cannot lack this main ingredient in their decoctions.
"I made another seven or eight taels of silver!"
Xia Tou's face was full of excitement. He had no interest in fishing and casting nets, but he was particularly energetic as soon as he entered the mountain.
He carefully lay down on the ground, dug up the wet soil using the method of picking ginseng, and then used a skewer made of deer bones to pull it around.
After everything was cleaned, the anomatis was taken out and put intact into the empty basket.
His techniques are becoming more and more proficient, and he looks a bit like a mountain man.
"It's getting late, let's go back."
Bai Qi estimated the time and decided to go down the mountain along the original path.
It is also one of the rules not to go deep into the five-hundred-mile mountain road.
The further you go inside, the heavier the miasma becomes and the more ferocious the animals become.
Just like the fishermen of the Blackwater River, they generally do not enter the Lost Soul Bay lightly.
Unless there is an experienced Shenbangzi taking the lead, they will have to walk a hundred miles at most and stay for a few days and nights. Even if they gain nothing, it is time to turn around.
"These conventional sayings are summed up by generations of mountain people with their lives."
Bai Qi remembered the secret of mountain driving exchanged with He Tai. If he could sacrifice to the mountain god and interact with it, he could become a "mountain driving guest", also called a "leader".
They have extraordinary abilities. For example, the leader of Caishen Village once had unlucky nightmares for two days in a row after entering the mountains. He heard the funeral and beatings, and saw a tiger eating a man, so he hurriedly led the entire team away.
Sure enough, a few days later there was a sudden heavy rain and flash floods broke out, burying many poor hunters who had not come down from the mountain in time.
The shrimp head carried a big basket on his back and said happily:
"Anomatis, wild ginseng, iron spinach... these wild products are everywhere. It's easy to earn more than one or two hundred yuan a day. I feel it's easier than fishing!"
Bai Qi held a pickaxe stick in his hand, swept away the dense weeds, poured cold water on it and said:
"When fishing on the Blackwater River, you can still catch some cheap fish and shrimps no matter how good you are, but the five-hundred-mile mountain road is deep and dense with old forests, and there are often venomous snakes and wild beasts that will eat you until you have no bones or flesh left. If you are unlucky, you will inhale the miasma. Even more narrow escape from death.
Otherwise, the reason why the ginseng leader has such a high status is because the herb gatherers keep their heads in their waistbands and cannot survive alone. They must work together as a group and follow the leader to be safe. "
Bai Ming also nodded his head. He picked a lot of pine nuts, fern buds and other wild vegetables. He also had dozens of pennies in total:
"Besides, without the string sticks sent by Shenbangzi to scare away the poisonous snakes, we wouldn't have been so successful. Otherwise, the mosquito bites alone would have been enough for us to drink a pot."
A ginseng picking stick is a must-have tool for every ginseng picker. It is mainly used to drive away snakes, insects, rats, and ants. It can also be used to knock tree trunks to make a vibrating sound to intimidate invading animals.
Each stick is made of cypress pine, five feet and two inches long, and hung with red rope and copper coins.
At any time, the head of the stick cannot fall down.
Even when sleeping and resting, they must line up in a neat row and stand next to the wooden stakes.
It is said that it can prevent ghosts from causing trouble and ensure peace and tranquility.
"Brother Bai, we all come here to hunt wild boars and insects in autumn. Why do you go into the mountains and become a herb collector?"
On the way back to Zhuangzi, he happened to meet Song Qiying who was carrying a Bailian bow.
Several of his followers carried an adult leopard on a bamboo pole, and there were many pheasants and wild roe deer in the basket.
Bai Qi didn't take it seriously. It was too boring to compete with these young masters. He didn't have a large number of followers to do chores. He was not familiar with the five hundred miles of mountain roads, so he took his brother and Xia Tou into the mountains to hunt. Called dizzy.
"Looks like we'll have some wild game again tonight. I'm so hot after eating so much meat every day. I'll pick some wild vegetables for you all to cool down your internal heat."
Song Qiying clicked his tongue. Ever since Bai Qi won the bet and got a little limelight, he had been trying to regain his position, but the other party didn't give him a chance at all, and his words of provocation had no effect.
"Perhaps this is the Qi-nurturing Kung Fu my grandpa often talked about."
The admiration in the eyes of the second young master from Chaishi became more and more obvious. He stopped pestering him, clasped his fists in farewell, shook the reins and rode away.
"Brother."
"Um?"
"Does Second Young Master Song also like you?"
"ah?"
"The way he looks at you is the same as Miss Zhu."
Bai Qi hit his head with another flick of his finger, knocking the gibbering brother to stagger:
"What kind of meat and potatoes am I? Anyone who sees me wants to take a bite?
If you keep talking nonsense, you will be punished by standing still for half an hour longer tonight. "
Bai Ming covered his forehead and chuckled:
"Okay, okay, give me another half hour!"
Snapped!
Another blow to the brain.
"I've said it so many times that you have to be down-to-earth when practicing. People like your brother are practicing patiently. Why are you so anxious? As long as they are not weaker than your shrimp head brother, he doesn't even have the energy to control it now. "
Bai Qidun felt a headache. He never expected that his brother was actually a roll king and practiced Zhanzhuang very diligently every day.
Xia Tou, who was happily thinking about how much money he made today, was injured for no reason. Why are you two brothers arguing with me?
