After grinding the rice, Chen Xiaofang used the bag to hold the rice noodles, and then smiled at Liu Qingshan: "Brother Qingshan, thank you so much, if it weren't for your help, I wouldn't be able to make glutinous rice today." ”

These words made Liu Qingshan have a bad premonition, so he subconsciously frowned.

Just when he was puzzled, Chen Xiaofang picked up the bag of rice noodles and ran away with the dustpan.

While running, he shouted: "I just gave you ten yuan, and you didn't give me change, so I took your five yuan for change, then please help me give five yuan to my second grandfather." ”

What the?

Liu Qingshan looked at the small stool next to him.

Nima: Where is the shadow of the five dollars? There is only a small wooden stick lying quietly on the small bench.

Liu Qingshan shouted angrily: "Chen Xiaofang, you are a liar, iron rooster." ”

"Hahaha, each other. Chen Xiaofang ran away happily.

Liu Qingshan looked at the direction in which she disappeared, angry and hateful. Angry Chen Xiaofang's iron rooster does not pluck its feathers, hating herself for being fooled by her again.

In this way, he still has to spit out the ten yuan that Chen Xiaofang gave just now to count it, otherwise, he can't let the second grandfather lose the ten yuan.

He took out a ten-yuan bill again, and just in case, he specially brought it into the house and gave it to the second grandmother who was making glutinous rice cakes, and said, "Second grandmother, here are ten yuan, five yuan is mine, and five yuan is Chen Xiaofang's." ”

The second grandmother saw that Liu Qingshan handed over a piece of ten yuan, so she smiled and said, "Qingshan, you are helping Xiaofang pay for it." ”

"The ghost helped her pay for it, she didn't bring cash, so she used WeChat to give it to me. Liu Qingshan explained as he gritted his teeth and gurgled.

Chen Xiaofang, why are you waiting for me, next time I will definitely fight back perfectly!

After returning home, he gave the rice noodles to his mother, and Liu Qingshan had to go into the mountains to pick some things like hoop leaves and palm leaves.

All in all, it was a busy day.

In order for tomorrow's Qingming to go well, it is also appropriate to be busy today.

Many of the things that need to be prepared should be prepared today, so that after breakfast tomorrow morning, you can go straight to the cemetery in the mountains to visit the graves.

Cemeteries in the countryside are not the same as cemeteries in the city.

The cemeteries in the city are all gathered together, and people call them cemeteries.

And the cemeteries in the countryside are almost all scattered throughout the mountains.

Closer, it is about the cemetery on the mountainside of the back mountain next to Liu Qingshan's house. There are three tombstones in the cemetery, and three ancestors surnamed Liu are buried. The distance of this cemetery is the closest of all the cemeteries of the Liu family.

Even if it is close, it takes more than ten minutes for ordinary people to walk from the foot of the mountain to the small mountainside.

The farthest place is near the deep mountains and old forests, and it takes half a day to walk to that place.

Not to mention that when you get to that place, you may have to find a location because the mountain road is deserted.

Therefore, tomb sweeping is really a big project for the mountain people.

We can't leave the tombs of our ancestors uncleaned, but we have to hurry up and take advantage of the Qingming holiday to sweep all the cemeteries scattered in the mountains.

It's a big project.

For this reason, early in the morning, Liu Qingshan discussed with his father how to divide the troops into two ways and how to shorten the time for tomb sweeping.

"I'll go to the nearest, and you go to the farther. Liu Yuanhe said, "You are young and strong, it is more appropriate for you to go far, I am old, my legs and feet are not so sharp, I will sweep the grave nearby." ”

"You think so beautifully. Of course, Liu Qingshan disagreed with his father's statement, "Today, we should go to my grandfather's grave together, and then talk about the rest." ”

Liu Yuanhe thought about it, and said secretly in his heart, anyway, no matter what, the far one wants this kid to go, if he has to go with him to sweep the nearby cemetery first, it will be better, in this way, it will be easier for me.

Liu Yuanhe didn't refute, it was a tacit agreement.

After breakfast, the father and son began to prepare the things they needed to sweep the tomb.

Because you have to walk the mountain road, you naturally can't carry a basket like you go to offer food to the gods in the temple.

The basket had to be replaced with a snakeskin bag or a tote bag.

The things needed to sweep the tomb are nothing more than the food to be offered: the leaves and rice dumplings made yesterday, as well as a local chicken that was freshly killed this morning, a few pieces of pork, a few taels of wine, a few rice, and some fruit snacks.

In addition, there are some incense sticks, paper money, firecrackers, candles and so on.

Local tomb sweeping is also popular to cut four seasons green in front of the tomb, so the green four seasons also need to prepare some.

The so-called four seasons green, in fact, is boxwood, the specific variety is unknown, about the same variety of bird's tongue.

Liu Qingshan is not too familiar with the varieties of boxwood, but he only knows that the four seasons of the mountain people are passed down from generation to generation, and the scientific name is boxwood.

The mountain dwellers in the mountains have some boxwood planted in every house.

Its purpose is naturally not to watch, but to pick some boxwood branches and take them to the cemetery in the mountains to cut them during the Qingming Festival every year, so as to express their sorrow for their ancestors.

At the same time, I also hope that my family can be like the evergreen boxwood in all seasons.

In short, boxwood plays an irreplaceable and important role in this vigorous tomb sweeping activity.

After preparing these things, Liu Qingshan picked up the hoe, Liu Yuanhe picked up the woodcutter, and the father and son each carried some things, and drove to the outer village.

The site of my grandfather's cemetery is relatively close, on the mountainside on the side of the road in the outer village.

After Liu Qingshan drove the pickup truck to the outer village, he followed his father to the mountain cemetery one after another.

Although the address of this cemetery is close, it takes some time to walk, and it takes about half an hour for ordinary people to walk.

In order to cater to his father, Liu Qingshan naturally couldn't go too fast, so he could only stop and go, and pick some delicious fluffy fluffs on the roadside from time to time to taste.

Seeing that his son couldn't put down these small wild fruits on the side of the road, Liu Yuanhe said, "What's delicious about these bubbles?"

Bubble, that is, the abbreviation of Pengli's nickname 'March Bubble'.

"Then what do you say is delicious? Liu Qingshan was eating fresh and delicious wild fruits, and he didn't want to deal with this father who had nothing to say, but thinking that it was rare to go out together today, he still followed his father's wishes and asked.

"Hehe, now that it's clear, of course I have to eat duck eggs. Liu Yuanhe said unexpectedly.

Duck eggs.

The name is a bit vulgar, but it still can't stop Liu Qingshan's eyes from shining.

Speaking of duck egg fruit, it can't help but remind people of the name cow egg mound.

The names are somewhat similar, but the edible taste is very different.

The cow's eggs are as sweet as honey, without a trace of miscellaneous taste.

The taste of duck eggs seems to be a combination of everything in spring, whether it is the rain in the mountains, the wind in the rain, and the hundreds of flowers and plants in the wind seem to be kneaded into the taste of duck eggs.

The myriad flavors combined with fermentation turned into a taste that was both sour and sweet. When there is strange sweetness in the strange acidity, it is not so sour. When there is a strange sour in the strange sweetness, the sweetness is not greasy.

After a wonderful fusion of sour and sweet, it achieves the sweet and sour and refreshing taste of duck egg fruit.

Liu Qingshan thought about the deliciousness of the duck egg fruit, swallowed a few saliva in succession, and hurriedly asked, "Where is the duck egg fruit?"

Liu Yuanhe couldn't help grinning when he saw his son's original form revealed: "Isn't there one after the stream in front?" ”

Liu Qingshan sighed, patted his head, and shouted, "Yes, how did I forget that duck egg fruit." ”

After that, he didn't bother to wait for his father, and immediately rushed to the duck egg fruit as fast as possible.

The so-called duck egg fruit is actually just a wild name.

Its real scientific name should be 'goat's milk fruit'.

Milk?

This sounds like a not-so-serious name.

Although the name of the goat milk fruit may not seem serious, it is also better than the so-called duck egg fruit.

Goat's milk fruit is the ripe fruit of the family Euphoria, which belongs to the perennial evergreen climbing shrub. When the fruit is ripe, it is bright red in color and very eye-catching.

The edible parts of its fruit are as high as 90%, not only the taste is sweet and sour, but also the moisture is sufficient, which can be called one of the rare wild products.

However, some people are not used to its sweet and sour taste, and think that it is too sour, and it is so sour that some teeth are lost, so in order to neutralize the sour taste of the goat's milk fruit, when tasting the goat's milk fruit, they either put some salt and pepper and marinate it, or eat it with syrup.

But in the view of Liu Qingshan, who is accustomed to snacks of goat milk fruit, the soul of goat milk fruit is not its extremely sour and sweet taste.

Therefore, whether it is he, Liu Qingshan, or other mountain people who grow in the mountains, whenever they see the goat's milk fruit, they all pick it casually, rub it on their clothes, and throw it directly into their mouths, without even washing it, let alone marinating it with salt or eating it with syrup.

In their opinion, it is simply a desecration of deliciousness.

Liu Qingshan trotted all the way, and it didn't take a while to come to the side of the stream.

After crossing the creek and walking up a small ramp, you will see the haunting goat's milk fruit.

Liu Qingshan was a little excited, hurriedly washed his handles, and wiped his mouth with water, then crossed the stream and walked up the ramp.

Reaching the top of the ramp, he looked expectantly at the gable, and the first thing that caught his eye was the weeds and shrubs that were creeping among the gables.

I didn't see the goat milk fruit at first sight, which made Liu Qingshan a little panicked.

So, he looked around again.

However, after a period of searching, there was still no trace of the goat's milk fruit.

He frowned, feeling uncomfortable.

I was full of expectations, but my expectations were disappointed.

It's like an amorous young man who waits for a lovely woman in every possible way, but still mistakes his sincerity.

He looked at the gable in distraction, at the gable without goat's milk fruit, and couldn't help but sigh heavily.

Liu Yuanhe finally caught up, but saw his son standing in the middle of the road in a daze and sighed, so he asked, "Qingshan, what's wrong?"

"Dad, look, the duck eggs are gone. Liu Qingshan pointed to the gable and said.

Liu Yuanhe followed his finger and looked at it, but he really didn't see the duck eggs on the gable.

To say that he is old, people who are not familiar with him may forget it in a blink of an eye, but he is really familiar with this duck egg fruit that he encounters every year.

This good duck egg fruit, how can you say that it is gone if it is gone?

"I'll take a look. He handed his son what he was holding, and the plants on the gable climbed up the not very steep gable.

After climbing about three or four meters, he could see it in a place where the gable was recessed.

Back on the ground, he shook his head regretfully and said, "Alas, it was dug up." ”

"Someone dug it up?" Liu Qingshan shouted, "Okay, what are you digging it for?"

Liu Yuanhe frowned and said: "It should be a medicine, more than ten years ago, there were duck egg fruits everywhere in the mountains, but later, there were fewer and fewer duck egg fruits, and many duck egg fruits growing in the mountains were dug up." ”

Liu Qingshan thought for a while and muttered: "The roots, fruits, and leaves of the duck egg fruit can be used in medicine, and they all have the effect of treating symptoms such as vomiting blood, hemoptysis, sore throat, cold, pediatric convulsions, sores and ringworm, in addition to this, it can also relieve cough and asthma, astringent and antidiarrheal, and can also treat asthma, deficiency cough, chronic bronchitis, enteritis, diarrhea, bruises, swelling and pain, rheumatic pain, and jaundice." ”

The original words of these words were spoken by Grandpa.

Grandpa also said: " However, although the root and leaf fruit of the duck egg fruit can be used in medicine, the root is the top grade, but this duck egg fruit is not as easy to take root as other flowers and plants, if they want to reproduce, they can only rely on the fruit to reproduce, and their fruit reproduction success rate is not high, so ah, Qingshan, in the future, you must remember that even if you need to use this medicine, do not dig it up to the roots, you can use its leaves or fruits, if you dig it, they will be less and less, less and less, and in the end, you may never find it again. ”

When Grandpa was alive, he would dig and collect medicinal herbs, and he would select them according to their reproductive ability, and generally gave preference to those that were easy to reproduce. In this way, a certain medicinal herb will not disappear because of his digging.

It's just that I didn't expect that my grandfather would follow the laws of nature so much, but the barefoot village doctors who came later were not sure.

They also probably knew that the roots of the medicinal herbs had the best medicinal effect, so they dug desperately, so that now, as my father said, duck eggs and fruits are becoming less and less in the mountains.

"Even if the duck egg fruit has these effects, it can't be so bad. Liu Qingshan said angrily, "These people are really too much, according to their digging, these duck eggs will be extinct sooner or later." ”

"It's fine. Liu Yuanhe saw that his son was angry, and thought that he was just angry because he didn't eat the duck eggs, so he smiled and said, "If you want to eat, then when you go to sweep the tomb of your great-grandfather, you will go down from the cemetery, and when you reach the bottom of the valley, you should be able to find one." ”

"How do you know?" Liu Qingshan looked at his father suspiciously.

You know, Grandpa's cemetery is not close, and it takes a lot of time just to walk, how can Dad know that there is also a duck egg fruit in the valley down the cemetery.

He frowned keenly.

Seeing this, Liu Yuanhe said angrily: "What do you think, there is a stream under the valley, which took you into the mountains to sweep the grave one year, and then you were thirsty and cried to drink water, so I can't go down to get water for you?"

Liu Qingshan suddenly realized that there was indeed such a thing.

At that time, he was still young, and he followed his father to sweep the tomb of his grandfather, but his father didn't bring water, so he brought rice wine.

Children must not drink, so at the sound of his shouting, Dad had to go down to the valley to fetch him water.