More than a dozen people said they would leave, took dry food and led the ox, and went to the Shenmu tribe.

After a few months, the open space in front of the cave was already overgrown with weeds.

A few fish revisited the old place, and soon brought firewood and lit a bonfire.

They ate some jerky with boiling water, and found two caves for the night.

Early the next morning, the fish pointed to the bamboo forest on the east side of the cave, "Mufeng, the bamboo forest is a valley, and there seems to be a chestnut forest in it." ”

Mu Feng nodded, "Let's go in and have a look." ”

The men walked eastward, through a grove of bushes, and walked for more than half an hour until they reached the mouth of the valley.

Sure enough, there was a large chestnut tree in the valley, and the blue-yellow thorn balls hung all over the branches.

Taro looked back at Yao Xiaoqing, "Xiaoqing, this forest is full of chestnuts, I'm afraid it was planted by the people of the Shenmu tribe?" ”

Yao Xiaoqing nodded, "Very likely." ”

"In the future, all the open space in the north of our tribe will be planted with chestnuts."

"Well, this chestnut forest can harvest a lot of fruit." With a smile, he picked up the machete and cut a dozen long bamboo poles, "Let's go, go up the tree and beat chestnuts." ”

Mu Feng gave the cow rope to Yao Xiaoqing, "Xiaoqing, you lead the cow a little farther, and we will go up the tree and knock down the chestnuts." ”

"Good!" The two led the oxen and retreated to the edge of the bamboo forest.

A dozen men climbed the chestnut tree like monkeys with long bamboo poles, and banged on the thorn balls on the branches.

The thorn balls fell like hailstones, and standing under the trees, they must have smashed their heads and bled out.

Yao Xiaoqing looked at it for a while, pointed to the foot of the mountain and said to the taro: "You are watching here, I'll go over there to see if there is any ramie." ”

Taro took the cow rope, "Xiaoqing, there is no one in the mountains, you should be careful." ”

Yao Xiaoqing waved the sapper shovel, "I'm holding the shovel, I'm not afraid." ”

She tapped through the grass and walked to the foot of the hill to the north. After walking a short distance, I saw a small ravine, and on both sides of the ravine was overgrown ramie more than a person high, and it was already full of ramie seeds.

Further on, the shrubs at the foot of the mountain are covered with kudzu vines and yamsa vines, and the yamsa vines are covered with brown yamsa beans. Some of the kudzu vines also have bunches of lilac flowers blooming on them.

Yao Xiaoqing felt that these ramie and yams must have been artificially planted, and the kudzu vine was wild. The news of the demise of the Shenmu tribe must not have spread yet, so no one came here to collect it.

She hurried back to the chestnut grove and saw that the chestnut balls were already under the tree. He shouted loudly, "Brother, you come down first, get the chestnuts here, and the two of us will go over there to dig potatoes and kudzu." ”

Mu Feng, Yu and the bull came down from the tree and smiled happily: "Xiaoqing, where did you find the yamsa kudzu?" ”

Yao Xiaoqing pointed to the foot of the mountain to the north, "There are a lot of yams, kudzu, and ramie over there, and it seems that I have to be busy here for a few days." ”

Mu Feng nodded, "Some are the best, let the fish and the road go with you." ”

"Hmm!" Yao Xiaoqing and Taro took out the basket from the bamboo basket, took the sickle, and walked towards the foot of the mountain to the north.

Yu and Lu followed with hoes, and the three of them laughed happily when they saw the slices of yakam and kudzu.

Yao Xiaoqing pointed to the kudzu and said to the fish: "Fish, dig the yaka first, then dig the kudzu, don't throw the kudzu vine, when you pile it there and walk, pull it back to the tribe." ”

"Good!"

The fish and the road began to cut the potato vine, and as soon as they pulled the potato vine, the potato beans crackled and fell.

Yao Xiaoqing and Taro were busy picking up the yasca beans that had fallen on the ground and putting them in the back basket. It took four people two days to dig up that piece of yamyana and the yam beans were full of three bamboo baskets.

The dug up potatoes and the beaten chestnuts were all carried to the cave of the Shenmu tribe and put away. Looking at the mountains of potatoes and chestnuts piled up in the cave, and thinking that there are still a lot of kudzu and chestnuts, everyone is very happy.

The bull smiled: "It's better to plant food, next year all the open land will be planted with yams, and there will be no need to collect food everywhere in the future." ”

He smiled and nodded, "This chestnut forest is not bad, let's plant chestnut trees in the open space in the future." ”

Yao Xiaoqing was also very happy, "Brother, you first send the yams back to the tribe, bring the mountain Eminem and the others, and all the four cattle are brought here, and then bring a few baskets over." ”

Mu Feng smiled and nodded, "Okay, I'll go back with Yu, Yu, and Lu first, you have to be careful here." ”

The bull laughed, "I know, you have to be careful on the road." ”

A group of people happily loaded the potatoes into bamboo baskets and put them on the panniers. watched the four of them walk away, and then walked towards the foot of the mountain with sickles, hoes, and bamboo poles.

Several people first collected the seeds on the kudzu roots, and then cut all the kudzu vines, peeled off the leaves on the kudzu vines, and piled them aside

That piece of kudzu is probably because very few people dig it, and the big one that is dug up is as thick as an adult's thigh. Yao Xiaoqing picked up one and weighed it, feeling that it weighed thirty or forty pounds.

Taro looked at the valley, "Xiaoqing, there must be a lot of kudzu yams in this valley." ”

Yao Xiaoqing nodded, "Let the Mu Feng in the valley go to find them, let's dig these back first, and the millet in the field will also be harvested." ”

The bull looked at the two of them sweating profusely, "Xiaoqing, you go and cut the ramie, we can dig these kudzu." ”

Yao Xiaoqing shook his head and said: "Some ramie seeds are ripe, and the ramie seeds must be packed in baskets." ”

Taro asked puzzledly, "Xiaoqing, what is the use of ramie?" ”

Yao Xiaoqing thought for a while, "The leaves of ramie can be fed to the livestock in the tribe, and the leather bands peeled off from the hemp stalk can be used to make hemp rope and twine, and can also be used to weave sacks, linen, and cloth shoes." ”

Taro raised her head, "Hemp rope, is it like the rope we made of rattan skin?" What are sacks, sacks, and shoes? ”

Yao Xiaoqing glanced at her with disgust, "I can't understand it with you, I'll know when I get it back." ”

The dug kudzu roots were piled up there like a hill, and when the sun went down, they were carried to the cave and put them there.

The next day, as soon as the morning dawned, the four of them went to the foot of the mountain, and they were busy all day before digging up all the kudzu.

At dusk, Mu Feng brought more than twenty women to the Shenmu tribe, and when he saw a large area of chestnut trees, his happy mouth couldn't close.

Shan Eminem said to the big tree Eminem: "This piece of chestnut is beaten down, and we can't eat it until the beginning of spring." ”

Big Tree Eminem nodded repeatedly, "Yes! No wonder the people of the Shenmu tribe never go out to exchange for food, it turns out that they guard such a large chestnut forest. ”

When they saw the thick kudzu, the women cheered again. Hurriedly picked up the chestnuts scattered on the ground, carried them to the mouth of the cave in a basket, and piled them in the open space.

After a simple meal of some jerky, it was getting dark. Everyone lit the bonfire, and everyone gathered around the campfire, and stabbed the chestnut thorn ball with their feet, pressing one foot on one side, and stepping on the other side, and with a hard effort, the chestnut ball cracked, and the chestnut peeled out of the thorn ball.

More than thirty people were busy until midnight to get the mountain of chestnuts out of the thorn balls.

(End of chapter)