Chapter 89 Wild Rice

Su You rubbed the green grass on the top of his head with his hands: "It's okay if you go to Tianshi Dao. The little Tianshi in Tianshi Dao is my sworn brother. When Wei'er enters Tianshi Dao, with my brother looking after her, then

You can just walk sideways."

Hachiko sighed: "What happened last night was like riding a tiger with difficulty, alas..."

Su You also helped to throw green grass into the pond: "I don't care, I like Wei'er's character. Besides, this is still considered to be marrying from a high family, and she is considered a good relative of Jiang Qing, don't you think Hachigong?

"

Hachiko smiled: "It's true to say that. Half a year ago, my father and I had no standing cones or roof tiles. I have been worried about how you will get a wife when you grow up, but today one fell from the sky."

"It's rare that the Shi family likes you. Wei'er is actually quite good. She may not have a good temper towards others, but she always obeys your advice."

Su You looked at the grass carp dragging the grass stalk: "Well, uncle, don't worry, I will be good to her."

The two chatted for a while, and Shi Wei came out: "Good morning, Hachigong, the fish in this pond are really big."

Hachigong smiled and said: "Weier, good boy, there are several ancestral fish in this pond that are older than you, Hachigong. Weier, please don't run around again next time. I killed you last night."

My brothers are all anxious."

Shi Wei curled her lips: "It's them who are bad. They didn't let me see Brother Xiaoyou and even locked me up."

Seeing that the little girl was getting upset again, Su You quickly changed the subject: "Don't you want to see the toy I gave you? Come on, I'll take you there. And what was that piece of silver you got last night? How do I feel?

Like a seal?"

…

A silver seal was stamped on a piece of white paper. Su You looked at the inscription on it: "Xuan Nu Zhi He Qi Jade Nu Zhi Tian He... What is this?"

Shi Wei stared at the copper-skinned frog jumping on the table without turning her eyes: "I don't know, my brothers said it is the Xuannv Seal of Tianshi Dao, it looks very precious."

Su You smiled and said: "The matter of Tianshi Dao is simple. I will write a letter and ask about it later."

Shi Wei didn't care and continued to look at the frog jumping on the table: "Brother Xiaoyou, the yellow one shouldn't be a frog, it's a toad."

Su You went into the kitchen and took out the cooking cakes, served cucumber and preserved egg porridge to Shi Wei and Ba Gong, and said with a smile: "Weier is so smart, this is actually a toad, its nickname is Jin Chan."

"According to legend... at that time, during the Liang Dynasty, there was a loofah well in Changde City, which often spewed out white light at night. It was said that a wise person could enter the fairy world through this white light."

"There lived a young man named Liu Hai by the well. His family was very poor but he was extremely filial to his mother."

"One time Liu Hai went into the mountains to collect firewood and met a fox. The fox turned into a beautiful woman and married him."

"Liu Hai is a mortal, so the fox girl wanted to help Liu Hai reach the sky so that they could stay together forever, so she spit out a bead and gave it to him. She asked Liu Hai to use the bead as bait to fish at the mouth of the well."

"Liu Hai did as he was told and used beads to catch fish at the mouth of the well. Suddenly, a big golden toad bit the fish and jumped out of the mouth of the well. The fox girl shouted: 'Brother Hai, jump on its back!'

"

"Liu Hai took the opportunity to jump on the toad's back, followed by Jin Chan's legs, and took Liu Hai to become an immortal and go away."

"It turns out that the white light at the mouth of the well was vomited by this golden toad."

"From that day on, the loofah well returned to normal. And there was a god named Liu Hai in the sky."

Shi Wei clapped her hands and said, "Brother Xiaoyou, this story is really nice. What happened next?"

Su You was stunned for a moment: "Well... there was no news about them in the human world after that. I guess they must be living a good life in heaven."

Hachigong came in and put the basket aside: "Xiaoyou, please don't tell Wei'er these weird stories. She is still young and can't tell them apart."

Shi Wei gave Bagong a cake: "Brother Xiaoyou once said that fairy tales are not true, but they represent people's yearning for a better life and a kind of praise for kind humanity, right Xiaoyou

elder brother?"

Su You smiled and said: "Yes, put your things away quickly and play again after dinner."

Shi Wei said: "Let's go fishing after dinner. Maybe we can catch a big golden toad too!"

Su You said: "It's cold and it's hard to catch fish. Let's dig bamboo shoots after dinner."

Shi Wei nodded and took a bite of the cooking cake: "The cooking cakes made by brother Xiaoyou are soft and much more delicious than those made by the cook at home."

Shi Wei was really young, so the engagement between the two of them didn't leave any trace in her heart, and she was very happy.

On the other hand, the whole Su family, old and young, looked at the little girl, looked at each other, and sighed slightly, "Eat!"

After dinner, Su You found a basket for Shi Wei, put a basket on his back, and carried a small hoe, and the two of them went to find the mice and the thin baby.

The four children came to the big bamboo forest in the back mountain. This bamboo forest is a family property and the villagers cherish it very much. The big moso bamboo grows lushly.

However, it is not a problem to dig winter bamboo shoots, because winter bamboo shoots are the product of bamboo testing the climate. They will rot after a spring rain, and then the spring bamboo shoots will grow back and become new bamboo.

When they came to the edge of the forest, Mouse and Skinny Boy took the hoe and said, "Xiaoyou, tell me where to put the hoe, and leave it to us to dig the ground."

This is also an old routine. Su You is very good at hunting bamboo shoots and fungi. All the children in the village like to hang out with him. Every time he comes home, his parents will definitely give him a good meal to praise him.

When looking for bamboo shoots, you need to look for the direction of the taproot. This is related to sunlight. You also need to look at which side of the bamboo leaves are growing vigorously. There are some tricks involved.

Su You used a folding knife to cut some thin bamboo poles, and when he encountered a bamboo shoot, he inserted one as a mark.

The mice and the thin boy started digging hard, while Shi Wei followed Su You like a small oil bottle.

After turning around in a circle and inserting more than twenty bamboo sticks in his hand, Su You said, "Let them dig it while we go to the water to prepare food."

There is a large stream in the mountain with abundant water power. It pours down all the way, branches off from the middle of the mountain, and is led into the fish pond in front of the ancestral hall through an artificial ditch. It is also the main source of drinking water for the people in the village.

The main stream turned in another direction, and after entering a valley, a swamp emerged. This was Su You's favorite place.

He also secretly grows a crop here as an experimental site.

This crop is called wildgrass.

Diaohu rice, which people often wrote poems about in the Tang Dynasty, is the seed of this thing, which is called wild rice.

The appearance of wild grass and pampas grass is actually very similar. Meishan still grows wild wild grass as a grain. It used to be considered one of the six grains.

But Su You knew that if this kind of grass was parasitized by smut, it would no longer bloom and bear fruit, and its young stems would become large and tender, becoming wild rice, a common vegetable on the tables of later generations.

However, if the villagers' wildgrass ponds were infected with fungus, resulting in no harvest, Su You would probably not be able to protect himself no matter how high Hachigong's prestige was, so he would have to secretly cultivate it here.

The wild grass ponds here are all weak seedlings that were eliminated by the villagers and then transplanted with Suyou.

I also deliberately collected smut from several diseased plants and infected all the wild grasses here.

It's winter now, so it's a bit late, but there's still a lot of wild rice left to eat.

Su You rolled up his trousers and went into the water, collecting all the edible wild rice. He found that the snails here were also very fat, so he scooped up a handful of them, so he just threw them to the shore and let Shi Wei pick up the big ones and put them in the basket.

Fish, eels, loaches, snails, and river mussels are inedible if you can't suppress the fishy smell. Nowadays, they are things that no one cares about. Folks usually catch them from the fields and streams, smash them, feed them to chickens and ducks, and run them into the mountains.

I'm afraid there's something wrong with this.

So these things here are really fat and plentiful.

Soon Shi Wei's basket was filled with wild rice and snails, and Su You climbed back to the shore and started a fire.

Making fire is also Su You's strong point. He only needs two dry bamboo pieces and a little dry moss to make fire using the cross friction method. There is no need for a fire sickle or a fire stick. This skill is also important for him to become a child's leader.

one of the reasons.

He took out a small iron pot from his backpack, boiled water, and poured the snails into it.

Then he took Shi Wei to dig wild onions and wild garlic.

These things by the water are especially plump and tender in winter, and the two children soon picked a lot of them.

Wash the onions and garlic and return to the fire. The mice and the skinny boy have also returned from their work. Four bundles of winter bamboo shoots tied with bamboo strips are piled beside the fire.

Pour out the blanched snails, let the mice and the skinny kids use stones to crack the snail shells, take out the hard-boiled snail meat inside, and wash it clean by the stream.

I boiled another pot of water, opened a winter bamboo shoot, cut it into large pieces in my hands and poured it over water to remove the astringent taste.
Chapter completed!