bestfiction Chapter 22 Prepare to go up the mountain
Chapter 22 Prepare to go up the mountain
Wen Dashan said coldly, "If you're going to sell, sell your own. I'm not selling mine."
Wen Linshi's face lit up with joy. She made up her mind to go to town the next day to sell the two sets of cotton clothes, and use the money to buy a bolt of coarse cloth to make clothes for herself and her grandchildren.
Oh, and I should buy a couple more bolts of cloth to take back to my parents' home to make new clothes for my brothers and nephews.
A few days later, Village Chief Ding rang a gong, summoning the villagers to a meeting at the drying ground. He told them that they would be going into the mountains to gather wild produce the next day, and those who wanted to go should meet at the end of the village the following morning.
In Dawang Village, villagers are free to form teams to collect wild produce in the mountains. The village does not force anyone to do so. If any problems arise after going up the mountain on their own without forming a team, the village will not be responsible.
Knowing that Wen Yuxia was skilled in martial arts, Wen Dashan suggested that she lead the Wen family in a team, saying that since the good stuff shouldn't go to outsiders, they could take all the mountain produce they collected home without having to share it with outsiders.
Wen Yuxia might not care about family and reputation, but Wen Yunhong, who wanted to pursue the imperial examinations, would have to. After much consideration, Wen Yuxia agreed to team up with the Wen family.
The next morning, except for the elderly, the infirm, and the disabled, all the other villagers appeared on time at the foot of the mountain at the end of the village, carrying hoes and baskets on their backs. Even five- or six-year-old children stood in the crowd, carrying baskets on their backs, looking quite professional.
"Uncle Zhang!" Wen Yunhong ran enthusiastically towards Zhang the hunter.
Hunter Zhang smiled and asked him, "Little Seven, are you and your siblings going up the mountain with the Wen family, or are you teaming up with others?"
The Zhang family hadn't divided into separate households. The patriarch was Old Man Zhang, the hunter's father. The hunter was the eldest son, with a younger brother and a younger sister. The sister didn't marry but instead married into the family.
This time, the whole family mobilized for the trip up the mountain. Knowing how capable Wen Yuxia was, Zhang the hunter wanted to invite her to join their team.
"Grandpa is leading the team, and my eldest uncle, second uncle, third uncle, and we're all in the same team," Wen Yunhong said in his childish voice.
Hearing this, Zhang the hunter felt a little disappointed, but his disappointment quickly dissipated because he heard Village Chief Ding calling from ahead: "Zhang Da-wa, Zhang Da-wa!"
Zhang Da Wa was the real name of Zhang the Hunter. His father, Old Man Zhang, had previously led the villagers up the mountain, but now Zhang the Hunter had taken over the responsibility of leading them to gather mountain produce. Village Chief Ding asked him to lead the way.
Zhang the hunter strode forward with his head held high and said in a gruff voice, "Village chief, I've arrived."
"We're getting ready to go into the mountains. Each team is responsible for looking after the children in their group. Don't let them run around when we get closer to the deep mountains," Village Chief Ding shouted in a strong voice. He then arranged for the villagers to follow Zhang the hunter in groups up the mountain.
The mountain at the end of the village, and the two mountains connected to it, are free of large wild animals and rarely see venomous snakes and insects. However, deep in the mountains, not only are there aggressive wild animals such as tigers, wolves, leopards, wild boars, and wild cattle, but venomous snakes, scorpions, and centipedes are also commonplace.
This trip deep into the mountains was not intended for the villagers to return on the same day; in addition to dry food and water, everyone's baskets were also filled with many burlap sacks.
With so many people, their pace was slow. They had set off before dawn, and now the sun was high in the sky. The villagers had only just reached the foot of the second mountain when Village Chief Ding called for everyone to rest on the spot.
Upon hearing the village chief's call to rest, Wen Dashan and Wen Linshi immediately sat or lay down on the ground, while the three Wen brothers, Wen Zisong, led their sons into the woods.
Yang and Zhang didn't rest either; they joined the village women in digging for wild vegetables nearby. Children were only allowed to go up the mountain to gather wild produce with the villagers once they turned five. Wen Yunhu from the third branch of the family was three years old, and Wen Yunyu was one year old. Hua stayed home to take care of the children and didn't come.
Yang was supposed to stay home and take care of 4-year-old Wen Yunyang, but she couldn't bear to give up the opportunity to go into the mountains. So, she gave Hua two copper coins a day to ask Hua to help take care of Wen Yunyang.
Wen Yunhong just turned five years old this year. It was his first time going up the mountain with the villagers. He was puzzled to see many villagers carrying baskets and heading into the woods.
He was puzzled to see the Lin family digging for wild vegetables near their resting place, so he asked while munching on his dry rations, "Grandpa, what are Uncle and the others doing in the woods? Why aren't Aunt and the others resting and starting to dig for wild vegetables now?"
Wen Dashan laughed and said, "Whoever finds the wild produce keeps it. Your uncle and the others went to collect wild produce. The wild vegetables grow well around here, and your aunt and uncle wanted to take advantage of the time to dig up as much as possible..."
It turns out that in Dawang Village, people basically form teams by household each year. Since these teams, divided into households, don't have any conflicts when collecting wild produce, as whatever a family finds belongs to that family.
In households that haven't separated, to prevent anyone from stealing or cheating, the head of the family would set rules, such as giving half of any collected mountain produce to the family and keeping the other half for themselves, etc., to increase the enthusiasm of family members.
"Oh," Wen Yunhong nodded to indicate that he understood, but he still had doubts. He hadn't even entered the deep mountains yet, and he was already filling his basket. Wouldn't it be tiring to carry it all the way in?
Wen Yuxia had a storage bag given to her by her master; it could hold all the mountain produce they collected. Oh dear! How could he have forgotten something so important?
Wen Yunhong jumped up from the ground, grabbed Wen Yuxia, and rushed into the woods, shouting, "Grandpa, my sister and I are going to take a look in the woods too!"
Wen Yunhong was petty and cunning. He dragged Wen Yuxia along, deliberately choosing places with few people to run. Wen Yuxia wasn't idle either; as they ran, she threw stones at the birds that were startled into flight in the woods.
Wen Yunhong quickly picked up the bird, glancing around furtively. If someone was watching them, he would obediently toss the bird into his basket. When no one was looking, he would hand it to Wen Yuxia, muttering under his breath, "Sister, take it."
"A rabbit! A rabbit! Haha, I hit it!" Wen Yunhong saw a big white rabbit, threw the pebble in his hand, and cheered.
The siblings wandered through the woods and collected fifteen birds, two pheasants, and a rabbit. Except for the large white rabbit and five birds, which they kept in their baskets, Wen Yuxia quietly stored the rest in her spatial storage.
The sound of a gong and Village Chief Ding's shout rang out from outside the woods: "Everyone, return to your posts immediately, prepare to depart..."
This time, Village Chief Ding arranged for a dozen villagers to walk and tap bamboo strips, while he himself would occasionally tap a gong.
Along the way, snakes and insects would immediately shun the sound of bamboo strips crackling and gongs clanging, and not a single villager was bitten by snakes or scorpions after traversing the entire mountain.
Zhang the hunter led the villagers directly to the outside of a cave whose entrance was sealed with stones.
Every year, villagers from Dawancun, Xiaowangcun, and Lijiacun spend some time in the mountains. They voluntarily clean up the caves they stayed in and seal the entrances with stones so that they can use them the following year.
The cave that the villagers from which the entrance is sealed off will be used by that village. Dawan Village arrived the earliest this year, and Village Chief Ding plans to collect mountain produce here for the next few days.
Yang and Zhang handed over some of the wild vegetables they had dug up to Lin Wenshi, Wen Zisong handed over five wild eggs, Wen Zibai took out wild fruit, and Wen Zihua also took out five wild eggs.