Hello 1983

  Chapter 77 Sweet little days

   "Well, it would be nice if there was straw, which is soft and warm, and it is the most suitable for weaving straw curtains."

  Datou has read straw curtains in books, but unfortunately they don't grow rice here for the time being.

  When straw was mentioned, Datou and Liu Qingshan couldn't help thinking of Er Biaozi at the same time.

   This kid has been out for almost two months. I don't know how he is doing, and he doesn't know when he will be back?

  The two brothers were squatting in the courtyard and chatting, when they saw a bullock cart slowly wandering back from the west.

  People in the yard greeted one after another: "Old man, what are you doing here?"

  The driver is called Zhang Laojier. He is honest and doesn’t like to talk, but he is proficient in all kinds of farm work and is hardworking. He knows how to live.

   "Pull back the thatch weeds that were harvested in autumn. The second child will get married next year, and the family really can't live in it. I plan to take over two houses."

Zhang Laolan said in his mouth, yelling at the old cow pulling the cart, he also came to the group, and rolled a cigarette: "This morning, I was suffocated. The fields are covered with withered grass and reeds. I didn't dare smokes."

  Guarding the forests and meadows, the villagers are very aware of fire prevention on weekdays, especially in spring, autumn and winter, they all know to be extra careful.

  Even children are no exception, if they dare to play with fire in the wild, if adults know about it, they will definitely blow their butts.

   "Old uncle, what did you just say?"

  Liu Qingshan seemed to grasp something vaguely, and he couldn't figure it out for a while, so he hurriedly asked.

   "I said just now that I don't smoke or anything." Old Zhang said, clicking a cigarette twice.

   "No, it's the previous sentence."

   "It's just the grass and reeds on the meadow."

  Reed, yes, Reed!

  Liu Qingshan slapped his hands and said: "Reeds are light and warm, so let's weave curtains with reeds!"

  To the west of Jiapigou, there is a huge reed marsh that stretches as far as the eye can see. The reeds in it are more than two meters high.

   This thing can't help but burn, and it can't even boil a ladle of water.

   Occasionally, reed thatches are used, but reeds are more likely to rot than thatch grass.

  So it grows on the meadow every year, and no one harvests it, so Liu Qingshan forgets about it.

   "Old Uncle, thank you for reminding me, come on, hurry up and get on the bullock cart, I'll take a picture of you!"

  Liu Qingshan was in a good mood, so he insisted on dragging Zhang Laoer to take a picture of him.

   "Then I'll go home and put on the Chinese tunic suit. It was made when the eldest son got married."

   When Zhang Laoer heard that it was such a grand ceremony to take pictures, he wanted to run home and change his clothes.

   In the end, he was grabbed by Liu Qingshan again: "Don't, let's take pictures in our true colors, so the breath of life is strong."

   Together with Datou, Liu Qingshan pushed Lao Jier Zhang into the car and took a photo.

  After the filming, I found a broken iron bucket on the car, and I looked inside. My good guy, it turned out to be half a bucket of toads.

   This kind of toad has red spots on its belly, commonly known as red belly toad, and its scientific name is Hushi toad.

  Compared with the forest frogs on the mountain, they are smaller in size and slightly inferior in nutritional content, which is mainly reflected in the toad oil in the belly of the female frog.

  Hash toad also has toad oil, but less.

  In Liu Qingshan's memory, decades later, not to mention forest frogs, even husky toads became very rare.

  In the final analysis, it is the destruction of the habitat and the consequences of pesticide abuse.

  Liu Qingshan reached into the bucket and squeezed out one, which was not too small.

   Look at the paw again, there are small bumps, so it is thrown into the bucket again, this kind is male, and there is no seed in the stomach.

  There is no toad oil without seeds, because although toad oil has the word "oil", it is not fat.

  The main ingredient is protein, which is used to supply the growth and development of offspring, so the nutrition is so high.

"It's getting cold, and the toads are all in the water for the winter. I just found a hole, hugged it a few times, and got half a bucket. After a while, you can pick some mothers to take back from Qingshan. Isn't your sister pregnant? It's just a good time to replenish your body." .”

  Lao Zhanger took the bucket off the car and put it in front of Liu Qingshan.

  In this day and age, everyone doesn't like toad very much.

   First of all, most people think dirty.

  Secondly, when eating toads, the male ones are best fried, and the female ones are stewed in sauce, but the oil is too small to taste, and oil is the most precious condiment.

   "Okay, then I'll grab some."

  Liu Qingshan was not too polite, he ran home to get an enamel basin, and poured out half of it.

  The weather is cold this month, and the toads are lazy and unwilling to move, so there is no need to worry about jumping out.

   As for cutting the reeds, there is no rush for the time being. It is best to wait until the swamps in the meadow are frozen and people can stand it before doing this work.

  Just when winter just started, the temperature was not so low, and the greenhouse didn’t need thatch curtains, so there was still time.

  Liu Qingshan cheerfully took the toad home, washed it twice, sprinkled some salt on it, and took care of it, and he got bored immediately at noon.

   As for opening and cleaning the internal organs, this is really unnecessary.

  Because by this time, the toad has not eaten for a long time, so the inside of the stomach is very clean. In the words of the local people, this is called "bigu".

   Not only toads, but also fish caught in winter and early spring do not need to be opened.

  Processed husky toad, if it is steamed, there will always be a slight earthy smell, so the best way is to stew it in sauce.

Liu Qingshan poured half a spoonful of soybean oil into the pot, and another half spoonful of meat oil, grabbed two red peppers and threw them in, added a spoonful of miso, fried the aroma of the sauce, then put in the toad, added water over low heat and slowly Let it simmer.

  When school was over at noon, the little old four entered the room and made a lot of noise: "Brother, what delicious food did you cook?"

   "Go, call grandparents over for dinner."

  Liu Qingshan pulled her braid, and the little guy ran away happily. When he came back, besides grandparents, of course there was Yang Hongying.

   There is no need for Liu Qingshan to order this, Xiao Lao Si and Shan Xing are very good to Teacher Yang.

  Liu Qingshan also fried a piece of potato chips and big chili, and the whole family crowded around the big kang table and started eating.

   "Is this a frog?"

  Yang Hongying looked at the black toad on the plate, stretching its legs and stretching its hips, and really didn't dare to put down its chopsticks.

   "It's not a frog, it's a toad."

  Liu Qingshan hadn't started eating yet, so he rummaged through the plate with chopsticks, put one in the elder sister's bowl, and grabbed one in the bowl of his mother, grandparents, including Yang Hongying.

  He didn’t pick them randomly. The ones he picked were all females, with black seeds in their stomachs, and toad oil wrapped on the black seeds.

   "That's not the same!"

  In Yang Hongying's view, frog and toad have the same meaning.

  After Liu Qingshan took another one for the fourth and fifth, he said cheerfully: "Of course it's different. This is a husky toad. In the past, it was a special tribute for the imperial palace."

   Liu Jinfeng also persuaded from the side: "Mr. Yang, you can eat it. This toad is very nourishing. The toads that Qingshan gave us are all from the mother."

  In order to increase his persuasiveness, he picked up the husky toad in the bowl, stuffed it into his mouth, and started chewing.

  Yang Hongying still didn't dare to eat like this, so she carefully tore off a toad's leg and put it in her mouth.

  Well, the taste is not bad, the sauce is rich and the meat is delicate.

  However, after poking open the belly with chopsticks, I saw the black toad seeds inside and the milky white toad oil wrapped around it, and I still found it hard to swallow.

   "Girl, don't worry about eating. If you eat husky toad, you have to eat this."

  Grandma said a few words in a slow voice, Yang Hongying closed her eyes and put it into her mouth.

   After taking a few bites, she suddenly opened her eyes, and her eyes became much brighter: "Hey, the more you chew, the more delicious it is!"

  Once she got used to it, Yang Hongying let go, and ate more than a dozen of them after a meal, but most of them were male, because most of the female ones were picked up by Liu Qingshan and given to the eldest sister and mother.

  A layman like Yang Hongying, of course, couldn't tell the difference between the male and the female, so she stared at Liu Qingshan all the time.

  Liu Qingshan murmured: "Teacher Yang, my sister is pregnant and needs nutrition, so eat more and make up for it, so don't have any opinions."

  Hearing what he said, Yang Hongying also stuck out her tongue, a little embarrassed, she forgot about it while eating.

   Then I heard Liu Qingshan continue to speak slowly: "Unless you are like my sister, hehe..."

  Yang Hongying immediately frowned, stretched out her hand suddenly, and shouted coquettishly: "Sanfenger, I think your ears are itchy, right?"

  Liu Qingshan hurriedly leaned back to get out of the way, muttering to himself: This one, two or three will know how to do this, and there is no way to live this day.

  …

  Of course, Liu Qingshan’s small life had to go on as usual, and he had a good time. The next day, he went into the mountain with everyone.

  This month is already late autumn, and it is also the most beautiful season in the mountains of the year. The forests are all dyed, the mountains are red, and the scenery is magnificent and vast.

  Liu Qingshan was also very grateful: Thanks for bringing the camera!

   Arriving at the woodcut Leng Na of the mute grandpa, a black shadow pounced on him. Before Liu Qingshan could react, his thigh was hugged.

  The professional thigh hugger is of course the little black bear. This little guy has a good memory and knows Liu Qingshan.

  Looking at its babbling bear appearance, Liu Qingshan knew that this creature was just like a child, greedy for sweets.

   There were actually two pieces of toffee in his pocket, so he peeled off the wrappers and stuffed them into the little bear's mouth.

  Looking at the dumb grandpa with smile lines all over his face, he thought to himself: You are closer than me, you greedy little thing.

  After a short rest, everyone went into the woods with big baskets on their backs, and came to a larch forest.

  This kind of woodland, in this season, specializes in producing small yellow mushrooms.

  Looking around, the ground is full of small golden umbrellas.

   Didn’t say anything, just squat down and pick it up, specially pick the big ones, the ones that are too small can’t be handled at all.

   This little yellow mushroom is the best, and now the insects are gone, so don't worry about maggots inside.

  The only disadvantage is that the small needles of the larch will stick to the mushrooms, making it more troublesome to clean up.

   It can only be dried in the sun after returning home, and the needles and leaves will all fall off after a while with your hands.

  In addition to the small yellow mushroom, it is the frozen mushroom. The scientific name of the frozen mushroom is Yuan mushroom, which grows sideways on the roots and trunks of trees.

   This kind of mushroom is relatively large, and the flesh is very thick. It is a large pile when you encounter it, and it grows on the trunk layer by layer.

  Even with the first snowfall, you can still pick jelly mushrooms in the forest, which is probably the origin of its name.

  Everyone has a clear division of labor, most of them pick small yellow mushrooms, and a small half pick jelly mushrooms.

  Mushroom picking looks easy, but it’s actually quite tiring. You squat for a while and stand for a while. If you are not in good health, you will get confused after tossing for a while.

  The work was over at two o'clock, and everyone returned to Mukeleng, hurriedly ate a piece of pancake, drank a bowl of hot soup, and hurried down the mountain.

  (end of this chapter)