Mingbei ran outside happily every day during the holidays, and even thought about taking Zhenzhen to the hydrolysis plant to play. However, Zhenzhen was not interested in playing at all at this time. She went up the mountain after breakfast every day, and went back to the mountain after lunch. Children in the forest town are out playing every day, and Mrs. Li knows that Zhenzhen can control the power of plants and animals, so she is not worried that she will get hurt in the mountains. Mingbei was curious about what Zhenzhen played in the mountains every day, but Zhenzhen's casual words about training Dahuang scared Mingbei so much that he didn't want to ask any more questions.
Zhenzhen had no idea about carpentry, so after working on the planks for a few days, they were still just planks and had not been turned into a box. She even dug up a large redwood box from the ground and emptied the contents, but still could not figure out what it was. Since it was not realistic to make a box herself, Zhenzhen came up with another idea. She found a red pine tree and controlled it to grow into a towering tree with a diameter of more than one meter, and then broke it into wooden stakes.
Zhenzhen touched the one-meter-high wooden stake and couldn't help but praise her own cleverness. When she needed it, she could just hollow out the wooden stake and use it as a box. The stuff she took out could also be made into a lid, so nothing would be wasted. With a pat, Zhenzhen controlled the wooden stakes to sink into the ground. The thick soil automatically formed a sealing layer around the wooden stakes, which not only prevented air from entering, but also prevented rain from falling below.
Having solved the problem that had been bothering her, Zhenzhen felt relieved. She moved to a sparsely populated stream between two mountains. There was a clear stream. Zhenzhen picked some willow branches from the willow tree beside the stream and skillfully made a flower basket. She placed the flower basket beside the stream and gently tapped it with her fingers. Water crickets as big as a palm crawled out of the stream and lined up neatly to get into the flower basket.
The appearance of water crayfish is very similar to that of lobsters in the sea, but they are much smaller. They have very strict requirements on water quality. The rivers and streams where they live must have clear water quality. The slightest pollution will cause their death. In the Beicha area, the water in this stream in the middle of the mountain stream is probably the clearest. Ordinary people cannot find this place, and the water crayfish that are not preyed on grow fat and big.
When the basket was full, Zhen Zhen stopped and put the woven lid on the basket, tied it up with willow branches, and made a handle. Zhen Zhen's mouth was watering as she lifted the heavy basket. The taste of the water crayfish was similar to that of crayfish, and it was delicious only when it was spicy and numbing.
In this era, dried chili peppers and peppercorns were only available for a family during the Spring Festival, and they were also scarce. Therefore, Zhenzhen had already taken some chili seeds, peppercorns, cumin seeds, etc. from home and planted them in a flat and wide place in the mountains. After they grew, she didn't care about them anymore. As they grew freely, she only came to ripen some when she had to use them, and took them back, saying that they were wild ones she encountered in the mountains. Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen knew the truth, but they were just hiding it from Guihua and the children.
She returned home in high spirits. Old Lady Li knew that she had brought back food again, and quickly took the basket from her hand. As soon as she took it, Old Lady Li felt her arm become heavy, and quickly put down the basket and took up Zhenzhen's hand to examine it carefully, fearing that her hand was strangled. She kept muttering, "How did you carry such a heavy thing back? Next time you go up the mountain, ask your brother to go with you. Why don't you use the ready-made labor? Let grandma take a look to see if there are any marks?"
"It's okay, grandma. This little weight is like playing with me." Zhenzhen hugged Grandma Li's arm, revealing her white and tender palms, without even a trace of tightening. Holding Zhenzhen's little hand, Grandma Li gently told her: "Although you are strong, you are a girl after all. You should be more considerate of yourself at home and outside, and don't do all the hard and tiring work by yourself. If you want to eat something, take your fourth brother to the mountains. Even if he catches a wild boar, he can carry it back for you."
Zhenzhen burst out laughing. She put one hand around Old Lady Li's arm and easily lifted the flower basket with the other hand. "I'm just afraid that my fourth brother will be so scared when he sees the wild boar that his legs will go limp. I'll have to carry the pig in one hand and him in the other."
After putting the basket of water crickets into the kitchen, Wang Sufen hurried in from the vegetable garden carrying a basin of freshly picked vegetables. She saw the flower basket in the middle of the kitchen, quickly put the basin aside, and casually removed the willow branches tied to it: "What's in it? Did you pick wild fruits again?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the lid on the flower basket fell off, and the densely packed water crickets inside were waving their pincers, looking extremely brave, and trying hard to push out the cloth bag that was pressing on it.
Wang Sufen took the cloth bag and untied it to see that it was filled with red peppers and Sichuan peppercorns. She couldn't help laughing: "Wasn't the pungent smell enough to kill the crayfish?"
Zhenzhen smiled a little embarrassedly: "I was thinking about it all the way. I said that the water crickets must not die. If they die, they will smell bad."
Old Lady Li found the largest enamel basin in the house, and she and Wang Sufen emptied all the water crickets in the basket, filling the basin. Looking at the water crickets that were getting bigger and bigger, Old Lady Li exclaimed in surprise: "Wow, they are all so big, where did you catch them?"
Zhenzhen said vaguely, "It's right there on the mountainside." As for her special abilities, she only revealed to Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen the ability to control animals and plants because of the need for survival. As for teleportation and consciousness leaving the body, she always kept them as her little secrets, deeply suppressed in her heart, and told no one.
The Red Pine Mountain in Beicha stretches endlessly, and there are too many places that no one has ever been to, so Mrs. Li asked casually without paying much attention. Seeing that Wang Sufen was about to prepare dinner, Mrs. Li hurriedly pushed Zhenzhen back to the house to rest: "You've been busy all morning, go and rest your legs, listen to the radio or something. Your mother just washed a basin of tomatoes and cucumbers for you, go and have a couple."
Zhenzhen agreed, and as she walked out, she turned back and told Wang Sufen, "Mom, add more chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns to make it more flavorful."
Wang Sufen looked at her helplessly: "How can a little girl like you eat spicy food better than a man?"
Zhenzhen chuckled: "If it's not spicy, it's not delicious."
Because I was making spicy water crickets at noon, lunch was half an hour later than usual. However, as soon as I opened the door and smelled the spicy and delicious aroma coming from the kitchen, Zhenzhen immediately felt that all the waiting was worth it.
A large bowl of greasy, bright red water crickets was brought to the table. Zhenzhen couldn't wait to grab one, first pinched off its head, then pulled out the white, plump and tender meat soaked in soup and put it into her mouth, then sucked her fingers that were already covered in spicy sauce. The taste was so delicious.
Zhenzhen peeled one after another without even looking up. Soon, a pile of water cricket skins were placed on the table in front of her. Seeing that she didn't eat the vegetables or the dry food, Grandma Li was afraid that the water crickets would burn her stomach, so she fed her a few bites of vegetables with chopsticks from time to time and kept stuffing cakes into her mouth.
Mingbei ran far today, and when he got home, he was already half an hour later than usual. He scooped a basin of water from the yard to wash his hands, and prepared to go to the kitchen to find some leftovers. Unexpectedly, as soon as he entered the house, he heard the voice of Mrs. Li in the house: "Is it spicy after eating so much? Can grandma feed you some porridge?"
Smelling the spicy aroma filling the room, Mingbei's eyes lit up and he rushed into the house in two steps. He was immediately shocked by the pile of cricket skins in front of Zhenzhen: "Catching crickets today? You should have told me earlier. If you had known, I would have gone with you. I am very good at catching these things." Mingbei said as he reached out to take one from the basin.
Wang Sufen slapped his hand down and pointed at the messy table: "The table is almost full, go to the kitchen and get a basin first, I'll tidy up the table and then you can eat." Guihua had just finished her last bite and quickly put down her chopsticks and got off the kang: "Let Mingbei eat, I'll go get the basin."
Guihua couldn't eat spicy food while breastfeeding, and Old Lady Li and Wang Sufen couldn't eat more than two. Zhenzhen ate half of the large basin of water crickets by herself, burped, licked her fingers, looked at the water crickets in the basin with unsatisfied feelings, and sighed regretfully: "I haven't eaten enough yet. This stomach is too small."
"If you haven't eaten enough, you can eat tomorrow. There's still one pot left." Wang Sufen said hurriedly, fearing that she would get an upset stomach: "Go downstairs quickly, wash your hands, and drink the cornmeal porridge."
Zhenzhen burped and shook her head: "No, I can't eat anymore. I have to walk around the yard and eat in the afternoon when I have enough time."
As he was talking, Mingbei took a water crayfish and put it in his mouth without even peeling the skin. The spicy soup coated every taste bud on his tongue. Mingbei grimaced and stuck out his tongue. He sucked in air while impatiently pulling the meat out of the shell and stuffing it into his mouth: "Mom, what you cooked this time is really delicious. The tofu stew you made two years ago was not as delicious as this."
"Your sister told me to do this, and she also brought back a lot of wild chili peppers and wild prickly ash from the mountains, otherwise I wouldn't have put so much in." Wang Sufen looked at the spicy red water crickets and shook her head, "This wild stuff smells stronger than the ones I grow myself. You don't know how badly it choked me when I was cooking. I've been regretting putting so much in. I'll have to put less in tomorrow."
"Don't worry, Mom." Mingbei hurriedly called out, "Let's make it the same tomorrow. It tastes this good."
Zhenzhen leaned on Old Lady Li and nodded, not forgetting to add: "A little more pepper, the tongue is not numb enough."
"You are such a mischievous person." Wang Sufen smiled and glanced at Zhenzhen. While cleaning the table, she reminded Mingbei: "Leave some for your father. Let him have some with his wine tonight."
After eating the spicy water crickets, Zhenzhen lay on the kang and started thinking about spicy shrimps and spicy crabs. However, the crabs were not fat enough yet. She had to wait until autumn when there would be plenty of shrimps. She would go and catch some later.
After eating and drinking, Zhenzhen lay on the kang without thinking about anything. She yawned and soon fell into a deep sleep. Although her body was asleep, her consciousness was still awake. Zhenzhen took the opportunity to explore the densely populated big city.
As she grows older, Zhenzhen has become more and more proficient in controlling her consciousness. Even if her consciousness is thousands of miles away, it can return to her body in one second. Therefore, when it is inconvenient for Zhenzhen to go too far, letting her consciousness explore the way is the best way.
The first city Zhenzhen went to was still the familiar Ice City. More than a hundred years ago, Ice City was an important transportation hub and key transportation node, which created an extremely prosperous local economy and produced many big capitalists and big businessmen.
Different from the quiet and peaceful Beicha, various activities have already started in Bingcheng. Zhenzhen quickly moved to the luxurious residential area of Bingcheng. The houses that used to play record players all day long were now quiet. Zhenzhen gently landed on a house facing the street.
The owners of the house are surnamed Meng. They are an elderly couple in their fifties or sixties. There is also a young man in his thirties sitting in the house. Judging from what they are talking about, he should be their youngest son.
The elegant and graceful Mrs. Meng, wearing a cheongsam, sat on the sofa with a worried look on her face: "I heard that Zhang Xiuming's house has been raided, and he was dragged to the streets for parade. If this trend continues, it will be sooner or later that our house will be attacked. Old Meng, you have to think of a solution quickly. Should we ask someone to go to the government to speak on our behalf?"
Mr. Meng sat on the brown leather sofa with a frown on his face. He puffed on his cigar irritably and said in a very unfriendly tone: "Do you think Zhang Xiuming didn't find anyone? It won't work at all. To tell you the truth, if he didn't find someone, he might not even be the first one to get the job."
"Then what do you think we should do?" Mrs. Meng stood up and paced around the room anxiously: "Do we have to hide away again?"
"There is only one way. Let's take a boat to Hong Kong." Mr. Meng pressed the cigar in his hand into the ashtray. "Pack your things quickly and see how many yellow croakers we have left. Gather the jewelry, antiques, calligraphy and paintings together. I'll see if anyone is willing to buy them. Even if you sell them at a low price, I'll exchange them for gold."
"You don't want our factory anymore?" Mrs. Meng was so distressed that she almost cried: "All our belongings are in it."
Mr. Meng sighed helplessly: "Who cares about these things now? Saving your life is the most important thing."
Meng Fansheng, the youngest son of the Meng family, quickly stood up and echoed, "My dad is right. Tickets to Tianjin may be hard to buy. Why don't we just take the bus?"
Mr. Meng nodded and said, "Go and tell Wanru to pack up her things. Don't throw away the miscellaneous things. Just pick out the valuables and take them with you."
Meng Fansheng responded and left in a hurry. The Meng family's housekeeper followed behind him and hurriedly locked the door for fear that someone would break in.
Mrs. Meng had already started packing up her things, and she was reluctant to leave behind any of her exquisite cheongsams and beautiful jewelry. Mr. Meng came to the study and took down the antique paintings and calligraphy on the wall and the antiques on the shelves one by one, played with them one by one, and then put them in separate boxes one by one, with a look of melancholy on his face.
Zhenzhen's family was rich, but how to exchange with Mr. Meng secretly was a problem. She was just a child, and it was still unclear whether the other party could trust her. Both of them were taking risks. Zhenzhen was just an ordinary student in her previous life. Apart from studying, she had never used her brain in other areas. She really couldn't think of a solution to such a difficult problem. She scratched her head and decided to bring the gold first.
Mr. Meng lived in a wealthy area before the founding of the People's Republic of China. The environment was beautiful and the location of the land was very good. Zhenzhen walked around the Meng family twice and found a forest not far away. Although the area was not large, it was hidden and quiet compared to other places.
After regaining consciousness, Zhenzhen opened her eyes and looked at the clock on the cabinet. It was just three o'clock in the afternoon, so she quickly got off the kang. Wang Sufen was washing clothes in the yard, and she couldn't help but feel a little worried when she saw Zhenzhen was about to go out again: "You go out every day, where are you going now?"
"I ate too much and my stomach feels uncomfortable, so I'm going out for a run." Zhenzhen kissed Wang Sufen on the cheek as she passed by her: "I'll pick some wild flowers for you when I come back."
Wang Sufen was both angry and amused: "I'm already so old and still carry flowers. Don't give me that useless thing."
"Then I'll get something useful for mom." Zhenzhen smiled and hugged her neck, whispering in her ear: "I planted a field of cotton in the mountains."
"Really." Wang Sufen was overjoyed. The cotton coupons issued by Li Muwu every year were really limited. Over the years, only Mingdong and Guihua had a new cotton-padded jacket when they got married, and Zhenzhen had a thick one. Others had worn their cotton-padded jackets for seven or eight years, and the cotton inside was as thick as pancakes. They didn't even dare to re-padded them for fear that they would break and they would not even have a new jacket.
When Wang Sufen heard that Zhenzhen was growing cotton, she immediately imagined vast cotton fields with snow-white cotton flowers swaying in the sun. The scene was so beautiful no matter how she imagined it.
Quickly wiping her wet hands, Wang Sufen pulled Zhenzhen aside and asked her quietly: "Where did you get the cotton seeds? How many did you plant?"
Naturally, Zhenzhen stole the cotton seeds from someone else's farm where cotton was grown. She had always wanted to grow cotton after seeing that the cotton jackets at home were all worn out, and she searched for many places before finally finding cotton seeds on a farm. She ignored the question and smiled and winked at Wang Sufen: "Mom doesn't know my ability yet, so I can get as much as I want. Go and talk to my grandma and find an excuse, so that I can smuggle the cotton back."
Wang Sufen immediately forgot everything else after hearing this, even without washing her clothes, and tiptoed to the east room to see if Mrs. Li had woken up. Mrs. Li was just taking a nap with her eyes closed in the afternoon to rest her mind, and she rarely slept. At first, when Wang Sufen came in, she still closed her eyes and didn't say a word. When Wang Sufen opened the door eight times in five minutes, Mrs. Li couldn't bear it anymore. She turned over and sat up, frowning at Wang Sufen: "Is the house on fire or something? What's the matter? Can't you wait until I get up to talk about it? Look at you opening the door again and again, disturbing my sleep."
Wang Sufen was not angry at all. Instead, she rubbed her hands in embarrassment and said, "I can't help it."
Old Lady Li has lived with Wang Sufen for more than 20 years and knows her personality very well. She has always been the type who works quietly and doesn't like to talk much. It must be a great thing that she can be so happy now.
Old Lady Li picked up her pipe and stuffed some tobacco leaves into it: "Go get me a jar of water, and let's go up to the kang and talk."
Wang Sufen responded quickly and quickly brought a cup of warm water. Just as Mrs. Li took a gulp, before she could swallow it, Wang Sufen couldn't wait to tell her: "Mom, Zhenzhen has planted a field of cotton."
"Puff..." Mrs. Li didn't swallow a mouthful of water and it all sprayed onto Wang Sufen. Wang Sufen pulled her wet clothes and didn't care about anything else, and hurried to help Mrs. Li massage her back.
After finally catching her breath, Mrs. Li pushed Wang Sufen away angrily: "Can't you wait until I finish drinking the water? Look how you choked me."
Wang Sufen laughed foolishly again: "I couldn't help it."
Old Lady Li was also amused by her wet and silly look. She waved her hand and said, "Go change your clothes and come back to tell me in detail." She struck a match and lit her pipe. Suddenly, she remembered that she hadn't seen Zhenzhen: "Where's Zhenzhen?"
"I went out to play." Wang Sufen went back to the house, unpacked her suitcase, changed her clothes, and hurriedly sat on Mrs. Li's kang again: "Zhenzhen said she planted a large area, and she has as much as you want, but she doesn't know how to bring it back. Let me think of an excuse."
Old Lady Li took a puff of her pipe, with a thoughtful look on her face: "Let's not change the quilt this year. It can still be used for a year. When Guihua goes to Dongzi's place, we can take the opportunity to replace all the quilts with new ones."
"Are you going to make a cotton-padded jacket this year?" Wang Sufen looked at Old Lady Li expectantly. It was not that she wanted new clothes. She was almost fifty years old and didn't like them anymore. It was just that the old cotton-padded jacket and trousers looked too shabby.
"Let's do both." Old Lady Li thought for a moment and said, "If it doesn't work, let Mu Wu go out and say that he bought it outside. Who can verify it?"
Wang Sufen hesitated for a moment and couldn't help asking Old Lady Li: "Although no one has gone to verify it, but with so much cotton being pulled back at once, do you think Guihua would be suspicious of who it belongs to?"
"What are you doubting?" Old Lady Li looked at her and laughed, "Silly wife, I tell you, our Zhenzhen is so talented that she can't even guess it even if she dies. Just like the wild vegetables near our pigpen, they grow east and west every day, and are more lush than those in the mountains. Who doubts it?"
Wang Sufen shook her head, and Old Lady Li slapped her thigh and laughed: "That's right, they all think that our soil is good. For example, the yellow sheep that came to our door that year, the neighbors watched helplessly and couldn't guess why. They were envious and jealous and could only say that our family is blessed. Dongzi's mother, you just don't have to worry about this matter. All we can do is help Zhenzhen find a suitable excuse to transport things home, you don't have to worry about anything else."
Wang Sufen laughed out loud: "Mom is right. There is nothing you can suspect about this. Even if someone thinks my family is possessed by ghosts, we can't guess who it is. If someone really says so, I will say it was me. I was possessed by a yellow fox. Let's see what they can do."
"If someone really dares to say that, I will say that he is feudal and superstitious. Let's see who is afraid, them or our family." The mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law sang in unison and spoke happily.
The more Wang Sufen thought about it, the more she felt that this was a safe thing to do. She turned around and got off the kang: "I can't wait until the evening. No, I'll go call Dongzi's father back and talk about this now."
Old Mrs. Li looked at her helplessly: "Go ahead, go ahead. You are such a fool. You can't hide dry food in a doghouse. You really can't stand seeing good things."
At this time, Zhenzhen was taking out the gold bars from the ground in the mountains. Zhenzhen had no idea how much antique calligraphy and paintings were worth nowadays, but to be on the safe side, she still counted out 20 large yellow croakers and put them in two cloth bags. One large yellow croaker weighed 16 taels, and Zhenzhen thought that 20 large yellow croakers were enough to buy several antique calligraphy and paintings.
The author has something to say: 1. Crayfish are divided into water crayfish and soil crayfish. The appearance, taste and eating method of water crayfish are very similar to crayfish. Solitary crayfish are insects and are not edible. Water crayfish belong to the shrimp family and need very clean water to survive. They taste very delicious. Actually, I don't have much impression of this, but when the Internet was not very developed, my mother always thought that crayfish were water crayfish.
2. You have to use gold to buy antiques. Too many treasures were destroyed in that era. It hurts to think about it. I wish I could save them all. My IQ is not very high. Although I have figured out a lot of details, I am still afraid of being called too naive. If you have good suggestions on this plot, please leave a message. I have a big red envelope to give away.
Tomorrow is Monday. School will start, and work will start. I guess everyone will be busy. To cheer you up, I will still give out 50 daily red envelopes in this chapter. Comments with longer words will be easier to be seen.
I’ll give out the red envelope from yesterday’s chapter tomorrow when I go to work, muah!