The happy little days of the Ye family

The chestnuts and persimmons in Xiaohoushan are already ripe, and Ye Qingqing can’t wait to go to Xiaohoushan to take them home.

After Mrs. Ye and Mother Ye set off for Wangjiacun, Ye Qingqing couldn't wait to take Mr. Ye and Ye Xilin to go to Xiaohou Mountain.

Ye Xilin has not gone to school since the autumn harvest. During this time, he followed Mr. Ye to dry grain at home and collect mountain products from the two mountains at home.

The original plan was for Ye Xilin to set up a stall and sell red dates at the county market. Unexpectedly, most of the adult men in the county signed up to clean the river this year.

Nowadays, the market is deserted. Even if they go to the big market, women don't dare to spend money casually. Ye Xilin has no choice but to help Mr. Ye at home.

Mr. Ye quickly grabbed Ye Qingqing who was about to go out, and said angrily: "Why are you so anxious? Your mother told me that you must sprinkle realgar powder before going up the mountain, and you must also bring insect repellent sachets."

"You are an engaged girl, yet you are so reckless."

Mr. Ye sprinkled realgar powder on the three of them, then took out three insect repellent sachets and gave one to each of Ye Qingqing and Ye Xilin.

The two donkeys in the family were taken away by Ye's father and Ye Donglin, and the three of them had to walk all the way to Xiaohoushan.

The three of them walked for about half an hour and finally arrived at Xiaohou Mountain.

The edge of the stream at the foot of the mountain is covered with lush water celery. The water celery is a bit old at this time, but the young shoots at the top are still edible.

It's been a long time since I've eaten water celery, and Ye Qingqing is also a little greedy. I plan to pick some water celery shoots when I go back.

The water in the large puddle beside the creek is still very clear. If you get closer, you can see the spring at the bottom bubbling.

Ye Qingqing looked at Mr. Ye: "Grandpa, can fish be raised in this big puddle? The water in this puddle is mountain spring water. The fish that grow up drinking mountain spring water must be particularly delicious."

"It should be possible to raise it." Mr. Ye was not sure.

Ye Xilin squatted on the edge of the puddle, picked up the spring water with his hands and washed his face.

"The spring water is ice cold, so comfortable."

Seeing this, Ye Qingqing imitated Ye Xilin and washed his face by the puddle.

Just as Ye Qingqing was about to stand up, Ye Xilin threw a small stone into the puddle with a smirk on his face, and the splash of water splashed Ye Qingqing's face.

Ye Qingqing turned around, held down Ye Xilin, and slapped Ye Xilin's arm several times.

The old man looked at the two people who were still childish, shook his head with a smile, and walked to the grass aside to find wild eggs.

Mr. Ye had found several nests of wild eggs in the grass beside the stream before. He remembered the approximate location and would check if there were any wild eggs every time he came to the mountain.

Mr. Ye had bad luck today. He only found a nest of wild eggs, and there were only three wild eggs in it.

Mr. Ye took away two pheasant eggs and left one untouched. This was reserved for the pheasants.

According to Mr. Ye's experience, pheasants may not know how to count. You take away the eggs from the pheasant nest, but as long as you leave one or two, the pheasant will not notice it and will continue to lay eggs in the original pheasant nest.

Every time Mr. Ye found a chicken nest, he would leave one or two wild eggs and wait for a while before continuing to get wild eggs from the chicken nest.

As time goes by, the pheasants will still find it, but before that, Mr. Ye can at least get two or three more eggs. Therefore, the Ye family can often eat wild eggs.

Mr. Ye took the wild eggs back to look for the Ye Qingqing siblings, and saw the two of them talking and laughing, happily talking about putting fry into the big puddle.

When Ye Xilin saw that Mr. Ye was back, he happily said to Mr. Ye: "Grandpa, we will go to the pond on the side of Zhulin Mountain to catch some fry and put them in the puddle."

Ye Qingqing looked at Mr. Ye excitedly, "Yes, there are so many fish fry in the pond over at Zhulin Mountain that the pond can barely hold them anymore. It's just right to come over here a little at a time."

The father was also a doting child, and said with a loving look on his face: "Okay, when your father comes to deliver the goods in the afternoon, we will catch some fry and raise them here in the puddle."

"Next year you will be able to eat this fish that grew up drinking spring water. I wonder if it is particularly delicious?" Mr. Ye was also a little curious.

There are many wild vegetables growing around the puddle, including wild onions, wild leeks and shepherd's purse. They all grow lush and green, but unfortunately they are a little old.

Moreover, there was not enough vegetables to eat in the small vegetable garden at home, so the three of them did not go to pick wild vegetables.

The three of them were talking and laughing along the way, and it didn't take long before they found the chestnut tree halfway up the mountain.

When I first bought Xiaohoushan last year, the two chestnut trees were still small and skinny. Unexpectedly, they have grown into large and leafy trees in the past two years.

The two chestnut trees grew well and produced large chestnuts and many fruits.

Ye Xilin likes to eat chestnuts very much. When he saw the chestnuts from these two trees, he seemed to see sugar-fried chestnuts, chestnut braised chicken and chestnut braised rice waving to him.

Ye Xilin touched his still bulging belly and seemed to be hungry again.

Mr. Ye cut three long bamboo poles in the bamboo forest, and the three of them took the bamboo poles and slapped the chestnuts on the trees.

The chestnuts on the trees had already matured a long time ago, and they fell one after another under the beating of the bamboo poles. It was like a chestnut rain, and the ground was covered with chestnuts.

Only half of the chestnuts were knocked down when Mr. Ye told Ye Qingqing and Ye Xilin to stop. There were too many chestnuts and they were worried that they would not be shipped back.

Chestnuts are easy to store. As long as you don’t remove the burrs on the outside, you can keep them until the end of the year.

The grandfather and grandson picked up all the chestnuts under the chestnut tree, and then went to pick persimmons from the persimmon tree not far away.

Ye Qingqing sighed: "This persimmon tree is really big. It must be at least several decades old, right?"

This persimmon tree in Xiaohoushan is very tall, with a trunk as thick as a bucket, and several tables can be placed under its shade.

Mr. Ye was very happy to see the bright yellow and round persimmons on the tree, "Yes, this persimmon tree is at least several decades old."

Ye Qingqing ran behind the persimmon tree again to look at the small persimmon trees.

The little persimmon seedling, which was originally only as tall as Ye Qingqing's calf, is already taller than Ye Qingqing.

Although Ye Xilin's figure is a bit round, he is very flexible and can climb up the persimmon tree like a monkey.

Ye Xi was responsible for picking the persimmons from the lower areas, while Ye Qingqing and Mr. Ye picked the persimmons from the upper areas with bamboo poles.

Old Ye Ye stopped picking only half of the persimmon, leaving the remaining half for picking tomorrow.

Just these persimmons and freshly picked chestnuts are enough for Father Ye to make two or three trips.