Reborn in Changbai Mountain, I rely on my divine eyes to dig ginseng and hunt

When Liu Xia Lian came over, the meeting place on the primary school playground had been prepared, with big words written on red paper on the wall: Warmly welcome Comrade Liu Xia Lian to donate to build the school.

There were tables and chairs on the podium in front, about ten sets in total. The director and the mayor sat in the middle, followed by the three village heads, as well as seats for Liu Xia Lian and several respected elders in the village.

In front of them were more than 200 classmates and more than 100 prominent village officials, such as militia captains and group leaders.

The atmosphere was quite tense as TV reporters were holding huge cameras. Liu Xia Lian straightened her clothes and followed the village chief to sit in her seat.

After a while, the director and the mayor came out holding thermos cups, and the audience applauded warmly.

The routine is the same. The director and the mayor give speeches, expressing their deep regret for the poor school conditions and the students and teachers.

I followed Village Chief Li's speech. Although Village Chief Li's knowledge was only at the level of a junior high school student, his level was so high that he didn't even take the manuscript and just spoke directly.

"Well, leaders, fellow villagers, students and teachers. Today, I am extremely excited to officially announce to you that the joint primary school of Lijiatun, Mangcun and Zhangjiatun villages has been approved by the county education bureau and will be officially started tomorrow. The county is not rich, and our three villages are also poor. People have a hard time making ends meet, so we never thought about building a new school, but the children in the village must go to school and receive education."

There was thunderous applause at the scene. The villagers still recognized Village Chief Li, who was a righteous man.

"When Liu Xia Lian came to me and said she wanted to donate money to build a school, I didn't agree at first. I watched this child grow up, and it hasn't been easy these years. Who doesn't grow up eating coarse food? Xia Lian made tens of thousands of yuan from collecting ginseng last year, but was this money easy to come by? She collected it at the risk of her life. Who wouldn't feel bad to take out 30,000 yuan in cash?" The village chief's eyes swept over the leaders of the village.

"But Liu Xia Lian said, what is the purpose of making money? Isn't it just to spend it? If I spend it alone, at most I will be happy. If a school is built, the whole village will be happy. Children are the future of the family, children are the flowers of the motherland, and teachers are hardworking gardeners. If teachers want to teach students well, they must have a good school. So it doesn't matter if I suffer a little, but the children's school must be built."

Liu Xia Lian scratched her head. Isn’t this flattering me? Am I that noble?

Finally it was Liu Xia Lian's turn to speak. The atmosphere was so tense that she had to say a few words.

"Dear leaders, fellow villagers, teachers and classmates, I don't have much to say. I am just an ordinary country girl who made some money by chance. I decided to build a better school for my children. Of course, this requires everyone's joint efforts. This is the first installment of 10,000 yuan. I will give it to Village Chief Li now."

Liu Xia Lian held the tray and donated it to Village Chief Li. Spotlights flashed at the scene and photographers took several photos.

After asking the accountant to count the money, Village Chief Li announced loudly: "The total amount is 10,000 yuan. Three village chiefs, Principal Cheng, and two accountants will jointly supervise to ensure that every penny is spent on building the school."

Lianhe Primary School is located on a ridge between three villages. There was a bush forest here, about 100 mu, which was cleared to build the school. The Northeast is not short of land, so there is no need to save it. The large playground covers 70 to 80 mu, and basketball courts, football fields, and table tennis courts are all planned.

Thirty thousand yuan is only enough for material costs. The labor needs to be done for free by laborers from various villages, and the land is provided by Lijiatun.

After the meeting, the female workers returned to the greenhouse and were stunned. Chun Lan asked Liu Xia Lian, "Sister, what do you think? How much will you have left after donating 30,000 yuan?"

"How can there be any left? Didn't you see that the second batch of 30 greenhouses have stopped working and will resume work after the wild vegetables are harvested? What are you thinking? You are just bragging. You just donated it on impulse. It's okay. You can earn money again if you lose it."

The female workers said one after another: "We all have to thank you. With the new school, our children no longer have to go to the forest farm to go to school. The conditions in the village are good, so who would run around?"

Chun Lan gave a thumbs up and praised: "Sister Xia Lian, you have brought honor to us women. You are number one."

The loud speaker in the village began to arrange tasks. The foundation cleaning was the job of Zhangjiatun. After they finished cleaning, there were more horse-drawn carts in Mang Village, rushing to the brick factory to pull bricks and cement. The three villages jointly formed a militia team to guard the construction site and strictly prevent individual villagers who were greedy for petty gains from stealing materials.

The villagers know each other best. Even with this kind of material, some people dare to steal it and use it with a clear conscience.

Li Hu and Xu Xiong came back from fishing and asked, "Sister Xia Lian, we were going to donate 200 each, but when we got to the village and asked, they said our families had donated 500 each."

"Yes, I paid for it. Damei, Daya, Erya, Li Shaoling, Xu Shiba and the two of you will each get 500 yuan. Our hunting team gets its money from Changbai Mountain, so naturally we have to use some of it for good causes. I've paid for it, so don't worry about it."

"Okay, sister. I got some old man fish from the creek today. They weigh about three to five pounds. The store doesn't need them, so let's keep them for dinner."

Old man fish is a very common small fish in Northeast China. It doesn't grow big, barely about ten centimeters. It is ugly and difficult to clean. It is very cheap and may not even be sold for one cent per pound in the market. But it is really delicious, with tender and fresh meat.

"Okay, I'll go back to the old house to cook, and you guys can come over to eat later."

Liu Xia Lian took the old fish in a bag and went back to the old house with Daya. Daya helped to process the fish.

Liu Xia Lian prepared sauces, green peppers and chopped green onions.

Erya was watching the fun from the side: "Sister, are you going to deep fry the fish?"

"No, this is to stew the old man fish."

Heat oil in a pan, heat soybean oil, add the old man fish, fry it until it is shaped, then add the soybean paste, then add water and simmer it. The fire of the wood fire is quite strong, and the water will dry up in a short while. Add salt and green pepper, and wait for two minutes. A plate of fresh and delicious old man fish is ready.

It was time for dinner, Li Hu and Xu Xiong came over, but Sister Guilan and Xiaofei were not there.

When we arrived at the backyard, we found that these two people were delivering a roe deer, and they hardly had to do anything with their hands. Guilan was wearing gloves and a mask, waiting nearby. Li Xiaofei was watching and learning, and this was also considered a skill.

"Xia Lian, stay away, don't come over here. Some female animals have poisonous gas during childbirth, and women who are poisoned by the gas can't give birth."

"You're talking about brucellosis. OK, I get it. I'll stay away from you. But don't worry. There's very little of this disease in wild populations."

But there are no testing equipment these days, so who can say for sure? It’s better not to try it casually.