Chapter Twelve: Cutting Bamboo and Sugarcane

  Since Eldest Sister gave birth to her son, she has been staying at home taking care of the child. Except for going to the fields occasionally, she rarely goes anywhere else.

  "Mom, how did you get here?" Song Wen asked in surprise.

  "Why can't I come?"

  Chen Xiuhui gave her son a displeased look.

  Upon hearing this, Song Wen rubbed the back of his head.

  Seeing her son's silly appearance, Chen Xiuhui gave him a glance and said: "Silly boy, your dad went to the mountain with you to dig bamboo shoots, no one was at home to cook, so I came over to take a look. Hurry up and wash your hands, it's time for dinner."

  "Oh..."

  Song Wen responded with a "yes" and then went to wash his hands and eat dinner.

  After dinner, he and his father picked out the tender bamboo shoots and packed them in a large bamboo basket. Then they loaded it onto the motorcycle rack and took it to a place in town that specialized in collecting bamboo shoots.

  This time they dug up too many bamboo shoots, so Song Wen helped his father carry two big baskets of bamboo shoots to sell.

  Song Wensheng bought a small hen on his way back from selling bamboo shoots, planning to pair it with the wind snake he caught in the morning for a dragon and phoenix fight. But when he got home and entered the Ruyi fan, he saw the little hedgehog lying on the ground, leisurely gnawing at the wind snake. The two-meter-long wind snake had already been eaten by more than a third. Next to it, the small dog without teeth was also joining in the fun, biting the wind snake, but it's unknown what it could do with no teeth.

  Song Wen was speechless, but seeing that even a small hedgehog couldn't finish eating a whole snake, he took down a section of the snake meat from the part that hadn't been bitten.

  Originally wanted to make a big pot of dragon and phoenix fight, but now it seems that it can't be done, only half a small hen plus a piece of snake meat can be made into a small pot. The other half of the small hen is used to stir-fry some mushrooms with ginger, scallions, salt, and monosodium glutamate to make steamed mushroom chicken, and then two dishes are made, and at noon, I eat deliciously with my father.

  His mother Chen Xiuhui went down the mountain after cooking in the morning because she had to take care of her daughter-in-law and grandson.

  After lunch and a short rest, Song Wen picked up his hoe and came to the backyard.

  The backyard was empty and bare, with only a few neat rows of vegetables that had been cleared in the past few days.

  The backyard was originally a piece of land filled with garbage left over from building houses, and it took him a lot of hard work to clean it up. At that time, the soil was very thin and not fertile at all, so he asked his father to bring in several trucks of mushroom soil. Mushroom soil is the leftover soil after growing mushrooms, which is extremely fertile and perfect for farming. Then he went to the chicken and duck farms to get some chicken and duck manure. Now this land looks very fertile, almost too fertile.

  In the corner of the yard was a cowshed, and the big water buffalo that was about to give birth saw him walking over and suddenly let out a loud "moo".

  Song Wen walked over, patted its head, and comforted it. The water buffalo's belly was getting bigger by the day, and it seemed like it would give birth soon. It is said that a woman's temper after pregnancy is as unpredictable as the weather in June, so Song Wen had been carefully serving the water buffalo. Seeing that the hay in the cowshed was a bit less, he went to get some more to cover it, lest the water buffalo catch a chill at night.

  After entering autumn, the weather gets colder every day. This mountain is even colder than outside. The big water buffalo is about to give birth, so we have to be more careful.

  After spreading out the hay, I also got some food for the water buffalo, then picked up a hoe and started digging in the yard.

  He plans to dig a water cellar in the courtyard to store water and then dig a ditch to let the water out, to see if he can raise some loaches or other fish.

  After digging for a while, I suddenly remembered the hedgehog and little dog in the Ruyi fan, so I let them out. The two little guys came out, excited and happy, barking loudly. The little hedgehog ran around the yard, then went to the corner and started digging in the dirt, who knows what it was doing. The little dog wagged its tail and surrounded Song Wen, calling out excitedly for a while, then chased after the chickens and ducks in the yard, playing with them. After a while, it saw the big water buffalo, felt that this big guy looked a bit strange, so ran to the outside of the cowshed, curiously looking at it and barking, mischievously.

  Song Wen dug a good water cave and water ditch, then led the spring water from the mountain to the water cave through pipes. The spring water flowed into the water cave, didn't come out, and then flowed into the water ditch. After circling around the courtyard for a big turn, it flowed out of the wall corner along a drainage pipe to the small lake outside.

  His father originally wanted to dig a well at home, but Song Wen thought it would be troublesome to ask someone to dig the well and the well water was not as sweet as the spring water. So he went to the mountain himself to find a spring eye, then built the surrounding area of the spring eye with red bricks and cement. When the spring water filled the water tower made of red bricks and cement, he covered it up and led the spring water through pipes to the water tower on the second floor roof, and then led the water from the water tower to every corner of the house.

  After digging the water cave, Song Wen wanted to go up the mountain to take a look and see if there were any wild boars coming to destroy the bamboo forest on that side. At the same time, he went to explore the bamboo mouse's nest in the bamboo forest and think of a way to deal with it.

  Just then, his mobile phone in his pocket rang. He picked it up and saw that it was Song Hu.

  "What's wrong."

  "Tian Shui's family is cutting down sugarcane, hurry up and come here to me, I'll take you over there, otherwise the sugarcane will be taken away by others."

  It's almost autumn now, withering grass and trees, there is no more grass to cut, so Song Wen had to go buy fodder to feed the big water buffalo.

  The water buffalo didn't have any green grass to eat, and its stomach seemed a bit off. Song Wen complained about it several times. After hearing this, Song Huo made some inquiries and found out that someone in the village was going to cut down bamboo shoots today, so he quickly called him over. After cutting down the bamboo shoots, there was a pile of leftover bamboo stalks, which were sweet but slightly salty, just what the buffalo loved to eat.

  Song Wen listened and didn't dare to slack off, told his dad a word, then rode the motorcycle towards Song Hu's braised noodle shop. In the village there were several households raising cattle, going late those ox tails really didn't know if they had their share or not.

  Arriving at the braised noodle shop, Song Hu was already waiting there with his small truck. Song Wen parked his motorcycle and got into the truck with Song Hu, heading towards the bamboo grove together.

  The bamboo and sugarcane garden is located at the west end of Songjiabao, where most of the land is used for growing bamboo and sugarcane. The terraced fields of sugarcane look like a spectacular sight.

  Every year at this time, it's the season for harvesting bamboo sugar cane. The cut bamboo sugar cane is either sold to a sugar factory or taken to the market to be sold by oneself. Generally speaking, selling it oneself gets a higher price, but it's more troublesome, while selling it to a sugar factory is cheaper, but they have the advantage of buying everything, regardless of quality, without having to sell it slowly.

  Nowadays, the bamboo shoots in the market are about one yuan or eight cents per catty. One bamboo shoot can sell for around eight to nine yuan. A bundle of sugarcane has twenty roots, and if you can sell three or four bundles a day, it's already very good. However, this can only be sold once a year, so relying on selling bamboo shoots to make a living will eventually lead to starvation. Therefore, fewer and fewer people are planting bamboo shoots now.

  Upon arrival, half of the sugarcane in the field had already been cut down, and someone was collecting the cane tips beside it. Song Wen took a look, wasn't that Hailin, the cowherd from the village? He couldn't help but glance at Song Hu, this guy, with someone already collecting the cane tips, why did he still come over here.

  Song Hu knew what he was thinking and said, "It's okay, he'll take half of it, the rest is yours. In these few days, all the bamboo shoots in this area will be cut down, and there will be so many sugarcane stalks that even your family won't have enough space to store them."

  Song Wen felt relieved after hearing this.

  After Hai Lin dragged his sugarcane away, Song Wen went to collect the sugarcane, while Song Hu was carelessly pulling out a bamboo cane from a pile and gnawing on it, making Song Wen, who was working hard to bundle the sugarcane, want to beat him up.

  Song Hu was gnawing on a bamboo shoot, his mouth moving non-stop. He felt that the bamboo shoot was really too hard, making his teeth and mouth feel a bit sour. But it was sweet, sweeter than those dark sugarcane. After finishing one, he felt a little unsatisfied, so he pulled out another smaller bamboo shoot.

  Just as he was about to continue eating, he felt someone poking him from behind with something. He turned his head and saw that it was Tian Shui, the son of the owner of the bamboo shoots field. He glared at him and gruffly asked: "What's wrong?"

  He was enjoying eating the bamboo shoots when he was suddenly interrupted by Tian Shui. He naturally felt unhappy, but he didn't think about whose bamboo shoots they were.

  "I think you've had enough," Tian Shui said, holding a cleaver.

  "What's up?"

  "Stop eating and go help when you've had enough; don't just focus on eating."

  "You little brat, just eating one bamboo shoot and you're making such a big fuss. It's just cutting a bamboo shoot, it can be done in seconds, do you need someone to help you? Have some self-respect!"

  Song Hu didn't have a good temper and scolded, actually he didn't want to take action, just wanted to continue gnawing on the sugar cane.

  Tian Shui is several years younger than him, and when he was a kid, he followed behind his butt for a while. Nowadays, he works as a security guard in a factory. Today, on his day off, he returned home to rest, but was dragged by his old man to cut bamboo shoots. He had never done this kind of work before, and after just a few cuts, he was exhausted to death. Seeing Song Hu happily munching away at the bamboo shoots, he felt uneasy and dissatisfied, so he asked him to lend a hand.

  "Why don't you try it? Bamboo shoots are delicious, but they're not easy to chop." Tian Shui said.

  "You think I've never cut before? When my family grew sugarcane, I'd chop with one hand and one knife, like a dragon crossing the river, like a tiger rushing out of its lair, like a bear bursting out of its den. In less than three seconds, I'd finish chopping an entire row of sugarcane. You're nothing like me, you little brat - after chopping for a bit, you start crying and wailing!"

  "Anyone can brag, but don't just talk without taking action."

  Stirred by him, Song Hu really picked up his machete and headed towards the bamboo forest.

  What he said was not all bragging, holding a sickle and chopping quickly, the speed was very fast, and in a short while, he chopped off a mu of land, leaving Tian Shui staring in amazement.

  Song Wen, who was standing aside, couldn't help but laugh. To put it simply, Song Hu was indeed skilled at cutting bamboo shoots. In the past, he had used this skill to steal other people's bamboo shoots. If they didn't hurry up, someone might come to patrol the bamboo shoot garden soon. How could they not be quick?