The eighteenth is to dig pitfalls and set traps to catch bamboo rats and wild boars.

  Today is Saturday, a group of tourists came to Songjiabao to play, saw the freshly baked brown sugar, wanted to buy it, but was shooed away by Tian Shui and his dad. Just kidding, on the eve of making brown sugar, villagers came to order dozens of kilograms, he didn't know if the finished brown sugar would be enough for everyone to share, how could he sell it to these strangers?

  It's too expensive to make sugar with cow milk, it's only suitable for personal consumption, if you want to sell it, I'm afraid you'll either lose money or nobody will buy it.

  To know that a kilogram of milk costs two yuan, the current wholesale price of sugarcane is around 5 or 6 mao, and it takes about 7 or 8 kilograms of sugarcane to produce one kilogram of sugar. Calculating this, the final cost of producing brown sugar per kilogram would be at least over five yuan, not including labor costs. However, the market price for loose brown sugar is only around 3 to 4 yuan. If a factory were to do this, it would have gone bankrupt long ago.

  However, the masses' eyes are bright and know what's good and what's not. Although the brown sugar made from cow's milk is a bit expensive, every year as long as someone in the village makes it, everyone will buy some to store away. Even people outside the village, in order to get their hands on the village-made brown sugar, especially go out of their way to ask villagers to buy some for them ahead of time. Unfortunately, throughout the year, there are only a few households in the village that make brown sugar, so it's destined to be scarce.

  Fewer and fewer households in the village make brown sugar, mainly because they can't make much money from it and it's hard work, so nobody is willing to do it themselves. As a result, the brown sugar made from cow's milk in the village becomes increasingly precious every year.

  Knowing that making sugar is laborious, Tian Shui's family was not stingy at all. At noon when eating, there were fish, ducks and chickens, extremely rich.

  After dinner, they continued to make sugar until late evening when they finally finished making all the sugarcane juice into brown sugar. Song Hu and Song Wen were so exhausted that they looked like little dogs, panting and almost collapsing. The two of them had another meal at Tian Shui's house, and after getting drunk and full, they patted their buttocks and left. As they left, Tian Shui's family gave each of them two boxes of 20-pound brick sugar as a small compensation for their nearly shattered hearts.

  Arriving at the braised noodle shop, Song Wen didn't linger for long, took his motorcycle and rushed back home. Halfway through, feeling that carrying two boxes of brown sugar was too cumbersome, he put them into his folding fan.

  The sky had darkened, and the bamboo forests on both sides of the mountain path were rustling loudly in the mountain wind.

  The weather suddenly turned cold over the past two days. By nightfall, there wasn't even a single bird chirping, only the howling wind, which sounded eerily frightening.

  Song Wen rode his motorcycle on the mountain road, listening to the wind whizzing past his ears, feeling a bit frightened, and a chill ran down his spine. He quickly accelerated, speeding forward. In his heart, he thought that maybe he should install streetlights on this mountain road, but unfortunately, he only had 10,000 yuan left in his pocket, and was almost penniless, so how could he afford to buy streetlights?

  The car sped quickly and soon arrived at the small creek in front of the house. He didn't park his car in the parking lot, but instead rode his motorcycle over the flat boulders across the creek.

  I don't know if it was the rushing stream or having had a bit too much wine, but the car swayed slightly and the wheels skidded. With a loud "bang", I fell into the creek.

  The motorcycle fell, and Song Wen immediately reacted, hurriedly using his feet to prop it up. However, the stone surface in the creek was too smooth, and with one loss of balance, his entire body fell into the water, instantly getting soaked from head to toe, like a drowned chicken.

  The creek water was cold and refreshing, carrying a chill that penetrated the skin. Song Wen couldn't help but shiver, quickly scrambling to his feet and supporting himself on the motorcycle as he made his way home.

  Down the mountain, in the new village, there were still some chickens and ducks being fed, and vegetables were planted. Chen Xiuhui was worried about everything at home, so after breakfast, she went back with her daughter-in-law and grandson. His second uncle woke up, ate, and left, leaving only his old father in the house. After digging the bamboo shoots, Song Yuanshui was also supposed to go back to the new village, but the big water buffalo in Song Wen's backyard was about to give birth, so he had to stay and help his youngest son.

  Song Yuanshui was watching TV in the house when he saw his son, drenched and pushing a motorcycle, come in. He couldn't help but frown and asked: "What's wrong? You're all wet?"

  "Just now when I came over, I accidentally slipped and fell."

  "The stones in the creek are slippery, don't ride your bike across from now on. Hurry up and change your clothes to avoid catching a cold. Your mom brought some brown sugar last time and put it in the kitchen, you can slice some ginger later and make a cup of ginger tea to warm yourself up."

  "Oh."

  Song Wen responded with a sound, parked the motorcycle, and hurriedly walked towards the room.

  Young people dislike it the most when others nag them, even if they clearly know they are wrong.

  Back in the house, he took off his wet clothes and thought of running to Ruyi Shan's warm water pool for a nice soak, but suddenly remembered that he might have drunk water from the same pool. If so, wouldn't he be drinking his own bathwater? He thought about it and immediately extinguished the idea of going to Ruyi Shan's pool to take a bath.

  Perhaps the greatest pain in life is not that he has steamed buns to eat and you don't, he has a horse to ride and you don't, he has a wife to hold and you don't, but rather there's a hot spring right in front of you, yet you can't jump in to take a bath.

  Although there is a water heater at home, the weather has turned cold, and even taking a hot bath in the bathroom can feel a slight chill. Moreover, taking a bath in the bathroom feels stuffy, so Song Wen doesn't want to take a bath at home anymore. However, he can only make do with it now. As he washes, he still feels that washing up in the pool of the air conditioner is refreshing, warm and cozy inside, with warm water, just like a hot spring, but without the sulfur smell of a hot spring, instead carrying a fresh breath, and the water also carries a refreshing sweetness.

  After taking a bath, he made a cup of ginger tea according to his father's words and drank it, then went to the plot where the sweet potatoes were planted in the Ruyi fan.

  He was amazed to find that the sweet potatoes he had planted last night had already sprouted, and he couldn't help but feel astonished. He thought it would take at least a few days for them to germinate, but they had grown overnight, which was truly strange. He thought about it for half a day, but couldn't come up with a reason, so he simply stopped thinking about it. He took out his fan and put the little dog and hedgehog inside, then lay down on the bed and fell asleep.

  Today I held a long spoon all day without stopping stirring in the big pot, really tired to unclear, after a while, fell asleep.

  Waking up from a nap, it was already midday. Remembering what he had to do today, Song Wen hurriedly got out of bed.

  Yesterday I held a spoon for a whole day, today my arm is slightly sore, it seems that the peaceful days have been too long, and I need to practice well in the future.

  After dressing and washing up, he came outside, but his dad was nowhere to be found, nor did he know where he had gone. However, the meal had been cooked for him.

  After dinner, he rode his motorcycle out, but didn't dare to cross the creek from the stones in the stream, instead he went over the wooden bridge spanning the creek, guessing that he was a little scared.

  The mountain path is quiet and serene, with the bamboo shadows swaying gently. The feeling is completely different from last night's eeriness, I don't know if it's because of daytime.

  Riding a motorcycle on the mountain road, Song Wen suddenly felt that the motorcycle was a bit strange, the rear wheel seemed to be shaking, it seemed that it was damaged yesterday, and someone had to take a look.

  I knew this motorcycle was so easy to fall, I should have gone to buy a four-wheeled motorcycle. Unfortunately, good four-wheeled motorcycles cost tens of thousands, and cheap ones are not good quality. My own pocket is tight, can only think about it, it's really hard for a hero to die from poverty, he doesn't even have the face to ask his parents for money. It seems like I need to find a way to make some money.

  Song Wen thought as he rode his motorcycle down the mountain.

  Suddenly saw a few tourists coming from the foot of the mountain, none of whom I recognized. Judging by their silly appearance, they should be here for tourism. It seems that in the future, we need to set up a gate at the foot of the mountain or something, so as not to let these people see how fun it is over here and swarm in, one telling ten, ten telling hundreds, making it impossible to have peace and quiet.

  Arriving at the foot of the mountain, Song Wen found someone to take a look at the motorcycle and discovered that nothing was wrong with it. He then ran off to buy over ten mouse cages and went to the market to buy some vegetables before hurrying back.

  The motorcycle was still a bit shaky, and he couldn't help but secretly curse the person who repaired it. It was clear that the repairman's skills were not up to par, yet he claimed everything was fine. If something went wrong, he would definitely go after that guy for an explanation.

  When he returned home, his father had already come back and was weaving a bamboo basket with a hatchet.

  Down the mountain, there is someone who specializes in collecting bamboo baskets, which are used for packing tea leaves and vegetables. When his father has nothing to do, he cuts down the raw bamboo and weaves it into baskets to earn some small change.

  Song Wen parked the motorcycle and greeted his dad, then carried a hoe, brought a machete, saw and the rat cage he bought to go up the mountain.

  Today he is going to catch the bamboo rats and wild boars in the bamboo forest. If they don't catch them, the bamboo forest will be ruined by these things soon.

  Song Yuanshui had also gone to catch it before, but unfortunately didn't catch it. Seeing his son wanting to go and catch it, he didn't care about him, anyway young people have plenty of energy.

  Hunting on the mountain may be a technical activity, but catching bamboo rats is relatively simpler.

  Just put the mouse cage bought near the entrance of the bamboo rat hole, and hang the bait, that's it. Bamboo rats like to eat underground stems of bamboo, bamboo shoots, and tender leaves and roots of other plants. Song Wen just catered to their tastes, specially dug up a few crisp young bamboo shoots from the bamboo forest as bait.

  After putting away the mouse cage, he carried a hoe with a saw and a chopping knife to find the path where the wild boar walked.

  Every animal has its own path, as long as you are careful, it's not hard to find. Song Wen carefully searched the forest and finally found a road that wild boars often walked on, so he dug a trap by the side of the road.

  Wild boars are good at jumping, and with one jump they can leap several meters high. So Song Wen dug a five-meter-deep pit to prevent the wild boar from falling into the trap and jumping out. After digging the pit, he didn't dare set up any mechanism inside, but instead made the walls smooth so that the wild boar couldn't use its strength to jump out. He was afraid someone might accidentally fall in and get hurt.

  He dug a good trap, then went to cut some tender bamboo branches to cover the entrance, and also got some fallen leaves to pave on top, making it look like nothing was wrong. Finally, he put some peeled young bamboo shoots on top, and this trap was considered complete.

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