Chapter 1124 Stepfather 35
At this time, the chicken soup in the earthenware jar overflowed. Yuanchun heard the sound, ran over, opened the lid, took out two pieces of firewood, and simmered it over low heat.
She looked at Shen Yi and said, "You are in luck. I just caught a pheasant. I will give you a bowl of chicken soup later."
Thinking it was not good for a man and a woman to be alone in a cave, Shen Yi was about to leave, but Yuanchun asked him to stay. He sat down by the fire and said in a cold voice, "Comrade Xu, thank you for giving me the herbs last time. My mother's cold has healed."
"It's just a small favor. You're welcome."
Yuanchun grabbed a handful of roasted hazelnuts from a basket and stuffed them into his hand. "Try it. I roasted wild hazelnuts."
I added a little salt when frying, and the hazelnuts taste a bit salty in my mouth.
Shen Yi, a cold man who doesn't like snacks, ate a few and found that the more he chewed, the more delicious they became, so he started to like eating them.
Yuanchun said, "There are many treasures in this back mountain, including hazelnuts, chestnuts, apricots, walnuts... These dried fruits can be dried and fried, and can be eaten as food. In Hongqi Village, as long as people are not lazy, they will not go hungry."
Shen Yi had been in the department for five years. He had also taken his subordinates to the deep mountains for training, where they stayed for several months. They did not bring food or vegetables, only some salt, and ate food they found in the mountains.
It can be said that he knows more about what food is available in the mountains than Yuanchun, the mountain girl.
But Shen Yi still pretended to be listening very seriously.
Yuanchun continued, "It's not convenient to cook meat dishes at home. This cave is my secret base. I often go up the mountain to hunt game to improve my diet. No one knows about this place except me. You are the second person who knows about it. I can share this place with you. If you hunt game and it's not convenient to cook it at home, you can bring it here to cook. But you can't touch the hazelnut tree at the entrance of the cave."
"That's what I discovered. Last year, I harvested more than 300 kilograms of hazelnuts and sold them at the county supply and marketing cooperative for 60 yuan. This is my secret income. If you want secret income, go find a dried fruit tree yourself. There are many dried fruit trees in the back mountain, especially in the deep mountains. No villagers come in. When the autumn harvest season comes, the fruits of many dried fruit trees fall to the ground and rot. What a pity."
Wild boars often appear nearby and the villagers dare not come here, so Yuanchun’s secret base has always been safe. However, it was discovered by Shen Yi today.
However, Yuanchun doesn't care.
The Shen family is just the unlucky ones affected by this era. One day, they will return to their original position, so Yuanchun will help them secretly.
It is always better to be friends with others than enemies with them.
Shen Yi asked, "You picked the dried fruits from the mountains and sold them privately. Does the commune not care?"
"The county town is a hundred miles in radius and is surrounded by mountains. One quarter of the villages in the county town depend on the mountains for their livelihood. However, because there are many mountains, there is little land. If the commune prohibits the people from harvesting nuts, or confiscates the nuts, the people will starve to death.
More than half of the harvested grain has to be handed over. If dried fruits are also confiscated, what will the people eat?
The common people can fill their stomachs by relying on the dried fruits brought from the mountains.
Chestnuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, and almonds are all foods that can fill your stomach.
The price of these dried fruits is the same as that of coarse grains. People will sell some of them in exchange for coarse grains. Although dried fruits are delicious and can fill the stomach, they can never compare to grains.
People are still used to eating grains.