Carry a fountain with you

Chapter 260 The Toad

The two walked in front, Xiaopi and Wukong followed behind.After only following for a while, Xiaopi disappeared.Liu Junhao knew that this guy would be able to follow the scent, so he didn't care.

Spring has begun to appear in the mountains, and many azaleas have sprouted buds.Although it has not yet opened, it can be imagined that in a few days, there will be a sea of ​​flowers here.

The grass on the shady side is still dry, but the sunny flowers and trees have begun to sprout, and occasionally a few small flowers are mixed in, which adds a bit of vitality to the forest.

Wukong was very active all the way, pointing his claws at the branches above his head and screaming.Several times, this guy wanted to sneak up the tree, but Liu Junhao watched it so well that he didn't let him have a chance to play tricks.

What it looks at is naturally the bird's nests on the branches. Most of the trees have not yet grown leaves, so the bird's nests on the branches are very conspicuous.Along the way, they saw almost all bird nests.Many of them are in the bushes, and they are not as tall as a person.

"Wild bees have also come out from the mountains." Professor Zhao was far away, so he didn't look carefully at all.

"It's not a bee, it's a walleye, without a stinger." Liu Junhao explained with a smile.Big-eyed bees can also be regarded as messengers of spring, and they become active almost as soon as spring flowers bloom.The appearance of this thing is very similar to that of a bee, but its stomach is very flat and its body is much thinner.They are very alert, as soon as something approaches, they will flap their wings and fly away.

As he was walking, Wukong suddenly squeaked.

"There is movement!" Professor Zhao turned his head immediately.

Liu Junhao looked at the grass in doubt, and there seemed to be nothing unusual.Before the two of them could recall it, the monkey had already rushed up, and then took out a frog from the ditch.

This guy always does unexpected things, and he thought he found something amazing, but he didn't expect it to be just a frog that just woke up.

The two of them were a little dumbfounded for a moment!

Although it was a short cut, it was not easy. It took more than an hour to turn and turn. If Liu Junhao was not familiar with the road and asked Professor Zhao to go up the mountain alone, he would definitely not be able to reach this area.

Arriving under the wolfberry tree, Professor Zhao circled around the tree trunk, also full of admiration.

After a spring rain, the fungus grew a lot.Liu Junhao waved his hand, and the monkey rushed to the top of the tree three times, five times, and then threw the fungus down.

This time I picked less, about five catties, and it should be less than two catties after drying.

After finishing the fungus, Professor Zhao proposed to dig dandelion seedlings on the mountain.Time is too tight, Liu Junhao doesn't even have the chance to grow dandelions.Helpless, he had no choice but to make up his mind secretly, let's just lead the old man around the mountain for a while, and say that he couldn't find the place.

"Let's search separately, there are too many bushes here, let's search separately."

"Well, yes." Liu Junhao hurriedly nodded in agreement, this proposal was exactly what he wanted.

Seeing the figure of the old man going away, he also acted quickly, leading Wukong to the depths of the bushes, and finally found a place where dandelions were sparsely growing.

Pick up a small shovel to dig, dig out those dandelions and plant them in your own stone lock, and then dig out the dandelions inside the stone.There are still a lot of dandelions that have just grown on the grass. For these, he waters them one by one with spring water, which can be regarded as compensation for his behavior just now.

After everything was busy, he breathed a sigh of relief and sat on the grass to rest.

No matter how much you think about making a fuss over this matter, it's not worth it...

"Xiaohao, Xiaohao!" Within 10 minutes, Professor Zhao shouted over there.

"I'm here." He hurriedly stood up and waved his hand.

"Did you dig it? It's past ten o'clock, we have to go back early." Professor Zhao didn't go far.

"I got it, not much this time." Soon the old man rushed over rubbing his hands.He thought it was troublesome to dig with a shovel just now, so he just pulled it with his hands, so his hands were wet with mud.

Liu Junhao was afraid that he would see something unusual, but the old man didn't mean to go into it at all, and only said that he would go to the mountain to dig a few more times in the future.

The two of them dug dandelions and got their hands dirty, so when they went down the mountain, they found a mountain stream to wash their hands.

This mountain stream can be regarded as a tributary of the big river, meandering through the mountains, and finally pouring into the river from the back of the village.The stones on the bank are particularly smooth under the long-term washing of the stream.

In the shallow water, a few fingernail-sized fish kept swimming around, and when they sensed someone on the shore, they quickly hid among the rock crevices.

The stream water in early spring has become quite soft. Liu Junhao took a handful of stream water to wash his face, and immediately felt refreshed.

"Gon...Gon...Gon" suddenly a cry came from not far away.

"What's so loud, frog?" the old man was startled.

"It doesn't seem to be the case. The frog's voice is louder than this. It should be a rock pheasant... Let's go and have a look, and the rock pheasant is also coming out at this time." Thinking of this, Liu Junhao looked excited.

"The rock chicken known as the 'King of Frogs'...is there still such a thing in the mountains?" Professor Zhao also became interested.

"Of course there are. There used to be many, but now it's really not easy to see one."

The use value of rock chicken is very high, and it can be called the top grade among mountain delicacies.Its meat is very delicious and nutritious, and it is a first-class tonic.No matter it is braised in soy sauce or steamed, it is fragrant and mellow.Many folk remedies in Liujiagou are related to rock chickens. For example, eating more rock chickens in summer can eliminate prickly heat, and rock chicken stew can treat postpartum weakness, tuberculosis, coughing and vomiting blood, etc.

This thing is different from ordinary frogs. It has higher requirements on the environment and likes to stay in deep mountain streams most of the time.Daqingshan is rich in water sources and has many mountain streams, so it is very suitable for the survival of rock chickens.

Every year from the end of March to mid-August in the lunar calendar, groups of rock chickens come out to look for food on summer nights, and the cry of "Gong... Gong..." can be heard several miles away, which sounds a bit oozing. people.

I remember when I was young, some of the children were disobedient. When the adults threatened, they often said that they would throw you into the rock chicken nest to see if you were not obedient.

Because this thing is afraid of the sun, it hides in the crevices of rocks most of the time during the day, so people can only catch it at night.In summer and autumn, I searched along the mountain stream with a flashlight at night.As long as you hear the sound and shine the flashlight, the thing will freeze immediately when it sees the strong light.At this time, you can directly go forward to catch it and throw it into the snakeskin bag.

Before the 80s, there were many rock chickens on the mountain, but around 1990, many game restaurants opened in the county, and the owners came here one after another to buy rock chickens, each for two yuan.

At that time, people were crazy about chutzpah hunting. Almost the whole family, young and old, joined the battle. Half of the sky was brightly lit by flashlights. At most, they could catch hundreds of grouse in a day.In a few years, the number of rock pheasants in Daqingshan declined rapidly, and it was difficult for people to see the rock pheasants.

That's why Liu Junhao was so excited to see him.He even had the idea of ​​raising chubby chickens in his mind. Like rice field eels, raising them in the backyard will definitely reap a lot of rewards.

I didn't expect the rock pheasants to come out so early. It seems that spring has really come.

When the two arrived at the source of the sound, they did not see the rock chicken.

"Is it still ahead?" Professor Zhao searched carefully by the stream several times, but he didn't find it at all, but there were quite a few startled frogs.

"It should be here, let's not talk, it will definitely bark later."

Ever since, both of them stopped talking.Wukong felt that the atmosphere was abnormal, and obediently squatted on the stone and stared at the stream.

"Gong... Gong..." Sure enough, less than 3 minutes later, the tweet came again.

Both looked at the source of the sound... a stone the size of a millstone, but nothing else.It's really a bit of an empty mountain with no people, but the taste of people's voices.

"Gong... Gong..." Suddenly there were two more voices.

"Below..." Now Liu Junhao understood.The bottom of the stone must be sunken, and the rock chicken is hiding there, no wonder they can't find it.

Professor Zhao leaned over to look, and sure enough, he saw a rock grouse floating under the rock, but when the guy saw the person, he dodged and disappeared into the water.

"What should we do...how about we fish with a rope?" The rock chicken was startled away, and now it can only think of other tricks.

"Let me try it." Liu Junhao stretched out his hand and grabbed a knee-high foxtail, pulling off all the leaves on it, leaving only the furry dog ​​tail at the end.

The foxtail swayed against the surface of the water for about ten minutes, but the rock chicken didn't react at all. I don't know if it just woke up from hibernation and was not hungry, or it was not interested in this kind of temptation.

Hearing this guy's cries getting louder and louder, Liu Junhao became a little annoyed, so he simply took off his shoes and socks, and rolled his trousers up to knee height.

"What are you going to do, catch it in the water? Wait, I'll go down and stop it too."

"No, you watch from the shore, I will lift this rock." After Liu Junhao finished speaking, he jumped into the water with a plop.The bottom of the stream is full of sand and rocks, so it has not been disturbed, which is convenient for catching grouse later. In this environment, it must have nowhere to hide.

"This rock is too big, can you lift it?" Professor Zhao asked suspiciously.Although he knew Liu Junhao's strength was great, but the stone seemed to weigh four to five hundred catties, and he definitely couldn't move it by himself.

"Don't worry, I'm not that stupid, just throw it ashore." Liu Junhao gritted his teeth and sank down.

"Hey..." With a low growl, the stone loosened, and Professor Zhao hurriedly retreated to the side.

He quickly lifted the stone, and then pushed hard, and suddenly there was a loud bang, and the stone fell into two pieces on the ground.

Unexpectedly, there are still many fish hiding under the rocks. After losing their hiding places, these guys can only flee around along the stream.For them, Liu Junhao still can't see the eyes, all he wants to catch now is the rock chicken.

"Where's the rock chicken, why haven't you seen it?" Professor Zhao stared at the shore with wide-eyed eyes, but he didn't find any trace of that thing.

"I X" spent so much effort, but I didn't expect that there would be another world under the big rock.Looking at the crack in the stone, Liu Junhao couldn't help yelling a national curse.

I was busy for more than half an hour, and all I did was useless.Professor Zhao was quite reconciled, rolled up his sleeves and reached into the cracks in the rocks.

"What, it's so slippery..." As soon as he stretched his hand in, he felt something slippery and slipping away.

"What can it be, it must be a fish." Liu Junhao has no hope now.He knows this very well. After being scoured by the stream for a long time, the crevices in the rocks are generally relatively deep, and people's arms cannot be stretched to the bottom.

"No, it seems to have legs..." Professor Zhao called out and stretched his other hand in, only to hear the constant splashing of water inside.

"It slipped off, it must have gone deep into the hole." In the end, he withdrew his hand in disappointment, and it was all glistening with mucus.

"You might touch a greyhound or a catfish." Generally, fish have very little mucus, but these two are particularly slippery, and they also like to drill holes.

"No, I feel like I caught a thin leg." Professor Zhao shook his head, the feeling just now was not like a fish at all.

"That must be Ge Yahu. The two fins in front of this thing are very hard." Liu Junhao knew that he probably caught something psychologically.

By the time they got home, the students had just finished school.I made pancakes for lunch. Zhang Qian wanted something sweet, so she asked Liu Junhao to gather some honey.

The honey on the reed stacks in front has already been harvested once. If I want to eat it at this time, I can only go to the backyard.

After wandering around the mountain for a long time, he was too tired to move, so he planned to use white sugar instead.

Zhang Qian didn't want to give up, and volunteered to pick in the backyard.

Liu Junhao was kneading dough when he suddenly heard the phone ringing in the living room.

Whoever called at this time, he ran into the living room suspiciously.When I saw the number, I wondered, it turned out to be my wife calling from her mobile phone.

"Wow... Liu Junhao, come here quickly, hurry up... I dare not move" Zhang Qian's trembling voice came over as soon as the phone was connected.

"Where are you?" Didn't my wife go to the backyard to pick honey just now?

"I'm on the courtyard wall...Follow me...Hurry up, there are a few toads here..." On the mobile phone, her teeth could be clearly heard chattering, and her voice was also inaudible, as if she was afraid of disturbing something.

"Toad! You wait, I'll be there right away." Liu Junhao hung up the phone with a snap, then rushed out the door, and rushed into the backyard.There is an allegorical saying that "a toad jumps on the instep, and if it doesn't bite, it will kill you." Toads are what people often call toads. Although they are beneficial animals like frogs, people have completely different attitudes towards them.Many people hide away when they see toads, even if they crawl into the yard to eat mosquitoes, they will be shoveled out.

Zhang Qian has been in Liujiagou for almost two years, and she has seen a lot, but she turned pale with fright when she encountered a toad a few times.What's more, this time it was a close contact. For a while, she was too scared to move.

From a distance, Zhang Qian turned her head and closed her eyes tightly, standing in front of the reeds in a strange posture.And in front of and behind her, there were a few toads the size of bowls squatting.There was another squatting on the reed pole, staring at her covetously.

These toads are crazy, how can they fight against humans?Liu Junhao was quite puzzled.Could it be that Zhang Qian provoked them just now?

But he couldn't allow him to think too much about the matter, the most important thing right now was to rescue his "wife".A single toad is not scary, if seven or eight of them get together, Liu Junhao also feels a bit creepy.

He tiptoed to the front, and the toads sensed the movement, and they all jumped aside to make way.

When Liu Junhao first came into contact with Zhang Qian, she immediately opened her eyes with a yell.Seeing that it was her husband, she immediately got into his arms.

"Don't be afraid," Liu Junhao hugged her back again and again, until he retreated to a safe distance before he heaved a sigh of relief.

(End of this chapter)