CH 31.2

After the sun came out, the quiet mountain forest was no longer as scary as at night. When encountering a place with dense grass, Lu Gu used the long wooden stick in his hand to explore the grass and clear the way, and Dahui followed him all the way. Walking along the direction where he picked the mushrooms last time, he really found a mountain stream.

The stream flowed down the mountain. The water looked extremely clear, even clearer than the Qingxi River. There were tender green watercress growing beside the stream. Lu Gu felt fresh and tender when he pinched it. After taking a bite, he decided to pick more and wait for Shen Xuanqing to come back to eat it at night.     

This watercress was tenderer than the ones he picked by the river in the village before. He thought it would be delicious when he made it into salads. It could also be stir-fried or fried with meat. There were not many pickles in the jar. The watercress could be marinated in vinegar for a day or two. You could eat it, it was sour and crunchy, and you could eat it with sour pickles, otherwise you would always eat salty. Fortunately, he came out today with a big bamboo basket on his back, so he could get some back.

He was not in a hurry, there was no one else here, so he took off his shoes and socks, rolled up his trousers and got into the water. Since he came here specially to look for the snails, he naturally wouldn't go back too early. Lu Gu brought himself four steamed buns with mixed flour and put them in a cloth bag. Now that he was in the water, he tied the cloth bag to the back rope of the bamboo basket.

There were quite a lot of stones in the water, he opened several pieces and finally saw four green snails with thin shells, all of them were quite big, but the shells were too fragile and thin, some of them were not mature enough, they would break if you squeezed it hard .

He even found a small crab which was called purple belly in the mountain stream, which was either under the stone or hidden in the muddy water. It got its name because of the purple color on its belly. He didn’t know what the other place called it. If it was like in their countryside. It was called a kind of expensive mountain delicacy.     

When he was in Anjia Village, he saw someone went up the mountain to catch some, but that person didn't sell them, he took them home and fried them himself, and after eating them, he showed off in the village for a while, saying that he was eating like the rich men in the town. This stuff could be fried with peppercorns, since it was for food, Lu Gu wouldn't let it go easily, and catched the purple belly and green snails together.     

When he saw the purple belly, he remembered that this thing was as expensive as green snails, but this deep mountain was not as good as when he was in the foot mountain, and he could go to the town to sell something he caught. Shen Xuanqing was better, he walked fast, and he could go to town in an hour and a half.      

But he also thought that snail and crabs were like loaches when they were caught. They needed to be raised for a few days to spit out mud, and they could survive for a few days in the water. If you catched some and kept them in the water for two days, you could take them back with wooden barrels, and they were easier to carry than fish. Small crabs could live well out of the water for a while. He would soak the green snails in wine and left only the snail meat, which was still lighter. Thinking of this, Lu Gu became eager. He wanted to find more. Shen Xuanqing and his family couldn't finish eating, and they could even sell them in the town for money.

The stream was muddy due to him walking and washing the mud, but after he left, it cleared up again not long after.

Dahui waded in the water for a while, then returned to the shore, fluttering his body and flicking his fur, splashing water on Lu Gu's body, he looked up at Dahui, with a slight smile in his eyes, followed by a dog was really reassuring, even if you went far, you wouldn't feel that you couldn't find your way back.

He moved his shoes and socks as he walked, so as not to lose them. After his feet were dry, he put them on. When he saw edible red fruits in the grass beside him, he picked them all up, squatted by the stream, washed them, and tasted a sweet one, it was too small.     

Seeing Dahui approaching, he tried to feed Dahui two, but unexpectedly, he ate it. It turned out that dogs also liked to eat fruit. Not only grass red fruit, but when he waded over the water just now, he saw a water bun tree. The fruits on it were all red, and they were still big, but he didn't know whether it was bitter bun or sweet bun. This kind of wild fruit was small and juicy, and when it was ripe, it could burst open like a water bun, so it was called water bun tree. Lu Gu walked over and tiptoed to pull off a branch, picked a small red fruit and bit the skin lightly, feeling the sweetness of the juice, his eyes were full of joy, it was a sweet bun.

There were more bitter bun tree than sweet, eight out of ten trees were bitter, the kind of bitterness that even adults couldn't stand, let alone ate it, just like he just bit the fruit peel and the tip of the tongue got the juice, The tip of the tongue was bitter and numb, and people who were not used to the bitter taste would retch, not to mention how uncomfortable it was.

So after tasting the sweetness, Lu Gu was very pleasantly surprised. He picked some red ones and took them to the stream to wash. The redder the fruit, the riper it was. The flesh inside was soft and full of juice. He stuffed one in his mouth one bite, and the sweet juice would overflow.