CH 38.1

In the chestnut grove, which was deep and untouched by people, there were a lot of hairy chestnuts on the ground. Gray-brown squirrels came down from the trees to look for food, stuffed the chestnuts into their mouths and bring them back to their nests to store it for the winter. Not only squirrels, mice and voles also hid the chestnuts and hazelnuts in their holes.

Like the things in the mouse hole, they usually dug out when there was nothing to eat, or if they couldn’t find chestnuts in the mountain, there would be children and dogs to dig the hole. Anyway, they had to be shelled, so took them back and washed them, It didn't get dirty after washing.

Children were greedy and playful, and digging holes was fun. As for adults, these squirrels and voles in the mountains had to spend the winter, they wouldn’t starve to death since it was not a famine year, and there was no shortage of food, so let them have a way to survive.

The five people carried five bamboo baskets and two big sacks. They filled them up after picking them in the  grove for a long time. In such a large grove of chestnuts, there were still some chestnuts that hadn’t fallen from the trees. They were the only ones here to pick them up. One time was enough for them this year, and they didn’t have to worry about whether the squirrels were enough to eat.

When he was in Lu's house, he would follow Lu Daxiang and the others to pick up chestnuts, but after taking them back, he didn't eat much. He only ate it in the hillside when Du Hehua sent him out to look for them, everyone in the village went to pick chestnuts, and he could find few, but at least chestnuts didn’t need to be roasted or boiled, they could be eaten after peeling. He still liked autumn very much, when chestnuts and wild fruits were ripe , could satisfy his hunger, so that his chest wouldn’t stick to his back.

So even though the bamboo basket was so heavy, he was very happy, the more he found, the more he could eat.

The chestnut  grove was far away from the courtyard. They set off in the morning and returned in the middle of the afternoon. They couldn't run around in the mountains. It would be dangerous if they went far and didn’t come back at night, so they only picked chestnuts today.

"It's a good day this year. There are so many wild chestnuts. Let's take rest for today. Tomorrow, we will go pick the hazelnuts. We will pull the cart over and push them back together, otherwise it will be too heavy with only bamboo basket” Wei Lanxiang said while rubbing her shoulders.