Chapter 6: Gathering Tree Seeds
In the morning, Ying Kongtu hung the snow sprout greens one by one on the drying pole in the courtyard.
To make salted greens, the vegetables had to be sun-dried until they wilted before they could be blanched.
He was carefully placing them one by one when he suddenly heard a clattering sound from the other side of the courtyard wall.
Turning his head, he saw a thick white paw hook itself over the top of the wall, followed closely by another.
The tips of the orange tabby’s ears appeared first, and below them were its yellow eyes and pink nose.
Because climbing the wall was too much effort, its sharp little teeth were bared from its mouth, forming a grimacing, teeth-baring expression.
Ying Kongtu could not help laughing and walked over to the courtyard wall.
The orange tabby’s hind legs kicked against the wall several times with little clacking sounds. At last, it managed to climb onto the top of the wall. Seeing Ying Kongtu, it jumped toward him without hesitation.
Ying Kongtu stretched out his arms and caught the big orange tabby, which weighed more than ten jin. “Not bad. A courtyard wall nearly two meters high, and you climb it just like that.”
The orange tabby lay in Ying Kongtu’s arms, panting with its tongue out like a little dog, without making a sound.
Ying Kongtu set it on the ground and stroked its head. “Do you want water? I’ll pour you some.”
After settling the orange tabby, Ying Kongtu washed his hands again and continued drying the snow sprout greens.
The orange tabby went to drink water, then flopped down by Ying Kongtu’s feet, exposing its belly as it watched him dry the vegetables.
After Ying Kongtu finished hanging the snow sprout greens, he could not resist crouching down and rubbing the orange tabby’s belly several times.
Once breakfast for both human and cat was made and eaten, Ying Kongtu picked up his back basket and prepared to go out.
The orange tabby rolled over, stood up, and followed closely at Ying Kongtu’s feet, clearly intending to set out with him.
Ying Kongtu lowered his head to look at the cat.
The orange tabby lifted its round little head. “Miaow.”
Ying Kongtu crouched down and scratched its chin. “You want to come with me?”
The orange tabby gave a nimble jump and leapt straight into Ying Kongtu’s back basket, continuing to lift its little head and look at him. “Mi.”
This cat had long fur. Crouched in the back basket, it looked like a brooding old hen, taking up the entire basket.
Ying Kongtu laughed, raised his phone, took a photo of it, and sent it to Wen Zhongshan.
Ying Kongtu: Dart is with me again today.
Wen Zhongshan replied very quickly: Are you going up the mountain?
Ying Kongtu: Yes. I’m going to collect some masson pine seeds. Should I take it with me?
Wen Zhongshan: Sorry to trouble you.
Ying Kongtu: It’s no trouble. Let’s talk later. I’ll head into the mountain while the sun isn’t too strong yet.
Ying Kongtu tucked his phone back into his pocket, adjusted the back basket, and wanted to close the lid.
After thinking for a moment, he went back inside and took an old piece of cloth. He folded it and padded it beneath the orange tabby.
The cat shifted around in the back basket, allowing Ying Kongtu to place the cloth beneath it, yet refusing no matter what to jump out.
Once Ying Kongtu had padded it properly, he lightly flicked its forehead and closed the lid of the back basket.
The bamboo-woven back basket was still breathable even with the lid closed, but it could prevent the cat from jumping out halfway and getting hurt.
Today, he was going to Yehang Mountain.
Several hundred years ago, Yehang Mountain had also been part of Ying Kongtu’s territory.
This mountain was over two thousand meters above sea level. Its terrain was complex, and its biodiversity was rich. Ying Kongtu had only inspected it once when he first awakened and had not gone there in a long time.
Ying Kongtu rode his motorcycle with the back basket on his back, driving all the way toward the foot of Yehang Mountain.
More than an hour later, he appeared at the foot of the mountain.
Yehang Mountain was a wild mountain and had no official path, but there were still relatively easier points from which to climb.
Ying Kongtu took the orange tabby and began climbing from the eastern route.
The orange tabby refused to stay in his back basket. It struggled and jumped down, then began running excitedly around his feet.
Ying Kongtu first took the cat to look at a shrine somewhere in the valley. After a simple cleaning, he led the cat up the mountain again.
When the cat grew tired, he put it into the back basket and carried it.
Ying Kongtu never stopped to rest. No matter how steep the mountain was, he could maintain the same speed.
Because of this, before noon, they reached the foot of a huge masson pine.
This masson pine stood like a forest by itself. It was nearly fifty meters tall, and its spreading branches were extremely dense.
Ordinary masson pines usually had relatively sparse branches and did not grow this tall.
This one, however, was an exception.
Its dense, deep green foliage did not look like a pine tree at all.
When the wind blew, the branches and leaves at the top of the masson pine swayed, as if welcoming an old friend.
Ying Kongtu touched the rough bark with his hand and looked up at the masson pine. “You really are still here. You’ve grown well.”
“Rustle, rustle.”
This masson pine had been planted by Ying Kongtu himself more than three hundred years ago.
At the time, he already had some concept of seed breeding. For this masson pine, he had chosen the best seed, planted it on a sunny slope, and carefully tended it for several years, watching as it grew strong from childhood.
More than three hundred years had passed. As expected, it was still here, and it had grown very well.
He had come today because he wanted to gather some seeds from it again and bring them back to plant in the forest he had newly marked out, the one he intended to cultivate into a mother forest.
Ying Kongtu set down the back basket and prepared to climb the tree.
The orange tabby jumped out of the back basket before him, stretched out its sharp claws, and grabbed the rough tree trunk, intending to climb upward.
It was much larger than an ordinary cat, and climbing the tree was also strenuous for it. With all four paws hanging onto the tree, it looked flat, like a piece of toast slapped against the trunk.
Ying Kongtu stood at the side and watched with a smile for a while.
The orange tabby climbed a short distance, then could not go any farther. Its claws hooked into the bark, and it could not get down either.
It stretched its paws with effort, trying to rescue itself, but unfortunately, it had no effect at all. It could only turn its head toward Ying Kongtu and cry loudly, “Meow! Miaow!”
With laughter in his eyes, Ying Kongtu walked over and carried it down. “You’d better stop trying. Wait obediently under the tree for me.”
The orange tabby had gotten stuck after climbing only a short distance and seemed a little embarrassed. It crouched on the ground and kept licking its paws, refusing to meet Ying Kongtu’s eyes.
Ying Kongtu paid it no further attention. After arranging his clothes properly, he hugged the tree and climbed upward.
His movements were extremely agile, just like a clouded leopard. In just a few moves, he had climbed into the crown of the tree.
The pinecones of masson pines were divided into male and female. The seed-bearing female pinecones usually matured in November.
Now, it was still far from the season when the female cones ripened.
However, after pinecones matured, they did not necessarily fall off. Even now, there were still many pinecones hanging from the tips of the branches.
Ying Kongtu searched through the pinecones one by one.
The seeds of masson pine were different from the pine nuts of Korean pine, Huashan pine, whitebark pine, and other pines. Its seeds resembled winged fruits, very light and thin, and the kernels could not be eaten.
Once mature, its seeds usually drifted far away with the wind.
There were many pinecones on the tree now, but not many seeds.
Ying Kongtu plucked the remaining pinecones and threw them to the ground. After plucking a certain number, he climbed down the tree again and searched the cones for leftover seeds.
Ying Kongtu repeated this process several times.
It was not until past three in the afternoon that he finally collected a cloth bag of seeds.
These seeds had been specially selected. Every one of them was full and dry, larger than ordinary seeds. At a glance, one could tell they were seeds capable of growing into excellent mother trees.
Generally, when selecting mother trees for masson pine, one would choose trees between fifteen and forty years old. This old tree, more than three hundred years of age, clearly did not fit the conventional standard.
However, a tree seed personally selected by the mountain god, and a tree carefully cultivated by him, was far better than ordinary trees even after several hundred years. It was more than sufficient to use it to cultivate new mother trees.
In a very good mood, Ying Kongtu carefully put away the cloth bag, picked up the orange tabby sleeping soundly beneath the tree, and carried the back basket down the mountain.
When Ying Kongtu returned home, it was just past five in the afternoon.
He showered, changed clothes, then took a winnowing tray and sat in the courtyard to select the seeds a second time.
Even among seeds that were equally full and large, some would grow into better seedlings, while others would be less ideal.
The good seeds would be planted in the mother forest. The ordinary seeds would be scattered on the mountain, and they would not be wasted either.
He was selecting seeds when the gate was lightly knocked.
The knock was very regular and sounded very polite.
“Wen Zhongshan?” Ying Kongtu called.
“It’s me.”
Ying Kongtu went to open the gate. At the entrance stood Wen Zhongshan, his posture straight, his eyes carrying a smile.
“Good afternoon. I’m here to pick up the cat.” Wen Zhongshan was carrying a fish and handed it to Ying Kongtu. “I just caught it. Try it.”
“Amur catfish?” Ying Kongtu glanced at it, somewhat surprised. “I haven’t eaten this fish in a long time.”
Wen Zhongshan said, “Wild-caught fish taste a little better.”
“This fish is just the right size. The meat should be very tender.” Ying Kongtu stood at the gate carrying the fish. He lifted his eyes and invited Wen Zhongshan, “Will you stay for dinner?”
“How could I impose?”
“Just help clean the fish. I can’t finish a fish weighing two or three jin by myself anyway. Besides, the deer-ear chives I pickled yesterday can be eaten now. Today is just right to taste them.”
And so, Wen Zhongshan stayed to help and have dinner.
The two first sliced off part of the fish meat, cooked it in hot water, and gave it to the cat—cats could get parasites from eating raw meat, so Wen Zhongshan had always fed it only cooked food.
The remaining fish was braised.
Ying Kongtu had lived here for several hundred years, and most of his cooking methods used traditional homestyle techniques.
Today’s fish was the same.
Bright rapeseed oil was poured into an iron wok and heated. A little salt was added, then the fish, cut into large pieces, was placed directly into the wok and pan-fried until both sides were browned and fragrant.
Slices of old ginger and whole peeled garlic cloves were added in between.
After everything was fried until fragrant and thoroughly seared, well water was added for braising. Before removing it from the wok, he added tender chopped green chilies from home, increasing the dish’s clean, fragrant spiciness.
Their dinner today was very simple.
On the table, there was only a basin of homestyle braised fish, a small plate of pickled deer-ear chives, and a plate of stir-fried flowering cabbage stems.
The two held bowls of freshly cooked rice and sat facing each other. They exchanged a glance and began eating with perfect tacit understanding.
Ying Kongtu first tasted the fish.
The braised fish on the table was very sweet and fresh, without the slightest fishy smell. Before picking it up, he dipped it in a little of the thick sauce. The large, tender cloves of garlic melted between his lips and teeth, fresh and fragrant, with a hint of clean spiciness. It was extremely delicious.
Ying Kongtu used a spoon to ladle two scoops of fish broth over his rice.
The sauce had been cooked very well, slightly yellow, with a layer of congealed skin on the surface. Once mixed with rice, its rich freshness and fragrance spread everywhere.
Best of all, Amur catfish did not have many small intermuscular bones, so there was no need to worry about getting a bone stuck in the throat.
After scooping some for himself, Ying Kongtu asked Wen Zhongshan, “Do you want some?”
Wen Zhongshan moved his rice bowl beside Ying Kongtu’s hand. “Thank you.”
Ying Kongtu smiled and ladled two big spoonfuls of sauce for him as well. “Eat it with the pickled deer-ear chives. It’s perfect.”
The pickled deer-ear chives had been sealed and fermented for one day and one night, and carried only a faint sour fragrance.
At this stage, they were most suitable to eat on their own.
Ying Kongtu took one bite and narrowed his eyes.
The pickles made from deer-ear chives were slightly sour and slightly spicy, crisp, sour, and fragrant, while still carrying their own clean aroma. They whetted the appetite and cut through richness. Eaten together with rice mixed in fish broth, they were simply a perfect match.
If it were any other kind of pickle, it probably would not have this effect.
Wen Zhongshan said, “Delicious. The pickles are delicious, and the fish broth and fish meat are delicious too.”
“Right? Authentic mountain flavor.” Ying Kongtu became interested. “There’s also a very tasty kind of fish in the wild lake up on the mountain. I can’t say its name. Next time I catch some, I’ll invite you to try it.”
“Sure. I’ll look forward to it first.”
“Then once I catch it, I’ll call you over to eat.”
The two ate dinner in the blue-gray dusk.
Ying Kongtu had turned on the courtyard light. The wind was blowing cool and pleasant, yet there were no mosquitoes or insects.
The cat had already finished eating and was lying asleep off to the side. The wind lifted its long fur, making it look extremely comfortable.
The people eating were just as comfortable.
