Mountain God’s Forest Farm

Chapter 64: Cutting Honey

Qianchongcui Mountain had finally become Ying Kongtu’s mountain.

When Ying Kongtu pulled Wen Zhongshan along and stood at the foot of the mountain with Tiaozhu and the others, his feelings were extremely complicated.

Wen Zhongshan reached out and gently patted his back from behind.

“It’s fine,” Ying Kongtu said quietly to Wen Zhongshan, then added, “Let’s go.”

Qianchongcui Mountain looked entirely different from before. Aside from the roads built to transport fruit, there were now orchards and vegetable plots on it.

It no longer showed the sight of mountain waves surging like anger, layer upon layer of emerald green. All that remained was a shallow green spread flat across it.

The blue sea turning into mulberry fields was no more than this.

Ying Kongtu brought everyone to look at the shrine.

The shrine was somewhat old and worn, with all kinds of weeds and shrubs growing beside it.

Yue Chengji’s family had not really touched it, but they had not maintained it much either.

Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan removed the stones from the shrine and cleaned them one by one.

They also took down the stone tablet inside and wiped it carefully clean.

Tiaozhu and Xian Niao helped at the side.

Xian Niao held stones in its mouth and slowly placed them in a small pile nearby.

The atmosphere was a little low.

Dart and Jingwei barely made a sound.

Jingwei tried to help Xian Niao carry stones too, but it did not do very well. The stones kept falling out or knocking against its mouth. Even so, it obediently worked in silence.

“It’s all right.” Ying Kongtu stroked Dart’s head, then rubbed Jingwei’s neck. “We’ll finish repairing it very soon.”

Jingwei turned its head and licked Ying Kongtu’s arm.

Ying Kongtu patted Jingwei again, then said to Tiaozhu and Xian Niao, “This shrine can be used from now on too. It will be much more convenient if you want to come here.”

In truth, all the shrines had been usable before.

It was just that Qianchongcui Mountain had not belonged to Ying Kongtu before, and Tiaozhu and Xian Niao had no interest in going to someone else’s mountain.

They had never once come here.

Now that the shrine was repaired, they could come over. Their range of movement would be wider, and they would be more comfortable too.

The repaired shrine carried an ancient, simple aura. Just looking at it, one could tell it was extraordinary.

It was much better than its previous dusty, gray appearance.

After Ying Kongtu’s divine power increased, it had indeed brought all kinds of changes.

Ying Kongtu gently pushed Tiaozhu’s rump. “Try the passage in this shrine.”

Tiaozhu lifted its head and glanced at Ying Kongtu, then turned into a streak of light, sank into the shrine, and disappeared.

Ying Kongtu pushed Xian Niao as well. “Xian Niao, you try it too.”

Xian Niao also transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the shrine.

“Looks like the shrine works quite well,” Ying Kongtu said.

Wen Zhongshan asked, “Are you going to awaken the other minor mountain gods?”

“Not yet. Let them be nourished for a while longer.” Ying Kongtu said to Wen Zhongshan, “When Xian Niao came out before, it was entirely thanks to the power of faith you poured in. It absorbed most of the divine power, so the other minor mountain gods received relatively little. It’ll be better if they’re nourished for a little longer. In any case, there’s no hurry now.”

Wen Zhongshan agreed. “Tiaozhu and Xian Niao have already helped with many things.”

Dart did not know if it understood, but it bumped Wen Zhongshan’s foot with its head and gave a somewhat dissatisfied cry. “Meow-ao.”

Wen Zhongshan crouched and scratched its chin. “You and Jingwei have done a lot too. The family can be this good because none of your efforts are missing.”

Satisfied, Dart rubbed around his legs again. “Meow.”

Jingwei also stuck out its tongue, showing a happy expression.

After Tiaozhu and Xian Niao emerged from the shrine again and confirmed that nothing was wrong, Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan brought the furry ones to look at the kiwifruit orchard.

The kiwifruit seedlings left behind by Yue Chengji’s family were in average condition.

By this year, these kiwifruit trees had been planted for fourteen years. Their peak production period probably only had four or five years left.

However, a fruit tree in Yue Chengji’s hands and a fruit tree in Ying Kongtu’s hands would certainly not be in the same state.

Ying Kongtu felt that if they were managed properly, maintaining high yields for about ten more years should not be a problem.

Yue Chengji had wanted to sell the mountain long ago and had no heart to manage the orchard.

The fruit seedlings were somewhat thin and weak, and there were many weeds underneath.

Ying Kongtu looked around and said, “We’ll need to call people over to weed in the next few days. After that, we’ll have to prepare to bury fertilizer.”

When Ying Kongtu bought this mountain, he only paid two million yuan for the first installment, just under one-third of the total.

He still had several hundred thousand on hand.

Aside from being enough to repay his interest-free loan for two years, this money could also buy all kinds of seeds and fertilizers and hire workers.

For such a large mountain, relying only on him and Wen Zhongshan to manage it was definitely unrealistic.

Weeding, fertilizing, thinning fruit, and later harvesting all required workers.

The two of them would only be responsible for daily inspection and maintenance.

Changchuan County was not very developed, so hiring workers was easy.

The next day, Ying Kongtu hired workers to go up the mountain to weed.

Pulling weeds by hand was too tiring, so he directly rented weed cutters from the farm tool shop.

The workers carried the weed cutters and cleared away the weeds and shrubs on the ground surface.

They only needed to weed once every month or two. The weeds would not be able to grow up, and there was no need to pull them out completely.

Ying Kongtu picked some of the cut grass to feed the pigs, while the rest was left on the slope to dry in the sun.

Once dried, this batch of grass could shade the kiwifruit seedlings, and when it rotted, it could also provide nutrients. It was quite useful.

That night, Ying Kongtu lay in bed, pillowing his arm, clearly thinking about something.

Wen Zhongshan got into bed, lowered his head to kiss him, and lay beside him. “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m considering whether to exchange for another batch of Ba-snake fertilizer. Ba-snake fertilizer is quite potent. If we use it on the kiwifruit seedlings, there will definitely be a good harvest this autumn.”

Ying Kongtu turned onto his side to face Wen Zhongshan and said, “The kiwifruit seedlings are a bit weak. If we don’t fertilize them, they may not be able to stand out from ordinary kiwifruits.”

Since he was already planting them, if all he grew were average-quality kiwifruits, then working himself to death for so little money felt like too much of a loss.

Qianchongcui Mountain had at least come under his name. It was now nourished by divine power, and the kiwifruits planted on it had quite a lot of potential.

If they could apply some good fertilizer, then when the time came, these kiwifruits would certainly stand out from the rest.

Wen Zhongshan said, “The honey on the mountain should be ready to cut. There have been plenty of nectar sources during this period, so the bees should have made some decent honey.”

Ying Kongtu said, “I was thinking the same thing. But this batch of honey definitely hasn’t reached the point of being nourished by divine power. It probably won’t meet the Ba-snakes’ requirements.”

It was only early April now, and there were still too few flowering plants on the mountain.

When Ying Kongtu patrolled the mountains, he had only seen relatively many flower buds on the black locust trees.

That was all thanks to his concentrated effort last year to plant a large batch of black locust trees.

Although most of the black locust trees were still small, he had used naturally grown seedlings from the mountain for transplanting, and the saplings had all grown very well.

Even if most of the young black locust saplings did not produce many flowers, added together, the amount was still considerable.

Ying Kongtu said, “If we cut honey again in May or June, the honey the bees collect will mainly be black locust flower mixed-flower honey. Those flowers will basically come from the mountain, so there will still be some hope. Right now, it really probably won’t work.”

“Why don’t we try first? Even if it doesn’t fully meet the requirements, it’s still much better than the honey on the market. We can send some to the Ba-snakes as a gift and let them know we’re already making an effort. It probably won’t be as difficult to borrow fertilizer again then.”

“That makes sense too.” Ying Kongtu made the decision. “Then tomorrow, we’ll go cut honey.”

There were only three bee colonies on Ying Kongtu’s mountains, all extraordinary bees they had brought back from deep in the mountains.

Originally, there had also been other native bees in the mountains.

After the bees they brought back settled in, they swept through the nearby forests and domineeringly drove away the other wild bees.

Tiaozhu and the others had even found honeycombs left behind after the bees had flown away, still containing honey, though there was not much inside.

Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan could remove beehives barehanded without getting hurt.

Tiaozhu and the others could not.

So the two of them did not bring the little ones from home.

The bees they kept on the mountain were aggressive and highly venomous. If Tiaozhu and the others were stung until their noses swelled up, that would not be fun.

Ying Kongtu specially brought a large bucket and asked Wen Zhongshan expectantly, “How much honey do you think we can cut?”

“At least five jin from one hive? Altogether, there should be fifteen or sixteen jin.”

“I think it’s probably about that much too. I hope the honey they produce is what we imagined.”

The extraordinary bees Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan had hunted from deep in the mountains were generally a type of Chinese honeybee.

They were large, had strong survival ability, and could fly very far to collect nectar.

However, in terms of honey yield, they did not have an advantage.

For bees like the ones they kept on the mountain, although a strong colony could fill ten frames of honeycomb in one hive, the honey yield was probably only seven or eight jin.

For the same number of commercial bees, their honey yield could reach thirty or forty jin, even close to fifty jin.

The two first went to Wuchuan Mountain.

To avoid accidental injury, Ying Kongtu had specifically placed the Wuchuan Mountain bees on the other side of the mountain, far away from the pigs and the vegetable garden.

When they arrived, the bees were busy flying out to gather nectar. As they approached, the mountain was full of the buzzing sound of bees flying.

Ying Kongtu first checked the hive. “It looks fine. I’m opening it?”

Wen Zhongshan nodded. “Open it.”

Ying Kongtu opened the hive, carefully released a little divine power to soothe the bees, then took out a frame of honeycomb.

“This frame is completely capped. It can be taken.”

Ying Kongtu carefully cut away the wax cappings on top of the honeycomb and placed it into the hand-cranked centrifuge in the bucket, signaling for Wen Zhongshan to turn the centrifuge and spin the honey out.

Capped honey was mature honey. It contained very little water, so after being extracted, it would not spoil easily.

Wen Zhongshan turned the handle. The honey was quickly spun out, and the air was filled with that sweet honey fragrance.

Seeing that most of the honey on the frame had been extracted, Ying Kongtu carefully installed the frame back into the hive.

There was still honey left on the honeycomb, and it had gotten on his fingers.

He brought it to his lips and licked it.

The rich-textured honey was licked into his mouth. Its fragrance spread all at once, followed immediately by the flavor of a hundred flowers.

It truly had not been nourished much by divine power, but it tasted extremely moist and mellow. After swallowing it, it left a very comfortable feeling.

Even if this honey could not yet be called top-grade honey, it was already excellent honey.

“Delicious.” By reflex, Ying Kongtu brought his other thumb, which had also gotten honey on it, to Wen Zhongshan’s lips, loosely curling his fist to signal that Wen Zhongshan should try it too.

Wen Zhongshan glanced at him, held his wrist, kissed his thumb, then extended his tongue and licked it.

It was only the skin on the back of his thumb being licked, but Ying Kongtu had not expected the sensation to be so stimulating. His face instantly turned red.

“Cough.” Ying Kongtu tried hard to shift his attention and did not dare look at Wen Zhongshan. “The quality of this batch of honey is very good, right?”

Wen Zhongshan lowered his head to kiss him, licking the honey on his lips, and said in a low voice, “I didn’t really taste it. Let me try again.”

Author’s Note:

To help Dart lose weight, Ying Kongtu solemnly poured out a small handful of cat food in the morning and showed it to Dart, who was crouching in front of him.

“You can only eat this much today.”

In the morning, Dart was so hungry it could not stand it and went to rub against Wen Zhongshan.

Wen Zhongshan’s heart softened, and he gave it two pieces of freeze-dried treats.

Dart’s spirits lifted, and it opened the door to a new world.

It went to rub against Wen Zhongshan, then Ying Kongtu, then Tiaozhu, then Xian Niao. After exhausting all its strength, it obtained a total of four pieces of freeze-dried treats and two pieces of meat.

That night, after eating the last piece from that small handful of cat food, it happily lay on the floor and licked its fur, completely unaware that those four pieces of freeze-dried treats and two pieces of meat had originally been part of its meal plan too.