Reborn in 1977, starting with severing ties with family.

And so, every time they patrolled the mountains, everyone would help collect a lot of mountain produce.

In April, the tender shoots of the prickly ash sprouted, and they discovered a large patch of prickly ash trees on a hillside.

Why is it called a prickly bud?

Because the tree has thorns.

Why is this thing so expensive?

Because the thorns on the tree make it difficult to pick them, they all grow on the treetops.

But these challenges were no obstacle for the students of Class Six.

Some of them carried a stick with a hook at the end, and used it to hook down from under the tree.

This stuff is delicious eaten raw, in salads, stir-fried, or steamed and stuffed.

Some people also mix it with cornmeal to make flatbread.

But in Northeast China, the most common way to eat it is with dipping sauce!

Everything in Northeast China can be dipped.

The old cripple said he knew how to make soybean paste, but it was too late this year. Sui Zhongliang promised him that he would wait until autumn and go to other brigades to exchange some soybeans for it.

This forest of prickly ash shoots is huge.

Everyone's baskets were full, and there were still so many left.

Sui Zhongliang shouted, "That's enough for today, come directly tomorrow!"

"Okay!" everyone agreed.

They stopped patrolling the mountain and started heading back.

Fortunately, the place where they found it wasn't far from the camp; it was only a few hours' walk away.

When we got back to camp, it wasn't dark yet.

The first batch of wild aralia shoots must be tasted by our own people first.

The old cripple was a good cook. He washed the food, marinated it with salt, mixed it with some wild onions and garlic, and poured a little bit of hot oil over it with soy sauce. The group of young men ate it so well that they didn't even fight over the meat anymore.

The same applies to Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang.

Wang Haiyang, in particular, had never eaten it before. As he ate, he kept asking, "These tree buds are so delicious!"

"It's not a tree bud, it's a tender thorn bud!" someone corrected him.

"Aren't prickly buds tree buds?"

"right!"

"That's settled then! It's delicious!"

"Ha ha……"

After the meal, Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang sorted through the mountain produce.

Five sacks of dried mushrooms, one sack of pine nuts, plus two baskets of leftover wild prickly ash shoots.

It seems the two of them can't get it!

Just as the two were fretting over their problems, Sui Zhongliang came over and sat down next to them.

Wang Haiyang took out cigarettes and lit one for each person.

"You two can't get this done."

Jiang Sen scratched his head. "Squad leader, is there any way to bring more down at once?"

Sui Zhongliang laughed, "Go to the farm headquarters and bring me back some strong liquor, then I'll tell you!"

Jiang Sen said, "Of course! Even if you don't tell me, as long as I go to the headquarters, I'll definitely get my share of strong liquor!"

Have you ever heard of a sedan chair?

Jiang Sen actually knows this.

On Mount Tai, two porters carry two bamboo poles with a chair in between.

When tourists get tired, they can pay a little money to have them carried off the plane.

This thing is called a sedan chair.

However, it seemed that even carrying the sedan chair down with the two of them wouldn't work.

After all, this place is different from Mount Tai. There are no steps, and in some places, you have to jump over them and go around through the woods.

"I'm not talking about the kind of sedan chair you know!" Sui Zhongliang picked up a branch, broke it off, and started drawing on the ground. "It's a bit like the sleds we have here, but one person pulls it from the front and another person pulls it from the back. A rope is used to tie a few wooden sticks in the middle, and two more are used to fix it on both sides. Hey! It's a bit like the sedan chairs without a canopy that people used to make, understand?"

"Oh, sure!"

Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang nodded repeatedly.

This thing is like a human sled; to put it bluntly, it's used to drag things along, and when it encounters bumps or ditches, it can lift them up, which saves a lot of effort.

"Squad leader, did you come up with this?"

Sui Zhongliang looked into the distance and said, "No! It was on the battlefield before. There were too many wounded soldiers, and the medics were all women who didn't have the strength. It was their idea that they could transfer two or three wounded soldiers at a time."

This was a rather heavy topic, so Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang didn't ask any more questions and got up to go find suitable wood.

When they heard that they were going to the farm headquarters to exchange supplies and money for everyone, the others were very happy and took the initiative to help them make what Sui Zhongliang had mentioned.

Of course, with the old cripple providing guidance, the finished product was amazing.

After he and Wang Haiyang set off with several burlap sacks and baskets on their backs, they made several more and set off to collect mountain produce... to patrol the mountains.

After descending the mountain, Zhang Jianjun saw the two of them and immediately burst out laughing.

"Hey! Are you two going to get married?"

Wang Haiyang said with a smile, "I picked these while patrolling the mountains. I kept enough to eat and took the rest to the farm headquarters to exchange for some things for everyone."

“That works!” Zhang Jianjun said. “I’m going to the farm headquarters anyway, I can give you a ride!”

After eating, without resting, they got directly into Zhang Jianjun's jeep.

"Captain, you can drive a Jeep now?" Wang Haiyang asked with a smile.

“I don’t have that level of skill! This was brought here by the regimental commander and his men last time. Then heavy snow blocked the mountain pass, so they drove out in a horse-drawn sled. This vehicle was left here. I checked the fuel... it seems to be low. I don’t know if it can make it to the destination.”

Jiang Sen peeked out and saw that the fuel gauge was very low.

I guess it's enough.

But they were able to hold out until they reached the vicinity of the field headquarters.

Sure enough, the Jeep broke down more than three hours later.

Zhang Jianjun tried to start the engine several times, but it wouldn't start.

He patted the steering wheel. "That's about it. We're not far from the headquarters. Why don't you walk over and call someone over?"

"no problem!"

Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang got out of the car and walked towards the headquarters.

An hour later, when they arrived at the farm headquarters, Zhang Jianjun told Li Chaoyang, who was overjoyed and immediately ordered someone to drive a tractor to pick him up.

After having dinner at the farm headquarters, the two went to the supply and marketing cooperative to see if there was anything good. The tractor then towed the jeep back.

Jiang Sen told Ma's wife, then pulled Wang Haiyang along and ran over.

He unloaded a basket of tender shoots from the prickly ash tree. "Manager, this is specially for you by the squad leader!"

Zhang Jianjun chuckled upon hearing this, "What? The farm manager gets a share, but I don't?"

"How could that be?" Jiang Sen laughed. "You live nearby. I was going to save a whole basket for you, but you're here at the farm headquarters now, so why don't you eat with the farm manager? When we go back, I'll definitely save some for you every time I go down the mountain!"

"That's pretty much it!"

Li Chaoyang, who was fond of prickly ash buds, looked at them and said, "Let's go to the cafeteria and ask them to get some soybean paste! You two..."

“We’ve already eaten,” Jiang Sen quickly said. “Let’s go find Uncle Bai!”

"Go!"

Li Chaoyang carried a basket on his back and walked towards the canteen with Zhang Jianjun.

Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang dragged sacks to the post office.

After coming out, Jiang Sen said, "It will take many days to make money from these sales. We can't go back empty-handed. Let's go and pay for some things first!"

They're quite wealthy now; they spent twenty or thirty yuan and bought several sacks of stuff.

Ma's wife was overjoyed and gave Jiang Sen and his wife a handful of milk candy each.

"Just eat it for fun, nothing to do!"

"Thank you, Sister Ma!"

As they left the supply and marketing cooperative, Jiang Sen looked at the several sacks of goods and asked, "Should we leave something for the team leader later?"

"There are cookies this time, save a box for him."

"Row!"

They didn't stay long at the field headquarters, spending the night there. The next morning, when the post office's van wasn't running, Li Chaoyang had the driver make a trip to take the three of them back.

Upon arriving at the team headquarters, Jiang Sen and Wang Haiyang began to have headaches again.

How do we get this up the mountain?

The sedan chairs were fine for going down the mountain, but going up the mountain was a bit difficult.

After receiving the cookies, Zhang Jianjun said, "Your Class Six has just been established, and I haven't seen it yet. Let's go! I'll give you a ride, otherwise, the two of you guys definitely won't be able to carry these sacks up!"