In July, many blue barrels appeared on the side of the streets of a township in Linyi, Shanxi, and familiar people knew that it was time to catch monkeys again. "A few years ago, people caught monkeys just to eat themselves, and now the villagers have caught monkeys and come to me to sell them for money." According to the season and quantity, the price we buy is also different, this year the number of monkeys is small, and the purchase price of one pound is 75 yuan. "A merchant from Anhui told us that he lived in this town in a big car, and he came to buy the monkeys, and these blue buckets containing half a bucket of water were specially equipped with the monkeys.
Monkeys are the larvae of cicadas, which have just crawled out of the ground after several years of dormancy in the soil, and their wings have not yet been extended. Monkeys from this period are both delicious and nutritious, and are a big favorite on many people's tables. Linyi is known as the first county in China to grow apples, the county has about one million acres of apple trees, and local fruit farmers have caught monkeys selling money to generate income, which has a history of more than ten years.
On the way to the apple orchard, we met 45-year-old sister Wang, who carried the bucket out of the door before dark, and when she got to the ground, she sat in the apple orchard and waited for the sun to set. "I don't have anything to do at home, so I'll come early and wait." Knowing that the monkeys come out after dark, it is useless to come early, let's wait together. The eldest sister greeted us warmly and sat down.
Sister Wang has ten acres of orchards at home, in two places, she and her husband are responsible for one piece, and every night they come to catch monkeys. "It's almost the end of catching the monkey now, and in a few days there won't be." This year, I can catch more than 100 yuan at most one night and sell more than 70 yuan, but yesterday I caught thirty or forty of them and sold more than 20 yuan. Sister Wang said that her family's apple tree is a small year this year, the yield is low, and she knows that the monkey patches the income by grasping the point. The picture shows that in order to catch the monkey, people wrapped tape around the trunk of the fruit tree, and with the help of the smoothness of the tape, the monkey could not climb up.
As soon as it got dark, Sister Wang leaned over and plunged into the dense apple orchard. The branches of the apple tree are very low, and it is difficult to walk with half bends. But Sister Wang seems to have become accustomed to this way, she flashlight, back and forth between it, very skilled. "Most of my family is covered with duct tape trees, and the monkeys are under the tape and can be seen at a glance. There are also a few trees that are not wrapped in tape, and you need to find them in the trees, which is difficult. "Those monkeys who escaped by chance, climbed up the big tree and molted, and then became loudly chirping cicadas. The peels they shed are also liked by the villagers, because it is a traditional Chinese medicine and can also be sold for money.
In the blink of an eye, there were 26 monkeys in Sister Wang's bucket. There is a small half bucket of water in the bucket to ensure the freshness of the monkeys. Sister Wang said that after these monkeys have soaked in water, they return home, freeze them and store them for a year, take them out when they want to eat them, and fry them in oil, which is a delicious dish. Her husband has a good bite, and every year he will keep some, and on a happy day, he will eat it with some small wine and small dishes. Monkeys are local characteristics, in the night market in Jinnan, you can occasionally see such dishes, a plate of seventy or eighty pieces, the price is very high.
Coming out of the orchard of Sister Wang's house, we met 60-year-old Uncle Jing. He also had a good record tonight, catching more than thirty monkeys. "In the earliest days, there were a lot of monkeys, and we caught the monkeys, and our monthly income was tens of thousands of yuan, but now it is getting less and less, and we will earn three or two thousand yuan a year." Uncle Jing said that the luck of each family has different incomes, and his daughter has a bumper harvest this year, selling more than 10,000 pieces, which makes him envious. The season for catching monkeys is very short, usually more than twenty days, during this time period, he is very diligent, coming to the ground every day, and not falling for a day. Although the income is not as much as that of his daughter, Uncle Jing is also very satisfied.
"This job is not the same as farming, I have been working hard to grow apples for a year, and I am worried about the yield and the price, and every year I am nervous. But catching the monkey is very simple, a bit like getting it for nothing, bending down to pick it up is money. Uncle Jing caught that the income of the monkeys has decreased sharply year by year, and he said that everyone has been keen on this in recent years, so it is not easy to catch the monkeys less and less. The picture shows a monkey lying on a tree trunk.
Compared to Uncle Jing, his neighbors were not so lucky. "You see, no one in his house is coming at all, right?" That's because his tree was planted late, and it took at least three years for the monkey's larvae to come out of the field, so there were no monkeys in his field. "Sure enough, the ground in Uncle Jing's neighbor's house was pitch black." We people here are very disciplined, they are all caught in their own fields, and they will not string into other people's fields, otherwise it is immoral. ”
From eight o'clock dark to nine o'clock, about an hour, the work of catching the monkey was basically completed. At nine o'clock, the business of Anhui merchants began to flourish. People drove their own tricycles and electric vehicles, and children and dogs came from all directions. Merchants skillfully rinsed the mud off the monkeys, weighed them, and exchanged them for cash for the villagers. An eight- or nine-year-old girl with more than 20 yuan, bouncing away, perhaps for her, to earn money by her own labor, the most fulfilling sense.
There are several such acquisition stalls in town, and another stall not far away is equally lively. "We buy for the same price, for the villagers, it can be sent anywhere." We sent them to the south after receiving them, and the southerners like to eat these things, and the price can be a little higher, and I make a little difference in the middle every year. The stall owner said that the villagers earned some pocket money, they made some difference, and the business started to do so. For the monkeys, is that what you guys are? Welcome to leave a message at the end of the article to discuss.