Picking Up a General to Plow the Fields

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Everyone was very motivated and soon they had dug nearly 60 trees.
They looked at Ah Jian with bright eyes.

Ah Jian chose the path into the mountain.

Who could say why, but with Ah Jian, the children and even Lian Fang, all felt particularly safe and at ease.

They didn’t bother to worry or think too hard, leaving the decisions completely up to Ah Jian.

If Ah Jian said yes, it was good.

Ah Jian decided on a direction and the group walked into the mountain, talking and laughing while they scanned for prey.

The forest was very bleak at this time of year, with only a few hardy birds chirping from branch to branch.
They were only small birds though.
Not to mention their flexibility, even if they were shot down, there would only be enough meat for a bite or two.

Just when they were starting to feel a little frustrated, their luck started to improve.
Pheasants and hares appeared in their field of vision, one after another.
After a while, Lian Ze had shot two pheasants and Ah Jian and killed two fat grey hares.

They were not the same as Sun Zhang Xing, who depended on hunting for a living.
Hunting this much was already a big gain.
Everyone was satisfied and enthusiastically discussed whether they should braise the meat, stew it, or make a stir-fry.

“It’s almost time, let’s head out from here.
This side should be the valley, if we walk out of it, we will get out.
Let’s go!” Ah Jian said, pointing to the left.

Lian Fang Zhou and the others nodded, smiling, and walked behind him in file.

As they walked, Lian Fang Zhou casually glanced up at the tree in front of them and her eyes lit up.
She pointed to the trunk of a maple tree with surprise and joy, saying, “Look! Bees! There are bees!”

Everyone looked up and sure enough, about two meters above the ground, the trunk was densely covered with bees.
It was like a dark, semi-circular ball about a forearm in length.

“Bees! Will they sting?” Lian Fang Qing’s face turned white and she subconsciously took two steps back.

“Don’t be afraid,” Lian Fang Zhou hurriedly comforted her.
“Bees are afraid of cold weather, they won’t sting you.”

Lian Che suddenly wondered: “Since they are afraid of the cold, why don’t they go back to their den?”

Because they were driven out! To point it simply, the colonies had separated.
Generally speaking, bee colonies lived separately in spring but would be forced to group in winter.
In the previous winter, Lian Fang Zhou had seen it while investigating rural areas.*

The bees forced to leave the hive in the winter had no shelter from the wind and rain, no shelter from the cold, and nothing to eat.
Without an artificial food source, there was only one end.
Annihilation!

But Lian Fang Zhou didn’t want to spend a lot of time explaining this, so she shook her head and said, “I don’t know either.
However, I was thinking about raising a few boxed of bees.
It would be a good thing!”

“Raise bees? We can have honey in the future?” Lian Fang Qing’s eyes lit up.

“Yes,” Lian Fang Zhou nodded, “we can grow them on Xiaohauguo Mountain! When our fruit trees bloom, the bees can collect the pollen!”

Originally, Lian Fang Zhou had planned to raise bees to pollinate the fruit trees.

Whether the Lin Family Orchard pollinated artificially, Lian Fang Zhou did not know— probably not.

This was an era that depended on heaven for food! She didn’t see a beehive near their orchard or house so they probably did not keep bees.

TN: *Xiaohuaguo meants ‘little fruit flower’.

** I have no idea what the author is talking about, I have never heard of bees kicking colony members out in winter.
The closest I could find on google was drones being forced out if a hive is not doing well but drones are male and they would not be good for starting a new hive.
I’m not sure how she would even start a hive without a queen.
Do any of you know more about bees and can answer this? I’d love to know!