True story

I was raised by my grandmother. In my spare time, my grandma will go herding cattle with the old people in the village, and I will follow. I spent most of my childhood herding cattle in the mountains.

After herding cattle, you can know a lot of herbs. Old people know some herbs. When they go to herd cattle, they will pick some herbs that can be used daily at home. And I will follow, in the process of picking, they will tell me that this kind is for getting angry and that kind is for clearing the stomach. Over time, I know more herbs than my peers. Even now, I can pick a lot by myself. The most impressive thing is that you must pick herbs on Tanabata every year. Old people say it will be better to pick herbs on that day. I asked why? They said that it was the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl met, and the fairy girl in the sky would come down to earth. Everything was sprinkled with fairy water that day, so the effect was better than usual. Whether it is true or not, I like this legend very much. Now there are fewer people living in the village, grass is everywhere, and few people go to the mountains. There are fewer people raising cattle in the village, and even if they go to herd cattle, they will not go to the mountains. At that time, some of the old people who took me to collect medicine passed away. I think the time of collecting medicine with the old people is gone.

You can eat a lot of wild fruits by herding cattle. It's time for Myrtle to mature. I ate a lot when I was a child. In this season, every afternoon when I go to the mountains to herd cattle, I can pick a lot of yam to eat. If I can't finish it, I will put it in my pocket and take it home to eat. At that time, the old people told me that it's best not to eat the white core in the hawthorn, because it will grow worms, because it looks a bit like Mi Chong. I don't know whether this is true or not, and there is no way to prove it. However, it is true that the year of the mountain can't eat so much at once, and it is not easy to eat too much. In addition to mountain twist, there are ground twist, chestnuts, plums and so on. Gone are the days when the mountains were full of fruits.

After grazing cattle, you can pick Tricholoma matsutake (a kind of mushroom). When herding cattle, they were tied to pine trees, and a group of people went to collect pine mushrooms. Tricholoma matsutake usually grows faster after sun and rain. Old people always tell me to show them every time I pick mushrooms, lest I pick poisonous mushrooms and put them in the basket. And every time I really pick one, I run to the nearest old man and ask what the mushroom is called and whether it can be eaten. Old people will answer me patiently. So I also know a lot of mushrooms, and I also know which mushrooms are non-toxic and edible, and which mushrooms are toxic and inedible. At that time, Tricholoma matsutake was the most delicious dish I thought. It's hard to eat matsutake now. The pine trees on the mountain were cut down and people contracted to plant fruit trees. Keep those delicious foods in your mind.

After herding cattle, you can learn to play cards or hear many interesting stories. When there are no herbs, wild fruits and Tricholoma matsutake, the old people will play cards or tell me about their time of herding cattle in the afternoon. I watched them play quietly while they were playing cards. While watching, I learned the rules of the cards they played. What I like best is listening to their stories. Sometimes they tell me stories told by their predecessors, and sometimes they tell me their personal experiences. So I know that when they were young, they only ate white rice during the Chinese New Year and only ate meat once during the Chinese New Year. Often hungry, I dug up a lot of wild vegetables to eat. Some elderly people will tell me how he escaped (hid) from the Japanese when he was a child, and also tell me who fled to our village at that time and lived in our village since he couldn't remember the way home (because it was too small). These are all stories that I like to hear.

Looking back on the days when I was herding cows with my grandmother, it was simple and beautiful. It's just that there will be no more days when a group of old people spoil me, teach me to recognize herbs, pick wild fruits for me to eat and tell me stories.