"On July 7, if you don't pick hazelnuts, you'll miss the pears." Every year during "End of Heat," various mountain goods and wild fruits gradually ripen and can be harvested.
Before the End of Heat, the brigade has a unified rule: no one is allowed to go up the mountain to pick hazelnuts or get pears to ensure these fruits are fully ripe and not harvested prematurely.
Now that the End of Heat has passed, in a few days, it will be Mother Zhang's lunar birthday on July 20, and naturally, there won't be mountain goods or wild fruits waiting for Zhang Guoqing and the others when they return.
In the past, during good years, some families could still gather two or three sacks of hazelnuts, along with other miscellaneous mountain goods and wild fruits. Besides selling them to the procurement station, every household had enough of these foods and snacks to get through the winter.
