Chapter Thirty-Four: Orchard Picking

An Songyu's sigh did not last long.

She had just returned to her little building, and before she could even put down her luggage, Yuan Qionghua, who was coming downstairs, saw her.

Yuan Qionghua's eyes lit up, and she rushed over in three steps.

After taking the luggage from An Songyu's hands, he immediately said, "Ayu, I'm so glad you came."

"The room is still on the first floor next to the stairs. I'll help you take your luggage in."

"You'd better hurry over to your family's orchard!"

“Recently, we’ve had a lot of visitors in the village who want to help pick fruit in your orchard.”

“Your dad said that as long as the guests don’t damage the fruit or the trees, and don’t pick the fruit randomly, they can pick as much as they want.”

"Moreover, you don't have to take everything with you."

At this point, Yuan Qionghua also expressed her admiration.

But this isn't a suitable place to talk.

After all, there are so many guests in the village these days.

In particular, their fees in Jiangcun are very reasonable.

Many families with children even send their elderly parents and children over, and they stay for one or two weeks at a time.

As a result, many of the farmhouses in the village are not enough to accommodate everyone.

An Songyu's family originally planned to only temporarily reside in some of the houses.

Because in most rooms, there is no suitable furniture.

In the end, these guests still had nowhere to stay, and they were unwilling to leave.

They also discovered several newly built houses belonging to An Songyu.

Judging from its design and layout, it is clearly intended for entertaining guests, but it has never been put into use.

So they simply asked a local guesthouse owner they knew to help them find him and inquire.

The villagers had no other choice but to call An Jianping.

After discussing it with his wife, An Jianping...

They then let the villagers bring their guests over; if they liked something, they could stay there, but if they didn't, there was nothing they could do.

After all, they tried their best to match the old furniture into sets.

However, compared to the newly built house, it does indeed look somewhat mismatched.

Fortunately, Bi Lizhu is meticulous in her work.

Even old furniture was carefully sorted before being moved upstairs.

Some of the items that were still in perfect condition were cleaned and then arranged before being placed in the room.

Some of the items that were not in perfect condition were also given some simple treatment.

Some were repaired if possible, but after repair, they weren't put back in immediately. Instead, they were painted over along with some that only needed repainting.

Surprisingly, it looks even better than the original, intact one.

It's just a bit of a hassle!

Fortunately, there's no rush to settle down.

Now, the house is finally furnished to look somewhat decent.

Actually, strictly speaking, these are old pieces of furniture brought back from the city.

If you put it in most households in Jiangcun, it wouldn't necessarily be bad.

After all, we tend to use things that are still usable at home.

Only a very small number of people frequently change their home decorations and furniture.

It's only because An Songyu's house is newly built that it feels somewhat mismatched.

The guests don't care about whether it's new or old; they just want it to be clean and comfortable.

And so, not long after the summer vacation started, many rooms in An Songyu's house were already occupied by guests.

Normally, not to mention Yuan Qionghua, any village that sends someone over would also do so.

They would also come over often to greet their guests.

And please help clean the common areas thoroughly.

This also means that An Songyuan is temporarily unable to spare anyone to manage the situation.

The houses are being used smoothly.

An Songyu didn't even have time to drink a sip of water before rushing to the orchard.

Sure enough, there were quite a few adults and children in the orchard.

Even on the fringes of banana trees that haven't ripened yet this season, people can be seen lurking around.

I have no idea what they were looking at.

However, An Songyu did not go closer to observe.

Anyway, we were given a heads-up before entering the orchard.

If the damage to the fruit tree is caused accidentally during normal fruit picking, it can be handled at the discretion of the authorities.

Any damage to the fruit trees caused by any other actions must be compensated at the original price.

Therefore, people who enter the orchard are generally quite law-abiding.

Not long after An Songyu arrived, guests came carrying baskets and dragging crates.

She couldn't help but twitch her lips when she saw the various fruits in the baskets and crates.

Did they pick all the fruit that was in their orchard?

But there's so much, can we finish it all?

An Songyu thought this way, and naturally asked the same question.

The family who came to pay the bill laughed when they heard An Songyu's overly honest question:

"It's alright, we're heading straight back to the city today."

"Don't be fooled by how many fruits there are; once you get back, you can easily divide them up and they'll be gone."

"Dad, we can't divide them all!" The child, who had been eagerly watching the fruit being bagged, became somewhat unhappy upon hearing this.

"Don't worry, I definitely won't distribute them all. I'll save the ones you picked for you!"

"Really?"

"Of course!"

After listening to what the family was saying, An Songyu didn't say anything more.

They collected the money at a slightly higher price than the orchard's selling price.

The family exclaimed about how affordable and fresh the produce was, as they left the orchard carrying bags and bundles.

With the start of this family's business, An Songyu was unable to rest for a long time afterward.

Until it was almost dark.

Whether they came to the orchard to experience fruit picking or wanted to pick and eat fruit themselves, they have all finally left.

An Songyu stretched her sore arms.

Looking at the rows of baskets full of fruit next to him, he could only resign himself to his fate and start working on his tricycle.

These fruits need to be taken to her uncle's yard for processing.

While separating them by type, we also need to check whether they are damaged.

The tourists who come to pick fruit are quite discerning; they rarely pick anything of poor quality.

The problem is that they aren't very skilled at picking fruit, and most of them bring their children with them.

The fruit will be more damaged if it is picked.

These fruits can be picked out in time, and they are still edible.

But if you don't find one, it's very easy for it to spoil.

After all that was done, An Songyu ate a quick bite with her uncle's family.

She then left with her cousin, who wanted to stay at her house with her.

At night, Jiangcun is only illuminated by moonlight, except for the streetlights on the main road and the streetlights of each household.

If you look up, you can see a sky full of stars.

An Songyu sighed as she walked forward.

An Songyue listened with great pleasure.

As someone who grew up in the countryside, although I love this starry sky, I've never really found it strange.

An Songyu just smiled and remained silent.

My little cousin has never left home.

Naturally, people wouldn't think that such a common sight would be so rare outside.

Thinking about it, she couldn't help but act like a bad guy:

"Ah Yue, have your college entrance exam results come out yet? Did you get in?"

An Songyue was speechless: "I've only just been able to check my scores, and I haven't even filled out my college application yet!"

An Songyu was slightly taken aback. She had forgotten that this year it seemed that scores were checked before college applications were filled out.

"Then will you be able to get into your ideal school?" An Songyu quickly changed the subject.

An Songyue fell silent.

After a while, she sighed deeply and said, "Sister, why is studying so difficult?"

"What, you didn't do well on the college entrance exam? Are you planning to go straight to university, or repeat the year?" An Songyu asked with some surprise.

She seemed to remember that before she returned, none of her siblings had repeated a grade!

"Of course I'll go straight to university!" An Songyue answered decisively.

She couldn't even imagine having to go through the college entrance exam again.

"Besides, if your grades aren't good enough, how can repeating a year change that?"

Amused by her cousin's mournful expression, An Songyu also became curious:

"So which school did you originally plan to apply to?"

In fact, An Songyue lived at their house throughout high school.

An Songyu was completely unaware of this.

It's not that she doesn't care about her cousin.

An Songyu, who was already studying in the southern province at that time, could only come back a very limited number of times throughout the year.

And this is often the time when An Songyue returns to Jiang Village to reunite with her family.

But Ansong Yue still looked quite sad when she heard this question.

She looked at An Songyu's face as if An Songyu had asked a question that should never be asked.