Chapter 73: Collective Tea Planting

Shen Lingning's fingers deftly picked bunches of pure white locust flowers from the branches and put them into the cloth bag on his arm.

I plan to take it home and slowly remove the petals, so it will be cleaner.

He took the locust flowers that Fubao had stuffed into her mouth and wiped them clean with a handkerchief: "Locust flowers are cold in nature, so don't be greedy, little baby."

Touching Fubao's little nose, Damao jumped and ran around with Tiedan to catch butterflies. After a while, he clasped his hands together and ran quickly to Fubao, showing her excitedly: "Sister, look, I caught a yellow butterfly..."

Da Mao opened his arms, a bright yellow "Golden Lady", his wings opening and closing like two breathing ginkgo leaves, his tail as long as a feather, trembling gently in the wind.

Even Fubao held his breath. His chubby little hands reached out and gently pinched the folded golden wings with his thumb and index finger.

Tiedan and Damao watched in amazement as the butterfly in their sister's palm trembled with her breathing, lying obediently motionless.

Tiedan yelled, "Ah, that's not fair! Why do butterflies fly so high when I try to catch them? I can't catch any of them. Sister, why don't the butterflies move even if I pinch them?"

The cry startled the butterfly, and it suddenly flapped its wings and flew away. Fubao looked up at it flying higher and higher, and uttered the first word in his life: "Fly!"

Tiedan was so shocked that he shouted, "Auntie, Auntie, Fubao can talk!"

Shen Lingning and Aunt Sun both stopped what they were doing and trotted over.

Shen Lingning picked up Fubao from the mat and shook her little hand: "Fubao just spoke? Say what you said again?"

Fubao didn't want to say anything, but this was the first time she spoke in this life. Looking at Shen Lingning's happy face, she still fulfilled her wish and said, "Die, fly!"

Forgive her for not being able to speak long sentences.

This alone was enough to astonish Shen Lingning and Aunt Sun. This little baby, who was only 7 or 8 months old, could already speak. This child was extraordinary!

Several people surrounded Fubao and teased her, wanting her to talk more, but Fubao was impatient to talk more and stopped talking, just playing by herself.

After a while, Tiedan and Damao, who couldn't sit still, continued to run and play. There were so many fun things in the mountains.

The sun gradually rose and the temperature became higher and higher.

Shen Lingning stood up, wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and cast his gaze towards the hillside farther away.

The trees grew densely and there were overgrown weeds more than one meter high, but there was indeed a barren dirt road at the foot of the mountain that meandered upwards, and it was obvious that people walked there frequently.

"Auntie Sun, are there usually a lot of people coming up this mountain?"

Shen Lingning asked casually.

Aunt Sun had just stuffed a handful of fresh wild ferns into her backpack. The tips of the ferns were still curved and emerald green.

She walked over and followed Shen Lingning's gaze at the road: "That's right. Just a few years ago when the situation was bad, the bark of the trees on this mountain was almost stripped clean, and the roots of wild vegetables were dug up to extinction.

The harvest is a little better now, but who wouldn't want to have some food? Chopping wood, digging wild vegetables, picking wild fruits, all rely on this mountain."

Shen Lingning nodded, feeling a little depressed. "It's all the same. Back then in Shanghai, supplies were tight. To save food, I only had two thin meals a day. I was so full of water that I staggered when I walked."

She changed the subject, as if the barren hills before her triggered some idea: "These hills are all under the management of our base, right? The soil looks okay, but it's a pity that they are left barren with grass and shrubs.

If we can clean it up, we can plant some drought-resistant fruits, or... I'm just wondering, I heard that in some places in the south, tea can be grown on slopes, but I don't know if it's possible in our climate."

She paused, observing Aunt Sun's reaction, then added casually, "I seemed to have seen something in an old newspaper about a commune in Suzhou growing tea. They not only drink it themselves, but also make it into tea paste and other things. They're trying to exchange it for foreign currency."

She didn't say it too affirmatively, leaving room for maneuver.

Aunt Sun was an old resident of the family compound and well-informed. Upon hearing this, she piqued her interest, her eyes lighting up. "Tea paste? Exchange for foreign currency? That's a really new thing! Xiao Shen, you really know a lot!"

She lowered her voice and asked, "Hey, last time you mentioned you wanted to lease a mountain, what happened? Did you make it work?"

She obviously connected Shen Lingning's "blind thinking" with the previous words.

Shen Lingning's heart moved slightly, knowing that the message had been passed on, but he didn't show it on his face. He just smiled bitterly and patted the dust off his hands.

"It's not that easy, Auntie. I'm just daydreaming. Contracting a barren mountain is such a big deal, and whether the policy allows it is unclear. Even if it is allowed, I'm a newly arrived military dependent, and my background is... ah, it's difficult."

She revealed a touch of helplessness and desire at just the right moment, expressing her thoughts while also showing her weakness.

After hearing this, Aunt Sun also sighed: "Indeed, this policy matter needs to be sorted out clearly."

But she looked at Shen Lingning with a little more respect, thinking that this young man had ideas and was not just a man who kept around the stove.

However, she kept in mind what Shen Lingning said, that they could collectively grow tea and make tea paste to exchange for foreign currency.

After picking enough locust flowers and wild vegetables, the group walked down the mountain road.

When passing by the shallow river at the foot of the mountain, Aunt Sun's grandson Damao and another boy named Tiedan were in a playful mood. They took off their shoes and jumped into the river, hoping to catch fish.

The river water was cool, just above the calves.

The two boys were giggling as they stepped on the pebbles at the bottom of the water. After a while, Tiedan suddenly screamed "Ah!" and suddenly raised his foot. On his big toe, a dark red crayfish with its claws and fangs bared was tightly clamped!

Tiedan grimaced in pain and swung his feet around, trying to get rid of the thing, but it only clamped tighter.

Damao was also shocked standing next to them.

"Oh! This unlucky child! Come up quickly!" Aunt Sun shouted anxiously.

Shen Lingning quickly pulled Fubao over: "Don't pull hard! The more you pull, the tighter it gets!"

She instructed: "Tiedan, walk slowly to the shore."

Tiedan, with tears in his eyes, hopped ashore on one foot.

Shen Lingning asked him to sit down and took a closer look.

Fortunately, the crayfish was not big, so even though I clamped it tightly, there was no bleeding.

She remembered how to deal with it, and immediately poured some water from the old military water bottle she carried with her. She also asked Aunt Sun for some laundry soap, applied it on Tiedan's toes and the lobster, and rubbed it slowly.

She had read in medical books about such scratches from fish and shrimp. If one was not careful and got infected, one could lose one's life.

"Mom, there are red bugs, lots of them! They're under the rocks!"

Fubao clung to her, pointing his little hand at the river, his voice a little surprised but not afraid, and a word reached Shen Lingning's heart.

Shen Lingning's hands didn't stop moving, but his heart was moved.

Fubao said "a lot"...