Chapter 220 Broad Leaves

Last year, there were almost no valuable crops in this vegetable garden except sesame and a Chinese prickly ash tree whose branches were broken by the snow.

The overgrown weeds almost dominated the entire vegetable garden.

Mu Xi walked in front to lead the way, while Zhao Yeqing was responsible for observing the environment and determining the direction.

She just didn't believe it. "Is there only one or two vegetable gardens in the whole village?"

A few hundred meters ahead is the location of the ground fissure. Zhao Yeqing plans to explore vertically upwards, walk to the top and look down like he did last year. The open area without trees might be the vegetable garden.

Unexpectedly, this investigation turned out to be beyond her expectations.

After walking up just a few dozen meters, she saw rows of small trees planted on a large piece of land. Each tree was a little over ten centimeters taller than her. The small trees in the middle had many branches and leaves broken by the accumulated snow.

Only the small trees near the edge of the forest were hardly affected because they were blocked by the big trees.

Zhao Yeqing walked forward quickly, her eyes full of surprise. She looked at the tree with shiny leaves and thorns growing between its branches and leaves, and said to Mu Xi excitedly,

"It's a tangerine tree!"

How could she forget that before their small mountain village was developed into a tourist area, the economic crop for the nearby villages was these citrus trees.

Mu Xi walked to the nearest citrus tree to check its condition and found that all the flowers on it had fallen and tiny fruits had grown on the branches.

However, the fruit is now only the size of a marble. In the past, the fruiting period of citrus fruits was in autumn, but now the temperature and time cannot be accurately predicted, so we can only infer the time of maturity based on the situation.

The citrus field is a slope. Zhao Yeqing climbed up to the top of the field and observed the condition of the citrus trees along the way.

"The altitude here is a little lower, and it's a sunny slope facing south, so the freezing situation is not particularly serious. However, many branches were broken by the snow, and the remaining half are in relatively good condition."

Even if it's only half, it will be enough for two people if it can be harvested.

There is little labor force in the village, and the owner of this small orchard should be an old man. There are only about a hundred fruit trees in total.

Mu Xi: "It depends. As long as it grows normally and doesn't drop the fruit, it should be ripe in three months."

It rained a lot recently, which caused some trouble for the vegetable fields as they were overwatered.

But for the citrus tree, it is a rare blessing of good weather. Citrus trees like water and sunlight. Now is the best time for the sun, and the branches facing south have grown a lot.

"If the weather is too hot in the future, find time to water them."

Zhao Yeqing was very much looking forward to the citrus fruits in the orchard. There was no shortage of vegetables, grains and meat now, but the supply of fruits was very unstable. He could only find some fruits in the forest during the season, and the yield was small.

If we wait a few months, the citrus fruits in the forest will be ripe. We can pick them and eat them fresh, or make them into jam or canned fruit, and then we won’t have to worry about fruit in the winter.

It’s too hot in summer now. If we want to water the orchard more, we have to find a water source nearby. Otherwise, it would be too hard to carry water up from the mountain.

Mu Xi looked around and calculated the distance from the orchard to the road they were taking to go down the mountain. He planned to come over and open up a direct road when the time comes to make it easier to take care of it.

While Mu Xi was calculating the direction, Zhao Yeqing circled around the edge of the orchard, found the area where the surrounding plants grew most luxuriantly, and shouted to Mu Xi, "Go this way!"

The two followed the vegetation path forward. It became increasingly shady as they walked, and within a few minutes they saw a dried-up stream.

Zhao Yeqing was sweating profusely as she walked. She had to use tissues sparingly. She took out her handkerchief and wiped off the sweat. She took a deep breath and said, "The vegetation is growing towards this side. The water source must not be dry."

Mu Xi handed her the water bottle on his waist and looked up at the stream. The vegetation grew more lushly as he went higher.

"I'll go up and take a look. The grass over there is too dense, there might be snakes. The road is too narrow and hard to walk on. It would only delay things if we go with two people. You wait here for me."

Zhao Yeqing took two gulps of water and said, "Then be careful. I'll clean up the fallen leaves and dead branches in the stream."

While waiting for Mu Xi to come back, Zhao Yeqing dug out the dead branches and leaves from the stream that might block the flow of water.

There were weeds growing along the bank of the stream, but she would not be tripped by the weeds when she walked into the stream.

There were a lot of fallen leaves and broken branches inside, and she could probably clean them up.

He threw the dead branch in his hand to the side, and the thatch by the water was flattened, revealing the broad leaves that had just grown underneath.

"Huh?"

Zhao Yeqing took a few steps forward and poked the grass a few times with another branch in his hand, which he had not yet thrown away.

After making sure there was no movement inside, Zhao Yeqing carefully parted the grass and found several broad taro leaves in the two-meter-high thatch.

The land around here is fertile, and the taro leaves are almost as big as lotus leaves. Generally speaking, there will not be only one taro plant in one place. The taro will have many buds, and will branch out and grow many taro seedlings and root systems.

Taro requires a lot of water during its growing period, so it makes sense to grow it beside a stream.

Zhao Yeqing pulled aside the thatch and found that there were indeed several taro plants growing together next to them.

After carefully identifying it to make sure it was not confused with the poisonous wild taro, he took out the hatchet on his waist and started digging.

The only tools I have now are the hatchet; the hoe and backpack are left in the citrus orchard.

When Mu Xi came back, he looked around but didn't see anyone. He walked down a few steps and found that the thatched grass was shaking.

"What are you doing?"

Zhao Yeqing's slightly excited voice came out, "Come and see!"

Mu Xi took a sickle and cut all the thatch and threw it away. He saw Zhao Yeqing squatting and pulling out a round taro from the soil.

Zhao Yeqing said with some regret, "This taro is considered to be relatively early-maturing, but it's a pity that it hasn't grown very big yet. If it waits another two or three months until the tangerines are ripe, it will be the best time to eat it."

"This can be eaten for one meal." Mu Xi took the taro and shook off the remaining dirt on it. "This taro sprout can be eaten for several meals."

Zhao Yeqing has had the habit of eating taro sprouts since she was a child, and she has been eating them since she was a child, so naturally she would not miss it.

Both the leaves and stems of taro can be eaten after being cooked, especially the stems. Choose the tenderer parts, cut them into small strips and pickle them into sour taro shoots. They are especially refreshing and appetizing when served with white porridge in the summer.

Zhao Yeqing tied the taro leaves, which still had water droplets on them, into bundles with straw stalks, avoiding the broken ends of the stalks, and planned to carry a large bundle of taro seedlings back in his arms.

The mucus on the broken end of the taro will feel itchy if touched by hand, and she accidentally touched a little bit of it when she was digging just now.

I was just about to ask Mu Xi to pour some water from the kettle to wash my hands.

I saw water flowing slowly down from the top of the stream.

In less than a minute, the water filled the entire stream.