"The four of us aren't strong enough! It's such a waste to have so many left!"

After the meal, Yu Yang put down his chopsticks and looked at the dishes on the table with reluctance.

Grandma Fan quietly asked Chen Hong, "Little Chen, can we pack it up? No one else touched these dishes, it's just the four of us who will eat them."

This meal was delicious; it would be a waste not to take it home. We can have it again tonight.

See, older people know how to manage their money better than younger people; they're afraid of wasting anything!

Chen Hong nodded: "Auntie, if you don't mind, please pack all these dishes and take them home."

"We won't take the rest. Brother Song and the others won't care about these wild vegetables; they'll just throw them away."

"No problem, no problem! My family isn't that picky. My son and daughter-in-law often take leftovers home from restaurants."

Doesn't the government also advocate eliminating waste? We think other people's leftovers are dirty, but our own leftovers aren't dirty.

We know each other well, and neither of us has any infectious diseases, so I'm at ease!

We're a little embarrassed, but my grandson and I got a ride with you today without spending a penny, and we even got to eat and take some food with us.

Xiao Chen, you're a good person. When you go back to Jinan, please visit our house often. I'll make you a big braised pork knuckle then.

"Let me tell you, my auntie is a master at making braised pork knuckle. It tastes amazing, just as good as what chefs in fancy restaurants make."

The old lady excitedly packed up all the remaining food on the table and took it with her.

Looking at the empty plates on the table, Sister-in-law Song and her husband couldn't stop smiling and kept saying:

"As long as it suits your taste, that's good! We're relieved that you're satisfied with your meal."

"It's perfect that you're taking the food with you, so we can wash the dishes."

After the meal, Chen Hong and the others had a cup of tea at Brother Song's house and asked him where they could find wild vegetables that hadn't been sprayed with pesticides and could be dug up to take home.

Sister-in-law Song kindly told them, "Then we have to go further into the mountains. You can't dig up wild vegetables near the apricot trees. The apricot trees have been sprayed with lime sulfur, which will fall onto the wild vegetables nearby."

We have to go very far to forage for wild vegetables here. Unless it rains, we have to wait about a week before we can eat the wild vegetables under the trees.

Girls, seeing how much you like to eat, your older brother is going to pick some toon sprouts and gather some elm seeds for you.

He'll be back after you've finished your tea. These are all from trees in my old family home; they're absolutely pesticide-free, so you can eat them without worry.

Farmers are so kind and honest! Chen Hong was very moved. When she left the Song family, she secretly put another two hundred yuan under the teapot for them.

Grandma Fan got into the car first with the packed groceries, unaware of Chen Hong's subtle actions.

Jiang Meiyu and Yu Yang were helping Chen Hong carry the toon sprouts and elm seeds in the snakeskin bag, walking behind her, when they spotted them.

Yu Yang smiled. Jiang Meiyu was about to speak when Chen Hong put her index finger to her lips, let out a soft sigh, and nodded without saying anything.

Chen Hong had no choice. The person who gave her the wild vegetables refused to accept any money, saying that they grew on their own trees and that if she didn't give them to them, they would wither and fall off when they got old, which would be a complete waste.

At the market, the best toon sprouts only cost six or seven yuan per pound, and you still have to stand guard at the stall all morning.

When toon sprouts are in season, every household can collect dozens or even hundreds of kilograms, but they can't fetch a good price at all!

But even though that's what people say, Chen Hong felt that no matter how worthless it was, they had still put in the effort, and she was very touched by their sentiment.

It's clear that Brother Song's family isn't well-off, and there's nothing else she can do to help, so all she can do is give them some money.

…………

Since the apricot trees had all been sprayed with pesticides, Chen Hong and Grandma Fan didn't dare to dig up any more wild vegetables from the ground.

After taking some more photos and having enough fun, Chen Hong arranged to meet everyone at the intersection of the national highway and drove to the meeting point.

When everyone gathered together, someone claimed to have dug up a bag of wild vegetables, and Grandma Fan quickly relayed what the Song couple had said to them.

Upon hearing that there might be pesticides, these parents threw away all the wild vegetables they had dug up without hesitation.

"What a waste of time! I dug for so long and came up empty-handed!"

"Grandma Meiyu, what are your plans for lunch? Are you having a picnic or eating at a restaurant?"

Someone asked Grandma Fan.

The old lady said happily, "We found a farmer to host us. The people in that village are really kind. They stewed a free-range chicken for us."

Oh my, you didn't see it! That chicken was huge, weighing seven or eight pounds. The four of us ate it and there was still more than half left.

Today, my grandparents and I were lucky because of Xiao Chen. She paid for it, and it cost her two hundred yuan!

Oh, and besides the free-range chicken, we also had a wild vegetable feast.

Let me tell you, that rural woman fried toon sprouts for us, made some vegetables with dipping sauce, and even made dumplings filled with elm seeds.

Wow, I've lived this long, and this is the first time I've ever known that elm seeds can be used to make dumplings, and they're delicious!

As they spoke, more and more people gathered. Chen Hong counted them and realized that only one car had not yet returned.

Everyone parked their cars on the side of the road and got out to share what they had seen and heard.

One of the girls' parents said angrily, "We've had a really bad day. The people in this village we chose are awful. You have no idea, we got ripped off."

They were very welcoming when I first arrived. They offered me tea and cigarettes as soon as I entered, and laid out melon seeds, candy, and snacks.

When we saw that the restaurant in the village looked quite professional, we decided to stay and eat at their place.

We had two cars with ten people, and we agreed in advance that they would serve eight dishes and a soup, and charge 180 yuan.

We thought it was pretty cheap, but we were shocked when the food was served.

Do you know what's in all eight dishes?

Braised cabbage with pork belly, stir-fried celery with shredded pork, and cold pig's head meat salad – three meat dishes with some meat in them.

Can you guess what the other five dishes are?

Grandma Fan and the others chimed in, "It must be wild vegetables! Isn't this the season for eating wild vegetables?"

The girl's father was so angry he laughed, slapped his thigh and said, "You guessed right! But it would have been better if they had actually prepared some fresh wild vegetables for us!"

Damn it, they made us stir-fried tofu with scallions, stewed spinach with glass noodles, stewed radish strips with mung bean noodles, and stir-fried eggs with toon sprouts. The only real wild vegetable dish was bitter greens with dipping sauce.

Do you know what kind of soup was served last? Spinach and egg soup!

Good heavens! I ate these dishes at my grandma's house thirty years ago. I had no idea that scallions, spinach, and radishes had become wild vegetables?

I never imagined that thirty years later I would be driving a car worth over 300,000 yuan and eating such bland soup in this small mountain village again!

Tell me, this meal probably didn't even cost fifty yuan!

When it comes time to settle the bill, do you know how much they'll charge?

Everyone laughed and asked in unison, full of curiosity, "How much?"

"Two hundred and eighty! You didn't expect that, did you!"

"Why is there so much? Didn't we agree on 180 yuan beforehand? Where did the extra 100 yuan come from?"

"We were puzzled too! We almost came to blows! No wonder they say troublemakers come from deep in the mountains! Do you know what people say?"

They asked, "Don't you charge for tea, candy, and snacks? And what about the main dish, clear soup noodles, which was served last? Don't you charge for those too?"

Damn it! In the end, we still got no recourse! Who told us not to ask clearly in the first place? We deserved to be ripped off!

To be honest, if we hadn't all brought our kids along today, we definitely wouldn't have let it go like this!

Damn it! They ruined my good mood today! Is everyone here?