Chapter 65 Family Travel Experience

"Have you packed everything? Dad's already downstairs driving the car. Hurry up."

Chen Ming wore a white dress with a corset today and carried a small bag. To avoid the sun being too strong during the day, she also paired it with a Mori girl-style hat.

Daughter Shen Leyan came out first with her schoolbag on her back, and said sweetly: "Mommy! You are so beautiful!"

Chen Ming was so happy that her eyes were wide with smiles. "Little naughty girl, Mom is old. No matter how beautiful she is, she is not as beautiful as you. Is the water cup ready?"

Shen Leyan twisted his body and shook his schoolbag, "It's all packed, brother is so slow."

Today is Saturday, and the high school joint entrance examination is just two days away. It is a rare two-day holiday, so Chen Ming wanted to take his two children out to relax.

My eldest son, Lu Mo, is in his first year of high school. The final exams of his first year of high school are closely related to the class placement in his second year of high school. Because of this, he has been very nervous recently and speaks less than before.

Lu Mo came out of the room slowly. The bag he carried looked empty. He was only 16 years old, but he had grown to 178 cm tall. A beard had begun to grow around his mouth, and his voice sounded much more mature. He was very different from the image of the son in Shen Ming's memory.

"I don't want to go. Can't you three go?"

He used to be so cute when he was well behaved.

Now he looks like a mature adult, but his personality has become more and more withdrawn, and he is unwilling to chat with them as parents.

Shen Leyan pouted and was unhappy: "Brother, you are such a spoiler. Our family rarely goes out to play. Let's go!"

Chen Ming also advised: "We will only go for one day and will be back in the afternoon. It won't interfere with your rest at home. Just come with us, okay?"

After much persuasion, Lu Mo changed his shoes reluctantly and followed him out.

It takes two hours to drive from the city to Donghua Town, so Chen Ming and his friends got up at six o'clock and set off at six fifty. Before getting on the highway, they bought some buns at a roadside breakfast shop to fill their stomachs.

Lu Mo refused to eat breakfast, pulled up his coat, covered his face with his hat, and said sullenly, "I'm going to sleep, don't disturb me."

Shen Leyan made a face at his brother, "Brother is a lazy pig."

Compared to Lu Mo's unhappiness, Shen Leyan was quite looking forward to today's journey.

The junior high school courses were not very tiring, and she finished school early, so she spent more time at home with Shen Ming, so she often watched Xia Xia's videos with Shen Ming.

Shen Ming often buys vegetable packages online and makes delicious meals to satisfy the taste buds of the whole family. Shen Leyan likes it very much and knows that today's trip to Yanggou Village is to experience picking, so he is looking forward to it.

They made an appointment with Xia Xia in advance and arrived at Donghua Town at around 8:40. Twenty minutes later, the car arrived at Yanggou Village.

Just as they arrived at the village entrance, a man in his fifties approached the car. Lu Jiadong rolled down the window, and the man said with a broad smile, "Hello, hello. Are you tourists going to Yantou Mountain to experience picking?"

Lu Jiadong nodded, "Yes, what's wrong?"

"Well, I'm the village secretary, Yang Guofeng. You can just call me Old Yang. The roads in our village are narrow, and today is Saturday, and there are many children in the village. For safety reasons, why don't you park your car at the village entrance?"

Shen Leyan glanced around and saw that there were indeed several cars parked there.

Silent was awakened, frowned and asked impatiently: "How long will it take?"

"Soon, soon. If you don't want to walk, our village has a special ox cart that can take you to Xia Wu's house. What do you think?"

"Ox cart?" Shen Leyan had a little girl's heart. When she heard the word "ox cart", her eyes lit up and she kept asking, "What ox cart? Is it a cart pulled by a real ox?"

Yang Guofeng pointed to a place not far away and saw Master Yang Si returning to his old job. He harnessed a cart to his old friend, and the man and the ox were resting under a willow tree.

He wore a conical hat on his head and looked relaxed and contented, much like the characters in ancient paintings and poems, which was eye-catching.

"Great! I want to ride in a bullock cart."

Lu Jiadong: "Okay, let's park the car at the entrance of the village and take the ox cart over."

The family got off the car with their belongings and walked towards the ox cart.

The old friend was eating grass. When he heard someone approaching, he turned his head and looked. His eyes, as big as copper bells, were full of gentleness, and his eyelashes were thick and long. Shen Leyan took out his mobile phone and took several photos in succession.

"Mommy! I want to take a picture with the cow, please take it for me."

After Shen Ming took a photo of her daughter, she asked Shen Leyan to take a photo of her, and the mother and daughter had a lot of fun.

The old friend always cooperates obediently and sometimes even gives a wink.

Fourth Master Yang sat in the front, watching with a smile. After they finished taking the photos, he asked, "Are you going to Yantou Mountain?"

"Yes, Grandpa, how much does it cost to take your ox cart from here to Yantou Mountain?"

"One dollar per person."

Fourth Master Yang took out the QR code hanging around his old friend’s neck, and Shen Ming scanned it for four yuan.

"Come on, go slowly, and hold on tight."

The cart was quite spacious, more than enough for four people. Chen Ming and his daughter got on first, and Lu Mo also got on without saying anything sarcastic. He had never seen a buffalo pulling a cart before, so he found it quite interesting.

After Lu Jiadong got in, Fourth Master Yang made sure they were all seated properly before cracking his bullwhip in the air, "Let's go, old friend."

The old fellow seemed to understand what he said. He stopped lowering his head to eat grass and instead raised his feet and moved slowly.

As the car started moving, Shen Leyan found it even more interesting and couldn't help but exclaimed.

The ox cart moved very slowly, giving them enough time to appreciate the surrounding scenery. There was a river passing through Yanggou Village with clear water. The banks were covered with cattails, and not far away there were water hyacinths with small white flowers.

This invasive species has not been able to occupy the entire water surface, and the ducks and geese floating on the river are the best cleaners.

The quacking sound of ducks drifted far away. As I walked slowly inside, rice fields appeared on the left. Some people were weeding in the fields. Houses were hidden behind the farmlands, and some were located on the roadside.

There are not many people in Yanggou Village, mostly elderly people and children. There are teenagers riding tricycles on the road. No wonder the village secretary has to stop the cars coming in at the entrance of the village.

The road here is indeed not wide enough, at most it is wide enough for an ox cart and a car to drive side by side at the same time.

But precisely because there are fewer people and fewer cars, the scenery is more beautiful.

The weather was not too hot, and a gentle breeze blew. The fragrance of rice fields and water vapor hit his face, and Shen Ming couldn't help but breathe in big gulps of fresh air.

"Ah, the countryside is so comfortable. Even in the city, it's hard to find such abundant natural oxygen, even in the park."

"Yeah, and the scenery here is pretty good. Didn't you say we can go fishing?"

Lu Jiadong is a senior fishing enthusiast. However, due to his daily work schedule, he has not touched a fishing rod for a long time.

Seeing the vast expanses of water, he couldn't resist the urge to fish.

Fourth Master Yang, who was sitting in the front, heard this and said cheerfully, "There's a lot of fish in the pond in front of Xiao Wu's house. You can go fishing there later. We've prepared the fishing rods for you."

Chen Ming: "Then you go fishing, I'll take my daughter to the mountains to play." Then he turned to Lu Mo and asked, "Son, are you going with Dad or with me and my sister?"

Lu Mo: "Let me go fishing with my dad."

"Okay then, we'll split up in a bit!"

Chen Ming and Lu Jiadong are both the only children in their families. Before they got married, they agreed that they would have two children in the future, with the eldest taking the father's surname and the second taking the mother's surname. I don't know if it is for this reason that the relationship between father and son is closer than that of ordinary people.

When they arrived at Xia Wu's house, Shen Ming really wanted to see her. A girl named Zhao Jing told her, "Xiao Wu has gone up the mountain. You might run into her later."

The money that Chen Ming and his friends paid included the cost of fishing. They could pay to take the fish they caught away, or give it to Zhao Jing to find someone to cook.

The fishing rod was provided by Mr. Yang Siye, and it was made entirely by hand. Whether you could catch a fish depended entirely on luck.

But fishing is about enjoying the process. Even if Lu Jiadong catches a big bucket of fish today, he can't take it home, right?

There were already a few men fishing by the pond. They sat on small stools, spread out so as not to disturb each other.

Lu Jiadong picked out a perfect Feng Shui location for himself. He put down the small stool and lowered the bucket into the pond to fill it halfway with water. "Son, bring the bait."

Lu Mo handed him the bait box. When he opened it, he saw the earthworm bait that Yang Siye had made by hand. He immediately threw it on the ground with a look of disgust on his face: "You made it yourself, it's so disgusting."

Lu Jiadong smiled, feeling a little embarrassed. This bait was quite primitive. Could he really catch fish with it?

Never mind, let’s try it first.

A breeze was blowing, and Lu Jiadong stared at the buoy, motionless, feeling so bored.

Lu Mo yawned, also bored of waiting, "Are there really fish in here?"

Lu Jiadong was also unsure, "Should there be?"

Lu Mo ignored him and took out his cell phone to play.

He casually started a game and was playing when a video call popped up on his phone. It was his sister calling.

He died after swiping up, and Shen Leyan attacked again. This happened several times, and the hero played by Lu Mo died twice, and he was scolded by his teammates.

He simply quit the game and connected the video: "What's wrong?"

"Brother! Look! The scenery on the mountain is so beautiful! And this is raspberry! It's so sour and sweet and delicious!"

"There are some kids from the neighborhood on a spring outing on the mountain. It's so crowded and lively. How are you and Dad? Did you catch any fish?"

Lu Mo looked down at the empty bucket and said, "No."

"Let Daddy fish alone, and you come and keep Mommy and me company!"

"I don't want to go."

"Brother, brother! Please! Mommy and I want to take beautiful photos, please help us!"

Shen Leyan was so good at acting like a spoiled child that Lu Mo had no way of dealing with her. He hung up the phone and said in a smug manner, "Then I'll go to the mountain to find them. How about you go too?"

He felt that his father might not be able to catch any fish.

Lu Jiadong wiped the sweat off his face and said stubbornly, "Go ahead. Don't worry, I'll definitely give you a snack at noon. I'll let you eat the fish I caught myself."

A fisherman will never admit that he will come up empty-handed.

Lu Mo understood, so he chose to leave quietly to give his old father some face.

A few days ago, the news that Yantou Mountain was open for family tours was posted in the group. Group members enthusiastically signed up to participate, which brought Xia Wu a lot of surprises.

Few of the group members who came in the past two days brought their children. Even if they did, their children were not yet of school age and were easy to take care of.

It just so happened that today was Saturday, and Xia Wu used the same method he used last week to coax the boy soldiers and asked them to continue working this week. A group of children came to the village. Yang Guofeng was afraid that the outside cars would drive too fast and have an accident, so he stood guard at the village entrance and persuaded each one who came.

Some city people didn't want to walk too much, so in the afternoon they had an idea and asked Yang Siye to take the opportunity to make some extra money. They hired a car for their old friend and asked him to pick up people at the village entrance. They could make four yuan per person, which meant they could make dozens of yuan a day.

The city people had never experienced an ox cart, so when they saw it, they took photos and touched it. Xia Wu thought this was an opportunity to make money, and even gave Yang Siye an idea: it would cost ten yuan to take a photo with an old friend.

Fourth Master Yang was very surprised. "How can you cheat me like this?"

Look at what he said, it seems as if Xia Wu is some kind of black-hearted businessman.

Mr. Yang Si couldn't do this. It was just a cow. He just took a picture of it. He would feel guilty about taking money from him.

Xia Wu didn't force him, and instead reflected on whether he was really a cruel person.

However, according to her understanding of these group members who came to play, even if there was a fee for taking photos, they would not care about the ten yuan.

Zhao Jing was responsible for being the guide, introducing the parent-child tour projects to tourists, which ones required additional charges, which ones were free to experience, including the fish in the pond, which could be taken back or cooked and eaten. Xia Wu made some minor adjustments based on the experience of the previous two days.

Sure enough, this way the tourists’ experience will be better.

A few days ago, the apricots were only slightly yellow. Xia Wu walked around under the fruit trees and found several apricots that were mostly yellow.

She took Jindou and Heidou up the mountain to patrol. She had raised the two little ones for more than four months and had already seen their majestic appearance in the future. They were very excited after going up the mountain, sniffing left and right.

"Woof woof!"

"Do you two want to eat too?"

Xia Wu picked a few apricots and went to the canal, washed them, and found a place to sit cross-legged.

She peeled the apricot and took a bite. The sour and sweet taste made her drool even more.

Their local sun apricots have small kernels, thick flesh, lots of juice, and very little fiber in the flesh. There is a local factory that specializes in purchasing mature sun apricots, processing them into dried fruits for sale, and supporting many local people.

Xia Wu had never eaten the sun apricots grown by others, but after eating the apricots she grew herself once, she fell in love with this little thing. She didn't know who invented it, but it was so delicious.

You can't eat too many apricots. It will make your teeth sour and is not good for your health. But Xia Wu couldn't help it. Every time he passed by the apricot forest, he would come in and take a look, picking the ripe ones.

"Woof woof!"

Jindou and Heidou became greedy when they saw her eating. They wagged their tails like propellers and stared at her eagerly.

Jindou loves to bark, while Heidou is calm. He just puts his little paws on Xia Wu's legs and looks at her expectantly with his head tilted.

"Can you two eat it?" Xia Wu didn't know whether dogs could eat apricots. Her two little dogs were not picky eaters and would eat whatever was available at home. She also saw Jindou and Heidou scrambling to eat raw vegetable leaves, and even running to the vegetable garden to eat chili peppers.

"You two should share one. Don't eat too much. What if you get a stomachache?"

Xia Wu said this and fed the still green half to Hei Dou.

Jindou suddenly became anxious, biting his tail and whimpering as he turned around in circles.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Xia Wu quickly peeled another one, ate half of the yellow one, and fed the remaining half to Jindou, "Look, your half is bigger than your brother's."

The two puppies finished the apricots quickly, not afraid of the sourness at all. Instead, they licked the edges of their mouths with satisfaction and continued to stare at Xia Wu.