Chapter 75 Helping to drive the mountain with friends
This scene lasted for about half a minute.
Zhang Wenxin couldn't help but ask, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
At this time, the twins' eyes were blurred with tears and their voices were so choked that it was difficult to hear their words.
At the same time, Zhang Hailan and Zhang Haizhu's eyes also turned red.
Zhang Haimei is the oldest among the friends now, and her emotions are the most stable. She patted the shoulders and touched the heads of her younger sisters in turn to comfort them.
"We were all named by Grandma Zhang," she explained. "She also named Sister Xiangru and Sister Haiqing."
Zhang Wenxin asked in surprise: "Zhang Xiangru and Yu Haiqing?"
Yu Zhile had no impression of these two names, so Zhang Wenxin gave her a brief introduction.
The two are seven or eight years younger than Zhang Wenxin's parents, and often appear in the mouths of the older generation, often accompanied by the saying that a sparrow turns into a phoenix once it flies to a tree.
In the eyes of their parents, they are ungrateful people. They change their names after marrying and moving to other places and cut off ties with their families.
"Yes, they are." Zhang Haimei gave a positive answer. The next sentence made Zhang Wen drop his jaw in shock, "But they have never been married."
"Ah?" Zhang Wenxin was confused.
Her parents got married early, and she was already over two years old when they got married. She vaguely remembers the bright red cotton jacket against the backdrop of the heavy snow.
However, when I heard about this incident from the villagers later, I learned that the grooms from both families did not show up that day, and each family sent a car to pick them up.
"At that time, their parents found relatives in the mountain valley. It was just a play that Grandma Zhang hired someone to do." Zhang Haimei continued, "Later, they went to college and now live in Beijing."
Then, she listed one by one the women that Grandma Zhang had secretly helped since she married into Haiyu Village, more than a hundred people, ranging from those in their sixties to newborn babies.
Some people moved away from their original families, some learned the skills to survive, and some can still see this imperfect but beautiful world.
And these things are unknown to anyone except the friends who have been helped and a few others.
"She was afraid that if someone knew these things, it would reveal her previous identity and implicate you, so she never told anyone else." Zhang Haimei choked up.
Yu Chunqi sniffed and said, "Wenxin, you don't know how much we envy you for having such a good grandmother."
Hearing this, Zhang Wenxin burst into tears.
At this moment, she finally knew where the things in the old lady's room and the "connections" she had been calculating for before came from.
In the past, she always envied Lele for having a heroic grandmother, but she never knew that her own grandmother was an unsung hero.
"Le Le, I'm so stupid." Zhang Wenxin recalled the words she had yelled at her grandmother before, and felt ashamed. "I scolded her like that before."
Yu Zhile didn't know how to comfort her, so he could only gently wipe away her tears.
"Grandma Zhang said that it doesn't matter if you do something wrong, as long as you apologize, you will be forgiven." Yu Dongxi said timidly.
Zhang Wenxin immediately rushed out and his figure quickly disappeared at the end of the path.
Zhang Haimei looked at Yu Zhile seriously and said, "On behalf of all my friends, thank you."
Yu Zhile moved his lips but said nothing.
She felt that it was not enough and she wanted to do more with Zhang Wenxin.
The next day, more small baskets with novel and unique styles appeared outside the Yu family's courtyard, and the contents were different.
Zhang Wenxin, with her eyes red and swollen from crying, appeared in the courtyard on time. She did not forget that she would go up the mountain with Yu Zhile to pick wild pepper today.
"Here." Chen Zhao awkwardly brought a bowl of noodles to Zhang Wenxin.
He was used to bickering with her, and today Yu Zhile gave him some special warnings, which made him feel uncomfortable.
Zhang Wenxin rolled her eyes at him and deliberately asked, "What are you doing? Are you feeling guilty for saying bad things about me behind my back?"
"You, hum." Chen Zhao only said one word, snorted, raised his head and walked into the kitchen.
Zhang Wenxin lowered her head and smiled.
Today's breakfast is hand-rolled noodles made by Yu Haiguang who got up early. The soup base is made by Yu Zhile with seaweed and dried shrimps, which is rich in flavor.
The hand-kneaded noodles are delicate and chewy, fully absorbing the umami flavor of the soup base and bringing great satisfaction to the taste buds.
Finding the second egg in water at the bottom of the bowl, Zhang Wenxin looked up at Yu Zhile.
Yu Zhile smiled at her, making her eyes warm again.
After breakfast, the two men carried bamboo baskets up the mountain, and Chen Zhao went to the warehouse to get farm tools.
Not long after the three men left, Yu Haiguang and Zhou Yuesheng rode their bikes into the city. Today they were going to take those people to a farm next to the quarry.
Yu Zhile touched the logo and started the live broadcast as usual.
The audience in the live broadcast room were frantically posting comments as usual.
[Wow, are we going hiking with so many sisters today? ]
A sentence with a gold frame floated across the colorful barrage and was spotted by Yu Zhile.
She looked at the panoramic view and found that there were more than a dozen people following her not far behind.
A group of people gradually approached, and the two turned back when they heard the sound.
Leading the group were the three Zhang sisters and the twins, each of them carrying a large backpack.
"I told you guys to go up the mountain to prepare the seasoning for the sideline group, and everyone wanted to help." Zhang Haimei explained quickly, "We can decide our own work points, so taking half a day off won't affect our lives."
Yu Zhile and Zhang Wenxin looked at each other and smiled brightly at them at the same time.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and then followed the two people towards the valley entrance with a laugh.
Red and yellow wild peppers hang among the branches, with shiny and smooth skin.
"This is the first time I know this place." Zhang Haimei sighed, "I have to come here tomorrow spring to eat as much prickly ash as I can."
The only time they go up the mountain is before and after work. Their range of activities is relatively small, and most of the time they can only wander around the back slope.
"Let Lele take everyone to pick grapes later. Let's eat as much grapes as we can first." Zhang Wenxin smiled heartily.
Everyone responded in unison, with a hint of joy in their voices.
The melodious sound echoed for a long time.
Everyone was a good worker. They picked peppers while chatting. In less than half an hour, they had swept the wild pepper trees and put all the peppers of suitable sizes into bamboo baskets.
"Friends, let's go pick grapes!" Zhang Wenxin said loudly.
Yu Zhile seemed to see the active and enthusiastic Young Pioneers captain and couldn't help laughing.
When we arrived at the destination, there was a burst of exclamations of "wow" one after another.
Purple-black grapes the size of egg yolks covered the tree trunks, and their skin looked shiny.
The skin and flesh of ripe raisins can be easily separated. Just give it a light suck and the delicate and sweet flesh will slide into your mouth, making you intoxicated and unable to stop.
Everyone ate with great joy, and everyone had a smile on their face.
They first carefully put the wild peppers of the same color into their companions' mid-air baskets, and then happily began to pick the fruits.
On the way down the mountain, Yu Zhile led everyone to pick a lot of lemons and taught them how to eat them.
In the end, the nineteen backpacks were filled to the brim, and the group headed towards Yu's house in a mighty procession.
The spectacular scene made Yu Chi’s eyes widen.
He was fair and tender and was loved by the sisters, who took turns patting him on the head.
All the wild pepper was poured into a wooden basin filled with water, and each person took away some of the raisins and lemons.
When it was time to say goodbye, everyone's face was filled with reluctance.
"Hey, how about we go fishing together in the evening?" Zhang Wenxin suddenly had an idea and shouted at their backs.
Zhang Haimei and others looked back in surprise and nodded in unison.
An idea flashed through Zhile's mind.
She smiled and said, "Why don't we have a barbecue at the beach tonight to celebrate the beginning of a new stage in everyone's life."
"Okay! Like the roasted whole lamb we had last time?" Zhang Wenxin's eyes lit up.
The excited tone made the lamb in the corner of the yard bleat nervously.
"I, we don't have money to buy meat yet." Yu Chunqi said with some hesitation.
Yu Zhile responded, "We're going to have grilled seafood this time. Vegetables can also be grilled. Everyone just needs to bring one vegetable."
"Lele and I are responsible for the seasoning and charcoal. This time it's ours, and you have to return it later." Zhang Wenxin said with a smile.
Zhang Haimei looked back at everyone, and some people still had some hesitation on their faces.
She agreed directly: "Okay, let's eat roasted whole lamb together from now on!"
"Okay!" Zhang Wenxin cheered, "Let's meet at Lele's house when the sun goes down, and everyone should bring their favorite vegetables!"
Everyone responded with a smile and left with a lighter step.
"Let's go to town and buy some things." Yu Zhile looked at Zhang Wenxin.
Zhang Wenxin suddenly felt shy and stammered, "Well, I, I want to go back home."
"Oh." Yu Zhile stretched out his voice, "Some people have to report their itinerary to grandma before going out now."
Zhang Wenxin felt guilty and glared at her.
"Go ahead, go ahead. I'll go to the brigade headquarters to borrow a car first." Yu Zhile smiled and waved at her.
She would definitely not be able to make it home for lunch today, so she turned around and told Yu Yue some things.
Half an hour later, Zhang Wenxin rode his bike and took Yu Zhile into the city.
Their first stop was a state-owned restaurant. Yu Zhile wanted to find Hu Laosan to buy some pork as she wanted to eat roasted pork belly.
When we arrived at the state-owned restaurant, it was lunchtime. The restaurant was crowded and each table was served a dry-pot seafood stew.
"Le Le, have you eaten?" Hu Lan's voice was hoarse.
Yu Zhile replied: "Not yet, I have something to discuss with Brother Hu San."
"The third brother is still swinging the spatula in the kitchen." Hu Lan had a look of gloating on his face. "The dish you taught is now the signature dish of the restaurant. Everyone orders it when they come in."
"As long as everyone likes it." Yu Zhile said with a smile.
"Waiter, two bowls of rice, a pot of dry pot seafood stew, and potatoes and bean sprouts as side dishes." A new guest suddenly interrupted their conversation.
While Hu Lan was busy writing orders and collecting money, Yu Zhile went straight into the kitchen.
The layout of the kitchen has changed. Several large barrels have been added against the wall near the door, with fresh seafood dripping from them.
"Le Le, what do you want me to do?" The dish in Hu Lao San's hand had just come out of the pot.
Yu Zhile didn't beat around the bush and asked, "I want to buy some pork from you. It might be a bit much, about ten kilograms."
"Xiao Yu, you've helped me a lot again." Hu Laosan said excitedly.
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