Chapter 26 Big Brother, I'll help you grow vegetables. After Bai Mangmang finishes eating, a bunch of...
"Aunt Lou, would you like some?"
An Fusheng handed the plate to Lou's mother, hoping to shift her attention from whether everyone had washed their hands to the food.
"Plum duck?" Having successfully diverted attention, Lou Lan exclaimed with delight, "This is a specialty of Lingnan! I haven't had it in ages!"
Lou Lan's strong reaction made An Fusheng a little unsure: "This is my first time making it, I don't know if it's authentic or not, you can try it."
"Looks good, I'll try it!"
Lou Lan picked out a piece of duck gizzard, "It has a refreshing taste, sour but not greasy, delicious!"
Like a child seeking praise, An Fusheng eagerly said, "Try the duck wings and duck feet too."
Lou Lan ate each dish one by one, praising them incessantly, which made An Fusheng feel quite flattered.
"That's amazing! You did so well on your first try!" Lou Lan continued to praise. "You've always been smart since you were little, and you do everything well."
An Fusheng used a silly smile to cover up his guilty conscience. He was not the original owner of this body; he was just a little bit better at cooking.
"Huh? All the grass in the back has been removed?" Lou Lan said, gnawing on a duck's foot. "No wonder this place is so bright now."
An Fusheng said, "I plan to open up the backyard to grow vegetables."
Lou Lan nodded: "That's right, growing vegetables online is all the rage now. I never thought we could try it out too."
An Fusheng felt that farming was a farmer's destiny, and he happened to be a farmer, so it had little to do with popular trends, but as long as Aunt Lou was happy, that was all that mattered.
The sun was already setting in the west, and An Fusheng was preparing to plant the seedlings. "You can eat first. I bought some seedlings this morning. The vegetable patch is shady now, so I'll go plant them and then make dinner."
Lou Lan: "Go ahead, go ahead. Everyone's eaten the fermented duck, so they won't be hungry so soon. We can cook later."
"Big brother, I'll help you grow vegetables," Wen Xinglin said.
An Shisi: "Brother, I'll help you too."
Wen Xingmou: "I'll help my brother too."
Lou Lan said, "If you know how to grow plants, then say you're helping. Don't just be making things worse for your older brother."
An Fusheng enjoys having fun and working together with everyone. He happily said, "That's fine, participation is the most important thing."
Lou Lan teased, "Isn't this just meddling?"
However, the children seemed eager to try, so Lou Lan just joked with them and didn't intend to stop them: "If your older brother says it's okay, then go ahead. Your clothes have been worn out all day and are already filthy. Don't worry about getting even dirtier. Go ahead, go ahead. You can take a bath after you've finished planting the vegetables."
"Yay!" the children cheered. "Aunt Lou is the best!"
Lou Lan laughed and said, "You guys have such sweet tongues!"
"Why hasn't Mangmang come back yet? Is school not over yet?" An Fusheng asked.
"Not yet. Their English teacher keeps them after school every day to dictate the words, and they're only allowed to leave if they get them all right," Lou Lan said.
"Making her memorize words every day at such a young age is too strict!" An Fusheng exclaimed, then asked, "Can she manage to come home from school alone?"
Lou Lan: "Yes, it's possible. The school isn't far from here, and she's been going to and from school by herself since the beginning of this semester."
"I'm back!"
Speak of the devil, and he appears; a loud, clear shout came from the main gate.
"So early today? Don't you need to do a vocabulary dictation?" Lou Lan asked.
As for why I would rather guess that I don't need to memorize words today, rather than having memorized them correctly early on, it's because that's impossible.
Sure enough, Bai Mangmang said smugly, "Our English teacher is on leave today, hehe."
Bai Mangmang skipped and hopped to the elevated floor: "What is everyone eating? I want to eat too!"
"Here you go." An Fusheng handed the plate to Bai Mangmang. "Eat slowly, we'll go plant some vegetables."
"Mmm, so delicious!" Bai Mangmang stuffed food into his mouth, and didn't forget to shout, "I want to grow vegetables too!"
After Bai Mangmang finished eating, the group of people went to the backyard to plant vegetables with great pride and high spirits.
As Wen Xingmou approached the stairwell, Afu was coming down the stairs. Upon seeing Afu, she happily ran over and hugged it, saying, "Afu, do you want to plant vegetables too? I'll take you."
The small vegetable patch was divided into four neat square sections. The planting holes had already been made. An Fusheng moved the seedlings into the patch and said to the four helpers who were lined up in a row, "We just bought four kinds of seedlings today. Each of you is responsible for one kind. Put the seedlings in the planting holes. Normally, two seedlings are enough for each hole. If they are particularly small, you can put three. Got it?"
The four helpers said in unison, "Understood!"
An Fusheng peeled off the newspaper wrapped around the base of the lettuce seedling and entrusted it to Wen Xingmou, saying, "This is lettuce. Xingmou and Afu will take care of it."
"OK!"
"Be gentle, the seedlings won't survive if they break."
"Okay." Wen Xingmou carefully took the lettuce seedling.
Next, An Shisi was in charge of the Chinese cabbage seedlings, Wen Xinglin was in charge of the garland chrysanthemum seedlings, and Bai Mangmang was in charge of the lettuce seedlings, which have leaves that are upright, tender, and easily broken.
After receiving instructions, the group held the seedlings as if they were snowflakes that might melt at any moment, barely daring to breathe.
An Fusheng continued to instruct, "Handle with care, take your time, there's no rush."
"knew!"
"One last thing: don't step into the soil. If you compact the soil, the seedlings' roots won't be able to penetrate and absorb nutrients, so they won't grow big," An Fusheng said.
The assistants nodded firmly: "Understood, Boss!"
After the seedlings were divided, the capable assistants began to place the seedlings in the designated plots, while An Fusheng followed behind to plant the seedlings.
Lou Lan, along with Wen Xingrui and Wen Xinghe, also came to the vegetable garden to watch the excitement.
Wen Xingrui initially coveted the vegetable seedlings, but after seeing Afu, he was determined to pluck Afu. Unfortunately, he was grabbed by the back of his collar by Aunt Lou and couldn't move.
"Aunt Lou, what do the seedlings look like?" Wen Xinghe squatted down next to Lou Lan, his elbows resting on his knees and his chin propped up.
“Different seedlings grow differently,” Lou Lan encouraged her. “You can ask your older brother to let you feel them.”
Wen Xinghe remained silent; his elder brother was busy, and he didn't want to cause him any trouble.
“Okay,” An Fusheng replied upon hearing Lou Lan’s words.
After planting the seedlings, An Fusheng walked over and took Wen Xinghe's hand: "Come on, let's go touch them."
Wen Xinghe carefully followed An Fusheng, feeling the path beneath his feet.
An Fusheng waited for her unhurriedly, saying, "The ground is flat, so don't worry."
Wen Xinghe asked, "Won't you step on the seedlings?"
An Fusheng: "No, this is a place that was dug out for water flow, there's nothing here."
An Fusheng led Wen Xinghe to the newly planted vegetables, made her squat down, and then took her hand to touch the seedlings. "This is lettuce."
Wen Xinghe's hand trembled slightly. Even though she hadn't used much force, her older brother had just said that lettuce seedlings were particularly fragile, and she was still worried that she might damage them.
"It's alright." An Fusheng took a seedling that hadn't been planted yet and placed it in her hand, showing her how to touch it from the bottom up.
"This is the root, the part buried in the soil. The thin roots are very powerful; the vegetables rely entirely on them to absorb nutrients from the soil to grow."
An Fusheng moved her hand to the stem. The lettuce leaves grew low and the stem was short. An Fusheng deliberately picked off a few leaves from the bottom so that she could touch it. "This is the stem. Lettuce is mainly eaten for its leaves, so the stem is relatively thin and short, but it is very important because all the leaves grow on it."
Wen Xinghe nodded.
An Fusheng then took her hand and touched all the leaves. "These are the leaves. Lettuce leaves are crisp and tender, and taste especially sweet. When the leaves grow bigger, we can make barbecue. We can wrap the crisp and sweet lettuce leaves with the fragrant roasted pork belly. It's so delicious."
Wen Xinghe was amazed by the magic of lettuce when An Fusheng suddenly unleashed a tempting feast. Before Wen Xinghe could even speak, some foodies couldn't resist any longer.
Bai Mang's eyes gleamed with green light: "I really want to eat barbecue!"
Next, An Fusheng took Wen Xinghe to look at other vegetable seedlings and planned at least three ways to cook each one, which made the neighbor's child drool.
"These vegetable seedlings are amazing!" Wen Xing exclaimed. "It's incredible that the land can grow so many seedlings!"
"Yes, many vegetables grow from tiny seeds in the soil, yet they can produce enormous fruits, such as radishes, cabbages, pumpkins, and winter melons."
Wen Xinghe asked, "Can we plant it?"
“Of course, but every seed has its preferred season. We must choose the most suitable time to plant whatever we want so that the seeds will produce the best fruit,” An Fusheng said. “In the countryside, in order to ensure that the seeds are sown at the most suitable time, farmers sometimes have to plow and plant even when it is raining heavily. They can’t delay even by a day.”
Wen Xinghe: "Do all farmers know the best time for seeds to ripen? They're amazing!"
An Fusheng: "Yes, they spend their whole lives dealing with seeds and land. The seeds tell them which land they like and when they want to plant."
An Shisi ran over, carrying the remaining seedlings, and asked, "Can seeds talk?"
An Fusheng: "Yes, but they speak a different language than humans. However, once humans become friends with them, they can understand their language."
An Shisi: "Then I want to be friends with the seeds too."
"Then you must take good care of the seeds and their seedlings."
"Okay." An Shisi gently touched the seedling in his hand and said softly, "Little seedling, let's be friends. Will you grow up quickly?"
An Fusheng: "They grew up in about two months."
An Shisi: "How long is two months?"
An Fusheng: "Sixty days."
An Shisi tried to count on his fingers how many sixty days was, but both his hands were busy.
An Shisi asked, "Is sixty days a week?"
An Fusheng: "It was more than eight weeks."
"Eight weeks is so long!" An Shisi thought a week was a long time, but he didn't expect it to take even longer. "Can't they grow up faster?"
An Fusheng, unaware of his urgency, said, "Water it regularly and fertilize it regularly, and it will grow faster."
An Shisi saw a glimmer of hope, "Then I'll water them and fertilize them every day, and they'll grow big in a week!"
An Fusheng continued planting vegetable seedlings, saying, "It won't be that fast. We'll just wait and see. They'll grow naturally when the time comes."
"But I want them to grow up quickly."
An Fusheng thought for a while and said, "Then let's plant bean sprouts tomorrow. Bean sprouts can grow in a week and they taste especially good when cooked."
Upon hearing about food, the foodie Bai Mangmang gathered around: "Big brother, what dishes can be made with bean sprouts?"
"There are many kinds of bean sprouts, the most common being mung bean sprouts, soybean sprouts, and peanut sprouts. Mung bean sprouts can be added to fried rice or used in hot pot. Soybean sprouts can be added to grilled fish or boiled fish, and of course, they can also be used in hot pot. Peanut sprouts are especially sweet when stir-fried with meat," An Fusheng explained in detail.
Bai Mangmang's eyes brightened little by little as An Fusheng described it. "Wow! I want to eat them all!"
Lou Lan was amused by the little glutton. Seeing that An Fusheng had finished planting the last batch of vegetables, she said, "Alright, the vegetables are planted. It's time to go back and take a bath."
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