Chapter 108 Peach Gum "It's over, there's something wrong with our peach trees."...
The next morning, the Chen family, fully equipped, stood in the peach orchard and methodically adjusted the existing drainage ditches according to Lin Shanhu's newly planned drainage route.
Fine raindrops dripped onto Chen Mian's face. She was wearing heavy rain boots and walked along the road, her knees covered in mud.
"Muhe, did you see Professor Shen's peach tree when you were at school?"
Looking at the trees that had been soaked in rainwater for so long, Chen Mian felt increasingly uncertain; this rain was really going to last forever.
"I've seen it a few times, but always in a greenhouse."
Chen Muhe returned home last night despite the rain. The company cafeteria was closed on weekends, and she wouldn't get any food if she stayed in the dormitory, so she decided to come back.
Chen Muhe reassured her, "Sister, don't worry too much. Grandpa said it's a problem with the drainage ditch. Once we fix it and drain the water, it'll be fine."
Chen Mian glanced at the still gloomy sky, wondering how much longer the rain would continue.
Yan Yuhua's urging voice came from not far away, and Chen Mian had no choice but to put aside her chaotic thoughts and get back to work.
By the time all the drainage ditches had been dug again, it was already 3 p.m.
A cold wind blew by, and the drizzling autumn rain began again.
Chen Mian rubbed her hands together, wrapped her denim jacket tighter around herself, and said, "Let's go back and eat."
It was cold, and after a long day of work, everyone wanted something hot to warm them up.
Lin Huijun glanced at the ingredients in the refrigerator and decided to cook a spicy hot pot and a sweet eight-treasure porridge.
Chen Mian: "Mom, let's cook the white rice first. The vegetables cooked in chili oil with sesame sauce are the best with rice."
"Okay, you're the biggest eater."
While they were talking, Lin Huijun had already opened the rice bag and scooped out two large bowls full of uncooked rice.
There are many people at home today, so she needs to prepare more.
I rinsed the raw rice twice and poured it into a large stainless steel tray.
Lin Huijun then took out the ingredients for cooking eight-treasure porridge from the cupboard: glutinous rice, peanuts, walnuts, red dates, raisins, lotus seeds, and dried longan pulp. She then added rice, making a total of eight ingredients.
The Chen family's stove has two pots. The one closer to the stove opening is the large pot, also called the front pot, which is used for stir-frying vegetables, cooking noodles, and steaming buns.
A little further from the stove is a small pot, also called the back pot, which is just right for boiling water or cooking porridge while cooking.
Lin Huijun washed all the ingredients for the eight-treasure porridge and poured them into the pot, adding enough water.
Then I took another steamer and placed it on top, and put the tray I had prepared for steaming rice on it.
On her way back, Yan Yuhua picked a basket of green vegetables from the garden and is now washing them with her granddaughter.
Lin Huijun saw this and reminded her, "Mom, the well water is cold, add some hot water to wash."
Yan Yuhua: "It's okay, I'm used to it."
Seeing her like this, Lin Huijun had no choice but to pick up the kettle and go over to pour the hot water herself.
While they were preparing the ingredients, Chen Mianmian pulled out half a frozen chicken cut into pieces from the refrigerator. "Mom, we don't have any other meat, so we'll just have to make do with this."
After saying that, he took the same frozen hot pot base and prepared to make the broth.
Yan Yuhua looked up at the frozen chicken in Chen Mian's left hand, and then examined the frozen hot pot base in her right hand.
"This thing called a refrigerator is really useful. Cooking is so much easier now, you can just throw it into hot water."
Chen Mian and her grandmother exchanged a glance and burst into laughter: "Hahahaha..."
A week later, the weather finally cleared up.
Just as Ji Yu had predicted, Maihemuti still came and signed the cooperation agreement.
After finishing their business, Chen Mian took them for a stroll in the peach orchard. The soil, nourished by the rain, was even covered with mushrooms of various shapes.
Chen Mian carried a small basket, introducing the farm's future plans while bending down to pick mushrooms.
"These mushrooms are freshly grown and very tender. They can be stir-fried with meat or coated in batter to make fried mushrooms."
As the only foreigner present, Jalal had naturally eaten mushrooms before. However, they usually chopped the mushrooms and stewed them in a thick soup to eat with bread.
Chen Mian imagined the scene, "Would it taste good? Wouldn't it be fishy?"
Jalal: "It's not fishy. The soup also contains butter, milk, and other vegetables."
"Oh, then it should be similar to our porridge."
Chen Mian understood immediately after hearing this: foreigners don't know how to cook, so they can only boil everything in one pot.
"Today I'll let you taste my cooking." Chen Mian held up a mushroom in her hand.
Maihemuti followed her at a distance, one hand in his pocket, the other casually stroking the rough, slightly damp tree trunk.
Jalal's deep eyes held a faint smile: "Dear Cotton, may I have your Chinese salad one more time?"
When I got back, I told my friends about your Chinese salad, and they were all very interested, some even wanting to come and try it themselves.
Chen Mian: "Sure, you're welcome anytime. I own a restaurant in the city that has all the dishes you had last time."
"Really? That's great! Then I can eat there every day."
Jalal's smile deepened, and even his large beard twitched.
Maihemuti, who had been silent for a long time, suddenly spoke up: "Chen Mian, why does your peach tree trunk feel sticky to the touch?"
He had found it strange earlier, and after a closer inspection, he discovered that it wasn't just one tree like that; some even had amber-colored "dewdrops" stuck to them, which felt soft to the touch.
Chen Mian took a closer look, picked a fruit and placed it in her palm. It looked even more translucent when it was removed from the dark brown trunk.
"This is peach gum, a natural tonic."
Peach gum, white fungus, and red dates, when stewed together, can nourish blood and improve complexion.
However, peach gum is not very common, so I didn't expect to have this kind of luck today.
Thinking this, Chen Mianmian pulled the two of them along and they found some more peach gum to take back.
Chen Mian explained apologetically, "These peach gums won't make much syrup, so I won't share them with you. I was planning to use them to give to my elders."
Maihemuti: "Of course, it's something that women eat."
After seeing Jalal and Mahmut off that evening, Chen Mian breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the bed.
"Finally, we've managed to get the first step done."
Ji Yu sat down on the edge of the bed and massaged her to help her relax. "Mianmian, have you been putting too much pressure on yourself lately?"
She has to take care of the farm, attend school, and also prepare to do foreign trade.
Ji Yu's eyes were full of heartache: "I feel like you've lost weight, and you don't feel right when I hug you."
Chen Mian knew she wasn't feeling well lately, so she rolled over and hugged the man's strong, thin waist, taking a deep breath to replenish her yang energy.
"Things will get better once this period is over. It's normal for farmers to be a little busy in the fall. After the autumn harvest, we can store up for winter and then stay comfortably at home."
Chen Mian: "How about we eat hot pot at home every day then?"
Ji Yu opened her coat and wrapped Chen Mian inside, then gently pinched the tip of her small nose. "You..."
The two of them nestled together quietly, and Chen Mian slowly closed her eyes, drifting off to sleep.
Lin Huijun, holding a small, milky-white bowl, knocked on the door.
"Mianmian, Mom has already cooked the peach gum. Get up and have some."
Hearing the familiar voice, Chen Mian buried her head deeper into her clothes, preventing Ji Yu from getting up. "Mom, I don't want to drink it. You drink it yourself."
Lin Huijun stood at the door and said, "Mom already has a bowl. This one is specially for you to replenish your body. It's similar to other sweet soups."
"Ugh, I don't want to drink it. I don't like this sticky, gooey texture."
"You silly child, I'll put it on the windowsill for you, so you can drink it quickly in a bit." Lin Huijun said, and actually put the bowl down and left.
"It tastes really good," Lin Huijun muttered softly. After finishing the hot bowl of sweet water, she felt full of energy.
She plans to go back to the peach orchard in a few days to see if there's any peach gum left, and she'll make sure to pick a lot this time.
It's no wonder that Yan Yuhua and Lin Huijun are mother and daughter; even after finishing the peach gum soup, Yan Yuhua couldn't stop thinking about it.
Logically speaking, liking sweet soup is nothing to be ashamed of, but both of them felt that they were too old to like things that only young people like.
The mother and daughter endured it for a whole week before finally taking their small basket to Taoyuan to try their luck.
In the garden, Lin Huijun looked at the identical bamboo basket in her mother's hand and asked in surprise, "Mom, are you here to pick peach gum too?"
Yan Yuhua cleared her throat, looked up at the sky, and said, "Ah, I just thought the taste of what you cooked that day was alright, so I thought I'd cook it again for Mianmian."
Lin Huijun nodded: "Yes, yes, I was thinking of giving Mianmian more nourishment, she's been working too hard lately."
Perhaps they were lucky, because they encountered a lot of peach gum after walking only a few steps. The crystal-clear peach gum was adorning the dark tree trunk.
The color looks darker than the last time Chen Kapok picked it, and the texture on the trunk is also rougher.
Lin Huijun smiled faintly, leaving no trace as the peach gum in her basket increased. "It seems we won't have to worry about peach gum this time; we can save it up and drink it slowly."
Yan Yuhua touched the peach gum in her hand and fell into deep thought. It was not unusual for peach gum to grow on peach trees, but they had encountered far too much peach gum along their journey.
Moreover, she always felt that something was wrong with these trees.
Lin Huijun, who was standing nearby, was still sighing, "Mom, time flies by so fast. The leaves are all turning yellow, and winter is coming soon."
Yan Yuhua: "What did you just say?"
I said winter is coming soon again.
Yan Yuhua: "No, the previous sentence."
"The leaves are all turning yellow."
Yan Yuhua's chaotic thoughts were suddenly jolted awake by this sentence: "Oh no, there's something wrong with our peach trees."
There are signs that normal leaves will turn yellow in autumn; at the very least, their shape will remain intact.
The peach tree leaves in front of me were an abnormally withered yellow, and the leaves were pitted and uneven, as if they had been eaten by ants and insects.
The color of the tree trunk is also wrong. At first, they thought it was because of the rain that it appeared darker, but now the rain has stopped for a week and it is still dark brown.
Yan Yuhua reached out and touched the tree trunk, and with a gentle rub of her index finger, a small piece of bark fell off.
She pulled her daughter back a few steps and carefully examined the trees in the peach orchard. Only a few trees were standing upright, while most of them looked "wilted".
This is the experience of old farmers. They can't pinpoint exactly what's wrong, but if the crops look wilted, there's almost certainly a problem.
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