A small group like theirs had limited things to do, and Qiu Hai and his friends got bored after just a few days.
"Sister, we've come at the worst possible time. When you're feeling better during winter break or next summer vacation, take us for a trip to the mountains!" Qiu Hai said.
“My shooting accuracy is alright, but I’m no good at traversing mountains. If I lead you in, you’ll definitely not come out,” Song Yan said.
"Sister, are there any fun things to do in the commune?" Xu Liangsheng asked.
Song Yan: "How big could the commune be? Before we even got tired of walking, we'd already walked from one end to the other."
"There's nothing to do, it's so boring," said Wang Jinhui, who is usually not very talkative.
“You students don’t act like students at all. You’re out playing during summer vacation, don’t you bring your homework?”
Song Yan: "Besides, if you guys are really bored, go do some work."
"Sister Jiang, Xiao Hu is here, and Sister Jinghua has Fang Shengjie. There's no point in us going. We can't possibly finish all the work, can we?" Qiu Hai said, shrugging boredly.
"Then get to work."
“Okay, then tell me what you want to do!” Xu Liangsheng said. Qiu Hai and Wang Jinhui also stood up.
Last year, Song Yan dug up some wild peonies from the mountain, both red and white. Last autumn, Song Yan divided them into smaller plants. Each plant could be divided into 3 to 5 smaller plants. Originally, there were eight peony plants, but after being divided, they were planted into a small patch.
This small patch of peonies was planted behind the new house of the weaving group. If he had planted something else, some people in the village might have been envious and reported him. Since Song Yan only planted a patch of flowers, no one paid any attention. When people occasionally talked about it, they would say that Song Yan was indeed from the city, and he just liked to tinker with these things.
Song Yan asked Qiu Hai and the others to divide the peony plants. These flowers will be in full bloom next year.
While working, Qiu Hai asked, "Sister, these flowers will be so beautiful when they bloom, won't they?"
Song Yan: "I want to use these flowers to make flower tea."
Xu Liangsheng asked, "I've heard of jasmine tea, but I've never heard of peony tea."
"Never heard of it! I'll let you try it when we get back." Song Yan picked these flowers when they were about to bloom.
Aunt Wei was heartbroken and said that Song Yan was wasting things, picking all those beautiful flowers.
Song Yan originally intended to plant the flower buds. She didn't feel any remorse at all when she picked them.
These flowers have been watered with spring water; tea made from them will definitely be excellent.
That evening, the group drank Song Yan's flower tea. This was different from the one given to General Shen.
Song Yan added medicinal herbs to the flower tea. Everyone said the water had a faint floral and medicinal fragrance, and it tasted quite good.
Song Yan told them to drink it consistently for a month. These teenagers all had acne to varying degrees. If they drank the herbal tea Song Yan prescribed every day, their acne would significantly decrease.
Aunt Feng said that it was their good fortune to meet Song Yan.
It's normal for teenagers to get pimples. They usually stop naturally as they get older. However, some people squeeze or scratch them, leaving scars on their faces. This is quite common.
Peony flower tea is served individually wrapped in straw paper.
Song Yan first cut the straw paper into appropriately sized squares. Then he laid the pieces of straw paper out on the table. Then he quickly grabbed medicinal herbs from each piece of paper.
First, there were two peony buds. Song Yan's movements were swift and agile. After each piece of paper had a peony bud, Song Yan grabbed another herb. After grabbing this herb, he moved on to the next one.
They looked at it carefully.
With the medicine prepared, Song Yan's fingers moved with incredible dexterity, carefully wrapping each packet of herbal tea. Not only was his speed remarkable, but the wrapped packets were also uniform in size and shape.
Xu Liangsheng muttered to himself, "I've never seen anyone dispense medicine this quickly at the hospital pharmacy."
Song Yan: Old Han forced me to practice this. He said his apprentices, at the very least, should know how to pick and identify medicinal herbs.
Thirty-five servings of flower tea were quickly wrapped up.
Song Yan then took out a large piece of wrapping paper, inside which were 35 packets of herbal tea. He tied them together with a rope, and a square medicine packet was ready.
“One pack of 30 packets is enough. Those five packets are to prevent anyone from taking advantage of the tea, so that there won't be enough for you to drink.”
While Song Yan was wrapping the flower tea, Xu Liangsheng was cutting straw paper on the side. After Song Yan finished wrapping, he started placing the paper scraps on the table.
Song Yan prepared enough for four people. She hesitated, wondering whether to send Fang Shengjie's portion or not.
Xu Liangsheng: "Sister, this flower tea... how about I keep it for now and give it to Fang Shengjie when we get back?"
That works too.
Given what Shen Hongxiang had done, the fact that Song Yan didn't make things difficult for Fang Jinghua showed how magnanimous Song Yan was. She even packed four portions of the flower tea, intending to give one to Fang Shengjie as well. This was true generosity and understanding. They thought Song Yan was a wonderful person!
If this happened to Shen Hongxiang, what would she do?
They knew perfectly well that Shen Hongxiang was no match for her sister. Now, they all called Shen Hongxiang by her real name behind her back.
They were bored, so Song Yan made them do chores, sometimes even finding them something to do when there wasn't any. Or they would go to the mountains to pick mushrooms, which Song Yan planned to dry and have them take back…
Ten days or so passed in a flash, and the wheat harvest was almost complete before Wei Aiguo finally returned home.
It turned out that the arsenal had transferred a batch of grain from the commune.
Wei Aiguo was in charge of the delivery. This caused him to be delayed for several days.
Wei Aiguo: "I was in charge of transporting this batch of grain, so I didn't have time to go home."
Song Yan nodded: "The person you asked has already delivered the message."
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