Fortunately, there were quite a few wild cypress trees in this area, so when Pei Yao chopped down one, the force was cushioned by the other trees nearby.
The bunch of wild bananas wasn't smashed to pieces; only the ripe ones at the top fell into the grass nearby.
Pei Yao walked over and picked up the ripe wild bananas. These wild bananas were small and not very big; they looked like a banana or a small banana variety.
"Cousin, is this the wild charcoal you were talking about?" Pei Yichen also picked one up and looked at it with curiosity.
He picked it up and held it under his nose to smell it; it had a rich, sweet fragrance that smelled wonderful.
"It looks... like a banana. These yellow ones are ripe. Let's try one and see if it's good." Pei Yao looked at the small banana in her hand and swallowed.
She hadn't eaten fruit in a long time, and looking at the banana in her hand, she found its aroma particularly enticing.
Pei Yao quickly peeled off the banana leaf, and Pei Yichen followed suit and peeled off the banana leaf as well.
Taking a bite, the banana flesh has a dense and soft texture. This wild banana has a richer aroma than the artificially cultivated bananas and plantains that Pei Yao used to eat. It's sweet and sour and very delicious. The only downside is that this wild banana has a lot of seeds, so there are almost more seeds than flesh.
However, for the two siblings who rarely get to eat fruit, even these fruits full of seeds are a rare delicacy.
It's okay if there are a lot of seeds; just be careful to spit them out when you eat it.
This wild banana is very small, about the size of the palm of your hand. You can finish one in two bites, or even just one bite.
After eating one, Pei Yichen continued to stare longingly at the banana in Pei Yao's hand.
He was still somewhat unsatisfied; the banana fruit was so delicious, soft and chewy, and tasted incredibly sweet.
Pei Yao looked at Pei Yichen with amusement. The boy's eyes were fixed on the banana in her arms, like a hungry puppy looking at a bone.
Pei Yao gave him two more that were already cooked, and said with a smile, "Here you go."
Pei Yichen looked at the banana in his hand with delight, and was about to peel it and eat it, but he stopped when he was about to peel it: "I'm not eating it. I'll leave the rest for Xuan'er, my mother, and my second aunt."
After saying that, he put the other one back into the basket. There weren't many cooked ones in total. If he ate any more, his mother and the others wouldn't have anything to eat when they got back.
Hearing him say that, Pei Yao also put the cooked ones in her hand into the basket.
"Let's leave these for them for now. There might be more in the mountains later. Let's take these green ones back with us. We can eat them after they've been stored for a while."
Pei Yichen looked at the remaining green bananas and touched the still-hard bananas, his eyes filled with doubt again: "Can we eat these that aren't ripe?"
"Sure, it'll be ripe after a few days at home."
Pei Yao cut off the large bunch of bananas, then used a knife to cut them along the base of the bananas into small bunches. This way, the excess stems were removed, saving space and making them easier to carry.
There were quite a few bananas in this bunch. Pei Yao picked out the larger ones and discarded the smaller ones, as they took up too much space and probably wouldn't have much flesh even if they ripened.
Pei Yichen helped put the bananas that Pei Yao had cut into his basket, and the two siblings quickly finished cutting up the bunch of large bananas.
Pei Yao glanced at the banana tree on the ground. Since it had already been cut down, it felt a bit wasteful to just leave like this.
He then squatted down, picked up a machete, and began to peel the banana tree layer by layer.
Pei Yichen was shocked again: "You can eat this tree trunk?"
"Of course you can eat it. The tender banana hearts stir-fried with chili peppers taste delicious."
Pei Yao didn't stop until only the last few layers remained.
Leaving a few layers on the banana is to prevent the core from oxidizing too quickly. When you get home to eat it, you only need to peel off the oxidized outer layer.
Looking at the banana root, which was now only about the size of a wrist, Pei Yao was very satisfied.
After the two siblings finished dealing with the situation, they continued climbing back to the same mountain gully along the same route.
Continuing their search for other fruits in the mountains, Pei Yao left marks along the way, arranging stones to form a triangular pattern by the roadside, or using roadside grass to tie a special knot when they couldn't find their way back.
After all, this was her first time visiting this mountain, and if they got lost, it would be very dangerous for the two children.
The two siblings hadn't walked far when they discovered two more kiwi vines. The vines climbed up the small trees next to them and were already covered with small, yellowish-brown wild kiwis.
Although these wild kiwifruit are small, there are many of them, almost growing in clusters.
"Wow, so many kiwis!" Pei Yao ran over in surprise. In her memory, kiwis were only available from August to November, but it was only July and there were already two such big trees full of fruit. It was truly a gift from God!
The kiwi vines weren't climbing very tall trees, and Pei Yao picked two that were close to her and were a bit soft.
I deftly peeled off the skin and tried it. The kiwi was incredibly juicy, with a sweet and sour taste that was about 80% sweet and 20% sour, and a very rich fruity aroma.
After finishing one, Pei Yao handed the remaining one to Pei Yichen: "This is a kiwi. It tastes sweet and refreshing. Try it."
Pei Yichen looked at the small, yellowish-brown thing in his hand, which was covered with a layer of fine fuzz.
Having had the experience of eating bananas before, Pei Yichen trusted Pei Yao completely this time and peeled and ate them just like her.
These wild kiwis are very small; Pei Yichen could finish one in a single bite.
Then, his eyes lit up as he looked at Pei Yao. Because he had eaten the sweet food, he was in a very good mood, and the boy's tone became cheerful.
"Delicious! Such sweet wild berries!"
“Let’s pick the slightly larger ones from these two trees and take them back.” Pei Yao got right to it and nimbly climbed up the small tree in front of her.
Bring the kiwis back while they're still hard, and place them in dry straw for a while to ripen. They'll ripen one after another, so you can keep them and eat them slowly.
Pei Yao stood on a tree branch with a basket on her back, picking kiwis. If she was lucky enough to find one or two ripe kiwis, she would peel and eat them right there on the tree.
Pei Yichen watched as his cousin climbed the tree in no time, like a monkey, and felt extremely envious. He secretly planned that he would find a tree to learn her climbing skills later; it was just too cool.
Pei Yichen couldn't climb trees, so he could only pick some kiwis from the lower parts of the tree.
The sweet and sour taste of the kiwi fruit he had just picked was still lingering in his mouth, so he followed Pei Yao's example and picked one to peel. But for some reason, this one wasn't as soft and easy to peel as the one his cousin had given him before.
The one he was holding was still very hard, with the skin clinging tightly to the flesh.
After painstakingly peeling it, Pei Yichen stuffed it into his mouth in one bite, then his whole face instantly scrunched up: "Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey! So sour! Ptooey ptooey..."
Pei Yao stood on the tree, looking at Pei Yichen's appearance, feeling both amused and exasperated.
"Those hard ones aren't ripe yet; they taste sour and astringent. Pick the ones that feel soft to the touch," Pei Yao quickly reminded Pei Yichen, afraid he wouldn't give up and would continue eating the unripe ones.
After saying that, she picked a few more ripe ones from the tree and handed them to him.
Pei Yichen: "..."
No wonder it tasted so sour and had a numbing sensation in his mouth after he ate it; it wasn't ripe yet. Pei Yichen scratched his head sheepishly and continued picking kiwis.
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