It's not quite right without soy sauce and oyster sauce, but it's still pretty good.
Especially for Pei Yichen and his group, who had never tried a version with seasonings before, this version was already quite good.
The group finished the entire pot of spicy shrimp and octopus.
Yunniang and Chen Fang preferred the cold seaweed salad, which was their first time trying it and they found it very sour, spicy, and crunchy.
Every bite is coated with Pei Yao's sauce, which is sour, spicy, and especially delicious.
It tastes even better than meat.
The family ate until they were stuffed, so much so that they couldn't eat anymore.
......
It wasn't dark yet after we finished eating.
Pei Yao, Pei Yichen, and Pei Xuan had just eaten too much, so they planned to go for a walk in the nearby mountains to digest their food.
Pei Yao also planned to dig up a few chili seedlings and plant them on the small hill in front of her house. She had asked Niu Qingshan, and he said that the small hill was a barren hill that no one wanted, so Pei Yao could plant them whenever she wanted.
I'm going to dig up some seedlings now, and I'll be back in the evening. It's best to plant seedlings in the evening, unlike during the day when the sun might scorch them.
Pei Yao took a small piece of wood and scissors she found at home, Pei Yichen carried a basket on his back, and Pei Xuan held the candied hawthorn that Pei Yao had brought back that afternoon.
The three children strolled leisurely along the village path, heading towards the small hillside where chili peppers grew.
The evening breeze in Lingnan on a summer day still carries a hint of heat when it blows on passersby.
A vast expanse of orange-red sunset stretched across the horizon, as beautiful as an oil painting. Since Pei Yao came to Lingnan, this orange-red sunset was the one she saw most often in the evenings.
When the three of them reached the hillside, they were greeted by a hillside covered with chili peppers. Chili peppers grow quickly in the summer, and even though Yunniang and the others picked them every day, a large area would turn red again after just one night.
Pei Yao had always been in a rush when she came before, but today she finally had time to properly examine this chili pepper "tree".
Why are they called trees? It's because these chili peppers don't look much different from small saplings.
Compared to other places, Lingnan's winters are not particularly cold, with heavy snow, freezing temperatures, and severe cold. However, the strong winds along the coast in winter can still make people feel unbearably cold.
The area where these chili pepper trees grow is surrounded by mountains on three sides, forming a natural barrier that prevents the cold winter winds from getting in.
The saplings survive the winter, and those that sprout new branches and grow into old stumps the following spring. Year after year, they grow into woody trees, just like small tree stumps. The trunks of some trees are as thick as Pei Yao's arm.
There were still many dried, red chili peppers hanging on the tree, which had been dried by the sun because they hadn't been picked in time.
Pei Yao had never seen a chili pepper tree that had grown into a thick, old stump, as sturdy as a small tree before.
Seeing such a large area right here on the hillside was truly amazing.
Pei Yao was reluctant to dig up the old stumps that were as thick as trees. Instead, she found some newly sprouted seedlings nearby and used the wood chips she had brought to pry off more than twenty of them and put them in her basket.
That's enough to plant all over the small hill in front of the house.
After digging, I took the scissors and cut off the dried chilies from the chili pepper tree next to me, putting them in my basket.
Pei Yichen was also picking chili peppers.
The chili pepper tree was too tall, and Pei Xuan was too small to reach it, so she could only squat on the ground to pull up some wild grass. Her older sister said that rabbits love to eat this grass.
She wanted to pick more to take back for the little rabbits to eat.
As Pei Yao cut the peppers, she felt a strange sensation in her heart. The sun was very strong on this slope during the day, and the peppers on top were very dry.
But if that's the case...
There are no streams or anything, so how do these pepper trees survive?
Pei Yao was puzzled, and she noticed that the soil around the seedlings was still a little damp when she dug them up.
But this area is all wild, so it's impossible for anyone to water it.
With this question in mind, Pei Yao began to pay attention to her surroundings while cutting the chili peppers, because she had been to this hillside a few times and was not particularly familiar with it.
However, her doubts were quickly resolved.
She found a small clearing deep inside the chili pepper tree, with a small puddle in the middle of it.
The water level wasn't very high; only a little was seeping out. Lots of purslane and mint were growing nearby, lush and green, right next to the puddle.
The puddle was shallow, and the overflowing water spread out along the grass beside it, eventually flowing into the nearby pepper trees.
Pei Yao was so captivated by the lush green purslane that she almost stopped in her tracks.
She had seen purslane along the village roads during this time, but there were only a few stalks. Purslane is a wild vegetable, so almost all the ones on the village roads had been picked by people.
Unlike now, next to this puddle, there is a large, dense patch of them growing.
This is a good thing; eating it can clear heat and detoxify, remove dampness and reduce internal heat. It's a wild vegetable with a very good taste.
It's probably because not many people usually come to this area deep in the purslane, so no one has discovered such a large patch of purslane.
Pei Yao stopped cutting the chili peppers and rushed straight to the large patch of purslane.
Pei Yichen also stopped picking the chili peppers and watched as her cousin happily pulled up some weeds.
Too lazy to wonder why she was pulling up that weed, she followed over and asked, "Cousin, can this weed be eaten?"
Pei Yao nodded and explained in a good mood, "This is called purslane. You can blanch it and eat it as a cold dish after picking it, but the best way to eat it is to dry it into dried vegetables and stir-fry it with chili peppers. That's the best way to eat it."
"Then I'll help you." Pei Yichen didn't question it at all and went over to help Pei Yao.
Pei Yao took the scissors and cut, saying to Pei Yichen as she did so, "When you cut, don't pull off the roots at the bottom. We only want the part above the roots, so the roots can continue to grow later."
Although there was a large patch of purslane here, Pei Yao didn't want to eat it only once.
Pinching the top part like this won't damage the roots, and it will grow back quickly.
This way they would have a continuous supply of purslane to eat.
The baskets were filled with dried chili peppers, and the purslane was so wet that Pei Yao and Pei Yichen each had to carry a handful.
Pei Xuan was also holding about twenty chili seedlings she had just dug up and a small handful of pigweed for the rabbits.
Seeing that it was almost dark, the three of them went home.
While the sun was still shining, Yunniang took the cloth she had bought earlier and prepared to cut it into clothes, with Chen Fang helping her.
She wasn't particularly skilled at needlework, so she could only help Yunniang out at this time.
Seeing the three of them carrying bundles of grass and baskets on their backs, and even little Xuan'er carrying a small handful, I quickly went over to help.
"Why did you three bring back so much grass? The rabbits can't possibly eat it all." Chen Fang had never seen purslane before and assumed it was rabbit grass that the three of them had gathered.
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