"Yao girl, you guys eat first, I don't have much left, I'll finish it soon." There wasn't much left in the small pile in front of Chen Fang, she thought she would finish it before eating.
Yunniang was the same; there wasn't much left of the small pile in front of her.
“I’ll eat later too. You kids have been working hard by the river all morning, so eat first if you’re hungry. Don’t wait for us.”
But when the children saw that neither of them was eating, they simply stopped eating too and started working together.
Pei Yao shook her head helplessly, knowing that these people were all stubborn, and she was too lazy to persuade them. Fortunately, it was hot now, and the food wouldn't get cold so easily.
She hadn't finished preparing the soybeans yet, so she put the vegetables on the table in the yard and went off to get busy with her own things.
Pei Yao took out the refined flour she bought yesterday, crushed the yeast with a stone mortar, and mixed it with the flour.
Then, according to the ratio of ten pounds of soybeans to four pounds of refined flour, sprinkle them on the dried soybeans, stir well, and make sure that each soybean is covered with flour.
After it's done, cover it with breathable gauze, place it in a well-ventilated and warm place, and then just wait for the bacteria to ferment naturally.
Pei Yao finished doing all that, and Yun Niang and the others had also peeled the thunderbolts and were drying the seeds in a bamboo basket.
"Let's eat, or the food will get really cold." Pei Yao invited them to come and eat together when she saw that they were still busy.
"Okay, coming right away." Chen Fang finished spreading out the last bit of water in the corner, then clapped her hands and went to the well to fetch water to wash her hands.
Pei Xuan, the little girl, came bouncing over as soon as she smelled the aroma. When she saw that the dish on the table was fried shrimp that they had caught that day, she immediately blinked her big eyes and looked at her older sister.
"Sister, are these the little shrimp we caught today?"
Pei Yao reached out and gently pinched her little nose: "This bowl without chili peppers is yours."
After saying that, he placed the bowl of shrimp without chili peppers in front of Pei Xuan so that her short hands could easily pick them up.
Xiao Xuan'er has recently started eating spicy food with her family and has begun to be able to tolerate even a little bit of spice.
I always like to pick out the vegetables with chili peppers after cooking.
After a busy morning, the family finally sat around the table to eat, and everyone ate to their heart's content.
Pei Yichen took a big bite of the crispy river fish and immediately praised it: "Cousin, these river shrimp and small fish are so delicious. Shall we go and catch some more later?"
"Yes, Yao, I never expected that these little fish and shrimp from the river, which look so small and inconspicuous, would taste so delicious." Chen Fang also really liked the taste of the river shrimp; although they looked small, they were very tasty.
"We fished these out of the river this morning. If you like them, I'll take Xiaochen to fish out some more later, dry them, and store them away so you can eat them whenever you want."
Pei Yao smiled and said.
Pei Xuan, who was standing next to her, also raised her little hand: "Sister, I want to go too!"
Pei Yao patted her head and looked at her affectionately: "Okay, I'll take you there."
......
After the family finished eating, Pei Yao packed her things, planning to take advantage of the good weather to pick more Pili fruits to dry in the sun.
When Yunniang heard that Pei Yao was going to pick the fruit by the river that afternoon, and seeing how much Yao valued the fruit, she thought about going with her.
More people means more help, and Chen Fang happened to have nothing to do today, so since everyone else was going, she decided to go along too.
And so, the whole family packed their things and went to the banyan tree by the river.
They picked most of the thunder fruit on this tree this morning. The few remaining ones are all growing high up and difficult to pick. The only way to reach them is to make a long hook and go back to pick them.
Pei Yao didn't intend to confront the tree directly, so she continued walking upstream along the river. Aunt Fang had mentioned that there were many more Thunder Fruit trees along this river ahead.
Sure enough, the group soon saw several more clusters of Thunder Fruit.
Why is it called a "thunderbolt fruit clump"? Because these thunderbolt fruit clumps in front of us don't grow like the one in front of us. The one in front of us climbed up the big banyan tree next to us, while these few grew next to the rocks by the river.
Like clumps of small shrubs.
They were within easy reach, and the tree was laden with Thunder Fruits, all of which were female. Pei Yao noticed that they were all female.
Then everyone started picking them.
Although there were many trees, with so many people picking together, they picked a lot in no time. Since Pei Yao could climb trees, she left this part for Yun Niang and the others to pick, and she took Pei Yichen to another place.
There are indeed many thunderbolt fruits along this riverbank; it's almost the entire riverbank.
They either grow into shrubs or climb up tree trunks as vines.
With a basket slung over her waist, Pei Yao climbed directly up a large banyan tree covered in thunderbolt vines.
This tree had a lot of thunderbolt fruits, and Pei Yao quickly picked a small basketful. She put the basket down and replaced it with a large cloth bag, which she hung on a thick branch and continued picking.
Watching his cousin's nimble figure, Pei Yichen also found a smaller tree and slowly climbed up, imitating Pei Yao. Fortunately, the tree wasn't tall, and the little boy was agile at this age, so he quickly learned to climb the tree.
Pei Yichen stood on a small tree, proudly calling out to Pei Yao to show off that he had learned to climb trees.
Pei Yao also praised him generously: "You're a good kid, you learn pretty fast. Next time there's a tree-climbing job, I'll leave it to you."
The family quickly filled all the bags they had brought, and had no choice but to carry the bags home.
After returning home, Yunniang, Chen Fang, and Pei Xuan stayed at home to dig up the seeds of the Thunder Fruit, while Pei Yao and Pei Yichen went out to pick more.
Although no one knew what Pei Yao intended to do with it, they blindly trusted her and followed her lead.
They stopped drying the seeds in the Pei family's courtyard, which was now completely full of seeds, until there was no more room left to dry them.
Pei Yao was so tired after a long day that she didn't go to the beach when the tide went out. Instead, she washed up early and went to bed.
As night fell, the full moon outside the window, like a giant Xinjiang naan bread, hung in the moonlight, illuminating the small village of Liangshuijing very brightly.
Under the moonlight, fireflies drifted and swarmed through the village.
In this era, summer nights in Lingnan had not yet experienced global warming, so with the windows open on summer nights, the breeze made them less hot.
However, there were a lot of mosquitoes in the mountains, so Pei Yao had several handfuls of dried mugwort hanging by her bedside, and the head and foot of the bed were also filled with mugwort smoke.
The room was filled with the strong smell of mugwort, so strong it could almost marinate her. Fortunately, Pei Yao had gotten used to it after being surrounded by it for so long.
After all, Pei Yao would rather be fumigated with mugwort than be covered in mosquito bites.
......
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com