The old woman replied, "It is an old tea plant on Huangdui Mountain, planted by a pair of lovers, so it is called Acacia Tea."
"I see." Xu Jiang smiled and said, "Then I'll have a bowl of lovesick tea."
After she finished speaking, she saw Liu Mei looking at her and smiling. She immediately felt embarrassed and whispered, "I'm just curious."
"Oh—" Liu Mei's smile deepened, and then she said to the old woman, "Then I'll have a bowl of lovesick tea too."
The old woman glanced at Xu Jiang and smiled brightly. "Okay, everyone, wait a moment. I'll boil some water."
Xu Jiang suddenly felt his face getting hot.
On the boat, a clay pot was used to hold a charcoal fire. The old woman set up a small clay stove, put two pieces of charcoal in it, and then grabbed a handful of pine needles and blew on it, and the fire started. The old woman stood up to get the pot. Xu Jiang saw that she was not very mobile, so she stepped forward to help.
"Grandma, let me do it."
"Oh, how can this be done? How can we let the guests do it themselves?"
Xu Jiang rolled up her sleeves and took the teapot from her hand, saying with a smile, "I like tea too. This is something I'm used to doing, so it's no big deal."
Seeing that she was nimble and steady, and that she wasn't forcing herself on someone who was old and weak, the old woman thanked her and stepped aside, "Thank you, ma'am. I'll trouble you then."
Liu Mei also stepped forward to help, "Grandma, where can I get some water?"
The old woman walked over to a wooden barrel, took out a gourd, opened the lid of the barrel and said, "Here."
Liu Mei stepped forward, took the gourd ladle, and scooped water into the kettle.
The old woman said, "This is spring water from the mountain. It's best for making tea."
Xu Jiang looked at the mountain and asked, "Did Aung conquer it?"
The old woman turned to look for tea leaves. "Well, I go to the mountains to pick them every two days."
At such an old age, he still went up the mountain to fetch water. Liu Mei frowned and asked, "Where is the child?"
"My daughter married in another county and seldom comes back. My son was killed in the bandit rebellion, leaving behind a grandson who works on a passenger ship and only gets off once every ten days or half a month. On weekdays, it's just me and my old man guarding the ship, and we earn some money by selling tea." The old woman brought two teapots and handed them to Xu Jiang.
Xu Jiang took it and asked, "Why don't you go to the shore?"
"I've been on a boat all my life, I'm used to it." The old woman found a stool and handed it to Xu Jiang, then went back to find a bowl. "People who live on the water rely on the water for food and clothing, but I don't know how we're going to survive on the land."
Xu Jiang poked the fire and asked, "How many years have you and Grandfather been on this boat?"
"A whole sixty years." She took out five gray pottery bowls, took the gourd ladle from Liu Mei's hand, and scooped water to rinse them one by one.
"Old lady, let me do it." Liu Mei took over the work in her hands, flipped it over a few times, rinsed the bowl clean, and then carried it to Xu Jiang.
"You two elders have lived a long life." Even the old ladies raised in the capital rarely lived to such a great age. Xu Jiang smiled and said, "It is a good fortune to drink your tea today."
"Oh, this good girl is so adorable." The old woman walked over and touched her head. Then she went to the bucket, uncovered a piece of cloth, and brought out a bamboo basket. "There's nothing good on the boat. These are all picked by your grandfather in the mountains. Don't be disgusted."
Xu Jiang did not dare to refuse the gift from the elder, so she bowed and accepted it without hesitation.
It was a basket of wild fruits, including goat's peach, akebia, chicken gizzard, hawthorn, chestnut, acorn, etc., all of which were seasonal game in the mountains.
"How could I dislike it? I haven't eaten these things for a long time, so I missed them so much." Xu Jiang picked out a few chestnuts and acorns, smashed them open with a boat-weight stone nearby, and threw them into the charcoal fire. Soon the aroma came out.
When the old woman saw that she knew how to eat, she knew she was not just being polite, and she liked her even more.
Xu Jiang picked out a crispy Akebia and handed it to Liu Mei, "Sister Mei, try this."
"What's this called?" Liu Mei had never seen this before. She took it and sniffed it. "It smells pretty good."
"This is called mutong fruit, and it's very sweet." Xu Jiang also picked one, broke it open, took a big bite of the white flesh, chewed it for a while, and then spat out the seeds outside the boat.
Liu Mei found it interesting and couldn't help but break it open and take a bite.
It’s really sweet, and it has a lot of seeds.
After Xu Jiang finished eating one, she picked a few more and asked Liu Mei to take them to Shan Bo and the others.
"I loved eating these fruits when I was young, but now that I'm old, I can't enjoy them anymore." Xu Jiangrang moved the stool and helped the old woman sit down. The old woman picked up a goat peach and kneaded it for a long time before peeling it, squeezing out the green flesh inside and taking a bite. Then she squinted her eyes at the sourness. "If I can't eat them after picking them, I usually give them away. Sometimes, even if I can't give them away, they just rot in the basket."
"Aong doesn't want to eat either?"
"He couldn't stand it when he was young and never liked to eat it." The old woman threw the peach peels into the stove, her eyes reflecting the firelight, unnaturally gentle. "He's stubborn. He just remembers my love for it when I was young. He doesn't care whether he can eat it now. Every time he goes into the mountains, he brings back a basket."
Xu Jiang felt sweet just hearing this, "Perhaps in Grandfather's eyes, you have always been that little girl who loves to eat wild fruits."
The old woman stared at the basket of colorful wild fruits, her eyes shining. Then she picked out a bunch of bright red chicken gizzards from the wild fruits and stuffed them into Xu Jiang's hands, saying lovingly, "Whose daughter is this? How come she is so lovable?"
Xu Jiang's eyes were curved.
After eating the chicken gizzard, the water boiled.
Xu Jiang began to distribute the tea. She opened a nearby teapot, and the rich aroma of wild chrysanthemums immediately filled her nose. "What a nice smell!"
"Your grandfather also picked them in the mountains."
The wild chrysanthemums were picked from yellow buds that were about to open. Xu Jiang pinched one and found the tea dry and crisp, not sun-dried. "Was this roasted with stones?"
The old woman nodded. "The boat is damp. If you just dry it in the sun, it won't last long and will get damp and moldy. Bake it to make it last longer."
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