"If you don't want my help, I'd be embarrassed to go to lunch." After hearing this, Cui's mother said repeatedly, "You little girl, even if you don't help, we will cook you a portion of the lunch."
"That's so embarrassing!" She quickly waved her hands and continued, "My mom said there's no such thing as a free lunch, so I'm here to help. At least I can have a good meal at noon."
After hearing this, she felt that Qiu Zhen's mother was a sensible and measured person. There weren't many wild vegetables in the mountains, and since it was late autumn, there weren't many to pick. They mostly chatted while walking.
Soon they arrived at the river where Tong Wenyao had picked mugwort yesterday. Not far away, the chili peppers were still hanging on it, their bright red color attracting everyone. "Sister Yao, why are you picking these? These villagers hang them on the wall to repel insects."
"Qiuzhen, pick this and use it too. It's very useful!" She quickly pulled it off with both hands, which reminded her of a phrase, "a cruel hand destroys a flower." In late autumn, many leaves of the pepper tree had fallen, making it easy to pick them and saving a lot of trouble.
Cui's mother picked peppers faster, and soon her basket was full. Tong Wenyao and her partner only picked half a basket of peppers. "Yao'er, hand me the basket. You two kids can take a break."
Since Cui's mother had spoken, she did as she was told. However, she was not tired now. Qiu Zhen said that there was a pear tree not far away, and she didn't know if there were any fruits on the tree yet.
"Second Aunt, Qiuzhen and I will go over there to see if there are any fruits." Aunt Cui did not even raise her head, her hands quickly picking peppers. "Okay, then you go ahead. I will go back and cook after I finish picking them."
After talking to Second Aunt, Qiu Zhen led the way, and Tong Wen Yao followed behind her, also taking a look at what good things there were in the back mountain. They walked up the mountain from a small path. The pear tree was on the other side of the hill. It took them half a day to climb to it. Fortunately, she was not tired. The area was full of rocks, some of which were so large that they had to use their hands and feet to climb over them. They also cut a small path through the weeds.
The pear tree was right above their heads. Tong Wen Yao was delighted when she saw it. Perhaps the road here was difficult to walk on, so there were still many pears on the tree. She grabbed the branch and picked two pears, handing one to Qiu Zhen. She wiped the pears clean with the cloth on her clothes without any disgust and started to bite them directly. The pears on this tree were Fengshui pears, which were yellow-green in color, some with a blush, juicy and sweet.
Qiu Zhen started eating and couldn't help but sigh, "Why don't they come and pick such delicious pears." Tong Wen Yao looked at the road they came from. It was covered with thorns and stones. Even they had to chop and drill to get here. It would take them half a day to pick the pears. In addition, this place was remote and the road was not easy to walk on, so the fruit of this pear tree was preserved, which was a good thing for the two of them.
"Sister Yao, you catch them on the ground while I climb up and pick them." She blew a few breaths on her hands and then climbed up using both hands and feet. "Sister Yao, the scenery here is so beautiful! Look over there." She pointed in a direction. Tong Wenyao looked over and saw a bright red field of what looked like chili peppers. Now it was her turn to get excited. Only one word came to her mind: "Open a factory! Make it bigger and stronger."
After admiring the scenery for a while, the two of them, one picking pears from the tree while the other caught them beneath it, started picking them poorly. Fortunately, after wasting a few, she got better at catching them, and their collaboration became increasingly smooth. She even pulled branches from the tree below and secretly stuffed several pears into the villa. As long as they had the cores, she could have her own pear freedom in the future.
Although Qiu Zhen was small, she was very fast at picking fruit. After climbing up the tree, she was like a fish in water. In a short while, she had picked a large basket full of fruit. She only gave up reluctantly when Tong Wenyao could no longer hold it.
"Let's go back quickly. If we don't go back, Second Aunt will come looking for us." She looked at the sky and guessed that it was already one or two o'clock in the afternoon. Fortunately, they had eaten a lot of pears and were not that hungry, but after all, there was no rice to resist hunger.
The two of them each carried one side back. When they were almost at the village, Tong Wenyao carefully picked a lot of wild vegetables and placed them on the pile to hide it from view. Qiu Zhen was surprised and asked, "Sister Yao, what are you doing?" She hissed and whispered, "The pears are not exposed, let's cover them up." Qiu Zhen suddenly realized and smiled. "Sister Yao is really smart."
On the way back, the two met one or two villagers. They were not surprised to see children picking wild vegetables in the mountains. They greeted them and went back to eat.
Second Aunt left some food for them, and after eating, she helped Qian's mother sew a quilt. If they didn't return by afternoon, she would go look for them in the mountains. Fortunately, after she and her eldest sister-in-law chatted for a while, she saw them each returning, carrying a basket. The basket seemed quite heavy. And it looked like they were filled with wild vegetables! Thinking back to when they said they were going up the mountain to pick pears, she wondered if they had really brought them back.
Tong Wenyao saw her second aunt running over in a hurry and asked in a low voice, "Are you really back from picking pears?" She nodded and said, "Second aunt, let's talk about it when we get back."
Second Aunt picked up the basket and strode in. Even Xin'er ran out. Finally, they divided the fruit into two parts, one for Qiuzhen to take back. "You said that tree still has some?" They both nodded at the same time.
Cui's mother craned her neck to look at them and asked tentatively, "Then let's go pick them this afternoon?" "Okay." Wen Jiang also clamored to go. Cui's mother refused.
In the kitchen,
Tong Wen Yao saw that she was only focused on eating and was embarrassed to pick up some dishes for her, so she picked up several pieces of meat for her without saying a word. When she saw that her eyes were red, she thought of what she said in the morning about her father owing foreign debts, and she guessed that she had not eaten meat for a long time.
"Sister Yao, I miss my mother. Before she died, she always wanted to eat white rice, but she never got to eat it." Her voice was a little hoarse, and tears streamed down her cheeks. Tong Wen Yao didn't know what she was feeling in her heart. If she didn't have the space and the supplies inside, they might not have enough food to eat now.
"Qiuzhen, you can come over to eat next time. We can get a bowl of rice for your mother later!" She shook her head, "Sister Yao, no need. I think one day I will be able to earn money on my own and buy white rice for my mother. She will be happy that way."
"Qiuzhen, I believe in you, you can do it." Encouraged by her, Qiuzhen's eyes became more determined and she nodded vigorously.
After lunch, Wen Jiang and Tong Bo washed peppers together in the backyard so that they could dry them.
They went up the mountain with Cui's mother to pick pears. With the help of the adults, they finished picking all the pears from the tree in one afternoon. Tong Wenyao estimated that there were about 300 to 400 kilograms of pears. Cui's mother wiped the sweat from her forehead, her eyes full of excitement, "There are so many, if we eat them all, we can eat them until the New Year."
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