Chapter 73 Immortal Grass Jelly
While Zhao Xuan and 460 both gained weight, Lu An lost a lot of weight.
Lu An would go out to work at the crack of dawn every day. He would first cook the rice, then fetch water, feed the pigs, gather pig feed, and tend the fields. He wouldn't return until noon, when he would cook, wash dishes, do laundry, and clean the house... These were things that Zhao Xuan and Lu An used to do together, but with the crops nearing harvest, the farm work would only get heavier, and it would be very strenuous for Lu An to finish all of this. Therefore, after resting for a few days, Zhao Xuan took advantage of Lu An's absence and busily did all the chores herself.
She can do all the simple tasks that don't require much physical exertion, like feeding pigs and chickens, picking vegetables, and hanging clothes to dry. When cooking, she can cook less stir-fry and more stew, so she doesn't need to use her hands too much.
After two weeks of sunny weather, the mountains have entered the hottest time of summer, which is also the rice harvest season.
When Zhao Xuan said at the dinner table that he wanted to go harvest rice with Lu An, Lu An looked at Zhao Xuan, who was still making a "V" sign with both hands, raised an eyebrow, and looked at Zhao Xuan with distrust.
Zhao Xuan was so angry he snapped, "Don't look down on people!"
Finally, she and Lu An reached an agreement: Lu An would harvest the rice, and she would be responsible for bundling the rice stalks.
This year's harvest task is heavier than last year's, because in addition to their own rice, there are also Lao Dao's several acres of rice—Zhao Xuan and Lu An treat them equally and take good care of Lao Dao's four acres of rice as well.
Although neither she nor Lu An said anything to each other, they both hoped that Lao Dao could come back.
Previously, thanks to Lao Dao's help, spring planting was quite easy. Now, in order not to delay the planting of the second rice crop, they are preparing for the rice harvest while cultivating the seedlings.
The entire 14 mu of golden rice paddies were completed by Lu An all by himself.
Before dawn that day, Lu An put on long sleeves and trousers, donned a straw hat, and went out. He rode a tricycle, inside which were a threshing machine, a sickle, and a large water bottle.
This is the hottest time of the year. Before the apocalypse, this would have been summer vacation. He recalled his childhood summer vacations and felt that they were unbearably hot. After two rounds of rice harvesting, he realized that summer vacations back then were nothing compared to the heat. You were exposed to the sun all day without any protection, working under the scorching sun. That was real heat.
But he wasn't stupid. He went out to work before the sun came out and came back when the sun got too strong, otherwise the sun would make him sick.
He woke up very lightly, while Zhao Xuan, who was sleeping soundly beside him, was holding a winter melon. Last night, he had told Zhao Xuan that he didn't need to come to the fields with him, as tying straw was much faster than harvesting rice, so there was no need for them to set off at the same time.
The mountains were still slightly damp in the early morning, and the air was cool. Occasionally, the calls of unknown birds could be heard, and apart from the birdsong, the surroundings were very quiet.
Nature has many sounds: the sound of the wind, the rustling of trees, and the chirping of insects and birds... But they are all white noise. Many of these sounds are too pleasant to hear and are easily missed if you don't pay attention.
At this moment, the world was completely silent.
On the rolling mountains to the east, a swaying ray of morning light is just beginning to shine through.
Lu An was in a good mood and felt energetic.
When he arrived at the field, he saw Yao Yuan and his son, Gou Gou, already harvesting rice. They had obviously arrived earlier, and their collars were already soaked with sweat.
The dog's arm was injured, and although it was being cared for well, Yao Yuan did not let it cut rice. Instead, he had it bundle the rice and thresh the grains.
Yao Yuan has lost a lot of weight recently. He has to take care of two people, which makes things even harder. When he loses weight, his face tends to become thinner, and his eye sockets and cheeks are somewhat sunken, making him look even more gloomy.
But appearances are just appearances. Upon seeing Lu An, he smiled from a distance, his face gentle. The father and son moved in unison, both waving at him.
Lu An waved back a few times, but none of the three spoke. Yao Yuan and the dog continued cutting rice, while Lu An stopped his tricycle, took down the threshing machine and sickle, checked his tightly tied cuffs and trouser legs, wrapped a dry towel around his neck, and went into the field as well.
In the silent world, there was the rustling sound of rice stalks being cut and the labored breathing of people.
It's important to keep a dry towel around your neck; it will prevent sweat from dripping down, keep your neck from itching, and prevent insects from crawling into your collar.
After nearly two years of training, Lu An became incredibly fast and efficient at farm work. He was a smart and serious person with excellent stamina. With his swift and skillful work, large swathes of rice fell to the ground. Not long after, Zhao Xuan arrived. She shaded her eyes with one hand and put her other hand on her hip, looking at the vast rice fields. She mentally prepared herself before straightening her back and going into the fields!
hot.
It's still very hot.
Even after experiencing it once, her tolerance for heat as a human had not increased.
She knelt on the ground, pressing down the rice with her knees, and used her hands to tie the rice into bundles with specially selected long rice stalks. Then she placed these bundles of rice, which were thicker than her waist, on the edge of the field, where they would be threshed later.
After just a few rounds, Zhao Xuan was drenched in sweat. She walked to a big tree by the field, where their tricycle and 460 were parked.
Zhao Xuan took the water bottle from the back of the tricycle and gulped it down. 460 heard the noise, opened his eyes, saw it was Zhao Xuan, and then closed his eyes again and went back to sleep.
A long scar was left on 460's face, which instantly transformed the originally honest little black dog into a gangster old dog, and even made Zhao Xuan feel that 460 had an imposing presence.
Zhao Xuan thought that 460 would probably get a new nickname in its Paw Patrol: Scarface.
Thinking of this, she suddenly smiled.
460 heard a faint laugh, looked up at its master, and "Scarface" received an affectionate head pat.
Although the harvest was hot and tiring, the joy in my heart will overcome these negative emotions.
Zhao Xuan and Lu An worked until the sun was high in the sky, around 11 a.m., when they were about to call it a day and go home. At that moment, Zhang Xiaohe also came to the edge of the field with her lunch.
Xiaxi Village is quite far from the rice paddies, so Yao Yuan built a thatched shed in the shade not far from the rice paddies. The three of them ate their meal by the field, while Yao Yuan and the dog took a nap in the shed. Zhang Xiaohe then took the harvested rice home.
The two families finally had a chance to chat. Zhao Xuan asked Zhang Xiaohe and the dog how they were doing. He learned that Zhang Xiaohe's leg injury and concussion were no longer a problem, but the dog's hearing seemed to have recovered somewhat, though it was still much worse than before.
Zhang Xiaohe's face was full of heartache as she talked about these things, but the dog didn't seem to care at all. He kept comforting his mother, saying that he had two ears, one of which was deaf, but he still had the other one.
Actually, both families were glad that Zhao Xuan went to find the shepherd dog that day. If the two of them hadn't been caught together, then the dog, Zhao Xuan, and Zhang Xiaohe would have been in three different places, and no matter who they were, they wouldn't have survived if they had encountered those people.
Both families were grateful to each other in their hearts.
The dog didn't care about its own ears, but it was heartbroken to see the scars on 460's face. It stroked 460's head, murmuring whether it hurt a lot.
460 spread its ears and let the dog touch them. With its extremely slow reaction time, it finally accepted the Yao family.
The Yao family's lunch today was white rice with cold eggplant puree. The glossy, soft, and tender hand-shredded eggplant puree made Zhao Xuan unconsciously envious of Zhang Xiaohe's cooking skills. Zhang Xiaohe naturally invited Zhao Xuan and Lu An to eat together, but Zhao Xuan was too embarrassed and waved his hand to take Lu An home. Zhang Xiaohe stopped them again and took a large stainless steel soup bowl from the back of her tricycle, saying to them, "I almost forgot, I just made some refreshing snacks today. Take them home and eat them!"
Zhao Xuan took the large soup bowl, unscrewed the lid, and found several large pieces of dark green grass jelly inside. Because the soup bowl kept it warm, the grass jelly was still slightly cool.
Zhang Xiaohe said, "I made it this morning, it's very fresh. Just add some mint water and a little white sugar."
Zhao Xuan asked, "Sister Xiao He, do you recognize the herb used to make the fairy herb?"
Zhang Xiaohe nodded: "Let me take you next time we go picking!"
Zhao Xuan smiled and said okay.
Zhang Xiaohe said that the grass jelly used to make grass jelly looks a bit like mint and is easy to recognize. It is still growing now, but it is not tender anymore. Next year, the two of them will go to pick it together. If they pick a lot, they can take some to the salt field market to sell. She also said that she would bring her some dried grass jelly in the afternoon so that Zhao Xuan can make it at home.
Zhao Xuan happily went home with Lu An.
Zhang Xiaohe's grass jelly wasn't the shiny black color one might imagine; instead, it was a dark green. She used sweet potato starch mixed with water when cooking the grass jelly, which made it softer and more tender than the grass jelly sold in supermarkets.
When he got home, Zhao Xuan couldn't wait to pour the grass jelly out of the large soup bowl, then cut it into small cubes, put it in two small bowls, and sprinkled half a spoonful of white sugar on each.
Lu An put two bowls of grass jelly into the refrigerator's crisper drawer. Lu An was washing his hands and face with a basin of water, while Zhao Xuan went upstairs. This year, Zhao Xuan planted two small plants on the windowsill of his bedroom: a pot of pennywort and a pot of mint.
As Lu An finished washing his face, he saw Zhao Xuan come downstairs with a few tender green mint leaves in his hand.
The two sat upright at the table, in front of them a bowl of grass jelly sprinkled with chopped mint leaves and white sugar.
The cicadas chirped outside, accompanied by the swaying shadows of the trees. The midday heat kept pouring into the room, but as soon as you ate a bowl of grass jelly, it seemed to dispel the heat of the entire summer.
Zhao Xuan felt very satisfied.
She recalled the time when she and Lu An were dating. She was still in college, while Lu An was already working. She would visit Lu An on weekends, but he always worked overtime, so Zhao Xuan would time her visits to wait for him at the entrance of his workplace.
In the height of summer, there was a small stall outside his workplace run by an old lady selling grass jelly. The grass jelly was very cheap, a big bowl for just three yuan. The grass jelly was homemade by the old lady and tasted delicious.
When Zhao Xuan was waiting for Lu An, he would sit at the old lady's stall. After Lu An finished get off work, the two of them would order two bowls of food and then walk home hand in hand.
The old woman's stall always stayed open very late. When Zhao Xuan was waiting there, she would talk to her. Zhao Xuan forgot what she said, but it was all about everyday things. She remembered that the old woman said she was almost eighty years old and would only work for another year before quitting because she couldn't work anymore.
Later, Zhao Xuan was busy graduating and stopped waiting for Lu An to come home late at night after working overtime.
She never asked Lu An again whether the old woman was still there.
Life experiences are fragmented and intertwined. Recently, Zhao Xuan has been recalling things she thought she had long forgotten, and she thinks she must be getting old.
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