The two of them reached the mountain and saw that the branches of the low gardenia trees were already full of gardenias, some of which were still green and some had turned yellow.
Yellow Gardenia is also known as Mountain Branch and Big Red Gardenia. It is the dried mature fruit of the Rubiaceae plant Gardenia, and both the fruit and the root can be used as medicine.
The nature and flavor of Gardenia jasminoides: bitter, cold. It has the effects of purging fire and relieving restlessness, clearing away heat and promoting urination, cooling blood and detoxifying. People with spleen deficiency and loose stools should not take Gardenia jasminoides.
The ripe fruit of yellow gardenia can also be used to extract gardenia yellow pigment, which people in the past picked and boiled in water to make dye.
Gardenia yellow has strong tinting power and bright colors. The fabrics dyed with it are bright in color. It is said that it was a pigment exclusively used by the royal family in ancient times.
It is also a high-quality natural food pigment used to add color to cakes, candies and beverages.
Put a few of them when braising meat or duck. The meat will be yellowish in color, which looks appetizing, and there are no side effects of artificial colors after eating it.
Yang Chunyan picked one, which had holes on it that had been pecked by a bird. She pinched it gently and her fingertips were stained yellow.
Zhou Huaian said: "This flower is too small. Ding Dingmao has a gardenia at home. The flowers it blooms are bigger and more beautiful than this one."
"This one is yellow gardenia, with small leaves and flowers, and that one is water gardenia, with larger leaves and flowers than yellow gardenia."
"Oh! It looks better if it's planted in the yard. We'll plant it along the ditch and in the yard when the time comes."
Yang Chunyan nodded and said, "Pick the yellow fruits. Don't pick the ones that have been bitten by insects or pecked by birds."
Zhou Huaian: "Yan'er, look at these gardenias, they have grown into a large patch. Since they are medicinal, we can also dig some and plant them back home!"
Yang Chunyan thought about how many things she would have to dig in the spring. "Gardenias need to be planted in the spring to survive. We will be busy next spring."
"That's right, we want this and that, how can we, with only four pairs of hands, make it in time?"
Yang Chunyan thought for a moment and said, "When the time comes, we will pay for it, and someone should come to dig it up, right?"
"Why is there no one here? There would be many people who would dig a tree for a few cents."
"Then let's hire someone to dig it up." Yang Chunyan looked back, "We'll plant the land that we've opened up at the foot of the mountain in the next few years."
"The area on the mountain is planted with magnolia officinalis, Eucommia ulmoides and cinnamon. In the forest, you can also plant clover, epimedium and some herbs that like shade."
"We went to collect Magnolia officinalis seeds that day. I counted and found that there were dozens of saplings in the forest. Each family could get more than a dozen. The people at the forest farm asked Yiding to dig them up and plant them. We then raised some seedlings and gave some to each family."
Zhou Huaian nodded, "Take it slow, plant a little each year, and it will be full in less than two years."
"Yeah, I can't panic."
Yang Chunyan was picking and putting eggs into her bag when she heard a "crack" under her feet. She quickly moved her feet and looked down. The yolks of the pheasant eggs were all over the floor. There were still two eggs left. "Oh my! All the eggs are gone with one step."
Zhou Huaian turned his head and saw the egg yolk all over the floor. He smiled and said, "A few dimes are gone with this kick."
Yang Chunyan looked at the pheasant eggs in her hand and said, "Last time, I asked my mother to incubate two pheasant eggs for the hen. After more than a month, they still didn't survive."
"It's hard to raise wild things. I heard from Uncle Daqing that someone in his forest farm caught a musk deer and kept it in the forest, but it died after half a year."
Yang Chunyan poured the yellow gardenias in her bag into her backpack and asked, "Do you still want to grow them?"
Zhou Huaian laughed and said, "That thing is valuable! Uncle Daqing said that it is timid, and we can still catch it by going to the valley below the fire forest when it is almost dawn. One day when I go up the mountain, I will go to the valley with Ding Ding Cat to see if we can catch a live one and bring it back to raise."
After hearing this, Yang Chunyan thought of the Paris polyphylla left in the mountains. "The Paris polyphylla seeds in the forest farm should be ripe. We will go dig them up and collect seeds tomorrow."
"Yeah!" Zhou Huaian walked up to her and looked at her with a smile, "Yan'er, when we go tomorrow, you can rest on the mountain for a day, and Yiding and I will go to the valley to take a look, okay?"
Yang Chunyan glanced at him and said, "Okay, you haven't run for so long, I know your soles must be itching."
Zhou Huaian looked at her with a bright smile on his face, "Thank you, honey, you still understand me the best." Before he finished speaking, he reached out and hugged her, held the back of her head and kissed her hard, then let go and ran away.
Yang Chunyan felt her lips getting hot, and she glared at him with a red face, "If you have the guts, don't run away."
"Ha'er, that's about right!" Zhou Huaian looked at her with a smirk, "We're an old married couple, there's nothing to be shy about! Besides, I saw it before I kissed you, there was no one around."
"I don't want to bother with you." Yang Chunyan started picking the fruits with her head down.
Zhou Huaian also started picking the gardenias obediently. For a while, the only sounds in the woods were the footsteps of the two people and the sound of picking gardenias.
He picked a handful and put them in his trouser pockets. He did this until both pockets were full and his trousers were falling down. Then he walked to the backpack and took out all the gardenias from his pockets.
Seeing that Yang Chunyan still ignored him, he walked to her side, stretched his head over, and looked at her with a playful smile, "Wife, don't be angry, your man's ears are handed over to you for twisting, is that okay?"
"Go to hell!" Yang Chunyan slapped his arm, "You're in your twenties, and you're still not serious."
"Foolish boy, I am the most serious person. I have lived for more than 20 years and I have already made advances on you. I would not even pay attention to other women who came to me."
Hearing him talking nonsense again, Yang Chunyan pinched the soft flesh on his waist fiercely and turned the volume to twelve, "Tell me! Who came to you to touch you?"
Zhou Huaian took a deep breath, "Wife~ No one comes to my door to let me kiss... Be gentle... Let go... I'm just bragging!"
"If you don't believe me, you can ask Yiding. Except for the time when I was bathing in the river and being spanked naked when I was a child, no one has ever seen even a single hair on my legs since I grew up. I can even be listed as a chastity certificate."
Yang Chunyan let him go and said, "Be honest and pick them quickly!"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Zhou Huaian rubbed the soft flesh on his waist, "Jealous woman."
Yang Chunyan rolled her eyes at him, "..."
The two of them worked with peace of mind and at a much faster pace. After an hour or so, all the yellow gardenias on the branches had been picked out.
Zhou Huaian brought the backpack to the side and took out the kettle, "Drink some water, don't be angry!"
"I'm too lazy to get angry." Yang Chunyan took a sip and picked up the basket. "Let's go back."
"Today's stuff isn't heavy, just put it in the backpack and I'll carry it back."
Yang Chunyan nodded and handed him the basket, "Okay."
"It's just past four o'clock. Please wait here for me. I feel a little uncomfortable in my stomach. I'll go to the bathroom and come back soon."
"Okay!" Yang Chunyan saw him running to a few places, and probably thought the gardenia tree was too short to cover his big white butt, so he ran into the bushes inside, and simply sat down and leaned against the backpack to wait for him.
"Hahaha, good boy, this is incredible luck!"
When Yang Chunyan heard his loud and arrogant laughter, she stood up immediately. She turned around and saw him running outside with a grin on his face. She couldn't help but smile and shake her head, "You are such a grown-up but you are not steady at all." (End of this chapter)
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