After the orchids in the medicinal field on the back mountain were stolen once, Zhou Huaian bought yellow bricks and built a flower wall to surround the medicinal field and the big pit.
At this time of the year, the Cistanche deserticola and the Croton ash vine are still in bloom, and clusters of fresh Croton ash vine flowers are hanging on the flower wall.
The stinking peonies in the medicinal field are still blooming with large purple-red flowers, and the green cardamom fruits are weighing heavily on the branches.
Amomum villosum, newly planted Polygonatum sibiricum, Polygonatum odoratum, Bletilla striata, Pulmonaria officinalis, and Rhizoma Cibotii... are growing well.
The Houbu and Eucommia ulmoides on Banpo are as thick as arms. The wild Dendrobium and planted Noxious Thread Lotus in the big pit can be harvested six or seven kilograms every year. Panax notoginseng and Tripterygium wilfordii can be harvested in two years.
The honey flower trees in Baihualin bloomed in large numbers last year, and the planted Magnolia officinalis, Eucommia ulmoides, cinnamon bark and chestnuts are growing very well.
The ramie scattered in the woods has been dug up once, and there are also many Panax notoginseng scattered deep in the woods that have survived. A batch of Epimedium, Tripterygium wilfordii, Cynanchum wilfordii and Amomum villosum can be sold every year.
The wild beehives in the mountains are already full. Every year, all the summer honey, nectar and winter honey, except for those used by himself, are monopolized by Wang Zhen.
The mugwort on the other side of the ditch is harvested around the Dragon Boat Festival and sold at a high price. After another half a month, it can be harvested again.
The three of them took Xiaomier to the ditch, where they saw Xiaojiuer, Xiaolong and Zhou Xiaolin, all wearing sea-blue shorts, bending over and turning over stones in the ditch.
Zhou Jiakang followed the three people with a bamboo basket on his waist, waiting to catch the mountain crabs. Zhou Xiaowen and Zhou Xiaoru were chattering and giving orders on the shore.
"Big brother, little brother, little sister!" Xiaomier called out in a crisp and soft voice and waved to several people.
Xiao Jiuer turned her head and glanced at her, saying disdainfully, "What are you doing here in such a hot sun?"
Xiaomier struggled to let Zhou Huaian put her down. After she stood still, she reached out to him, "Brother, I want to catch fish!"
Zhou Jiakang shook his head, "You can't catch it, it will take a long time for the fish to rest!"
Xiaomier pouted and was about to cry. Zhou Xiaoru came forward and hugged her, "Xiaoer, you can't go down. There are bugs in the ditch! Sister will find a string to tie the crab for you. You can pull it and play, okay?"
"Okay!" Xiaomier nodded obediently.
Zhou Jiakang laughed and said, "Very creative! This is the first time I've heard of a trick played by a mountain crab!"
Zhou Xiaoru put her hands on her hips and said, "Stop talking nonsense and quickly pick a fat one to come over. It's best if it's like you, plump and round, so it's not easy to burp!"
"You dare to talk to your brother like that, do you want to be beaten?" He said, but he still found a strong one and handed it to Zhou Xiaoru, "Little Pepper, hold it steady."
Zhou Huaian looked at the basket and asked, "Let me see how many you have caught?"
Zhou Jiakang walked to the edge of the ditch and pointed the opening of the basket towards Zhou Huaian. "Dad, I found that there are fewer and fewer mountain crabs. We have been catching them for a long time and only caught a dozen."
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "They knew you were back, so they ran away early."
Xiao Jiuer turned her head and looked at him, "Old man, take me to the ditch above the bamboo forest to catch crabs. There are more mountain crabs in that ditch."
"Dad, I want to go too." The follower Xiaolong immediately followed.
Zhou Huaian: "The sun is so bright, we should go tomorrow if we want to go."
Xiao Jiuer stretched out her hand, bent her little finger and said to him, "Pin it!"
Before Zhou Huaian stretched out his hand, Zhou Xiaolin pouted and said, "It's no use making a pinky promise. Dad is not keeping his word now. Last time he said he would take us to the woods to hunt birds, but he hasn't taken us yet. I don't know how many tomorrows your tomorrow will be."
"If Xiaolin hadn't mentioned it, Dad would have forgotten about it." Zhou Huaian looked at the little girl with a smile, "How about this, tomorrow we won't go to catch mountain crabs. Let's ask Uncle Ding to go to the woods to hunt birds."
Zhou Xiaolin held out her little finger and said, "Handshake! If you don't keep your word, you're a puppy."
Zhou Huaian bent his fingers and tapped her forehead gently, "No rules, if I said we'll go tomorrow, then we'll go tomorrow!"
The little girl has been eloquent since she was young, and she is even more amazing now.
"Okay!" Zhou Xiaolin patted Xiao Jiuer, "Grandpa, Brother, Sister, Jiuer, and Xiaolong all heard it!"
The old shrimp smiled and nodded, "Grandpa Shrimp will testify for you."
"Okay, I've heard it. Your father won't go tomorrow, so I'll help you deal with him."
"Oh! Long live the ancestor!..." With the old man's support, several children cheered.
The old man saw that the children were wearing straw hats and their faces were sunburned. "Okay, your faces are all sunburned. It will be troublesome if you get heatstroke later. Let's go home and ask your father to get a net to the river to catch some fish and fry them for food."
Xiao Jiuer asked in surprise: "Grandmaster, is it true?"
"Really!" The old man stretched out his hand to him, "Come up, and go back and tell your old man to get off the net."
"Oh! Time to cast the net and catch fish!" Xiao Jiuer and Xiao Long both shouted happily and climbed out of the ditch onto the edge of the field without hesitation.
Zhou Huaian took Xiao Mi'er from Zhou Xiaowen and held her in his arms. He looked down and saw several kids carrying sandals and walking back barefoot. "Put on your sandals, or you'll be in trouble if you step on a nail."
"Oh oh!" Several children hurriedly put on their shoes and followed the adults back.
When I walked to the front yard, I saw Zhou Yumei and her husband, and Luo Haili and their child coming over on a motorcycle.
In the second year after their marriage, Zhou Yumei and Fang Dongming gave birth to a son, who was three months younger than Xiaomier. They named him Fang Xiaozhou. The little guy was chubby and very cute.
The clothing business has been getting better and better in the past two years. Zhou Yumei and Luo Haili went to the county town to open a shop. Last year, they expanded the remaining half of the yard in the town into a shop and hired a few girls to look after the store.
Luo Qiaoling and Zhou Xiaoxi are still studying at Baima Primary School, one is in the fifth grade and the other is in the first grade. When they saw Zhou Xiaolin, they waved happily.
"Grandfather, little uncle..."
The old man laughed so hard that his mouth couldn't close. He didn't care whether anyone could hear him or not, and kept saying, "Drive slower. Why are you driving so fast?"
Zhou Huaian laughed and said, "Is this speed considered fast? Look at how fast Third Brother is when he's riding a motorcycle!"
The old man said, "I told him off last time. What if someone comes along and he can't stop while riding so fast? What if he hits someone?"
The motorcycle arrived in front of the few people in a blink of an eye. Zhou Xiaoxi and Luo Qiaoling got off the motorcycle, and the cousins happily held each other.
"Cousin, you came at the right time. Dad wants to take us to the river to fish."
"Uncle (young cousin), let's go too!"
Zhou Huaian waved his hand, "Everyone go!"
Fang Dongming and Luo Haili drove their motorcycles into the yard. Zhou Yumei got off the motorcycle holding her sleeping child. She smiled and greeted them. She then asked, "Where's my husband?"
"Mom went to Third Aunt's house, and the old man is at the pickle factory." Zhou Huaian took the pickle back from Fang Dongming and put it on the steps. "We'll have lunch at Big Brother's place. Chunyan is there too."
"Let's go over there to find them." Zhou Yumei and Luo Haili went to Zhao Huifang's house and smelled the aroma of steamed meat as they entered the yard.
Unexpectedly, I saw Zhou's mother there too, "You're back!"
"I just came back after buying tofu." Seeing her grandson coming, Zhou's mother smiled and walked over to take him in her arms, "Where are Dongming and the two girls?"
"I went to the river with Huai'an to fish." Luo Haili put down the things she brought. "My cousin's wife and the others are in the backyard?"
Zhou's mother said cheerfully, "Qiuyue and Xiuxiang are still in the factory, Chunyan and Huifang are packing up the chickens and ducks."
Luo Haili smiled and said, "I'll go and help!"
"Don't panic!" Zhou's mother grabbed her and said, "How is your relationship with Teacher Wen going? She has been waiting for you for four years. It's time for you to let go, right?"
"Yes! Teacher Wen is such a good person! Qiaoling likes him, and his little Wen likes you, too. The two children get along well. I wonder what she is hesitating about?" Zhou Yumei took the opportunity to add fuel to the fire, "Mom, give her a good scolding. I'll go help my sister-in-law clean up."
Luo Haili pinched Xiaozhou, who woke up and opened his eyes to look at them, and said with a smile: "Your mother is a bad person!" She bought a piece of land in Ning'an two years ago and now has her own house.
"I'm doing this for your own good. If you miss Teacher Wen, it will be hard to find such a good person in the future." Zhou Yumei smiled and took the child to go to the backyard to talk to her sister-in-law and brother's wife.
"Come here!" Zhou's mother deliberately put on a fierce face, pulled Luo Haili to sit on the bamboo chair, and began to wipe her tears, "Haili! It's been four years in a flash.
Your aunt told you that there are good men and there are scums like Yan Yongxin and He Jianjun. Teacher Wen's whole family thinks he is a good man. Even grandpa said he is a good man when he saw him. You can tell from his features that he is a kind man.
My aunt is already over 60 years old. She can only see today but not tomorrow. Do you think that when I go there, I won’t be able to face your mother?"
Luo Qiaoling looked at Zhou's mother, whose face was full of rosy glow, and took her arm with a smile, "Aunt, you are in good health! You can live to be 120 years old!"
"Live to be 120 years old, you're still pretty good!" Zhou's mother said timidly, "I don't care, you have to give me a definite answer today, do you agree to be with Teacher Wen?"
Luo Haili still has a good impression of Teacher Wen, but whenever she thinks of the time she spent with Yan Yongxin, she feels scared.
When she thought about the fact that Teacher Wen and Yan Yongxin were two completely different people, she hesitated again, "Can you let me think about it?"
Hearing that her tone was not as firm as before, Zhou's mother said softly, "What else is there to think about? The last time I went to town, Teacher Wen told me that you both have children, so if you don't want children after marriage, then don't have them.
When Qiaoling and Xiaowen get married, you two can take care of each other. If you don't find someone like this, do you really want to live alone for the rest of your life?"
Yang Chunyan came in with the chicken offal. After listening to the conversation, she felt that she might be attracted to Teacher Wen. "Cousin, Huai'an and I also think that Teacher Wen is a good person. If you also have a good impression of him, you can spend some time with him and see how he goes.
If it really doesn't work, just tell him clearly to avoid wasting his time, and we won't advise you again in the future."
Luo Haili said worriedly: "I told him a long time ago that I didn't want to look for him, but he didn't listen and insisted on waiting for me. He even gave up the opportunity to transfer Ning An to teach in junior high school."
"Then why are you still hesitating?" Yang Chunyan and Zhou's mother said in unison.
Seeing that both of them said this, Luo Haili thought for a while, and then mustered up the courage to say, "Well! I'll tell him when I get back and look around with him."
"That's right!" Zhou's mother stood up happily and said to Yang Chunyan, "Tell your sister-in-law that the food in the steamer is ready and it's time to cook other dishes." (End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com