Chapter 256: The Delicious Food of Spring
Lin Heng stopped the car, and everyone got out and walked towards the green river beach.
“Oh~oh~”
Xiaoxia cheered and pulled her aunt Caiyun to the riverbank, happy as a puppy.
“It’s so beautiful.”
Xiulan and Tian Yan also walked down with joy in their eyes.
Lin Heng parked the car, walked back a few steps, and first picked up two Chinese toon trees on the roadside.
These toon trees on the roadside are relatively small, with a diameter of only three or four centimeters and a height of about five or six meters, with a very fat toon bud growing on the top.
The one at the top was the fattest, brown-purple with a glossy luster. Lin Heng ruthlessly broke the tree off after bending it, and also broke off three or four side buds next to it.
I held it in my hand and smelled it. It had a strong scent of Chinese toon. It wasn't pleasant, but it tasted good.
"We have some here, too, Brother Lin Heng."
Lin Hai, who was standing next to him, also broke off three or four trees and handed them to Lin Heng. He was very grateful to Lin Heng for arranging for him and Tian Yan to squeeze together.
"Let's go and take a look at the river."
Lin Heng smiled and nodded, then turned and walked towards the river.
Over at Hongfeng Village, the grass looks green at a distance but is not there when you get close. But over here, the grass is so green that it would definitely cover the horse's hooves if you were riding a horse.
The grass was very soft and felt like a carpet. People walked on the grass and enjoyed the breeze and sunshine by the river.
Xiaoxia ran around cheering, happy like a little rabbit.
In addition to grass, there were also colorful flowers and beautiful dandelions on the ground. Lin Heng picked one and blew it hard, and the dandelion seeds all over the sky flew away with the wind and drifted away into the distance.
It was only twenty past eight, there was still some dew on the grass, the sun was not too hot, and the river breeze was very cool. Lin Heng followed Xiulan and the others, enjoying the fun of outing.
"Brother Lin Hai, please get some willow branches down for us." Caiyun in front pointed at the willow tree in front of them and said.
"Okay!"
Lin Hai agreed with a smile, and quickly climbed up the willow tree, broke off some willow branches and threw them down. Caiyun, Xiulan and the others picked them up and made hats.
The wicker hat is very simple. Just coil the wicker according to the size of your head, decorate it with some flowers, and then you can wear it.
Lin Heng tore the willow bark and wrapped it in two horizontal strips. He pulled hard and the willow bark came off along with the branches and leaves. After unfolding, it was as soft as tassels and could be used to tie on a wicker hat as decoration.
"Xiaoxia is for you!"
After a while, Caiyun made a small wicker hat, which was filled with violets and yellow dandelion flowers.
"Thank you, Auntie, I have a hat now!!"
Xiaoxia put on her hat and ran around on the grass, showing everyone her beautiful garland hat.
"Can I try it on and see?" Xiulan soon made one for herself and looked at Lin Heng with interest.
"Of course it looks good, full of elegance." Lin Heng nodded with a smile. At this moment, Xiulan looked like the sister next door.
"What about me, second brother? Do I look good wearing it?" Caiyun also ran over and asked with a wink.
Lin Heng took a look and nodded, "She is very beautiful, but she is still a little bit inferior to your sister-in-law."
"It's obvious that I have more flowers, right, sister-in-law?" Caiyun was not satisfied with this and said to Xiulan while pulling her.
"Yes, your brother is talking nonsense. Caiyun is prettier than me." Xiulan nodded with a smile.
"No, I'm the most beautiful!!" Xiaoxia ran over and said crisply with her hands on her hips.
"Yes, yes, you are the prettiest!" Caiyun pinched her little face.
Lin Heng looked at everyone and suggested, "Why don't we go to the mountain on the way to look for Chinese toon ferns? We can enjoy the spring and have a good harvest. Then we can come to the river to eat at noon."
The scenery along the river is very nice, but it’s meaningless to play here all the time. Maybe you will get unexpected gains by going into the mountains.
"I agree!" Xiulan was the first to nod in support of her husband: "It's more fun to go outing and pick wild vegetables and Chinese toon. Let's get going."
"I think so too." Caiyun nodded.
"Then let's go." Tian Yan nodded. There was really nothing fun to do by the river.
"Then let's go."
Lin Heng had long wanted to pick Chinese toon trees; he liked the feeling of harvest.
When they got to the road, Lin Heng opened the storage box of the car and put the food in it temporarily.
The sidecar has three storage boxes. The largest one is behind the spare tire of the sidecar. It has a relatively large space, with a capacity of about 30 to 40 liters.
There are two small bullet boxes next to the bucket. This place is relatively small and is used to store some miscellaneous items. Lin Heng's fishing lines and hooks are placed in them.
I packed all the food, took out a few plastic bags, then broke off some branches and pulled some grass to cover the storage box to prevent it from being too hot.
"Let's go, let's go."
Lin Heng looked at the small path inside the road and led the way up.
I had only walked a few meters when I found a Chinese toon plant. I broke it off and put it in the bag without hesitation.
After walking about a hundred meters up, they came out of the forest and were stunned.
"Oh my God, so many ferns." Xiulan was stunned.
"It's been sent out, it's been sent out, hurry up and fold it!" Caiyun pulled Xiaoxia over and started folding it.
In this open space, the curly green and red ferns stand tall and sway gently in the wind, full of vitality.
“What good luck.”
Xiulan smiled and squatted down to pick the ferns. These ferns were very crisp and would break with a slight bend, making a nice crisp sound.
After a while, Lin Heng picked a large handful of bracken weighing more than one pound. He put the bracken in Xiulan's bamboo basket and went to pick Chinese toon.
In fact, he likes Chinese toon more than bracken, but in spring, everything is cut off.
There are many small toon trees at the edge of the forest. It is very satisfying to pick them one by one, and I feel even better when I see the bag gradually fill up.
Lin Heng came back after breaking off a circle of Chinese toon. Xiulan and the others had almost finished breaking off the ferns. Xiaoxia was also learning and having a lot of fun beside them.
"Xiu Lan, look at my haul!" Lin Heng handed his haul to her.
"So many." Xiulan was a little surprised, then gave a thumbs up and said, "That's amazing."
"Of course."
Hearing Xiulan's praise, Lin Heng was satisfied.
After a while, all the ferns here were picked. Going up, there was a mixed wood forest with many kinds of trees including poplar, chestnut, maple, etc.
The most common plants growing on the ground are wild peas and foxtail grass, but the foxtail grass has not yet produced ears at this time. It is also a pleasure to run around in such a forest.
Although no ferns were found, some Chinese toon trees could be seen from time to time.
As they entered the forest, the group gradually separated from each other in order to find Chinese toon and bracken. Lin Heng looked around and kept walking inside. He was very excited to explore this unknown forest.
There are unknowns in all directions, and you never know which direction will yield more rewards or better scenery. It's just like fishing, you never know which part of the water has more fish, and you don't know what kind of fish you will catch when you throw the hook.
This exploration of the unknown inspired Lin Heng's heart. There were not many Chinese toon trees. He could only see one or two after walking for dozens of meters. They were all small trees, and he would only pick one Chinese toon from each tree.
But the quality of the Chinese toon trees at the top of this tree are all top-notch, fat and short, and shiny purple-brown, very charming.
Gradually, Lin Heng could no longer see Xiulan and the others, but he could still hear some of their voices. However, he didn't care. He just wanted to break off a lot of Chinese toon and give Xiulan a good shock.
"Such a big garlic!"
After walking a distance, Lin Heng saw a stone step in front of him. On the stone step, there were seven or eight small garlics as thick as index fingers. These were definitely big ones among the small garlics. He walked over, pulled them all out, peeled them and put them in the bag.
"Hey! It's posted!"
Just as he looked up after pulling out the garlic, Lin Heng discovered another Chinese toon tree. This tree was as thick as a wrist, with seven or eight branches, all of which were covered with beautiful purple-brown Chinese toon.
This tree is definitely a legendary toon tree. Lin Heng rushed over, grabbed the trunk and pulled it down. Suddenly, there was a click and the whole toon tree was broken violently by him.
“This toon is really good.”
Lin Heng was only busy breaking off the Chinese toon trees. It was better if the tree broke, as it would produce more side branches and there would be more Chinese toon trees next year.
Lin Heng was so happy that he broke off more than half a pound of plump Chinese toon from a tree, and continued to run deeper.
But the next part of the journey was not satisfactory. There were many thorns and no Chinese toon trees were seen.
Looking at the road ahead, the trees were becoming denser and denser, and there were more and more acorn trees. Lin Heng estimated that there was no hope.
"Let's go a little further."
He was a little unwilling to give up, just in case there was more.
Looking around, he found that he had unknowingly come to the depths of the forest. Everywhere was refreshing green, and it was so pleasing to the eyes to walk in it.
After walking forward for about three hundred meters, Lin Heng was about to go back when he suddenly saw something good.
"Thorn buds!"
He exclaimed, because this was not a single tree, but a large cluster of more than a dozen trees.
The thorny Chinese toon buds are also called thorny old buds. They are habitually called thorny Chinese toon buds here. The thorny Chinese toon tree is a light gray-brown tree covered with sharp thorns. Its scientific name is Aralia dasyphylla. It is a wild vegetable that can be used as both medicine and food. In the Northeast, it is called the king of wild vegetables.
Because it is covered with thorns, it is also known as the tree where no birds alight. The buds of the Chinese toon contain a variety of vitamins and minerals and have extremely high health value.
However, there are not many such trees, and they are generally hard to find. Lin Heng did not expect that he would encounter such a large clump.
Taking out his 100-fold steel dagger, Lin Heng cut a branch with a hook in the forest and used it to hook the thorny Chinese toon buds. Fortunately, these trees were not thick, only 30 centimeters in diameter, so it was easy to break the thorny Chinese toon buds with the hook.
The thorny toon buds even have thorns on their buds, but they are not woody and have little power. It took Lin Heng ten minutes to break off most of the thorny toon buds.
He didn't have a hatchet and had to give up as there were only two trees left that were as thick as his arms.
"That's enough. These weigh two kilograms."
Lin Heng was so happy looking at the Chinese toon buds in his hand that he couldn't stop smiling. It was so cool to break so many at once. After smelling the special smell, he couldn't wait to use it to stir-fry bacon.
Taking out a plastic bag from his pocket, Lin Heng walked back along the north side. When he first came here, he walked along the south side, and now it was the right time to explore the north side.
I looked at the harvest in my hands, a big bag of Chinese toon, weighing almost five pounds, plus two pounds of Chinese toon buds, so this trip was not in vain.
“How strange!”
After walking down a few hundred meters from the north, Lin Heng did not see either Chinese toon or Xiaosuan.
After a while, he ran to a vast poplar forest and found Xiulan squatting on the ground looking for something, seeming very happy.
"What are you digging?" Lin Heng asked from a distance.
"Come here, good stuff!"
Xiulan waved at him enthusiastically.
Lin Heng had a bad feeling. He walked closer and took a look. He was stunned: "Morels?"
"Yes, there are a lot of them here, all in the grass, but they are a little small." Xiulan said with a smile.
Lin Heng suddenly wilted. Just when he was about to show off his prickly toon buds and Chinese toon, Xiulan and the others discovered morels. What good luck they had.
But if you think about it carefully, you can accept it. Morels will grow as long as the temperature is above eight degrees, and it has just rained.
"You've got quite a harvest. You even found some prickly toon buds?" Xiulan said in shock as she looked at the prickly toon buds he was carrying.
Lin Heng nodded: "Yes, I found a few Chinese toon trees."
"You're so lucky. I like eating thorny toon shoots the most."
Xiulan took the thorny toon bud and smelled it, intoxicated by the smell.
"Don't pretend, I know you prefer morels."
Seeing her like this, Lin Heng couldn't help but smile and reached out to pinch her face. Even though he didn't show off, he was in a good mood.
"No, I like to eat them all." Xiulan said with a wink. She really liked Lin Heng helping her comb her bangs neatly.
"I believe it. I'll come look for morels, too."
Lin Heng smiled, put the things in the basket and started looking for morels.
There were a lot of mushrooms growing in the grass, all of them were pale yellow thick-legged morels. They were not big, and they had obviously just grown after the rain the day before yesterday.
After searching for a while, Lin Heng found a new fungus on the poplar tree stump - Coprinus comatus.
It is brown-yellow in color, with granular scales on the surface. It grows into a large cluster throughout its life. It can be eaten when it is fresh and tender, but it will turn into a pool of black water when it gets old.
Lin Heng picked it without hesitation. The taste of the coprinus comatus was quite good, but you couldn’t drink alcohol for two or three days after eating it.
"Second brother, you are finally back." After a while, Caiyun and Xiaoxia came over from below.
"Dad, I dug some wild vegetables!"
Xiaoxia ran over excitedly with some ferns and showed Lin Heng her harvest.
"Xiaoxia is amazing."
Lin Heng touched her face and praised her.
"Here you go~"
Xiaoxia took some ferns and handed them to Lin Heng, then ran to her mother to show off. At such a young age, she already had the potential to be a fisherman.
"Where are Lin Hai and the others?"
Lin Heng looked at Caiyun and asked.
"They're picking morels in the woods over there. There are plenty of them there."
Caiyun said with a smile that she picked a lot of Chinese toon trees but didn't pick many mushrooms.
"Well, it looks like I'm the only one who didn't find the morels."
Lin Heng said helplessly and continued to pick mushrooms with his head down.
After Xiaoxia finished showing off, she gave all the ferns to her mother, and then went to have fun in the poplar forest helping to look for morels. She would give one to Lin Heng, and then to Xiulan and Caiyun.
Whenever she heard a compliment, she would smile and take another one. Even if she found several at once, she would take them one by one and listen to the compliments for each one.
When she couldn't find it, she chased the little lizard around. She was never idle and was much braver than other children.
Before they knew it, they had been searching in the woods for more than an hour. Lin Heng looked at his watch and it was already eleven o'clock in the morning.
The mushrooms here are all in the grass and are hard to find. He picked about three or four pounds, most of which were coprinus, and there was probably only one pound of morels.
"How much did you pick up?"
At this time, Lin Hai and the others finally came up and looked at Lin Heng and asked.
"It's probably more than ten kilograms of mushrooms in total." Lin Heng said.
"We had a good harvest, too. Each of us picked up about two or three kilograms." Lin Hai said with a smile.
Lin Heng looked at their mushrooms. They were a little bigger than his own, so it seemed that they had more moisture underneath.
Lin Hai said, "Let's go downstairs to eat, Brother Lin Heng. I've also broken off a few thin bamboo sticks. We'll go fishing later."
"Okay, I'm a little hungry too." Lin Heng nodded. His legs were a little tired after running all morning.
Xiulan also nodded and said, "It just so happens that there are no mushrooms here, let's go."
After making the decision, everyone quickly packed up their gains and left.
Lin Heng harvested the most Chinese toon, and even some Chinese toon buds that no one else had picked. Xiulan harvested the most morels, picking up five or six kilograms by herself.
She also picked a lot of ferns and a lot of gray vegetables that Lin Heng loved very much.
Caiyun, Tianyan and Linhai have all kinds of toon, fern and mushrooms, and there are quite a lot of each.
This trip can be said to be a fruitful one. With so many good things gained, everyone’s faces were full of smiles.
Back on the road, Lin Heng opened the storage box, took out the food and fishing lines and hooks, and asked everyone to throw in the wild vegetables they had picked.
"There's a big willow tree over there. Let's go eat under the shade."
Xiulan pointed to a big willow tree by the river and said, "It's already very hot under the sun, so you naturally can't eat under the sun."
"That's a nice place." Lin Heng nodded and walked over with his things.
Arriving under the shade of the trees, Xiulan and Caiyun were responsible for spreading the picnic blanket and laying out the food, while Lin Heng and Lin Hai went to the riverside to find some smooth stone slabs to use as benches.
After they moved all the slates over, Xiulan and her friends also set out the food. Xiulan prepared soft pancakes, potato pancakes, cold bracken root noodles, pickled bamboo shoots and Jerusalem artichokes.
Caiyun prepared dried persimmon cakes, which are dried persimmons wrapped in flour and fried in oil. Tian Yan prepared red date glutinous rice cakes, and Lin Hai prepared a large bottle of brewed rice wine and some bamboo wine glasses.
"Let's eat. I won't be polite."
Lin Heng said something, then took out two persimmon cakes, gave one to Xiaoxia and ate one himself.
"Wow, these potato pancakes and cold fern root noodles are delicious. The pickled bamboo shoots and Jerusalem artichokes are also very good." Tian Yan praised after tasting them.
"Your red date glutinous rice cake is delicious too." Xiulan said with a smile. Everyone was sharing each other's food.
Caiyun ate potato cakes and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, please praise my dried persimmon cake."
"The persimmon cake is also delicious, better than the one my mom fries." Xiulan said with a smile.
"Yes, it's delicious." Tian Yan also tried one.
Lin Heng tried them all and found them all pretty good. But he really liked the potato cakes made by Xiulan, which were crispy and delicious when eaten with the sour and spicy fern root noodles.
The bamboo shoots and pickled Jerusalem artichokes are sour, spicy and crispy. They taste a bit spicy, but strangely I can't stop eating them. I have to continue eating them after taking a sip of sweet wine.
Eating under the shade of the big willow tree, feeling the warm river breeze, and chatting with everyone, it was a perfect day.
After eating, I leaned against the willow tree and looked at the rapeseed fields on the opposite bank, the sparkling Heihe River, and the charming green mountains in the distance.
This tender green color in early spring is so attractive. The wind is full of the rhythm of life, making people indulge in nature both physically and mentally.
This seems to be what life should be like, and Lin Heng is willing to squander his life like this.
Xiaoxia was tired from playing, so she curled up in Caiyun's arms and tore the grass, while Xiulan leaned on Lin Heng's shoulder.
Tian Yan, who was standing next to him, glanced at Lin Hai, who wanted to take action but didn't dare to, then grabbed his hand, rested her head on his shoulder, and leaned against him sweetly.
Lin Hai shuddered, his heart pounding with excitement, and he slowly put his arms around Tian Yan's waist, his face full of joy, unable to hold it back.
“Eh~~”
Caiyun let out a long sound, picked up the remaining potato pancake and took two big bites.
Lin Heng was too lazy to move. It was so comfortable to hide in the shade of the tree and enjoy the breeze. He leaned against the tree and took a nap for half an hour.
Before we knew it, it was already two o'clock. Xiaoxia had rested enough and came back to have fun.
Lin Heng also stretched, cut a thin bamboo stick, tied a fishing line to it, and then used a dagger to dig in the soil to look for earthworms.
"Found it, let's go fishing!"
Lin Heng looked at Xiulan and said with a smile.
Lin Hai had no time to think about it, as he was already wasting time in the arms of love. Tian Yan was lying on his lap, obviously pretending to be asleep, but he didn't move a muscle, and he didn't even dare to put his hands anywhere, with an auntie smile on his face.
"good!"
Xiulan stood up, took a bamboo pole and went out with Lin Heng. Caiyun also brought Xiaoxia to the river.
"As the saying goes, fish in shallow water in spring and deep pool in summer. This shallow water covered with grass is very beautiful."
Lin Heng found a shallow area with aquatic plants and threw his fishing rod into the water. Xiulan also followed him and threw down her fishing hook.
"Brother, this doesn't seem to work?"
More than ten minutes passed and Caiyun asked.
Lin Heng was a little embarrassed. Logically speaking, it shouldn't have failed.
"Maybe there is no nest." Lin Heng said after thinking for a while.
"Honey, I caught a fish!!"
At this moment, Xiulan suddenly pulled up the bamboo pole, and a large golden crucian carp flew out of the water and landed on the grass, jumping back and forth.
Lin Heng: “…”
"What a big fish!"
Xiaoxia surrounded the big crucian carp, dancing and cheering.
"Sister-in-law Xiulan is amazing. This crucian carp weighs one or two kilograms."
Caiyun was shocked, it was such a big fish.
"I was just fishing blindly." Xiulan said with a smile. She didn't know anything anyway and was just imitating Lin Heng.
Lin Heng caught the fish and said with a smile: "I said you can catch it, right?"
Putting the fish into a small puddle at the back, he also came to his senses and concentrated on fishing.
After fishing for more than ten minutes, he still didn't catch any fish. Lin Heng changed to another earthworm, but the situation remained the same. He suspected that it was because of the heat at noon.
"The fishing rod is weighed down with rocks. Let's take a stroll by the river and then prepare to go home."
Xiulan said when she saw that no fish were coming in. It wasn't that she couldn't wait, but the sun was too hot.
"That's fine."
Lin Heng nodded, pressed down the fishing rod with a stone, and the four of them walked upstream along the river, taking a stroll while enjoying the river breeze.
"Hey, look, there's a poplar forest over there too. Will there be morels there?"
After walking a few hundred meters up, Caiyun pointed to a poplar forest by the river and said.
(End of this chapter)
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