Chapter 113 Everyone's Life
The last time Xia Wu checked, there are quite a few plants that are effective against mosquitoes, such as lavender and mint, as well as lemongrass and lemon eucalyptus, which are all very effective in repelling mosquitoes.
Among them, lemon eucalyptus and lemongrass work better together. These two plants also happen to have suitable appearances and are very suitable for planting in homestays.
Xia Wu plans to plant some at home and near the well and courtyard on the mountain.
Everyone in the village said that the large number of mosquitoes this year was probably related to the use of pesticides. Last year, when Xia Wu had not yet returned, their village bought the wrong rice seeds, and there were a lot of pests, so they had to use pesticides frequently.
After spraying too much pesticide, there will be pesticide residues in the water, and many frogs and fish will die. Frogs are the natural enemies of mosquitoes. If there are fewer frogs, there will be more mosquitoes.
Until this year, after they changed the rice seeds, they stopped using pesticides for fear that water pollution would affect vegetable planting. Despite this, there are still fewer frogs than in previous years, but there are more and more mosquitoes.
It takes a long time for the ecological environment to recover after being damaged. Perhaps after next year, Xia Wu and others will no longer need to go to so much trouble to prevent mosquitoes.
Mint, lemongrass, and lemon eucalyptus can all be bought online. Xia Wu bought mint seeds and adult plants of lemongrass and eucalyptus online. Just buying these cost her several thousand yuan.
A single plant is certainly not expensive, but her land is large, and if she wants to plant it to repel mosquitoes, the scale must be large.
This is also one of the reasons why Xia Wu cannot save money. No matter what he buys, he spends thousands of dollars.
Xu Li didn't stay in the village for long and left after agreeing on the cooperation.
Friday is almost here. Xia Wu made an agreement with his fan group a few days ago to go to the city to sell a cart of apricots on Friday.
There are so many apricots on the mountain that you can’t eat them all. Almost every household in the village has an apricot tree. Even if they don’t have one, there are always some at their relatives’ homes.
Few of the elderly people in the village like to eat apricots. According to them, people were poor in the past and there were not many good things, so apricots became a good thing. Eating too many would hurt the stomach. Now there are more good things, and the apricots at home can only be fed to pigs, chickens and ducks.
There are so many people selling apricots in the town that even fruit merchants from other places come to buy them, and the price is as low as one yuan per pound.
It’s not even hard enough to pick apricots.
The apricots from our own mountain are good. Besides selling them to Xu Li and taking them to the city to give as gifts to fans, the rest of the fruits are used to make apricot jam.
With experience in making raspberry and strawberry jams, Wang Yuexia is also very skilled in making apricot jam.
On Thursday night, I announced in the group chat, "Tomorrow is Friday. We'll be taking a truckload of apricots to the city as usual. Friends who want to buy can wait in advance."
"Great! I'll take the day off tomorrow and go there on time. Last time, my mom bought ten kilograms and said she bought too much and she was afraid we couldn't finish it, so she gave it away to all the aunts and uncles. After she gave it away, there were only a few left. I tasted them and they were delicious, but she ended up not having any left to eat herself."
"Your mom is pretty good. She wouldn't let me buy something for her, so I asked someone to buy it for me. When I got home, she thought it was delicious, but my dad took it all away as a favor. She's so angry!"
"Xia Xia, are you bringing vegetables to sell tomorrow? We're almost out of vegetables at home. My daughter has been sick lately and has no appetite. I want to buy some organic vegetables for her."
Xia Wu always responded to requests and had a lot of dishes. "Yes, I'll bring some tomorrow. The blood peaches on the mountain are ready to eat. Anyone want some crisp peaches? They look like this."
Since I have to make the trip anyway, it doesn't matter if I bring a few more things.
Xia Wu sent the photos of the blood peaches he took to the group. They were redder than the ones he picked for Xu Li to eat two days ago, and tasted great.
Crisp peaches can be sent by express delivery and taken out first to build word of mouth.
Her call attracted a lot of responses, and everyone in the group wanted to taste the blood peach.
"Xia Xia, can we change seats this time? There are too many people in the Sports Lottery Plaza. Many people who are not from our area are buying tickets. If we go there, we won't be able to buy any."
Xia Wu scratched her head. She was not very familiar with Tong City. The Sports Lottery Plaza was more famous, which was why she chose to set up a stall there last time.
"Then where is the best place to go?"
"Why don't we go to Pipa Terrace? It's also a park with easy parking and not many people during the day."
"Okay, I'll find the navigation. We're going to Pipa Terrace tomorrow. I'll post a pinned message so friends who want to buy apricots don't go to the wrong place!"
The next morning, before four o'clock, Xia Wu got up and drove to the city. If he arrived too late, it would be too hot to set up his stall, so he had to get up early to pick fruits and vegetables.
There are orders for vegetable packages to be sent online every day. The employees who work for her get up very early. They are not in a hurry to send the express packages, but rush to load the trucks first.
Baskets of apricots were loaded onto the truck, a basket of peaches was picked, and vegetables were also loaded.
Everything was ready and it was almost six o'clock.
Xia Wu took his brother to Tong City.
Yang Hongwen slept all the way. After arriving in Tong City, the two decided to eat first and then set up the stall.
As usual, they went to KFC for dinner. Xia Wu had a big hamburger and drank some porridge. Yang Hongwen ate and took things with him. After they were full, they drove to Pipa Terrace following the navigation.
There is an ice skating rink and a football field near Pipa Terrace. Today is Friday and the children are not resting yet. There are not many people on the ice rink, but there are a few men playing football.
Xia Wu found a shady place to set up his stall, and sent a message in the group with his location. Seeing that nothing was happening, Yang Hongwen ran to the outside of the football field and leaned over the net to watch the people inside playing football.
"Hello, is this Xia Xia?"
Not long after Xia Wu sent the message, a girl in sportswear came over to greet her.
The girl's name is Dai Kesi, and she lives nearby. She has the habit of jogging every morning, and today she stayed outside for a while to see if she could catch Xia Wu.
I didn't expect that she would really squat down.
Dai Kesi was chatting with Xia Wu. She lived alone and bought too many apricots and couldn't finish them, but she could share them with her colleagues. She bought ten kilograms of apricots and ten kilograms of peaches, spending less than a hundred yuan. Dai Kesi left briskly with her things, looking very satisfied.
People came to the stall one after another, some riding electric bikes, some riding tricycles, and bringing their own bags. Those with large families asked for 20 or 30 kilograms of food, saying they were going to give it to their aunts and uncles.
Seeing this, Xia Wu was afraid that the next people would not be able to buy any apricots, so he quickly said that each person was limited to buying ten kilograms. Eating too many apricots would be harmful to the body, and apricots would not last long.
Soon, a long line formed in front of the stall. The group members were very enthusiastic when they met each other. Everyone lined up to chat. Someone said to the person in front, "Auntie, are you also a fan of Xia Xia?"
The aunt was quite cheerful. "My daughter asked me to come. She said the apricots she sells are delicious."
Quite a few people were buying for their children, and there was no barrier between them. They were all locals from Tong City, so the laughter and chatter drifted onto the court, attracting the attention of the players.
"What are they selling over there? Why are there so many people?"
"I don't know, go check it out?"
"I'm not going. I'm too lazy to join in the fun."
"Then I'll go take a look. Let's stop here for today. I have to go to work."
A slightly fat man left the court. He was sweating profusely from playing football. He casually wiped the sweat from his face with a towel and joined the queue.
"What are they selling in front of here? Why are there so many people?"
"I don't know either. I just got here too. I think he's selling fruit."
"Is it tasty?"
“They said it was delicious.”
"How about giving some to you two to try?" A fan had just bought some apricots and was about to leave on his electric bike. Upon hearing this conversation, he subconsciously wanted to gain more favor for Xia Wu and offered to give them some apricots.
The two of them didn't refuse much. Zuo Le unscrewed the mineral water bottle and poured the water. The guy in front was responsible for washing the apricots and then breaking them in half for each of them.
After eating, the two decided to continue queuing.
It's really delicious and worth the queue.
It was almost nine o'clock when he returned home after buying apricots. Zuo Le lived in an old building, which was his former home. After he went to high school, his family moved to another urban area and never came back.
If he hadn't been admitted to a public institution here, he probably wouldn't have moved back.
There are no elevators in the old buildings, and they are occupied by elderly people who are reluctant to move out, or they are just renting the houses.
When he went up the stairs, he saw a small figure sitting at the foot of the stairs. Zuo Le was a little surprised, "Xiao Lin, why didn't you go to school?"
He even checked his phone to make sure that today was Friday and there were no elementary school students who would not be able to finish school.
The boy named Xiaolin opened his schoolbag, and his homework and books were piled on the floor. He was looking for something. Zuo Le subconsciously thought that he didn't go to school because he forgot to bring something.
Sun Xiaolin called out, "Uncle Zuo!" with an embarrassed look on his face.
Zuo Le asked him what happened, but he refused to say. Zuo Le had to threaten that he would call his mother if he didn't explain clearly, and the child finally told the truth.
"Uncle Zuo, don't tell my mom. There's a study tour at school today, and everyone needs to bring 120 yuan. I didn't want to go, but the teacher announced it in the group chat. My mom saw it and gave me 120 yuan to let me go to school, but I accidentally lost the money and I didn't dare tell her."
He could only tell the teacher that he would not go to the study session and go home to study on his own.
But when he came back, Sun Xiao found that he had lost both the key and the money.
The reason was with the schoolbag. He checked it carefully and found a hole in the corner of the schoolbag due to wear and tear. His keys, money and several pens all fell out of the hole.
Fortunately, the hole was not very big and his books and test papers were still there.
"Let me check your schoolbag." Zuo Le put Xingzi aside and squatted down to check his schoolbag. Sure enough, there was a big hole. "It's time to get a new schoolbag. What are you going to do now? I'll help you contact your mother. Do you still want to go to the research study?"
Sun Xiaolin shook his head. "I'm not going. One hundred and twenty yuan is a lot of money. My mother has to earn a day's salary. Uncle Zuo, please don't tell my mother. That way, she won't know I lost the money."
The child had obviously been crying, with red eyes, but he was still very sensible when speaking in front of Zuo Le.
The tenants living next door to Zuo Le are a mother and son. Their parents are divorced, and the single mother lives here with her seven-year-old son. It is inevitable that neighbors will have some intersections. Zuo Le knows their family situation and usually helps them a lot.
After thinking about it, he asked Sun Xiaolin to get up and follow him into the house.
The child is very sensible and doesn't want to cause trouble for his mother. He also doesn't want to be the bad guy and tell the whole thing. He can go to the school study tour or not. Since he doesn't want to go and can't stay in the corridor all day, let's go to his house.
Zuo Le was about to go to work. He washed some apricots and put them on the table. He also found the TV remote control, snacks and other things and put them on the table, and reminded Sun Xiaolin that he was home alone.
"Eat and drink when you're ready. I'll take you out to eat when I get back from get off work at noon. Don't open the door when strangers knock, don't touch any dangerous items, and don't turn on the electricity or gas without permission. Got it?"
Zuo Le didn't have that much interaction with the mother and son before, so it would be hard to say if something happened to the child in his home.
Fortunately, Sun Xiaolin is a sensible child.
When Zuo Le got off work at noon, he was still thinking about something and came back quickly.
He was not only thinking about Sun Xiaolin, but also about the apricots he bought in the morning. They were so delicious that he forgot to bring some with him when he left for work. As a result, he started drooling whenever he thought about the apricots.
After returning home and knocking on the door, the room was quiet for a while. Sun Xiaolin approached the door and asked, "Who is it? Is it Uncle Zuo?"
"It's me, open the door."
The door was opened a crack. Sun Xiaolin looked in to make sure it was Zuo Le before opening the door. "Uncle Zuo, you got off work so early. I haven't finished cooking yet. I just need one more dish."
Zuo Le: “?”
He walked towards the kitchen. "Are you cooking?"
Sun Xiaolin was a little nervous. He was afraid that Zuo Le would blame him, so he quickly said, "Don't worry, Uncle Zuo, I didn't use a lot of things. I was afraid that you would have nothing to eat when you came back at noon. I didn't mess up the kitchen. I usually prepare meals for my mother in advance when I'm home."
Zuo Le walked into the kitchen and saw that it was in perfect order. Cut and plated vegetables were placed on the countertop, and there was a square stool in front of the gas stove. It seemed that Sun Xiaolin was cooking on this stool.
Zuo Le was indeed a little angry. He had reminded Sun Xiaolin in the morning not to touch dangerous objects, in case something happened.
But Sun Xiaolin did a good job. He checked that the water, electricity, and gas were turned off when not in use, so there was no way to get angry.
Knowing that Sun Xiaolin usually had to cook for his mother after school, Zuo Le didn't know what to say.
He took over and cooked the remaining dishes and served the rice. Sun Xiaolin helped serve the dishes and got the bowls and chopsticks. He was so diligent that he didn't seem like a six-year-old child.
Afraid that Zuo Le would be angry with him, he also knew to take the initiative to find a topic, "Uncle Zuo, where did you buy the apricots? I ate one, it was really delicious. I can ask my mother to buy some to try too."
Zuo Le Pafan, "It's just across from the Pipatai football field. They've probably sold out. If you like it, take some home to eat with your mom in the evening. Xiaolin, do you usually cook at home?"
"Yes, my mother is very tired from work. She gets off work around 8 or 9 o'clock. I need to eat."
"Xiao Lin, where are the rest of your family? Aren't they here?"
"Yes, but my father doesn't want me. Only my mother wants me. Even if he sees me, he won't care about me."
The child ate his meal obediently and said these things calmly. He was so sensible that it made people feel distressed.
Zuo Le suddenly found the food in his mouth a little hard to swallow. What kind of parents were these? They were so unreliable.
"Uncle Zuo, you're amazing! You're kind, handsome, and a great cook!" Sun Xiaolin gave him a thumbs-up. "I'm going to learn from you in the future."
He was trying to please Zuo Le, the man who had kindly taken him in. Zuo Le saw it and felt a little sad.
"Xiao Lin is much better than me. Let's eat quickly. I'm going to work this afternoon and will be back at 5:30. Don't cook. I'll take you out to eat."
Sun Xiaolin became embarrassed instead: "No need, Uncle Zuo, you've been very good, I can't let you spend any more money."
"obedient."
Sun Xiaolin started eating obediently again.
After dinner, Zuo Le went to wash the dishes. When he came out, Sun Xiaolin handed him the peeled apricots and said, "Uncle Zuo, this is for you!"
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