Chapter 66: Green Plum Sauce Pork Ribs
"Can dogs eat apricots?" A voice suddenly sounded. Xia Wu looked over and saw a boy standing across the canal. He looked like a high school student.
"Woo!" Jindou also noticed the stranger and ran happily to the canal, barking at Lu Mo.
"Jindou, come back," Xia Wu called it and it came back. Its owner rubbed its head and held it in his arms. Xia Wu taught it the rules in a frustrated manner: "This is a guest. You know what? You are not allowed to bark."
Jindou seemed to understand what she said, his anger gradually subsided, and he licked Xia Wu's fingers coquettishly.
There was some juice left on her hands when she peeled the apricots, and she was greedy.
"Are you here to play in the mountains?" Xia Wu greeted Lu Mo with a smile. "This is my local dog. It has a good stomach and will eat anything."
As if to verify the truth of Xia Wu's words, Hei Dou grabbed a grasshopper from the grass, played with it with his claws for a few times, and then put it in his mouth and chewed it.
Lu Mo: "..."
All right.
Xia Wu asked him, "Do you want to eat apricots?"
As he spoke, he threw two apricots over. The apricots fell into the grass and Lu Mo bent down to pick them up.
"The water in the canal is clean and can be used for washing."
As Xia Wu said this, she went to the apricot forest to look for apricots. She hadn't eaten enough yet.
Pick more and bring them down the mountain to your family.
By the time she had picked half a basket of yellow apricots, Lu Mo was still there, having already eaten all the apricots given to him.
"Why don't you go down the mountain? Can't you find the way?"
Xia Wu scratched his head. Yantou Mountain is a bit big. Why not make a signpost later?
Lu Mo said in a low voice: "I don't want to go down the mountain, I want to sit here for a while."
The aloofness he exuded was a bit unlike that of a person of his age. After he finished speaking, he sat down on the grass and didn't move.
Xia Wu was afraid that something might happen to him, so he sat down again and continued to teach Jindou and Heidou without saying a word to him.
Sharing the apricots between the two little ones, Xia Wu told them to remember the taste. "All the fruits on the mountain belong to us. If anyone steals without paying, you have to stop them. Do you know how to stop them?"
Hei Dou grabbed her legs with his front paws, barked twice, and showed his canine teeth fiercely.
Xia Wu nodded his furry head with satisfaction and praised: "Hei Dou is awesome, that's it, we need to scare them!"
"Jindou, learn from this."
Lu Mo was attracted by Xia Wu's dog training again and looked over curiously.
"If you teach them this way, will they understand?"
"How can I not understand? They are so smart. If you don't believe me, just look—"
"Hei Dou, give me your claws."
At Xia Wu's command, Hei Dou handed the paw to her.
"Hei Dou, sit down!"
Hei Dou immediately sat down where he was.
"Hei Dou, call Wu Sheng and let me hear it."
“Woof woof woof woof!”
Hei Dou successfully completed all of Xia Wu's instructions. Xia Wu said proudly, "See, Hei Dou is amazing, isn't he?"
Lu Mo's eyes lit up with a gleam of eagerness, "Does it only listen to you, or does it listen to everything?"
"You try it."
Lu Mo crossed the canal and squatted beside Hei Dou. "Your name is Hei Dou, right? Give me your claws?" His voice was not loud and sounded a little unconfident.
Hei Dou squatted on the ground, with his head held high and chest puffed out, like a little lion, and ignored him completely.
Lu Mo didn't believe it, "Lend me an apricot."
Xia Wu gave him an apricot.
Lu Mo shook the apricots, "Black Bean, Black Bean, give me your claws and I'll give you apricots to eat."
Hei Dou turned his head away, his expression righteous and upright, as if to say, "You think you can bribe me with just this little thing? Ridiculous."
"What a clever little dog! He really understands what I say!" The more Lu Mo looked at Hei Dou, the more he liked him. No matter how he teased Hei Dou with apricots, Hei Dou remained unmoved. But the next second...
A furry little paw was placed in his palm. Jindou tilted his little head and let out a soft "Awooo". His grape-like watery eyes looked at Lu Mo, as if saying why not let him try.
Not to mention Lu Mo, even Xia Wu was touched by Jindou's cuteness.
But this guy is really greedy. He even relies on the two brothers and sisters to watch over the top of the mountain. Xia Wu became alert.
Heidou ran to Xia Wu's side, and Lu Mo turned around and started teasing Jindou, "Give me your paw."
Jindou looked at Xingzi and handed her his paw.
"Good dog, you are so smart!" Lu Mo held Jindou in his arms and stroked it happily. Jindou searched and searched in his palm and would not give up until he found the apricot. Lu Mo wanted to peel the apricot for it to eat, but Jindou bit the apricot and jumped out of his arms, turned around and ran towards Xia Wu.
It placed the apricots it earned from performing next to Xia Wu and scratched the grass to remind her to peel them.
It doesn't refuse to eat even if its owner feeds it. It is quite principled.
After playing with the dogs for a while, Lu Mo looked much happier and had some of the energy that he should have at his age.
Seeing that it was getting late, Xia Wu said, "I'm going down the mountain. Where are your family members?"
Lu Mo: "Let me go down the mountain with you. I can't find them."
"OK."
Xia Wu was carrying half a basket of yellow apricots, while Jindou and Heidou were running around in front of her, chasing butterflies and stopping to wait for Xia Wu.
Lu Mo was a little envious: "It's better to be a dog, free and unfettered."
Xia Wu glanced at him sideways and said, "There are some bad things too."
"It's definitely better than humans."
“Some dogs in the village eat poop.”
In one sentence, the young man who was always sad about the passing of time changed his expression.
Xia Wu was so amused by him that she burst into laughter. "Which is more terrifying, your troubles or being a dog eating poop?"
“You don’t understand…”
An urge surged in Lu Mo's chest, and he actually wanted to tell his parents about the adolescent troubles that he had never told them before.
He poured out all his confusion to Xia Wu, a stranger.
As they walked, Xia Wu listened to all his troubles, which were nothing more than that he didn't fit in with his classmates, was ostracized and isolated, and he didn't know how to solve the problem.
"I really don't want to go to school, I don't want to see them, and I don't want to go out. Life is so annoying!"
Lu Mo was speaking as if to vent his anger. Xia Wu stopped and his expression suddenly became serious as he stared at Lu Mo.
Lu Mo was frightened by her, "What, what's wrong?"
"You're so annoying, don't you want to live anymore?"
Lu Mo did think about jumping off the building, and he wanted to jump in front of the school, in a spectacular way, wanting those who excluded him to be punished.
But this was just an idea, he didn't have the courage.
"If you have the courage to even die, why are you still afraid of breaking up with those who bully you? If they don't want to consider you a friend, then don't be friends. Stick to your principles and do what you want. Is that harder than dying?"
"If you really want to die, have you ever thought about your family? If you die, do you think those who bullied you will suffer? Don't be so naive. Only those closest to you will suffer."
That's why he didn't dare. Lu Mo silently refuted in his heart, not daring to say a word in front of Xia Wu.
"elder brother!"
From a distance, Shen Leyan saw Lu Mo and waved his hands excitedly, calling him, "Come and see, Mommy and I picked a lot of raspberries! We can go back and make jam!"
Shen Ming and Shen Leyan were not far away. Xia Wu saw them and asked Lu Mo, "Are they your family?"
Lu Mo was a little panicked, "Can you please not tell my mother what I just said to you."
Xia Wu snorted, ignored her, and walked straight towards Chen Ming and her daughter.
Lu Mo followed in a panic.
As soon as they saw Xia Wu, Chen Ming and her daughter recognized her, "Xia Xia! Is it Xia Xia?"
Xia Wu showed her signature smile, "It's me, who are you?"
"I'm Shen Ming. I don't know if you still remember me. This is my daughter Shen Leyan, and this is my son Lu Mo. Did he run up the mountain just now?"
Chen Ming? Xia Wu quickly dug out relevant memories from the corner and said in surprise, "I remember you. I sent you strawberries at the beginning, right?"
"Yes, yes, yes. I bought strawberries from you many times afterwards. My family loved them. It's a pity that they are out of stock now."
"Sister Xia Xia, I love the strawberry milkshake that Mommy makes the most. It's so delicious!"
Xia Wu smiled and said, "I'm glad you like it. You're welcome to come and play. When you leave, I'll give you some strawberry jam."
"Thank you, Xia Xia! By the way, can these raspberries also be made into juice?"
"It's also delicious when frozen in the refrigerator and paired with yogurt, or you can make it into raspberry jam and eat it with bread."
"Then I'll pick more and try making some later."
"Okay, I'll post the instructions in the group later."
Xia Wu and Shen Ming were talking normally, with no intention of revealing Lu Mo's secret, so he slowly felt relieved.
Xia Wu shared the apricots with Chen Ming and her daughter. Seeing that it was almost time for dinner, he asked them to go back and eat together.
She prepared a special dining area for the tourists who came to visit.
A tent was set up right in front of the Yang family's door, and tables and chairs were placed there. The villagers were asked to help cook the meals, otherwise Liu Guizhen would not be able to handle it alone.
For lunch, there are three dishes and a soup. Some families have four dishes on the table, and the fish are all caught by themselves.
The four members of Shen Ming's family sat together alone, and Shen Leyan asked curiously: "Dad, do we have extra food at noon?"
This sentence is like asking whether Lu Jiadong has caught any fish.
Lu Jiadong laughed guiltily: "Don't worry, there will definitely be extra dishes! Dad caught a lot of fish today!"
Lu Mo looked at his father doubtfully. Was this true? There was only water in the bucket when he left.
The families who came to play came back one after another, many of them with their families. They picked raspberries and green plums on the mountain. The children were very excited and put the raspberries they picked on the table, not wanting to let them out of their sight for a moment.
They were just talking about what they were going to pick on the mountain after lunch when the father advised, "Don't pick any more. You won't be able to eat all the food you pick."
The hostess quickly retorted: "If you can't finish it, you can take it home. Children, pick it if you like!"
"They said it's free to take home for less than three kilograms, but you have to pay more for more than three kilograms..."
"What's wrong with paying the compensation? My daughter's happiness is more than money can buy."
"Okay, okay, okay, go ahead and pick them, you two living ancestors. You said you can eat raspberries, but you can't eat green plums, so why pick so many?"
"The food is here——"
Shi Hongniang, wearing a mask, came out carrying a redwood tray used for rural banquets, calling out, "This is our first dish: pork ribs with sour plum sauce!"
She would stop at every table, put down a dish, and receive several thanks.
"Wow, what are those pork ribs with plum sauce? They look like braised pork ribs!"
Xia Wu could hear the discussions outside at home. He picked up a piece of perfect ribs and put it in his mouth. The sour and sweet taste of the green plum sauce instantly awakened his appetite and made him eat a lot.
"Mom, I don't want to eat spare ribs!" A child yelled. He was almost fed up with eating spare ribs at home every day to nourish his body.
"My dear son, have a piece. This is different from the spareribs at home."
"No, no, I don't want to eat."
"So what do you want to eat?"
"I want burgers and fried chicken!"
"Nonsense! Where are the hamburgers and fried chicken here? Don't spoil him. He can eat it if he wants. Mom is not here, so he will know how to eat when he is hungry."
Having rice crumbs at home is really a headache for children. After being yelled at by his wife, the man dared not coax his son to eat anymore.
You have to know that at home, it is the adults who chase after the little ancestor and beg him to eat, especially the elders who dote on their children.
But they are already out and there are no elders with them, so if the children don’t want to eat, then they don’t have to eat.
Thinking of this, the couple ignored the child with peace of mind and each picked up a piece of pork ribs and put it in their bowl.
"I haven't tried pork ribs with plum sauce yet. I guess they're just like braised pork ribs."
As the woman spoke, she brought the ribs to her mouth. The ribs with plum sauce were tender and chewy, with the aroma of green plums. The sour and sweet taste was much better than the braised ribs!
"Honey, these spare ribs are so delicious!" The woman was very surprised. She didn't expect that she could eat such delicious food while visiting.
Not only their family, but tourists from other tables also started eating and were conquered by the spareribs with sour plum sauce.
Especially some children, they liked it so much that they ate one and asked for another. Some of the younger ones could not hold the chopsticks steadily, so they just held the ribs in their hands and chewed them with relish.
"Is sour plum sauce made from green plums? I remember Xia Xia seemed to sell green plum sauce."
When Shi Hongniang came to serve the second dish, someone kept asking her what sour plum sauce was. After getting a positive answer, someone immediately decided to buy a few bottles of green plum sauce to take back.
"You can make your own greengage jam. If you're interested, pick some greengages and take them home. It's much cheaper than buying ready-made jam."
Shi Hongniang's words immediately reassured the mother and daughter, who had just wanted to go up the mountain to pick fruit. "You can go ahead and pick fruit without worry this time, right? Pick some and I'll make some green plum sauce. Then I'll make pork ribs for you every day!"
The man was speechless and could only raise his hands in support.
The little boy looked at his parents eating with their mouths full of oil, and they didn’t let him eat as usual. Suddenly, the toy gun in his hand didn’t taste good anymore.
Is it really that delicious? He looked back at the other kids, all eating spareribs. But he thought spareribs were not tasty. They were fishy and smelly, and not even as good as fried chicken!
But… after running around all morning, he was already hungry. Suddenly, his stomach growled. The boy's mother heard it, picked up a piece of pork ribs, and asked him, "Would you like to try some?"
His stomach was getting hungrier and hungrier, as if a small hand was pulling at his intestines. The boy was torn between his conscience and his desire to eat or not.
"Eat!" He pouted, but ultimately couldn't overcome his hunger.
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