Chapter 8 Strawberries
Xia Wu was stunned by what he heard.
She had died once before, having fought and snatched things before. Even if she held on to something that wasn't hers with all her might, it would slip away helplessly. Life is a struggle with one's own desires. If one can't get what they want, pain will naturally follow.
"Mr. Park, you are right." Without desire, there is naturally no pain.
"But then again, how many people in the world can be as open-minded as you, Mr. Park?"
Xia Wu gave Master Pu a little compliment. She could already smell the aroma emanating from the pot and took a deep breath, feeling her appetite almost piqued.
Mr. Park gave his signature hearty laugh: "You little girl, you are a very insightful person."
"Mr. Pu, you must have spent a lot of money to rent this mountain, right?" Xia Wu suddenly asked curiously.
"It's not much money. It was many years ago when I leased the mountain. An acre of land only earned a few cents. It has increased a bit since then, but only to a few cents. You don't know, when I was a child, the villagers built houses and cooked by cutting down trees on the mountain. The mountain was completely bald!"
"After I contracted the mountain, the first thing I did was plant trees. My wife and I have been planting trees for more than ten years. Watching the mountain gradually turn green makes me feel good!"
"Later, beekeeping and honey collection became a side job. The environment improved, and the bees could be kept. Do you know how much I sell a jar of honey for? Two thousand! Two thousand a jar, so many people are tempted to death, but they can't learn even if they want to!"
Mr. Pu became more and more excited as he spoke, and explained to Xia Wu the differences between bees.
"They use foreign bees, imported stuff. Anything that has something to do with foreign things becomes good, and our local stuff becomes bad. I'm going against them. I'm raising over a dozen beehives full of our local bees. They're small, but they're very patient and can collect honey at any time. They're not afraid of hunger or hardship, and they have the energy to persevere even in desperate situations!"
Mr. Pu was talking about bees, but it sounded like he was talking about people. Xia Wu listened carefully.
"Hey, when I start making money selling honey, they'll try to follow my lead and raise wild bees. But are wild bees really that easy to raise? You have to put in the effort to build a career. How can you succeed if you just try one thing here and there?"
As Mr. Pu spoke, he lifted the lid of the pot, and white mist mixed with a rich aroma instantly filled the room. Xia Wu's first feeling was the aroma, the unique aroma of chicken, mixed with the bitter taste of Chinese herbs, but it didn't feel conflicting, instead offsetting the greasy taste of the meat.
"It smells so good!" Xia Wu twitched his nose, clearing away the white mist in front of his eyes, and finally saw the wild chicken in the pot clearly.
"It smells good! Even the gods in heaven might not be able to taste this!"
"Come here, let me pick up a chicken leg for you to taste how salty it is." Mr. Pu liked Xia Wu very much and always felt that this girl should stay in the mountains.
Xia Wu took the bowl and said, "Then I won't be polite."
The chicken leg is covered with a layer of skin. The first bite you take is the aroma of the chicken skin's fat. The next bite is when you can taste the chewy texture of the chicken leg meat. It is not dry and very fragrant. Every piece of meat is fragrant.
Especially after adding wild basil, the chicken was not fishy, dry or greasy. She didn’t know how to describe it!
At this moment, an idea came to Xia Wu's mind. Why not rent a hill to raise chickens?
She wants to raise lots of chickens and make boiled chicken, braised chicken, steamed chicken, stewed chicken, roasted chicken, and fried chicken...
Xia Wu's eyes shone with the desire of a weasel for a chicken.
At noon, there was a dish of wild bazi steamed chicken. A table was quickly set up outside. Grandpa Pu served the chicken on the table. Each person had a bowl of rice grown by the villagers. The five people sat around the table, all overwhelmed by the aroma of the food.
Having just eaten chicken, Xia Wu first poured himself some chicken soup. After taking a sip, he found the soup smooth, mellow, and rich. Xia Wu exclaimed, "Chicken soup is delicious too!"
After saying that, he blew on the edge of the bowl to finish the chicken soup.
"Grandpa, are there any hills nearby that can be covered?" She looked at Grandpa Yang expectantly.
Ji Yunzhou held the bowl slowly and blew away the heat carefully. Hearing this, he looked at Xia Wu, then at Mr. Pu, and raised his eyebrows, as if asking if it was Mr. Pu who came up with the idea.
Old Master Yang was also taken aback. "Xiao Wu, you want to lease the mountain?"
Xia Wu nodded, "Yeah! I also want to farm and raise chickens like Master Pu. Then we can all eat chicken every day!"
"You kid!" Old Master Yang was at a loss whether to laugh or cry. His granddaughter who had just returned from the city had probably never even seen a hoe. She would probably not be able to tell the difference between wheat seedlings and leeks when she went to the fields. Isn't farming on a mountain just a childish delusion?
"You like eating chicken, so grandpa will raise some for you, just enough for us to eat."
"Hey, can the chickens you raise be the same as the ones I raise? The little girl just wants to eat the chickens I raise, you know?" Mr. Park was watching the fun and making trouble.
Old Master Yang glared at him and said, "Just try to fool me!"
Mr. Pu chuckled, "The little girl is just sitting around doing nothing in the village, so why not give her something to do? When she's busy, she won't think about anything else, don't you think?"
It seems to be true... Old Master Yang looked at Xia Wu thoughtfully. She was still young, like a flower about to bloom, but she didn't know where her future lay.
He had heard about Xia Wu's past experiences and understood that anyone who encountered such a situation would experience a period of confusion. He was older and had seen many people and things, but there weren't many who could find their way back like Xia Wu.
"Xiao Wu, if you really want to find something to do, let me teach you how to raise chickens and grow vegetables at home first, okay?"
Grandpa Yang didn't want to discourage his granddaughter's enthusiasm, so he could only encourage her in this way.
Xia Wu was also very easy to talk to. He smiled and nodded obediently: "Okay, I will definitely study hard!"
For some reason, Ji Yunzhou also laughed with her.
“What are you going to plant?”
"What can we plant now?" Xia Wu knew that plant growth has its own seasonality, especially now that winter is approaching. It must be difficult to plant anything, right?
"There are a lot of things you can grow now, like spinach, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, radishes, pumpkins, green onions, and leeks," Ji Yunzhou said experiencedly. "How about starting with the simplest ones and growing green onions and leeks?"
He looks like a rich young man, but he knows a lot about growing vegetables, which is strange.
Xia Wu thought about it and shook his head.
"I want to grow something that is both delicious and pretty. What can I grow?"
As a girl, it is inevitable that I feel a little resistant when I hear that green onions and leeks will leave a bad taste in the mouth when eaten. It is my first time to grow anything, how can I grow these?
The men at the table looked at each other and thought that Xia Wu's serious thinking was so cute that it was funny.
At this moment, Yang Hongwen, who was absorbed in eating, suddenly said, "Strawberries! Delicious!"
Xia Wu said in surprise: "I like to eat strawberries too, so let's grow strawberries!"
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