As Cheng Yue recalled the past, she walked up the dirt road beside her and unexpectedly discovered several slender Chinese toon trees.
It's springtime now, and the toon sprouts are purplish-red with a hint of green, just the right time to be tender.
What surprised Cheng Yue even more was that there was a sturdy walnut tree not far away.
She walked a few steps to the walnut tree and looked up. She saw walnut flowers hanging in clusters on the tree, similar to ears of rice. Each flower seed was very small and clustered together, looking a bit like a caterpillar.
Cheng Yue looked around and found a thick wooden stick. She knocked hard on the walnut tree, and many walnut flowers fell down.
When Chen Lin, Chen Tong, and Chen Ning heard the "bang bang bang" sound, they thought something had happened. They looked up in the direction of the sound and found that Cheng Yue was knocking on the tree.
Qi Qi ran over and asked, puzzled, "Mom, why are you knocking down the wild walnut tree?"
Cheng Yue turned around, looked at the three children, and smiled. "Of course, we eat walnut blossoms!"
"Huh? Walnut flowers are edible?" Chen Ning stared wide-eyed, her mouth agape.
Chen Lin and Chen Tong had the same expression. They only knew that wild walnuts tasted delicious, but they didn't know that walnut flowers could be eaten.
Cheng Yue smiled and said, "Of course you can eat them. Walnut flowers can be stir-fried, or used to make pies and buns. They're delicious no matter how you cook them."
Let's pick some and take them home. In a few days, Mom will make some for you to try."
Walnut blossoms have a delicate fragrance and a satisfying chewiness, offering a unique flavor.
In her past life, there was a walnut tree outside her family's yard. When it blossomed, she and her grandparents would pick the walnuts to cook.
Not only can you eat it fresh, but you can also make it into dried vegetables and store it for later consumption.
When the three children heard what Cheng Yue said, their eyes lit up, and they all squatted down to pick up walnut blossoms.
If Mom says it's delicious, then it must be delicious. After all, Mom is a very skilled cook!
Cheng Yue smiled without saying a word and continued to knock on the walnut tree. The walnut blossoms scattered all over the ground like rain, and in no time she filled a large basket.
After picking the walnut blossoms, the group prepared to go home. Cheng Yue didn't forget to break off the toon sprouts she had just seen, so she could stir-fry them with eggs when they got back.
Chen Tong frowned when he saw Cheng Yue breaking off the toon leaves. "Mom, these tree buds smell terrible, they're inedible."
Chinese toon does have a certain flavor. Besides the possibility of it not being processed properly, some people are just naturally sensitive to certain flavors and simply can't stand it.
Besides toon, there are also cilantro and houttuynia cordata, etc.
Cheng Yue understood, but to say that Chinese toon smelled terrible was a bit unfair to Chinese toon. Although it had a smell, it was definitely not smelly.
Otherwise, the ancients wouldn't have praised toon leaves as having a "fragrant taste that lasts all day long."
The only thing that smells bad is the ailanthus tree. Cheng Yue handed the toon sprouts to Chen Tong and said:
"Smell it, this Chinese toon doesn't smell bad. But there's another kind of tree, the stinking tree, which looks a lot like Chinese toon. That one does have a bad smell and you can't eat it."
Chen Tong forced himself to take a sniff, and indeed there was a strong fragrance. "Huh? It really doesn't smell bad."
Chen Lin and Chen Ning also leaned over to smell it. Chen Lin said, "Then the villagers must have made a mistake. No wonder they all say that the smell of the stinky tree buds makes them want to vomit."
Cheng Yue smiled, "Chinese toon and ailanthus look alike, so it's not surprising that people mistake one for the other. However, these two trees are still easy to distinguish; their taste, leaves, and trunks are all different..."
While explaining the science to the children, Cheng Yue picked off the remaining toon sprouts before heading down the mountain to go home.
After returning home, it was still early, so Cheng Yue first processed the walnut flowers. The petals of the walnut flowers had to be removed, and only the stems were eaten.
Cheng Yue rummaged through her spatial storage and found disposable gloves to handle the flower petals. If she didn't wear gloves, her hands would be stained black and yellow in no time.
After blanching the flower stems, soak them overnight before eating.
That evening, the family enjoyed a delicious toon and egg pancake. The three children finally became convinced that toon was indeed edible and tasted wonderful.
They set up a stall in the morning, and then went to the fields and the mountains in the afternoon. The three siblings were exhausted. After eating, they rested for a quarter of an hour, washed up, and went to bed.
After Cheng Yue finished making the braised dishes to sell the next day, she sat in the courtyard and chatted idly with Chen An.
Before long, the sound of rustling footsteps could be heard outside the courtyard. The night on the mountain was exceptionally quiet, so the footsteps were quite noticeable.
Cheng Yue and Chen An exchanged a smile and went into the house together.
Li Manying tiptoed to the gate, tilted her head and listened for a while but heard no sound, so she pushed open the wooden gate and entered the yard.
Looking into the house by the moonlight, Li Manying saw no light and breathed a sigh of relief. Feeling bolder, she walked confidently toward the kitchen.
This house was, after all, the ancestral home of the Chen family. Before the new house was built, the whole family lived here. Li Manying knew exactly where it was.
Upon entering the kitchen, Li Manying sniffed intently, looking left and right, but couldn't detect any aroma.
I walked around the kitchen, but there was no smell at all, and I didn't even see the pork offal bones that Cheng Yue had bought.
This is unbelievable! How can such a small place not be found?
Li Manying was filled with questions, and fearing that she would waste time and be discovered, she was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.
He turned around, slapped his forehead, and muttered to himself, "Oh dear, what an idiot I am! Something this valuable shouldn't be displayed outside!"
Li Manying looked at the locked wooden cabinet next to the stove, took out the thin silver hairpin from her hair, and fiddled with the lock.
Just then, a cold voice rang out from outside the kitchen, "I never knew my sister-in-law had this skill..."
"Ah, a ghost!" Li Manying was concentrating on picking the lock when she was startled by the sudden sound and almost fell to the ground.
Turning around, he saw Cheng Yue staring at him with her arms crossed. He could only pat his chest and laugh awkwardly, "Oh... it's sister-in-law. Why aren't you sleeping at night? What are you doing out here?"
Cheng Yue smiled jokingly, "Of course it's to catch thieves!"
It has to be said, Li Manying is really shameless. He sneaked into her house and had the nerve to ask her why she wasn't sleeping.
"Sister-in-law, don't joke around. There's no thief here. I just remembered that I lost some things in the ancestral home when we moved, so I came to retrieve them."
Li Manying steadied herself. So what if Cheng Yue believed she was a thief? She was Cheng Yue's sister-in-law; what could Cheng Yue do to her?
Besides, he hadn't stolen anything, so there was no need to be afraid of Cheng Yue. He might as well just find an excuse.
Cheng Yue, carrying a tattered sack, walked step by step toward Li Manying and said coldly, "Sister-in-law, if you want to take something, come during the day. If you come in the middle of the night, don't blame others for mistaking you for a thief."
Li Manying was about to speak when she saw the sack in Cheng Yue's hand, and her heart pounded in her chest. "Sister-in-law, let's talk this out..."
Cheng Yue didn't care what Li Manying said and slapped her hard across the face with all her might, making Li Manying see stars.
Before Li Manying could react, he quickly grabbed the sack and covered her up tightly, then thoughtfully kicked her behind the knee.
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