After finishing the locust flowers Chen Guizhi gave her, Fang Qiao went to Heshan with Chen Guizhi on a Sunday.
The pharmaceutical factory was close to Heshan; it only took about twenty minutes to cycle into the mountains. Fang Qiao's family didn't have bicycles, but Chen Guizhi's family did. So in the end, she borrowed Chen Guizhi's bicycle.
Chen Guizhi rode the bicycle in front, while Fang Qiao sat on the back seat, carrying tools from Chen Guizhi's family, since they didn't have a sickle.
This was Fang Qiao's first time entering Heshan. Heshan was still undeveloped, and the mountain was covered with original trees and vegetation.
The slope at the foot of the mountain wasn't steep, and a bicycle could be pushed up. Fang Qiao saw a lot of wild scallions. Wild scallions tasted good, so Fang Qiao couldn't resist picking a few and putting them in her basket.
After walking for another five or six minutes, the two saw several locust trees.
The locust flowers taste good, so people from all around come to Heshan to pick them. The lower branches are almost all picked clean, leaving only a few clusters on the upper branches.
Chen Guizhi raised her sickle and gestured, then shook her head at Fang Qiao: "No, it's too high. We can't reach these two trees. Let's walk a little further."
Fang Qiao could climb trees, but there was no need. She should walk forward a bit and make sure there weren't any easy hooks.
She nodded: "Let's go, let's take another look."
Fang Qiao and Chen Guizhi walked a little further, and the locust tree they encountered was just like the two they had encountered before; all the flower branches on the ground had been hooked off.
Further on, the terrain becomes quite steep, making it impossible for bicycles to go up.
Fang Qiao simply rolled up her sleeves: "I'll climb the tree and hook it."
"It's too high. What if you fall and don't reach the locust flowers?" Chen Guizhi couldn't climb trees and was a little scared looking at the height above her head.
"It's okay, I'll be careful." Fang Qiao looked around and found a locust tree that wasn't too tall. She patted the trunk to make sure it wasn't wobbling or tilting, then hugged the trunk with both hands, pushed off with all her might, and climbed up the tree in no time.
"Wow!" Chen Guizhi exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise. "Xiao Qiao, you're so good at climbing trees! I didn't even see how you got up there."
"No problem, I used to climb this all the time." Fang Qiao smiled and held out his hand to Chen Guizhi: "Sister-in-law Guizhi, hand me the sickle, I'll hook it."
"Okay, here you go."
Chen Guizhi turned the sickle over and handed the handle towards Fang Qiao to avoid injuring her hand when she received it.
Fang Qiao caught the scissors smoothly, stepped on the tree branch, and skillfully used the sickle to cut down the branches with more densely blooming flowers.
The locust blossoms fell to the ground with a rustling sound. Fang Qiao hooked all the remaining blossoms on the tree, threw the sickle down, and then jumped down from the tree.
After climbing down the tree, she and Chen Guizhi gathered all the locust flower petals into a bamboo basket before heading off to find a second tree.
As usual, Fang Qiao climbed the tree first, and Chen Guizhi handed her a sickle, but Fang Qiao did not reach out to take it. Instead, she kept looking into the distance.
"Xiao Qiao? What's wrong?" Chen Guizhi asked, puzzled.
After Fang Qiao cultivated immortality, her hearing and eyesight improved, allowing her to easily see distances she couldn't see before. In addition, now that she has climbed up the locust tree, she can see even further from her higher vantage point.
Fang Qiao squinted and said uncertainly, "I think I saw someone on the ridge ahead looking towards our pharmaceutical factory with binoculars."
"The ridge ahead?" Chen Guizhi turned her head to look, but couldn't see anything.
She said uncertainly, "It's so far, at least two miles apart. Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
"Maybe." Fang Qiao looked again, but the person was no longer visible.
She didn't pay any attention, reached out and took the sickle, and continued to hook locust branches.
Fang Qiao picked branches with abundant locust blossoms; the locust blossoms from just two trees were enough for the two of them to return home laden with fruit.
On the way back, Fang Qiao took the same route and found a few wild strawberries and a watermelon vine in the dense grass.
The strawberries are ripe and ready to be picked, but the watermelon vines have only just started producing small melons, about the size of glass beads, and are still a long way from growing and ripening.
Fang Qiao had no choice but to make a mark and plan to come back in a few days.
After descending the mountain, the two rode their bicycles home to their family compound.
As usual, there are guards standing guard outside the gate of the family compound. However, there used to be only one, but today there are two, and the guards are very strict. Everyone has to register to enter or leave.
Fang Qiao found it strange. After registering and going inside, she asked Chen Guizhi, "Sister-in-law, why is it suddenly so strict about getting in and out? Has it been like this before?"
"Is May Day coming soon?" Chen Guizhi asked uncertainly.
However, she didn't mind and comforted Fang Qiao, saying, "Don't worry, this happens often at the factory, at least two or three times a year. You'll get used to it."
"All right."
It seemed that Fang Qiao wouldn't get any information from Chen Guizhi, so she decided to go back and ask Cheng Baidong.
Back home, Fang Qiao picked the locust flowers she had just picked from the mountain, cleaned off the leaves, washed them, and drained them.
Just then, Sweetie came running back from outside, panting, and leaned against her side.
Fang Qiao glanced at her flushed cheeks and steaming hair, and said to her, "Look how hot you are, sit down and rest."
"Okay." Sweetie obediently moved a chair and sat down next to Fang Qiao.
While mixing the batter, Fang Qiao asked, "Where did you go to play?"
"Sister Tingting took me to play at the elementary school. There are horizontal bars and swings there." Tiantian told Fang Qiao everything that had happened that morning in one go: "I also ran into Aunt Li at the entrance of the preschool class. She bought me an ice pop and insisted on giving it to me, but I was afraid that it would give me diarrhea, so I didn't take it."
Li Dan is still working in the preschool class, but after that incident, she was transferred to the logistics department to do cleaning and was no longer a teacher.
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
