The wild roses fell on the small green hills like a fiery red cloud.
In recent years, Qin Feng has planted more than 100 locust trees and 300 elm trees on Xiaoqingshan. Now they are growing lush and tall. The treetops cover the land under the trees like giant umbrellas. The soil quality is getting better year by year, and the water storage function of the trees has been fully utilized, forming a virtuous circle on Xiaoqingshan.
Those "stubborn elements" were no longer causing any trouble. Thus, the soil improvement program for sand fixation and grass cultivation on Xiaoqing Mountain had been successful. Humans had finally triumphed over desertification.
The soil of Xiaoqingshan was perfectly suitable for growing crops or valuable herbs, but once the soil improved, bitter beans also began to grow luxuriantly. They ignored the presence of vegetables, roses, or even large trees, and simply stretched their branches upward.
Qin Feng discussed with his family that they had to pull out all the bitter beans, otherwise they would squeeze out the main crops in the field and rob them of water, nutrients and sunlight.
When everyone heard that they had to uproot all the bitter beans in order to "eradicate the problem completely" and prevent them from becoming a disaster and robbing nutrients from trees and crops, they all fell silent. They thought back then, that the bitter beans were the real main force and new force on these two barren sandy mountains, and they played an indisputable role and made indelible contributions to the improvement of Xiaoqingshan.
Qin Muchun felt uncomfortable and muttered, "Huh, humans just get tired of the old and love the new."
For more than ten days, Qin Feng's family was busy harvesting beans. Qin Feng and Qin Muxiao were in the front, cutting the upper half of the bitter beans. The cut bitter bean stalks were chopped up and buried in the potato and sweet potato fields, enriching the potatoes and sweet potatoes with fertilizer and ensuring their health. Li Shuwan and the other children pulled up the bitter beans by the roots by hand, preparing to transplant them to Daqing Mountain.
A dozen days later, I saw the cleaned up Xiaoqingshan woods, and felt the air was flowing and the sun was shining brightly.
Everyone has been working hard these days and is a little tired, so Qin Feng asked everyone to take a two-day break. Just after breakfast, everyone went into the house to rest for a while, and then they heard Zhou Jinyan's signature voice calling Ke'er.
"Ke'er, I'm here. Look what I brought you today. You will definitely like it." Zhou Jinyan ran into the yard happily and shouted under the tree.
Qin Muchun came out first. Seeing Zhou Jinyan carrying a basket, he looked up at the sky speechlessly. "What did you bring today to appease my sister, my dear sister?"
As he was about to take the basket, Zhou Jinyan turned around to avoid his hand and shouted towards Ke'er's room, "Ke'er, Ke'er, come out quickly."
"Come on, Brother Jinyan, what goodies did you bring me today? Is it something delicious or fun?"
"Clack, clack" everyone opened the door and walked into the yard, sitting at the table under the big tree to watch the fun.
When Zhou Jinyan saw Ke'er coming out, he handed the basket to her and said, "Dangdangdangdang. Guess what this is. It's delicious. Very delicious."
Qin Muchun retorted, "Is it delicious with candy? It's delicious. Humph, you're just bragging."
“It’s really delicious, look.”
Everyone gathered around to take a look. They didn't recognize him and looked at Zhou Jinyan in confusion.
"Is this edible? Don't make my dear sister sick." Qin Muchun picked one up and took a look.
Ke'er also picked one up and looked at it. "There was a basket full of them, all different sizes, with pointed ends and an oval belly in the middle. Some looked longer, while others looked shorter. They had thick skin and were a light green."
Ke'er said, "They are so cute." When she squeezed them with her hands, milky white juice came out like milk.
"Put it in your mouth and try it. It's delicious." Zhou Jinyan urged.
Ke'er threw one into her mouth and chewed it. Her mouth was full of sweetness and she nodded. She kept picking up one and throwing it into her mouth. "Hmm, delicious, delicious."
Seeing Ke'er eating happily, everyone picked up the green corner and started eating.
Qin Muzhou began his botanical education session. "This plant called 'Goat's Milk Horn' is truly delightful. You'll find it in bushes, in farmland beside the road, and everywhere in between. It's quite undemanding of its growing environment. Occasionally, you'll find dozens of these sweet, oval-shaped plants growing between rocks, dangling in the wind. Both the skin and seeds of the plants are used medicinally to moisten the lungs, relieve coughs, and reduce phlegm."
Qin Muzhou picked up a large, round one, tore it open, and removed the milky white, cotton-like pulp. He said to everyone, "The one you're looking at is already old and not very tasty. But it's fun."
Qin Muzhou held up a goat's milk horn, the tip of which was milky white, with each strand of milky white silk tufted on top, carrying a dark brown seed. Qin Muzhou gently spread his hands, and the milky white dandelions fluttered around the yard.
Qin Muchun immediately began to look for older goat milk horns. He imitated Qin Muzhou's behavior and released the cotton-like flesh of the goat milk horns, chasing them and laughing, having a lot of fun.
Zhou Jinyan said to Li Shuwan, "Aunt Shuwan, this can be used to cook dishes. It's delicious. Uncle Jian Yue cooked a large plate of it yesterday, and I ate it all."
Li Shuwan stepped forward, touched his head, and said gently, "Jinyan, from now on, when you find something to eat, eat it yourself and give it to grandpa. Ke'er and the others will find it themselves, and you will have to bring it to me when you find it. It's so hard work. Look at your sweat, wipe it off." As she spoke, she used a towel to wipe the sweat from Zhou Jinyan's forehead. Zhou Jinyan raised his face and enjoyed the care and warmth of his mother. If mom were still alive, would she be as gentle and warm as this, and would she love me as much as this? Mom, Dad, I miss you so much.
Lowering his head to hide his tears from the distance, Zhou Jinyan said to Li Shuwan, "Thank you, Auntie. I'm leaving." After that, he ran out of the yard.
Qin Feng stood beside Li Shuwan and sighed softly, "Alas, poor child, we will pay more attention to her and love her in the future."
On this day, the whole family will go to Xiaoqing Mountain to plant the meteor melons and watermelon vines.
The village chief had seen this method during Qin Feng's first year of planting melons when he went up the mountain. He explained that the main purpose of forking the melon vines was to encourage them to grow only on the main vine, which would grow faster and longer and bear fruit earlier, resulting in earlier, larger, and better-quality melons. A teacher at the county agricultural school had also suggested this, so Qin Feng had persisted in doing so.
The melons picked in a day were juicy and green, and Li Shuwan gathered a basketful of them to fry at home. The rest were taken to the chicken coop in the sedge fields and chopped up to feed the chickens. This task took her five or six days to complete.
Ke'er took a break and went to the sunflower field to see how the sunflowers were doing. Every year, the field was covered with composted chicken manure, so there was no rotation. Every year, a field of sunflowers grew here. In June, the flower heads gradually opened, their golden petals filled with tender, unripe sunflower seeds. By early July, the entire hillside was covered in golden sunflowers. In the morning, they faced the rising sun, and at noon, they turned their heads to look at the midday sun. It truly lived up to its name, "sunflower."
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