Spring scenery in the fields

Chapter 103: Finding Wild Vegetables in the Mountain Village

"Now that Shen Liang is back, let's invite him over. Uncle Zhuan has rarely visited other people's homes since he broke his leg, and Aunt Miao won't come either."

He originally thought that if Aunt Miao and Uncle Zhuan didn't come, he would buy half a pound of pork and send it over.

Shen Liang is here, and I want to have a good chat with him.

Ji Wenhe counted on his fingers: "There are four of us in our family, Uncle Da Nian, Aunt Lan and Xiao Ya, Shen Liang, and the head of the village. There are nine of us. How many dishes should we cook?"

It’s not enough to just cook wild vegetables, you have to go to the street and buy some vegetables.

"Six dishes," he replied.

"Are six dishes enough? Do you want to buy some wine?"

"Buy, buy cheap ones and cook more dishes."

"Row."

After a while, Shen Rongshan said, "Wen He, I won't go with them tomorrow. I'll go with you to look for wild vegetables and bring back some for the meat."

"No, you go with them, Aunt Lan, Xiaoya, and a few other aunts. There are a lot of us together."

They discussed it and decided to go farther away. There were no villages in some places, so there would be fewer people around and there should be more wild vegetables.

"By the way, leave a basket for me."

I don’t know if I can find spring bamboo shoots. They should be scarce now.

"Okay." Shen Rongshan responded with a smile and covered her with a blanket. "Go to sleep."

Ji Wenhe yawned, turned sideways to face him and closed his eyes.

I used to have poor sleep, and it was common for me to stay up until eleven or twelve o'clock, and sometimes I would not go to bed until two or three o'clock.

After coming here, perhaps due to physical reasons, I go to bed very early and rarely dream at night, sleeping soundly until dawn.

No dreams, no getting up at night, enough sleep, and a particularly comfortable feeling when I open my eyes.

Full of energy.

Ji Wenhe stretched lazily. The people around him had already gotten up. Listening to the voices in the yard, they got dressed and got up.

When he got outside, he looked at the two twins standing at the kitchen door in confusion: "Why haven't you left yet? Aren't you going?"

"Go." Shen Yuanshan washed his hands. "I was just about to leave. I just finished eating."

Shen Rongshan came out of the kitchen: "Wen He, the rice is in the pot. We are leaving and will be back early in the afternoon."

"Well, be careful on the road."

Ji Wenhe waved his hand, and the two men went down the mountain.

After eating, they carried the basket, took the sickle, locked the door, and gathered at Lan Qiuhua's house.

She, Aunt Lan, Shen Suya, Aunt Miao, Aunt Wang, and Aunt Zhang, a total of six people, all carried baskets and held sickles.

"Wen He, you're here too. I just saw Rong Shan and the others leaving the village. They must be almost sold out."

Lan Qiuhua smiled and took over the conversation: "No, there are plenty, let's go."

Several people nodded and walked out of the mountain.

After leaving the village, Ji Wenhe looked to both sides and said, "Let's go west, past Zhangjia Village, and head towards the town. There are fewer villages there."

"Okay." Wang Erfeng nodded, "Let's go all the way back, then walk the other way and keep looking for the way back."

Miao Zhaodi and Zhang Qiu'e responded.

Six people were chatting while looking for wild vegetables.

"Have you heard that the two sons of the head of the village are going to work in the restaurant in town? It's a big restaurant, and the wages are very high."

Lan Qiuhua asked: "Erfeng, who told you that?"

"Who else? Guilan."

Ji Wenhe was very curious about where she got all that information from: "Aunt Wang, how did Aunt Niu know about it? Did she go and ask?"

"I don't know about that. Anyway, I heard what she said, and it doesn't sound like a lie."

"I've heard her say that, too." Zhang Qiu'e said, "On the day Liuyun returned home, the village head should have asked her husband about it."

Ji Wenhe whispered, "I actually mentioned it on the day I returned home."

Wang Erfeng groaned twice, and said with envy: "In the future, the head of the village and his family may go to the town."

Miao Zhaodi shook her head: "It's hard to say. The land is still there, and there is also a residential plot. Even if there is a house in the town, the head of the village will not be willing to give up the land and house in the village."

Zhang Qiu'e echoed: "If the village chief leaves, who will be the village chief in our village? The village chief will definitely not give up the position of village chief to others."

"Although the position of village head is not high, it is still an official and can make a lot of money. If it were you, would you be willing to give it up?"

The three shook their heads.

Ji Wenhe walked on the side and listened. At first everyone stayed together, but gradually, they began to disperse.

Looking behind me, the huge village stretches as far as the eye can see, with villages adjacent to each other.

There are woods on both sides of the road, and the leaves sway in the breeze.

At this time, Shen Suya's voice came from deep in the woods: "Mom, there are spring bamboo shoots here, come quickly."

"Hey, here I come." Lan Qiuhua stood up and waved to her, "Wen He, let's go and take a look."

The other three had already walked to the front and were squatting on the ground digging wild vegetables.

"What a pity! Many bamboo shoots are inedible. Why doesn't anyone come to dig them up?"

The bamboo has grown very tall, it is already old.

Shen Suya looked regretful and said, "What a waste! I think there are still many tender ones inside. Take them all away."

Ji Wenhe took a quick glance and realized that not much could be dug out, so it would be good enough if he could stir-fry one dish.

"There's a river over there." Lan Qiuhua pointed to the left front, "Let's go to the river and take a look later."

April and May are the months with the most wild vegetables. Ji Wenhe followed them and got to know a lot of wild vegetables.

I used to think it was a weed, but now I know it’s actually edible.

For example, Purslane is called five-element grass here, bitter chrysanthemum is called dog-tooth grass, and alfalfa is loved by rabbits and can be eaten by humans as well.

There are also mugwort, bracken, dandelion, shepherd's purse, wild broom, wild onion, and wild leek, some of which are old and cannot be eaten.

"Aunt Lan, I found water celery."

Ji Wenhe stretched out his sickle, pulled aside the weeds, revealing the wild celery inside.

"There are too many weeds and there is water underneath. It's hard to get in. You have to take off your shoes."

Lan Qiuhua put down the basket and hurriedly called her back: "Wen He, you come up and I'll go down. Don't get your shoes wet."

They were wearing hemp shoes, so if they got muddy, it was okay, they could just rinse them off in the water.

Ji Wenhe walked up the bank: "It's okay, I took off my shoes."

"Sister-in-law, don't go down there. There are leeches in there that will bite your legs and suck your blood."

Lan Qiuhua pulled the person up, took off her shoes, and told her: "Don't go down, I'll go."

"What's there to be afraid of leeches? If they bite your legs, just slap them and they'll fall off."

Shen Suya frowned, her eyes full of disdain: "There are a lot of them in the paddy fields. If they suck your blood, your wound will grow a lump."

"I'm afraid of leeches." Ji Wenhe shuddered. "They're soft and look like snakes. I'm afraid of both."

The thought of it made her sick, she didn't like mollusks, let alone an earthworm.

Leeches are called leeches in her place, and she was bitten by one when she was a child.

There was a little boy from the same village who was burned with a lighter, but he survived and was very resilient.

Ji Wenhe squatted on the shore, saying in a conflicted tone, "Aunt Lan, I'm not going down."

If there were no leeches, she would have jumped into the water without hesitation.

Lan Qiuhua was cutting wild celery: "Hey, you guys wait up there."

"Oh, you found wild celery."

Wang Erfeng came back carrying a basket full of wild vegetables, and the other two followed behind her.