C51

Lunch was a bit more urgent. The wooden ears on the mountain were dried in the sun, soaked in water, washed clean, and then picked two green peppers from the yard. With some fried pork, they cooked a dish.

The food was not much, but it was delicious and everyone ate until they were full. After handing over the task of washing the dishes to Qiuju, the lady took her bag and sat on the oxcart with Ye Xuan towards the county city.

In the morning, the little girl had just milked the big buffalo, and the two calves at home were already big enough to eat something else.

The afternoon sun was extremely hot. The lady didn't have an umbrella and only had a straw rain cape. So, the lady took the cape and put it on her head. With the shade, she felt much better.

The one who called her was Sis Hongmei, who carried a basket in her arms and carried a blue cloth bag on her back. While wiping her sweat, she said, "Mistress, Mistress, can you please let me ride on the ox-cart?" "I was in a hurry to go to my parents' house to take a look. As soon as I came back from work, I heard from Daqing that his oxcart had been borrowed by you guys. I couldn't help but to brazenly ask about it."

The buffalo still had some milk, so the pampered lady did not want to tire it out too much. Originally, riding on the ox-cart alone would have been alright, but with the addition of Sister-in-law Hongmei, it might have been a little tiring. However, she didn't hit a smiling person. The cute girl thought that once she was tired, she would come down and rest.

"Come up, we're all from the same village, it's not troublesome at all." The lady took the basket from her hand and pulled her up.

"Sigh, I really have no other way. Every year, I have to look for some customers to help me collect them. When my family keeps food, I'll give them some money to eat. I thought I had some eggs saved up, so when I send them over, it'll be a dish. "

She hammered at her stiff legs and carefully placed the eggs in her bosom. The oxcart jolted, but if it broke, she wouldn't be able to let it go.

Thus, the mistress began to chat with her, asking her where her mother lived and how far it was from her home.

Hongmei told her that her parents lived in the Apricot Forest and there were probably more than 20 families there. Earlier, they had fled to that place to live, but in the end, there were always children who were in bad health.

However, that thought was good enough if they didn't starve to death. With so many apricots starving to death, there were still dozens of families living there. This was the case for Hong Mei's family.

The past few years had been much better. The children in the family had all gotten married, and Hongmei's brother was working in the county. Only the two of them were left standing on the two acres of land, unwilling to leave.

Hong Mei was a talkative person, so she only asked a few questions. She nearly told him everything about her family, but this time, she was talking about her sister-in-law. She couldn't control the money, and she even pestered her brother to not let him go home.

She talked for a long time, but the little girl was actually very interested in the apricot she was talking about. An old man said, "Peach nurtures people, pears harm people, and a dead person is buried under the apricot." It was precisely because the apricots were still immature that they were so sour. If someone with a hot body then ate them they were more likely to get sick. The mortality rate of sickness in this era was too high, thus there was this saying. This was probably the reason why the people living in the Apricot Forest said that feng shui was not good.

Now was the time for the apricot fruit to mature, and he didn't know what kind of apricot fruit the apricot was. If it was good, then he could study it and see if he could make some jam.

Since the apricot forest wasn't too far away, the little girl had Ye Xuan turn a corner and unsteadily walk towards the apricot forest along a small mountain road. The mountain road was deep in the mountains, and even if it was opened by the predecessors, the sunlight would be blocked upon entering, causing birds to fly about wherever the ox-cart passed.

After walking for a while, the road ahead became much smoother. As they rounded the last tree, the first thing they saw was a mountain full of red apricots. Some of them were hidden in the leaves, like big girls.

The little girl was drooling. She stood up from the cart and picked a red apricot. She wiped it on her sleeve and took a bite. The sweet and sour taste spread across her tongue.

The apricots were not large, but the fruit cores were relatively small. These apricots, which had not been scientifically cultivated, had the most primitive flavor.

Every year, when the apricots were ripe, the people in the apricot forest would pick the apricots and sell them at the market. Unfortunately, apricots couldn't be eaten too much, and no matter how much people liked to eat, they wouldn't buy too many apricots. After the apricot trees matured, their apricots would fall to the ground, rotting and turning into mud. Although the land here was fertile, it was mostly mountainous, and they wouldn't be able to harvest much food.

These were only apricots in their eyes, but in the eyes of a lady, they were money!

When they arrived at Hong Mei's house, her parents also planted apricot trees, so it seemed that the apricots outside were not as red as the ones outside. The lady shamelessly asked Hong Mei to pick a basket for her, but she refused to give her money.

The little girl thanked him, then carried a basket of apricots and sat on the oxcart. Ye Xuan drove the carriage away.

"Is that a couple?" Hong Mei asked as she watched the couple walk away.

"Of course not. That girl is our village's daughter. Her husband is dead, and Ye Xuan is her neighbor. He's so stunned that he's like a log. How could they be a couple?" Hong Mei said casually.

The little girl picked out the reddest apricot, wiped it with a handkerchief, and passed it to Ye Xuan. "I'll give you one to taste and eat."

Ye Xuan didn't hold back and took a bite from his little sister's hand. His fingers were pink and white, even more attractive than apricots.

"How about some food?"

"Not bad, but it's still not cooked enough. It's still a little sour."

Ye Xuan gulped down the apricot fruit. He couldn't help but drool. The root that he dropped when he was young was so sour that he couldn't stop himself from drooling.

The little girl ate two before stopping. She took off her apricots to cover them, afraid that the sun would cause them to wilt.

When they arrived at the county, the girl went to Joe's restaurant first. She told him about the noon incident, and he repeatedly supported her.

"If you want to hold the Feast of the Songs, I have an idea." The one who spoke was Second Uncle Qiao Ke. Usually, he was the one who was studying the dishes of the lady.

"Second Uncle is experienced and knowledgeable. Please tell me about it first."

"I've seen those scholars making a feast back in Yangzhou City. Not many people eat the food at the banquet, just look at how it is. If we use these dishes to eat the food, we won't be able to get up even if we taste it!" Second Uncle Qiao rubbed his belly. He had been studying the dishes of the lady quite a bit these past few days. Each of the dishes were incomparably delicious, but they were also ordinary dishes. How could they be used as a feast?

The lady laughed, "Second Uncle, you said it yourself, this banquet is just for show, singing poems and making fun is the truth. But those scholars and sluts always eat, our Qiao family's restaurant's food is for them to capture their hearts, to properly write poems to praise us, to make us famous!"

"Girl, do you think those scholars will really write poems for our family's dishes?" Qiao Ke was somewhat happy. If it was written on paper by a scholar, then after a hundred years, their Qiao Family Restaurant would have its name recorded in history.

"Of course." Just by saying that in her previous life, there were countless delicacies nominated by the scoundrels amongst the literati. After being exiled, she missed her hometown's fish, after going out to be an official, she missed her hometown's delicacy.

Being fond of delicious food was human nature. If it wasn't for eating, how could humans improve?

Joko was overjoyed. He immediately swore that she would definitely study the recipe and write a poem about it in the restaurant on September 9.

At first, she wanted to do this on her own, but in her village, there was not as much traffic as in the county. Thinking about it, it was more reliable that Qiao Ke who ran a restaurant in the county.

Help me hang up a sign in front of the restaurant and help me find some plants to eat." Help me hang up a sign in front of the restaurant and help me find some plants to eat.