CH 82.2

When the steamed buns were finished steaming, even if it was not time for lunch, the whole family would have a meal while taking advantage of the hot and fresh steamed buns.

Machicai was chewy, mixed it with meat and tofu, it was very delicious, which was much more delicious than the pure wild vegetable buns that Lu Gu had eaten before.

Eggplant steamed buns were also delicious, because when they ate eggplant steamed buns here in summer, they always put green chili peppers. It was only delicious when there was a spicy taste. Wei Lanxiang also brought a bowl of chili oil to put in the steamed buns.

Eating and drinking at home, the morning passed.

The sun came out but it was still not very warm. The clouds drifted across the sky to cover the sun from time to time. It was not snowing today, Shen Xuanqing had nothing to do, so he carried a bamboo basket and went up the mountain to pick up the fruits of the claw tree (

木 拐 爪). Some people in the town call these jujubes, which were sweeter after snowfall, so it was time to pick them up.

[木 拐 爪 Hovenia dulcis is used as medicine, which has high medicinal value and economic value. It has a cooling and diuretic effect when used as medicine]

"Then you all go, I'll be at home with your sister-in-law." Wei Lanxiang added two sticks of firewood to the clay stove. It was cold and they had to drink hot tea, you could  drink when you want to drink, otherwise you would be very thirsty if you only boiled water when you were really thirsty.

Shen Xuanqing , Lu Gu and Shen Yan went up the mountain together, the snow on the mountain was still there, there was a claw tree in front of the mountain, it was not too far away from home, so Shen Xuanqing didn't let the dog follow.

After they left, Shen Yaoqing went out for a walk. He was the eldest son, and he would want to inquire about everything in the village. The Zhang family was still in chaos. It was not good to go in and inquire at this time, so he went to Quanzi's house.

Shen Xuanqing followed the memory to find the claw tree. A lot of the fruits fell on the ground, including snow and hay. When the fruit was ripe, it would fall off by itself. Large and small strings were picked up by pinching the twigs and put it into the bamboo basket.

The claw fruits looked like wood, but they were also a kind of fruit. They must be ripe to have sweet taste, otherwise they would be astringent. The claw tree was too tall to climb, and there were mostly unripe fruits on the tree, so there was no need to use a hook to reach it, just picked up the ones on the ground.

Shen Yan broke off some twigs to taste, and said: "Brother Guzi, it's quite sweet, we can eat it when we go back and wash it."

Lu Gu picked up the claw fruits in the snow, his fingers was stiff from the cold. He also tasted it, and it was really crunchy and sweet. He remembered that this fruit could be used to make wine.

It was good to be able to eat sweet fruits in winter. The three of them worked hard to pick them up in the snow. Shen Xuanqing had been running on the mountains since he was a child. He knew where there were claw trees. The three of them walked on the mountains to collect the claw fruits for nearly an hour, and their bamboo basket was full.

There were a lot of claw fruits on the tree that still unripe, and when the fruits were ripe, they could come to pick them up again at that time. If they could 't finish eating them at home, they could  sell them, so when they went down the mountain they met the villagers who also wanted to pick the claw fruits.

When they came out, they only carried a bamboo basket on the back, and they didn’t pick anymore when the bamboo basket was full. Besides, there were not only two or three claw trees on the mountain, but there were also other places if you went around.

After arriving at home, both Lu Gu and Shen Yan put their hands on Tang pozi to keep warm, thinking that it was really good and warm to have this thing.

Wei Lanxiang and Ji Qiuyue took the scissors and cut off the black and moldy parts of the claw fruits, and put the rest into the bamboo plaque. It was not easy to touch the water in this winter. So they washed it and dried it. If you wanted to eat it, you could  eat it, and it could  be eaten directly without washing.

"Pick the claw fruits up two more times, we will steam and dry them, after that soak them with some wine, so this year we can drink the sweet wine. If there is more, we can boil it into syrup. At that time, we will make hair cakes (

发糕) and curd cheese. It’s also a rarity to entertain the guests during the New Year. "Wei Lanxiang said while cutting the claw fruits.

Ji Qiuyue responded: "This is good. If there is a lot of syrup, when we eat tianwogen, we don't need to dip it in honey. We can dip it in the syrup."

The sweetness of tianwogen was too weak. The honey Shen Xuanqing found this year was not sold. Honey was precious after all. Sometimes she couldn’t bear to eat it, but with the syrup from the claw fruits, she didn’t need to be so frugal.