Traveling through the mountains and farming

Chapter 145 Early Winter Plum Blossoms

In the main hall of Lin Wan's house, everyone sat together to eat lunch.

"Well, this scrambled eggs with tomatoes tastes better than eating them raw." Doctor Zhong said with a smile.

When Lin Wan went to Aunt Li's house, the two siblings washed two tomatoes and sent them to Lin Jing and Doctor Zhong.

The brother and sister shared one, and the remaining three tomatoes were washed and placed in a bowl when they entered the door.

When Lin Wan learned about this before cooking, she kept two of them to make scrambled eggs with tomatoes for lunch, and shared the other three.

She thought the tomatoes tasted very good and were sweeter than those bought in modern supermarkets.

Maybe the soil here is fertile, or rich in certain trace elements like the soil at her grandmother's home, so it is easy to grow vegetables with higher yields and better quality than in other places.

Lin Wan couldn't help but wonder if there were iron mines here. Her grandmother's home had iron mines and many bamboo forests, and the vegetation was similar to that here.

The soil there is very suitable for growing vegetables. The yields of various vegetables are higher and the sizes are larger than those grown in other places. They once speculated that this might be related, but they have not done any soil testing, so they can't be sure.

She found that the land here was in the same condition. It seems that she can go and explore it when she has the chance in the future.

Maybe we can find iron ore or something like that.

"Sister, I like to eat tomatoes too. I will take a day off tomorrow and I will help you pull weeds and catch insects in the vegetable garden." Lin Jing said.

He now has two fixed days of free rest on the first and fifteenth of every month.

The rest depends on Dr. Zhong’s mood. Sometimes he would give Lin Jing half a day or a whole day off on a whim.

Lin Wan smiled and said, "It's a good thing that Xiao Jing has this intention, but your sister Xiao Ke has taken care of the vegetable garden so that there is not a single weed. I guess there is not much you can do to help, but you can do something else for Sister Xiao Ke to thank her for her hard work so that we can eat such delicious tomatoes."

Lin Jing turned to look at Li Ke and asked sincerely: "Sister Xiaoke, is there anything I can do for you?"

Li Ke stopped eating, tilted his head and thought for a while: "I don't know either. I don't lack anything now."

Lin Jing was a little anxious: "Sister Xiaoke, please think about it carefully."

Li Ke looked at Lin Jing's anxious look and couldn't help laughing: "Okay, okay, let's go to the mountain to pick some beautiful wild flowers. I want to put them in a vase."

Now their family often picks some flowers when they go out and brings them back to put in a vase. It has become a habit.

When Lin Jing heard this, he immediately shook his head and said, "Sister Xiaoke, it's winter now, there aren't many wild flowers."

"A few days ago, I heard Brother Chongshan say that he saw plum blossoms that had not yet bloomed, and he picked a few branches and brought them back for his cousin Fang Yun." Li Ke said excitedly.

"How do you know so much about what's going on between them?" Lin Wan joked with a smile.

At the same time, I was wondering, are there plum blossoms now, not long after winter begins?

She always thought that the fragrance of plum blossoms came from the bitter cold, and that plum blossoms would only bloom when it was extremely cold or snowing.

"Hehe, I heard from Sister Li Mei that Brother Chongshan brought flowers to Sister Fang Yun and forgot to bring flowers to her, his sister. But I know Sister Li Mei is just complaining, she is happy to see her brother loving her sister-in-law." Li Ke answered mischievously.

She continued, "But they haven't bloomed yet. They are just buds, but now is not the time for plum blossoms to truly bloom."

Lin Wan thought she could pick some and try making plum wine and plum soup cakes.

She had been thinking about making rice wine when the weather got cooler. She still had some glutinous rice at home and had asked He Lizheng's family for some koji. Now she had all the ingredients and she had time.

Wait until later when the plum blossoms are in full bloom, and then make plum blossom hydrosol, plum blossom perfume and ointment.

She arranged the plum blossoms on the mountain in detail, "Okay, after dinner, let's ask our cousin Chongshan where he picked the plum blossoms, and then we can pick some to make some new food."

"New food, sister-in-law, you want to use plum blossoms to make new food, that's great!" Li Ke clapped his hands happily.

"Yeah, let's go trap pheasants by the way."

Li Chongle continued, "We now have ten pheasants. But the more the better. Sister-in-law, right?"

This is what my sister-in-law always says, the more meaning the better.

When they go out, they usually set up traps. For the pheasants that they can't finish eating, they cut off their flight feathers and tie them up with hemp ropes to raise them for a while. With the five little pheasants they had before, there are now ten chickens in the chicken coop at home.

Thanks to catching a few adult pheasants, their family gradually had eggs to eat.

"Yes, the more the better!" Lin Wan agreed with a smile.

"We can ask Brother Chongshan to go with us. I just saw him at noon and he said he would go out in the afternoon. Let's go early and ask him if it's on our way." Li Ke said anxiously.

This way they don't have to find someone to travel with.

The bad thing about being deep in the mountains is that you can't just leave whenever you want.

Everyone finished their meal quickly. Lin Wan and Li Ke took some sweet and sour biscuits and went to find Li Chongshan. They had given sweet and sour biscuits to Fang Yun several times before, and after she got older, she didn't have morning sickness again.

Arriving at Li Chongshan's house, Fang Yun warmly pulled Lin Wan to sit down, "Sister Wan, you came just in time, what else did you bring?"

Li Chongshan had already brought the water over and handed it to Lin Wan.

Lin Wan took the water and said, "You look much better recently. Is the baby in your belly bothering you?"

"I haven't vomited for a long time. I just feel hungry easily now. Your cousin Chongshan often goes out to catch some pheasants and rabbits for me to nourish my body." Fang Yun replied with a smile.

After these few months of contact, Lin Wan discovered that the men of the Li family all had good character. At least they were not as chauvinistic as she had imagined under the ancient traditional thinking. They were very good to their wives and always thought about their family members in everything they did.

Li Chongshan's family is no exception. Fang Yun is well taken care of and has a rosy complexion. The couple has a good relationship.

After chatting for a while, Lin Wan explained her purpose and Li Chongshan readily agreed.

"Haha, I also need to go over there to dig some winter bamboo shoots and chop firewood. Let's go together."

Recently, every household living in the caves has been preparing for the winter, and gradually began to prepare firewood for the winter and store more food.

"Okay, then let's chop some firewood as well," said Lin Wan.

Li Chongshan hurriedly stopped them, saying, "Don't do that. Uncle Li has already told us that we other families will help you with the firewood."

Since arriving at the secluded cave, everyone has taken into consideration that Lin Wan's family has no adult males, so whenever they chop wood, they help them prepare enough firewood.

"It's just a convenience. I'll go with you anyway." Lin Wan said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll go call Brother Chonghai, he also said he wants to come together, we'll set off in a moment."

After Li Chongshan finished speaking, he turned around and called for help. He thought that at worst he and Brother Chonghai could just help carry more firewood.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lin Wan called Li Ke to go home to get their things and prepare to leave.