Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 232 Vegetables are also fruits

Back at the educated youth settlement, it was not yet 9:30. Chen Fan first parked the cart under the wall, letting the mare go back to the stable by herself, and then strode to the kitchen.

nobody?
He rolled his eyes slightly, twitched his ears, and heard some noise in the backyard.

Then I went to the backyard and saw four girls turning over the soil in the vegetable garden. In just over two hours, they had turned over the entire garden with T-shaped hoes and were now using curved hoes to break up large clods of soil and carefully remove the roots of the weeds.

At this moment, the four girls looked almost identical, with a layer of fine sweat on their foreheads and their faces flushed. They were only wearing thin coats, with the front open and the sleeves rolled up, revealing their fair arms that had been nurtured all winter.

They were busy wielding hoes, chatting and laughing as they worked, and because their backs were turned, they didn't even notice Chen Fan walking over.

Looking at her little mare who had returned to the stable and even closed the wooden gate, Huang Ying exclaimed in amazement, "Teacher Chen is amazing, even his horse is amazing. It can go back to its nest by itself and close the gate."

Liu Dan stared blankly, her eyes full of confusion. "My uncle has raised livestock for most of his life, and he said he has never seen such a spirited horse, and that bird too. It's really strange."

Yang Ju chuckled and said, "That's why the commune's veterinary station insisted that Teacher Chen study veterinary medicine. So, it just goes to show that capable people are amazing."

As Jiang Lili listened to their conversation, she would occasionally look up and smile, her eyes full of laughter, as if they were praising her.

Chen Fan, with his hands behind his back, coughed lightly and said, "I didn't realize you guys were so good at talking."

The four of them turned around together, and even Jiang Lili, who hadn't said anything before, blushed deeply.

Chen Fan chuckled and said, "Speaking well of someone behind their back is a good thing, there's nothing to be ashamed of. But it would be even better if they praised them to their face."

No one responded.

Chen Fan walked over with his hands behind his back. "Hey, you guys need to change your habit of praising people behind their backs but not to their faces. You should learn from me; I usually praise people to their faces."

For example, your vegetable garden is very well prepared. After turning the soil, you spread a layer of fermented manure, then turn it over again. This increases the soil's fertility, and whatever you plant will grow well. You could plant some spinach, cucumbers, peppers, and garland chrysanthemum; it would be great for hot pot too.

Huang Ying was the first to react. While tapping on a clod of dirt, she looked up at Chen Fan and asked with a smile, "Teacher Chen, what kind of food do you like to eat?"

Chen Fan stood there with his hands in his pockets, saying, "If I had to pick my favorite food, it would be small potatoes in the spring, preferably the kind the size of a thumb. You can soak them in water to remove the skin, then scrape them clean with a piece of tile and use them to stew chicken. I could eat potatoes without chicken!"

He swallowed hard as he spoke.

Liu Dan, being rather straightforward, stared at him blankly and asked, puzzled, "These tiny potatoes, no bigger than a thumb, are just starting to grow. Isn't it a waste to dig them up now?"

Huang Ying was quick-witted and immediately said, "We can just dig them up and let them grow back. It's rare that Teacher Chen likes to eat them. I happen to have some small potatoes planted under my cucumber trellis. I'll go dig some up later."

Chen Fan grinned and laughed heartily, "Going home to dig them up is fine, but planting some yourself would be better."

Yang Ju immediately nodded and said, "Okay, let's leave one row of land to plant potatoes."

Seeing that she had lost points, Liu Dan quickly nodded and said, "Yes, plant potatoes."

Chen Fan glanced at the three of them and felt that they were acting a little strange, but he didn't think much of it, assuming it was just the natural disadvantage of students facing a teacher.

He looked at Jiang Lili, and seeing that she remained silent, he couldn't help but smile slightly. He then glanced at everyone and asked, "What dishes do you all like to eat?"

But no one answered, and their expressions seemed somewhat confused.

Chen Fan raised an eyebrow, somewhat puzzled. "What's wrong? You don't even know what kind of food you like to eat?"

Huang Ying was the first to speak. She shook her head slightly and forced a smile. "We haven't thought about it, and no one has asked us."

Yang Ju continued, "Except during the Chinese New Year, when the dishes often contain oil and meat, we usually just eat a couple of simple green vegetables with pickled vegetables and kimchi. The most common dishes are pickled vegetables and vegetable soup."

Chen Fan pursed his lips. From what she meant, it meant that they couldn't even find a single green vegetable when they ate.

That's right. Captain Yang's family has seven members: a husband and wife, and five children. Yang Ju is the eldest sister, and she used to be the main person in charge of cooking. By the time she puts the dishes on the table, they've already been eaten up. It's good if there's any soup left.

Liu Dan also said, "Before we came here, we were all pretty much the same. Every morning before dawn we had to go and gather pig feed. If we were late, someone else would have already gathered it. We would be busy until it was fully light before we came back to clean the house, cook pig feed, and cook dinner. Then in the afternoon we would go to work with the adults and come back in the evening to cook dinner."

When I have free time, I'll simply cook one or two vegetable dishes. During busy farming seasons, I might not even have time to cook a proper meal, so I'll cook extra rice and eat it with pickles.

She paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "But when we're not so busy, we also go to the fields to catch loaches and eels, and the adults also go fishing. That's when we can eat delicious food."

Hearing this, Huang Ying nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, when the weather gets warmer, loaches and eels will come out of their burrows, and they will be easy to catch then. Also, when the rice ripens in May or June (lunar calendar), there will be many frogs. At night, we can take a lantern and use a frog-catching stick to catch frogs. We can catch a lot of them in an hour or two."

A frog-catching pole is simply a bamboo pole with a row of steel needles attached, a tool specifically designed to catch frogs. It's simple to make and easy to use. The steel needles aren't actually real steel needles; you take a piece of steel wire or a thin steel strip, break it, and sharpen it to make a steel needle.

Yang Ju quickly added, "Frogs have a lot of meat, and they're delicious stir-fried with chili peppers. When you came, it was winter, so there weren't any frogs. I'll catch some for you to eat in a few months." Chen Fan smiled and nodded, "Okay."

The textbooks say that frogs are beneficial insects and that we should protect them, but what rural child hasn't caught a frog?
Every summer, carrying a bamboo basket or a snakeskin bag, with a lantern or a flashlight in hand, you can shine the light on the frogs and they will lie still. Then, using the frog stick that Huang Ying mentioned, you can poke the frogs.

Besides the "frog stick" made of bamboo, there is also a "frog fork" made of long bamboo pole, which has a row of steel needles inserted in front of the bamboo pole, allowing for a longer attack range. You can stand on the edge of the field and stab the frogs in the field.

Even though the villagers catch frogs year after year, the croaking of frogs has never diminished.

However, more than a decade later, the overuse of pesticides and fertilizers led to a visible decline in the number of frogs, which is the main reason why frogs later became protected animals.

So Chen Fan wasn't offended by their talk of catching frogs; in fact, he was somewhat looking forward to it.

Decades later, the "Ma Guai" from Funan was sold all over the country, but he always felt that this tiger frog was not as good as the frog from his childhood. These days, the frogs should taste very authentic, right?
After a two-second pause, Chen Fan came to his senses and looked at the last one, "Xiao Jiang, what about you?"

Jiang Lili raised her head, her back to the three people beside her, and subtly wrinkled her nose at him, as if blaming him for making her speak. Then she pursed her lips and said, "I'm fine with anything, I don't have any particular favorite food."

Chen Fan smiled and chuckled, "Hehe, you clearly love eating fish the most."

Huang Ying put down her hoe and smiled at Jiang Lili, "Then you can be like us."

Jiang Lili turned around and smiled, "Mm."

Chen Fan crossed his arms and said, "It's the same. I've noticed that none of you like to eat vegetables; you only like to eat meat."

All four girls blushed, and Huang Ying even tilted her head back and laughed, "No way!"

Chen Fan counted on his fingers, "Frogs, loaches, eels, fish, aren't they all meat?"

Huang Ying and the other two blushed instantly, laughing so hard they couldn't speak.

Chen Fan looked at the vegetable patch and sighed softly, "It's a pity that meat can't be grown in the field. Otherwise, if you planted a pound of meat, you could grow ten pigs. That would be great."

Even Jiang Lili couldn't help but burst into laughter, each of them holding their hoes and giggling incessantly.

Once their laughter subsided, Chen Fan asked, "What are you planning to plant?"

Yang Ju smiled and asked, "Teacher Chen, besides potatoes, what else do you like to eat?"

Huang Ying quickly nodded and said, "We'll grow whatever you like to eat."

Chen Fan chuckled, "Although I already knew you respected your teachers, I didn't expect you to have considered this aspect as well."

These words made them blush with embarrassment again.

Chen Fan looked at the sky and felt that it wasn't hot today, so why were their faces always flushed and never pale?

Then, looking at them, he said, "How about this, instead of me choosing alone, you each choose one item besides scallions, ginger, and garlic."

Seeing them looking at each other without saying a word, Chen Fan directly called out, "Huang Ying, you usually talk the most, you go first."

Huang Ying chuckled dryly twice, thought for a moment, and said, "How about we plant some tomatoes?"

Yang Ju's eyes widened immediately, and she nodded repeatedly. "Tomatoes are good. Tomatoes can be eaten as fruit, and they can also be used to make cold tomato salad. I eat a lot of them every year."

Liu Dan raised her hand in agreement, "I'll grow tomatoes too."

Jiang Lili glanced at the three of them, then suddenly her eyes lit up and she nodded, saying, "I'll grow tomatoes too."

Chen Fan clicked his tongue and looked at them. "You don't want vegetables, you want fruit, right?"

Upon hearing this, the four girls immediately chuckled shyly.

They were fine when they weren't laughing, but once they started laughing, they burst into laughter and couldn't stop.

Chen Fan put his hands on his hips, pointed at them and laughed, "This is a vegetable garden, not an orchard. If you want to eat fruit, there's plenty of space in my backyard where you can plant fruit trees. You can grow your own fruit trees there later. Right now, you should think about what vegetables to plant."

Huang Ying laughed defiantly, "No way, tomatoes are fruit too."

Yang Ju also laughed and said, "Yes, yes, and cucumbers too."

(End of this chapter)