Across Ranch Story: Friends of Mineral Town

As for beverages, in addition to the red wine purchased from the Dick family, Lin Xia used a juicer to make juice from various fruits that she received from spring to autumn. There were grape juice, apple juice, orange juice, and pineapple juice blended with honey. In addition, she also made mixed fruit juices and mixed fruit milks. Fancy milks were also prepared. It would depend on what they each liked in the evening.

Lin Xia looked at the time outside and saw that it was almost 4 p.m., so she made four servings of ice cream with some fruits and prepared to give them afternoon tea.

In addition to ice cream, Lin Xia also made snacks and desserts that are indispensable for afternoon tea, including cakes, cookies, French fries, popcorn, sugar-roasted chestnuts, spiced melon seeds, etc.

When I came out, I found that several people were gathered by the moat of the ranch. Sister Juan was fishing with a fishing rod. There were already two medium-sized fish in the bucket next to her. There were relatively few large fish in the river here, and it was still not easy to catch them even if the power was charged to the Mithril level.

Lili and Shasha took the push net, wore the rain pants donated by Lin Xia, and went directly to the shallow ditch to push fish and shrimps!

"Are you guys hot? Come over here and have some ice cream!"

"Okay, I'll be right there!" Sasha responded first. It seems that pushing a fishing net in the river is quite hard work.

Lin Xia took out a small folding table, four lightweight folding chairs, and a large parasol from the space. This time, she put the snacks and desserts she had prepared first. Looking back, she saw that Sasha and Lili had already come ashore, but were still sorting out the things in the fishing net; Sister Juan came over first, and she only had to collect the fishing rod.

After a while, Sasha and Lili also came over.

"Wow, there are so many delicious foods!" Lili shouted happily.

Lin Xia handed the ice cream to the three people, and the four of them sat around the table, enjoying the wonderful afternoon tea time.

"What do you think of Mineral Town?" Lin Xia asked.

"It's really great here!" Sister Juan replied, "Especially the fishing and shrimping this afternoon, it was fun."

"Yeah, I think it's interesting too. Although life in the city is convenient, it's not as interesting as here." Sasha nodded. "By the way, we plan to go to the mountains to pick some mushrooms tomorrow. I heard there are many kinds of mushrooms here."

"Sure, but there's the Fall Horse Race tomorrow. Don't you guys plan on going to watch the fun?"

Sister Juan: "When does the horse race start? Will it be held all day?"

Shasha: "Besides, we don't have any horses competing. Are we just going to watch others compete?"

Lin Xia: "The horse race starts at 10 am and ends at 6 pm. We can't participate in the horse race, but we can buy horse tickets and guess which horse will win the championship. If you guess correctly, you can win a medal and use it to exchange for more unique products here."

"Oh?" Several people became interested and asked, "What goods can be exchanged?"

"There are jewelry unique to Mineral Town, such as necklaces, earrings, brooches, and bracelets; there are also cosmetics and skin care products, such as facial masks, facial cleansers, and perfumes; there are also blind clothing boxes, which contain various kinds of clothes and skirts, all packaged in gift boxes. When you redeem them, you don't know what's inside, and you can only know after you open them. In addition, there are various minerals and mushrooms from Mineral Town. Oh, and those uncommon matsutake mushrooms are also available for redemption, and the medals required are very cheap!"

"That's fine, that's fine! We want to participate!" Sister Juan and the others immediately became excited.

"Then can't we go to the mountains to pick mushrooms?" Shasha was a little frustrated. "I see that many of the food here in Linxia is picked from the mountains. I also want to experience it."

"Don't worry!" Lin Xia immediately comforted him, "The horse race starts at 10 o'clock. Let's go to the back mountain early in the morning. I'll take you there. We can pick a lot of mushrooms without going too deep. There are also chestnuts to pick in the mountains at this time. There is a chestnut tree right by the lake, not far away at all."

"Although we don't go too deep, we still need to pay attention to safety." Lin Xia reminded, "There may be some dangerous animals or terrain on the mountain."

"Don't worry, we will be careful." Lili said with a smile.

"Also, each person can only buy tickets for three races at the horse racing festival. We can come back after the three races are over! If you don't feel satisfied with the trip to the mountain in the morning, we can go over there again. We can also go to the Goddess Spring to soak in the hot springs to relieve our fatigue."

"Goddess Fountain?" Several people exclaimed, and Shasha couldn't help but ask, "Is there a goddess?"

"Yes! Everyone here knows it!" Lin Xia said with a smile, "There are not only goddesses here, but also kappas! I will take you to see them tomorrow, but you have to prepare gifts they like!"

"What do they like?" Lili asked curiously, "Is it rare?"

"No, the goddess generally likes flowers the most. I have given her other gifts as well, but she often says, 'I don't like this gift, but I don't hate it either!' So later on, I would only pick the freshest flowers from the back mountain and give them to her. As for the kappa, it only likes food related to cucumbers. I planted some in the spring and will bring them to you tomorrow. But the kappa doesn't like to talk. No matter what you give it, it will just stare at you for a while and then go back to the lake."

"It's so interesting! We must go check it out tomorrow!"

Everyone enjoyed the food and chatted happily, spending a relaxing afternoon.

After afternoon tea, Sasha and Lili went to catch lobsters. Yes, they had been going through so much trouble just to eat crayfish. Lin Xia immediately took them to collect the shrimp cages she had placed in the river. After pulling them up, they saw dozens of crayfish that had already crawled into them. The two were pleasantly surprised.

"Knowing you were coming, I didn't eat the crayfish I caught these days. I saved them all. Together with these, there are probably about 20 kilograms. I'll cook them all tonight and have them as a midnight snack. Oh, and I also used a push net to push some snails and clams. They've already spit out all the mud and sand, so they can be cooked and eaten tonight. The clams can be made into soup with mushrooms, which will just help relieve the spiciness!"

"Great!" Shasha jumped up immediately, "I love eating crayfish the most. Spicy, mashed garlic, thirteen spices, and salted egg yolk are all delicious!"

"I'm sorry!" Lin Xia said mercilessly, "I only know how to make spicy, garlic and plain water. I don't have a recipe for thirteen spices, and I don't have egg yolks for salted egg yolks!"

Shasha: ……

Lili laughed and said, "It's okay. Give me the thirteen spices formula. I'll go back and see what spices you have. If they are enough, I'll make them for you. If not, I'll send them to you when I go back! As for the salted duck eggs, there's nothing I can do now. I can only buy them and send them to you when I go back!"

"It's okay. I don't crave salted egg yolks. And maybe next year, I'll raise ducks and geese! By then, let alone salted duck eggs, I'll even have goose eggs to eat!"

"Hey, it's good to have a big rancher as a friend!" Sister Juan said with a smile, "Raise whatever you want to eat!"

"Hahaha~"

Although the crayfish that he wanted to eat were already there, they still had to be cleaned after being caught. In addition to the lobsters, there would also be some small river shrimps and small fish mixed in the net. Lin Xia didn't like the small fish and threw them directly into the river, but the small river shrimps could be picked up and made into salted river shrimps, the meat of which was particularly delicious.

In the evening, the three of them were stunned when they saw the dozen or so dishes that Lin Xia brought to the table, especially the roasted suckling pig in the middle!

"Such a rich meal!" exclaimed Sister Juan.

"Are you treating us like pigs?" Sasha asked in disbelief.

"Hey, if you can't finish it, I'll keep it. Come and try the crayfish I made." Lin Xia greeted everyone warmly.

The four of them sat around the table and began to enjoy the delicious food.

"Wow, it tastes so good!" Lili praised, "It's better than anything I've had before."

"Thank you for the compliment." Lin Xia smiled happily.

"These drinks are delicious, too. They're much purer than those sold outside!"

"Of course, the ingredients list for these are just fruit and honey, nothing else!"

"Are these coffee milk, strawberry milk, and fruit milk really produced directly from cows?" Sister Juan asked in disbelief, holding the milk in her hand.

"Of course. If you don't believe me, I'll take you to milk the cows myself tomorrow morning so you can experience the daily routine of a milker. Hahaha~"

Everyone was very satisfied with the meal.