Traveling through the mountains and farming

When Lin Wan mentioned going to pick Rhus chinensis, she remembered that when she was scouting the area yesterday, she noticed that there was a wild peach tree near a Rhus chinensis plantation.

Wild peaches in the mountains are usually small, sour and astringent. Even if they hang on the branches, no one picks them.

She was not planning to pick peaches, but was attracted by the peach gum hanging on the branches of the peach trees.

She wanted to pick some, dry them and store them to make peach gum syrup, peach gum soup, peach gum desserts, etc.

Li Ke quickly ran over from the house with two backpacks and a vegetable basket.

She was full of doubts and didn't understand why her sister-in-law asked her to bring a vegetable basket. After all, a backpack could hold more things.

But it was too late to ask the reason, she just wanted to urge her sister-in-law to leave quickly.

"Sister-in-law, hurry up, they have already set off."

Lin Wan and Li Chongle each took a backpack, while Li Ke carried the vegetable basket.

The three of them hurried towards the outer cave entrance and soon caught up with the people who had set out earlier.

Li Chonghai led the way in front, and everyone headed towards the nearest saltwort tree.

The first place to pick the saltwort fruits was decided at the meeting yesterday.

Lin Wan knew that there were many wild peach trees nearby, so she decided to go with them.

When they arrived at the destination, Lin Wan asked the two siblings to follow others to pick saltwort fruits.

She carried a basket and walked towards the nearby wild peach tree to pick peach gum.

When I got closer, I saw that there were a lot of crystal clear peach gum hanging on each tree, so I thought we could have a good harvest.

I saw her carefully picking the peach gums one by one and putting them into the vegetable basket.

Li Ke looked towards Lin Wan from time to time. She thought her sister-in-law was picking wild peaches. Although they all thought wild peaches were not tasty, maybe they could become novel and delicious food in the hands of her sister-in-law.

Li Chongle was thinking about picking the saltwort fruits as soon as possible to fill his backpack so that he could go to help his sister-in-law earlier.

Perhaps no one comes to cut down the Rhus chinensis trees in the deep mountains for firewood, so they grow tall and lush.

So they decided that the men would be responsible for climbing up the trees to pick the fruits, while the children and women would pick them up and put them in baskets or backpacks below.

Before leaving, Lin Wan told the two siblings that they only needed to pick one basket of saltwort fruits, so they completed the task quickly.

After picking a basket of fruits, the two of them hurriedly ran towards Lin Wan.

When they came over to take a look, they saw that the basket was full of peach oil, not the wild peaches they had guessed.

Li Chongle asked, "Sister-in-law, what are you doing with this peach oil?"

"It must be something delicious." Li Ke answered first.

Seeing Li Ke's smug look, Lin Wan smiled and said, "Xiao Ke is right. I'll make it for you when we get back."

When Li Ke heard that something delicious was going to be made, he quickly walked to the tree and tried hard to pick the peach gum with his little hands. Li Chongle also hurried to help.

Hearing Li Chongle mention the name peach oil, Lin Wan couldn't help but recall that they also called it that when they were little. At that time, they didn't even know that this thing was edible. They just used it to play with their friends and smear it on each other's hair.

I didn't expect that when I grew up, I found that the wild animals in the countryside that I played with when I was a child had become food.

At that time, she even bought it to stew in milk, and it tasted quite good.

Seeing that the two siblings were very motivated, she also quickened her movements.

After they picked all the peach gum from the peach trees, they had a full basket of vegetables.

Afterwards, Lin Wan took the two siblings to help others continue picking saltwort fruits.

By the time everyone's backpacks were full, it was already noon and everyone packed up and prepared to return.

Lin Wan and Li Chongle each carried half a basket of saltpeter berries, while Li Ke carried a basket of peach gum covered with some wild vegetables.

After returning home, Li Ke wanted to eat the new food at noon, so he asked his brother to help cook lunch.

This way, my sister-in-law can have time to make the goat milk and peach gum dessert she mentioned.

Lin Wan agreed with a smile, turned and walked into the kitchen to start processing peach gum.

She first removed the impurities from the peach gum that she would use later, and then soaked it in clean water.

The two siblings were also busy in the kitchen, cutting vegetables and washing rice, and they cooperated very well.

Soon, the aroma of food wafted from the kitchen.

Lin Wan poured the peach gum into a clay pot, added mountain spring water, and then stewed it on a makeshift stove in the backyard.

She just stood there watching the fire and continued to process the remaining peach gum.

When she had finished removing all the impurities from the peach gum, she heard Li Ke's voice calling for dinner from the kitchen.

Lin Wan got up to check and found that the peach gum was also stewed, so she turned and went into the kitchen to get the remaining goat milk from the morning, poured it into the clay pot, and continued to boil it.

"Hey, are you making something new to eat?"

Lin Wan looked up and saw Doctor Zhong bringing Lin Jing to the backyard.

Only then did I realize that it was already past lunch time.

Doctor Zhong probably came over on his own initiative without waiting for someone to call him for dinner.

"Goat milk peach gum, a new food, will be ready to eat in a quarter of an hour."

Lin Jing also came over and stared at it curiously. He also found the fragrance tempting.

A quarter of an hour later, the goat milk peach gum was finally ready.

Lin Wan carefully took the earthenware jar down, added some sugar, and then filled six bowls.

One of the bowls belonged to Xiaobai, but he kept circling around it, humming anxiously.

If everyone has new food but doesn't prepare it for it, it will definitely make a fuss.

The four people next to them did not just sit there waiting for dinner. They all came over to help carry their own bowls to the dining table in the main hall.

Xiaobai watched as everyone left with a bowl of food, but he was unable to get his own portion.

It jumped up anxiously, flapping its two front paws in the air and making anxious sounds from its mouth.

Seeing this, Lin Wan hurriedly took the bowl that belonged to it and walked towards the main room to comfort it.

"Xiaobai, don't worry, I'll bring it to you."

Xiaobai immediately followed Lin Wan, wagging his tail.

Lin Wan put its bowl on its exclusive dining table. It came to the bowl, stuck out its tongue and began to lick the food happily.

Everyone couldn't help laughing when they saw the cute and greedy look of the little fox.

"This little fox is such a glutton." Li Ke said with a smile.

Lin Wan sat at the table and said with a smile: "Yeah, just like you, we are both foodies."

Li Ke was only focused on the new food and let her sister-in-law tease her. Seeing that Xiaobai had tried the new food, she didn't want to be left behind and quickly tasted it. She was the second one to eat it.

"Hurry up and eat this goat milk peach gum. It's delicious, soft, smooth and sweet."

When others heard Li Ke praising the new food, they all started to taste their own bowl.

After tasting it carefully, Dr. Zhong praised with satisfaction: "It is really good. This soft and smooth taste is suitable for an old man like me."

Lin Wan couldn't help laughing after hearing this, thinking that he enjoyed all those hard and crispy foods very much, and he always said that they were suitable for an old man like her.

"I think it's delicious too. Everything my sister cooks is delicious." Lin Jing praised with a smile.

Come on, there's another flatterer in the house.

After finishing their meal, everyone helped to scrape off the white frost on the fruits of the Rhus chinensis and put it in jars as spare salt.

Lin Wanze took some Rhus chinensis fruits, washed them, and then poured them into the pot to boil water.

I saw the small fruits tumbling up and down in the pot, and their original brown color gradually turned into grayish white.

Lin Wan knew that the soup was cooked to perfection, so she filtered out the water from the boiled Rhus chinensis fruit and put it in a ceramic jar.

After cooling, this will become salt frosted fruit vinegar.

Li Ke came in at this time and saw the clear yellow liquid in the pottery jar, full of curiosity.

"Sister-in-law, is this water boiled with Rhus chinensis fruit a new drink?"

She noticed it when her sister-in-law started to boil water with the saltwort fruit, and originally thought that Lin Wan was making new food.

Lin Wan smiled and replied: "This is not a new drink, this is fruit vinegar."

Li Ke pouted slightly in disappointment: "I thought you were making something delicious."

Lin Wan looked at her cute appearance and couldn't help but smile: "Although fruit vinegar is not suitable for eating alone, it can be used to make delicious dishes."

Li Ke smiled instantly, "Sister-in-law, let's use this fruit vinegar to make delicious dishes tonight."

Then she turned around and ran out to continue scraping the white frost off the fruits of the saltwort tree.

Lin Wan was left alone in the kitchen thinking about what delicious food to make in the evening. She planned to make cabbage with vinegar, cold wild vegetables with vinegar, and fish with fruit vinegar.