Traveling through the mountains and farming

Of course, Lin Wan did not forget that there were hanging melons in the valley.

While picking sour dates these days, she took her two siblings to the mountains to spend two days picking and processing melons.

Looking at the two wooden basins full of dried melon seeds in front of her, her thoughts couldn't help but drift away.

I recalled the extremely embarrassed expressions on the brother and sister's faces when they first saw her handling the melons those two days.

At that time, their eyes were wide open and their faces were full of disbelief, which was really funny.

This also reminded her of the time when she was a child in the countryside, when she and her friends were picking melons and fighting with each other.

When everyone saw the melon after it was broken open, they all showed disgusted expressions, just like the two siblings when they saw her cut open the melon to take out the seeds.

This hanging melon is called "shit winter melon" in Lin Wan's hometown today.

Everyone thinks that the dark green, slimy flesh is disgusting and may even be poisonous, so no one thinks the seeds inside the melon are edible.

But who could have imagined that the "shit winter melon" would later transform into a hanging melon, and the price of its seeds in the market would be much more expensive than sunflower seeds and watermelon seeds.

In ancient times, it was called "dog shit melon", and no one has discovered that the seeds of this melon are edible.

So after she discovered the melon, she decided to make spiced melon seeds.

Li Chongle, who was standing by, saw his sister-in-law staring at the two pots of dried melon seeds in a daze, and couldn't help but ask:

"Sister-in-law, we have been picking sour dates for four days in a row and dog shit melons for two days. Which one should we pick today?"

Lin Wan came back to her senses, thought for a moment and said:

"I won't go up the mountain today. I'll fry pumpkin seeds at home in the morning and plant the vegetable seeds my great-aunt and her family gave me in the afternoon. We're busy outside every day, so the vegetable garden in the backyard is still empty. I'll plant one or two ridges today so that we can achieve self-sufficiency in vegetables."

"Oh, yes, I forgot that the vegetable garden has not been planted yet. Let Xiaoke help you light the fire, and I will go to sow the vegetable seeds, so that we can rest early in the afternoon." Li Chongle responded.

"Okay, I'll go to the kitchen to light the fire now." Li Ke next to him said and ran to the kitchen.

Li Chongle also rushed into action. He found some seeds, went to the backyard, marked out areas according to species, and started sowing.

Lin Wan carried two pots of melon seeds into the kitchen, and then took out the star anise, cinnamon and bay leaves that she had bought for making braised pork from the cupboard.

Seeing that Li Ke had already skillfully lit the fire, she poured in salt after the pot was heated, then put in star anise, cinnamon and bay leaves. After stir-frying for a while, she poured in the melon seeds and started to stir-fry continuously.

After a while, the aroma of melon seeds wafted from the kitchen.

As time goes by, the melon seeds become more and more crispy.

Li Ke, who was squatting over the fire, was the first to smell the fragrance. She sniffed hard with her little nose, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she immediately stood up and stared into the pot.

"Wow, it smells so good! Sister-in-law, are these melon seeds almost ready?"

Li Ke asked impatiently, his eyes fixed on the melon seeds in the pot.

Lin Wan looked at Li Ke's greedy look and said with a smile, "Come on, come on, wait a little longer."

Li Ke couldn't sit still any longer, and kept walking back and forth beside the stove, muttering:

"Why isn't it ready yet? I can't wait to eat it."

Finally, the melon seeds were fried. Lin Wan had just scooped the melon seeds out of the pot, sieved them and put them into a wooden basin when Li Chongle came back.

As soon as he walked into the kitchen, he was attracted by the aroma and said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, this smells so good!"

Li Ke hurried over to hold Li Chongle and said happily: "Brother, the fried melon seeds are ready, they smell so good!"

Li Chongle smiled and touched Li Ke's head, then looked at the pot of hanging melon seeds.

Lin Wan smiled and said, "Don't burn yourself. Let it cool down before eating."

Li Ke had no choice but to retract his hand, staring at the plate of fragrant melon seeds, licking his lips and saying, "Sister-in-law, I want to eat it now. It's so delicious."

"Little greedy cat, wait a moment." Lin Wan smiled and scratched Li Ke's nose.

After saying that, he prepared to start frying the second pot.

Li Ke had no choice but to wait patiently for a while. When she heard Lin Wan say that it was ready to eat, she immediately grabbed a handful of melon seeds and started to eat them happily. While eating, she shouted with great satisfaction:

"It's so delicious, so fragrant and crispy. My sister-in-law's cooking skills are simply amazing! Everything she makes tastes so good!" After saying that, she hurriedly grabbed another handful.

Li Chongle also picked up some and tasted it, then nodded continuously and praised sincerely:

"It's really crispy. I never thought that the seeds of the disgusting-looking 'dog shit melon' are not only edible, but also so delicious."

Then, Li Chongle said with a smile: "Sister-in-law, I know where there are more 'dog shit melons'. Should we go pick some more this afternoon?"

He was grinning from ear to ear, as if he had already seen the scene after catching all the "dog shit melons" in one fell swoop.

Then he added, "If we pick all the ones near the village, we will definitely be able to sell them for a lot of money!"

Lin Wan shook her head and said:

"No, let's have a good rest in the afternoon. These days we have been picking fruits in the mountains during the day and secretly transporting food at night. We are all exhausted. And tonight is our last time to transport food to the Yougu Cave. This time we have to transport the salt we stored before as well."

After hearing this, Li Chongle and Li Ke felt a little regretful that they could not pick the "dog shit melons" right away, but they also understood that what their sister-in-law said made sense.

Li Chongle nodded and said, "Sister-in-law is right. These days are indeed hard. Let's take a good rest first and continue working hard in the evening."

At this time, Li Ke had gotten over the regret of not being able to pick more "dog shit melons" to make more delicious food.

Then he said happily: "Great, can I go play with Sister Tao and Xiaoya this afternoon?"

"Of course you can, but when you take the sour jujube cakes and melon seeds that you made these past two days over, you must remember to call them differently," Lin Wan reminded.

"I know this. The original sour jujube cake is called sweet and sour cake, the perilla jujube cake is called sweet and sour perilla cake, and the 'dog shit melon' seeds are called hanging melon seeds. Is that right?" Li Ke confirmed seriously.

"Yeah, that's right." Lin Wan replied with a smile.

In the afternoon, Li Ke happily took the sour jujube cakes and melon seeds to play with his friends, and Li Chongle also went with them.

Lin Wan first went to the backyard vegetable garden to check on the vegetable seeds that Li Chongle had just planted in the morning.

I saw that the soil in the vegetable patch was turned over smoothly, and the seeds were evenly sown on it and buried.

Then, Lin Wan planned to go to her great-uncle Uncle Li’s house to check on the autumn harvest.

She walked briskly towards Uncle Li's house, and along the way she saw many villagers carrying newly harvested rice home.

Every household in Quanshui Village has a yard for drying grain in front and behind their houses, and there is also a centralized grain drying ground near the entrance of the village.