Crossing Over to Yamada Love

After the chicken was braised, Mo Lan checked the fire in the stove to see if it could last a while, then got up and pulled Xiao San'er along, saying to him, "Come on, let's take San'er to pick cucumbers."

Upon hearing this, Xiao San'er excitedly took Mo Lan's hand and nodded repeatedly to her.

"Wait, Mother will go with you. Those cucumber leaves are prickly; you don't want them to cut your faces. Mother will pick them for you." Qiu Shi hurriedly stood up, put down her work, and led Mo Lan and the other girl to the vegetable garden in front.

The vegetable garden in front was largely destroyed, leaving only the two sides. The middle section was turned into a yard, with various vegetables planted on both sides. Mo Lan has been busy lately and hasn't had time to look after it, but now she realizes that many of the vegetables have already grown well.

The persimmons have also formed, now as big as a fingertip, green and very pleasing; the eggplants are blooming with small flowers and have already formed little knots; the potatoes have also grown very tall, and many have already bloomed with white potato flowers; the bean leaves have already covered the trellis; the peppers have also formed quite a few, some drooping and some growing towards the sky.

Yellow flowers have already bloomed on the squash stems. The squashes are tiny, some are yellow, some are bluish-black, and some have flowers. The zucchini have also formed, but they are not big enough yet. They should be ready to eat in a few days.

Mo Lan and Xiao San'er were looking at the vegetable garden in front of the field, while Qiu was looking for cucumbers in front of the cucumber trellis. She looked at this one and that one, and was a little reluctant to pick them. The cucumbers were not yet ready to grow.

After a while, Qiu came out, her hands cupping the hem of her shirt, seemingly having put cucumbers inside.

She handed Mo Lan and Xiao San'er a small cucumber each, muttering, "These are still tiny, why are you thinking about eating cucumbers now? They'll be big in a few days."

Mo Lan chuckled but didn't reply. She knew in her heart that her mother wasn't unwilling to give them the cucumbers, but rather that the cucumbers were picked before they were fully grown, which made her feel bad.

Mo Lan looked at the cucumber in her hand. It was only about the length of a hand, with small yellow flowers on top and thorns all over its body. She had to hold it by the handle to avoid getting pricked.

This type of cucumber is called "dryland cucumber," and it seems to be more common in Northeast China. In other places, the cucumbers are mostly long, thin, and green, which are called "water cucumbers" in this area.

Water cucumbers are generally used in cold dishes, such as smashed cucumber, cucumber with minced garlic, and cucumber with dried tofu.

Dry cucumbers are eaten raw. Just pick them, wash them, and you can eat them directly. The cucumber core is green, and they taste very fragrant, crisp, and slightly sweet, with a great texture. Of course, the local favorite way to eat them is with dipping sauce. Add some scallions, chili peppers, radishes, cucumbers, dried tofu, and a bowl of egg sauce, and it tastes so delicious!

Mo Lan's mouth watered as she looked at the cucumbers. Speaking of vegetables for dipping, besides this dry cucumber, she also liked a type of radish called "Heart Beauty." This radish was round on the outside, and when cut open, the inside was red or purplish-red. It was crisp and sweet when you took a bite, unlike other radishes which were spicy. So, in the autumn, farmers usually used them as fruit.

"Why aren't you eating?" Qiu asked, puzzled, as her daughter kept staring at the cucumber without touching it.

"It's not washed yet, there are thorns that will prick your mouth." Mo Lan was speechless at her mother's question. How could she eat it if it wasn't washed?

Without saying a word, Qiu took the cucumber from her daughter's hand and started rubbing it with her clothes. After rubbing it back and forth a couple of times and seeing that most of the thorns had come off, she handed it to Mo Lan and said, "It's no longer prickly, eat it."

Then he took the mistress's and stroked it a few times.

Seeing that the cucumber wasn't prickly anymore, the little girl put it in her mouth, took a bite, chewed it a few times, swallowed it, and said, "Delicious. Very sweet."

Seeing that Xiao San'er was eating with relish, Mo Lan glanced at her mother's gaze, then put the cucumber in her mouth and began to eat.

The food tasted delicious, but her heart ached a little, as this scene reminded her of her childhood.

She was only 7 or 8 years old then. She often went to the vegetable garden with her grandmother. The vegetable garden was not close to home. The cucumbers and persimmons that had just been picked were not washed in time. The adults would wipe the cucumbers with their clothes and the children would start eating them.

The persimmons didn't need to be wiped by adults; we'd just pick them, wipe them a couple of times with our hands, and then bite off the top to suck out the juice. Those were happy times; everything was clean, unlike later when vegetables were covered in pesticides, and we didn't dare eat them even after washing them many times.

Biting into the sweet cucumber, Mo Lan chewed with great relish. "Why bother washing it? No chemical fertilizers here. You can eat it like this. Isn't there an old saying, 'A little dirt won't hurt you'?"

Seeing her daughter and son eating so heartily, Qiu grinned. She was even happier that her children could eat than she was eating herself.

The group returned to the backyard, and Qiu put the remaining cucumbers in the basket before going back to her work.

Mo Lan then scooped the pig's head, trotters, and tail into a basin to cool.

Steamed buns were coming out of the steamer one after another, and Mo Lan's appetizers were also prepared: pig ears mixed with cucumber strips, savory and refreshing, with chewy pig ears and crisp cucumber. It was the perfect dish to eat in this weather. There was also a braised chicken, a platter of pig ears, pig head meat, and pig tail, and a plate of fried peanuts.

This means there will be more than two kinds of snacks to go with the drinks, but Mo Lan had a plan in mind, so she prepared two more.

After loading the car, the three of them set off again for the place where the villa was being built. Looking around from a distance, they saw that there were many more things on the open space than yesterday, and it seemed that there were also many more craftsmen. What was going on?

As soon as they arrived at the place, they heard the manager call for a rest, whether it was because they had arrived or because it was already time to rest.

After they parked the car, the craftsmen came over in twos and threes to buy steamed buns. Mo Lan accepted the large sum of money with a smile, Mo Quan picked up the buns, and Mo Mei served soup, all busy at work.

"Little girl, did you bring the snacks to go with my drinks?" Mo Lan collected the large sum of money, but her eyes were fixed on the crowd. Finally, on her eighth look, the bearded man arrived. Beside him was a man dressed similarly to him, the only difference being that this man was cleaner, shorter, more shrewd, and more arrogant.

"Is this someone new today? I didn't see them yesterday," Mo Lan wondered to herself.

Before Mo Lan could say anything, the newcomer spoke up: "Brother Qin, what kind of food do we have in this wretched place? I suggest we just grab something to eat for lunch, and I'll treat you to a nice meal at Jushengfeng tonight."

Mo Lan glanced at him; he was clearly disgusted by their food. But she wasn't annoyed. They were in business, and their customers were all sorts of people. She had seen countless different kinds of people, and someone like him was nothing special.

"I brought the snacks you wanted to go with your drinks, Master Qin. I didn't know what you liked to eat, so I brought a couple extra. Please choose one." Mo Lan said with a smile as she opened the basket containing the snacks.

Mr. Qin raised an eyebrow as he looked at the four dishes in front of him. To be honest, they looked quite good.

The chicken is whole, and its color is reddish-brown, probably because a lot of soy sauce was added. It smells so good that it makes you want to take a bite.

Then look at that plate of pig's ears mixed with cucumber strips. The cucumber strips are cut evenly, the pig's ears are clear and translucent, and the cucumber strips are bright green and pleasing to the eye. It also has evenly crushed minced garlic and a little bit of red chili oil. It looks so appetizing.

That braised meat platter was also good. Whether it was pig's head, pig's ears, or pig's tail, they were all good snacks to go with drinks. There was also a bowl of minced garlic sauce, which was probably for dipping.

As for the plate of peanuts, they were fried to perfection, the heat was just right, neither too high nor too low, and they were sprinkled with a little fine salt. He really wanted to grab a handful and crunch them in his mouth.

Looking at the four dishes, Master Qin was in a dilemma. He wanted to try them all, but taking all four would be too much. He couldn't make up his mind for a moment, so he asked, "Brother Zhang, you choose, see which one suits your taste."

Brother Zhang glanced around a couple of times and muttered, "Who knows if it's clean or not? I don't want to get a stomachache."

"Don't worry, sir. We can't guarantee the quality of our food, but cleanliness is our top priority. We are honest people and would never do anything dishonest." Mo Lan smiled broadly, but her words were clear.

The man surnamed Zhang sneered, but pointed to the braised chicken and the plate of pig's ears with cucumber, saying, "These two will do, I'll have a taste."

Mo Lan glanced at Master Qin, who nodded. Mo Lan then took a wooden board from the car and placed it under the shade of a tree. She then picked up a basket, placed two vegetables on the board, and put two straw mats on either side. These mats were Mo Lan's idea, woven by Mo Changhai, to make it easier for the site manager to sit. After finishing, she ladled out a bowl of soup and brought it over.

The foreman surnamed Zhang was taken aback when he saw the straw mats and the wooden planks for placing vegetables. He remembered that when Old Qin said early in the morning that he would invite him to lunch at the construction site, he was a little unhappy. What kind of food could there be in this shabby place? If it weren't for the lucrative job of building the Marquis's villa, he would never have come to this wretched place. Now he had to condescend to eat with these craftsmen and squat in this dusty, dilapidated place. It was truly beneath his dignity!

Now that he saw that the food vendor had even prepared wooden boards for the vegetables and straw mats, he felt twice as satisfied.

The two sat down, and Steward Qin called out to Mo Lan, "Girl, bring five steamed buns."

"Okay, coming right away." Mo Lan took the five buns that Mo Quan had picked up and placed them on the wooden board, saying, "The round ones are beef filling, these with tops are pork and scallion, and these long ones are bell pepper and cabbage. Try which ones you like. If you can't finish them, just leave them here. They're free. Also, this rag is new; you can use it to wipe your hands after eating the chicken."

"Good, little girl. Quite thoughtful." Manager Qin nodded.

Mo Lan smiled and turned around, inviting them to eat. Then, she started persuading those staring at the two remaining dishes on their cart: "Uncles and sirs, these dishes are homemade, clean and delicious. This meat platter is twenty coins a plate, containing pig's head, pig's ears, and pig's tail—all very chewy. These peanuts are deep-fried, fragrant and crispy. This whole platter is only twelve coins. If you uncles and sirs think it's too expensive, several of you can pool your money and buy one plate. That way, each person won't spend much, and everyone can eat. Don't you uncles and sirs think it's a good deal?"