Linfengchun

Kapitel 68

I heard a long, soft sigh come through the microphone, then there was no sound. A few seconds later, there was a busy tone.

Shang Lin was stunned, holding the microphone and at a loss for what to do.

He hung up?

What's going on here? They called out of the blue, had nothing to say, and hung up without even saying goodbye?

Qiu Xialin screamed in the kitchen, "Ah! It dared to bite me!"

Shang Lin hung up the phone and strode over. Qiu Xia Lin held her fingers and spun them around: "Sister, it bit me!"

Shaking his head helplessly, he thought, "This idiot! He put all the cicada nymphs in a shallow dish, and they were all struggling to crawl out. He grabbed one, and another ran away. He was in a complete mess."

I had no choice but to open the cabinet door again to get the bowl: "Don't exaggerate, how could it bite you? At most, it might scratch you a few times. I've been caught by it before!"

Xia Lin chuckled, showing no embarrassment at being exposed.

First, the cicada nymphs are washed clean, then pickled with salt and water. Although it's somewhat cruel, that's how nature works—survival of the fittest. Later generations certainly didn't have a chance to eat them.

"Cicada nymph" is a local dialect term referring to the larval stage of cicadas. They emerge from the ground at dawn and dusk in summer to molt into cicadas. In the past, when people were poor and had little to eat, children would take flashlights and search the woods on summer evenings for cicada nymphs that were still clinging to tree trunks and had not yet molted. They would take them home, marinate them in salt water for a while, and then fry them in oil until golden brown and crispy. The meat was tender and delicious, making it an excellent snack and also a good accompaniment to drinks for adults.

In later cities, these things weren't cheap; one could easily sell for seven or eight cents.

Although they had eaten it a few times since their rebirth, it was mostly prepared and given to them by others. Shang Lin had never cooked it himself before. This time, he was in the mood, so he rolled up his sleeves, pushed Qiu Xia Lin aside, and urged them to take a shower and come out to eat after they finished showering.

I chopped some scallions and ginger, added cooking wine to marinate them, then took out a bag of vermicelli, washed and fried it, and arranged it on a blue and white porcelain plate. I beat two eggs into a batter, coated the cicada nymphs in the batter, and fried them in a pan until golden brown. I then arranged them on top of the vermicelli, and sprinkled them with Sichuan peppercorn powder and cumin.

The golden-yellow food reflected on the blue-and-white porcelain plate is very appetizing.

After taking a bath, Xia Lin circled the table, drooling, but couldn't bear to pick up his chopsticks, clicking his tongue repeatedly: "So beautiful, so beautiful."

She chuckled: "Just eat yours!"

Changsheng also took chopsticks and started distributing them to the two of them.

"You eat these eight, you eat four, and I'll eat these three."

Shang Lin looked at the eight piled up in front of him with a puzzled expression: "I can't eat this many."

Xia Linzao started eating in silence. Seeing how much he enjoyed it, she picked up a cicada nymph from her own plate and gave it to him, saying, "Eat as much as you like."

Changsheng swiftly picked up the chopsticks and immediately put them back: "Eat!" he said in a curt tone.

Xia Lin echoed, "Just eat it, or you'll turn into a four-eyed idiot!"

We had already agreed on this before we went home. Anyway, most of them were caught by Changsheng, and we had fried vermicelli to eat. If necessary, we could just go catch more tomorrow.

Shang Lin chuckled, picked up a piece and put it in her mouth. The unique aroma of cumin enveloped the tender meat, filling her mouth with fragrance. She turned her head and forgot about Yin Yeyao.

On the soft, large bed in the hotel, Yin Yeyao lay comfortably, enjoying a rare good night's sleep after a long time. In his dream, Qiu Shanglin clung to his clothes, murmuring incessantly, her gentle words like a lullaby, soothing and comforting.

……………

Qiujia Village has been quite lively lately. Many villagers are busy buying meat and wine to entertain relatives who have come from afar, and children are pulling their cousins, whom they only see a few times a year, up the mountain and down the river. Old sisters who haven't seen each other for years are in tears, holding hands and chatting about everyday life.

"Big sister, you see it, right? It's that plot of land over there." Grandma Qiu San stood on her bound feet, helping her cousin who had come from afar, and pointed out her family's vegetable garden.

Her clever grandson swept a stone by the path, placed a round straw mat on it, and helped his grandmother and great-aunt sit down. His great-aunt praised him endlessly for being sensible. Qiuhe smiled shyly and looked towards the roadside.

The old lady stared in amazement at the two greenhouses that had sprung up not far away: "Good heavens, so much plastic sheeting... If the vegetables are planted inside without sunlight or wind, won't they all wither and turn yellow?"

Grandma Qiu San opened her mouth to speak, but because she was old and had lost all her teeth, her speech was slurred: "The technicians from the town are quite fond of it. They say there are precedents in other places where cucumbers, persimmons, and bok choy can grow in greenhouses in winter!"

The old woman's eyes widened in disbelief: "What? Cucumbers and persimmons grow in winter?" She shook her head repeatedly, not believing it: "That can't be, that can't be."

Qiuhe held onto her arm: "Grandma, my dad said it's possible. I saw it on TV! I heard that the town is going to use our village as a pilot project soon, and they'll help build a greenhouse for each household as long as they pay a thousand yuan."

"What? A thousand?" The old lady's eyes widened like saucers, and she shouted at the top of her lungs, grabbing Grandma Qiu San: "Sister, you absolutely can't agree to this—a thousand is no small sum, we can't just watch the children squander it!"

Qiuhe disagreed: "It's not wasteful. Once the greenhouse is built, we can grow cucumbers and persimmons in winter, which are rare in the market and sell for a high price!"

"Hey... what do you know, you little kid? Don't listen to that nonsense on TV. Winter is the season for eating cabbage and radishes, who eats cucumbers and persimmons as vegetables?"

Qiuhe retorted, "We still eat it in the summer..."

"How can that be the same? We eat radishes in winter and ginger in summer. There are fixed rules for what to eat in each season. How can we just plant and eat whatever we want? If it snows in June, something strange is bound to happen. I don't think cucumbers grown in greenhouses in winter are anything good!"

Qiuhe pouted and stopped arguing with her. Grandma Qiu, however, looked around to make sure no one was watching, then leaned closer and whispered, "Who says it isn't? I also think it's inappropriate. Ever since the shed was built next to my vegetable garden, old sister, I haven't had a single good day. At night, I dream of the shed collapsing and crushing his father, or of a monster running out of the shed. He'er's parents are discussing borrowing money to build a shed, and I've tried to dissuade them several times, but to no avail. When you get old, your words don't carry any weight..."

"I'm telling you, you absolutely have to dissuade me. A thousand yuan is no small sum. We're just scraping by in the fields; how could we possibly earn a thousand yuan in our entire lives? I've lived to be over seventy and I've never seen that much money..."

The two old sisters were whispering to each other, and Qiuhe frowned, not wanting to listen. She looked around, and suddenly her eyes lit up, and she exclaimed:

"Xia Lin!"

He took off running towards the nearby main road.

Foodie Gu Zhiyuan

Qiu Jianguo and Zhang Hongwei's household registrations had long been transferred to the Hongxing Factory and were no longer under the jurisdiction of Qiujia Village. Naturally, their vegetable plots were also taken back by the village. Qiu Shanglin suddenly decided to build greenhouses, wanting to be the first to develop Qiujia Village, and chose Qiujia Village as the experimental site. After discussing with the village, he bought a plot of vegetable land near the road and started building the greenhouses in full swing.

By the time she returned from Shanghai, the greenhouses had been completed and put into use a few days ago. People from far and near heard that two strange plastic greenhouses had been built in Qiujia Village, and they all came to see them. Some praised them, some were disdainful, and opinions were divided.

With diligent people, the land is never barren. It's summer, the season for vegetable harvest. The vegetable fields stretch as far as the eye can see, with irrigation ditches separated by ridges. Farmers are bent over, working in the fields. You have a row of cucumbers, my neighbor has tomatoes, and his trellis is draped with string beans. A summer breeze blows, and the aroma of fresh vegetables fills the air.

Shanglin was greeting her neighbors as she walked toward the greenhouse when suddenly a thin, dark figure lunged at her, startling her. Upon closer inspection, she recognized him as Qiuhe, the grandson of Grandma Qiu San, who lived behind the old house. Qiuhe had been Qiuxia Lin's childhood friend.

Qiuhe was a sensible child. She obediently called out "Sister Shanglin" and scratched her head shyly, asking, "Are you going to see the vegetable greenhouse?"

Everyone in the village knows that the vegetable greenhouses were built by the Qiu family!

Xia Lin hadn't seen him for a long time and wanted to ask his sister for permission to go out. Shang Lin didn't like to keep him from going out and was about to agree when Qiu He said timidly, "I've never seen a greenhouse before, and I'd like to go in and take a look."

Shang Lin was taken aback for a moment, then replied, "Then let's go together."

Because it was still in the experimental stage, and many farmers came to see the novelty, the constant stream of visitors became a major headache for the specially hired technicians. They eventually issued an order to leave, prohibiting anyone from entering the shed. Many who had traveled from afar to see the novelty were filled with regret, but none could get in and see what was inside the shed.

China has a long history of greenhouse cultivation of vegetables and flowers, but due to limitations in technology and other aspects, it has never seen significant development. Small-scale vegetable greenhouses have existed in the south for some time, but none have achieved large-scale operation. Currently, there are two main types of greenhouses in China: bamboo and wood greenhouses, and prefabricated galvanized steel pipe greenhouses. The former is cheaper, uses readily available materials, and is easier to construct, but it is prone to rotting. Steel pipe greenhouses have a long lifespan, but are very expensive, averaging over ten thousand yuan per mu (approximately 0.16 acres).

Qiu Shanglin is quite wealthy, so he built two steel pipe greenhouses, intending to use them for ten or fifteen years without replacing them.

She invited researchers from the provincial research institute and, through Gu Cheng's connections, invited experienced technicians from a county in the south. She rented a house in the village, and the technicians lived and ate in the fields, teaching the farmers she had hired how to cultivate greenhouse vegetables.

Before even entering the shed, a wave of heat hit us. It was already summer, but the temperature inside seemed several degrees higher than outside, the air humid and stuffy. Technician Xiao Zhang greeted us with a grin: "Oh my, Princess Qiu has arrived! I'm so sorry for not welcoming you sooner, Princess, please forgive me!" He winked and acted like a monkey.

Xia Lin tugged at Chang Sheng's sleeve and giggled.

Xiao Zhang was a technician at the provincial research institute. He came from a poor family and was actually from the same hometown as them. After several encounters, he liked to tease Qiu Shanglin, insisting that she was the eldest princess of the Qiu family and Xia Lin was the youngest prince of the Qiu family, which would always make Shanglin blush.

Xia Lin had just caught her breath after chuckling for a while and was about to say something when she suddenly saw someone behind Xiao Zhang. Her face immediately darkened, she rolled her eyes, and went straight to talk to Chang Sheng and Qiu He.

She asked in surprise, "Gu Zhiyuan?"

Smiling, he spread out his muddy hand—it was none other than Gu Zhiyuan.

After exchanging pleasantries, I learned that he was also on summer vacation and staying at home with nothing important to do. It just so happened that Gu Cheng was inspecting work in the countryside and came to Zifang Town, so he came along to see Qiu Shanglin's vegetable greenhouses.

Shang Lin was startled, thinking Gu Cheng had also arrived in Qiujia Village. He looked around frantically, but Gu Zhiyuan explained that Gu Cheng hadn't come to Qiujia Village; he had gone elsewhere. The town officials said the greenhouses were still in their initial stages, and no results could be seen yet; it would be better to wait until winter to see.

She finally breathed a sigh of relief.

They took Gu Zhiyuan to see the two sheds again.

Xia Lin didn't like him. After saying goodbye to his sister, he dragged Qiu He and Chang Sheng away to play elsewhere.

There are two greenhouses, one for growing vegetables and the other for growing flowers. It's summer, and the technicians are teaching the farmers to roll up the plastic sheeting on the greenhouses for ventilation. Even so, the temperature inside is still two or three degrees higher than outside, and you'll be drenched in sweat after just a short while.

The greenhouse they were looking at mainly grew bell peppers, also known as sweet peppers. Bell peppers are highly nutritious and have a large yield, and since it was during the summer when vegetables were scarce, even though it was only an experimental planting, they were still able to harvest quite a lot. When they were taken to the vegetable wholesale market in the city, they were quickly snapped up.