CHAPTER 374: CHAPTER 87: FARMING DELIGHTS AND SURPRISES (PART 2)

After bringing it home, Feng Xing said that Xiao Xian was coming back, so he wasn’t in a rush to cook. He dripped a few drops of vegetable oil into the basin. Overnight, the river snails spat out all the nasty stuff in their stomachs until they were squeaky clean. After trimming off the snail tails and stir-frying them on high heat with chili pepper, the taste was absolutely fantastic. Even Zeng Xuerou, who seldom ate river delicacies, couldn’t care less about manners and abandoned her chopsticks to snatch them with her hands and Xiao Xian.

"Uncle, what’s this thing?" The item Xiao Xian picked up was a small green glutinous rice dumpling. Northern people liked flour-based food, but such small glutinous rice treats were rare. Beneath Xiao Xian’s dumpling was a piece of Youzi leaf.

"I know this, my grandma made this for me before. It’s called Qingming Dumpling. Speaking of which, Tomb-Sweeping Festival is coming soon," said Xiao Xian. There were two types of Qingming Dumplings on the table: one was savory, with finely chopped pork, shiitake mushrooms, green onions, and dried tofu inside. The other was sweet, with ground sesame, peanuts, and a few pieces of pork fat. As soon as you bit into it, the hot sesame oil would flow out and fill your mouth.

The trimmed round Youzi leaves below not only added a fragrant aroma to the Qingming Dumplings but also made it convenient to eat after steaming, killing two birds with one stone.

"Is Xuerou also from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area?" Zhuo Feng said excitedly. These Qingming Dumplings are traditional snacks from Wenzhou, Zhejiang, made with a wild herb called "grass velvet" that grows during the Qingming season. They are boiled, their juice extracted, and then mixed into the glutinous rice flour to make these dumplings, generally for ancestor worship during Tomb-Sweeping Festival.

Zhuo Feng found some grass velvet while clearing weeds on the farm and remembered the Tomb-Sweeping Festival scenes from his childhood. That’s why he made this special Qingming Cake, the one snack he dares to compete with Feng Xing with confidence.

These two dishes had already made the three girls who were tired of the school cafeteria food sing praises.

After the meal, even Zhang Yiyi, who usually had a good appetite, complained that she couldn’t eat anymore. However, the countryside nights are long, and after a full meal, it’s necessary to digest. Zhang Yiyi then persuaded Xiao Xian to continue their sweet potato roasting plan.

Xiao Xian grabbed a hoe and dug a pit in the open space of the farm, lined it thickly with straw. Zhang Yiyi placed the cleaned sweet potatoes on top and then covered them with more dry straw to light a fire.

When the flames rose, Xiao Xian recalled the last time she roasted sweet potatoes, which was on a patch of Immortal Field in Yunteng Sect. The sweet potatoes were cooked, but it also ended up burning down most of Yun Qing’s Immortal Field, resulting in a punishment.

"What are you thinking about? Don’t just stare at the fire, Xiao Xian. I see your aunt doesn’t seem too happy tonight. It’s not because we came without giving notice, and she’s upset, right?" Zeng Xuerou always noticed the details. Even if she had forgotten herself over a basin of river snails, she was quick to observe the mood and behavior of everyone around her.

Xiao Xian hurriedly said it wasn’t the case and then peeked into the kitchen to see Zhuo Feng silently washing dishes, feeling that something indeed wasn’t quite right. Given her aunt’s character, she would have joined in the fun at the sight of the roasting fire.

"Xiao Xian, why are the sweet potatoes in your family’s field so small?" It was Zhang Yiyi’s first time staying on a farm and a rare chance to explore, so of course, she was curious and poked around. When no one was paying attention, she ended up pulling up a sweet potato plant from the field.

"Zhang Yiyi, I suspect you have ADHD. Why are you pulling up someone’s planted crops?" Xuerou scolded. If it weren’t dark enough, Zhang Yiyi swore she could see a green face.

"No worries, there are plenty of sweet potato sprouts in the farm; they grow pretty well," Xiao Xian reassured her. But upon glancing at the sweet potatoes, she couldn’t overlook what she saw.

The sweet potato sprouts were wilting, not from lack of water or being dried out, but just drooping languidly.

After Zhuo Feng finished washing the dishes and wiped his hands, he came out. The sweet potatoes were still roasting in the straw, and the three girls stood in a corner of the yard, apparently discussing something.

"Don’t stand in the yard. It’s April, and there are lots of mosquitoes in the suburbs. Come inside quickly. Your aunt has made the beds for you," urged Zhuo Feng, coaxing the girls to go inside.

"Aunt, did you and uncle clear all the weeds in the farm?" Xiao Xian remembered that Zhuo Feng always preferred green and pesticide-free produce when buying vegetables. But why were there chemicals on the sweet potato sprouts in the farm?

"We both cleared them. Don’t worry about the farm," Zhuo Feng said with a quick glance at the sweet potato field, sighing inwardly.

"Oh," Xiao Xian hid the sweet potato sprout in her hand and went into the house with Zhang Yiyi and Zeng Xuerou.

Bai Juyi was thoughtful when repairing the farmhouse, specially preserving the large Northern-style kang bedstead. When Feng Xing renovated the house, the builder praised the well-made kang, suggesting it was a shame to tear it down, so he advised Feng Xing to keep it.

That preservation turned out to be very useful tonight.

It was April, and the weather was not cold but slightly cool. The large kang could accommodate three people without feeling crowded and was quite spacious and warm.

Zeng Xuerou had never slept on such a large kang, and Zhang Yiyi found it even more fascinating. She switched positions several times; the three of them chatted until midnight before falling asleep.

When the night was quiet, rain suddenly fell from the sky. Upon closer inspection, there was something unusual about the size of the rain—it only covered an area of about ten acres, and the rain was drizzling down. Above the sky, a white Jiao Long swam through the clouds.

And at that moment, Xi Lijuan, who had been waiting by the phone for several days, received a call from her son, Zhou Ziang, "Ziang, you scared me to death; why haven’t you called for so many days?"

"Mom, I’m just back in the country, don’t worry too much," Zhou Ziang ended the call after speaking.

"Ang, why didn’t you tell your mother that I’ll be returning with you?" Aisha, standing beside Zhou Ziang, pouted in dissatisfaction.

"There’s no need. We’re just ordinary partners for now, that’s all," Zhou Ziang didn’t say more and went through the airport security checkpoint. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)