CHAPTER 230: CHAPTER 222 RIVERSIDE DELICACIES

"Eating pear flowers has such an effect?" Han Qiwu was a bit surprised. Perfect for Tang Qingying to eat—summer is coming soon, and it’s easy to get a tan.

As for himself?

Bronzed skin is the romance of men!

After checking the attributes, he finally understood why there were so many pear flowers.

Poor quality made up for with quantity.

For a cold plate of pear flower salad, at least fifty or sixty blossoms are needed. Adding them up equals forty or fifty attribute points.

That aligns with the recovery amount of Silver Star quality items.

Keep picking!

Pear flowers can be made into salads, soups, or mixed into scrambled eggs to make pear flower omelets.

No need to worry about overharvesting.

As he was picking pear flowers, Han Qiwu glanced enviously at the willow sprouts on the nearby willow tree.

Since pear flowers have such good attributes, willow sprouts would likely be decent too.

After about twenty minutes of picking, Han Qiwu’s inventory now had [Pear Flowers] ×92, and his bag was stuffed with ordinary pear flowers too.

"Mr. Tang, I’m heading over to pick willow sprouts now too." Han Qiwu called out, jumped down from the tree, and ran to the nearby drooping willow.

In Tang Qingying’s basket, there were already quite a few willow sprouts. Each sprout was elongated, with a fresh green hue tinged with gold, looking utterly adorable.

"Pick the ones with only two leaves—they should be plump," Tang Qingying meticulously instructed Han Qiwu. "These have the best taste." After she finished speaking, she reached into Han Qiwu’s bag, pulled out two pear flowers, sniffed them near her nose, and smiled a compliment: "Smells amazing."

"Right? It’ll be even better when we make a cold salad tonight." Han Qiwu nodded in agreement.

Walking up to the dangling willow branches, Han Qiwu customarily plucked some ordinary willow sprouts first before carefully picking a glowing willow sprout.

[Willow Sprout (Silver Star Quality)]

[Stamina Value +1.5]

[HP +1]

[Special Effect - Calming: Consuming this can dispel anxiety, soothe nerves, and stabilize emotions]

[Note: It’s a willow sprout!]

Similar to pear flowers, willow sprouts also win out with quantity—the recovery effect per piece isn’t significant.

But their special effect was perfect for Mr. Tang’s condition.

Ever since he had misstepped earlier, Mr. Tang’s face had been slightly pale, clearly shaken.

Originally, Han Qiwu planned to use honey to calm him down back home, but unexpectedly came across willow sprouts here.

At lunch later, he’d figure out a way to cook them!

After another ten minutes of picking, Aunt Hong Mei called out from the wide slope: "Xiao Han! Qingying! Let’s go, if you want more, come back later. We’re riding a motorcycle, not a truck!"

"Coming, coming," Tang Qingying said with a laugh. "If Han Qiwu could fly a plane, it’d be so convenient to come and go."

Han Qiwu: "..."

That’s not something just anyone can do, right?

Before leaving, he made sure to mark the location on the map, so the Little Prince could come back later to pick more.

Following the wide slope northward for over a hundred meters, Aunt Hong Mei stopped, put down her sickle, and reached for the nearby ruò leaves.

Ruò leaves were actually the southern version of zong leaves, while northern zong leaves were often reed leaves instead.

Thriving well in the mountains, the ruò stalks grew up to 1.5 meters tall, and the leaves were broad and lush. Similar to bamboo shoots, they had bracts too, and one had to be careful when picking the leaves to avoid injuries.

"The weather’s been great this year. The leaves are really gorgeous—let’s pick a few and make zongzi back home," Aunt Hong Mei said with a smile. "You both don’t need to pick—you can just wait; once I make them, I’ll send some over for you."

"Thank you, Auntie," Han Qiwu said with a grin, not rejecting the offer.

Hearing this, Tang Qingying swallowed hard. "Auntie, I brought pig hocks and pork belly in my trunk. Grab it when we head back."

Han Qiwu looked perplexed.

Tang Qingying noticed his expression and said boldly, "I thought we’d be able to use the ingredients to barbecue up here."

"Mr. Tang, hocks can’t exactly be grilled," Han Qiwu said with mild exasperation. "Let’s figure it out back home."

"Alright," Tang Qingying nodded. While her cooking skills were average, she was self-aware.

"You cook, I eat."

After picking a dozen ruò leaves, Aunt Hong Mei placed them by the roadside, then continued leading Han Qiwu and Tang Qingying further ahead.

As they delved deeper into the mountains, the air turned fresher, invigorating their steps.

"Auntie, where are we headed now? What are we picking?" Tang Qingying asked curiously.

"You’ll know soon enough," Aunt Hong Mei said with a playful smile.

Han Qiwu didn’t bother asking—he had already heard it.

"Splash, splash."

The subtle sound of flowing water reached them from the mountain stream. The sound was steady; it seemed like they weren’t too far from the source.

As they walked forward, Tang Qingying also heard the rushing water and guessed, "Are we going to catch snails?"

"Exactly," Aunt Hong Mei said with a laugh. "The snails in these mountain waters drink from the freshest currents. As long as we find the right spot, they’re clean and delicious."

"Then we could make snail noodles, right?" Tang Qingying’s eyes lit up, smiling gleefully.

"Of course. You can easily find rice noodles—they’re sold at the town market," Han Qiwu replied, nodding.

Walking along the edge of the river, the trio arrived at the spot where Aunt Hong Mei used to gather snails.

A natural slate lay flat by the riverside. One lie-down on the slab offered a clear view of the pristine water below, where small snails dotted the scenery. As Aunt Hong Mei had described, their shells were clean, with only minor traces of water weeds.

Glancing around, Han Qiwu even spotted seven or eight glowing snails. Compared to the other snails, the glowing ones were noticeably bigger.

"Aren’t these too big? Might be a bit tough to eat," Han Qiwu muttered as he reached into the stream to scoop up the larger snails.

"Cause of death: Too old," Tang Qingying joked nearby, giggling. "For big ones like that, you’ll probably have to extract the meat to eat—otherwise, they’ll be hard to chew."

After collecting them, Han Qiwu checked their attributes.

[Male Snail]

[Cannot be placed in fish ponds]

[Stamina Value +60]

[HP +20]

[Note: Its shell can be made into feed]

[Female Snail]

[Can be placed in fish ponds]

[Stamina Value +60]

[HP +20]

[Output: Male Snail, Female Snail]

[Note: Snail larvae have high survival rates]

After gathering, he ended up with [Male Snail] ×4 and [Female Snail] ×2.

"Let’s eat these four later—the other two I’ll take back and keep for fun," Han Qiwu arranged nonchalantly.

Snails that can’t spawn are useless.

"How do we eat them later?" Tang Qingying asked eagerly.

"We’ll see. There’s still plenty of time—who knows what else we might encounter," Han Qiwu said, leaning over to pick more small snails.

Stir-frying these with chili later and savoring them slowly would be delightful.