Heartthrobs can't be unlucky all the time

The next day, the boss did not take Ning Yu to the mountain again. Ning Yu begged the boss to take him to play, but the boss said that the mountain is very windy, don’t catch cold, and take him after a while. Today, the third brother can take Ning Yu to the orchard .

orchard?

Ning Yu became curious again, he hadn't been to the orchard yet.Ning Yu immediately turned his head to look at Zheng Xiujie who was cleaning up the dishes after breakfast.

Zheng Xiujie and Ning Yu were the closest in age, he grinned at Ning Yu, his peach blossom eyes narrowed.

"Ning Yu, today I will take you to visit my "exclusive base". After finishing speaking, he blinked at Ning Yu, who smiled knowingly.

The second child also wanted to follow, but was ordered by the boss to stay at home and study, so he returned to the East Wing with a displeased face.

Ning Yu thought that the second child also wanted to play, and mischievously wandered around in front of the second child with a basket on his back, muttering "We are going to the orchard" and "We are going to pick fruit", which provoked the second child who was sitting on the chair and picked up the pen His heart is itchy, but he doesn't know whether he is itching to go to the orchard to pick fruit, or the naughty Ning Yu.

When Ning Yu came up to him, the second child pinched Ning Yu's face quickly, causing Ning Yu to chase him around the garden several times, trying to teach him a lesson.

The third child took Ning Yu out after washing the dishes. The orchard was on the other side of the village, completely opposite to the road up the mountain. He walked side by side with the third child, and the third child told him the interesting things he encountered in ordinary times. , talking and laughing along the way, we will arrive soon.

The cultivation and maintenance of the orchard are helped by hired long-term workers. In the past, Ning Yu heard from his boss that Xiu Jie’s orchard was only "a few acres", but in fact, it seems that a hill full of fruit trees, Ning Yu thinks that it is more than a few acres. Mu it.

"Didn't brother say that your orchard only has a few acres of land?"

"Yes, there are only a few acres of fruit trees planted in the field."

"Then these?"

Ning Yu pointed to the red and green fruit trees on a hilltop and asked;

"It was planted on the mountain, not in the field."

Ning Yu was unable to refute.

The land here has been divided, which piece of land belongs to which family, but the area on the mountain has not been divided. Many villagers are directly acquiesced in enclosing land on the mountain and planting themselves. This orchard of the Zheng family is just right. Near the mountain, Zheng Xiujie took up half of the mountain and used it to grow fruits.

"But you planted such a large area, no one said you?"

"If you pay the tax, you won't be accused..."

"Come on, I'll take you to the mountains."

Zheng Xiujie didn't explain too much, and directly pulled Ning Yu and started to walk towards the fruit tree area on the mountain. The plum trees here all bear fruit, but the colors are different.

Red, purple, green, different colors, very beautiful.

The third child said that these plum trees have different ripening periods, which is why they have so many colors. There are orange and apricot trees in the field below, and there are only plum trees on the mountain.

"Here, try this." Zheng Xiujie searched for a long time and picked a red plum from a tree and handed it to Ning Yu. This plum was neither the biggest nor the brightest red.

"But it must be the sweetest." Zheng Xiujie said.

While talking, he also loaded the plums he found into Ning Yu's pannier until it covered the bottom of the pan.

Ning Yu took a bite of this red plum lightly. Its skin was very thin, and after one bite, it was full of sweet plum juice. A faint fruity fragrance floated on the tip of the tongue. A little sourness that is not noticeable, but it stimulates the taste buds very much, making the sweet taste more obvious.

Ning Yu's eyes lit up, he ate the plum in small bites, looked at Zheng Xiujie with a smile, the approval in his eyes seemed to say;

"Well, it's really sweet."

Zheng Xiujie's peach blossom eyes also curved nicely.

After eating the plums, Ning Yu followed Zheng Xiujie to inspect the orchard.Ning Yu found that there was a number on each fruit tree. Zheng Xiujie was holding something like an account book in his hand. He checked the numbers on the account book row by row, writing and drawing.

Ning Yu couldn't understand, but he could feel Zheng Xiujie's seriousness, he didn't disturb him casually, but followed behind him.

Sometimes Zheng Xiujie would stop to make a mark, and Ning Yu would also quietly wait behind.

After Zheng Xiujie inspected the entire orchard, it was past noon, and the third child looked at Ning Yu who was almost sunburned by the sun. Ning Yu never complained, and stood alone with a large leaf fan on his back Facing the wind, his heart softened, and he dragged Ning Yu to a thatched shed in the orchard, where the long-term workers usually rested.

The thatched hut is very simple, with a lot of empty bamboo baskets, not even a stool, only a few pieces of cloth on the ground, it seems that it is only for shade and storage.

Zheng Xiujie skillfully pulled Ning Yu to sit in a clean corner of the thatched shed, found a kettle and bowl in his back basket, poured a bowl of water and handed it to Ning Yu.

"The long-term workers are resting today, so the speed of inspection is much slower."

Thirsty, Ning Yu gulped down a big bowl of water and said;

"Do you have to walk like this every day? It's amazing, it's really amazing."

Ning Yu gave Zheng Xiujie a thumbs up.

"Fortunately, I'm used to it, hehe." Zheng Xiujie scratched his head in embarrassment.

Zheng Xiujie took out the sesame pot helmet and cold pheasant chicken that he had made last night from his back basket, and the two enjoyed lunch while chatting. Zheng Xiujie said that he would check the fruit tree grafting and worms in the orchard every once in a while. Once, when he first took over the orchard, dozens of trees died because of worms. The lesson was too profound.

Ning Yu nodded and asked him, what about normal times?

Zheng Xiujie said that in normal times, he and the long-term workers help the fruit trees to fertilize, graft, and cut leaves.

"Every day?"

"Yes, every day. But there are also breaks, haha."

Ning Yu looked at Zheng Xiujie's callused palms, and suddenly felt that this boy who was not much older than himself had always been tougher and more optimistic than he imagined.

Afterwards, Zheng Xiujie packed up the leftover food and dishes from the two of them and put them back in his back basket.

"By the way, Ning Yu, this, how about you try it, I posted it."

Zheng Xiujie took out a piece of yellow-yellow thing from nowhere, and handed it to Ning Yu for him to taste.

Ning Yu took it and smelled it, there was a faint fragrance, and asked;

"what is this?"

"Apricot jerky..."

Ning Yu looked at this yellowish, round and flat piece of flesh, and bit a small piece in his mouth.

At first, there was a sour taste, followed by sweet and sour. After chewing a few more times, the sour taste overflowed. The meat is not very sticky, but rather chewy.

only……

"Well, it's delicious, but it's a little sour...and a little astringent."

Ning Yu's teeth were a little gritty, although he really wanted to encourage the third child, he still expressed his truest thoughts.

"Is it sour? Where, let me taste it."

The third child took the dried apricot meat, bit into the place where Ning Yu had just eaten, and tasted it carefully.

The same taste as Ning Yu appeared in his mouth, it was a bit sour.

He frowned, his face serious.

Ever since Zheng Xiujie pestered Ning Yu and asked Ning Yu to teach him how to make jam last time, he found that the third child was very serious in doing things, and would even study very hard. It's two people.

"About the taste of the fruit, I think of one thing, but that's my own experience, just listen to it."

Ning Yu couldn't bear to see the disappointment on the third child's face, so after thinking about it, he still spoke.

"In the past, my family often bought fruit. Once, I accidentally sprinkled a little salt and chili powder on a piece of peach flesh as sugar. I tasted it by mistake and found that the peach flesh with salt and chili powder was more sweet and sour than the original. The peach flesh has a better texture, a richer palate, and even sweeter."

The first time Ning Yu tasted salty and sweet fruits, he felt very unusual.At that time, there were not many salt grains and chili peppers on the peach meat. The first thing he felt after eating it was a trace of salty and spicy taste and sudden sweetness. Compared with the later sweetness, the salty and spicy taste was actually enough to ignore, but Ning Yu But unexpectedly found that the pulp after adding salt and pepper is obviously sweeter.

"Since the pulp is fine, why not dried fruit?"

"Ning Yu, you mean, add salt and pepper to the preserved fruit?"

Zheng Xiujie has only heard that more sugar should be added to the dried fruit pulp, and salt is also added, so that it will taste sweeter, but chili?This...he had never heard of it.

This candied fruit was also casually mentioned by Ning Yu last time when he taught him how to make jam. He said that the preserved fruit would last longer than jam, but the process would be a little more complicated.

Zheng Xiujie has been practicing making jam at home, and now he can already make very delicious honey plum jam, but before he wanted to make preserved fruit, he secretly tried to dry some apricot meat according to the method Ning Yu said.

He didn't even tell his elder brother the secret of making candied fruit, and he was the first to share it with Ning Yu.

He had never heard of the method of adding salt and pepper, but from Ning Yu's mouth, he actually felt that this method was very feasible.

He told Ning Yu that he would give it a try in the next two days, but today, he was going to take Ning Yu to a place.

a special place.

The two cleaned up the hut, put the basket in the hut, and Zheng Xiujie pulled Ning Yu up to a higher mountain.

They walked through the fruit tree area halfway up the mountain, and then crossed a large section of barren woods to the top of the lush mountain.

Zheng Xiujie took Ning Yu to a big tree. This tree was very tall and thick. Four or five men might not be able to completely circle the tree. There were many branches on it. When Ning Yu looked up, he couldn't see the tree. At the top, only the extended branches and dense leaves are squeezed together.

Zheng Xiujie didn't know where to find a very long stick. He poked a few times on the branch closest to the ground, and a vine-like ladder fell down.

Zheng Xiujie stepped on the vine-wood ladder to climb up, and turned his head specially to let Ning Yu follow him.

Ning Yu was amazed and a little scared, but when Zheng Xiujie's hand was stretched out in front of him, he gritted his teeth and still held the hands in front of him.

I don't know how long I've been climbing, Ning Yu didn't dare to look down, and could only follow Zheng Xiujie to climb up step by step. When Zheng Xiujie stopped, Ning Yu looked up again and found that there was actually a small tree house on this big tree.

Zheng Xiujie pulled Ning Yu into the tree house, and Ning Yu saw clearly that the tree house was actually made of branches, and the space inside was not particularly large, only a thin quilt and a small box were placed, but It was more than enough for the two of them to sit side by side in the tree house.

This is the first time they have been together in one place alone.

Zheng Xiujie brought the small box over, and after opening it, Ning Yu who was next to him saw a slingshot, a dagger, and many black stones inside.

The dagger was very sharp. Zheng Xiujie picked up the dagger and chopped off some branches in front of the tree house, revealing the scenery outside the branches.

It was only then that Ning Yu realized that the big tree was really tall. Sitting in the tree house near the top of the tree, he could overlook the village at the foot of the mountain, the village city in the distance, and even the cloudy mountain peak.

He was attracted by the scenery in front of him, climbed high and looked into the distance, and his wide-open vision brightened his mood instantly, and he felt a sense of comfort and joy in his heart. Blown by the whistling mountain wind, he felt free like a bird flying on the top of the clouds. .

Zheng Xiujie put thin quilts on the two of them and said;

"The wind blowing here for a long time will make you catch a cold. It will be better if you put it on."

Ning Yu tightened the quilt on his side, and asked him with a smile;

"This is your "special" place? "

"Haha, yes, what do you think?"

"I feel very free here. Did you make this tree house yourself?"

"Ah."

"Two years ago, when my eldest brother handed over the management rights of the orchard to me, I traveled all over the hill next to the land and found that the soil halfway up the hill was more suitable for planting fruit trees. I also found that this tall and big Tree. I still have a special skill, let me show you."

As he said that, Zheng Xiujie took out the slingshot from the small box. He put a black stone on the slingshot, narrowed one eye, aimed at a certain position, and bounced it out.

As soon as the short whistling sound passed, the branch in front of the tree house broke down and fell down.

Ning Yu's eyes widened. From the broken section of the branch, it could be seen that the branch was still as thick as an arm, and Zheng Xiujie broke it off with a small stone without any effort.

"You are too powerful."

"Show me now."

Ning Yu took the slingshot in Zheng Xiujie's hand, and also took a stone, imitating Zheng Xiujie's accumulating force to aim and launch it.

bingo!

Hit a leaf.

The leaves shook twice and returned to their original shape.

Ning Yu pouted, and returned the slingshot to Zheng Xiujie sullenly.

Zheng Xiujie laughed, his peach blossom eyes narrowed. He explained to Ning Yu that using a slingshot requires ingenuity, and it's not enough to just pop it out all the time.

"Let me teach you."

Zheng Xiujie leaned against Ning Yu's back, covered Ning Yu with his whole body, held Ning Yu's hands with his hands, whispered in Ning Yu's ear, held his breath, and pulled back hard.

Ning Yu was held by Zheng Xiujie's fingers, and he aimed the slingshot at another branch.

"Crack..."

The branch fell instantly with a large section of leaves.

"Wow, wow, it's hit! Look, third child!"

Ning Yu shouted excitedly, pointed to the branch for Zheng Xiujie to see, turned his head, and directly touched Zheng Xiujie's neck.

The two remained motionless for a moment.

Because, Ning Yu's lips just touched Zheng Xiujie's Adam's apple.