Splendid peasant girl busy farming

Chapter 12110

After being stripped of his dignity by Wang Cuilian's scolding, Luo the blacksmith felt extremely guilty, and his old face turned bright red.

After hesitating for a while, he gave an awkward laugh and said, "Okay, okay, I'll do the examination. I'll do whatever Dr. Gu tells me to do."

When Yang Ruoqing and Luo Fengtang heard that Luo the blacksmith had finally relented and was willing to cooperate with the doctor, the couple exchanged a glance, and their hearts, which had been hanging in suspense, were finally put at ease.

No matter what the final outcome is, as long as my uncle is willing to cooperate with the doctor's treatment, that's fine.

Besides, my uncle doesn't have any serious illnesses; his condition is mainly a consequence of excessive grief.

With Dr. Gu's excellent medical skills, my uncle's cooperation, the use of the best medicine, and the provision of ample nutrition, my uncle should be able to recover.

"That's good, everyone. Come on, everyone, sit down and take a break." Wang Cuilian put on a bright smile and began to warmly welcome everyone.

"Dr. Gu, when would you like to schedule a diagnosis for my uncle?" Yang Ruoqing asked.

Doctor Gu said, "Anytime is fine, as long as it's convenient for the old master."

Luo the blacksmith said, "You've just come from the county town, you must be tired from your journey. Let's rest first, then have lunch. After lunch, we can have a proper diagnosis, okay?"

Dr. Gu said, "I'm fine with anything. I'll follow the old master's arrangements."

Luo the blacksmith told Wang Cuilian to hurry up and prepare lunch, making sure it was plentiful. Wang Cuilian clapped her hands and laughed, saying, "Don't worry about it, I've got it covered!"

"And another thing," Luo the blacksmith added, "go next door and call Lao San, go to the Sun family and call Xiao Jie's father and the others over, to have a couple of drinks with Doctor Gu on my behalf."

Luo the blacksmith had quit smoking and drinking almost three years ago. Everyone among his relatives and friends knew this, so when they gathered for meals, they wouldn't drink with Luo the blacksmith, and they would all take care of the old man's health.

“Of course, you don’t even need to tell me, I’ll send Xingwang to call him in a bit,” Wang Cuilian said.

"No need to call us, we're here." Yang Huazhong and Xiaojie's father's voices rang out at the entrance of the main room. Besides the two of them, Sun Shi and Da Sun Shi followed behind.

“When we heard the sound of the carriage and the children’s voices, we knew you were back, so we came to see you,” said Mrs. Sun with a smile.

They knew that Luo Fengtang and Yang Ruoqing had canceled their trip to Jiuhua Mountain. They also knew that the couple had another important reason for going to Wanghai County: to ask a doctor to come back and diagnose Luo the blacksmith.

"Father, Mother, Uncle, you've come at the right time. I bought some fruit, come in and have some."

"Oh dear, how can we eat fruit without me? I've come over here several times today!" Liu's hearty laughter rang out at the courtyard gate, and she quickly entered the Luo family's courtyard.

Whether it's one person or a group, it's still hospitality. Yang Ruoqing greeted Liu Shi and led the way to wash the jujubes for everyone.

The atmosphere at the Luo family's house this morning was really good; it was the best atmosphere we'd had in over ten days.

It used to be just like this, but recently it's been an exception. I just hope it can continue to get back on track in the future.

Yang Ruoqing personally prepared lunch, as she brought back a lot of vegetables from the county town, and also bought eels and river shrimp.

I bought a leg of lamb, and several large flatfish and yellowtail.

Yellowtail is a specialty of Wanghai County. It is a carnivorous fish with sharp teeth and hard dorsal fins. Unlike other fish, it needs to be torn down from the mouth.

If you're a complete beginner, you might end up hurting your hands, but for Yang Ruoqing, doing these things is incredibly easy.

Yang Ruoqing made a slightly spicy stewed yellow croaker and tofu.

The saying goes, "Tofu needs to be boiled a thousand times, fish a thousand times." Other dishes might fall apart and lose their shape if stewed together, but tofu is truly amazing.

When it was used as food, it was trembling and so soft that it seemed that you could poke two holes in it with the slightest bit of force.

In many situations, it is used to tease someone for being so fragile that they are like tofu, or to say that you can't lift tofu with a rope, you're a blockhead who can't be lifted!
However, when you actually put it in a soup pot to stew, the tofu really does become more and more firm and flavorful the longer it stews, eventually even absorbing all the essence of the ingredients.

It is rich in plant protein and suitable for all ages, making it truly the best dish.

In addition, Yang Ruoqing brought back a large flatfish, which she planned to cook with river shrimp. It would be fragrant and spicy, and sprinkled with cilantro or wild water celery when it was done. This is a famous river seafood stew, and in this southern region with many lakes, it is definitely a top-notch dish for entertaining guests.

Eel must be stewed with leftover cured pork ribs from the Lunar New Year. The former emphasizes freshness and the latter pursues saltiness and aroma.

When the two come together and clash in the pot, they will definitely produce an even more unexpected and delicious flavor!

The lamb leg was easy to prepare. Yang Ruoqing used a sharp dagger to cut off nearly a pound and a half of lean meat from the surface of the lamb leg, preparing to slice it thinly and stir-fry it together with green and red peppers, ginger, garlic, pickled peppers, etc. When it was done, she sprinkled some cumin on it. A stir-fried lamb would definitely be a great dish to eat with rice.

The remaining meat from the lamb leg is chopped into pieces and stewed together with the lamb leg to make a broth that is the color of milk, and two white radishes are added to it.

Cut the white radish into large chunks, add a handful of nourishing red goji berries, and give it to my uncle, father, maternal uncle, and Dr. Gu to drink. It's very good for men's vitality.

What?
Why won't Luo Fengtang drink?

Well, it's not that I wouldn't give it to him, but I wouldn't give it to him intentionally. Given his physical condition, he accidentally drank a bowl of sea cucumber and wolfberry soup at a restaurant a couple of days ago, and Yang Ruoqing was the one who 'suffered'.

Yang Ruoqing turned a blind eye to the lamb bone soup with goji berries added. If he wanted to drink it, she wouldn't stop him. But if he didn't want to drink it, Yang Ruoqing would never try to persuade him to.

Yang Ruoqing was in charge of cooking these four main dishes, while the other dishes were left to Shaoyao and Linglan.

In addition to cooking white rice, we also steamed sweet potatoes and old pumpkins. When they were done cooking, we put them in a separate earthenware pot and brought them to the table together.

Steamed sweet potatoes, old pumpkins, and corn are called "steamed five grains harvest" here, which means that the harvest in the fields will be good and there will be everything.

"Wow, these dishes are really hearty! Every single one of them is a real treat, comparable to the New Year!" Just before dinner was about to start, Liu strolled over to the Luo family's kitchen.

"Tsk tsk, what kind of soup is this? It looks like milk, so appetizing!" Liu's eyes immediately fell on the mutton soup simmering on the small clay stove next to her.

Yang Ruoqing smiled and said, "Fourth Aunt, you are so knowledgeable in this area, I don't believe you don't recognize it. Don't play dumb!" Liu laughed and said, "Qing'er, the winter dates you washed and fed me earlier tasted so good, much better than the wild dates we picked ourselves in the old forest behind the village in the fall!"

Yang Ruoqing said, "I don't think the taste is necessarily better than wild jujubes, but the size is definitely much larger than wild jujubes."

The winter jujubes she brought back from the county town were all about the size of milk jujubes from later generations, and she didn't know what variety they were from in this world.

"Qing'er, spring is almost here. Are you going to plant fruit trees in your yard today?" Liu asked suddenly.

"Fourth Aunt, what do you mean by that? Do you have any plans?" Yang Ruoqing also became interested. It has to be said that the Luo family's front and back yards are very large. In her earlier years, to be precise, before she turned 35, Yang Ruoqing didn't have much interest in planning the front and back yards. She left it all to other family members.

But since she turned 35, even though she took good care of herself and took the Dragon Cloud Pill that Luo Fengtang found, she still looks like she's in her early 20s.

However, Long Yundan repaired Yang Ruoqing's appearance, not her mindset; her inner soul remained in sync with her age.

Therefore, the planting genes engraved in the bones of the Chinese people were awakened at the right time. Now, when she sees those empty spaces in her yard and a whole row of empty spaces at the base of the wall, she feels that something is missing.

Now that Liu had asked her this, Yang Ruoqing finally understood what exactly was missing!

Plant fruit trees and flowers!

“Qing’er, it’s like this, I’m planning to have Kang buy some fruit trees to plant in the courtyard of the new house in the fourth house,” Liu continued.

"There's no place to plant it at the old house, so it's perfect to plant it at the new house. In two or three years, it will be full of fruit. Whether we sell it or eat it ourselves, it will be great."

"I just wanted to ask you, do you want to go buy fruit trees together?"

"Okay, I want to buy one too, but the question is, where do we buy it?"

Liu laughed, "Wang Wei's family, Xiu Xiu's family, they're just in the business of selling tree seedlings!"

"Is their main business potted plants? The potted plants for the restaurants in town used to be all sourced from them," Yang Ruoqing said. Since Xiuxiu officially married into the family, the potted plant business in the backyard of the county restaurant has also been handed over to Wang Wei's family.

In addition, whether in the town or the county seat, any merchant family, rich man, or gentry who had any connection with the Luo family or had business dealings with the Luo family's restaurant, gave Wang Wei's business for decorating the potted plants in their courtyards.

On this point, Wang Wei and his son understood very well why these orders came to them so readily.

So, when Wang Wei and Xiu Xiu went back to her parents' home a while ago, they brought two boxes of gifts to the Luo family. They said that Wang Wei's father had asked a friend in the business world to bring back local specialties from other places, as a gift for Luo the blacksmith and Wang Cuilian...

“Qing’er, if it’s sunny and doesn’t rain tomorrow, I’ll go to town with Kang in the morning. I’ll go take a look at the Wang family’s garden!” Liu said again.

“Sure, Fourth Aunt, you go ahead and make a run for it. If you find any fruit trees or flowering trees that you like, I’ll go and pick some out for you too.”

……

When they went to bed that night, Yang Ruoqing told Luo Fengtang about her plan.

Luo Fengtang suddenly said, "Speaking of planting fruit trees in the spring, I almost forgot something, which was originally meant to be told to you."

"What's up?"

"Last December, when I was on my way home for the Spring Festival, I passed through Changhuai Prefecture and accidentally discovered a place that did gardening. The owner must have been very experienced in that area, as he had practically taken over the entire hilltop."

"I was thinking, if the fruit trees and flowering trees at Wang Wei's house meet Qing'er's standards, we'll buy them locally. If not, we'll go to Changhuaizhou to choose some, and we can treat it as another trip!"

Yang Ruoqing's eyes lit up as she listened, and all she could do was nod.

"Okay, okay, let's wait for Auntie's news!"

That night, Yang Ruoqing barely slept, constructing a 3D dynamic map in her mind, including the open spaces in the front and back yards of her house, as well as the nearly 50-square-meter courtyard in front of their dormitory.

She wanted to plant roses, to fill the small courtyard wall next to the dormitory with climbing roses, all kinds of colors, and then to plan out plots of land in the corners of the wall to plant lilies.

When the lilies wither in autumn, chrysanthemums are planted in the place where the lilies once were.

Then, in late autumn when the chrysanthemums wither, tulip bulbs are planted in the same spot. After a long winter, the tulips will sprout leaves around this time next year, and before the rapeseed flowers bloom, the tulips will be in full bloom. Her little courtyard is a sea of ​​flowers all year round. Every day when she wakes up and opens the doors and windows, what she sees is like a beautiful picture created by AI. It's so pleasing to the eye!
The next morning, Liu, for the first time ever, didn't sleep in and went to town with Kang and the others.

Liu returned home after having lunch at Wang Wei's house. When she returned, Wang Wei's family took her back to Changping Village in a mule cart.

Liu sat in the front of the mule cart, while the back of the cart was loaded with several fruit tree seedlings still attached to large clumps of soil. The mule cart drove directly into the new house of the fourth family next door.

A little while later, Liu came over and called Yang Ruoqing over to take a look.

"Qing'er, look! I bought several kinds of fruit trees!"

Liu pointed to the stack of fruit tree seedlings piled up in the middle of the yard and excitedly introduced them to Yang Ruoqing.

"This is a peach tree, this is an orange tree, this is a jujube tree, this is a pomegranate tree, this is a loquat tree, this is a mulberry tree..."

"Wow, Auntie, you're so extravagant! You dug up so many fruit tree seedlings, I can't even imagine what a magnificent sight it will be when they bloom and bear fruit next year!"

Yang Ruoqing was truly amazed by Liu's competence this time, and had to give her a thumbs up, especially since she even managed to get loquats and mulberries!

"Those pomegranates don't taste very good, but the pomegranate flowers are really beautiful, quite rare!" Liu said, her face beaming, as she enthusiastically described the flowers.

Yang Ruoqing nodded repeatedly. She had seen pomegranate flowers before; they were bright red and hung lushly on the branches, truly a sight to behold.

The key point is that the Liu family is very generous; they bought not just one, but three to five fruit trees of the same variety. This really means they are going to achieve fruit freedom.

“The other trees are fine, but this peach tree isn’t very good, is it?” Wang Cuilian, Sun Shi, and Da Sun Shi had all come over to check the fruit tree seedlings after hearing the commotion.

At this moment, it was the eldest Sun who raised this question.