Riding the wind of rebirth

“Both of them have already chosen their thesis topics,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “Besides, with Xin Yi’s abilities, there’s no need for anyone to worry about her, and Ye Xin needs even less. She’s just waiting to graduate and become a teacher in Shanghai.”

"On the contrary, the commander-in-chief gave up the opportunity to be recommended for postgraduate studies at the Third Military Medical University and is preparing to take the entrance exam for postgraduate studies at the Second Military Medical University. I don't know if it will be too late." Zhou Zhi said this with some concern.

"I heard you were the one who found the connections?" Yan Xiao asked.

"It doesn't really matter. Wenyu has to get in first. The Second Military Medical University is a medical university under the Navy system. When she gets in, the Navy uncles can help her with choosing a mentor."

"I believe Wenyu can definitely do it," He Shiqing said with a smile, "because of the power of love!"

"Haha, the most romantic thing I can think of is growing old with you?" Zhou Zhi laughed. "For that, I guess Wen Yu will have to go all out."

"How about we sing one of these together?" Liang Hong suggested. "Is this considered a folk song?"

“I think it’s not wrong to interpret it as a folk song,” Zhou Zhi said with a smile. “Then let’s go with this one.”

The most romantic thing I can think of
Just growing old together with you

Collect every bit of laughter along the way

We can talk about it later while sitting in rocking chairs.

The most romantic thing I can think of
Just growing old together with you

Until we're too old to go anywhere
You still treat me like a precious treasure...

This song was released by Zhao Yonghua in 1994, and she really made a living off one song for a lifetime. After that, she basically didn't release any other influential singles.

The song is accompanied by strings and piano, with acoustic guitar added in the chorus. These are all common folk accompaniment styles, but the solo guitar accompaniment immediately brings out the folk feel. The only downside is that the melody is slightly gentle and delicate, lacking the simplicity and directness of traditional folk music.

However, girls nowadays really like this song. Zhou Zhi thinks that if Phoenix TV hadn't played it every day, causing everyone to get tired of it, the song would have received even higher praise.

Over the next few days, everyone enjoyed themselves around the hot springs, exploring, picking fruits and vegetables, fishing, and cooking delicious food together. After they were full, they went horseback riding, swimming, and taking photos. They had a wonderful time.

The forests in autumn are rich in resources, and surprises are often found.

As autumn deepens, mushrooms in high-altitude mountains, especially wood-growing mushrooms, enter their final frenzy. In other places, the dry season has arrived, and the soil is dry, so mushrooms don't grow very well. But this mountain, enveloped in the misty steam of hot springs, is an exception.

Because of the relatively high altitude in this area, tree mushrooms grow very well, including oyster mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms, hazel mushrooms, and honey fungus.

In addition to these highly productive tree mushrooms, there are also other species such as Boletus edulis, Boletus edulis, and Chanterelle, which thrive at the base of oak and oak shrubs.

As for termite mushrooms and matsutake mushrooms, they are out of season and rarely found, but that doesn't matter anymore, because the mushrooms that can be found now are the ones that Zhouzhi likes.

Since they couldn't finish the mushrooms, Zhouzhi and Azi built a grill together. They sliced ​​the mushrooms, blanched them, skewered them, and grilled them into dried mushrooms. Rehydrating the dried mushrooms afterward actually helps release their aroma compounds, making them perfect for braising meat or making soup.

There are also many chestnuts and walnuts in the mountains. Chestnuts are encased in shells with long spiky edges, while walnuts are covered in a thick shell. In ancient times, that shell was used as a dye, which would stain hands. Therefore, the boys need to prepare these two foods that girls like to eat. After the chestnuts are picked, they are cracked open with stones. After the chestnuts are removed, they need to be processed a second time, otherwise they are very difficult to peel.

Nail two wooden sticks onto the cutting board, with one end close to the other and the other open. This way, no matter the size of the chestnuts, you can find a place to hold them in place. Then, you can easily use a knife to cut a cross on the chestnuts, and the wooden sticks will stop the knife from cutting the chestnuts.

After that, you can process it. Add a bowl of water to a pot, add sugar and oil, and simmer the chestnuts until the water evaporates. The chestnut shells will burst open on their own, resulting in delicious and easy-to-peel braised chestnuts.

More often than not, girls would simply rinse the cooked chestnuts in cold water and then peel and eat them. The small chestnuts from the mountains have a richer flavor than the large chestnuts sold outside, and they taste great even when cooked and eaten directly.

The walnuts in the mountains are too hard and the kernels are small. Yan Xiao is clever. He heated a thick iron wire until it was red-hot and then flattened it to make a scoop for the girls so they could pick them out to eat. This earned him praise from everyone.

Besides chestnuts and walnuts, there are also many persimmons.

Persimmons are rich in tannins, which makes them astringent, so they need to be processed before eating.

The method is quite simple: soak the persimmons in salt water, and use osmotic pressure to release the tannins in the persimmons, making them crisp and sweet.

This process would take several days in cold water, but since there are hot springs here, it doesn't take as long. Just put the bucket of salt water containing the persimmons into the hot spring, and the hot spring will keep the salt water warm. The persimmons will be ready in just one day.

Whether it's chestnuts or persimmons, eating too much can easily lead to gastrointestinal discomfort and constipation. Therefore, Zhou Zhi advises everyone not to eat too much, and to increase the intake of vegetables and fruits in each meal.

There is a very delicious fruit in the mountains now – kiwifruit.

Kiwifruit is plentiful in this area, so plentiful that people don't need to pick unripe kiwifruit to ripen them; they only need to pick the ripe ones to eat, and they can't finish them all.

Besides the roots of the rhizome and the leeks, there are actually quite a few other vegetables available.

For example, some ferns sprouted a month ago because they misunderstood the climate and thought spring had arrived. These ferns, with their fresh cucumber flavor, surprised those who were used to the slightly bitter ferns from Jiachuan.

As a result, Feng Xueshan created a dish of cucumber strips mixed with pickled mustard greens, which everyone eats almost every meal.

In addition, there are mallow and amaranth. Wild amaranth is called "fanzhi amaranth". The best time to pick it is actually in June and July. However, now in warm waterside areas, there are also many wild amaranths that are still tender and edible.

Mallow is in season right now, when it's fresh, tender and plump. In ancient times, this vegetable was considered a "health-preserving vegetable." Taoist priests who took elixirs would eat it for a month, which was actually used to regulate their digestive system and detoxify.

Besides these benefits, it also tastes great, so it's good to eat more of it.

In addition, there are water celery, purslane, and bamboo leaf vegetable, all of which can be harvested and eaten in all four seasons.

There is another type of ginseng called "Tu Renshen" (土人参), whose tender leaves are also delicious. The taste is very similar to that of the red phoenix vegetable, which is called "Xue Pi Cai" (血皮菜) by the people of Jiachuan, and it is also very popular.

As a result, after several days, apart from the meat being consumed relatively quickly, the vegetables brought by Zhouzhi were hardly used up. On the contrary, the stock of mountain products such as dried mushrooms, crisp persimmons, kiwis, chestnuts, and walnuts increased significantly. (End of Chapter)