Song Tan's Notes

To be honest, Teacher Tang wouldn't really bother with anything else, but commenting on people or talking badly about them like this... ugh!

She loves it!
The old lady has a sharp tongue, but she usually tries to keep it to herself.

She even proudly said, "Don't think I'm too old to keep up with the times. I know all about the dating live streams and observers that you young people watch nowadays."

We just didn't open a live stream to give our opinions; otherwise, we would have said better than them, and they would have just been trying to smooth things over.

What else can be said!

Song Tan nodded repeatedly, like Li Lianying: "Yes, yes, yes, that's exactly what we need, someone as sharp and honest as you..."

Grandma Tang beamed with joy, her short stature growing taller and taller until she sat down demurely at the dining table. She first frowned at the few simple stainless steel bowls from the countryside, then took a deep breath, becoming dizzy from the aroma of roast duck.

Well, my head is already filled with the aroma, what else is there to say?

Before she could even ask Professor Song to roll up a duck meat roll for her, she reached out with her chopsticks and precisely picked up a piece of crispy, tender, and oily amber-colored duck skin.

Then the chopsticks paused again, oscillating between the sweet bean sauce and the spicy sauce.

Fortunately, the taste of my hometown is on the sweeter side, so the hesitation only lasted for a moment, and I quickly dipped it lightly in the sweet bean sauce again!
She didn't miss a single scallion, cucumber strip, or cantaloupe strip on the table, treating everyone equally. The thin spring pancake wrapper almost didn't cover it all!
The people at the table were jumping back and forth in their respective sauce dishes.

Seventh Uncle personally roasted the duck and prepared the sauce, so it was quite resistant to the food, and even had the leisure to feel proud:

"Don't hesitate, try the sweet bean sauce first. This is made from flour from our Song family's flour. I slowly stir-fried it over a wood-fired stove until it was fragrant!"

In this sweltering heat, who would willingly endure this suffering if the kitchen air conditioning wasn't running so strong?

Therefore, he also has a special right to speak:
"Let's eat something milder first, then we can enjoy the spicy stuff later."

She still felt it wasn't enough: "Tantan, don't use all the soybeans this year. Let's save some to make our own soy sauce! And when your apples are ripe, I'm planning to make some rice vinegar too."

"And that glutinous rice, we'll be using it to make vinegar later."

Song Tan paused, putting down his chopsticks.

The duck skin is roasted until crispy and juicy, not at all chewy, but rather has a soft, moist texture. Roll up a slice of tender duck meat, lightly dip it in sauce, spread it evenly on the spring pancake, and then add shredded scallions, cucumber strips…

The melons chosen were not quite ripe, so the sweetness didn't overpower the flavor; instead, it had a crisp quality and an exceptionally rich fruity aroma.

Another volume—

If Lu Chuanteng hadn't stepped in and rolled up two for her first, she wouldn't have had time to speak right now.

Even so, after hearing what Seventh Cousin said, she smiled and said:
"Seventh Uncle, our family just doesn't have the means, otherwise we'd have to dry the salt ourselves, wouldn't we?"

Seventh Uncle glanced at her and thought that although this girl had grown up, she was not as considerate as Qiaoqiao.

So he snorted:
"You know we don't have the means. If you could lease a salt lake or dig a salt well, maybe we could even have our own salt to eat."

Wow! These words immediately drew laughter from everyone at the table.

Although Seventh Uncle is old, he's still quite daring!
"How could I not dare to think about that?" said Seventh Uncle.

“I’ve been saying for a long time that these seasonings are a hindrance. Unfortunately, all we grow at home are scallions, ginger, and garlic. Our star anise tree is big, but last year’s harvest was only enough for our own use.”

"And those two pepper trees, one green and one red, you know, you thought of planting pepper trees, but why did you have to plant only one? That's hardly enough!"

The green Sichuan peppercorns ripened at the end of June, but there was only one tree, at most, and after drying, it would only weigh about 10 or 20 pounds.

Once the Sichuan peppercorns are harvested again in early October, there will be enough to accompany several lobster dishes.

Look at these bowls on the table—thankfully we're having roast duck today. The sliced ​​duck pieces were placed in shallow plates to prevent them from getting soggy from being stacked together, while the side dishes were served in stainless steel bowls.

Even so, that's still an astonishing amount of food.

Look at how they raise pigs like this, what can those dozen or so kilograms of peppercorns do?

Putting everything else aside, if we wait a while longer and the lobsters grow big enough, and we eat a whole bowl of them every day, wouldn't we be using up Sichuan peppercorns like water? After all, we can't always eat garlic or braised lobsters.

Seventh Uncle felt annoyed whenever he thought about this.

Song Tan sighed helplessly, "Seventh Uncle, we can't just grow a lot of spices whenever we want. Look at the cardamom we planted under the apple trees. The climate here isn't suitable. The mature seedlings we bought won't even flower in June."

Looking at the fruit that had grown, Yanran and the others figured that the final harvest would only be about fifty or sixty catties of dried fruit.

In other suitable cities, the same land area could yield ten times the harvest.

This can be considered another Waterloo for the Song family.

After all, Song Tan couldn't possibly use spiritual energy to create such an unscientific plant with such high resistance, could he?

Speaking of this, Yanran and the others still feel ashamed.

They obtained this new product from the lab in collaboration with their senior classmates. It is said to have excellent cold resistance and good quality cardamom.

But their data came from experiments and hadn't been widely adopted yet! Who knew that Song Tan would plant it directly on the slope and intercrop it with apple trees?

The wind, frost, rain and snow that hillsides endure are different from those that fall on fields.

Furthermore, other people's apple trees are grown for economic reasons, like those eagle beak peaches. Many of them are short, less than two meters tall, and the branches are so short that people can reach them with just a slight lift of their arm.

This makes harvesting and management convenient.

But the Song family was bold and willing to try. When they heard that the tall apple trees in their prime were good, they agreed without hesitation.

Judging from the condition of the apple trees this year, the apples are indeed of good quality, and the people who recommended them are not skeptical.

After all, if they were willing to give up the advantage of easy management to bring out this apple tree, it would be strange if the fruit didn't taste outstanding.

But the problem is that the cardamom plant under tall trees is much less resistant than the intercropped plants in ordinary orchards!

However, on the other hand, this kind of intercropping is a last resort.

After all, the cardamom looks freshly picked, red, round, and quite small.

In fact, its stems and leaves grow in a way that resembles a combination of ginger and banana, and it can grow to two or three meters tall. Even apple trees that aren't that tall can't reach it!

It takes up too much space.

In conclusion, this attempt cannot be said to have been a complete failure.

On the slope where the apple trees were planted, there was a slightly sunken area that was shaded by other trees. It wasn't very sunny in the summer and wasn't exposed to much frost in the winter. The apple trees occupied this spot and produced a huge harvest.

Based on this alone, we'll definitely grow it again next time we have other seasonings to try!

After all, the amount of cardamom used is very small, and 60 catties is more than enough for their family to use from the beginning to the end of the year!

So if we make adjustments again this year, we'll eliminate those that are really not suited to the environment, and the remaining plots, after a year of growth, might yield a hundred or so kilograms!

As for bay leaves, cinnamon...

Were those two scattered trees also just planted?

Seeing that Uncle Qi was still not satisfied with eating roast duck, everyone was wolfing it down, their mouths smeared with sauce, while they kept mixing it with mud.
"Yes, this kind of land yields a different harvest each year; we can't expect to get rich overnight!"

"Take your time, take your time. For example, your soy sauce, many good ones take several years to brew, don't they?"

"Exactly, what's the rush! And that vinegar, what's the difference between glutinous rice vinegar and regular rice vinegar?" Only Grandma Qi remained calm, slowly rolling up two slices of tender duck meat.

"He's just a show-off; the more you pay attention to him, the more energetic he gets. Just ignore him, he'll be fine in a bit."

He also mentioned Seventh Uncle: "You've eaten quite a bit of roast duck, have you finished cleaning up the duck carcass yet?"

Seventh Uncle, embarrassed and angry, snapped, "What are you rushing me for? We haven't finished eating yet!"

She paused, then lowered her voice: "I've already chopped up the duck carcass and the ingredients, and they're over there. After we finish eating, we'll tidy up the gaps, and I'll make everyone a salt and pepper duck carcass tonight."

Grandma Qi nodded and said nothing more. But Grandpa Qi also stopped muttering anything.

At the dinner table, everyone exchanged smiles.

Oh dear, hold back! Seventh Uncle is getting old, we have to give the old man some face.

Professor Song then changed the subject:

"Tan Tan, you're going to participate in the Qincheng Autumn Agricultural Products Expo again this year, right?"

Speaking of serious matters, Song Tan nodded: "Yes, we didn't originally sign up, but the venue belongs to the Yang family. He has a good relationship with Qiaoqiao, so he suggested that we participate as well."

It's hard to say how useful it is; it's like the Beijing Expo, where the certificates have a very high value.

In case I ever fall out with Boss Chang or something, having this certificate will attract people in the industry to come and try our fruits and vegetables.

but……

Song Tan explained, "Registration for the Expo closed long ago. General Manager Yang said he would put us in line, but we can't disrupt the existing order, so we'll be placed next to the last hall."

That place was originally used to store roll-up banners and various posters.

It's not that Mr. Yang wasn't sincere in giving the opportunity.

Every year, you have to register for this expo well in advance and provide various data on agricultural products so that they can arrange the corresponding venue.

The reference data includes, but is not limited to, domestic and international brand recognition, fruit varieties, and customer preferences.

He even explained it to himself in detail.

This kind of expo is something the Song family doesn't care about. Now that someone has brought the opportunity to them, why would they be picky?

Song Tan then sincerely thanked him repeatedly, and the matter was settled only after both parties were satisfied.

Professor Song, who had participated in many of these events, shook his head dismissively upon hearing this.
"The Qincheng Autumn Expo is one of the largest fruit and vegetable expos in China. The only one slightly larger is the Asian Expo."

To facilitate import and export to domestic and international markets, it is generally arranged to be located on Hong Kong Island.

"He also had the venue locations specially designed for this expo. There are some particularly good locations, but no particularly bad ones."

After all, the main customers are businesspeople from all over the country. Since they are here, they will follow the guided tour carefully. The other individual visitors are interested people and enthusiasts who come with tickets, and they do not play a significant role in sales.

Professor Song briefly explained: "The overall tour route is well planned, and basically every stall is taken care of."

“Even if you don’t produce any produce and get any orders, you should still do your best and show those foreigners what the true spirit of us farmers is.”

"no problem!"

Song Tan has always been very confident about this: "At that time, I won't be in a remote location, but in the main one!"

……

Meanwhile, at Old Yang's house.

It was a rare occasion for the whole family to get together. Tonight, they were having rice. Old Yang, though reserved in demeanor, made no attempt to be reserved as he stuffed a lump of soft, sticky rice into the chili sauce jar, scraped it around, and then poured it out.

The action was no different from that of an old farmer dipping sauce in the field.

Xiao Yang looked resentfully at the last empty bottle, recalling the humiliation of being so carefully guarded against only to have it snatched away, and snorted coldly:
"How old are you? You're so stingy! You can't even bear to part with a little bit of sauce. You have no idea, my sister's family had roast duck today!"

"Roast duck!"

"Their farm's tender ducklings are roasted until the skin is crispy yet moist, glistening with oil, and incredibly fragrant with every bite! The duck meat is also tender! Uncle Qi even used the best flour from his home to make sweet bean sauce and spicy sauce..."

"And another thing, with all the rain, the watermelons and melons in the fields are prone to bursting. Last night, we even called a lot of people to go to the fields and pick as many as they could!"

He babbled on and on, and before he could even finish speaking, he was drooling and quickly shoveled another mouthful of rice into his mouth.

Looking at the tiny bit of sauce left in his bowl, he finally understood why those princes who enjoyed wealth and luxury so easily wanted to usurp the throne.

Who could stand for that?!

A big bottle of sauce: his dad got 1/3, his mom got 1/3, and he and Qiaoqiao shared 1/3!

Is this any kind of hospitality?

Is there any respect for him being the only son in his family?
Mr. Yang is old and thick-skinned:

"Why bother with ambition? Your dad also worked hard to get where he is today. Come on, say a few more words. Just hearing about this roast duck makes me smell delicious and gives me a good appetite! We can have a late-night snack later."

What's the point of adding a late-night snack?

The refrigerator is in his room, and all sorts of good stuff is in his refrigerator. He just eats it all by himself!

So what if Xiao Yang harvested 100 ears of corn later? Those tender baby corns can only be made into various kinds of baby corn dishes!

The precious only son reluctantly shoveled another mouthful of rice into his mouth:

"Qiaoqiao, it's a promise, right? When I'm doing military training at school, you have to come and check on me every few days!"

"If your words of comfort really move me, I'll call you Brother Qiao from now on!"

Qiaoqiao answered earnestly and solemnly, just as she would answer the question "Do you love me?" from any couple deeply in love:
"Ok."

He paused for a moment and then asked:
"But I'm older than you, so why don't you call me Brother Qiao Qiao now?"

He spoke with a hint of anticipation, his eyes sparkling as he looked over:

"If you call me brother, then I'll have a younger brother, and I can be the older brother!"

Mr. Liu chuckled at the dinner table.

Old Yang couldn't resist either.

Oh well, boys all want to be the older brother, not the younger brother...

I understand, I understand.

Xiao Yang: "..."

After a while, he suddenly said pitifully, "Brother Qiao, my military training at school will be very tough. As my older brother, you'll definitely feel sorry for me and give me lots of things, right?"

By then, with the emperor far away and the heavens high, Mom and Dad won't be able to snatch anything from anyone, hahaha! (End of Chapter)