Age: My Small World

When Yang Jun arrived at the courtyard with a heavy heart, he found the whole place filled with the scent of locust blossoms.

When I got home, I saw Li Xiaohua beaming with joy, carrying a basket of locust flowers.

"Mother, what are you doing?"

"Today we all went to pick locust flowers together, and I was thinking of making some locust flower pancakes for you siblings."

April is also known as the locust blossom month. Every year during this season, locust trees are covered with a profusion of locust blossoms, which look incredibly beautiful.

Because locust flowers are edible and have a slightly sweet taste, they are often a common food.

In the past, it could even have been a delicacy during times of disaster.

Eating locust flowers has been a tradition since ancient times, and over time it has become a regular practice.

Back in her hometown, Li Xiaohua had a regular place to pick locust flowers. She never expected that she would end up in this group in Beijing. She wondered where they came from to pick so many.

Yang Jun carefully warned, "Mother, be careful when you go to pick locust flowers. Don't follow those young people climbing trees or anything like that; it's not good if you fall."

Li Xiaohua waved her hand dismissively: "Why would we need to climb trees? Aunt Xie and the others took down all the notes and brought them back. They said they prune the locust tree every year, and the bark is edible, but I didn't take it."

So they didn't even spare a single branch of the locust tree.

Yang Jun's lips twitched. He did know that locust bark had the effects of clearing heat, relieving cough, stopping itching, and reducing swelling, but it had to be soaked in water and drunk for several days in a row.

"Alright, go play for a while, Mom's going to make pancakes."

Li Xiaohua said no more, carried the locust flowers to the small kitchen by the door, poured out some flour, and then cracked in a few eggs and stirred.

Adding eggs to flour enhances the flavor considerably, and adding locust flowers makes it even more delicious.

Yang Jun, who had eaten locust flower cakes since childhood, couldn't help but swallow hard upon seeing this.

However, making pancakes isn't that quick. After kneading the dough, you have to wait for it to rise for a while before you can knead it again.

About half an hour later, my second sister also arrived home.

She parked her bicycle in front of the door, then walked over happily with something in her hand.

"Xiaoshan, look what I brought back!"

"What good stuff is it?" Yang Jun asked in surprise, looking at his second sister as if she had gotten a bargain.

Yang Yumei immediately laughed and said, "I saw someone selling eels by the roadside just now. They were all plump, so I bought them all for only one yuan."

As she spoke, she took a glass bottle out of her bag, which indeed contained several eels. They looked quite plump, weighing at least several pounds.

Of course, the glass bottle alone cost her at least two cents.

"People say that eels are good for your health, so I bought them especially for you. You can eat them with Xiaoyuer tonight."

After Yang Yumei finished speaking, she couldn't help but ask, "Didn't Xiaoyuer come back today?"

If the person doesn't come back, then there's no point in fixing it.

Yang Jun's eyebrows twitched. It seemed that his second sister was already longing to become an aunt, and was even thinking of nourishing his body.

"Little Fish won't be back until tomorrow, so your plan won't work out, Second Sister," Yang Jun said with a shrug.

They sometimes have to stay overnight at school, and today they also have to do collective cleaning work at the school, so they can only stay overnight at the school and go home tomorrow.

"Oh? That's really unfortunate."

Yang Yumei slapped her forehead, somewhat having miscalculated, then said with a grin, "How about we eat it tomorrow? It'll be fine to rest for a day."

Yang Jun rolled his eyes: "No need, I just happen to want to eat braised eel with scallions today."

"What is this? What's the recipe for scallion-braised?"

"You'll see when it's done. Mom's making locust flower pancakes right now, they'll taste delicious with these."

"Oh, there are locust flower cakes to eat."

Mentioning the locust flower cakes, Yang Yumei hurried inside and saw her mother already cutting dough balls and kneading them. "Mom, do you need any help?" Yang Yumei tossed the eel to Yang Jun, no longer teasing him.

Yang Jun decided to go and fetch water to catch the eels, as killing and cleaning them was a difficult and time-consuming task.

"What help do I need from you? You'd be more of a hindrance than a help."

Li Xiaohua didn't need her to do anything at all.

Yang Yumei is quite meticulous in her work, but she's not good at kneading dough. Every time she makes pasta, it turns out to be lumpy and doesn't taste good.

"Go start the fire, we're going to make pancakes."

"Okay." If you can't knead dough, you can start a fire.

Yang Yumei happily started a fire.

The three of them were immediately busy.

After Yang Jun had finished butchering the eels, a delicious aroma wafted from the kitchen.

The aroma of oil and pastry filled the courtyard with a delightful fragrance.

This wasn't caused by just one family cooking; it was because several families were making locust flower pancakes.

Some families even made locust flower buns, stir-fried locust flower eggs, stir-fried meat with locust flowers, and so on. In short, everyone showed off their unique skills.

This would prevent the Yang family's presence from standing out.

So, in addition to the eel, Yang Jun also took out a piece of pork, intending to make a big stew for later.

Pancakes are often served with a large pot of stew, a common way of eating in Shandong province.

We have sweet potato noodles at home, as well as some tofu and wood ear mushrooms.

"Xiaoshan, the pancakes are ready. Now you can cook the dishes."

My mother no longer competes with Yang Jun to cook; he's the best cook in the family.

Upon hearing this, Yang Jun went to the small kitchen and saw that the last piece of pancake had been put into the bowl that had been filled with the dough. The bowl was full of golden pancakes, which looked delicious.

He reached out and picked up a piece, took a bite, and his mouth was immediately filled with sweetness.

"Phew...so delicious!"

It was so hot and fragrant that he couldn't bear to spit it out, so he could only chew and swallow it whole.

Li Xiaohua slapped him, both amused and annoyed: "Silly boy, it's hot, why are you grabbing it?"

The second sister took the opportunity to grab one and eat it too. Li Xiaohua was amused by the two siblings' behavior and quickly carried it into the house so that they could eat it too, and there wouldn't be any left.

Actually, there were plenty of cakes, but she planned to have Yang Jun take more to give away, such as to the teacher and master he had mentioned before.

Since people were giving her malted milk powder, Li Xiaohua naturally wanted to reciprocate.

But it wouldn't be appropriate to send back malted milk powder or something similar, so I'll just send a locust flower cake as a token of my appreciation. I'll buy more when I find something suitable later.

Also, some should be saved for Xiaoyuer. She loves these pancakes too. When she was little, she would get a few whenever Li Xiaohua made locust flower pancakes. That's why Yang Jun often brought her home.

In the kitchen, Yang Yumei watched Yang Jun cook with curiosity.

There's no need to cook rice today; there will definitely be more than enough rice for all these pancakes.

"Second sister, could you pick a few scallions for me?"

The garden's vegetable patch naturally had scallions. Although there weren't many things that could be grown, scallions, ginger, and garlic were still indispensable.

"Okay, then wait a moment."

Yang Yumei took off running, afraid of being too slow.

When she returned, it was just time to add the scallions. (End of Chapter)