The pastoral life of the grass tribe chief

After entering mid-June, the weather in southern Guangdong is unpredictable, with sunshine one moment and overcast skies the next, thunder and rain the next, and sunshine in the east and rain in the west, which is a headache.

Everyone carries an umbrella and raincoat when they go out, otherwise they might end up soaked to the bone.

The rain has stopped and the sky is clear.

Lu Yao went to collect duckweed to feed the fish, and then went to the madman's place to pick up two large baskets of water hyacinths and throw them into the big pond.

"Lao Chong, Lao Chong."

Lu Yao brought his clothes to prepare for a shower when Old Wu cried out.

Lu Yao looked at the intersection, and Lu Chong strode in alone.

"Old Chong, Old Chong, is that how you call me 'Old Chong'?"

Lu Chong glared at Lao Wu with annoyance.

"not good."

Old Wu tilted his head and looked at Lu Chong for a while, then uttered two words from his beak.

"It says you're in a bad mood, so it won't argue with you."

Lu Yao explained with a smile.

It's been raining intermittently for the past few days. Lu Chong and his colleagues sometimes get days off, sometimes work half a day, and sometimes work for an hour or two. They'll definitely have more days off in the coming days. Their salary this month is pitifully low, so it's no wonder he's in a good mood.

"You don't necessarily want to fight me, do you?"

"Come here."

Lu Chong made a provocative gesture.

"Come here."

Old Wu followed suit.

"Haha, where's your hand?"

Lu Chong couldn't help but burst into laughter when he saw how funny it looked.

That smile made me feel much better.

"Make your own tea."

Lu Yao went to take a shower.

His phone, which was on the coat rack, rang.

Seeing that it was a voice call from Lü Yimin, he swiped his finger.

"Ah Yao, come down to the pond at the foot of my orchard and pick some lychees."

Lü Yimin said.

"Where is Shaolong?"

Lu Yao asked.

"He didn't go to work today; he went out with some friends again."

Lü Yimin said.

"I'll go down now."

Lu Yao hung up the phone, poured a large bucket of water over his head, wiped the water droplets off, and put on his clothes.

"Let's go pick lychees from Uncle Yimin's place."

Lu Yao took the car keys and left.

When Lao Wu heard the word "lychee," his eyes lit up, and he flew to land on Lu Yao's shoulder.

"Yes, I've forgotten all about it. Uncle Yimin's lychees ripen earlier than ours."

Upon hearing the word "lychee," Lu Chong was even more drooling than Lao Wu.

He loves lychees the most and eats them as a meal; he can eat several kilograms of them by himself.

When I was in elementary school, my happiest moment was going to Lu Yimin's house with Lu Yao to pick lychees, where I could eat as many as I wanted.

"Where did Lao Yang go?"

Lu Yao and Dianzi are usually very busy in the morning, so Lu Chong usually goes to play with Lu Yang. He only comes to see the two of them when Lu Yang is not at home.

"Old Yang's father-in-law's electrical wiring was old, so we asked him to install it."

Lu Chongdao.

The two arrived at the intersection near the madman's house, where the madman was gathering grass from the pond.

"Mad man!"

Just as Lu Yao was about to honk the car horn, Lao Wu shouted in Lu Chong's voice.

I'll strangle you.

Lu Chong lunged at Lao Wu.

"Can't hit it."

"Ha ha ha ha."

Old Wu flew to the back row and laughed loudly.

"Like master, like birdman."

Lu Chong was furious.

The madman went home, washed up, and then went with the two to pick lychees.

Lychees in Guangdong and Guangxi ripen mainly from June to July.

Some varieties mature in April.

Lü Yimin planted a lot of lychee trees, among which Fei Zi Xiao and Bai Tang Ying are early-maturing varieties that ripen from mid-May to early June.

Lu Yimin squatted beside the feed machine, smoking and watching the fish eat. When he saw the three men approaching, he took a deep drag on his cigarette and threw it into the pond.

"Uncle Yimin is handsome."

Old Wu flew onto Lü Yimin's shoulder, trying his best to please him.

"This scoundrel will throw away all his dignity just to eat your lychees."

Lu Chongdao.

Eat as much as you want.

Lü Yimin stroked the old crow's feathers.

"Time to eat lychees."

"tasty."

"sweet."

Old Wu flew up to the lychee tree, eating and praising it incessantly.

Lu Chong and Dianzi climbed a tree to pick lychees.

Lu Yao and Lü Yimin caught the lychees below and put them into the wire basket containing the fish grass.

The two picked and ate the fruit from the tree.

Lu Yao ate a few to satisfy his craving.

He likes to eat peaches, but he has little interest in other fruits and considers them optional.

Lychees have a very short shelf life. The taste is slightly different when picked from the tree and eaten from the tree. The difference is even more obvious when picked in the morning and eaten in the afternoon. Lychees that have been frozen can no longer be called lychees. Apart from the name, they are completely different fruits.

"There's another one over there that you can pick."

Seeing that the two had picked enough, Lü Yimin pointed to a lychee tree next to the starfruit grove.

"Are there many starfruit this year?"

Lu Yao saw that the starfruit trees at the foot of the mountain had produced a lot of fruit.

"I've grown a few starfruits and want to soak them in water to make starfruit juice. I'll pick them myself when they're ripe."

Lü Yimin said.

In Fengli County, star fruit is the least noticeable fruit. It is rarely seen in the market, and if it is, it is sweet star fruit. Most people cannot eat sour star fruit.

The villagers soak the starfruit in water to make a drink, and let the rest rot on the ground.

Lü Yimin's family enjoys eating star fruit and drinking star fruit juice, and they grow quite a lot of them.

"Don't let others pick them, keep them for yourself."

"Nobody wants our star fruit here. You can buy it for 50 cents a pound, and I'll give you a dollar for it."

Lu Yaodao.

"You're going to soak star fruit in water and sell it? Will you be able to sell it?"

Lu Yimin asked with concern.

"You go ahead and acquire them, leave the rest to me."

Lu Yaodao.

"OK."

Seeing that he was confident, Lü Yimin felt relieved.

As the weather got hotter, they picked two large baskets of lychees and returned to Lü Yimin's house.

Lunchtime was approaching, so the three people and the bird drank tea for a while and then left.

Lu Yao returned to Wumutang, where his grandparents and parents were drinking tea and chatting.

"Eat lychees."

Lu Yao placed two bunches of lychees on the coffee table, and Lao Wu spoke up.

"Old Wu eats too."

Grandpa laughed heartily.

"I'm full."

The old bird flapped its wings against its belly.

"These were picked from your Uncle Yimin's house."

When Lu Lide saw that his son had brought back so many lychees, he guessed what was going on.

People just tasted a few to satisfy their cravings.

Everyone now grows lychees, and there's more than enough to eat. Unlike before, when there were many children and not much good food, we used to build sheds under the trees to prevent others from stealing them.

Villagers can pick the fruit from the trees if they want to eat it, and most people won't say anything. You can also pick other people's fruit if you want to eat it, and if you don't eat it, it will just rot on the ground.

At this moment, Lu Liping's wife arrived in an electric scooter with a large bundle of tender green sweet potato leaves on the scooter.

"These were planted by my dad, and this is the first time we've picked them."

Lu Liping's wife handed the sweet potato leaves to Lu Yao.

Upon seeing this, Wang Xiurong took a small stool and a vegetable basin and sat down to pick sweet potato leaves.

Lu Yao also took a small stool and sat down to pick leaves together.

There are two types of sweet potato leaves: one type produces sweet potatoes, which is mainly harvested for the sweet potatoes; the other type is cultivated for eating the leaves, which basically does not produce fruit and has a better taste.

Lu Changping's wife was using the kind of plant cultivated for its leaves; that's what's sold in the market.

"In the past, a lot of it was used to feed pigs, but now people are scrambling to eat it."

"People nowadays are tired of eating delicacies, so they like to eat things they've never tried before."

"Stir-fried garlic is delicious."

"Many people add bird's eye chilies, but I can't stand the smell."

"I used to be unable to stand the smell of spiciness, but now I've gotten used to it after smelling it every day. I can even eat a little bit of homemade garlic chili sauce when I put it in noodles."

"Grandpa, your health is getting better and better, and your digestive system is functioning well."

"It's getting late, let's go back and cook dinner."

"Eating here is just one more pair of chopsticks."

"I feel so bad eating and drinking your food every day."

"What are you talking about? You think you can eat us out of house and home?"

"Let's say goodbye to our great-grandparents."

"It's so hot, make sure the baby wears a hat so they don't get sunburned."

Lu Liquan and Lu Changping's father drove their grandchildren home, while Lu Liguo rode an electric scooter.