Divorced woman with child travels through time

Chapter 349 Dried Peach

Chen Wenfang was unaware of these little incidents; she wasn't feeling well, and the carriage was a bit bumpy.

The bodyguard, Lieutenant Wang, mentioned it to Wang Erniu, and Lü Xiong, after seeing the scene, knew it was indeed a theft, so he didn't pay any attention to it.

After the carriage passed Jinghu South Road, it entered Jiangnan West Road, which is the Jiangxi of later generations. Chili peppers were less common among the vegetables grown by farmers along the roadside, indicating that they were not widely available. It was now June, and the weather was much hotter. The three children were so tired from riding in the carriage that they insisted on riding horses instead. Chen Wenfang was bored sitting alone in the carriage, so she pulled up the curtain to look at the scenery.

Passing through a village, I saw several farmers selling peaches in baskets at the village entrance. The peaches were small, but their white flesh with a hint of pink was quite lovely.

"Husband, stop for a moment, let's go take a look!" Chen Wenfang was also tired of sitting in the carriage and wanted to get out and play.

Wang Erniu naturally agreed.

And it was almost noon, time to have lunch.

The men set up camp and rested right next to the official road. Wang Erniu instructed his adjutant to contact the village elders to see if they could arrange a hot meal for the soldiers, as their stomachs couldn't handle eating dry rations for so long. He himself continued to stay with Chen Wenfang to protect her.

"Grandma, how much are these peaches? Are they sweet?" Chen Wenfang, wearing a veiled hat, picked up the oldest old woman, took out a peach that was greenish-white with a pinkish tip, lifted the veil, and asked with a smile.

"This lady is very beautiful. These peaches are very sweet. They cost eight coins a pound. How many would you like, madam?"

The old woman was wearing a thin, worn-out linen-colored burlap skirt. Her gray hair reflected a faint silver light in the midday sun. She hadn't even had time to wipe the beads of sweat from her forehead as she greeted people with a smile.

Chen Wenfang turned to look at the soldiers stationed beside the woods and said with a smile, "Then I'll take a hundred jin!"

"Ah!" The old woman was overjoyed. The uncle sitting next to her immediately came over and said, "A hundred catties is definitely not enough for her. I have more at home. Would you like to try some, madam?"

"Great!" Chen Wenfang enjoyed seeing the happy smiles on the faces of these elderly people.

Wang Erniu stood to the side, also with a smile on his face.

The old man washed a few peaches and brought them over. Lü Xiong took them, and the children all gathered around, each taking one and biting into them. The juice burst in their mouths, and they were very delicious.

"Wow, this is delicious! It's a crisp peach!" Chen Wenfang exclaimed with delight. She loves peaches, especially crisp peaches.

"If my wife likes it, we'll buy a little more!" Wang Erniu had Lü Xiong pay for the basket and put it on the carriage.

Seeing that these important people actually paid, and that Chen Wenfang and Wang Erniu looked kind, several old farmers gathered around them.

"General, my peach is quite good too."

"Mine is both red and sweet."

"Mine too, mine!" Two barefoot children came over, looking pitiful as they couldn't squeeze in.

Lu Xiong looked at the group of ragged people and was in a dilemma. There were baskets of them, some weighing hundreds of pounds, some even a thousand pounds. It would be unreasonable to buy this and not that.

He couldn't help but cast pleading glances at Wang Erniu and Chen Wenfang.

Wang Erniu said to Lü Xiong, "Let's buy two hundred catties first, wash them, and distribute them to the people downstairs. It's hot, so let's eat some fruit to quench our thirst."

Lu Xiong led his men there, and soon a loud cheer came from the camp.

Wang Erniu smiled and looked at Chen Wenfang, "Wife, what do you think we should do with the rest? We can't possibly eat all of it."

Chen Wenfang sat down on a small stool that the villagers had brought out, biting into a peach and thinking, "It's not that there's no way, it's just that we're in a hurry to leave, otherwise making dried peaches from so many peaches would be very quick."

"Make it into dried peaches? What are dried peaches? Are they easy to make?" The person who came after hearing the news was probably the village head, but he didn't seem to be very wealthy. The fabric of his clothes was far inferior to that of Wang Youcai, the village head of Wangjiazhuang.

"I am the village head of Peach Blossom Village, a high-ranking official. You may not know this, but our village is dedicated to supplying peaches to the palace. To prevent the nobles from not being able to eat peaches, we are specially ordered to grow peaches and not to grow any other crops. However, peaches all ripen at the same time. When grain is cheap, farmers suffer, and peaches are no exception. Therefore, we have a particularly difficult time."

The village chief, in the prime of his life, had calm and clear eyes, but his face was marked by the obvious signs of time and worldly affairs, with a stark contrast in the numerous wrinkles around his neck and eyes.

"If you are truly willing to teach us how to make dried peaches, I am willing to erect a longevity tablet for you and offer it to you every day."

After the village chief finished speaking, he knelt down, and when the villagers saw him do so, they all knelt down as well.

Chen Wenfang was startled and almost fell off the stool, but luckily Wang Erniu was strong and leaned on her.

"Please get up quickly! I can't take this!" Chen Wenfang was on the verge of tears. I didn't say I wouldn't teach you, why are you kneeling? You're so old, older than my father, kneeling to me will shorten your lifespan!

Chen Wenfang, being a woman, couldn't easily approach him to help, so she offered a tentative support from a distance, but he didn't budge. Once Chen Wenfang had regained her balance, Wang Erniu stepped forward and grabbed his arm.

"Village Chief, please get up!" Wang Erniu exerted his strength, and Shangpin involuntarily stood up, looking at Wang Erniu with a puzzled expression. He couldn't kneel down again, so he had to stand. When the others saw him get up, they also got up.

"I didn't say I wouldn't teach you, you don't have to do this!" Chen Wenfang quickly said, afraid that they would kneel down again. "I just think that the method of making dried peaches is very simple. There are also candied peaches sold in town, I'm sure you know that!"

Shangpin smiled wryly, "Each family has its own secret recipe; how would we know it?"

Lu Xiong chimed in from the side, "I heard that Madam Chen in Linxia is selling her daughter-in-law. Don't you have any here?"

An old peddler scoffed, "Not everyone is like Madam Chen, willing to lend a hand to the person next door. These people aren't that kind. There used to be a soy sauce shop next door, and even his own brother wouldn't sell his son to teach him a lesson."

The buying and selling is free, so Chen Wenfang couldn't say anything. However, in an era when a simple online search yielded countless recipes and tutorials, Chen Wenfang didn't see anything wrong with teaching others a little something.

“You have peaches here, and the sun is strong. Let’s go to the village. I’ll teach you how to make them now.” Chen Wenfang smiled slightly. They had a hard life, and she was willing to lend a helping hand. Whether they could get back on their feet was up to fate.

"That's wonderful! You all go with our esteemed guests. We'll make you lunch as a token of our gratitude." The village head, Shang, was overjoyed as he pointed to a few women and told them to go learn.

"We brought our own food, so please help us cook it." Wang Erniu looked at their tattered clothes and gray straw sandals and couldn't bear to eat their food.

"It's just simple food, nothing to worry about."

Even so, Wang Erniu still had a cartload of grain pushed over.