NOVPUB
Chapter 495: Chapter 485 Picking
After Shen Yunfang finished watering the surrounding fields, Manman and Pangpang, together with a dog, happily ran back again.
"Look, Mommy, strawberries." Manman, as if presenting a treasure, held up the strawberries from the little basket for her mother to see.
Shen Yunfang cooperatively exclaimed in awe, "Wow, whose strawberries are these?"
Pangpang turned his head and pointed eastward, "They’re from Uncle’s farm. My sister and I went to play there, and Uncle let us pick some ourselves."
"Is that so? Did you thank Uncle then?" Yunfang asked.
She knew that a couple of students from the third class had planted strawberries last year, the same kind she had brought home to test-grow, which were experimental varieties from the school. However, last year’s strawberry harvest wasn’t very good, with only a few big strawberries, but this year they had entered a bumper harvest, with continuous pickings starting from June.
Apart from some of the produce being used by the students themselves, the rest that was produced at the agricultural college’s experimental fields was sold to the school. How the school dealt with the purchase thereafter was something these students didn’t know.
Shen Yunfang had some acquaintance with one of those students, so after knowing that there was a harvest in the strawberry fields, she directly contacted that student and took over the whole strawberry crop from his field.
Strawberries were great. In an era where even apples were hard to come by, Shen Yunfang naturally wanted to save more fruit for her children and herself. Moreover, she wasn’t afraid of having too much. Of course, to outsiders, she claimed she was making strawberry jam, which could be stored for a long time once prepared, making it a very nice treat for the kids to enjoy slowly.
Of course, the price that Shen Yunfang offered was definitely higher than what the school gave. This was something only the two of them knew in private. Publicly, it was said to be a gift. Fortunately, that student was a girl; otherwise, who knows what unpleasant rumors might have spread.
"We did." The two children said in unison.
"Mhm, very good. You’re both polite children," Shen Yunfang firmly believed that children needed to be praised.
"Mommy, you eat. It’s so sweet," Manman said, stretching out her small hand to feed her mother a red strawberry.
Shen Yunfang lowered her head and ate the strawberry from her child’s hand. Mmm, indeed it was very sweet and tasted good.
"Delicious, really sweet," Shen Yunfang impartially ate another strawberry that Pangpang handed over, and then commented.
"Let’s go, Mommy will take you to thank Uncle again." So, Shen Yunfang took the two children back to the strawberry field.
Today, the strawberry field was attended by a bespectacled male student whom Shen Yunfang had seen but didn’t know by name.
"Classmate, thank you so much. The kids ran over here to eat your strawberries without knowing any better." Shen Yunfang neatly addressed him as ’classmate,’ a term that couldn’t go wrong.
The bespectacled male student stood up from the ground and looked at the one adult and two children in front of him, smiling shyly, "It’s no problem at all. If the children like it, they can eat a few more. We have plenty in the field."
Taxue, standing nearby, seemed to understand what was being said and looked eager to move.
Shen Yunfang quickly held her back, having never seen a dog that liked strawberries. What kind of oddity had she raised? Besides, they hadn’t even agreed on a price yet, so how could she so brazenly reach out her paws?
"That won’t do. You’ve worked hard to grow these strawberries; they can’t just help themselves like this," Shen Yunfang hurriedly expressed her dissent. But her next sentence seemed to change in tone, "How about this? My children really like eating them. I’ll take them to pick some, and then I can pay you, alright?"
"No need, no need, if your child likes them just take him to pick some, no charge," the young man hurriedly shook his head. It was already the last batch and not much good stuff was left, he couldn’t bring himself to ask for money, especially since they were all from the same school.
"Now that won’t do, if you don’t take the money I’ll feel too embarrassed to bring the kids over to pick," Shen Yunfang also had her principles.
"Uncle, please take the money, I really love strawberries, they’re sweet," Manman pleaded with innocent wide eyes, blinking at the uncle opposite her.
The young man across was turned into a softie by her childish antics and unconsciously nodded.
Manman immediately cheered, "Mommy, Uncle agreed, we’ll have strawberries at home!"
After cheering, she pulled her brother and raced towards the strawberry fields, looking ready to clean them out.
Shen Yunfang did the follow-up work from behind, "Thank you so much, then we’ll head over to pick now."
"Go ahead, go ahead, you and the kids pick as much as you want," the young man said politely.
Shen Yunfang didn’t hold back at all; following her kids, she didn’t bother picking her own honeysuckle. Instead, she squatted in the strawberry fields, picking and eating at the same time.
The sounds of laughter coming from the fields made the young man by the edge of the fields unconsciously smile as well.
After picking for over an hour and noticing it was almost noon, Shen Yunfang called the kids to a stop. The three of them carried three baskets of different sizes and a small crate out of the strawberry field.
Shen Yunfang estimated that she and the kids had picked less than 40 pounds of strawberries. She decided to pay for 40 pounds and handed the money to the somewhat stupefied classmate as she left.
She figured that the classmate probably underestimated their mother-daughter trio’s picking power; he didn’t expect them to pick so many strawberries in one go!
Indeed, the classmate was taken aback. Since strawberries don’t keep for long, no one usually bought them in large quantities, and on top of that, they were expensive. He had never seen anyone buy 40 pounds of strawberries at once. A thought suddenly struck him - maybe the rumors circulating among the students were true, Shen Yunfang’s family might really be well off.
When Shen Yunfang brought her kids back to their experimental field, she transferred the strawberries into a large crate and covered them with leaves. She took out a tablecloth, found a flat spot, spread it out, and sat down with her kids for a picnic.
Shen Yunfang prepared food like traditional Beijing chicken rolls, roasted chicken wings and drumsticks, fruit salad, and more for the children.
The three ate and chatted, enjoying a pleasant atmosphere.
After finishing the meal, Shen Yunfang started to pack up, preparing to take the kids home. As for the few honeysuckles they hadn’t picked that day, it wasn’t important; if not today, they would come tomorrow. After all, she and the kids had nothing else to do during the holiday.
Once home, Shen Yunfang had the kids wash up briefly before tucking them into bed for an afternoon nap; she also took a nap.
Upon waking, she began sorting through the strawberries with the kids. In such hot weather, the bruised strawberries wouldn’t last long, so to avoid waste, they needed to pick out the unbruised ones to eat, while making the bruised ones into strawberry jam for later.
After sorting out the bruised strawberries, Shen Yunfang and the kids started making strawberry jam. The process was pretty straightforward; they made it while playing, finishing just before dinner time.
"All done, my darlings, let’s go deliver some strawberries to Auntie Mu and Transcendent," Shen Yunfang said, carrying a small basket filled with the choice strawberries they had just selected, ready to take them over to the Ma Family for a taste, and incidentally, mooch a dinner.
