Chapter 118: Plucking Willow Leaves

  "Zhen'er, Zhen'er, left side, left side, there's a big bunch over there."

  "Sister, you still have one more string behind you, it's been a long time."

  "Zhen Er, on the branch behind you to your left, there are a lot."

  "Sister, pick quickly, pick quickly."

  "Zhen'er, there's another basket."

  Zhen'er stood on the tree, with a basket hanging from her neck, listening to Ye Baiji and Hu Zi chirping and calling under the tree, taking difficult steps. This tree is really big, and the elm leaves are really thick!

  Next to the tree, a big boy slowly picked down a basket of elm seeds. His younger brother and sister happily took over, busily picking up two strings and throwing them into their mouths, immediately revealing happy expressions, with their small eyes narrowed to the point where they couldn't see any gaps.

  The little tiger looked at them in the same way, hummed a sour sound, and felt a bit envious. He comforted himself: My sister is a meticulous person, we pay attention to quality, so we don't just pick them when there's leftover money, maybe they even picked unripe ones.

  Da Zhuang stood on the tree, looking through the gap in the tree to see that person who was pursing his lips, with a calm and serious face, searching for elm seeds in the thicket. The calm and composed figure made him feel that the scorching day wasn't so hot after all.

  "Zhen'er little sister, do you want me to go over and help you?" Da Zhuang's words slipped out before he even realized it.

  The big man's voice was loud and clear, and when he shouted, not only the little children waiting to catch the basket on the ground but also the little friends in the trees next to them heard it. After a moment of stunned silence, they all burst out laughing.

  Zhen'er was carefully searching for the elm seeds, and at the same time, she had to be careful not to step on any twigs. She didn't dare take a wrong step or get distracted for even a moment. She could climb trees, and she was quite good at it too, but she had never realized how tall elm trees were.

  When the loud voice came, she hadn't reacted yet that it was calling her. By the time all her little friends were laughing, she finally realized and shook her head, "No need, Big Brother Da Zhuang. I can do it."

  His face turned red as soon as he said that. Although he didn't know why it was red, later his little friends teased him and his face got even hotter. At this moment, hearing Zhen's voice made him feel like a spring breeze had passed by, making him feel carefree and joyful.

  "Zhen'er, be careful, find some sturdy branches to stand on, and don't pick the elm seeds that are hard to reach." There were many people around. Da Zhuang didn't dare say anything else to make people laugh, but he was still worried, so he reminded her.

  Zhen'er carefully stared at the branches under her feet, slowly moving, until she reached a fork in the branch, where she carefully sat down. Slowly, she said: "I know, Da Zhuang ge, you be careful too." After finishing speaking, she shouted to the bottom of the tree: "Bai Ju sister, I'm going to pass down the basket, pay attention!"

  Ye Baiji heard that Zhen'er had also picked a basket, and finally felt relieved, hurriedly saying loudly: "Got it. Zhen'er. We'll continue down there, you pass it over. Be careful."

  Zhen'er received the message, tied it to the basket handle with a rope, and slowly lowered it down. Ye Baiji saw the light yellow bamboo basket slowly falling from the dense thicket, her heart was excited, but she still held back the equally excited Hu Zi. When the basket landed on the ground, she quickly ran over, untied the rope on the basket, replaced it with an empty one, shook the rope, and shouted loudly: "Zhen'er, okay!"

  Zhen'er kept looking down from the gap in the tree, saw Ye Baiqi tie up the basket, and heard her voice, then slowly pulled the basket up.

  Hutou had never eaten elm seeds before and found them quite novel. However, Er Niu from the nearby tree was quicker and had already picked a basket of elm seeds to hand down. Si Niu eagerly handed him many, but he didn't take them because of his little thoughts in his heart. Now that he saw his sister handing down the elm seeds, he quickly grabbed a big bunch and ran to find Si Niu.

  The four girls saw that Huzi had arrived, and just as Huzi roared, her heartbreak disappeared instantly. She happily accepted the money from Yuqian and started eating with Huzi.

  Ye Baiji turned around and didn't see Hu Zi anymore, looked around and saw him eating yulan money with Si Niu, chatting and laughing together, getting along very harmoniously, and felt relieved.

  It's still early and the sun hasn't come out yet, but the little friends picking mulberry leaves on the tree have already started sweating profusely, yet no one thought of coming down first.

  The village has many elm trees, and most of them are ownerless. In the past, no one took care of them, so when the elm seeds were about to ripen, some kids would climb up and pick them. By the time the seeds were ripe, there was nothing left on the trees. Moreover, only a few families picked the seeds, you say, if everyone tasted them, or if it were your own family's property, that would be fine. But this is everyone's thing, and there are so many elm trees, all of which have been ruined by those few families. Who would be willing to accept this? Later, this matter was reported to the village head and the village committee members. After discussion, they established a new rule: since the elm trees belong to everyone, then everyone should supervise together. First, if any family steals elm seeds, they will be fined according to the number of seeds stolen; second, the village's elm trees are divided among households, with one tree per household, and the remaining ones are shared by everyone. When it's time to pick the seeds, let the kids come first, and whoever picks how many is considered their own family's property.

  Today is the day to pick elm seeds. Since the village rules that each family can only have one, and whoever picks more will get more, who would want to pick less? This thing, we can't finish eating it ourselves, giving some away as a favor, selling it can also earn some money.

  Zhen'er asked Ye Baiji, why the elm seeds in Yu Shu village are ripe later than other places, but she couldn't explain it either. Anyway, since her grandfather's generation, the fruit trees here have generally been late.

  Zhen'er had been thinking about why strawberries were late to mature, but she hadn't gotten anywhere with it. Now that she saw the elm seeds were also late, she was even more puzzled.

  She bought two travelogues, which mentioned that the temperature on the mountain is lower than in the plain, and things grow later than in the plain. If this is used to explain why strawberries are late to mature, it can also be understood. However, the village is obviously very flat, so how come the elm trees are late to mature, while the crops are not affected?

  Zhen'er shook her head, what a nuisance, why is this?

  Zhen Er picked three baskets of elm seeds, all of which were big and bright in color. Ye Baiju was overjoyed to see the elm seeds she had picked and showed them off everywhere.

  We pick slowly but we pick well, unlike you who want all sorts of deformed and defective ones, we'd rather have less than have too many.

  When picking the fourth basket, Zhen'er was even less anxious, slowly selecting and savoring, occasionally popping two into her mouth. The slightly sweet taste amidst the sourness could bring smiles of happiness to those children's faces. After eating two, Zhen'er stopped, unable to bear the sourness anymore.

  After sitting for a while, Zhen'er found that the little girls who were busy on the nearby trees and didn't even have time to catch their breath had all stopped, jumping around in the trees, and weren't busy picking elm seeds anymore.

  One person couldn't hold on and left first, the rest of the people climbed down from the tree with a rustling sound, carrying their baskets and leading the children who were waiting under the tree back home.

  Zhen'er saw someone leave and knew she could also get down from the tree, so she slowly climbed down. She always thought that getting down from a tree was more thrilling than climbing up.

  Attended a wedding, honestly felt that getting married on a hot day isn't a wise choice, not only did it exhaust myself, but also my relatives... I'm dead tired, my brain has become dull!

  Thank you for the starting point, the pink votes from Liu Mei Hui and others, today strive to add more chapters~~~.