Mountain God’s Forest Farm – CH69

Chapter 69: Black Locust Blossoms

In the small plot of field they had specially set aside for the purple-backed duckweed, the duckweed was growing very well.

The weather had warmed, and with the stimulation of the Ba snake fertilizer, the purple-backed duckweed was practically growing like mad. In just a few days, it had covered the entire field.

Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan planted the purple-backed duckweed into the other terraced fields.

The purple-backed duckweed also quickly spread.

The fish and shrimp could not eat it all.

Ying Kongtu was even a little worried that this batch of purple-backed duckweed might grow too quickly and steal oxygen and nutrients.

Fortunately, not long after, the fish, shrimp, and purple-backed duckweed maintained a delicate balance, and both sides entered a normal growth stage.

At the beginning of May, a warm air current arrived, and rain began to fall in Changchuan County.

The rain was continuous, warm, and moist.

Nourished by this rain, Ying Kongtu felt as though he could hear the grass and trees putting on new growth.

That night, Ying Kongtu suddenly woke in the middle of the night.

The moment he woke, Wen Zhongshan, sleeping beside him, also woke and turned toward him, still drowsy as he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“I think I smelled a little floral fragrance.” Ying Kongtu sat up, leaned against the headboard, and looked toward the window.

The night breeze blew in, gently stirring the curtains.

The air was very fresh, but there was no floral fragrance.

Wen Zhongshan sniffed carefully. “I don’t smell it. Maybe something on the mountain has bloomed. It’s too far away, so you sensed it, but I can’t feel anything.”

“That’s possible too.” Ying Kongtu’s face carried a smile. “Let’s go up the mountain tomorrow and take a look.”

“Mm. Go back to sleep.” As Wen Zhongshan spoke, he patted Ying Kongtu through the quilt.

Ying Kongtu then shrank back under the quilt and soon fell asleep again.

Early the next morning, the two woke up, washed up, and walked shoulder to shoulder back to Ying Kongtu’s house.

Ying Kongtu looked toward the mountain and suddenly pointed. “Look, the mountain is blooming.”

Wen Zhongshan followed his gaze and indeed saw many white mountain flowers.

The mountain wind blew over, carrying a faint and delicate fragrance through the air.

It was the scent of locust blossoms.

The black locust trees had grown buds long ago and had already bloomed sporadically.

This time, with the arrival of the warm air, they suddenly bloomed on a large scale. As a result, the mountains were filled with the scent of locust blossoms.

Ying Kongtu quickened his steps. “Come on, let’s go get baskets.”

Wen Zhongshan followed. “We’re going to pick locust blossoms this morning?”

“Yes!” Ying Kongtu said. “I haven’t eaten locust blossoms in ages. Let’s pick some and have a taste.”

They hurried home and happened to meet Tiaozhu and Xian Niao coming down from the mountain.

They were each carrying branches of locust blossoms in their mouths.

This year’s locust blossoms were exceptionally good. The flowers were large and beautiful, hanging in cluster after cluster.

With the blossom branches in their mouths, their furry faces looked as though they were buried beneath flowers, making them look extraordinarily beautiful.

Especially since Tiaozhu and Xian Niao were both particularly handsome and majestic little mountain gods.

Ying Kongtu could not help quickening his pace. He walked over, cupped Xian Niao’s furry wolf face, and exclaimed, “Tiaozhu, Xian Niao, you actually brought flowers down. You’re so beautiful!”

Wen Zhongshan said nothing. He simply silently took out his phone and snapped a photo of them.

Dart and Jingwei came out of the house. Smelling the floral fragrance, they ran over and circled Tiaozhu and Xian Niao, sniffing them.

Tiaozhu and Xian Niao spat out the flower branches.

The group of furry ones then held the flower branches and began gnawing at them.

Black locust blossoms contained a lot of nectar. They smelled fragrant and sweet, and tasted clear and sweet as well.

They pressed the branches down with their paws, lay in the courtyard, tilted their heads, and gnawed at the blossoms, looking utterly comfortable.

Ying Kongtu’s heart itched even more. He pushed Wen Zhongshan into the house to get baskets, preparing to go up the mountain to pick locust blossoms.

The moment they moved, the furry ones immediately abandoned the branches they were gnawing on and stood up as well, chasing after them.

Ying Kongtu said, “We’re going to Wuchuan Mountain to pick locust blossoms. Keep up.”

“Meow-ao—”

“Awooo—”

The whole family started running, happily going up the mountain.

The flowers all over the mountains had indeed bloomed.

Aside from black locust blossoms, there were azaleas, Japanese raspberries, Cherokee roses, pieris, wild roses, raspberries, and more.

The flowers competed to bloom, covering mountain after mountain. The slopes had practically become waterfalls of flowers.

The fragrances of all kinds of blossoms blended together and rushed toward them, sweet and fresh, without the cloying sweetness of artificial perfume.

“It smells so good.” Ying Kongtu stood in the mountains and sighed. “It’s completely different from last year.”

With a solemn furry face, Tiaozhu agreed. “Meow-ao.”

“Come on! Let’s go pick locust blossoms!” Ying Kongtu waved a hand and took the lead, bringing everyone under the black locust trees.

There were black locust trees of all sizes on the mountain, and all of them had just entered full bloom.

They bloomed so brilliantly. White blossoms hung down, pure and beautiful.

Ying Kongtu reached out and shook a tree. Only dew fell; the flowers, having just bloomed, were firmly attached to the branches and did not fall at all.

They were not the only ones who had discovered that the mountains had bloomed.

The bees had also flown over early in the morning, buzzing as they circled the flowers.

The little animals in the mountains—small birds, squirrels, mountain mice, and others—had also come out, climbing into the trees to enjoy this spring feast.

The moment they heard movement, they alertly ran off, fleeing so quickly that Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan could only see their backs.

“All right, we can pick now.” Ying Kongtu put down the baskets and said to Wen Zhongshan, “Let’s try to pick branches with more flower buds. The buds are more tender and taste better.”

“Just break the branches off directly?”

“Yes, just break them. They grow very quickly. Once the branches are broken, new ones will soon grow.”

Hearing this, Wen Zhongshan broke off branches without any psychological burden.

They were very tall, so they did not need to climb the trees. Standing beneath the trees, they could simply reach out and break off the flowering branches.

Jingwei and Dart could not reach the flower branches and could not climb trees either. They grew so anxious that they hopped around at their feet, making soft whimpering sounds through their noses.

The two men broke off flower branches and handed them to the little ones so they could carry them away.

There were far too many black locust trees on the mountain. After picking for only a short while, they had already filled two baskets.

They took a detour down the mountain and went to the market to buy fresh meat.

Tiaozhu and Xian Niao returned first through the shrine. Dart and Jingwei followed at their heels, carrying flower branches in their mouths, excitedly running along.

When they arrived at the market, they went to the familiar meat stall to buy meat.

Half the people in the market were looking at the fresh white flowers in their baskets.

“Oh, it’s the season to eat locust blossoms again.”

“These locust blossoms are from your mountain, right? They grew so well.”

“They’re plump and round. So lovely.”

Ying Kongtu’s mountains had always produced many good things, and everyone was used to it. After sighing with admiration, they could not help feeling a little envious.

However, there were many people selling mountain goods at the market. As soon as the locust blossoms in the mountains bloomed, people would soon pick them and bring them down to sell. So nobody was in a hurry.

Ying Kongtu greeted his acquaintances one by one with a smile, then went to the meat stall and bought pork shoulder.

Their family liked using pork shoulder the most when making buns and stuffed flatbreads.

After they returned home, the locust blossoms were easy to process. They only needed to run their hands along the branches, and all the blossoms would come off.

Ying Kongtu pinched a flower and put it between his lips. With a light bite, its clear fragrance burst out completely.

Wen Zhongshan stared at his lips.

His lips were pale in color, but slightly pink. The snow-white blossom disappeared between them, giving him a divine sort of beauty.

Wen Zhongshan could not look away.

When Ying Kongtu looked up, he saw Wen Zhongshan’s expression.

He smiled, picked up a blossom, and placed it by Wen Zhongshan’s lips.

Wen Zhongshan opened his mouth, lightly bit Ying Kongtu’s finger with his clean white teeth, and only then took the blossom away.

Ying Kongtu’s eyes curved slightly. “Do you feel that this year’s locust blossoms are different from other locust blossoms?”

Wen Zhongshan had not tasted anything at all and could only look at Ying Kongtu.

Ying Kongtu said, “It seems to have no grassy astringency?”

Locust blossoms were fragrant and sweet, but they had a slight green astringency from the plants. They usually had to be blanched before that astringency could be removed.

But blanching would also take away part of the flowers’ sweet fragrance, causing the flowers to lose some of their flavor.

Only after hearing his hint did Wen Zhongshan carefully taste it. Afterward, he admitted, “It really doesn’t seem to have any astringency.”

“Right? This batch of locust blossoms doesn’t need to be blanched.”

Their locust blossoms grew on the mountain and were not polluted. They only needed to be briefly rinsed to wash away the floating dust on the surface, then they could be eaten directly. There was no need to blanch them at all.

Wen Zhongshan minced the filling while Ying Kongtu seasoned it. The two of them made a batch of buns.

Over an hour later, their handmade locust blossom and fresh meat buns came out of the steamer.

“Tiaozhu, Xian Niao, Dart, Jingwei—breakfast is ready.” Ying Kongtu called out, summoning the furry ones over and dividing buns for them.

That morning, Ying Kongtu had prepared two kinds of filling.

The meat buns made for the furry ones did not have many seasonings added. He had only added a tiny bit of salt.

Animals also needed salt. As long as not too much was added, adding salt was fine.

The locust blossom meat buns they themselves ate were seasoned normally.

Ying Kongtu broke open a bun.

The dough today had also been kneaded very well. Wen Zhongshan had kneaded it by hand, and the dough was fluffy, soft, and springy.

The filling inside was also just right.

The meat filling had a slight graininess, and the amount of locust blossoms added was also just right. After being wrapped into buns, the filling was slightly loose, unlike commercially sold buns where the filling clumped into a small meatball.

Once broken open, steam rose from the filling inside. The aroma of meat mixed with the fresh fragrance of locust blossoms and rushed into the nose.

Ying Kongtu took a bite. The sweet fragrance of the locust blossoms and the savory aroma of the meat were perfectly combined. Juices overflowed, fragrant without being greasy.

The locust blossoms gave the meat a fresh fragrance, while the meat made the locust blossoms richer, sweeter, and more fragrant.

The freshness of plants and the richness of meat blended together perfectly, blooming on the lips and tongue. It was incredibly delicious.

Ying Kongtu narrowed his eyes. “When I planted black locust trees last year, I was looking forward to this bite. I didn’t expect it to be even better than I imagined.”

“Everything on our mountain is delicious.”

“That’s still different. Last year’s mountain goods weren’t this delicious.” Ying Kongtu lowered his voice. “I’ve already started to sense the unique savory fragrance created by the locust blossoms being nourished by divine power. Can you feel it?”

“It’s not very obvious to me. I can sense its freshness and fragrance, but if you hadn’t said it, I wouldn’t have thought in that direction.”

“Then my feeling must be deeper, probably because these locust blossoms were nourished by my divine power.”

Ying Kongtu took another bite of the meat bun and said with narrowed eyes, “Thinking about it now, planting so many black locust trees last autumn really was a wise choice!”

The locust blossoms on the mountain had bloomed far too well.

Ying Kongtu could not bear to waste them, so he picked a portion and sent a basket to Xing Chang’s family.

Soon, he discovered that if their family’s locust blossoms were stored together with the branches, even without any preservation measures, they could last for several days.

So he sent some to Fu Yuan, the Ba snake clan, and the villagers who had sold them pondweed. Apart from inviting them to taste the blossoms, he also wanted to hear their thoughts.

Ying Kongtu said to Wen Zhongshan, “This year’s locust blossoms bloomed so well. If possible, let’s sell some online.”

They had just bought Qianchongcui Mountain, and two-thirds of the payment had yet to be made. Perhaps they could take this opportunity to earn some money.

Author’s Note:

Jingwei has a stuffed wolf toy that it especially likes. It is its baby.

As long as it is at home, it carries it everywhere.

Dart was very curious.

Taking advantage of Jingwei’s absence, Dart carried it away to play with, until it was covered in cat smell.

Jingwei felt deeply wronged.

When it came back, it lay by a person’s feet and sighed, whining softly in its throat.

Ying Kongtu personally disinfected it, washed it clean, and hung it in the sun until it was dry and fresh.

Only then did Jingwei cheer up again.

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