Chapter 85: Girdling Orange Trees
The mountain raspberries on the mountain were about to go out of season. Ying Kongtu had originally still wanted to brew a little more mountain raspberry vinegar, but when he went up the mountain to pick them, he discovered that the fruits in the final batch were relatively small, and their fragrance was not as rich as the earlier mountain raspberries.
He could only give up on the mountain raspberries and choose other kinds of raspberries instead.
Fortunately, there were many types of raspberries on his mountain. As long as they were not being used commercially, there was more than enough for their own use.
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan took the furry ones to pick other raspberries.
Now, raspberries of all kinds of colors had ripened. Red ones, yellow ones, and black ones clustered water-bright on the branches, like little gemstones.
However, they were not as large as the previous ones. If the furry ones wanted to pick them, they needed a bit of technique.
At a time like this, each of them had to show their own abilities.
Shuangzhong feared thorns the least. Its beak and claws were both very hard. Aside from eating them itself, it could even feed some to Dart along the way.
Tiaozhu was very agile, so it had no problem either.
Needless to say, Xian Niao could easily use its paws to push aside the thorny branches and roll the raspberry fruits into its mouth.
Only Jingwei had neither technique nor the advantage of size. Its body was too large, and it carried a big wolf head as it turned back and forth among the branches and leaves, getting its fur all messed up by the thorns.
Yet it refused to admit defeat. It kept trying again and again after repeated failures, attempting to curl the raspberries into its mouth. Even its black, damp nose got pricked with thorns.
Ying Kongtu originally did not want to bother with it.
But seeing its clumsy appearance, he really could not keep watching. He walked to its side and reached out to touch its wolf head. “Try hooking a place with fewer thorns using your paw. Slowly pull the branch down, then bite the fruit to eat.”
Jingwei turned to look at Ying Kongtu. Sure enough, it slowly hooked the branch with its paw and pressed it down.
There were too many thorns on the branch. Even if it hooked the branch down like this, it was still quickly pricked by the thorns and began whining.
There was even a bit of grievance in that little throat sound.
Ying Kongtu could not stand it and called out, “Xian Niao, you come teach it.”
Xian Niao looked back and called to Jingwei, “Awo.”
Jingwei quickly released the branch under its paw and happily ran toward Xian Niao. “Awo awo!”
Seeing that Jingwei finally managed to eat raspberries smoothly, Ying Kongtu shook his head and focused on picking raspberries with Wen Zhongshan, no longer paying attention to them.
Although the little fellows had all kinds of techniques, when it came to dexterity, the two of them were certainly still better.
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan picked quickly, and soon, the bamboo baskets were filled with colorful raspberries.
The gathered raspberries released a fresh, fragrant scent. They smelled wonderful.
The raspberries were small and not as soft as mountain raspberries, but they were also easier to preserve. Even if they picked more and placed them in the baskets, they did not have to worry about crushing them.
They picked two large baskets in total before taking the furry ones, who had basically already eaten their fill, back home.
The fresh raspberries were very adorable. Ying Kongtu cleared out a space in the freezer and froze a large pile of colorful raspberries.
As for the rest, they brewed fruit wine and made fruit vinegar.
The frozen raspberries froze the fastest. They had been placed in the freezer the previous day, and by the next day, they were already frozen solid.
After lunch, when the weather was hot, Ying Kongtu used a special scoop to take out a big pile and directly blended them into shaved ice with a high-speed blender, then poured honey over it to make raspberry shaved ice.
When the shaved ice was blended, its sweet, sour, and refreshing fragrance had already drifted out. After honey was poured over it, the scent became even better.
The furry ones were all squatting outside the door, staring brightly at the thick glass bowl in his hands.
“Don’t rush, don’t rush. Everyone gets a share.” Ying Kongtu looked at the little fellows and gestured for them to go wait by their food bowls.
Xian Niao called “awoo” and walked over lightly.
The other furry ones followed its steps and quickly walked over as well.
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan placed the raspberry shaved ice in front of them. They all lowered their heads in perfect unison, and except for Shuangzhong, they began licking it.
Shuangzhong could only peck at it bite by bite.
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan each held a bowl of shaved ice and sat by the doorway, enjoying the cross-breeze while slowly eating.
The weather was extremely hot now, but the cross-breeze was still quite cool. Not to mention, the shaved ice in the bowl was crystal clear, sour, sweet, and icy cold. One taste, and the summer heat vanished completely. It was wonderful.
Ying Kongtu sighed. “What I like most is all the modern technology. Shaved ice is too delicious.”
Wen Zhongshan said, “I like it too. Is the honey almost gone?”
“Only a little left at the bottom.” Ying Kongtu scooped another spoonful of shaved ice and said, “In another half month or so, we should be able to harvest new honey. After the sun sets later, let’s go up the mountain and take a look.”
Their family’s bee colonies had gone from three to six. If nothing unexpected happened, after harvesting the first batch of honey, they would no longer lack honey.
The more Ying Kongtu thought about it, the more he kept thinking about their honey. He did not even nap for very long and got up early, pulling Wen Zhongshan with him to go up the mountain and check the honey.
After a period of reproduction and settling in, the newly split bee colonies had adapted very well.
Now, the combs in the beehives were more than half full, but the bees had not yet capped the combs much. There was not much mature honey yet.
“As expected, we still need about half a month before we can come up the mountain to harvest honey.” Ying Kongtu said with some regret.
“The number of bees is quite impressive.”
“That’s true. Recently, quite a few bees have been bred. They’re probably working overtime to gather nectar.”
The bee population had exploded. When they harvested honey after some time, they would definitely be able to get a lot.
“Let’s go to Xiwu Mountain. After we check the bees on Xiwu Mountain, we’ll go see the Ba-snake pigs. I wonder how they’ve been these past two days?”
The two chatted as they walked toward Xiwu Mountain.
The beehive on Xiwu Mountain had also been placed halfway up the mountain.
Ying Kongtu had found a safe place for the bees under the rock wall. With the rocks shielding it, the beehive did not even need waterproof cloth over it.
The bees were very satisfied with this new home, and the colony had also grown quickly.
When Ying Kongtu opened the beehive and saw that it was covered with bees inside, he felt rather gratified.
He was just about to examine it carefully when he suddenly smelled a faint sweet-and-sour orange scent.
“Hm?” Ying Kongtu’s hand paused. He squatted down to look at the beehive at eye level. “This batch of honey seems to be orange honey.”
Wen Zhongshan also smelled the rich, fresh fragrance of oranges. “Did they gather nectar from the orange grove on the other side?”
“Probably. It smells so good!”
Ying Kongtu could not help taking out the small knife he carried with him and cutting a piece of not-yet-fully-mature honey from the comb to taste with Wen Zhongshan.
Perhaps because the honey had not matured yet and its water content was relatively high, it tasted sweet with a slight sourness. The flavor was very refreshing, and the citrus aroma was extremely rich.
It was not purely a citrus scent either, but a fresh fragrance that had been slightly fermented and transformed.
If one had to describe it, it was like a fragrance adjusted with lemon peel.
Ying Kongtu felt that it also had a little of the flavor and texture of orange marmalade.
The two looked at each other.
Ying Kongtu asked, “Do you think this fragrance comes from the orange blossoms, or was it given by the bees during brewing?”
“Both?” Wen Zhongshan said. “We’ll know if we go take a look at the orange grove.”
Ying Kongtu said, “Let’s go.”
There was an orange grove on the sunny slope of Xiwu Mountain. It should have been planted by nearby villagers several decades ago.
Now, the orange grove had long been abandoned. After many years without anyone managing it, the orange trees and other miscellaneous trees had grown together, and one could no longer see the original shape of the orange grove.
Last year, they had tidied it a little, pruning branches and burying fertilizer, but they had not cleared the miscellaneous trees and shrubs in the orange grove.
Now, in the orange grove, orange trees and miscellaneous trees grew intermingled.
The terraced fields humans had opened in earlier years had also collapsed, gradually turning back into slopes and becoming covered with shrubs.
When the two arrived, the orange trees were drowned among a large pile of miscellaneous trees, looking completely unremarkable.
Ying Kongtu said, “If I’d known, we should have cleared out the orange grove last year. At the very least, we should have cleared away the miscellaneous trees and shrubs.”
Wen Zhongshan said, “It’s already pretty good. At least they don’t block the way.”
Now, when Ying Kongtu walked through the mountains under his name, all kinds of plants would make way for him.
Last year, the plants had not been so considerate. When they walked through such dense shrubbery, all kinds of grass seeds would stick to their bodies, and their clothes would be messed up by all sorts of shrubs. Cleaning up afterward was extremely troublesome.
Ying Kongtu said, “That’s true. Come on, let’s look at the orange trees.”
The flowers on the orange trees had already fallen. Now, finger-sized green fruits had formed on the branches.
These oranges were restrained and low-key. Standing beneath the tree, they could not smell any difference between these oranges and ordinary oranges, and naturally, they could not taste any difference either.
However, judging from the dense crowns of the orange trees, it could be seen that they had indeed grown very well this year.
Perhaps because they had received enough fertilizer and nourishment from divine power, they had become the dominant trees in the forest.
The crowns of each orange tree were thick, green, and lush, directly blocking most of the sunlight, leaving the weeds and shrubs beneath them half-dead.
Ying Kongtu picked a leaf and held it under his nose to smell it.
The orange leaves also smelled very good, carrying a fresh fragrance.
He also let Wen Zhongshan smell it.
Wen Zhongshan said, “Why does it smell a little like lemon leaves?”
“I don’t know?” Ying Kongtu looked at the tree crown. “The only thing we can be certain of is that they really have grown quite well.”
“They’ve almost squeezed the other trees to death.”
“Almost. They’re growing too vigorously.”
At this point, something stirred in Ying Kongtu’s heart. “It seems they’re growing a little too vigorously. We need to deal with that.”
“Cut off some branches?”
“No. They’ve already borne fruit, so we can’t cut branches now.” Ying Kongtu thought for a moment. “Let’s girdle them first. The summer shoots are growing too vigorously, so we need to control them a little.”
“How do we girdle them?”
“Just lightly cut a ring around the main trunk. That way, the nutrients accumulated in the crown can’t be transported to the roots, so they’ll be sent to the fruits instead. Then the fruits will grow well.”
Ying Kongtu took out a small knife and demonstrated to Wen Zhongshan. “Cut a ring of bark like this. Don’t cut it too wide, or the fruit tree may die.”
Wen Zhongshan was truly far too skilled with knives.
As soon as Ying Kongtu demonstrated it, he immediately understood. He crouched down and also cut a ring around a fruit tree. The width and depth of his cut were not the slightest bit different from Ying Kongtu’s.
“Impressive.” Ying Kongtu praised him. “That’s exactly how to cut it.”
“All right. Should we cut all the fruit trees once?”
“Yes, yes. Girdle all the fruit trees once.”
With Wen Zhongshan taking action, Ying Kongtu stopped girdling the fruit trees himself. He simply stood to the side and watched Wen Zhongshan do it, confirming the depth and size of the cuts along the way.
There were thirty-eight orange trees in the orange grove in total.
With Wen Zhongshan taking action, he finished girdling them in half an hour.
Ying Kongtu specially sent a little divine power into the orange trees to prevent them from getting infected.
“All right. Now their nutrients should mainly be transported into the fruits. When the oranges ripen in autumn, they’ll definitely be big and sweet.”
Ying Kongtu looked at the orange grove before him, feeling a great sense of accomplishment.
After thinking for a moment, he said again, “After some time, let’s have the Ba-snake pigs come over to loosen the soil and fertilize it. They’ll definitely grow even better.”
Author’s Note:
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan occasionally put a dog leash and a bite guard on Jingwei, then take it to the county square to attract people.
Humans are a little afraid of Jingwei, so the process of attracting people does not go very smoothly.
Until Ying Kongtu prints out a sign: Pet the Dog, Five Minutes for Five Yuan.
Business instantly explodes.
After Jingwei has happily absorbed enough human attention,
Ying Kongtu pulls Wen Zhongshan along, brings Jingwei with them, and uses the earnings to buy ice cream at a milk tea shop.
One for him, one for Wen Zhongshan, and one for Jingwei.
The two people and one wolf eat ice cream and leisurely stroll home.
