Chapter 1398 - 547: Imitation Top-grade Vegetable Tofu! The Best Post-meal Digestion Activity—Wild Vegetable Picking!

Chapter 1398: Chapter 547: Imitation Top-grade Vegetable Tofu! The Best Post-meal Digestion Activity—Wild Vegetable Picking!

The more you dig, the more you eat, right?

Everyone got up and changed into more practical clothes.

Shen Jiayue said:

"It’s not cold at all in the valley. Luckily, I didn’t wear my down jacket; I’d be sweating buckets."

The three elderly folks had gone for a long walk in the morning and had been digging for wild vegetables, so they really didn’t have the energy to go on. They offered to stay home and watch the house.

Grandma Lin asked Dundun:

"Little guy, stay and keep us company, will you?"

Dundun immediately wagged his tail, ran over, and leapt into Grandma’s arms.

We originally thought he would stay, but when everyone opened the car doors to get in, the little tyke darted into Lin Xu’s car and flopped onto the driver’s seat, refusing to get out.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Shen Jiayue cradled him and asked fiercely:

"You refused to go this morning, but now that Dad’s going, you’re tagging along like a lapdog. Tell me, has Dad been secretly feeding you treats?"

Lin Xu closed the car door, saw Han Shuzhen and Shen Guofu already seated in the back, and chuckled:

"I slow-cooked some chicken blood for him this morning; he loved it. From now on, if we have any chicken or duck slaughtering, we should save the blood for him."

Upon hearing this, Shen Jiayue lightly slapped Dundun’s little behind twice:

"You betray Mommy just for food, huh?"

Dundun rubbed against Shen Jiayue’s hand, looking all sugary sweet.

They arrived at the valley entrance near the starry sky base. Lin Xu parked the car and waited for the big uncles, aunts, and both parents to gather before grabbing the small hoe and shovel to head down the newly built boardwalk leading into the valley.

Shen Jiayue patted the faux wood-grain railing of the boardwalk and said:

"Tsk tsk, this must have used a lot of wood, huh?"

Lin Xu replied:

"It’s all made of concrete, molded with wood-grain patterns, and just painted over."

"Concrete?"

Not only Shen Jiayue, but Chen Yuanyuan and Chen Shaokang were all a bit surprised.

Because to them, these railings looked very similar to wood. On the way to dig up wild vegetables earlier, the kids were even talking about whether wood ears would grow in the summer, planning to come and harvest them.

Now hearing it wasn’t wood at all, they were instantly disappointed.

Lin Hongqi said:

"These railings, like the vine-shaped ones at Dragon Head Peak and those that look like twisted wooden ones, are all made of concrete with steel inside. They’re sturdier and more durable."

If they were real wood, not only would it cost way more, but they’d require maintenance like moisture-proof and anti-corrosion treatment, which is impractical.

If any segment of wood wasn’t properly maintained and caused an accident, it would be too costly.

The boardwalk appears and disappears intermittently, preserving the original natural landscape as much as possible. Occasionally, there’s a small bridge crossing to the other side or specially made stone pedestals for people to cross over.

At this time, it’s the dry season; the riverbed has only a narrow trickle, almost breaking, looking rather unimpressive.

But come summer, it’ll be a whole different scene.

Excess water from the reservoir flows out, forming a several-meter-wide riverbed here. During stormy days, the whole middle part of the valley becomes a river.

The previous hesitation to develop here was due to concerns over staff shortages, fearing someone might linger and face the hazard of flash floods.

This time, Lin Hongqi plans to hire more people from the nearby villages and ask the fire department to conduct safety training like firefighting and disaster relief to ensure visitor safety.

As they continued forward, the valley sloped further downward, the riverbed widened significantly, and massive boulders the size of half a car popped into view sporadically, no clue where they came from.

The temperature here is noticeably higher than outside, with various wild grasses sprouting from the soil on both sides of the riverbed.

Lin Xu opened the zipper of his outdoor gear and picked up the tired Dundun, putting him on his shoulder, ready to search for wild vegetables.

"We’ve already checked here, still need to go further. There’s more ahead, the riverbed is wider. Mom said people have found jade in the riverbed before."

Shen Jiayue chatted while walking with Lin Xu.

Continuing further, the valley widened even more, with walkways on the slopes and steps leading up to emergency shelters at the top.

After walking for a while longer, the wild grasses on both sides grew lush and verdant, as if winter had never come, instantly switching from fall to spring.

"This is it, let’s start. Dundun, get down so Dad can dig wild veggies; I can’t dig with you on my shoulder."

Dundun jumped off and followed Lin Xu.

Watching intently as Lin Xu dug up a dandelion, shook off the soil from its roots, and placed it in the basket.

Then he found some shepherd’s purse, using the shovel to cut it off at the root, also placing it in the basket.

Everyone spread out and looked for wild vegetables, but the younger ones didn’t really recognize them.

Though Shen Jiayue had come this morning, she started by digging up some inedible beef tendon grass, and Lin Xu finally understood why with so many people earlier, not many wild vegetables were found.

Probably because of helpers like Shen Baobao causing more trouble, dragging down the experts.

Lin Xu did know wild vegetables.

Not that he used to dig them often with Grandma Lin, but that he spent fifty thousand points to exchange for a set of "Wilderness Survival Guide" in the system mall. He could recognize all kinds of herbs and food at a glance.

Experience is vital, but all becomes insignificant in the presence of cheats.

Seeing Shen Jiayue with half a basket containing only one edible dandelion, and its stem cut halfway, Lin Xu told her:

"Baobao, stop digging, take Dundun and play around here. He hasn’t been here before and surely wants to explore..."

"Alright, come on baby, Mommy will take you to collect stones in the riverbed. I heard there are lots of sparkly little stones here, they’re really pretty."

Upon hearing this, Dundun left Lin Xu, following Shen Jiayue with his little bum in the air, wandering around the riverbed.

It didn’t take long for Lin Xu to fill a basket with wild vegetables.

Pouring them into the woven bag they brought, he continued digging.

Others also had harvests, and as they moved further downstream, there were even more wild vegetables, with more variety.

At this rate, in the afternoon, not only could we steam cornbread, but also baozi and dumplings aplenty.

While digging, Shen Jiayue’s loud exclamation came from the riverbed:

"Wow, Dundun scratched out a semi-transparent stone, don’t know if it’s jade, but it looks gorgeous..."

Jade?

Upon hearing, Shen Guofu, who’s just been going through the motions, immediately grabbed his shovel and ran into the riverbed to see what exactly Dundun had uncovered...

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This Chapter is 5200 words, asking for monthly votes, brothers!