Chapter 406 - 400: Discussing Contracting the Persimmon Forest

"And your family still bought two motorcycles?"

How could they splurge like that if they didn’t have the money?

"Heh, that’s all thanks to my Jiaojiao..."

Yun Jiao’s godfather was once again being used as a convenient excuse.

Hearing this, the villagers could only be envious.

Yun Linhai and the others hurriedly moved everything inside.

Yun Jiao, Yun Xiaowu, and the other kids handed out candy to the village children, who were instantly overjoyed.

"Ah Lian, you can ride a motorcycle too? I saw you riding in. That’s really impressive."

Shen Yunlian replied, "Heh, I had my husband teach me to make things easier. When the men are out at sea and I need to go to town or the county seat, I can just ride the motorcycle myself. It’s convenient and fast."

Shen Yunlian grabbed a large handful of sunflower seeds and sat down to chat with everyone.

Yun Jiao also brought over a small stool and sat beside her mother.

These kinds of gatherings were always the best place to hear the latest juicy gossip.

And sure enough, one of the aunties began.

"You all know the youngest son from the next village, right? I heard he got duped."

"Oh, I know that one! They say he found a pretty partner in the city, and her family didn’t even want a bride price—they provided the house! How could a windfall like that land on Zhao Xiaoshan? But as it turns out, they hadn’t even been married a month when she announced she was pregnant. Two months pregnant, at that."

"He sure became an instant dad in a hurry. The two families have been fighting for days. If you ask me, the Zhao family is just reluctant to give up the favorable terms from the woman’s side."

"And a while back, Er Laizi from our own village stole all his family’s money to gamble. He got arrested, and his parents went to the police station crying their eyes out. I heard it wasn’t just gambling but theft and brawling, too. He’s looking at two or three years in prison."

"Serves them right. That whole family favors boys. They worked their first two daughters like servants, and there was another baby girl they drowned in a cesspit right after she was born. But their son? They doted on him like a precious treasure. And for what?"

Yun Jiao listened with great relish, cracking open sunflower seeds at a furious pace.

She was a little disappointed when the crowd dispersed, still feeling like she hadn’t heard enough.

But village life was busy. Everyone had chores to do and meals to cook, leaving little time for idle chatter.

"Jiaojiao, come quick! I’ve got something for you."

Hearing her grandpa’s voice, Yun Jiao called back and quickly ran inside.

She found the old man holding out several purple-skinned fruits to her.

It was akebia fruit!

The wild ones weren’t very big, and they split open when ripe, revealing fragrant pulp inside.

They were delicious, but a bit of a hassle to eat.

The fruit was full of seeds.

Still, eating them slowly was a nice way to pass the time.

"Grandpa, did you and Grandma have any?"

"We have. The ones you’re eating are a late-ripening variety. We picked a batch that ripened earlier and wanted to bring them to you, but we were too busy here to get away."

Yun Jiao carefully spat out the akebia seeds.

"These are delicious too," she said.

Yun Xiaowu and the others got some as well, though they didn’t eat nearly as delicately as Yun Jiao.

Grandpa Shen sat beside Yun Jiao, gently waving a palm-leaf fan to shoo away the mosquitoes.

It wasn’t as hot this time of year, but in the countryside, with its abundance of plants, there were still plenty of mosquitoes.

The family sat together, talking and eating. Moments like these would become their most cherished memories, no matter when they looked back on them in the future.

"Come on, come on! There are so many of us here today, let’s take a picture."

Uncle Shen had been fiddling with Yun Chenbei’s camera, and after a while, he was eager to take some pictures.

He stood in the doorway and took a few snapshots—CLICK! CLICK!—of everyone in the room.

Finally, everyone gathered in the courtyard. The two elders sat down, and the others arranged themselves around them, all beaming with happiness.

CLICK...

The moment was captured forever.

Afterward, Uncle Shen handed the camera to Yun Chenbei and posed for a couple of photos himself.

When he heard that Yun Jiao and the others had come to pick persimmons, their older cousin, Shen Kuan, immediately offered to lead the way.

The busiest part of the farming season was over, but while the fields were less demanding, there was still rapeseed to be planted. So, the adults decided not to join in on the fun.

Shen Yunlian and Yun Linhai also stayed behind to help with the planting.

The rest of the group shouldered their woven baskets and set off for the mountains.

There was a mountain near Shen Family Village that was covered in a persimmon grove.

It had been planted long ago by a landlord, who grew them specifically to make and sell dried persimmons.

Later, of course, the landlord was gone, and the persimmon grove became collective property.

However, people could only eat so many fresh persimmons, and very few families knew how to make the dried variety. Even if they tried to sell the fresh fruit, not many people would buy them.