Traveling through the mountains and farming

Chapter 144 The tomatoes are ripe

Lin Wan smiled helplessly, tapped Xiao Bai's nose and said, "You naughty boy, luckily you only steal food from your own family."

Xiaobai blinked and whimpered, as if trying to justify his behavior.

"What did Xiaobai eat secretly? His mouth is a little red." Li Ke ran over and asked when he saw Xiaobai's appearance.

"It probably saw the tomatoes were ripe and ate them secretly."

"Oh, yes. Yesterday I saw that the tomatoes were already very red, and was about to ask sister-in-law if they were edible. Well, this little guy got there first." Li Ke suddenly realized.

"I see there are a few red ones. I want to pick some and try them too." He said as he ran out.

"Leave two of the red ones for seeds, and pick the rest. We'll eat them at noon and send a few to our great-uncle's house." Lin Wan shouted from behind.

She knew she could pick about seven or eight, as she had previously observed the growth of tomatoes in the vegetable garden.

Since it was a little late to plant, she wanted to save some seeds first. As for how many tomatoes would mature later, it would depend on the weather.

"Sister-in-law, I'll go help you pick them." Li Chongle picked up a vegetable basket from the side and ran after Li Ke.

Soon, the two came back with tomatoes in their hands, smiling, "Sister-in-law, can we eat tomatoes directly?"

Seeing Xiaobai eating it directly, Li Ke also wanted to eat it very much.

"You can eat it raw. Wash it and taste it. I'll make you scrambled eggs with tomatoes for lunch."

Later, their family caught a lot of pheasants in the mountains, so they kept some of them, clipped their flight feathers, and raised them. Unexpectedly, they even laid eggs.

Lin Wan took the basket and took out four tomatoes to give to Aunt Li. "Wash a few first and try them. I'll be back soon."

Lin Wan soon arrived at Aunt Li's house. Aunt Li saw the tomatoes in her hand and asked in surprise:

"Hey, is this the new vegetable you planted in your field? What's it called? I forgot again."

Lin Wan smiled and said, "Yes, I just picked some ripe tomatoes and brought them to you for you to try. You can eat them raw or fry them with eggs or duck eggs."

Aunt Li took the tomato and said, "It's really rare. I must try it."

"Okay, I'll send it to you when it's cooked. I'll go back first." Lin Wan turned around and prepared to leave.

"Don't leave yet. Your third aunt said she made some slippers for you. Now that you're here, take a look and see if they're what you want."

Aunt Li put the tomatoes on the table and went into the house to get her shoes.

After a while, Aunt Li came out with a pair of cotton slippers.

Lin Wan took it and looked at it. She found that her third aunt was really good at sewing clothes and making shoes.

She just described the appearance of the cotton slippers to her in detail, and she really made them. She also added some cotton she gave in the middle, so that it would be comfortable, convenient and warm to wear at home in winter.

She answered happily: "This is exactly what I want. Please thank my third aunt and my great aunt for me."

"Don't be polite. If that's what you want, she will make the remaining four pairs for you." Aunt Li said with a smile.

"Okay, but I trouble you aunts every time."

"Child, you have given us so many things, both food and daily necessities. The camellia hydrosol and lard ointment you gave to me and your cousins ​​are so precious. They are happy to make these for you." Aunt Li said angrily.

Then she added: "If you need any help in the future, just ask. We are all family."

Lin Wan nodded repeatedly: "Yes, great aunt, I understand."

After saying that, Lin Wan said goodbye to Aunt Li and returned home.

As soon as I entered the house, I saw Li Ke and Li Chongle still eating tomatoes. There were only three tomatoes left on the table.

"Sister-in-law, you're back! Although this tomato is not very sweet, it still tastes pretty good." Li Ke swallowed the last bite of tomato, walked up to her and asked with a smile.

Seeing a pair of strange-looking shoes in Lin Wan's hand, he asked curiously, "Sister-in-law, why don't these shoes have heels?"

"Try these shoes on to see if they fit."

Li Ke was surprised and said, "For me? I have never worn shoes like this before!"

She took the slippers, immediately sat on the stool next to her, took off her shoes and put them on quickly.

After walking a few steps, he said, "It's quite comfortable!"

Lin Wan smiled and said, "These are slippers. I usually wear them when I rest at home. They are easy to put on and take off, and they can relax my feet."

Li Ke kept walking around and feeling the new slippers. "Sister-in-law, I will wear these shoes at home from now on."

Seeing that Li Chongle had been staring at Li Ke's slippers, Lin Wan immediately explained:

"Xiao Le, our slippers are still in production. It will take a few days for them to be ready."

"Sister-in-law, I'm not in a hurry." Li Chongle said sensibly.

Li Ke jumped up and down, pulling Li Chongle to sit on the stool next to her, "Come on, little brother, try wearing mine first."

"No, I'll just wait a few days." Li Chongle waved his hands to refuse.

In the end, I couldn't resist Li Ke and had to cooperate and put them on. Although the shoes were shorter, the shorter slippers did not affect the try-on effect.

Li Chongle's feet were mostly exposed, and he was afraid of damaging his sister's shoes, so he quickly backed out.

"Are you feeling well, little guy?" Li Ke asked Li Chongle while pulling him aside.

"Yeah, it's really comfortable."

Li Chongle quickly put his shoes back on, fearing that Li Ke would ask him to feel it more carefully.

I quickly changed the subject and asked, "Sister-in-law, do we still need to dry those camellia fruits?"

Just when his sister-in-law left, he and Li Ke had already moved the camellia fruits outside to dry again.

"You have already put them out to dry? We will peel off the fruit skins that haven't cracked yet and take out the camellia seeds inside. We will dry them for a few more days and then store them away for oil extraction later."

"Okay, let's get started now. I heard that Grandpa Wang is making tools for pressing oil. Once they are ready, he will notify everyone to take turns pressing oil."

Li Chongle said this and pulled Li Ke out of the house.

Lin Wan followed behind, thinking to herself: I wonder if this is the same ancient method of oil pressing that she had seen from her friend before. That would require a special oil pressing room. I also don’t know how effective the tools made by Old Man Wang are.

However, she has also seen people crush camellia seeds at home and squeeze out the oil manually. She had also thought about trying this simple manual squeezing method after she had used up all the lard she had stockpiled.

The camellia fruits were placed in a large winnowing basket and dried outside the cave. The three of them began to peel the fruits.

There are also a lot of winter bamboo shoots and camellia fruits from other shops drying next to it.

After three or four days of drying, many of the peels fall off automatically, leaving only a small amount that needs to be peeled off manually.

"If you encounter some that are difficult to peel, you can use a stone to gently smash them open," Lin Wan reminded.

Li Ke and Li Chongle followed Lin Wan's instructions and quickly processed the camellia fruits.

"Sister-in-law, what should we do next?" Li Ke asked.

Lin Wan looked at the results and said, "Spread these camellia seeds out to dry in the sun. Once they are dry, you can extract the oil."

"Just waiting to press the oil!" Li Ke said happily.

"Let's go back and make lunch. We'll have scrambled eggs with tomatoes for lunch."