In the afternoon, after tutoring Du Yu, Xu Mumu returned ho with the sponge cakes she bought from the supply and marketing cooperative.
On the way, she ran into Song Jiayan again. However, she had just returned from a doctor’s visit, and her face was still a little pale.
She had fallen into the Tian Gou in the morning, caught a chill after returning ho, and had a slight fever in the afternoon, feeling extrely uncomfortable. She had no choice but to go to the health clinic for so dicine.
Seeing Xu Mumu, Song Jiayan gave her a fierce glare, her throat still sowhat sore, not in the mood to talk, and just turned away.
Back ho with the sponge cakes, she shared them with a few kids, and Xu Mumu picked up her books to continue reading.
The materials that Yin Yang brought back for her from the Imperial City were very useful, and she hoped to finish reading them soon.
Just as Xu Mumu was reading, Yin Yang ca over with a small box.
"Why is Comrade Yin here?" Li Caixia’s eyes lit up when she saw the small box in Yin Yang’s hand.
"Mrs. Li, I’m here to see Comrade Xu Mumu, is she around?" Yin Yang said gently.
"She’s here, wait a mont, I’ll call her for you." Li Caixia nodded repeatedly, confident that Comrade Yin was here to bring so nice things to her daughter, "Mumu, Comrade Yin is here to see you, co out quickly."
Xu Mumu put down her pen, rubbed her forehead, and walked out of the room.
"Why are you here?" Seeing Yin Yang, Xu Mumu was still a bit puzzled, having been deep in her studies and feeling a bit dizzy.
"I went to pick so tea leaves, I fried them myself, have a taste." Yin Yang handed the box to Xu Mumu, which contained about half a pound of tea leaves.
The yield of tea leaves wasn’t high, he had been busy all afternoon and only managed to fry a bit over a pound.
"Slls good, thank you." Xu Mumu took the box, opened it, and a refreshing fragrance wafted out; the tea leaves lay quietly in the box, still sowhat warm, obviously freshly out of the pan.
"As long as you like it, it’s just regular mountain tea." Yin Yang smiled bashfully.
He hadn’t expected a girl like Xu Mumu to even like tea, it was quite unexpected.
"I do like it. I’ll brew so for my family to drink later, thank you, Comrade Yin, for your hard work," Xu Mumu said with a smile.
"Sure, next ti I find good tea leaves, I’ll bring so more for you." Yin Yang said earnestly, as Xu Mumu had indeed helped him a lot.
After seeing Yin Yang off, Xu Mumu looked at the box in her hand. It was an iron box, quite nice in style; she didn’t know where Yin Yang had gotten it from.
"Mumu, is that all he gave you? You can’t even eat it," Li Caixia said with so disdain; she personally didn’t like tea much, finding it bitter.
"Yeah, he fried it himself, who knew he had such a skill? Mom, I’ll go brew so tea for you all." Xu Mumu waved the box in her hand, then took out so tea leaves, put them in a bowl, and added hot water.
The leaves slowly unfolded, although slightly scorched, they still looked nice and quite aromatic, probably tasting good too.
"We still have honey at ho, why not drink honey water? Honey water tastes much better," Li Caixia said helplessly.
"We can drink honey slowly, no rush," Xu Mumu chuckled, rembering how her dad got stung so badly last ti they picked a honeycomb. Luckily, the bees weren’t venomous, and he was fine after a few days.
Wild honey has high nutritional value, it’s a good thing, even better than these tea leaves, and Xu Mumu was a bit reluctant to drink it.
As the tea’s temperature slowly decreased, Xu Mumu carefully took a sip.
It was fresh and llow upon entry, really quite tasty.
"Mom, try it, it’s pretty good, way better than the ones Grandpa keeps," Xu Mumu brought the tea to Li Caixia.
There wasn’t much money at ho, so naturally, they couldn’t spend money on buying good tea leaves.
Those old tea stems were what Madam Chen bought to entertain guests at ho; tea leaves were expensive, and those old tea sticks were mostly defective pieces, but they were cheap and could still offer a taste of tea.
Though a bit unsure, Li Caixia took a sip; the taste was indeed better than those old tea sticks, but still a bit bitter. "It’s okay, but why do you like this bitter taste? Wouldn’t sothing sweet be better? Sugar is expensive," she said.
Xu Mumu felt sowhat helpless, as in her mother’s mind, expensive things are always the best.
"Too much sugar isn’t good. I quite like drinking tea. Grandpa will definitely like it, once he cos back, I’ll leave the tea leaves for him," Xu Mumu said, feeling a bit of a headache.
While the mother and daughter were chatting, Old Xu and Xu Hai ca back, carrying a bundle of bamboo.
"Grandpa, why so much bamboo?" Xu Mumu asked curiously.
"To weave so mats, it’s getting hotter, and bamboo mats are more comfortable to sleep on. I’ll make one for our Mumu first," Old Xu said with a big smile.
"Grandpa, make one for your bed first, I’m not in a hurry. Oh, Grandpa, here are the tea leaves Comrade Yin gave ; he fried them himself, keep them and have them slowly," Xu Mumu said, bringing over the box of tea leaves.
"He fried it himself?" Old Xu asked with so surprise, taking a whiff of the scent, which was quite pleasant.
Nobody in the family knew how to fry tea; the old tea sticks at ho were bought from the supply and marketing cooperative.
Having a skill in these tis ans not fearing starvation; Yin Yang’s tea frying skill was quite a surprise to Old Xu.
"Yes," Xu Mumu nodded.
With new tea leaves, Old Xu couldn’t wait to taste them. Xu Mumu had already anticipated that Old Xu would want to drink tea, so she had brewed it before they returned.
"Grandpa, no need to brew it, I’ve done it for you, have a taste," she said, handing over the tea, which was no longer hot, to Old Xu and her father.
One bowl of tea successfully won Old Xu over, further enhancing his impression of Yin Yang.
Xu Mumu’s mouth twitched, watching Old Xu carefully put away the tea leaves as if they were so treasure. To be honest, she knew the basic process of frying tea and could do it herself, was it really worth it?
Perhaps she could take a few kids out to pick so tea buds and fry so tea? It wouldn’t be a bad idea, just to fry so for personal consumption; she wasn’t selling it anyway, and her grandpa seed to enjoy drinking tea.
After Xu Mumu left for school, the captain’s house was bustling with excitent for building. Initially, they planned to build just one room, but after a heavy rain, the captain’s house started leaking, so they decided to redo the roof and replace it with new straw.
Many people from the brigade went to help with the captain’s house, and within three to four days, two new rooms were built. Although the walls were still built with clay, inside the rooms were covered with lots of newspapers, making them look clean and quite spacious.
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