Chapter 202: Care for Some Sunflower Seeds?
No matter the underlying motive for his help, Wen Yao was deeply grateful in her heart. She specifically asked Li Yi what he wanted to eat tomorrow, promising to make it for him.
Li Yi didn’t stand on ceremony either, naming several dishes—all of which Wen Yao had prepared before, and which he found delicious enough to crave again.
With a wave of her large sleeve, Wen Yao declared, “No problem! Whatever Young Master Li wishes to eat, we shall make tomorrow.”
This single statement caused the youngsters to clamor wildly, crowding around Wen Yao to shout about what they wanted to eat as well, filling the entire courtyard with booming laughter.
Precisely because of the commotion, no one noticed the deep crimson flush creeping across Li Yi’s cheeks.
After joking around for a while, Xun Feng led the troop of boys plus Wen Ying to the open ground behind the courtyard to practice martial arts. Wen Yao watched for a moment before strolling back, only to find Li Yi standing next to her flowerbeds, staring blankly at the rows of sunflowers.
“Young Master Li, what are you looking at?” Wen Yao walked over and glanced around. Aside from her sunflowers, there didn’t seem to be anything else.
Perhaps because Wen Yao had splashed some milk on herself while making the mung bean milk ice, a faint milky aroma wafted over the moment she drew close to Li Yi.
He subconsciously shifted a step away and said, “Nothing. I merely feel that these flowers planted by Miss Wen are rather unique.”
“You mean these?” Wen Yao simply stepped onto the edge of the flowerbed and stood up. After plucking around inside the blossoms for a good while, Li Yi watched as she pried something out from the center of a flower and popped it into her mouth. Anxious, he blurted out instinctively, “Miss Wen…”
“Hmm?” Wen Yao shot a glance at him, spit the shell from her mouth into her palm, tossed it into the soil, and then pried out a few more before leaping back down to the ground.
“Here, it’s this.” Wen Yao extended her hand. Lying inside her petite palm were a few items Li Yi had never seen before. They looked somewhat like the melon seeds Grandpa Wen always ate, yet not entirely; these were long and slender, quite different from that variety.
“What is this?” Having seen Wen Yao eat them, Li Yi knew they were edible, so he reached out to pinch one in his hand to examine it.
Wen Yao instructed him, “This is called a sunflower, and these are sunflower seeds. Look, you eat them like this: crack open the shell and eat the kernel inside, just like the pumpkin seeds we usually eat.” Before the appearance of sunflower seeds, the so-called “melon seeds” were pumpkin seeds. While those were tasty, they still couldn’t compare to sunflower seeds.
Moreover, these sunflowers could also be pressed for oil.
Wait!
Oil?
“Hold on a moment.” Stuffing the seeds into Li Yi’s hand, Wen Yao pulled out the small notebook she always carried with her, flipped to a fresh page, and firmly wrote down two words: Oil pressing.
Looking at what she had written, Li Yi couldn’t help but ask, “Miss Wen, what does this mean?”
Oil pressing?
Tucking the notebook away, Wen Yao smiled. “It’s nothing, it’s nothing. I’ll tell you later. By the way, Young Master Li, since everyone is so well-acquainted now, you can just call me Yao’er.”
“…” Li Yi paused for a moment, then said, “In that case, you shouldn’t call me Young Master Li either from now on. Just call me Li Yi.”
“Alright, alright. Give it a taste. How are the seeds? Regrettably, they aren’t fully ripe yet; it will probably take another half-month or so until the shells harden properly,” Wen Yao said while looking at him.
Li Yi cracked open a few in succession. The flavor was indeed unique—tender and quite delicious—and they were far easier to crack open than the melon seeds he had eaten before.
“So, you’ve planted so many of these in a massive ring, and they’re entirely meant for eating?” Initially, Li Yi had merely assumed these unique flowers were a distinct variety specific to the Wen family. Blooming with such golden brilliance around the courtyard walls, they looked quite lovely; if they were grown in vast fields, they would probably be even more beautiful.
He hadn’t expected that even the tiny flowers of the Wen family were meant for eating.
Wen Yao nodded. “Yes.” Had she known earlier, she would have planted more. Ultimately, her previous worries had constrained her; her courage simply hadn’t been grand enough.
Without standing on ceremony, Li Yi finished all the seeds in his hand.
Since it was still early and they couldn’t sleep anyway under the perfect moonlight, Wen Yao simply went to the kitchen to fry some rice crusts, brewed two cups of clear tea, and placed them on the table in the courtyard.
“Li Yi, care for a bite?” Wen Yao called out. Truth be told, calling him by his name flowed much more naturally than “Young Master Li.”
Li Yi came to the table and sat down. A plate of rice crusts, two cups of clear tea, a full moon, and two people.
“What kind of fruits do you wish to plant?” Finding himself momentarily without words, Li Yi brought up a topic.
Holding her cup with both hands, Wen Yao rubbed it back and forth, thinking for a moment. “Do you know what cherries are?”
Li Yi blanked for a second. “Cherries? What is that?”
Wen Yao pondered. Could it be that cherries aren’t called that here? She pulled out her little notebook, drew a picture of a cherry, and handed it to Li Yi. “It’s this.”
After looking at it, Li Yi understood. “So it is the ‘han-tao.’ I know of it. It’s just, Yao’er, why do you call it a cherry?”
Ah, this…
Retracting her notebook, Wen Yao let out an embarrassed laugh and said, “Well, that… I heard my dad mention this allusion before. He said this fruit’s original meaning was ‘a fruit held in the beak of an oriole,’ hence it was called ‘han-tao.’ However, I didn’t think it sounded very pleasant, so I randomly changed the name to ‘cherry.’ Doesn’t it roll off the tongue much better?”
Chewing on the two names, Li Yi wore an expression that clearly said, I am an educated man, don’t deceive me. Finally, he remarked, “Indeed, cherry rolls off the tongue more smoothly and sounds much more pleasant than ‘han-tao.'”
“Hehe, hehehe, right?” Wen Yao wished she could slap her own mouth.
Promptly, Li Yi nodded. “I will have Xun Feng send a letter to my mother, asking her to seek out the saplings for you.”
Suppressing her grin, Wen Yao said earnestly, “Then I shall heavily trouble Madam, and thank you as well! In the future, whatever you wish to eat, just let me know, and I will make it all for you,” Wen Yao guaranteed, patting her chest.
Amused by her, Li Yi said, “Then may I ask a favor of you?”
Wen Yao sat up straight obediently. “Speak, as long as it’s within my power.”
Li Yi lost his laugh and spoke, “It’s actually nothing major. It’s just that thing called ‘cake’ you made for Grandma Wen before, and that fruit jam we had with the ice—could you make some more? When I dispatch someone to send the letter, I can have them carry it to my mother as well.
“To tell you the truth, I still have a grandmother at home who is also exceedingly fond of pastries.”
Wen Yao had thought it would be some difficult task, but it turned out she just liked pastries. That was simple; she could turn around and make eight or ten varieties, assembling them directly into a sampler box.
“A minor issue, a minor issue! You’ve helped me such a massive amount, so let alone one box of pastries, even ten boxes wouldn’t be a problem. Leave it to me. Which day do you plan to send someone with the letter? I’ll have them ready for you.
“It’s just, isn’t your home in the capital? The journey from here to the capital takes several days, right? Won’t the pastries spoil? How about I just give you the recipes directly? Does your family have cooks? They should be able to follow the recipes and replicate them.” Still, exchanging a few pastry recipes for a pile of fruit trees was a profitable bargain.
Li Yi hadn’t expected Wen Yao to be so incredibly generous. He had eaten the pastries she made; they were even more delicate, soft, and delicious than those made by imperial chefs, never becoming cloyingly sweet or heavy.
He hadn’t expected that upon his mere mention, she would actually be willing to gift the recipes.
Thinking of this, Li Yi suddenly felt that his shamelessly staying at their house to sponge off their food and drink seemed somewhat dishonorable.
Li Yi would absolutely not take Wen Yao’s recipes, so he said, “No need, no need. These recipes are the very foundation of an artisan. I would never request this from you just for the sake of a few trees. You may rest assured and simply make them; I will have someone deliver them, and I guarantee they won’t spoil.”
Wen Yao didn’t press the matter either. Since he had put it that way, perhaps they had their own special methods.
“Alright then. Tell me a bit about your grandmother’s tastes and preferences so I know what to make.”
Just like that, the two sat in the courtyard chatting for a long time, only stopping when Xun Feng returned with the boys.
