Chapter 51: Mountain Roads and Wild Fruits
Liang Chengcheng smiled triumphantly. “A bit of light homework, barely worth mentioning.”
Jian Xingxia was amused. “You know Lu’an Village better than I do.”
Liang Chengcheng said playfully, “Well, of course. Friends are friends, but safety is safety. I can’t just march into the deep mountains completely unprepared.”
After joking around, Liang Chengcheng dropped her playful demeanor and said seriously, “Xiaxia, I came out this time partly to see you, but also to see if Lu’an Village has any unique ingredients that could be used in my dad’s company.”
Liang Chengcheng’s father owned a catering company of considerable scale, which at its peak boasted over two hundred outlets nationwide. However, the restaurant industry had become brutally competitive in recent years, and her family’s business had taken a significant hit.
Years ago, her father had started planning ahead, sending Liang Chengcheng’s older sister abroad to study advanced central kitchen supply chain management. Liang Chengcheng, on the other hand, stayed in the country, preparing to leverage local, distinctive Chinese ingredients—especially medicinal cuisine—to build a brand with national characteristics. Her choice to major in agriculture was precisely to ensure a stable output of these specialty ingredients.
Liang Chengcheng continued, “If you want to build a catering brand, you have to inspect the front-end supply chain in advance. Otherwise, if the ingredient supply is unstable and the quality varies, it really hurts the brand’s image and development.”
Jian Xingxia had been squatting at the bus station today watching the traffic, and she had been thinking about the exact same thing.
Most of the twenty to thirty villages under Jinmen Town, including Lu’an Village, were nestled against the mountains, possessing a natural advantage as granaries. In past decades, when resources were scarce and people struggled to feed themselves, this place truly was a “fortress gate of gold.” But in the last twenty or thirty years, what people sought was no longer just “eating to fill their bellies,” but “eating well.”
Yet, constrained by the smallholder mentality passed down through generations, along with the disadvantage of inconvenient transportation, the villagers either guarded a mountain of gold as if it were a dirt slope, or left to work in the cities to earn money. It was only in recent years, with the arrival of poverty alleviation policies and the completion of the roads, that signs of development finally began to emerge.
The two of them chatted as they drove, and before they knew it, they had entered the mountains.
Once they were in the mountains, Liang Chengcheng stopped talking about work, her eyes wide with novelty.
“Oh my god, your place really is just mountains upon mountains!”
“Wow! Why are there jujube trees by the side of the road? Were they planted?”
Jian Xingxia smiled. “They’re wild.”
The road to Lu’an Village was usually only used by the villagers. If it hadn’t been paved with concrete a couple of years ago, it would probably be overgrown with weeds by now. As for the trees by the road, they weren’t entirely wild. Jian Xingxia had heard from her grandmother that in the past, when the villagers went to town, they walked the whole way.
Covering a dozen or so kilometers left them exhausted and thirsty, and carrying water and supplies was heavy. So, everyone slowly formed a custom: they would bring jujube pits, peach pits, orange seeds, or watermelon seeds from home and scatter them along the roadside while making the journey. If an old tree at home sprouted saplings and they had extras, they would bring those along too and find a spot to plant them.
They just scattered and planted them haphazardly, letting nature take its course. But as more people did it over the years, the fruit trees by the roadside gradually grew. A few years later, they began to bear fruit one after another.
From then on, when people made the journey, they no longer had to starve or carry heavy loads of water. If they were hungry, picking a couple of peaches by the road would tie them over. If they were thirsty, it was even easier—they could pick a watermelon, smash it open with a fist, and let the juice flow; even if they couldn’t finish it, it quenched their thirst. There were also oranges and plums to moisten their mouths.
So, while these trees were wild, they weren’t entirely wild.
Liang Chengcheng listened, fascinated. “How fascinating. I didn’t expect these fruit trees to actually be preserved.”
Jian Xingxia gave a helpless smile. “There was no choice. This is the only road out of the village, and generations have walked it. When they built the main road later, they basically just widened the original path a bit.”
Because whether it was town planning or demolition, a tiny village nestled in the middle of nowhere like Lu’an Village would never be included. It looked like a vast area, but the land was practically worthless.
Jian Xingxia stopped the tricycle and picked two peaches from the roadside for Liang Chengcheng to taste.
Liang Chengcheng washed them with mineral water, took a bite, and instantly screwed up half her face.
“Oh my god! So sour!”
Jian Xingxia burst out laughing. “Now you know why the wild trees by the road are left with so much fruit, right?”
Liang Chengcheng refused to back down. “That’s just because the fruit I usually eat is too sweet. If you taste it carefully, this peach isn’t actually that sour. It’s a decent balance of sweet and sour.”
Jian Xingxia didn’t argue with her. As an agriculture student, how could she not know what was going on? Unless a wild tree was truly blessed with extraordinary genetics, or situated in a unique geographical location with abundant trace elements, sunlight, and rainfall, it wouldn’t bear large, sweet fruit. Otherwise, it ultimately required human management—meticulous watering, fertilizing, pest control, thinning fruit, and spacing seedlings—to grow delicious fruit.
Passing by a plum tree, Liang Chengcheng got off to pick a few plums. After a quick rinse, she tentatively took a bite and instantly cheered up.
“Taste this, this one is really sweet.”
It was a type of plum that was almost completely red, crisp, refreshing, and pleasantly sweet and sour.
Jian Xingxia tasted it. “Indeed. Plums are so sweet once they’re ripe.”
“Told you so!” Liang Chengcheng happily climbed back onto the tricycle, fondly handling the few plain-looking plums.
When the first small house appeared ahead, Liang Chengcheng asked Jian Xingxia, “Are we in the village?”
“Pretty much.”
This small building with three walls served as the village’s “bus stop.” Usually, the village minibus would stop here briefly, and if anyone in the village wanted to catch a ride, they would voluntarily walk out to wait inside. It had originally been a shed, but it was gradually repaired and turned into what it was now. However, since the minibus drivers generally drove right into the village these days, this small structure had slowly fallen into disuse.
There were quite a few abandoned houses in the village. Those who left to work in the cities would only return during the New Year or the Qingming Festival to clean up; the rest of the time, the houses were mostly locked. Alternatively, they would leave the keys with a trusted, remaining villager so their neighbors could keep an eye on the place from time to time.
They drove slowly, entering the village just around dinner time, which happened to be the liveliest time of day. The adults had finished their farmwork and jobs and returned home. The children, having escaped the intense midday heat, were eager to come out and play. Even the cats, dogs, chickens, and ducks were roaming about outside.
Liang Chengcheng’s excitement came to an abrupt halt when a plump, large black pig dropped a massive pile of manure right in the middle of the village road.
Liang Chengcheng was thoroughly shocked by the scene. Covering her nose, she frowned in astonishment. “Why are there still pigs roaming around the village?!”
When they went to the countryside for their practical classes, pigs weren’t allowed to be raised like this anymore; even chickens and ducks had to be kept in pens to avoid polluting the environment or causing cross-infections.
Jian Xingxia laughed. “Our place is mountainous, and raising pigs in the mountains counts as a local agricultural specialty…”
To put it plainly, it was simply because they were deep in the mountains and no one bothered to enforce regulations. Secretary Hu did preach about it every single day, but the villagers were all his elders, so he couldn’t use any harsh words. The elderly folks promised him they would only let the pigs out into the mountains and never drive them onto the main road, so Secretary Hu could only compromise.
Today, it was unclear whose pig had escaped, giving Liang Chengcheng a massive “welcoming gift.”
Liang Chengcheng covered her nose, and even after they had driven far away, she felt as though she could still smell the stench. Fortunately, the owner of the large black pig noticed in time, rushed out to lead the pig back, and grabbed a large handful of straw to cover up the manure.
From a distance, Jian Xingxia could still hear the villagers near the spot shouting at the top of their lungs, telling the pig owner to hurry up and shovel it away.
Liang Chengcheng began to deflate a little.
