Chapter Twenty-Five: Osmanthus in Childhood Memories

  Song Hu and his wife got off the bus at Songjiabao New Village, Song Wen went to the clinic to pick up medicine, and brought the wild boar meat over. Song Mingde scolded him again before letting him go.

  Back in the car, Song Wen handed the medicine to Huang Xiaojun.

  "Ah, this is the medicine, that wild boar stomach can be divided into three portions and stewed three times. When stewing, the pig's stomach doesn't need to be cut, just put it in whole with the medicine and stew until it's cooked through. Put the pig's stomach in the middle of the medicine. When eating, you can add a little salt and MSG for flavor, but don't add too much. Actually, the best way is to wrap the medicine inside the wild boar stomach and then sew it up. This way, when stewing, the medicinal effect will be fully absorbed by the pig's stomach, and the effect will be better when eating. Unfortunately, there's only one now, so we can only divide it into three portions. If I had known earlier, I would have saved that wild boar stomach from lunch. We ate it, what a waste."

  "How could that be? I wouldn't have known about the effects of wild boar stomach if I hadn't eaten it. Anyway, thanks." Huang Xiaojun said seriously.

  "No need to thank me, you're Ah Hu's wife's good sister, and if we count it out, we still have some kinship. Besides, last time I scolded you when I was dizzy with hunger, this time let's just consider it as an apology." Song Wen said with a wave of his hand.

  "This has nothing to do with it, okay?" Huang Xiaojun said irritably.

  A beauty is a beauty, with a subtle expression that exudes countless charms. Unfortunately, Song Wen seems to be oblivious to it.

  "You won't still be holding onto what happened that day, will you?"

  Song Wen said helplessly.

  "What do you think?"

  Never had any man been so rude to her since she was a child, and it was on a busy street that he yelled at her, of course, she would remember it.

  They say women hold grudges, and Song Wen didn't quite believe it before, but now he's about 80% convinced. He glanced at Huang Xiaojun with a deep sigh, feeling helpless! But he didn't notice the hint of a smile in Huang Xiaojun's eyes.

  Suiyuan Town, legend has it that it was built by the imperial court to defend against the barbarians in ancient times. There is a Suiyuan Pass in the town, which is a city gate made of giant stones. However, only one wall and a gate remain now, and it has become a famous landmark of Suiyuan Town. Suiyuan Town is about half an hour's drive from Songjiapu. Huang Xiaojun drove the car and arrived soon.

  The old town government is located at the edge of Suiyuan Town, and it was built with bluestones all over, but now it has been in disrepair for a long time.

  Coming outside, I only saw some old slogans still left on the wall, such as "Long live Chairman Mao!", "Daughters are also descendants.", "No matter how poor we cannot be poor in education, no matter how bitter we cannot let our children suffer.", "Close the mountain to grow trees, strictly prohibit setting fires." and so on. It makes people feel like they have entered a time tunnel when they take a look at it, recalling all sorts of things from back then.

  Huang Xiaojun parked the car outside and took Song Wen in.

  Inside the old town hall there is a spacious courtyard with all sorts of flowers, grasses and trees planted in it.

  As soon as Song Wen entered, he saw a large group of people busy with excitement. An excavator was digging trees on the side, and after digging around the tree, a group of workers would go down to dig up the tree, wrap it in a bag with soil and roots, tie it with straw rope, and then transport it out with a crane truck.

  A middle-aged fat man with a big belly was shouting and directing over there. When he saw Huang Xiaojun, he walked over.

  "Uncle."

  Huang Xiaojun shouted at the approaching person.

  This man is her father's younger brother, her biological uncle, named Huang Guoliang. Since she was a child, this uncle has been the one who spoiled her the most. When she wanted to eat sweets, he would buy them for her; when she liked pretty clothes, he would buy them for her; when she liked big dogs, he would get them for her. Even after she graduated and wanted to return to the village to grow orchids, he was completely supportive, unlike his brother and the villagers who looked at her with colored glasses.

  Xiao Jun is here.

  Huang Guoliang walked over with a smile and saw Song Wen, looking somewhat strange, he asked: "Your friend?"

  "Uh-huh."

  Huang Guoliang's eyebrows slightly raised, he walked a few steps closer and asked in a low voice: "Boyfriend?"

  He knew that his niece wouldn't easily go out with a man, for fear of being gossiped about. Today, she came with a man who was roughly the same age as her, so he couldn't help but suspect something.

  "What nonsense is he talking about? He's Ah Feng's brother-in-law. I heard they're going to dig up the tree, so he came over to take a look." Huang Xiaojun said irritably.

  She doesn't like walking with men because she's afraid of being suspected and gossiped about like now. Although she still doesn't want to get married, she's also afraid of being looked down upon.

  Two people were whispering to each other over there, and Song Wen didn't care about them, looking around at his own pace. The old town government in front of him was still the same as the memories of the past, with no changes. If you insist on saying that there are some changes, it's just that the trees planted before have grown taller and higher.

  When he saw the two osmanthus trees standing upright in front of the office building, he couldn't help but smile. He remembered that during the blooming season of the osmanthus flowers, he and Song Hu would come to pick them. The golden yellow blossoms were fragrant when chewed in the mouth, and the fragrance lingered for a whole day when smelled with the nose. They even put osmanthus flowers between the pages of their books, filling the books with the fragrance of osmanthus.

  In order to make the osmanthus grow faster, they secretly ran in and urinated on the osmanthus as fertilizer. As a result, during that period of time, the office downstairs was filled with a strong smell of urine, causing the people in the office to be extremely annoyed. Later, when the two came again to fertilize, they heard the complaints from the office staff and did not dare to continue urinating as fertilizer. Otherwise, it is estimated that the personnel in those offices would have suffered even more.

  Thinking back to the past, I feel a bit embarrassed and ashamed, and I don't know what I was thinking at the time. It can only be attributed to being an ignorant youth.

  He slowly walked up to Huang Xiaojun and said, "Xiaojun, can you sell me a osmanthus tree? I want to take it back and plant it."

  It's just a nostalgia for his youth, and he also likes these osmanthus trees, but the fragrance is too strong, one tree would be enough.

  "Whatever you buy, I'll give you one for free; it's worthless anyway."

  Huang Xiaojun looked at him and said, exactly the same as when he sent her wild boar belly.

  "It's not good, osmanthus is very expensive now."

  Although she said so, Song Wen was too embarrassed to accept. The wild boar belly wasn't worth much money, but this Osmanthus tree was different. Although he wasn't in the business, having grown up in Nanzhou where flowers and grass were everywhere, he still knew a thing or two about market trends. This year's flower prices were rising, with 10cm golden osmanthus crowns selling for over 10,000 yuan above 200cm, not to mention this Osmanthus tree that had been growing for nearly twenty years, its trunk thicker than a thigh.

  "How about this, you can send me things and it's fine, but I send you something and it's not okay? At most, I'll just go to your house for a meal another time. How is it that you don't even want to invite guests?" Huang Xiaojun said angrily.

  "Whatever."

  "It's settled then."

  Helpless, Song Wen had no choice but to accept.

  Huang Guoliang, who was standing beside them, felt that there was more to this than met the eye. He had never heard of his own niece going to a man's house for dinner before. Maybe his niece's spring had really arrived. Now, at home, only this old girl is left, if she doesn't get married soon, the old man at home will be furious.

  So, he hastily went forward to greet Song Wen proactively, wanting to get some information from him and see what kind of person he was. Although he was anxious about his niece's lifelong matter, he couldn't push her into a fire pit either.