Her Cultivation Diary-Chapter 1197 - 1171. Digging winter bamboo shoots

"I didn’t..."

The mafia boss’s voice was weak, and his expression was fierce.

"Tsk." Xin Jun rolled his eyes, "Acting all coy like that, are you even a man?"

"If you’re not interested in her, why do you send her messages every day?"

"How do you know I’m messaging her?!" Zhang Yanping was shocked, "You peeked at my phone!"

Xin Jun sneered and straightforwardly took out his own phone, displaying the chat record— freewebnoveℓ.com

[Guo Dong: Why does Zhang Yanping keep messaging me? Does he have a thing for me?]

[Guo Dong: Talking about sales and inventory... I’ve told him a thousand times we’re out of stock. If he weren’t single, I’d suspect he wants to buy drugs!]

[Guo Dong: Mr. God! Idiot!]

[Xin Jun: ???]

[Guo Dong: Tell him, if he’s interested, just say it. If not, then stop texting every day.]

[Xin Jun: ??? Why are you telling me? Just tell him directly!]

[Guo Dong: Was planning to ask you to feel him out, but you seem clueless, so I guess he likes me...]

"Aren’t you embarrassed?" Xin Jun could hardly look, "I think Doctor Guo must have run out of choices staying in the village, otherwise why would she fancy you?"

Zhang Yanping’s face turned red, a charming blush against the dark, but his voice remained weak, "You can’t say that... after all, there’s still you. She didn’t fancy you but chose me instead... So she must like me too."

Xin Jun:... Damn dog!

He pocketed his phone and turned to leave, "Romantics should all be beheaded!"

Unexpectedly, as he turned around, he saw Song Sancheng coming out of the warehouse with a shoulder pole, preparing to leave. He was stunned for a moment:

"Uncle, what are you planning to do? There’s not much work in winter, right? Do you still need this pole?"

"Why not use the tricycle for transportation?"

"No need." Song Sancheng waved his hand towards the bamboo forest at the bend ahead, "I reckon the winter bamboo shoots are ready. I thought since you’re going home, I’d dig some for you to take back."

Xin Jun couldn’t help but fall silent.

How do I put it, it’s a kind thought, but those are winter bamboo shoots. Never mind anything else, they’re quite heavy, whether sending by courier or carrying them yourself, it’s tough...

"Maybe we shouldn’t take them..." he said with difficulty.

Song Sancheng was surprised, "What? You don’t like them? Actually, around here, we don’t really eat bamboo shoots; nobody wants them every year. I just noticed they sell well in the spring season. If you don’t like them, then never mind..."

He rambled on, while Xin Jun was locked in a painful struggle:... Those things are heavy, but they only exist in winter! Spring bamboo shoots and winter bamboo shoots are two different flavors.

But they’re really heavy, how to carry them back?

Yet they might be particularly delicious this season...

He was caught in an endless dilemma.

Song Sancheng waited for a while without hearing a response, so he turned around. He saw the usually modest Teacher Xin already holding a hoe, smiling at him:

"Uncle, then I won’t be polite."

Song Sancheng:...

He wanted to say that people who haven’t done farm work don’t have the strength to dig bamboo shoots. But since there wasn’t much to do anyway, if young people wanted to try it, that could be good too.

The two of them entered the bamboo forest on the roadside one after the other.

This bamboo forest had been around for many years, with bamboo of rather ordinary quality. Since it had formed already, even with Spiritual Energy’s nourishment, they were slender and tall, unlike the stout ones from other regions.

But it was dense, and it spread into a patch just right at the intersection as one turned towards Lao Song’s home.

Not too large, not too small. From afar, it looked like a screen wall specially built for the grand villa of the Song Family, providing great cover.

Only, because it’s too dense, Song Sancheng’s pole could only be left outside the bamboo forest, and the two of them, holding hoes, couldn’t even swing their arms freely inside.

Glancing into the forest, the sparse daylight scattered, one could faintly see bird nests shaped like round balls with fine fluff and grass stems woven on the bamboo branches.

Sometimes, curled bamboo leaves rolled into tubes, and inside, they undoubtedly contained larvae, waiting for spring and summer when birds would have a natural granary.

Looking again at the bamboo stalks, they were thin and tall, apart from making fences, seemed to have little use.

Song Sancheng, while swinging away the thick dry bamboo leaves on the ground, said, "These bamboos grow too fast. In spring, Tantan dug a lot of shoots, winter and spring bamboo shoots, all got dug up, yet still couldn’t stop them from growing... Look in here, there’s no place to step."

"Next year we need to chop down more and plant more vegetables, put up more trellises..."

He rambled on, while Xin Jun looked at the damp, dim ground, couldn’t help but ask, "Uncle, how do we find winter bamboo shoots? I saw in a video that where there are shoots, the ground will crack into a seam."

Song Sancheng laughed heartily, "I saw that online too, but that’s from places with winter bamboo shoots that big, as thick as a big thigh!"

"Ours won’t do, our winter bamboo shoots are small, as thick as an arm, but just right to stir-fry a dish."

"Besides, you’re talking about the cracked ground, that’s when winter bamboo shoots grow big and are about to turn into spring shoots, then there’s a crack."

"As for ours... it’s only twelfth month now! Still early!"

Xin Jun secretly noted this down, then humbly asked for guidance:

"Uncle, then how do we dig them?"

Song Sancheng:...

How to dig? They weren’t particularly into eating them either!

So he swung the hoe, "Just randomly! Dig around to see, if there is one, dig it out, if not, move to another spot."

Simple and straightforward, yet in this excessively dense bamboo forest, it seemed to work?

Xin Jun found an open spot, gently raised the hoe — not lightly wouldn’t be possible, since the bamboo forest was too cramped.

At this rate, even if they didn’t dig the shoots in winter, they might not grow well in spring! Even if they did, they’d likely be thin and long, not sturdy at all.

Song Sancheng kept directing on the side, "Go a bit further out, dig near the roadside first, or else the bamboo roots go deep and might damage the foundation over time..."

With that, they both lifted their hoes and started digging with force —

"There’s really one!"

Xin Jun got excited!

The soil beneath turned over, revealing a clump of tender yellow tips emerging amidst the dark brown decayed branches and leaves, signaling a harvest from the earth.

With the first bamboo shoot found, Xin Jun got a morale boost and carefully avoided that spot, starting to dig around it.

Unexpectedly, as the hoe gently hit something, he pried it with force, and a cluster of tender shoots with hairy shells was plucked up just like that.

Xin Jun:...

Song Sancheng:...

He couldn’t help but take a deep breath, "How come there are so many like this? No one fertilizes the bamboo forest, right? Did Tantan secretly fertilize it again... Hurry, dig!"

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