Chapter Fifty-Seven: Wild Banana

  Thanks for the reward from *Unknown Life*! Brothers and sisters who think it's okay can collect it!

  After dinner, the old village chief came rushing over.

  "Xiao Yan, how's your condition now? Has it improved?" The old village chief was also familiar with Yan Tianzhi and asked as soon as he came in and saw Yan Tianzhi reclining on the couch watching TV.

  "Huh? Village elder is here? Looking for Jiaqiang, I suppose? He's taking a bath right now! Please sit down for a bit, Elder! Have some tea, haha! These mountain teas are getting me hooked!" Yan Tianzhi said with a smile to the old village elder.

  The old village chief sat down, took a sip of tea, and the two immediately started chatting.

  "Haha! It seems that your Chu Family Village is indeed a treasure land!" Yan Tianzhi laughed upon learning of the heavenly hemp.

  "Alas! If it weren't for Jiaqiang's discovery, we would have continued to treat them as wild grass." The old village chief sighed, the people in the village were not well-educated and had no knowledge, they were guarding a treasure but didn't know it. He was now somewhat frightened, such precious treasures, if they were dug up by others, he would truly regret it to death.

  Chu Jiaqiang rushed out of the bathroom and was immediately pulled away by the old village chief, who took dozens of copies of the agreement to visit every household.

  The villagers soon learned the news and were overjoyed. This year has been truly lucky, with an increase of several thousand yuan, and with this deal, they have exceeded 10,000 yuan. As for the content of the agreement, they naturally had no opinions. Although they are farmers, they still have a brain. Therefore, they signed quickly and prepared to get up early tomorrow to set off immediately, as time is money now.

  The Chu family was still unaware that their actions would directly cause the villagers to have a sleepless night, with Dingfengcao on their minds.

  During this time, Chu Jiaqiang also talked to everyone about some precautions, mainly how to deal with the wild yam that has been dug up. This is also a bit particular, and there are no great requirements for eating it yourself, but if you take it out to sell, the appearance must be good before it can be sold well.

  After harvesting, process in time, remove mud and sand first, grade by size, boil in water. For Tianma over 150g, boil for 10-15 minutes; for 100-150g, boil for 7-10 minutes; for under 100g, boil for 5-8 minutes; for others, boil for 5 minutes, until it can be penetrated through the heart. After boiling, put in a smoking room and smoke with sulfur for 20-30 minutes. Then use low fire to dry, start with temperature around 50-60°C, until 70-80% dry, take out and press flat by hand, continue to dry on the stove, at this time the temperature should be around 70°C. After Tianma is completely dry, immediately remove from the stove.

  All of this was found online, otherwise Chu Jiaqiang wouldn't have known about it either. According to the old Taoist's theory, actually all Chinese herbal medicine is most effective when dried naturally in sunlight.

  The next day, everyone rushed to the mountain again. Chu Jiaqiang also followed suit because he had nothing better to do. Behind him was Xiao Jin, a bamboo mouse who loved climbing mountains and would often go into the mountains every two or three days on his own, entering in the morning and returning at night.

  Those little kids went into the mountain and became monkeys, digging everywhere. At this time, some of the wild fruits on the mountain were already ripe and could be eaten.

  In the mountains, children do not have the good fortune of city kids, who can receive pocket money every day to buy snacks. Children in the mountains often go to the mountains to pick wild fruit, although most are sour and sweet, not as delicious as those grown at home, but they enjoy it very much.

  Generally, most wild fruits in the mountains are ripe in autumn, which is not yet the time. There are many varieties of wild fruits in the big mountains of Chujiazhuang, such as wild grapes, wild lychees, wild strawberries, chestnuts, mountain green pears, hawthorns, wild bananas and so on.

  "Brother! Look, those wild bananas over there are all ripe. Quickly cut them down and bring them back home to eat." Chu Jia Yan looked towards the mountain stream and saw a cluster of wild bananas, among which some had already turned yellow.

  Chu Jiaqiang took a look and indeed, it seemed that no one had been here for a long time. If he were still a child, these wild bananas would definitely not be ripe yet. In the past, their group of kids would almost run up the mountain every day, so they were very familiar with the situation on the mountain. When the wild fruits there were ripe, they would definitely not be able to hide them.

  "Go! Cut it down and talk later." Chu Jiaqiang led a group of children over, and the adults didn't bother to pay attention to the wild bananas. If it were usual times, they might have taken a few glances, but now making money was more important.

  The pseudostem of the wild banana is erect, 2-3 meters high, with stolons. The leaves are simple, 7-9 pieces, spirally arranged, with a deep groove on the petiole and a leaf sheath at the base; the blade is long elliptical, 1-2 meters long, 20-40 cm wide, with an acute apex, slightly rounded base, entire margin, dark green on the upper surface, light green on the lower surface, thinly covered with white powder, main vein prominently raised, with pinnate parallel veins.

  Its panicle is drooping; the flowers are unisexual, with large bracts, and the Buddha's flame-colored bracts are purple-red, ovate-lanceolate, 10-20 cm long, and boat-shaped. The upper part of the inflorescence is male, and the lower part is female. The sepals and petals are partially fused into a tube, which splits longitudinally to the base after anthesis, pale yellowish-white in color.

  This wild banana is not very tasty, it has seeds, black ones, similar to watermelon seeds. The bananas we usually eat don't have seeds because when the bananas are formed, farmers generally remove the flower buds at the bottom, this is called "duan lei", so they don't grow into seeds. But these wild bananas are left unattended, naturally they have seeds.

  Arriving at the side of the wild banana tree, Chu Jiaqiang asked everyone to step aside and then started chopping down the tree.

  Don't think that cutting down banana trees destroys the ecosystem, they are meant to be cut. They are perennial trees that grow quickly and multiply rapidly. After being cut, they will regrow from the middle and continue to bloom and bear fruit. On the contrary, if you don't cut the tree but only remove the wild bananas, it will continue to grow without blooming again.

  Cut down a few mature ones and give some to those little kids, still leaving quite a few.

  "Be careful! Don't let the banana juice stain your clothes." Chu Jiaqiang reminded everyone.

  Don't look at those people who are only five or six years old, they still have a good understanding of common sense, knowing that banana juice is very difficult to clean. At first, it didn't feel much, but soon it would turn black. If it gets on clothes, it's almost impossible to wash off.

  Those kids peeled and ate them on the spot, even Chu Jiaqiang couldn't help but eat one. The taste brought back a lot of memories for him, it wasn't that delicious, but it reminded him of the happy times in his childhood.

  "Hmm! Not delicious! Brother, you have it!" Chu Jia Wan took two bites and didn't want to eat anymore. This little girl was also a three-minute passion, and during this time her appetite had become picky too.

  Chu Jiaqiang took a look and was speechless, having bitten into it twice himself, yet still offering it to others.

  "You've eaten already, let me have your leftovers?"

  "Hehe! What's wrong with brother drinking sister's saliva? If you drink my saliva, big brother will listen to me more in the future." Chu Jia said with a smile.

  In rural areas, there is a saying that if you eat someone's saliva, you will listen to their words. Some mothers, in order for their children to be more obedient in the future, would deliberately put food into their own mouths before feeding it to their children. Of course, this also serves to test the temperature of the food.

  Seeing Chu Jiaqiang ignoring her, Chu Jiawei immediately shifted her target: "You don't eat it, I'll give it to Xiaojin." She said, handing it over to Xiaojin.

  Xiao Jin also shook his head vigorously and immediately retreated. Not to mention that it doesn't eat bananas, even if it does, it won't eat the ones you've eaten. This guy is quite particular about food, and if it's not to its taste, it won't even give it a sniff.

  Chu Jia Yan was furious and felt that this little thing was just as hateful as her own brother!

  ;