Chapter Ninety-Four: Guidance

  Thanks to Xianhe Zhi Du, what's the name, Colorful Rogue, Goodbye Ideal, ngstone and other brothers for their support! Shan Cun Kui Xie! Chapter 92 also has some reward brothers' list, such as Honest Man 888, but it is temporarily blocked. The main reason is that one brother's name will be reviewed by the starting point! This chapter is also today's fourth chapter.

  The next day, Chu Shengyi brought the best persimmons to Chu Jiaqiang. Chu Jiaqiang also started busy with his own things, he didn't make all of them into persimmon cakes, leaving one-third to soak in slaked lime. When the time comes, just peel and eat, the slaked lime can remove the astringent taste of the persimmons.

  Xu Xi took away several persimmons that Chu Jiaqiang had peeled, and Chu Jiaqiang immediately reminded: "Auntie Xu, these persimmons can't be eaten yet, they're very astringent and can numb your tongue."

  "Hehe! I know this, I'm going to make a few persimmon cakes." Xǔ Xiù said.

  This time, it's Chu's turn to be at a loss. Isn't he just making a fool of himself now?

  Yan Tianzhi immediately realized that Chu Jiaqiang had misunderstood, and his wife said that the persimmon cake was different from what he was making now. He explained: "Jiaqiang, you're wrong, Auntie Xu's persimmon cake is not the kind you're making now, but a type of pancake made by crushing, using flour, bean paste, and frying together, because there are also persimmons inside, so it's called persimmon cake."

  Chu's family was shocked by Ma's behavior, and surprisingly, Xizhi still had a way to deal with it.

  Mrs. Wan also smiled and said: "It's been a long time since I've had that persimmon cake, it's really nostalgic. It's relatively rare in the south, but some snack streets in the north should still have it."

  "Persimmon cake? Good stuff, I'll try some later." Li Lao surprisingly also knew that persimmon cake, Chu Jiaqiang felt like he was the only one who didn't know about it.

  "There is also a legend about the persimmon cake, which is a story related to Li Zicheng, the king of the Shun dynasty. It is said that in the 17th year of Chongzhen (1644), after Li Zicheng, the leader of the peasant uprising, established the 'Dashun' regime in Xi'an and continued to march towards Beijing, the people of Lintong used persimmon flour mixed with wheat flour to make persimmon cakes to comfort the soldiers, which was highly praised by the soldiers."

  "That really tastes good, it's the first time I've heard of such a snack." Chu Jiaqiang said with some expectation.

  An hour later, Xu Xiu brought out a large plate of golden pancakes, and the aroma wafted over, mixed with the scent of persimmons. Even Xiaojin, who was lying at Chu Jiaqiang's feet, perked up and sniffed hard with his nose.

  "Looks delicious!" Chu Jiaqiang picked up a piece and took a bite, sweet but not greasy, crispy and tender. Chu Jiaqiang couldn't help but praise: "Great! Auntie Xu, how did you make this persimmon cake?"

  Xu Xiu simply told Chu Jiaqiang the process. First, wash and peel the persimmon, put it in a container and mash it into mud (if you use a mixer to beat it, it will be more even). Next, sift the flour into the persimmon mud and stir constantly until it becomes a soft and hard dough (the technical dough can be softer, but it's better to have a moderate hardness for shaping). Then, let the dough rest for about 15 minutes, take it out, cut it into small pieces of suitable size, roll out the dough into a thick skin, put an appropriate amount of bean paste in it, and wrap it up like a bun, press it flat, and then fry it in a pot of oil.

  Chu Jiaqiang suddenly felt something strange with his right foot, and when he looked down, he saw that Xiaojin was biting his slippers with her teeth.

  "Hey! Little guy, what are you doing?"

  Xiao Jin saw Chu Jiaqiang looking at it and pointed to the persimmon cake in his hand with his claws.

  Everyone burst out laughing at once. This little guy is really clever, or should I say, a bit of an imp. Anyone who has just come into contact with it will be surprised by its humanized actions.

  Chu Jiaqiang had no choice but to tear off a small piece, and Xiao Jin immediately grasped it with both front paws and gnawed at it fiercely.

  For Xiao Jin, Chu Jiaqiang is also speechless. His personality is quite similar to his, both are lazy by nature and sleep after eating their fill.

  Next was to help Ershu's family prune the fruit trees, he carried a large iron clipper over. This large iron clipper was bought by him two days ago in the city, it can be combined and extended, and there is no sale in the town.

  "Wow! Such a big pair of scissors, have you ever seen one before?" Chu Jiaqing asked the uncles and aunts around him.

  The middle-aged man's face was slightly red, but he said calmly: "What a fuss! I think you've never seen a big snake take a shit! I've seen bigger scissors."

  He actually hadn't seen it either, he just didn't want to lose face in front of his juniors.

  The old village head led the team to observe how to prune branches. Chu Jiaqiang pruned and pointed out at the same time. Pruning mainly involves cutting off long branches, drooping branches, back branches, dense branches, diseased branches, and weak small branches. Pruning can control the yield of fruit trees and improve the quality of fruit production.

  "Managing fruit trees is not an easy task, there are many things to do, now pruning. In November and December, we need to fertilize, we don't need to spend money buying external fertilizer, just bury some cow dung, pig dung, etc., it's best to add some oil residue together. When the flowers bloom in January and February, we need to remove some of the dense flowers, this is called thinning flowers. When the fruit grows, if it still looks dense, we need to remove some of the fruit, called thinning fruit." Chu Jiaqiang gave these people a preventive shot in advance.

  "Isn't that right? Isn't it bad for it to produce more fruit?" Someone exclaimed, completely unable to understand this self-destructive behavior of destroying the Great Wall.

  The old village chief waved his hand for everyone to be quiet, and Chu Jiaqiang said that there must be some scientific basis in it.

  "Most fruit trees produce far more flowers than the final number of fruits, and over-flowering results in insufficient nutrients, affecting not only the normal development of the fruit but also weakening the tree's vigor, making it susceptible to frost damage and disease infection, ultimately leading to reduced yields the following year."

  "That makes sense!" Some people immediately understood, secretly thinking that professionals are different, with reason and evidence. But they didn't know that Chu Jiaqiang was also learning on the fly, without any experience at all.

  "In addition, too many fruits are also a burden on the branches. Under the unbearable weight, it is likely to cause branch breakage. In our southern region where strong winds are frequent, when the wind blows strongly, the branches will definitely not be able to withstand the double pressure. Therefore, apart from relying on the fruit tree's own regulatory ability to naturally drop poorly developed flowers and young fruits, we also need to remove excess flowers and fruits in order to meet production requirements." Chu Jiaqiang gave a detailed explanation.

  "What should we pay attention to when applying fertilizer?" a woman asked.

  Chu Jiaqiang nodded to her in approval, looking at her with appreciation: "Not bad, there are things to pay attention to when burying fertilizer. When we dig the fertilizer ditch, we should do it according to the distribution of a tree's roots, and try to avoid cutting off the roots."

  Chu Jiaqiang also reminded everyone of some things that need attention, specifically regarding the fruit trees in the village.

  Just as everyone was quietly taking note, however, a few people were already going gray. They had originally planted fruit trees, but later cut them down and cleared the land to plant sweet potatoes and corn.

  The old village chief glanced at them and knew what was going on.

  "Now you regret it? Hurry up and sell some saplings back, won't you have a harvest in two years?" the old village chief said to them.

  Those people's faces turned red, and they secretly thought: You've been saying to wait for two or three years, but others have already made a fortune, while you're just getting started.

  "Qiangzi, what kind of fruit trees do you think we should plant?" someone asked with a stiff upper lip.

  Chu Jiaqiang introduced several varieties to them, which are relatively easy to manage, such as watermelon, longan, lychee, mango, and yangtao. The climate here is actually suitable for growing many types of fruit.

  "Aw! Another two or three years of waiting, how annoying!" A guy rubbed his tightly furrowed brow.

  "Hehe! You can also plant some fruits like strawberries that will bloom and bear fruit in the same year!" Chu Jiaqiang suggested.

  This made those people's eyes light up, and they all asked Chu Jiaqiang for help buying tree seedlings.

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