Her Cultivation Diary
Chapter 973 - 955. Consumer Habits

Chapter 973: 955. Consumer Habits

When it came to the children’s future, Li Lanhua fell silent for a while, until Du Mei looked towards the shiny green bushes in the distance, bedecked with glistening golden fruit, and asked loudly:

"Are those orange trees?"

From a distance, Wu Lan couldn’t actually make it out clearly, but she knew without thinking that, around here if anything was still bearing fruit at this time, there was nothing else it could be but oranges.

So she nodded affirmatively, then twisted the handle of the vehicle:

"I need to pick a bunch today!"

This orange grove was also situated on a gently sloping hillside. The orange trees looked small from afar, but up close they stood over two meters tall.

The lush green leaves shone as if they had been waxed, looking even more glossy under the sun’s rays. And the glittering oranges, hanging amid the branches, weighed the boughs down so heavily they couldn’t straighten up.

On hearing the commotion, an elderly lady came out of the courtyard. She looked to be about 70 years old with a hunched back, and upon seeing everyone, she smiled:

"Are you here to pick oranges? Feel free to pick away, and I’ll weigh them for you afterwards."

"What did she say?" Teacher Tang asked cautiously; Du Mei also hadn’t understood.

It was Aunt Lianhua who laughed: "She said we can pick whatever we want, and later we just get them weighed at her place—she’s speaking our old hometown dialect, a bit muffled and hard to understand, but don’t worry, we’re here!"

Unable to understand, Du Mei asked: "Why would such an old lady, at her age, bother with so many oranges? Her kids can’t just make a mess and not clean it up."

Li Lanhua knew the answer and once again explained: "It was her son who started it, but back when he planted them, he didn’t think too much about it. Right now, as the season hits, he’s off working in another place, so the old lady has to figure it out by herself."

After all, at one yuan per kilo, hoping to make a living out of orange trees is really not reliable; it’s less dependable than going out to work.

Everyone looked towards the orange trees in front, seeing them grow strong and sturdy, but with branches all over the place due to neglect in management and pruning, which resulted in densely packed and uneven fruits.

Teacher Tang immediately abandoned any thought of chatting away, her whole being as joyful as if she had stumbled into a ’pick-it-yourself’ farm attraction (although the difference in price seemed huge). She then took out a plastic bag from her pocket, shaking it vigorously in mid-air:

"I feel like this bag could hold 20 kilos!"

Wu Lan also laughed: "Teacher Tang, pick as many as you like! Even if you pick 100 kilos, it’s only 100 yuan. I’ll pay for you!"

Teacher Tang was taken aback.

That’s right, she thought. Previously at the ’pick-it-yourself’ farms, just picking something simple like grapes would start at 10 yuan, and now this one was for a yuan per kilo, how come she couldn’t convert the price for a while?

Think about it, a whole sack for just 100 yuan!

Rounded up, that’s practically for free!

She excitedly shook her bag again: "No worries! No need for you to pay! I have money! Today I’ll cover it!"

Meanwhile, Li Lanhua, watching on, suddenly realized—

"Is this what you call consumer habits, right?"

Who knew Teacher Tang would answer seriously: "No, it’s not that."

She spoke earnestly, sounding quite plausible: "This is tactical planning—I need 100 kilos of oranges for a reason!"

But no matter what the reason, if you alone picked 100 kilos, could you even finish eating them all?

Li Lanhua became cautious and reminded her: "You can’t ship oranges! The express fee is super expensive, wouldn’t that be like paying meat prices for tofu?"

Teacher Tang: ...

She really had this idea. After all, sending a gift from far away shows deep feelings, no matter how light the gift!

But the travel cost really does sound a bit silly...

So she quickly said, "How could it be possible? I’m not the type to do that. I plan to make orange jam if I can’t finish eating them all."

Now it was Wu Lan’s turn to be taken aback: "Teacher Tang, making jam ourselves is so expensive! A glass jar alone costs a dollar, and you have to reset that packaging line in the mountains—If you want to eat some, I’ll have Tantan buy it for you tomorrow. It’s 6 yuan a jar in the supermarket, and it has two or three oranges in it!"

Teacher Tang: ...

Alright, alright, so you have no sense of romance, is that it? Does that 6-yuan-a-jar orange jam have a soul?

The little old lady was a bit flustered yet indignant: "I was just saying that, but actually, I plan to use them for making tea—the orange peel pairs well with Pu’er or Pagoda Yunnan Red Tea. It’s very interesting!"

Finally, we moved onto a topic that others didn’t understand. Wu Lan opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn’t articulate it. She struggled for a while before finally saying:

"Alright! Making tea sounds good, very good."

As everyone chatted, they saw a few broken baskets piled up in the corner of the garden. They quickly gathered their plastic bags, and then scattered to pick the trees that caught their fancy—

Pick!

Ah, this tree has too many, can’t even pick them all... How can oranges grow so prolifically!

...

Picking fruit is a very addictive activity; everyone chatted and laughed, moving from one orange tree to another, quickly filling up their baskets.

And Li Lanhua was still regretting: "Ah! I was only planning to pick around twenty or thirty pounds, but look at this basket plus the ones I bagged earlier, it’s probably over 50 pounds now!"

"No problem!" Wu Lan quickly assured her: "Oranges last a long time; just eat them slowly. If you really think it’s too much, just give the extra to me. We have a big family and we eat them quickly!"

Wu Lan wasn’t lying about this; after all, she herself planned to pick close to a hundred pounds. Li Lanhua’s extra twenty or so pounds were no problem at all.

Li Lanhua nodded: "Alright! I’ll go weigh them now."

The old lady by the yard was indeed old, and the house even lacked a decent electronic scale, so she only took out an age-old medium-sized traditional scale, with a heavy scale weight hanging on it, the scale arm couldn’t even lift up.

On this side, Wu Lan was still trying to persuade Teacher Tang:

"Can orange peel in tea really taste good? Teacher Tang, why don’t we just try a little, please don’t make too much."

Teacher Tang promised with conviction: "I’m just filling this pouch!"

She also expressed to Wu Lan with admiration: "The natural aroma of the oranges mixed with the fragrance of tea makes a very flavorful drink—oh right, I’m planning to teach Qiaoqiao later, why don’t you guys learn too?"

"I can’t learn it, just can’t!" Wu Lan drummed the retreat louder than anyone else: at her age, how could she learn any new knowledge! And it’s tea making of all things... Wouldn’t it be just like in the TV dramas, so fancy and complicated, would Qiaoqiao really be able to manage it?

"Why couldn’t he?" The old lady was very confident:

"You’ve found a good teacher for Qiaoqiao. I see Xin Jun coaching him daily; Qiaoqiao is now in the best state."

"Besides, Qiaoqiao is so handsome. Aren’t you curious to see what he looks like sitting there quietly making tea?"

Teacher Tang smiled with anticipation: "I can assure you, he will have more grace than the average man!"

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