Weed Scene | Spring in the West Slope

February 5th, sunny

The day before yesterday evening, after Yang Mi finished leading the team, he asked if he could come to my house and play for a while.

It turned out that she was planning to go back to her hometown in a few days.

"Should we go somewhere to have some fun together these days?" Yang Mi asked.

"Okay," I replied.

So, today, Yan Zi, Yang Mi and I went to Xipo to play together.

Yan Zi and I took Yang Mi's car because Yang Mi wanted to practice the winding and steep road on the west slope. I sat in the passenger seat and passed the highway on the way. This was the first time Yang Mi drove on the highway in his life. Yan Zi sat in the back seat and said to me: "When I first drove on the highway, I think you were sitting next to me."

Yes, two years ago I drove a van to take Yan Zi and Yang Mi. Now, Yan Zi and Yang Mi each have their own van.

Yan Zi passed the driving test a year earlier than Yang Mi. She already had some experience driving on the highway and could share it with Yang Mi. Along the way, Yan Zi and I read a lot of our own experiences to Yang Mi, and Yang Mi just held the steering wheel tightly and nodded seriously in response, not finding us annoying.

After getting off the highway, we turned left and entered the path up the mountain. Within five minutes, a cluster of neatly arranged, but obviously naturally grown, pink primroses appeared next to an abandoned house with only a few tiles left on the roadside. We were fascinated and stopped the car to look at it for a long time. As we continued forward, we were even happier. Because these little primroses are everywhere, surrounding the dead tree trunks at the doorstep, covering the ridges of the fields, or peeking out from the cracks in the stones by the stream. The pink wild flowers are all over the village, and romance is inevitable, but what I like more is the playfulness of these little primroses, which suddenly emerge from every corner after a dry and boring winter.

Last year, there was a "waterfall" of primroses across the winding mountain road. This year, we kept our eyes open and searched but couldn't find it. After arriving at Sister Ayan's house, Yang Mi asked about it. It turns out that the blooming of primroses is also divided into big and small years. Last year was a big year, and this year is a small year. Sister Ayan and her friends call primroses "rotten nose flowers", saying that it is easy to rot your nose if you smell them close. I think it's probably because primroses have a lot of pollen. Just touching it when passing by, your trouser legs will also be stained with white powder marks. However, since it has such a name, it seems that it is not very popular here.

We were going to the ranch, and Sister Yan's son Ruirui was with us. I don't remember if he was 5 or 6 years old. But fortunately, he didn't remember me either. Last summer, we were mushroom-picking partners several times. He led us to pick several baskets of orange-yellow Amanita , and the glorious history has never been broken since then. Although he didn't remember my face, fortunately, he still remembered the fact that we picked mushrooms together.

Ruirui was wearing a pair of oversized white high-top leather shoes, dragging the hiking pole He Chen gave him, and walked in front. From time to time, he introduced us to the things growing on the slope. He said that the leaves of the fragrant white pearl would crackle when burned in the fire. We only knew that the leaves of the fragrant white pearl could be used to extract essential oils.

But he didn't look very energetic today. After walking for only fifteen minutes, when we reached the meadow, he said, "Let's rest here."
Finally, we abandoned him and moved on.

There are buds on the camellia trees. When I came here last year in January, the camellias were in better bloom than now. Why?

Arrived at the pasture. The bracken that was everywhere in the summer has now become dry and withered firewood. On the hillside, a red horsetail flower blooms alone. Yan Zi said it looks like a scene from Abbas's movie.

I used my cell phone to record their backs as they walked over the withered leaves and walked towards the horsetail flowers.

Unable to find a normal way to the stream, Yan Zi wanted to climb down from the steep cliff. He glanced at the large nettle leaves below the steep cliff. "How about, forget it?" I said.

It was around 4 o'clock when we got back to Sister Ayan's house. We had dinner with Han Han and his mother and daughter. Yang Mi and I ate several bowls of rice at once. The Gaohe dishes were really delicious.

Gaohecai is a wild vegetable that is unique to this area. Han Han said that it takes several hours to climb to pick it. The green leaves have stems. When they are fresh, they are pickled. After pickling, they are like sauerkraut, but with a little mustard flavor. Yan Zi will pack some to take home and let her friends have a taste.

This mustard-flavored pickled cabbage was something I often ate when I was a kid. It was made from another type of vegetable, pickled in Hunan. It wasn't a wild vegetable, but a vegetable that you grow everyday. I don't know its name. I didn't like that type of vegetable when I was a kid because I thought it was too spicy. But now I love it.

After dinner, Yan Zi followed Han Han's car down the mountain and returned to Dali. Because tomorrow is the day when Yan Zi will set up a stall at March Street. Yang Mi and I stayed at Sister A Yan's house overnight. After they left, we continued to drink with the remaining Gaohecai residue. Sister A Yan saw it and brought another bowl of Gaohecai to add to the residue. Yang Mi drank a small teacup of wine and was already dizzy. It seems that my alcohol tolerance is still higher than hers. I started to feel dizzy after drinking a small teacup and adding half a cup.

After dark, Ayan started a fire in the kitchen. We sat around the flames. Ayan's husband Haoran was not at home tonight. Ayan said he went back to his own home. Haoran's home is in another village at the foot of the mountain. The bamboo basket I carried up the mountain today was woven by him last night. It still smelled of a strong bamboo fragrance. Ayan said that if you plant corn on Haoran's land, you can grow big corn just by planting it. But her family is different. The corn they planted is not good enough. It may be related to the altitude.

In daily life, Ayan and Haoran take care of two families at the same time.

After Ayan finished her work, she went over and confiscated the phone that Ruirui was holding while he was playing the "Chicken Eating" game. She brought a high stool, a homework book, and a nylon bag of dried walnuts that had been dried in the sun. While helping Ruirui with his homework, she used a hammer to crack the shells of the dried walnuts. Ayan was responsible for cracking the shells, and her mother was responsible for peeling the kernels.

While my fingers were busy knitting, I heard Ayan say to Ruirui, "How come you don't know any words?" Haha, it wasn't a blaming tone, it sounded like a joke.

During the meeting, Ayan asked about the marital status of our team leaders. I stopped knitting and thought about it. It seemed that among the team leaders that Ayan knew, there were no married people. When I thought about it, I felt magical. Before giving an answer, I looked at Yang Mi again and confirmed the answer together.

Sister Ayan's eldest son is 16 years old and is said to be in a rebellious period. I took the liberty to ask Sister Ayan's age. It turns out that she is the same age as Yan Zi, and is 34 years old this year.