Chapter 72: Eating Huaihua under the Pagoda Tree

  Cao Qiang had heard from his family members that Lu Zhanfeng's illness and the lack of money at home were the main reasons for his parents' divorce. Now, looking at Lu Zhanfeng returning, still so healthy and with such an open personality, it seemed that his parents' divorce and his own illness had not left any shadows on him, which made Cao Qiang very happy. [ww] smiled and said: "En en, I knew you were back, and you even came back in a small car, how impressive! By the way, when I went to your house to find you, Yang Nainai told me that you had gone out, so I guessed you would probably come here, and indeed I was right."

  Lu Zhanfeng patted Cao Qiang's shoulder and said, "You still understand me, but you shouldn't have let me down either. I was held back a year due to illness, so you should have entered junior high last year, right? If nothing unexpected happened, it should be Yizhong."

  Cao Qiang said with a sly smile: "You're quite confident in me, aren't you? You're not afraid that I'll suddenly lose my form. And there's also N High School and First High School, which are about the same level. How do you know I'll definitely choose First High School?"

  Lu Zhanfeng had a "I knew it" look on his face and said, "You wouldn't do poorly on the exam, no one would believe you if you told them. You're the prodigy of our village, everyone praises you, just like my cousin, you're like a god to me, I admire you both." Hearing my brother say this, I couldn't help but feel a little guilty, Cao Qiang was the real deal, while I was an imposter, and Cao Qiang was smiling smugly.

  "Besides, didn't you ask me which school my cousin would attend? I did." Lu Zhanfeng hadn't finished speaking when Cao Qiang interrupted him, saying: "I know you have a good memory, so there's no need to recall things from several years ago. Let me formally tell you, I'm a first-year student in Class 1 of Zhongyi Middle School, and after the summer break, I'll be in second year. I think it's unlikely that I wouldn't be your senior."

  Lu Zhanfeng nodded, and I thought it was good too. I had been thinking that if there was a familiar face, it would be better, but now a familiar face has appeared in front of me. In the future, when something happens, I can ask for his help, but that's another story, and it's not necessarily asking for help, maybe it's just trouble because of him.

  I see the topic has gone far off. But I'm still curious about that one thing that hasn't been answered yet. Hurriedly reminding them, "Hey hey hey, you two don't be in a rush to catch up, who's going to explain to me the DIY beer bottle cap lollipop thing? I've been wondering, it's completely unrelated."

  Cao Qiang picked up a beer bottle cap from the ground and said, "Xiao Xiao, look at this bottle cap. It's round, right?" I nodded, and he continued, "Sprinkle some white sugar on it, not too much. Just take a little from our own stove, it's very convenient. This bottle cap is heat-resistant, so hold it over the candle flame for a while, and the sugar will melt. Then use a small stick to poke a hole in the middle, set it aside to cool, and roast another one. In less than half an hour, many white lollipops will be ready. Your older cousin should know this trick too. There's only one small shop here that sells lollipops, but they're always in short supply. We can't just stand by and do nothing when we can't buy them. Besides, everyone knows the shop's lollipops are made with all sorts of artificial flavorings and come in many colors, which may look nice, but aren't as clean as my homemade ones."

  I nodded my head in understanding, then looked up and said: "Whoever came up with this idea is really talented." I glanced at my cousin, thinking that he was the one who usually excelled at such mischievous things. But to my surprise, he shook his head repeatedly and pointed to Cao Qiang. Only then did Cao Qiang smile and say: "Hehe, I'm not talented, but this is actually something I thought of. It was just a coincidence that I discovered it, and your cousin has been spreading it around ever since. Now all the kids in the village are doing it, but fortunately they don't know it was my idea, they think it's your cousin's masterpiece. Luckily for me, otherwise my mom would have scolded me endlessly."

  Lu Zhanfeng had an expressionless face, but I walked around Cao Qiang's side, looked him up and down, and said: "Well, it turns out that good students also do such shameful things. You actually made my brother take the blame for you. How are you going to compensate my brother? Of course, not compensating is fine too, just compensate me."

  Lu Zhanfeng laughed and said, "Cousin sister, I thought you were going to help me take revenge just now, but it turns out that you're still thinking of yourself." I smiled sweetly at my cousin brother and said, "Cousin brother, what's yours is mine, right?"

  Lu Zhanfeng had an unconvincing expression and said, "I'm not going to fall for it. I clearly remember you saying that what's mine is yours, but what's yours is still yours. What benefits would I get from this, Cao Qiang? You tell me." "It's really enviable how close your relationship is, but Brother Zhanfeng, why don't you just let Xiao Xiao have it too?"

  Lu Zhanfeng said: "I knew it would be like this. I've found my treasure, and it's quite hot here too. Let's go under the pagoda tree to cool off and pick some pagoda flowers to eat."

  We naturally didn't object, came under the pagoda tree, I really wanted to take a good look at this old pagoda tree, before rebirth, it had been many years since I saw the pagoda tree. In my memory, since I went to junior high school, the old pagoda tree in front of Yuanyuan sister's house was cut down due to building a house, and the surrounding old pagoda trees were gone one after another.

  Don't look at the old locust tree in front of you, it doesn't look impressive, its shape is not very regular, and it's even a bit crooked, but this doesn't affect its majestic simplicity. In this scorching summer, the ruthless sun bakes the earth, the dense leaves of the old locust tree shine brightly, previously seen from afar like a cluster of bright "clouds" floating in the "sky", upon closer inspection, you can see strings of "white clouds", that's because the locust flowers have bloomed, and from far away, you can smell the fragrance wafting through. I remember reading Bai Yi write: People are scarce, the courtyard is empty, the night is cool, the wind and dew are clear. The locust flowers fill the courtyard with atmosphere, the sound of pine cones falling on the steps.

  Standing under the old locust tree, I feel a noticeable coolness, this is what it's doing for me.

  We were taking a break in the shade. Lu Zhanfeng suddenly ran to the tree and wanted to climb up, stepping on the hollows of the trunk. I was scared just watching from below and hurriedly said: "Brother, slow down, it's heart-pounding. If it doesn't work out, we can go find a bamboo pole to knock some槐 flowers down instead."

  Lu Zhanfeng didn't say a word, but instead quickly climbed up the tree and sat on the trunk, saying: "Cousin, don't be afraid, climbing trees is as easy as punching for me, I'm familiar with it. It's just that I haven't done it in years, so I wasn't at my best earlier. In the past, I could easily climb up here. The locust flowers that fall to the ground and are picked up again can't compare to those I pick from the tree. Just sit under the tree and wait, soon there will be many locust flowers for you to eat."

  I'm still a bit worried, after rebirth I haven't seen my brother climb trees, before rebirth when I saw him climbing trees I didn't know he was sick. I looked up at the tree and my brother is excitedly picking something. He definitely won't listen to me. Then I looked at Cao Qiang. Seeing my worried face, Cao Qiang comforted me saying: "Don't worry, you sit down below, I'll go up too, I'll take care of Xian Feng ge."

  "Alright, it turns out that being a good student isn't just about reading, but about being capable of everything, it's just that they pretend to know nothing in front of people. I was thinking this way when Cao Qiang's voice came from beside my ear, "How, didn't you know I could climb trees? There are many things you don't know yet, we'll get to know each other slowly later, we have a long future ahead."

  I raised my head, and Cao Qiang was already up the tree. How could he have guessed what I was thinking? It's all written on my face! And that phrase "come back tomorrow" was also said by Xuan Yuan, but where is he now? Is he in B City? Whether or not he'll come back is another story altogether. Time really is the most untrustworthy thing.

  I saw my brother and Cao Qiang showing off their skills on the old locust tree, picking a lot of them. The three of us don't need that many, or we'll get tired of eating them before they're all gone. I shouted at the two people in the tree: "Enough, enough! We can't eat that many! Are you trying to make me eat until I never want to eat again?"

  "Come on, I didn't lose control all of a sudden, did I? It's been ages since I last climbed a tree, I'm just excited. I'll come down now, wait for me."

  Cao Qiang also smiled and said: "Don't worry, you won't get tired of eating it. The pagoda flowers on this old locust tree are delicious. The more you eat, the more they will grow next year. And if you can't finish them, take some back for Yang Nainai and Xiao Xiao's mom to eat. If there's still some left, I'll ask my mom to make pagoda flower cakes for you two tomorrow. They're so fragrant! People in our city don't know how to make it, it's a technique from H city. My aunt who married into H city taught my mom last summer when she came visiting. I guarantee you'll want to eat more after trying them."

  It's not that I've never heard of H City's locust flower cake being the best, it's just that I've never had H City's locust flower cake before. Moreover, H City is even more suitable for locust trees to grow than N City, and their locust flowers are unparalleled elsewhere, so naturally their locust flower cakes are also delicious. In fact, locust flowers have many uses, such as locust flower soup, locust flower dishes, locust flower pastries, locust flower steamed rice, and locust flower steamed fish. Okay, let them pick some then, if they pick too much, I'll persuade my dad to try out new dishes at the hotel.

  Lu Zhanfeng and Cao Qiang didn't come down from the tree for a while, and in front of them were many pagoda flowers, each one resembling a broad bean flower, only whiter and more fragrant than broad bean flowers. It had been many years since they last ate pagoda flowers, and now there were so many in front of them that they didn't know where to start.

  Lu Zhanfeng picked up a string of pagoda flowers and said, "Finally, I can eat pagoda flowers again." He peeled one off from the side that was split open, removing the outer and middle layers of petals, revealing the innermost layer of small white petals. He sucked on them and said, "Delicious! Cousin, what are you still standing there for? Eat some, don't worry, these are all natural and harmless, no need to wash with water, I know you like cleanliness."

  Watching his brother eat with relish and seeing that it wasn't because of uncleanliness that he didn't eat, he naturally picked up a string to try some too. It was indeed delicious, what a waste if he hadn't eaten any.

  The three of us sat under the pagoda tree eating pagoda flowers, talking about past things, and imagining future things, until almost five o'clock when we slowly took the remaining pagoda flowers back home together.