I Have a Countryside Gourmet Restaurant

Chapter 251: Chapter 245: The Third Kind of Wild Fruit

Ye Shengge and Ling Xiaoru were happy, and Li You was very pleased himself.

The Wild Fruit Garden now had two types of wild fruit. He was only one short of completing the side quest, ”Build a Wild Fruit Garden.”

Once the garden had three types of wild fruit, the quest would be complete.

He would then receive a random reward of 1,000 jin of a top-grade ingredient, plus one lottery draw.

It was something to look forward to!

Ye Shengge checked the time and said, ”It’s 4:30 PM. If we hurry, we can probably make one more trip into the mountains.”

The beautiful woman was clearly not done for the day and wanted to find another type of wild fruit.

Li You said, ”Then let’s not go too far this time. We’ll just look around nearby. We need to be back at the shop around 5:30.”

”Okay! Let’s go, let’s go.”

Li You and Ling Xiaoru both smiled faintly.

So, off they went.

The three of them grabbed their tools—hoes, machetes, and ropes—and set out again.

This time, they headed in a different direction. Before long, they saw a patch of low-growing plants ahead, covered in small yellow flowers.

In the wilderness, such small yellow flowers were rather unremarkable.

Ye Shengge paid them no mind. They were here to find wild fruit, not wildflowers.

However, Ling Xiaoru spoke up, ”Boss, shouldn’t that count as a type of wild fruit?”

Li You nodded. ”It definitely counts. How about we make this our third type of wild fruit?”

Hearing their exchange, Ye Shengge’s eyes lit up. She asked excitedly, ”That’s a wild fruit, too? What kind is it?”

Li You smiled. ”If you were looking at its fruit instead of its flower, you’d probably recognize it.”

”Really?” Ye Shengge was intrigued. ”What does the fruit look like? What’s it called?”

Li You said, ”It’s spherical, bright red, and less than a centimeter in diameter, with many small bumps on the skin. It looks a bit like a miniature strawberry, quite pretty...”

At this, Ye Shengge exclaimed happily, ”I know! I think I know what fruit it is. Snakeberry, right?”

Li You nodded. ”Right, it’s the snakeberry. It’s also known as snake-bubble, snake-bubble grass, dragon-spitting pearl, three-clawed wind, nosebleed fruit, pearl claw, earth berry, and so on.”

Ye Shengge added, ”So this is what snakeberry flowers look like. It’s my first time seeing them.”

Li You said, ”Many people only recognize the snakeberry fruit, not the flower. That’s mainly because people tend to remember what the fruit looks like but have no impression of the plant itself or its flowers.”

Ye Shengge nodded. ”I guess that’s true.”

As they spoke, the three of them reached the snakeberry plants.

Ye Shengge crouched down to get a closer look at the flowers.

The flowers were yellow, with five single-layered petals. They grew individually from the leaf axils on long, downy stalks, and the calyx lobes were ovate-lanceolate.

A single flower wasn’t particularly pretty, but a whole patch of them was quite beautiful.

”Oh, right, Boss. Aren’t snakeberries poisonous?” Ye Shengge asked.

Li You said, ”In the countryside where I grew up, there’s indeed a belief that you can’t eat snakeberries. I remember when I was little, the adults in the village would always say that snakeberries were for snakes, that snakes often slithered over them and left their saliva on them. Therefore, they were poisonous and shouldn’t be eaten.”

Ye Shengge was puzzled. ”Why would people say that?”

Li You smiled. ”Because sometimes you can find a foam-like substance on the berries. The adults would say it was snake spit.”

Ye Shengge asked, ”Is there really stuff like that on them?”

Li You said, ”Yes, there really is. It’s not on every snakeberry, though. Just on some of them.”

Ye Shengge said, ”Well, it definitely can’t be actual snake spit. But what is it, then?”

Li You explained, ”It’s a foam-like substance made by an insect called a spittlebug. Spittlebugs like to live on snakeberry plants, and they excrete this foamy stuff from their rear ends. They can ’blow’ it into bigger and bigger bubbles, making it look a bit like human spit. The spittlebugs hide inside the foam they create, which keeps them safe. They also lay their eggs in the foam, which protects the eggs as well.”

So that’s how it is.

Ye Shengge said, ”This is the first I’ve heard of spittlebugs. Are they related to cicadas?”

Li You said, ”They are. They’re considered a type of cicada. They’re also famous high-jump champions. Recent discoveries have shown that a spittlebug’s jumping ability surpasses even that of a flea, making it the best high-jumper of any creature in the world.”

Ye Shengge nodded, feeling like she’d learned something new. Then she asked, ”Besides snakeberries, do spittlebugs leave their foam on other plants too?”

Li You nodded. ”They do. If you pay attention, you’ll see it on various plants.”

Ye Shengge nodded again. ”I think I’ve seen it before, but I never took a closer look.”

Li You smiled. ”Most people wouldn’t. After all, the stuff looks a little unsettling.”

Ye Shengge said, ”That’s true. Anyway, back to the snakeberries. They are edible, right?”

Li You said, ”They’re edible, but you shouldn’t eat too many. Snakeberries do contain a mild toxin, so eating a lot isn’t good for you. However, their texture isn’t great, so most people don’t like eating them anyway. You basically don’t have to worry about anyone overeating them.”

Ye Shengge said, ”I’ve never tried one. So, Boss, are we choosing this for our third wild fruit?”

Li You nodded. ”This is it. The texture might not be great, but they’re pretty, well-known, and the entire plant has medicinal uses. It can clear heat and detoxify, promote blood circulation and disperse stasis, and act as an astringent to stop bleeding. It’s quite valuable.”

Ye Shengge said, ”Then this is it. Transplanting these will be much easier than the cilli pears. But... shouldn’t we have brought a back basket or some large bags?”

Li You replied, ”A back basket and large bags would certainly be more convenient, but it’s fine without them. We can use the rope just as well. We’ll just tie the snakeberry plants we dig up into a bundle and carry it back.”

Ye Shengge said, ”That’s true.”

And so, they began to dig.

These things were much easier to dig up than the cilli pears. Li You swung his hoe and quickly unearthed a large pile.

That was about enough.

He used the rope to tie all the dug-up snakeberry plants into a single bundle.

Once it was tied, Ye Shengge tried to lift it. It was quite heavy, probably twenty or thirty jin.

”Boss, maybe we should find a pole and carry it back together,” Ye Shengge suggested.

Ling Xiaoru agreed they could carry it back. It was a bit heavy for one person to carry.

Li You said there was no need.

With Li You’s current physique, carrying something this light was, frankly, effortless.

”Let’s go. Time to head back,” Li You said after lifting the bundle of snakeberries.

Seeing how easily Li You seemed to be handling it, Ye Shengge and Ling Xiaoru didn’t insist on carrying it together.

The three of them headed back.

After returning to the Wild Fruit Garden, they chose a spot and planted all the snakeberries they had brought back.

And with that, the Wild Fruit Garden had its third type of wild fruit.

Just as expected, the system’s voice rang out again.

”Congratulations, Host. The area of your Wild Fruit Garden has exceeded two-tenths of a mu, and the number of wild fruit species has reached three.

Side Quest ”Build a Wild Fruit Garden” is complete.

Reward granted: 1,000 jin of live River Prawns (Top-Grade), one lottery draw.”

The mystery of the random ingredient reward was finally solved: live river prawns.

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