223 October Orange
Hearing her eldest uncle’s introduction, Gu Qingming also felt proud that her uncle was a landlord.
Although her own backyard was bigger than Eldest Uncle’s, her own backyard cost money to maintain. Eldest Uncle’s family earned money.
Gu Qingming looked around and asked, “Eldest Uncle, how many mountains are these? Are they all your own?”
Eldest Uncle nodded and said, “Yes, the old tree land was our own mountain. The mountain behind was bought from someone else.”
“Don’t land sellers grow navel oranges?” Gu Qingming asked in confusion.
Along the way, most of the mountain ridges were planted with navel orange trees. Many families here must have planted navel oranges.
“I heard that the price of navel orange is not low,” Gu Qingming said again. “Why don’t they plant it themselves?”
“Hehe, the navel oranges from a few years ago were not at this price. A few years ago, the transportation here was inconvenient. The road from the county city to Shahe Town was full of potholes. Many bosses were unwilling to come and buy the navel oranges.”
Eldest Uncle explained, “The price of this navel orange fluctuates between high and low. It’s very unpredictable. In addition, communication was inconvenient, and Internet technology was not developed. Many people don’t know that the navel oranges here are delicious.
Many people who planted navel oranges couldn’t sell their oranges. They all rotted in their hands and lost a lot of money. However, there were also many people who made some money by selling umbilical oranges at a good price.
In fact, planting navel oranges depended on luck. Every year was a gamble, and the income was very unstable.
Therefore, many people would rather work. After all, their income was stable. They earned a few thousand dollars a month and had tens of thousands of dollars in savings in a year.
“They sold the land to our family. The whole family would work outside and gather more than 100,000 dollars in savings a year. Naturally, they don’t want to gamble by planting oranges!”
Of course, Eldest Uncle did not tell her that the person who sold the land regretted selling it and had always wanted it back!
Of course, the purpose of that family’s return was not to plant it themselves but to sell it at a high price.
The navel orange produced by this plot of land was delicious. It was just that someone had taken a fancy to it!
Back then, he had spent 6,000 dollars to buy it. Now that someone had offered 30,000 dollars to buy it, there was an additional 20,000 dollars. How could he not be tempted?
However, this mountain had already been sold to his family, so it belonged to them.
When he bought this mountain, the procedures were complete and the documents were complete.
Therefore, as long as their family did not agree, they could not go back on the agreement at all!
Eldest Uncle continued, “However, in the past few years, the roads have been repaired and transportation has become convenient. Naturally, bosses will come knocking on our door. Now that almost everyone has a cell phone, it’s much more convenient to contact them. Naturally, the navel oranges can be sold. Therefore, the price will increase!”
Gu Qingming understood.
Now, with the ubiquity of smartphones, the development and use of all kinds of chat software, the rise of all kinds of delivery companies, and convenient transportation, the orange land of today was created under the right conditions!
Therefore, the price of the navel orange naturally increased.
The higher the price, the more people would invest in navel oranges!
As Eldest Uncle spoke, he went to the tree and picked a few oranges with slightly yellow skin.
Most of the oranges were still green, and a few of the fruit belts were yellow!
Gu Qingming asked, “This fruit skin is still so green. Will it be very sour?”
Eldest Uncle said, “It’s a little sour now, but there’s sweetness in the sourness. The taste is still alright!”
At this point, Eldest Uncle had already cut three oranges from the tree!
He asked Gu Qingming to hold it. Gu Qingming thought it was for her to eat. Just as she was about to peel it, Eldest Uncle stopped her!
He said, “Now that the fruit is still green, if you peel it with your hands, not only will the green skin dirty your hands, but it will also get on the flesh of the fruit. Then it will taste bitter!”
Gu Qingming was speechless. How could she eat it if it was so particular?
Eldest Uncle looked at the confusion in Gu Qingming’s eyes and continued, “When we return to the house later, there’s a fruit knife. Cut off these green skins like peeling an apple. This way, there’s only white skin left. It’s easy to peel and not bitter. It’s much more convenient!”
Gu Qingming was speechless. This was the first time she knew that she could eat navel oranges like this.
Usually, when she ate oranges, she would either cut them open directly or peel them with her fingers.
This was the first time she knew about skinning.
After Eldest Uncle cut more than ten oranges, Eldest Aunt and the others came over.
Before Shi Junxuan and Shi Jiahao got off the electric scooter, they started shouting, “Aunt, Aunt!”
“Auntie, are you picking oranges?”
“Auntie, have you eaten any? Does it taste good?”
After the two children got out of the car, they ran up the mountain. As they ran, they kept asking questions.
However, when Gu Qingming heard them call her aunt, she felt that it was like a villager feeding chickens.
A moment later, the two children had already run up the mountain to Gu Qingming. They stood under the orange tree and stared at the oranges on the tree. Their round eyes were bright, and suspicious transparent liquid flowed out of the corners of their mouths.
Gu Qingming was speechless at these two little foodies.
Eldest Uncle looked at them and said in amusement, “Stop looking. However you look, these oranges are still on the tree. Grandpa has already cut some off. Let’s eat these oranges after cutting them!”
With that, he weighed the orange in his hand and gestured with his eyes. “Your aunt also has a few. Now that she’s finished cutting, let’s go back to the house to eat. If you stand here, many ants will bite you!”
At the mention of ants, an ant crawled onto Shi Junxuan’s foot. Eldest Uncle immediately slapped the ant away.
Although he was not bitten by the ants, Shi Junxuan’s eyes were still red. He looked like he wanted to cry.
Gu Qingming immediately comforted her. “Oh, Little Xuanxuan, don’t cry. This ant has already been dealt with by Grandpa. It doesn’t hurt anymore. You’re a brave little man, right?”
When Shi Junxuan heard this, he quickly held back his tears. He nodded and said, “Yes, that’s right. I’m a brave little man now. I won’t cry!”
“Yes, that’s right. Little Xuanxuan is the best!” Gu Qingming praised again!
Eldest Uncle said in amusement, “Alright, let’s hurry back to the house. There won’t be any ants biting us in the house!”
When they returned to the house, the two little radish heads sat in a row and waited to be fed!
Eldest Aunt cleaned up the vegetable garden. The others were in the house, waiting to finish their umbilical oranges before going to work.
Eldest Uncle peeled them one by one. After a while, all fifteen or sixteen oranges were peeled.
The eldest sister-in-law took one to clean the white skin and broke it into half for each of them. She said, “Try it first. We’ll peel it if it’s delicious.”
The two children had no objections!
Gu Qingming took one out, cleaned the white skin, broke off a piece, and put it in her mouth to taste.
This taste was still a little sour. Oh, it was only a little sour. The taste quickly turned sweet, and there was also a faint orange fragrance. Other than the lack of juice, the overall taste was alright.
It was like first love, sweet and sour, but full of hope for the future.