Food Supplements - Chapter 13

Although she had missed the flowering stage, the sight of branches laden with fruit still filled Qin Cheng with genuine joy.

She had seen fruit trees heavy with produce during childhood visits to her maternal grandparents in the countryside. But perhaps because she had grown this one herself, this tree felt distinctly different.

The abundant fruit was clearly still green and unripe, yet it already gave off an enticing fragrance. Round and heavy, the apples hid among the dense green leaves, tempting anyone who saw them to take a bite.

However, after circling the tree clockwise several times and discovering that she could do nothing but crane her neck and stare, Qin Cheng quickly abandoned that unrealistic idea.

Without her noticing, the tree had grown tall and sturdy. As a frail woman burdened by illness, even if she wanted to climb it, she no longer had the strength.

She had overlooked this problem…

She would have to order some fruit-picking tools online later.

Surely tools like that existed. In the worst case, she could buy a ladder.

Embarrassed by her failed first attempt at harvesting fruit, Qin Cheng rubbed between her brows and shifted her attention to another new sight: the dragon fruit flowers blooming everywhere nearby.

In terms of visual impact, the enormous blossoms were far more striking than the apple tree.

Dragon fruit flowers were much larger than ordinary flowers. Thin white petals, delicate as cicada wings, opened in layer after layer, revealing dense, soft, pale-yellow stamens within. Behind them, greenish-yellow sepals spread like another ring of petals.

They bloomed brilliantly, yet their beauty was not gaudy. Instead, they possessed the sacred purity of night-blooming cereus.

The flowers were undeniably magnificent.

Qin Cheng had grown flowers and plants in college, so she admired them for quite some time before considering whether she ought to pollinate them.

Having already looked up the relevant information, she knew that red-fleshed dragon fruit was said to be self-incompatible and often required assisted pollination. She had even learned the basic method.

But there were six large plants before her, each bearing dozens of flowers.

Pollinating every blossom would be troublesome.

Besides, had the apple tree not produced fruit on its own? She had not assisted with pollination there—she had not even seen it flower.

After hesitating, Qin Cheng decided to create a control group.

She found a toothbrush set in her storage box, gently shook one flower, and caught the falling pollen in a small container. Then she dipped the toothbrush into the pollen and carefully brushed it onto the stigma of a flower on the next plant.

Fortunately, the flowers were large, so their reproductive parts were large as well. The stamens and pistil were easy to distinguish, and they were not especially delicate, making them well suited to a complete beginner.

Even so, pollinating the blossoms one by one required both care and physical effort, especially since she had to crouch or rise onto her toes from time to time.

Fortunately, she only needed to handle half the flowers, so it was still relatively manageable.

That was right.

Qin Cheng manually pollinated only half of them, leaving the other half untouched. This way, she could compare the results and know how to treat future blossoms.

After experiencing the process herself, she sincerely hoped there would be little difference between the two groups.

Otherwise, assisting with pollination every time would be torture. Sooner or later, her poor back would give out.

Unfortunately, pollination was not the only task that needed to be completed that day.

Among the less noticeable stretches of green, all the newly planted crops had already pushed through the soil and produced tender shoots.

The most troublesome were the large tomatoes, which required supports for climbing.

If she wanted tomato plants to grow properly, she had to build frames for them to climb. Qin Cheng had learned this in her grandparents’ vegetable garden when she was young, so she had remembered to order the necessary equipment along with the gardening tools.

In fact, she had purchased the equipment far too late.

As she sorted through the plastic-coated iron tubes and small connecting pieces, the woman glanced uneasily at the dragon fruit plants nearby.

The so-called dragon fruit “trees” were not actually trees. They were simply several long, fleshy cactus stems climbing around a central support, creating a tree-like appearance.

That was right.

Dragon fruit was also a climbing shrub.

Qin Cheng had already filled this gap in her knowledge, but knowing the answer had not helped when she lacked materials. The plants had grown so quickly that they needed support before the ordered frames arrived.

In the end, she had improvised by buying more than a dozen metal clothes-drying poles and two bundles of plastic cable ties from a general store. Only then had she managed to build the main supports that formed the cactus “trees” standing there now.

The memory was too painful to revisit.

Now that she had proper equipment, Qin Cheng quickly assembled future homes for the young large-tomato plants. Since she had planted only a few, the task was pleasantly easy.

The more numerous cherry tomato seedlings required no such trouble.

Knowing this would be an issue, Qin Cheng had deliberately bought a dwarf variety. Each plant would produce less fruit, but it eliminated the problem entirely.

After finally finishing everything, she still had several plastic-coated iron tubes left.

She had intended to return them to the delivery box. But while resting, she looked at the long poles, then glanced toward the towering apple tree.

An idea suddenly came to her.

Two connected tubes would reach about two meters, and the lowest fruit-bearing branches seemed to hang at roughly that height.

There was still hope.

“Just drop a few for me… Be good…”

Perhaps because her previous complaint had seemed effective, Qin Cheng unconsciously murmured to the tree as she raised the pole.

She had barely aimed at a thin branch and struck it once or twice when three or four enormous apples came crashing down.

Every single one landed squarely on her head.

Fortunately, no matter how large they were, they were apples rather than coconuts.

The assaulted Qin Cheng merely rubbed her head for a moment before recovering.

Once she did, she was not angry at all.

Smiling, she lowered the pole, patted the trunk, then bent down and picked up the fruits of her labor.

When she noticed a little soil clinging to them, she simply gathered the green apples in her arms, gripped the hairpin, and returned to her room.

After crossing into another space, the soil on the apples disappeared.

Regardless of what it clung to, neither the water nor soil from that little realm could be brought outside.

Qin Cheng had noticed this detail long ago and occasionally took advantage of the convenience.

Now clean, the apples were round and glossy, firm to the touch, with smooth green skin and the fresh fragrance unique to unripe fruit.

They smelled pleasant but did not look especially appetizing.

Determined to taste them anyway, Qin Cheng did not care.

She gave one a quick rinse, lifted the whole fruit, and took a large, crisp bite.

Crunchy.

And sour.

Her first impression was exactly as expected.

Yet although it was sour, it was not astringent. Instead, an intense fruity fragrance burst across her mouth alongside the acidity, even rising through her nose and affecting her sense of smell.

Qin Cheng frowned at the sharp stimulation, unable to tell whether the fragrance or sourness was stronger.

But she did not dislike it.

After chewing a little longer, she detected sweetness hidden behind the tartness.

Gradually, the sweetness became more apparent.

The two flavors balanced one another until the apple tasted sweet and sour, though still more sour than sweet.

It was crisp, refreshing, and mouthwatering.

After chewing for a while, her jaw even began to ache slightly, yet she could not bear to stop.

Delicious!

Qin Cheng devoured two apples in succession before finally pausing for breath.

It felt as though a cool stream of fruit juice, carrying sweet and sour fragrance, flowed straight into her body. Her mind felt refreshed, and even her breathing seemed easier.

Had her jaw not become sore, she might truly have eaten all four large apples on the plate in one sitting.

Only after the pleasure of eating subsided did Qin Cheng touch her pleasantly full abdomen and feel slightly surprised.

She had not eaten so freely or heartily in a very long time.

Even when dishes made with the spring onions and garlic tasted good, her instincts as a chronically ill patient always made her eat only a little, afraid of overindulging.

Thinking back now, the green apples were certainly tasty, but hardly astonishing.

They were still quite sour.

Yet eating them had felt incomparably satisfying.

In particular, the faint sweetness and cool freshness unique to fruit had made them almost impossible to resist.

Could it be because fruit had a different nutritional value?

After failing to understand, Qin Cheng simply stopped thinking about it.

She cut the remaining green apples into pieces and carried the plate next door to the landlady’s home.

Whether it had merely suited her personal tastes by coincidence or was genuinely different would become clear enough after observing someone else’s reaction.

As the two households grew closer, especially after eating together so often, visiting the landlady’s home had become casual.

Qin Cheng knocked lightly twice out of courtesy. After confirming someone was inside, she pushed open the door and entered, immediately spotting her target tending the green plants beside the window.

Seeing the young woman was expected.

She almost never left the house, so Qin Cheng showed no surprise.

She merely smiled, raised the plate slightly, and said, “Come have some apple. I bought it recently. It’s a little sour, but very fresh.”

Then she placed the fruit on the coffee table.

After spending several days together, the young woman no longer avoided people as much as she had at first.

She still spoke very little, however, and responded through actions rather than words.

She quickly hurried over in small steps, carefully arranged the objects she had been holding, then removed her work gloves and placed them neatly beside each other.

Afterward, she took out a wet wipe and thoroughly cleaned her hands.

Only then did she sit properly, nod to Qin Cheng, spear a small piece of apple with a toothpick, and taste it with delicate manners.

But no matter how refined and polite she was, after chewing several times, she could no longer keep her expression calm.

Watching the usually expressionless face scrunch up from the sourness, Qin Cheng could not help laughing.

Only then did she leisurely ask, “Is it too sour? Don’t force yourself if you don’t like it.”

As she spoke, she reached out as though to remove the plate.

The young woman stopped her.

Her eyes were moist from the sharp acidity, yet she did not spit out the fruit.

Instead, she seriously finished chewing and swallowed it, then speared a second piece and placed it in her mouth.

Her expression did not change this time, but she chewed slightly faster.

Having carefully observed the way she ate, Qin Cheng knew that, just like herself, the girl had genuinely begun to enjoy the taste.

The test had succeeded.

Qin Cheng quietly released a breath of relief.

If fruit truly produced a stronger effect than vegetables, she would have much greater freedom in what she chose to grow and would no longer need to trouble herself solely with planting vegetables.

After reaching her conclusion, the room remained quiet for some time.

The young woman ate the fruit seriously.

Qin Cheng said nothing more and merely watched her with a smile.

After a while, feeling that it was impolite to keep staring, she shifted her gaze toward the small objects arranged neatly nearby.

When she entered, she had seen the girl tending the plants by the window.

Looking at the tools now, they were indeed all related to gardening.

Aside from the gloves stained with a little soil, there was a small trowel, tiny pruning shears, a spray bottle, and several little sealed plastic bags beside the delicate tools.

Two appeared to contain fertilizer.

As for another bag…

“Are the earthworms in there alive?” Qin Cheng pointed at the sealed bag and began a conversation. “Most girls are afraid to touch things like that. You’re quite brave.”

The young woman had just swallowed a piece of fruit.

She hesitated, then whispered softly, “They… they don’t bite. They’re beneficial. They loosen the soil and help plants…”

After speaking, she lowered her head and quickly put another piece of fruit into her mouth, clearly unwilling to say more.

Still, compared with the beginning, this already counted as normal communication.

Having watched her improve little by little, Qin Cheng felt a subtle sense of gratification.

But she did not forget the idea that had just occurred to her.

She asked directly, “Then could you give me a few? Just several is enough. I have a pot of grass in my room too, and I want them to loosen the soil.”

The young woman’s mouth was full, so naturally, she could not answer.

However, she nodded repeatedly, clearly unwilling to withhold them.

Thus, Qin Cheng successfully traded two apples for several live earthworms and soon carried them back to her room in a bag.

Although the idea had come from coincidence, while she was still alone, she decided to carry out a plan she had considered for a long time: attempting to take living creatures other than plants into the small realm.

That was right.

Qin Cheng had long wondered whether she could bring animals to the lakeside.

She had no intention of turning the place into a noisy, foul-smelling farm, but she could consider adding small creatures that benefited plant growth, including earthworms.

Perhaps she could even raise a cat or dog there for companionship, since she expected to spend a great deal of time inside in the future.

Her idea was excellent, but she had never had an opportunity to test it.

After her mother arrived, the amount of time she could act alone decreased sharply.

The nearest flower and pet market was also quite far away, and even when she had free time, she did not want to waste it traveling there.

These few earthworms had appeared by chance, making them an excellent opportunity.

Holding the bag, Qin Cheng gripped the silver hairpin and shifted her thoughts.

Her figure disappeared.

The empty room remained quiet in the afternoon sunlight for several seconds.

Then the light distorted, and her figure appeared again.

The woman opened her eyes and froze for several moments.

Then she crouched down and searched carefully, soon finding several small creatures writhing across the floor.

She looked at the fully sealed yet completely empty bag in her hand, then at the energetic earthworms.

With a helpless expression, Qin Cheng gathered them up and returned them to the young woman.

Her first experiment in transporting living creatures officially ended in failure.

As for whether other animals could be brought inside…

Discouraged by the result, Qin Cheng decided she could test that another time.

There were still so many other things requiring her attention.

Whether such an unimportant matter succeeded did not truly matter.

After all, she was accustomed to loneliness.

She spent the rest of that day shopping online.

As it turned out, fruit-picking tools not only existed, but came in a surprisingly wide range of designs.

Qin Cheng became overwhelmed by the options.

In the end, she simply bought one of every type, deciding that experience would reveal which worked best.

Even though she placed the orders that day, she was already several steps too late.

When she returned to the lakeside the next day, every green apple on the tree had fully ripened, changing into a glossy, vivid red.

Standing beneath the tree, Qin Cheng found that the already fragrant scent had become extraordinarily rich.

Each breath seemed to carry flowing sweetness.

Yet faced with branches crowded with red temptation, she could only stare helplessly up at the tree and then…

Resignedly raise the plastic-coated iron pole in her hands.

Even at the risk of being struck on the head, she needed to harvest some apples first.

For one thing, she was curious about their taste.

For another, she did not understand how the fruit would change over time.

If something happened to them before the picking tools arrived, it would be an enormous loss.

She needed to bring down at least a few as insurance.

The facts proved that Qin Cheng’s concerns were justified.

The apples turned red that day and became fully ripe the next.

By the third day, however, some began showing signs of spoilage.

They did not remain perpetually green and vigorous like the spring onions in the soil.

By the fourth day, when the tools finally arrived, Qin Cheng regretfully discovered that the entire apple tree had returned to pure green.

All the abundant red fruit among its thick leaves had vanished overnight, as though they had never existed.

She lowered the tools that had arrived one step too late with great disappointment.

Now, she could only be thankful that she had harvested some apples in advance.

Stored inside the realm, they should remain fresh enough to last for a while.

Meanwhile, as though the plants had coordinated their timing, after the apples disappeared, the dragon fruit nearby began swelling as though inflated.

The purplish-red fruits grew larger than ordinary pineapples.

Having gradually become accustomed to abundant harvests, Qin Cheng did not rush to pick them this time.

Instead, she took a small glass bottle from her clothes, picked up a gardening hoe, and began strolling slowly along the lakeside.

No matter how delicious the produce from this realm was, the fruit she had mainly been responsible for finishing over the past few days was still the remaining apples and blood oranges her mother had brought from home.

Apples had now taken root here.

But as for the other fruit, Qin Cheng had hesitated for a long time.

She wanted to plant it, yet could not bring herself to do so.

She did not even know the exact variety of the blood orange.

It was probably not an imported one.

Ever since Qin Cheng was old enough to remember, there had been a tree growing in her maternal grandparents’ garden.

It bore fruit every year.

The harvest was never large, but the fruit was exceptionally sweet and juicy, its jewel-like flesh as dark red as blood.

Because it tasted so good, people in the village had tried to propagate it.

But the oranges contained very few seeds. Often, several fruits had to be opened before one or two seeds could be found.

Whether people tried planting seeds or more technical methods such as cuttings and grafting, every attempt ended in failure.

But difficulty growing it was not the reason Qin Cheng hesitated.

She had confidence in this small realm.

Otherwise, she would not have carefully collected and preserved several seeds.

What made her hesitate was that the fruit carried too many memories.

Too many, and far too heavy.

Especially over the past few years, she had almost gone out of her way to avoid it.

“Because the blood orange tree back home bore fruit on the day you were born, they named you after it? Mm… that’s certainly a straightforward way of choosing a name.”

“Your family sent these? They’re from that same tree? Then I suppose they count as your siblings… Sure enough, they taste just as good as you do.”

“I want blood oranges… Shh. It doesn’t matter that your family hasn’t sent any this year. There’s one right here…”

She did not dare touch those once-beautiful memories.

Nor did she dare plant the fruit that carried them.

Had her mother not gone to the trouble of bringing the oranges from home, Qin Cheng might not even have been willing to eat them again.

Yet the more afraid she was to touch those memories, the more unwilling she was to discard them.

She had said that the objects remained while the feelings were gone.

In truth, both had always remained hidden deep in her heart, never dying.

And so, faced with the lush greenery all around her, Qin Cheng ultimately could not resist.

She removed the seeds, solemnly chose a patch of soil, and planted them carefully.

I hope…

I hope that one day, I’ll still have the chance to let you taste the fruit you once loved most.

If that could truly happen, I would ask for nothing more.