HLM -Chapter 1376 Wild Mountain Cherries

The teaching activity organized by Wang Bo turned out to be very successful. When the Q&A session ended and everyone was about to leave, the parents burst into warm applause.

“Teacher Eva explained things so well. I used to overlook the importance of building a child’s self-esteem.”

“I’ll give my children respect. I hope that many years from now, they’ll still remember how their parents respected them.”

“Teacher Eva, why don’t you start a guidance class? We’d love to learn from you how to educate children…”

Wang Bo: “What the hell is this? I’m the main lecturer here, okay?!”

Aside from teaching activities, the school also planned to organize other events. Wang Bo felt that these were meaningful learning experiences, so he planned to organize something similar with his own people after returning.

“An activity? Why not throw a big party—everyone opens up, eats and drinks to their heart’s content. Wouldn’t that be great?” Atulu said eagerly.

Uncle Bing shook his head. “Eating and drinking all day is the least interesting thing. I think we should hold a shooting competition. Exercise is the source of life; vitality comes from movement.”

“Why don’t we go pick cherries?” Elizabeth suggested. “I’ve seen lots of cherries in the mountains. Tourists sometimes go picking there, and by now they should be completely ripe.”

Cherries are basically large-sized cherries—technically the same plant as regular cherries, just different varieties, so there are still some differences between them.

New Zealand cherries are famous worldwide, especially those from the South Island. With abundant summer sunshine and ample rainfall, the cherries there are not only large but also exceptionally sweet.

Cherries can occasionally be seen in the Southern Alps, but much like wild cherries in China, they are relatively rare overall.

However, starting last year, cherries began appearing in the mountains during summer, and their numbers have been increasing rapidly—they reproduce very quickly.

In orchards, cherries usually appear in January and are known as “New Year fruits.” Because of the altitude difference between the mountains and the orchards, mountain cherries don’t ripen until February.

Some time ago, people in town were already selling cherries at roadside stalls. When Wang Bo went around collecting fines, he bought all of them. After tasting them, he thought they were excellent.

Elizabeth said, “Those cherries were picked in the mountains. They’ve been sold in town for a while now. There are even more ripe ones up there now—we can pick and eat them fresh. They taste even better.”

Atulu immediately agreed. “Then it’s settled. But who can bring some beer and dried meat? We can’t just eat fruit.”

Wang Bo said, “No need to pick another day—let’s do it today. Issa, you and Kidd take some people to find a few cherry habitats. Then we’ll head over directly. This Friday.”

“Got it, boss.”

This was a collective activity for all the town’s civil servants. Apart from those left on duty, about one hundred sixty or seventy people marched up the mountain road together—it was quite a spectacle.

Standing on higher ground along the mountain path and looking down, Wang Bo felt a sense of pride. He had built a strong team.

Of course, the town didn’t have that many employees to begin with—most people had brought their families along, which greatly increased the numbers.

Wang Bo didn’t just bring Eva, Dale, and their daughter; he also brought along Zhuang Ding—Little Wang, Queen, and the others. With those that flew in the sky, ran on the ground, and climbed in trees, his group was even larger.

Sam, dressed in sportswear, walked over and said, “Boss, a year has passed. Shouldn’t we hold an annual meeting to celebrate?”

Wang Bo replied, “Aren’t we celebrating right now?”

Sam laughed helplessly. “Not this kind. Can’t we take everyone somewhere more fun?”

Wang Bo had actually been thinking about this recently. Indeed, the town should organize a big annual party to celebrate—everyone had worked hard over the past year.

Since Sam brought it up, Wang Bo asked, “What do you have in mind? Where should we go?”

“The weather’s hot—how about taking a boat to Antarctica to see the ocean scenery?” Sam suggested.

It was currently the season of polar day in Antarctica, but Wang Bo didn’t see much appeal in staring at floating icebergs at sea. So he said, “Let’s finish the boxing matches in March first. We’ll plan the annual meeting in late March.”

“Great!” Sam said happily.

The news quickly spread. Hearing that there would be an annual meeting to look forward to, everyone became excited.

Elizabeth and Kidd had already located several cherry-growing areas. But with so many people, Wang Bo assigned the heads of each department to be responsible for safety. After that, he loosened the restrictions and let everyone enjoy themselves.

New Zealand was about to enter autumn. The scorching summer was coming to an end, and people would finally no longer break into a sweat the moment they stepped outside.

That kind of summer was truly exhausting—the sunlight in New Zealand is extremely intense. Without sunscreen, it’s very easy to get sunburned.

Because of the strong ultraviolet radiation, the incidence of skin cancer in this country is also among the highest.

After finding a patch of cherry trees, Eva took the child and went to sit in the shade, saying, “Whenever you’re heading down the mountain, just call me. My god, the baby’s about to get cooked by the sun.”

Zhuang Ding, Little Wang, and the others were even hotter, tongues hanging out as they sprawled in the shade, completely unwilling to move.

Elizabeth shrugged. “Looks like my suggestion wasn’t very practical after all.”

Wang Bo picked a cherry, popped it into his mouth, and savored it. He nodded. “Luckily, the fruit tastes great. Give it a try—slightly sour but very sweet, and full of juice. Excellent.”

He picked up another handful and brought them to Eva.

Eva crushed one, and bright red juice flowed out. She dripped it into the baby’s mouth.

The little girl was already able to eat supplementary foods. She now had one meal a day that included some porridge or soft fish meat, and she could also drink fruit juice like this.

When the cherry juice reached her mouth, she smacked her lips and broke into a smile. Her big eyes stared intently at the cherries in Eva’s hand, waiting eagerly for more.

The fat cat brothers ran over to Wang Bo as well, shamelessly demanding cherries.

But this fruit was clearly not to their taste. They chewed them “crack-crack,” pits and all, swallowed a few, then turned around and left.

Little Wang wanted to find some water, but the sunlight was too harsh. After running around outside for half a circle, it came back again.

Many people had brought beer up the mountain and were now raising their cups, drinking happily.

When Little Wang spotted water, it trotted over. In Atulu’s backpack was a large water bottle. Once it noticed it, Little Wang stuck close to the Maori strongman.

Seeing this, Atulu poured some into his hand and said, “You like drinking this? It’s beer.”

Little Wang stuck out its tongue and licked—it cleaned all the beer out of Atulu’s palm in one go, then lifted its head and looked at him expectantly.

“Shit, you little bastard—you’re not trying to drink it all, are you?” Atulu laughed. “It was hard enough carrying this beer all the way up here. You can have a bit, the rest is mine.”

Little Wang slapped his arm with one paw. The large water bottle immediately tipped over, and the beer came pouring out with a “whoosh.”

Atulu scrambled to grab the bottle back, but the opening was too wide—the beer was already flowing freely. Meanwhile, Little Wang lunged forward at lightning speed, lowering its head and going slurp slurp as it eagerly licked it up.