Until someone who couldn't hold their tongue mentioned the apple trees that were currently being grown.
By this year, the apple trees had reached the time when they should have been bearing fruit officially. By now, even the slowest person had realized that the situation with these trees wasn't as initially expected.
In Sancha River village, it wasn't that there were no fruit trees at all. Some people nearby had peach trees—in fact, peaches from Tanghe County had a bit of fame, but they were difficult to transport, didn't store well, and fell in price as soon as the season hit.
Besides peaches, there were also persimmons, pears, apricots, and plums, all planted in large areas. Many were aged fruit trees that could bend branches with their fruit as they ripened each year.
As for jujube trees, they were even more common. Yan Fei, who ran the blacksmith shop, had one in his courtyard.
