Chapter 79: Collecting Honey

Zhou Yu walked over to another beehive and looked inside carefully. He found the honey inside had already been taken. It seemed that particular hive was one Song Qingxiu hadn’t had time to collect yet.

He thought about it. He had to extract the honey from here as quickly as possible. Otherwise, once those Spirit Bees that had gone out to gather nectar flew back, he estimated the honey from this Immortal World wouldn’t be pure anymore.

Judging from the beehive, the Divine Chef Villa truly lived up to its reputation in the food industry. Its structure was almost the same as modern beehives, which also made his honey-collecting process a bit easier.

Because some nearby villages were close to mountains and forests, surrounded by flowers and plants, some beekeepers had appeared there. As for Taoyuan Village, no one kept bees there. However, in Dawang Village next door, where Wang Fugui lived, there was a man who had been keeping bees for about twenty years.

When they were kids, he and a group of children often went to this beekeeper’s house to steal honey to eat. Sometimes, if they couldn’t steal any finished honey, they would even go to the beehives to steal it, though they got stung many times.

The most fortunate thing was that this beekeeper had a gentle temper. Even if he caught them, he wouldn’t hit them. He would only have their parents take them home. Sometimes, they would also watch this beekeeper collect honey, occasionally even helping out.

Zhou Yu remembered that even in junior high school, he still went to this beekeeper’s house to play from time to time. He went much less often after starting high school, but he remembered the process of collecting honey vividly.

So, he decided to go to the next village first to get some honey-extracting tools and take out the honey from this beehive. As for the matter of going to Jing City today, that would have to wait a little while.

After that, Zhou Yu didn’t waste any time. He told Huzi and the others to watch the house, and then he rode his electric scooter straight to Dawang Village next door.

After arriving at Dawang Village, he went to a threshing ground located at the edge of the village. Long ago, this was a place for threshing grain, but later it became that beekeeper’s place for keeping bees.

There were very few residents around, and the natural conditions were excellent, making it very suitable for beekeeping. This beekeeper was about sixty years old now.

Next to this bee farm, a few houses had been built. This beekeeper’s family, three generations, all lived here, taking care of the bees. Before, there was no wall here, and it was still the same now. The area was full of trees. A breeze blew through from time to time, making people feel very refreshed.

When he walked into the bee farm, Zhou Yu saw an old man taking care of a child in the open space in front of the houses. He couldn’t help but smile. He parked his electric scooter nearby, walked over, and greeted him, “Good morning, Grandpa Tan.”

“Good, good, young man, you are… you look somewhat familiar.” Seeing Zhou Yu, the old man asked with some confusion.

Zhou Yu said his name. The old man remembered immediately and laughed heartily, “Zhou Yu, Little Universe! I remember now. When you were a kid, you were the most mischievous little rascal. The famous ‘king of the kids’ for miles around, leading a bunch of little brats to my house every day to steal honey. Finally not satisfied with that, you even went to the beehives to steal, and got chased down the street by a swarm of bees.”

“Ahem, Grandpa Tan, that was all a long time ago. I was young and didn’t understand things. Please bear with me.” Hearing the old man talk about the past, Zhou Yu couldn’t help showing a touch of embarrassment on his face.

“Heh, so you know how to be embarrassed, kid? You didn’t come here today to steal honey again, did you? It’s just a pity, there isn’t much left for you to steal.” Old Tan laughed, then shook his head and said with a sigh.

Only then did Zhou Yu turn his head to look at the bee farm not far away. His expression changed slightly. He remembered that when he was in junior high school, this bee farm still had dozens of beehives, but now there were only four or five. “Grandpa Tan, what happened? Where are all your beehives?”

In his opinion, although keeping bees couldn’t make you a lot of money, it could still make life a bit better.

“I sold most of them a few years ago. I’m old, and my two children aren’t interested in keeping bees either, so I sold them. I wanted to find them a good home while I still could. Now I’ve only kept these few hives. When I have nothing to do, they can help pass the time.”

Old Tan held the child while looking at the lonely few beehives in the vast bee farm in front of him, his face full of regret.

Zhou Yu also sighed softly. Many traditional things from his hometown disappeared just like this. Very few people, after experiencing the bustle of big cities, could return to their hometown, let alone engage in something like beekeeping.

“Little Yu, you came here to get some honey, right? I still have a little at home. I’ll give you a bottle, so you don’t have to go steal from the beehives again.” At this point, Old Tan looked at Zhou Yu and said jokingly.

Zhou Yu couldn’t help laughing. “Grandpa Tan, with you sitting here, how would I dare? This time I came to borrow some honey-extracting tools. I’ve returned to my hometown to develop now. I planted some flowers and plants at home, and a friend gave me two hives of bees, which I also keep at home.”

“Oh, I think I heard my Da Zhu mention it. That Divine Dog from Taoyuan Village that can surf is the one you raised. I didn’t expect you to also keep two hives of bees.” Hearing Zhou Yu’s words, Old Tan’s eyes suddenly lit up.

“Yes. Anyway, it’s fine to grow flowers at home, so I figured I’d keep some bees too.” Zhou Yu nodded and explained casually.

Old Tan said with deep satisfaction, “Good, good. Very few people can return to their hometown to develop these days. I still have a set of honey-collecting tools at home. I’ll give them to you. Do you want me to go back with you and personally guide you?”

“No need, Grandpa Tan. I won’t trouble you for now. This time I’ll try it myself first. I watched you do it many times before. Also, I tried it a few times at my friend’s place. I think I’ve pretty much learned it. If it doesn’t work, I’ll come find you again.”

Zhou Yu didn’t hesitate and politely declined Old Tan’s help. The honey inside was from the Immortal World, and it was probably going to be quite astonishing.

“Alright then. When you have time, come over here. I’ll properly teach you how to keep bees. It’s not just about putting them there and letting them collect pollen.” Old Tan nodded and didn’t insist.

After that, he went into the house and gave Zhou Yu the complete set of honey-gathering tools. He roughly explained how to use them. In the end, he told Zhou Yu to be very careful and not get stung by the bees.

After thanking him, Zhou Yu took the set of honey-extracting tools back to the Old Family House. Just as he had told Old Tan, when he was in university and went traveling with friends to experience life, he had indeed tried collecting honey a few times at a beekeeper’s place in the mountains.

He went to look in the courtyard and immediately laughed out loud. Huzi was leading Dabao and Xiaobao under the stink tree, barking non-stop at the Golden Eagle perched on a branch, as if telling the eagle to get lost.

But the Golden Eagle ignored them. It stood on the branch grooming its own feathers. As for the Little White Fox, it acted like nothing was happening. It lay lazily in the courtyard sunning itself, and from time to time, it would pluck a grape from a bunch lying on the ground nearby and put it in its mouth.

Zhou Yu thought if he let this Little White Fox guard the house, absolutely everything would be stolen clean. He figured it wouldn’t even glance over if someone was stealing stuff.

“Alright, Huzi, Dabao, Xiaobao, stop barking. Go do what you need to do.” Zhou Yu called Huzi and the others over. If the Golden Eagle was dead set on staying here, they had no way to deal with it.

After that, Zhou Yu took the set of honey-extracting tools and went near that beehive. He put on a bee-proof hat, put on a long-sleeved shirt, and then slowly approached the beehive holding a smoker.

He didn’t know how the Divine Chef Villa collected honey, but in the Earth World, this was the only way to collect it. Bees were most afraid of smoke. As for whether the Spirit Bees from this Immortal World would be afraid, that was truly unknown.

At this moment, some Spirit Bees had already returned to the beehive. So, he had to hurry and extract the honey inside.

Zhou Yu used the smoker to puff some smoke at the beehive. He saw some Spirit Bees fly out from the beehive, and only then did he feel relieved.

After smoking for a while, he slowly pulled a Honeycomb Frame out from the beehive. He saw some Spirit Bees still clinging to it. He shook it with his hand a few times, shaking the bees on it back into the beehive.

During this process, some Spirit Bees also flew over to attack him. But he was completely protected now, so they couldn’t harm him at all.

Watching others collect honey looked very simple, but doing it himself was very difficult. If he hadn’t tried it during university and gotten familiar with the process, he probably would have been completely clueless now.

Finally, after getting all the bees clinging to the frame down, Zhou Yu looked at the honeycomb on the Honeycomb Frame. It hadn’t formed beeswax yet. It seemed that in the Immortal World, the honey those Spirit Bees had collected hadn’t yet filled the honeycomb cells.

This saved him some work. If the honey filled the cells, the bees would cover them with a layer of beeswax for storage. Without removing the beeswax, it would be impossible to extract the honey. Next, he slowly placed the Honeycomb Frame into a bucket-type honey extractor.

This was the most convenient and quickest way to extract honey. By turning a manual crank, the Honeycomb Frame rotated evenly inside the bucket, using centrifugal force to fling the honey out of the honeycomb.

During this process, Xiaobao seemed to smell the fragrance of the honey. Forgetting his earlier instruction, it curiously walked over. Several Spirit Bees instantly rushed forward and stung its face a few times, making Xiaobao howl in pain and run in circles in the courtyard.

Seeing this, Zhou Yu burst out laughing. He first stopped extracting the honey, cleaned Xiaobao’s face, and then let its head enter the Main Spirit Gathering Array. After a short while, the sting wounds on its face were mostly healed.

“I told you not to come over. Weren’t you just asking for trouble?” Zhou Yu patted its head and then continued collecting the honey. With a lot of effort, he finally extracted the honey from one Honeycomb Frame. Looking at the clear, translucent yellow honey in the bucket, giving off a light fragrance, he felt it was all worth it.

Next, he poured the extracted honey into a strainer to filter it. Then he followed the same method, collecting the remaining honey.

The first time is unfamiliar, the second time is familiar. Zhou Yu’s movements became more and more skilled. This beehive wasn’t very big. He remembered that on Earth, the beehives commonly used usually had ten Honeycomb Frames. This one from the Divine Chef Villa only had six.

Very quickly, he extracted all the honey from the entire beehive. However, the honey in many of the Honeycomb Frames was very little. It seemed it wasn’t that Song Qingxiu hadn’t had time to collect it, but that the honey inside hadn’t yet reached a certain amount.