"I'm fine, sister-in-law," Xu Yan said, stopping Li Aihua from continuing before she could finish her sentence, having licked her dry lips.

Then he led her into the house.

Most of the people who had been gathered at the gate had already left, with only a few remaining, standing in small groups and continuing to chat.

Someone saw Xu Yan enter the courtyard and whispered a few words.

"Xie Zhuo isn't home?" After this period of time, Li Aihua rarely called Xie Zhuo "Third Brother Xie" anymore.

She looked around the courtyard and, not hearing anyone inside, asked a question.

"He went out with Liu Mancang and the others," Xu Yan said, taking a clean enamel mug and pouring Li Aihua a cup of tea. "They probably won't be back until noon."

Li Aihua sat on a stool in the main room, took a sip of water from the enamel mug, and then looked at Xu Yan as if she had thought of something.

"Hmm?" Xu Yan found her gaze a little strange, and asked after sitting down, "What's wrong?"

"What kind of face cream has Xie Zhuo been using lately?" Li Aihua asked.

"Huh?" Xu Yan didn't understand.

"Haven't you noticed that he's getting more and more handsome lately?" Li Aihua asked.

"...Is that so?" Xu Yan also poured himself a cup of tea.

“Of course he’s here, everyone in the brigade has noticed,” Li Aihua said. “He used to be a bit taller and stronger, but not particularly good-looking. But now, his face has become so handsome.”

Xu Yan paused in her drinking motion.

You've gotten more handsome?

“That’s right, you didn’t see it. The day before yesterday, when I went to have dinner with Xiao Shuanzi, he also happened to be looking for your Da Bao and Xiao Bao. Several girls from the brigade walked past him, and their faces turned red,” Li Aihua said.

Xu Yan really didn't know.

From the first time she met Xie Zhuo, she thought he was very handsome, especially his face. When he wasn't smiling and his expression was tense, he looked very cold, but when he smiled, he had an indescribable gentleness.

At that time, she found it strange that everyone thought Han Xiaoyu was handsome, but had no feelings for Xie Zhuo.

I thought it was just a difference in aesthetics in this world.

Now it seems...

Xu Yan drifted off into thought again.

She only snapped back to reality when Li Aihua waved her hand in front of her again.

"What's wrong with you?" Li Aihua asked with a worried expression. "That day, Xie Zhuo didn't even glance at them before taking Da Bao and the others home."

Li Aihua thought Xu Yan was jealous because of what she said, and she regretted it for a moment.

I should have kept quiet.

The couple was fine at first, but she stirred things up and caused some trouble.

“Hmm,” Xu Yan nodded casually, “I know he won’t do anything to betray me.”

“That’s right, after all, you can’t just marry a wife as beautiful as you,” Li Aihua said.

Xu Yan was amused by her words.

“Really,” Li Aihua said, “It’s truly a stroke of good luck for the Xie family to be able to marry you!”

"Before he married you, Xie Zhu lived a certain kind of life, and now he lives a different kind of life. Don't be fooled by the villagers' gossip; they're actually quite envious."

Xu Yan laughed for a long time before slowly stopping and looking at Li Aihua, asking, "Sister-in-law, you just said Xie Zhuo has become more handsome. What did he look like before?"

"Before?" Li Aihua frowned.

She racked her brains for a while, then shook her head blankly. "I can't remember. It was just so-so, not as pretty as it is now."

Hearing her words, Xu Yan felt a strange sensation in her heart.

The confusion and bewilderment she had felt earlier had made her somewhat uneasy again.

“Hey,” Li Aihua slammed her hand on the table, “His memory hasn’t been very good lately, he keeps forgetting things, anyway, he’s not the same as before.”

Xu Yan remained seated until Li Aihua left.

Before Xie Zhuo, Liu Mancang, and Zhao Jisheng even entered the mountain, they saw several small paths that had been worn into the surrounding area.

"Damn, how many times have we run in there?" Liu Mancang kicked the trampled grass a few times.

“At least thirty or forty times,” Zhao Jisheng said. “Once, I got up to use the restroom at night and saw someone running this way with a flashlight.”

"Tell me, what exactly are they looking for?" Liu Mancang asked.

"How would I know?" Zhao Jisheng said as he walked, picking a few wild vegetables, shaking off the dirt, and throwing them into his basket. "Anyway, I'm not here to hunt."

“Isn’t that obvious?” Liu Mancang clicked his tongue a few times. “Hunting doesn’t involve making such a commotion. It looks like they’re looking for something.”

After he finished speaking, he turned to Xie Zhuo, who hadn't said anything, and said, "What do you think, Third Brother?"

"Find a way to make money," Xie Zhuo said, turning his gaze away and glancing at his face.

"Huh?" Liu Mancang didn't understand. "What do you mean by a way to get rich? The most valuable thing in these mountains is the prey inside, right?"

yes.

Xie Zhuo used to think the same way.

But Xu Yan found a century-old wild ginseng here.

Xie Zhuo had actually wanted to ask her that day why she suddenly had the urge to come to the mountains to look for ginseng.

Even in her previous life, she was long gone before Han Xiaoyu found the wild ginseng, so it was impossible for her to know that things could be dug up in the mountains.

But back then, the two weren't that close, and there were some things he couldn't ask. Now, they spend most of their evenings together, but he never gets a chance to ask.

The three men talked and cursed Wang Chao. After walking a few more steps, they reached the deep mountains, but they didn't see a single rabbit. Liu Mancang couldn't help but curse a few more times.

"That idiot Wang Chao, is he crazy?!" Liu Mancang cursed angrily as he looked at the crushed mushrooms scattered on the ground.

I was planning to go out with my third brother today and catch some wild animals to sell in the city, but now, let alone wild animals, even the grass on the ground has been trampled flat.

"I guess we'll be empty-handed today," Zhao Jisheng said, frowning beside him.

Although Xie Zhuo knew why they had come up the mountain, he still frowned when he saw the place in such a state.

"What do we do now? Should we head north to the mountains?" Liu Mancang asked.

“It’s too far,” Xie Zhuo replied without thinking. “I have to get back by noon.”

The three of them wandered around in the mountains for most of the day, and finally only found a wild bayberry tree. They wondered if it was because the bayberries ripened late in the mountains, and that it was just right to eat them now.

Liu Mancang picked one and, with a "test it for poison" attitude, popped it into his mouth. To his surprise, it wasn't sour at all; in fact, it was quite sweet.

"Not bad, I got something out of it," Xie Zhuo said, popping one into his mouth as well.

The sweet juice of the bayberry bursts in your mouth, carrying its unique aroma.

The three of them quickly picked all the ripe bayberries from the tree and put them into their baskets. Then, as they walked out, they also picked a few mushrooms that had hidden away and hadn't been trampled and put them into their baskets as well.

"Come over early after lunch," Xie Zhuo glanced at Liu Mancang and Zhao Jisheng and said, "Let's go for a stroll in Beishan."

"Really?" Liu Mancang's eyes lit up instantly.