"Ouch! That feels so good!"

"You silly child, your hand gaps are still so big."

The old man simply chuckled and let it go. After eating two, he felt full, so he wrapped up the rest, reluctant to part with them.

Looking at the packages in the car, the old man asked, seemingly casually,

"Did your sister mail this to you?"

No matter how you look at it, it's exactly the same as that bag of cloth scraps from last time, and the old man felt inexplicably excited.

Jian Dan was leaning against the bag when she heard this. She looked down, patted it, and then...

"Yes, she really liked the mountain produce I mailed back to her last time. I heard that supplies are scarce here, so I guess she wants me to help her get more."

"real?"

The old man's eyes lit up instantly, and he looked at him with a strange expression.

"What's wrong, Third Master? Sigh, I know it's a bit difficult. Right now, we're saving all this food to fill our stomachs, aren't we?"

"It's alright, no rush. Next time I come, I'll mail them the mountain produce I collected this time."

"What's the big deal? If you're willing to spend that much, the villagers can replace it all in two days."

"Third Master, what I want to exchange is mountain produce. Aren't the mountain produce that everyone is picking up all for winter food?"

The old man waved his hand.

"Hey, normally we'd have to save everything for winter. But this year, thanks to you, we've had plenty of good stuff, and everyone's much better off, so we can start thinking about other things."

My family wasn't the only one lacking clothes. Actually, if you think about it, my family is actually doing relatively well, since Guangming's craftsmanship earns us a work point, and I get one too.

"That's how it is. You see, my old lady treats your scraps of cloth better than her own son. Imagine how much more other families treat you. After a year of going hungry here, they can't even save up a single piece of clothing there."

My first thought was, "Was this year a complete waste?"

But thinking about it, the crop yield wasn't high at this time, and we still had to pay grain taxes. If you calculate it, it seems like there's really not much left. The main thing is that crops are the only source of livelihood. It's not an exaggeration to say that God gave us food.

“We’re all from the same village, and we know each other well. If you trust us, we can stay in the village. It’ll save you the trouble of going out in this freezing weather, don’t you think?”

Anyway, that's what she meant anyway, so there's no point in pushing it back and forth.

“Okay, Third Master, it would be even better if we could exchange it in the village. It would save me trouble and help everyone else. It would be a win-win situation.”

"Haha, old man, I won't lie to you. Last time, my family kept some of the scraps of cloth, and sent the rest to the village office. I thought I'd replace them for anyone who was in a hurry. I didn't dare tell anyone, for fear of not having enough."

With these, every family should be able to buy their child a new outfit.

To be honest, after being here for so long, I've come to understand their behavior of always thinking of everyone first when something good happens. Whether you call it selflessness or foolishness, it's just a characteristic of this era.

Strictly speaking, compared to later generations, it is full of human warmth and unique simplicity.

"In the end, it's all about being poor. After a whole year of hard work, you're just content to be alive. Who would dare to think about anything else?"

"Third Master, is the wood ear fungus from the back mountain, or did they grow it themselves?"

"They've always been growing on the back mountain over there, and they grow every year for so many years. But there aren't many other mountain products there, so every year around this time, they're the ones collecting wood ear mushrooms, and we're the ones collecting other mountain products."

Chaos was about to break out, and Jian Dan didn't want to stand out. She knew that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down, especially since she was someone who was afraid of standing out.

"Third Master, could you ask Uncle Guangming to make me a few wooden boxes, the kind you can use to grow vegetables in, long and narrow ones?"

"What? You're going to grow vegetables indoors?"

They're all from the countryside; that's something you can understand as soon as you hear it.

“I want to give it a try. Anyway, we still need to light a fire in the house when it gets cold. My little kang (heated brick bed), isn’t that a crooked road under the feet? It’s not a place for people to live. I might as well put some vegetables in a few boxes and plant them there. If they don’t grow, they don’t grow, it won’t be a big deal. If they do grow, we can have some vegetables for winter.”

Now that you think about it, it makes sense.

"Will it work? I think someone tried it before, but the vegetable didn't grow in the end."

Even though she's a beginner, she only knows this from books. She's just experiencing life and wants to try everything.

"I don't know either, let's give it a try. If it works, we'll have another dish to make; if it doesn't, it'll just be a waste of soil and a waste of labor."

I feel the main issues are temperature and moisture. If I manage those two things well, there shouldn't be any major problems. You guys have experience with this, I'm completely clueless here.

Suddenly remembering the unique characteristics of this era, Jian Dan unconsciously sat up straight.

"Third Master, this doesn't count as undermining the collective, does it?"

The master shook his whip.

"We're relying on our own efforts, not undermining others, and we're not going out to speculate or engage in illegal activities. It's fine."

"That's good. So, does this mean hibernation has begun?"

"Before, I could go up the mountain for a few days, but this year the situation is like this. It won't be warm for many days. Now it's cold in the morning and evening, so I basically stay at home."

After the mountain closure is lifted in a few days, some diligent people will go up the mountain to gather firewood or something. By the way, do you have enough firewood?

"That's enough, that's enough. The uncles who were repairing the house helped me collect quite a lot, and I also brought some back with me on my recent trips up the mountain. That should be enough. I'll go check again when I can go up the mountain again in a few days."

"Third Master, this is a large mountain range, aren't there any prey?"

On her first trip up the mountain, Jian Dan did encounter a few small animals. In the deep mountains, she even caught a few pheasants and rabbits, but none of them showed up. She immediately released them back onto the mountain at the base, as she was still unsure of the situation there.

Even when they came to collect the game a few days ago, they didn't hear of anyone catching any prey. Of course, no one would shout about it loudly if they did.

"Yes, of course there is. It's just that this year, the area down in the mountains is so poor that the animals are much more sensitive than people, and they ran to the deep mountains to take refuge early on."

well!

To be honest, we need to be extra careful during this time of year. In previous years, every year around this time, hungry wild boars and the like would come down from the mountains to wreak havoc on the crops, but so far this year there haven't been any. The weather is getting cold soon, so it's hard to say when they might actually come down.

Your place is too close to the foot of the mountain. If a wild animal comes down, you'll be in the most danger. Why don't you move to the educated youth compound? It's in the middle of the village, so you can at least buy yourself some more time."

"Third Grandpa, tell me, what's the difference between the village entrance and the village center? If a wild boar gets into the village, what difference does a minute or two make? Right?"

"...That's what they say, but your place is way too close to the mountain. You can just go down the mountain, and there aren't any other houses around. Wouldn't it be an easy target?"