"Oh dear, how's your leg?"

"alright."

Song Qing walked around in front of Aunt Tian. She had stayed at home for a few days and then worked for a week, and was already fully recovered.

"These are some local specialties I bought over there, mostly food. I've been busy with work these past few days and haven't had time to bring them over for you."

Someone gave me a lot of scraps of fabric this time, so I made you a dress.

She brought a large package with her, containing local specialties she had bought there, as well as some things her mother had given her. However, she didn't dare let An'an know that she and Lu Yang had reached a consensus not to return to Xin'an.

The clothes were a bright blue long-sleeved shirt, which Song Qing took several days to make. During the month she was gone, she was very grateful to Aunt Tian for taking care of An'an.

"These cloth coupons aren't free, why are you making clothes for me? Keep them for yourself."

Although she was complaining, she took the clothes and tried them on herself.

This is a brand new dress; she hasn't had a new dress in years. The dress fits her perfectly, and the color suits her very well.

"I'll make some for you when our factory has defective fabric again."

"Alright, alright, Auntie will wait." Sure enough, who wouldn't want someone in the family to be a worker? She actually managed to get her hands on such precious fabric.

He touched the clothes for a long time, reluctant to let go, and finally folded them and put them in the closet before mysteriously pulling her into the kitchen.

"How about it?"

There wasn't much left of the wild boar from last time; some were eaten, some were dried, and some were given away. She built a rack out of wood in the kitchen, and now there's a pile of roasted, semi-dried wild rabbits on it.

Song Qing's eyes widened slightly. "With so much meat, we won't have to worry about getting through the winter."

"Rabbit meat is only good for chewing; it's not very oily and will actually draw out the oil from your stomach."

But something is better than nothing, so Aunt Tian used her chopsticks to flip the rabbit meat on the shelf.

"I'll pack some for you to take with you once they're dry. By the way, it's autumn now, time to start pickling vegetables."

Nowadays, people buy vegetables by the dozens of kilograms at a time. Her yard is already piled high with them. The autumn harvest in the village is finally over. She's almost died, but she'll be able to rest for several months.

Song Qing managed to snag a bag of cucumbers and a bag of potatoes at the vegetable market today, and will buy some other things as well.

"Third Aunt!"

An'an, dressed in long sleeves, sat on a cart. Lu Yang pushed her over, and Aunt Tian went out to help her down.

"We've borrowed a car, let's go up the mountain."

Heating the kang (a traditional heated bed) in winter requires a lot of firewood. In his spare time these past few days, Lu Yang cleaned up the area where firewood was piled up in the corner of the wall and reinforced the shed.

Taking advantage of the holiday, they borrowed a cart from the village to go up the mountain to collect firewood.

Aunt Tian pulled Liu Jiandong up with her, and they walked behind with baskets on their backs. Lu Yang pulled the cart, and An'an sat on it. The group headed up the mountain.

"The autumn harvest comes so quickly."

As Song Qing passed by the farmland, he sighed. The fields that used to be lush and green were now bare, and the straw and wheat stalks had been collected to feed the livestock for the winter.

"sister in law"

Lu Ronghui went to the educated youth settlement to find Liu Ruo first, and is now waiting for them outside.

"Did the educated youth gather firewood this year? I heard from Old Ma that the educated youth dormitory was expanded behind it, and it gets chilly in winter, so a lot of firewood is needed."

Like the villagers, the educated youth didn't need to go to the fields after the autumn harvest, so they had plenty of time to prepare for the winter.

When Lu Ronghui arrived, there was already a lot of firewood in their courtyard.

"Sister-in-law, shall we buy a chicken?"

The chicks that the educated youth bought in the spring grew up and laid eggs for several months. When winter came, their chicken coops didn't have much insulation, so they planned to sell a few and keep the rest.

"Buy it, but let them keep it for a few more days, and we'll go get it when we need it."

"good."

Song Qing decided to find a few more people to buy more chickens, pile them all in the chicken coop, and kill them to make soup in winter.

The leaves on the mountain are starting to fall now. This mountain belongs to Yanghe Village, and the trees are collective property. However, everyone can go up the mountain to collect firewood for the winter, as long as the main trunks are not cut down.

An'an is now very familiar with this mountain, and she stands on the cart, looking excitedly outside.

"Uncle, let's go check the trap."

"Leftovers can't be kept in the doghouse. Have your uncle take you there. If there aren't any in the trap, come back quickly; we still need to gather firewood."

Lu Yang picked her up, and An'an skipped and hopped to Liu Jiandong's side. Liu Jiandong, carrying a basket on his back, led her towards the trap.

"I wish I could live in the mountains now."

That's right. She used to enjoy going up the mountain when it was hot, but now that it's cooler, the food in the mountains is ripe and the wild animals are plump, so she's even more willing to go up.

The villagers had already picked all the branches from the outer branches, and they walked deeper into the area while talking.

"Wait a minute, do you think that's a chestnut tree?"

It has to be said that Aunt Tian has good eyesight; the three of them searched for quite a while before they finally saw it.

"That's true, no one should have picked them yet."

Aunt Tian quickly led them over to a fairly large chestnut tree, laden with fruit. Some chestnuts had already split open, revealing the dark brown kernels inside.

Song Qing picked one up from the ground, carefully peeled off the outer shell, and inside was a dark brown chestnut.

"We can harvest at least a hundred catties."

This was an unexpected bonus; in winter, we could make roasted chestnuts or throw a few into the fire as a snack.

Lu Yang picked up a long stick, knocked the ripe fruit down from the bottom of the tree, and then climbed up the tree.

"Be careful"

With a series of crackling sounds, a layer of raindrops fell from the ground beneath the tree.

Aunt Tian took out the machete from her basket, squatted down and started hammering. The four of them worked quickly and hammered a pile of machetes in no time.

"No, there's still a bunch left on the tree. If we don't pick them all up, someone else will take them later."

"When Jiandong comes back, let him go down the mountain and bring up a sack so we can knock down more."

Chestnuts can be used in many ways, and they are expensive. Since Song Qing finally came across one, he wished he could take the whole tree away.

But they waited for a long time, and Liu Jiandong and An'an still didn't come back.

Lu Yang looked up at the direction they were heading more than once.

"Why don't you two go find them, and Xiaohui and I will stay here and knock?"

Song Qing told Lu Yang to go alone, as he would need to collect firewood after he finished harvesting the chestnuts.

Lu Yang followed the directions they pointed out and searched for quite a while. He encountered several groups of people along the way but still couldn't find them, and he became a little anxious.

"An An?"

"Uncle, is that Dad's voice?"

"Shhh"

Liu Jiandong gestured for An'an to keep quiet. In autumn, the pheasants on the mountain were so fat they could barely walk. In summer, they were skinny and frail. Catching two before couldn't compare to catching one now.

When Lu Yang arrived, he found the two of them crouching in the bushes, intently staring at something not far away.

"Dad, a pheasant!"

An An gestured to him in a low voice, and sure enough, two plump pheasants in front of them were pecking at wild fruits in the grass.