The two people, one big and one small, walked silently towards the western mountain, carrying baskets on their backs. When they reached the foot of the mountain, Luo Chen continued to follow.
After following for a while, Xiao Yunying said, "Why don't you gather firewood here? There are plenty of dry branches. It'll be tiring to carry them back from further away."
Luo Chen had no reason to continue: "Okay."
Xiao Yunying picked up a long branch and tapped it against the grass before slowly walking up the mountain.
The mountain was covered with weeds, and she deliberately trampled the grass around her as she walked, leaving a clear trail as she went, so she wasn't afraid of getting lost if she went too far.
She deliberately avoided the cave and walked in the opposite direction. Now, whenever she thought of the cave, she would recall that white, grotesque scene. She quickly shook her head to dispel the memories she shouldn't have; it was too horrible to look at.
She used to enjoy staying home and reading novels. Last night, she had already thought it through: other female protagonists who transmigrate to other places find lingzhi mushrooms every five steps and ginseng every ten steps as long as they go up a mountain. She wondered if she would have such good fortune.
After climbing the mountain path for more than half an hour, stopping and observing everything along the way, Xiao Yunying came to terms with reality.
The reality is, forget about rare herbs, she can't even recognize all the wild vegetables.
In her previous life, she grew up in the city. Her mother would only take her to stay at her maternal grandmother's house in the countryside for a period of time during summer and winter vacations when she was a child. After she went to high school, she didn't have much time to go and had very little experience of rural life.
Her mother liked to go up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables and pick wild fruits, and then bring them back to cook all sorts of dishes for her. Because of her health, she couldn't go up the mountain with her, and could only watch from the side while her mother was preparing the wild vegetables.
She didn't know many wild vegetables; she could gather them up with just her hands. The original owner of this body knew less than she did. Now, wild vegetables were growing together with weeds, and all she could see was withered and mottled green, making her even less certain.
Xiao Yunying encouraged herself: "Just keep walking forward, consider it exercise."
As the saying goes, perseverance pays off. After walking for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, she discovered several wild chestnut trees.
It's late autumn now, the season when chestnuts ripen. One by one, chestnut balls that look like hedgehogs fall from the trees. Xiao Yunying happily squats down and smashes one open with a stone.
"It's not very big, but the flesh is quite plump."
The supermarket was out of raw chestnuts, so this is a good opportunity to restock.
Chestnuts can be eaten as a snack, or used in dishes and desserts. They are sweet, soft, and powdery, and she quite likes them.
Since she didn't have any burlap sacks, she took out several of the largest garbage bags from the supermarket, the kind that could fit her inside.
It doesn't need to be very sturdy; it just needs to be big enough to fit in a supermarket.
Xiao Yunying sprinkled a circle of snake and insect repellent powder around her, squatted down and smashed chestnut balls with stones, then picked up chestnuts with her gloved hands and threw them into a bag.
After her excitement subsided, she felt aches and pains in her back and legs, and she got up unsteadily, stretched, and moved her body around.
Two large bags of food were already packed next to her, enough for the time being, and Xiao Yunying waved her hand and put them into the supermarket.
As she eased her physical discomfort, Xiao Yunying looked around and realized that there was a cliff not far from here.
Curiosity prompted her to carefully walk over and peek inside. It was about ten meters deep, not too deep, and she could see the ground.
Well, it's enough to kill her by throwing her; let's just stay away from her.
She picked up some chestnuts from her basket when she got back, not many, just enough to line the bottom and make it look nice. Too many would be too heavy for her to carry. Then she took out a few seasonal fruits like apples and persimmons and a dozen or so snow fungus plants and put them on top, covering them with a cloth.
There are quite a few chestnut balls around here. We've been here for a while now, so let's come back another time.
As she walked down the mountain following the tracks she had made, she suddenly heard something behind her treading on a branch. Xiao Yunying stopped and looked around.
There's nothing there.
"Don't scare yourself. There are not only poisonous snakes and wild beasts in the mountains and forests, but also small animals such as rabbits and squirrels."
Xiao Yunying comforted herself with these words, but quickened her pace with long strides, wishing she had two more legs.
My heart, which had been pounding, gradually calmed down when I saw the houses at the foot of the mountain.
As she was clearing her mind and catching her breath on her way home, a person suddenly emerged from the haystack beside her, startling her so much that she almost twisted her ankle. Her full basket was jolted violently, and a few snow fungus plants fell out from the top.
A phrase from a traditional Chinese poem slipped out as he looked at the person who had suddenly rushed out: "What's the rush? Can't you walk slowly?"
"I am truly sorry, I was being presumptuous."
Opposite him was a man dressed in a blue long robe, a scholar, whose appearance was not bad, probably in his thirties, who was bowing and apologizing to him.
"Never mind, I'll be more careful next time."
Xiao Yunying thought the other party probably didn't do it on purpose, so she put down the basket, picked up the snow fungus, and covered the bundle with the cloth again.
Unbeknownst to her, as she bent down to pick up snow fungus, the man stared at her basket with a greedy glint in his eyes.
As Xiao Yunying finished covering the bundle, the scholar reached out and touched her hand, saying, "This basket looks quite heavy, let me help you carry it, young lady."
Xiao Yunying was caught off guard and got touched. She let go of the basket and slapped the other person on the head: "Are you crazy? Where are you touching me?!"
I just thought this person probably didn't do it on purpose. Most scholars in this era have a strange sense of arrogance, so someone who would apologize to a woman like her shouldn't be of bad character.
It only took a few seconds for her to prove her wrong. Anyone who can directly touch a girl's hand is definitely not a good person.
Don't say you touched the wrong thing. If you could touch it at such close range, you'd need to be at least 20,000 degrees nearsighted to be so accurate.
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