“There are no wild grapes on the mountains surrounding Yegou Village, but there are in other villages. I heard from a man from the neighboring Muqiao Village that there are many wild grapes on the mountains in their village, and the children in their village often go up the mountain to pick and eat them,” said Zhou Laoda.
Zhao Guihua thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. "I've got it! We can ask the people in Muqiao Village to dig up the grapevines and sell them to us. We can buy them and plant them in our backyard, and then we'll have grapes!"
"We can only grow enough in the backyard for our own consumption, and maybe dry some raisins, but that's not enough for winemaking," said Old Zhou, waving his hand to indicate that this method wouldn't be very effective.
"We can buy a piece of barren mountain. We can plant grapes, mulberry trees, and bayberry trees on it. If we want to make wine, we can grow our own fruit, so we won't have to worry about not having enough fruit to make wine in the future." The more Zhao Guihua thought about it, the more feasible the idea seemed. She couldn't wait to tell the village chief and buy a mountain.
"How much money would it cost to build a mountain? Planting so many fruit trees would require someone to take care of them, and harvesting the fruit would be a huge undertaking. Our family doesn't have enough people to handle it all," Zhou Laoda muttered.
"If that's not enough, we'll just buy some more people. I reckon a mountain would only cost a few hundred taels of silver, and we can afford it now." Zhao Guihua was getting a little carried away. She was speaking so readily now, but she would regret spending the money later.
"Mom, are we going to buy a mountain? Is it the mountain next to the mass grave?" Xingxing finally managed to get a word in edgewise. She had just finished eating a pear and an orange, and was now stuffing grapes into her mouth. When she tasted the sourness of the grapes, she frowned and swallowed them without touching them again.
“The hill next to the mass grave is nice, but it’s too close to the mass grave. Let’s buy somewhere else.” Zhao Guihua looked resistant, clearly very averse to the mass grave.
"But the bamboo shoots over there grow well, and there are lots of honeysuckle and chrysanthemums, mushrooms, and wild fruits. It's a pretty good hill. What's there to be afraid of in a mass grave? People buried in the ground won't get up. Apart from a lot of mounds, it's not a big deal." Xingxing said the most terrifying words in the most innocent tone.
Zhao Guihua: "?" Mass graves have many dead people buried there, so of course the land is fertile, right?
“Your father and I will discuss this further. We’ve been extremely busy lately. The Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner, and after that, we’ll be harvesting rice, then transplanting seedlings and clearing land. We’re just too busy. We’ll talk about buying the mountain later.” Zhao Guihua changed the subject, no longer thinking about buying the mountain.
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