Spring has arrived, and wild vegetables are gradually becoming more abundant on the mountains. We can dig up and eat things like bracken, shepherd's purse, dandelion, cat's claw vegetable, monkey leg vegetable, aralia shoots, eleutherococcus senticosus, large-leaf celery, water celery, willow shoots, and daylily.
Zhuang Zhimeng planned to dig up more wild vegetables, make them into dried vegetables, and send them to her family to try. There were several kinds of wild vegetables that her family had never eaten before. There were few varieties of wild vegetables in the city, and the supply and marketing cooperative only sold a small amount of wild vegetables.
While she was gathering pig feed, the children told her which wild vegetables she could dig up and eat, and which areas had the most of which kinds of wild vegetables. When it came to edible things, the children knew them like the back of their hand, and Zhuang Zhimeng learned a lot from them.
At this time of year, every household in the village would go up the mountain to dig for wild vegetables, because there were no other vegetables to eat.
That day, Zhuang Zhimeng finished cutting pig feed and was digging for shepherd's purse. She planned to go back and make shepherd's purse dumplings with Jiang Yanxia. She heard from the children that they tasted good, and she wanted to try them.
Suddenly, she heard a child shout, "Ah! There's a snake!" Zhuang Zhimeng quickly looked up in the direction of the sound, and it sounded like Hu Zi's voice.
Zhuang Zhimeng peeked out and saw that it was indeed Hu Zi. Hu Zi wasn't far from her, so she quickly ran towards him. When she reached him, Hu Zi wasn't moving. Zhuang Zhimeng asked him with concern, "Hu Zi, where are the snakes? You weren't bitten, were you?"
When Hu Zi saw Zhuang Zhimeng arrive, he felt much more at ease. He pointed the snake to Zhuang Zhimeng and said, "Sister Zhimeng, over there in front of me, I saw the snake but didn't dare to move. It hasn't come any closer yet!"
Zhuang Zhimeng looked in the direction Hu Zi pointed and saw a snake. She looked closely and thankfully it was a non-venomous rat snake. She comforted Hu Zi, "Hu Zi, don't be afraid. It's a rat snake and it's not venomous. Slowly back away and don't disturb it!"
"Okay, Sister Zhimeng."
Tiger agreed and obediently backed away carefully. Zhuang Zhimeng picked up a branch and slowly walked forward to lift the snake. She wasn't afraid of snakes at all and even dared to lift one up.
Sensing danger, the snake made an attacking motion, but Zhuang Zhimeng quickly picked it up and threw it far away.
After throwing away the snake, Zhuang Zhimeng turned to Hu Zi and asked, "Hu Zi, were you scared?"
Tiger shook his head and said to Zhuang Zhimeng, "I've seen snakes many times when I'm gathering pig feed on the mountain, but I'm still very scared every time. Luckily, Sister Zhimeng came this time. With Sister Zhimeng by my side, I'm not afraid anymore!"
"It's good that you're not afraid anymore. Tiger, come with me to dig for wild vegetables today!"
"Okay, thank you, Sister Zhimeng!"
Zhuang Zhimeng rubbed Hu Zi's head. "Let's go, let's dig over there, a bit further away from this place."
"Okay!" Hu Zi responded and followed Zhuang Zhimeng to the place where she had just dug up shepherd's purse.
Back home, Zhuang Zhimeng washed the shepherd's purse, chopped it into filling, and waited for Jiang Yanxia to finish work so they could make dumplings together.
While making dumplings, Zhuang Zhimeng told Jiang Yanxia that she had encountered a snake while digging for shepherd's purse. When Jiang Yanxia heard that she had encountered a snake, she thought it was Zhuang Zhimeng who had encountered a snake, and asked her with concern, "Zhimeng, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. It was Tiger who encountered the snake. I picked it up and threw it far away!"
"Zhimeng, you're really brave! My legs tremble when I see a snake, and I don't know what to do. You dared to pick it up! You have to be careful when you're cutting pig feed. There might be snakes up in the mountains. It's spring, and snakes are starting to become active!"
"Yes, I know. I'm always careful when I'm cutting pig feed. I'm not afraid of snakes, but I don't like the feeling of stepping on one."
Jiang Yanxia hummed in agreement. Thinking of Brother An and Su Mengmeng, she mentioned them to Zhuang Zhimeng, "Brother An and Meng'er have been gone for almost a month. I wonder how their tractor training is going?"
"He must have learned quite well, since Meng Ge'er wasn't sent back. As for the final result, we'll know when Qing Bai and the others come back. They'll be back soon!"
Jiang Yanxia asked Zhuang Zhimeng curiously, "Zhimeng, you haven't seen Brother An for a month, you must miss him a lot, right?"
Zhuang Zhimeng thought for a moment before answering, "I do miss him when I'm quiet, but most of the time when I'm busy, I don't have time to think about him!"
Jiang Yanxia nodded, then spoke about herself: "When Meng Ge'er was around, I always wanted to argue with him. Now that I haven't seen him for a month, I actually miss him a little. Zhimeng, do you think I'm crazy?"
Zhuang Zhimeng understood immediately; she hadn't quite figured it out yet! She looked at Jiang Yanxia teasingly, "You'll have to ask yourself that. Have you already fallen for her?"
Jiang Yanxia herself wasn't sure either, shaking her head repeatedly, "No way, how could I? Me and Meng-ge'er... impossible, impossible!"
Seeing that she herself wasn't quite sure, Zhuang Zhimeng laid out the facts in front of her, "You really need to think this through. If Qingbai and Mengge come back after they've finished their training, they'll be able to drive tractors. Won't that attract a lot of girls in the village? Everyone in the village knows that Qingbai has a girlfriend, so Mengge will become a hot commodity. You'd better not regret it later, Xiazi!"
Jiang Yanxia stopped making dumplings when she heard Zhuang Zhimeng's words. "I need to think about it. Besides, I don't believe that Meng-ge'er can attract so many girls to throw themselves at him! It would be more like it if it were Brother An. He's good-looking and capable too!"
"Meng Ge'er isn't bad-looking either. He has a baby face, but if you look closely, he's actually quite good-looking! He's the kind of person whose looks grow on you, the more you look at him, the better he gets!"
"Zhimeng, don't praise him in front of Mengge'er. If he hears you say that, he'll be so happy he'll start showing off again! I can just imagine how smug he'll be!"
"Xiazi, you seem to know Meng Ge'er quite well! You can talk about him endlessly! I think you two are a real pair of bickering lovers, always bickering when you meet, but missing each other when you're apart!"
Jiang Yanxia quickly denied it, "Who was thinking about him? I wasn't thinking about him at all! Zhimeng, don't talk nonsense!"
Seeing that she was so excited that she stopped making dumplings, Zhuang Zhimeng quickly comforted her, "Okay, okay, I didn't think about it. I just missed Meng-ge'er, alright? Hurry up and make dumplings, don't stop! I still need to take a bowl to Auntie later."
Jiang Yanxia was amused by Zhuang Zhimeng's words and laughed out loud, "Ha! You miss Meng Ge'er, aren't you afraid that Brother An will be jealous? Be careful Brother An will be furious when he comes back!" She didn't delay any longer and continued making dumplings.
Zhuang Zhimeng said confidently, "Don't worry, Brother Qingbai trusts me! Besides, we agreed to communicate promptly about anything, so there's no chance of any misunderstandings with us!"
"That's wonderful! In two months, Zhimeng, you and Brother An will be getting engaged. We should be celebrating your wedding! Will your family be coming?"
"My grandparents and parents are coming. As for the others, it depends on whether they have time. They can come if they can get time off work, but there's nothing we can do if they can't!"
"Did Brother An mention anything about preparing an engagement ceremony for you?"
"We haven't discussed this issue. Let's see what he prepares; I'm fine with anything!"
"There's still time, you can discuss it again when he gets back!"
"That's right!"
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