The sky outside was still cloudless. The old lady glanced at it and then continued working.
"I wonder what this winter will be like? If it's still this dry, next year will be even worse."
"No, the weather has been much more normal lately, hasn't it? Maybe it'll snow in a few days."
"You're right to start preparing now. We're going to gather firewood later, just in case the mountain is blocked by heavy snow, at least we'll have something to burn."
"Yes, it's getting cold soon, we need to start preparing."
They say they care, but it seems simple.
"Have you prepared everything? Did you bring your cotton clothes? Did you bring your cotton shoes? Is your quilt thick enough? The mattress doesn't need to be too thick. If the kang (heated brick bed) is heated enough, you won't feel cold underneath. The blanket on top needs to be thicker."
"The windows here aren't very airtight. We'll have to seal the gaps in the next few days. The northwest wind is strong in winter, and it lets in a lot of drafts. When I sleep, the wind whistles right under my feet, and this thick blanket is the only thing keeping it out."
Simply follow along and mutter.
"I brought a quilt, that should be enough. My room is small, but my uncles wiped it down quite well. I'll also check the windows when I have time."
My god-sister brought me a set of cotton-padded clothes; I'll just be careful not to get them wet.
I think I brought an old pair of cotton shoes with me; I'll check when I get back.
"Third Grandma, what if I don't know how to do it?"
The feeling of whispering clearly made the old lady very happy, and she spoke in a very soft voice.
“If you want to make them, I’ll make them for you. Let me tell you, my craftsmanship is the best in the village. Your Uncle Guangming and your third grandfather both like to wear the shoes I make.”
The tone of voice was then restored.
“Your aunt even made shoes for your third grandfather. Look, he’s wearing the ones I made that fit him perfectly.”
It's so sweet, it feels like a blast of dog food (a Chinese slang term for public displays of affection).
"Oh, Third Grandma, Third Grandpa really likes the shoes you make!"
The strange noises made the old woman lose her temper and hit her with the flimsy shoe model.
"You brat, you're making fun of the old lady now."
Just then, three educated youths also picked out their things and ran off quickly, calling out from afar.
"Third Grandma, I'll come over another day."
Seeing their intimate interaction, Li Yan couldn't help but feel envious.
"Jian Zhiqing, are you familiar with this family?"
"It's alright, we just got familiar with each other after dealing with each other a lot."
I simply don't want to dwell on this issue.
"Have you all made your choices?"
Several people showed the baskets on their backs.
"We've chosen them. We'll deliver the rest tonight. Let's get the baskets out first. Let's hurry up, we've already wasted a lot of time."
There were still villagers gathering firewood at the foot of the mountain. Jian Dan led them along the path the villagers usually used to take up the mountain.
The nearby branches were picked clean by the villagers long ago; only further in would you find thin branches falling down one after another.
“These thin ones need to be accumulated little by little, while the thick ones need to be moved inwards. This year's drought has left the outer trees half-dead. Recently, as the weather has turned colder and the wind has picked up, branches have been falling down one after another, or being broken off by the wind.”
Those dry leaves are good for starting a fire, but they don't burn very well. I don't like carrying them back; it's too much trouble. That whole basket would burn up in no time.
I gathered twigs and then went back to pick some corn husks from the field. Those worked really well for starting a fire; once they were dried, they ignited instantly.
The three of them listened to simple advice as they gathered firewood.
Simple and still feeling regretful,
"If we had a dead tree, we could pull it back and use it as firewood for several days. The trunk is very durable."
"Jian Zhiqing, what about this kind?"
I glanced at it briefly.
"That's wormwood, it can be burned."
I heard that in the summer, you can cut a few still-green wormwood stalks, light them on fire (because they're damp and won't catch fire), and the smoke is very effective against the insects and mosquitoes in the countryside. It's just quite pungent, though. If you light one in front of this house, the wind will carry the smoke to almost half the village.
It's withered so badly now that you can't even tell what the original leaf shape was. It's so brittle that it would crumble into dust at the slightest touch. Three people stared at it for ages but couldn't find a single hole.
"I'll let you know when I post it next year. The taste is alright, not too strong."
"Hey, Jian Zhiqing, Jian Zhiqing, that red fruit, I think I've seen it before, over there, over there,"
The three of them rushed over as if they had seen something amazing.
"This is a wild red groundcherry; it's the only one still alive on this mountain. It gets sweeter the colder it gets, and tastes even better after a frost. You can pick them and string them together along the stem, then hang them by the door or window. Wouldn't that look pretty?"
The male comrades were still somewhat lacking, but the two female educated youths felt the same way.
"It really is! And the color is quite festive."
"Yes, if you're craving one, just pull one off. Besides, the skin is a great anti-inflammatory and heat-clearing remedy here. If you have a sore throat or something, just mix the skin with water and drink it; it works really well."
"Isn't it a treasure from head to toe? Let's take it all back."
“Take it back. There weren’t many on the mountain. This one was a lucky one; otherwise, they would have been picked clean long ago.”
This unexpected discovery surprised and delighted the newcomers, and their resentment towards going up the mountain lessened considerably.
"There are still some good things on this mountain."
"Of course, this is all a treasure trove of nature. If the people down the mountain can't survive, this mountain is their last resort."
On a slope, I found two dead trees, broke off their branches and twigs, tied them together with the firewood I had gathered, leaving only the bare trunks, which I then dragged away.
"That's yours, pack up and leave."
The three men looked at each other, and finally, the only man rolled up his sleeves and tried to trim the tree in a simple way. However, he almost tripped over himself the moment he lifted it, and he shockedly swept the two pieces of wood back and forth.
"Jian Zhiqing, is it really that easy for you to carry this?"
Li Yan went over and tried, but couldn't lift it at all; both pieces of wood only wobbled slightly.
The three people's gazes toward Jian Dan suddenly became much more intense.
"Jian Zhiqing, are you a strongman?"
After the autumn harvest, there wasn't much work to do, and Jian Dan had completely forgotten that she possessed extraordinary strength.
"It's alright, but I'm a bit strong. It's genetic, you can't be envious of me."
Jian Dan was carrying a log in front of him, and his basket contained some broken branches he had collected.
Lin Zhaodi carried three bundles of firewood, while Chen Jianguo and Li Yan carried the withered log, following slowly behind.
"Next time, could we bring our tools with us? That way, if we encounter something like this again, we can deal with it. It would be such a waste if we had too much stuff to carry."
"Of course you can. As long as you have the tools, do whatever is most convenient for you."
Li Yan couldn't hold back her laughter, and with a sudden lapse in concentration, the item slipped from her hand. Chen Jianguo, who was behind her, reacted quickly and immediately let go to avoid it.
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