In the mountain forest in the early morning, a thin mist is mixed with a biting chill, and the cheerful chirping of birds echoes all around.
There are several large, uneven rocks at the foot of the mountain, which were all rolled down from the mountain in the past. There are mostly weeds and shrubs around them, among which are many hazelnut trees. After crossing this rocky area, there is a flat hillside. At this time, Tian Cai climbed up the hillside to the top of the mountain.
Looking at the endless green, she took a deep breath, as if all the turbid air in her chest had been expelled, and her whole body became refreshed.
Tian Cai was not in a hurry today. She did not go directly to the cabin, but walked a short distance into the mountains first.
All around me were different shades of green. Birds were chirping in the forest, but the dense foliage blocked their view and I couldn't see their exact location.
After walking a few steps, I saw a colorful snake as thick as my arm passing by.
Tian Cai paused and stood still, not daring to move until the snake disappeared into the grass before continuing to move forward.
The hare flashed past her and disappeared before she could react.
Her goal today was to find out if there was anything edible here. After the autumn harvest, everyone would have time to go up the mountain. There must be nothing good left on the hills near the village, so it would be better for her to walk deep into the mountains.
Just after climbing over two hills, I saw a sturdy chestnut tree growing obliquely on the hillside. The tree was full of slightly green thorny balls, but it was not time to pick them yet. The chestnuts that ripened and fell naturally were the most delicious.
When seeing chestnuts, Tian Cai thought of chestnut roasted chicken, steamed chestnuts, roasted chestnuts, and chestnut braised pork ribs... In an instant, a bunch of chestnut-related dish names flashed through his mind.
It’s a pity that they are not ripe yet, otherwise I would have to bring back a basket today.
Tian Cai continued walking in, and not far away he saw another very tall soapberry tree. The fruit of this tree is a good choice for making soap. Cai Ping took the original owner to make it every year, but it is best to pick it in October, when the soapberries are ripe.
Then Tian Cai saw wild hawthorn trees, wild jujubes, and pears. She picked a few smaller saplings and dug them up, planning to plant them all in the vegetable garden in the backyard. She also planted a few trees around the fence so that she could eat them at home whenever she wanted.
Although it is not the season for transplanting trees, there is dew on the fields, so this is not a problem for her.
Seeing that she had collected almost everything, she found a hilltop, identified the direction and walked towards the cabin.
Within an hour, she arrived at her destination. The cabin was the same as when she left it, except that there were a lot more fallen leaves in the yard.
Tian Cai took off the wicker basket on his body and went to the cemetery with some food prepared for Cai Ping.
Looking at the lonely grave mound on the sunny hillside, which was already overgrown with weeds in just a few months, Tian Cai placed food in front of the grave and cleared the weeds before leaving.
She had already taken the iron pot from the cabin, and she went to the wild bamboo forest to hunt a wild rabbit and brought it back to roast.
Tian Cai saved all the rabbit skins. They can be tanned to make knee pads or cotton shoe linings in the future. It seems that making clothes is also a good choice. The wild rabbit fur is gray, so it can be used to make clothes. It is not conspicuous and is warm.
After lunch, Tian Cai started to pack her things. She first opened the wicker box that Cai Ping had kept locked. She saw two smaller wicker boxes inside. Tian Cai picked them up and found one of them was quite heavy. She opened the lighter one and found two wooden boxes wrapped in cotton cloth inside.
Tian Cai opened one and found a set of gold needles for acupuncture. The one below was silver needles. Grandpa Tian Cai also had a set of silver needles, which were said to have been passed down from his ancestors. Tian Cai was curious about it when he was a child, but he became obedient after being pricked once by his grandfather.
These two boxes of needles looked like they were several decades old, and must have been treasured possessions of Cai Ping's ancestors. Tian Cai didn't know acupuncture, so she put the things back as they were.
Even if she wanted to learn acupuncture one day, she would definitely practice with Cai Ping's most common steel needles. She would not be able to use these high-end ones. Moreover, she also wanted to see if there were any other people in the Cai family in the future. As long as they were not the ones who harmed Cai Ping, she would hand over these things passed down from their ancestors to them.
Tian Cai opened another rattan box and gasped when he saw what was inside.
In addition to a pile of small yellow croakers, there are also a lot of gold jewelry. Among them is one that can often be seen in costume TV dramas. It is worn by ancient ladies on both sides of their heads and can swing. No one knows what it is called. It is inlaid with red gems. It has been placed in the box for so long without seeing the light of day, but it is still dazzling.
This headdress is a pair, and it should be inserted on both sides. It is so gorgeous that she doesn't know how to describe it. Just looking at the workmanship and patterns, she can tell that it is an old item.
Tian Cai carefully put the headdress back and counted the small yellow croakers, twenty in total.
She was puzzled. Since Cai Ping had so many small yellow croakers, why didn't he exchange them for something? It was obvious that exchanging them for some money wouldn't make them suffer so much in the mountains, and having enough food and clothing would not be a problem at all.
Unable to think of anything else, she packed the things back into the wicker box intact, then placed the entire box in a wicker basket, stuffing the medical books in the empty spaces.
She didn't know that there were such valuable things in Cai Ping's cabinet before, and she threw them on the mountain. Now that she knew, she felt that the wicker basket on her body was a thousand pounds heavy, and it seemed that it was not safe to keep it in the cellar.
Tian Cai packed up the remaining bedding of the master and apprentice, cleared out all the medicinal herbs in the medicine cabinet, put the medicine grinder in another wicker basket, and even did not leave out the chopping boards of the two.
She picked all the vegetables that could be picked from the vegetable garden and put them in a bamboo winnowing basket. To prevent them from falling out, she also found a bed sheet to hold them.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com