“Okay, let my mom give it a try. She’s been saying she has nothing to do at home.” Xiao Lingfeng carried a large basket into the house.
Jian Ning delivered the eggs, ducks, and geese to Aunt Li, and then called to Jian Anping to get ready to leave.
The sun was still very hot outside. To protect herself from the sun, Jian Ning wore a rather large sun hat.
Xiao Lingfeng was still piloting the assault boat, with all the tree-cutting tools ready, heading north towards Daqingshan.
This mountain isn't actually very high. There aren't any tourist attractions, so it's not famous, but there are air-raid shelters on it, and the trees are quite lush.
There are many birds. The ecological environment is still good, except for the locust plague a while ago. They ate all the leaves off the trees on the entire mountain.
Although it rained a lot, it all flowed down the mountain.
Coupled with the recent high temperatures, the trees on the mountain are severely dehydrated, and many have withered and died. Perfect for taking home as kindling.
The floodwaters only reached about a quarter of the way up the mountain; a large portion of the ridge was still above water.
Once the three of them had reached the top of the mountain, Jian Ning immediately put the inflatable boat away. People kept coming by, and she couldn't leave the boat outside and risk it being taken away again.
However, the feeling of being grounded was really good, and all three of them were quite excited.
“There’s a rabbit over there.” Jian Anping suddenly noticed something in the dry grass on the left. Upon closer inspection, he saw a rather plump gray mountain rabbit. It didn’t run away when it saw the three of them, but just stared blankly at them.
"Can we capture him alive?" Jian Anping knew his own abilities, so he didn't chase after him, but turned to look at Jian Ning.
“Okay,” Jian Ning didn’t waste any words and darted out. Almost instantly, she was in front of the rabbit and grabbed its long ears.
When I picked it up, wow, it was a female rabbit, and it was already very pregnant; it was probably about to give birth.
"Girl, you're amazing! This rabbit is perfect to take home and raise." Jian Anping also ran over with a chainsaw, his mind filled with thoughts of spicy rabbit head and braised rabbit meat as he looked at the rabbit.
"I'll give two to Tian Tian when they hatch; she'll definitely love them." Jian Ning also thought raising a little rabbit would be nice. She grabbed a handful of wild grass and threw it, along with the rabbit, into her jade pendant space.
“There must be plenty of wild game in these mountains. You’re so capable, sister. How about we catch some pheasants, rabbits, and big birds to satisfy our cravings when we get back? As for the heavy work of sawing trees, leave it to Brother Xiao and me.”
Jian Anping was cunning and greedy. Hunting in the mountains used to be forbidden due to government regulations, but now everyone's too busy looking after themselves; he figured no one would bother him if he ate some pheasant or something.
"Call me when you see me, let's walk uphill." Jian Ning said, glancing back at Xiao Lingfeng before starting to walk uphill along the mountain path.
The trees below are all doing quite well.
After all, it's close to the water source. If you walk uphill a little further, there should be quite a few dead trees. After all, if you look up at the mountain from below, you can see that many trees are dry and have no vitality at all.
This mountain path wasn't too difficult to walk. The air in the mountains was much fresher than in the city, and at least the stench of decay was much less.
Jian Ning didn't stop for a moment as she walked up the mountain. Many animals from the foot of the mountain had come up to the mountain, and they might be animals raised by nearby villagers.
Not only pheasants and wild rabbits, but also stray dogs and cats, and even three or four domestic pigs were seen foraging for food in the woods.
Jian Ning didn't hold back at all and took them all into her space to raise. These were all meat, and although she didn't lack them, she wouldn't complain about having too many.
They'll freeze to death outside when the extreme cold weather comes, so it's better for her to have them.
"This grove is fine, don't go any further up. I see quite a few dead trees there." Xiao Lingfeng stopped and turned back to discuss with Jian Anping.
"Alright, let's get started!" Jian Anping carried the chainsaw inside, looking like he was about to wrestle with a giant tree trunk.
"Jian Ning, why don't you wander around a bit? Let's get some more tree trunks down, and you can help collect them." Xiao Lingfeng also felt that Jian Ning didn't need to do this strenuous work. They were both grown men.
"You guys are too slow without my help. Watch me." Jian Ning said, taking out a sword from her spatial storage. She weighed it in her hand a couple of times, then performed a sword incantation and charged forward.
She unleashed a flurry of sword techniques, and in the blink of an eye, the trees in her path fell to the sides. In just a few minutes, she had cut a swathe through the forest.
What's even more impressive is that only dead trees were felled; not a single surviving tree was touched.
"Wow! Girl, you're a modern-day swordsman! Can you teach me your swordsmanship? It's amazing!" Jian Anping, standing beside her, was completely mesmerized.
He's been diligently practicing these days, but his progress has been incredibly slow. He's still only hovering around the edge of the first level of Qi Refining.
"No problem, hurry up and get to work." Jian Ning put away his sword, walked back and collected all the cut-down dead trees.
Sheathed his sword and continued walking uphill: "I'll be back in a bit, so don't slack off."
"Understood." Jian Anping gripped the chainsaw tightly; it only took a little over a minute to fell a large tree, which was quite fast.
Jian Ning used her agility to easily leap up the mountain.
She brandished her sword in all directions, and before the trees could even fall to the ground, they were already stored in her spatial storage. Before long, a pile of tall trees had been erected on the riverbank.
It was a rare treat to relax like this. Jian Ning felt incredibly relaxed, as if she had returned to the world of cultivation, leading Huang Fugui to Tianya Mountain to cultivate. Gathering spiritual herbs and battling spirit beasts—how carefree and joyful that was!
I reached the summit. Looking down at the swirling white clouds and the vast expanse of water, I felt a deep sense of melancholy and couldn't help but let out a long, drawn-out cry. This startled many birds in the woods.
When they calmed down and went back, Jian Anping and Xiao Lingfeng had already cut down many large trees. Enough for their three families to have kindling for several years.
"Girl, was that you shouting just now? The whole mountain could hear the echo, it was you!" Jian Anping gave her a thumbs up.
"Such a beautiful land, who knows what it will become in the future, it's hard not to feel depressed. Shouting it out makes me feel much better."
"I caught several pheasants and rabbits, and also five or six rat snakes. Let's go back and have a good meal." Jian Ning waved her hand and put all the cut-down trees into her spatial storage.
Seeing that it was getting late, the three of them started walking down the mountain together.
“There are chestnut trees over there, let’s pick some and roast them.” Jian Anping had a sharp eye and spotted the chestnuts on the tree at a glance.
"It's not ripe yet, is it? Look at the green shell."
"Xiao Ning, you don't understand, do you? The mountain chestnuts are all inside that spiky ball. This is the time when they are sweet and delicious. They will only be available in large quantities in October."
Now that we've seen it, we can't go back empty-handed. I can climb trees, I'll go up and pick some." Jian Anping said, and in a few quick movements, he climbed up the tree.
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