Bab 5: Chapter 5 The Unlucky One Turns Lucky_1
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Nanzhi didn't even mind the mud on Gougou's clothes and excitedly pulled him into her embrace.
"Gougou, we have food now."
Gougou looked at the spiky thing in his mother's hand with a bewildered face.
Has mother gone mad with hunger? How can one eat this?
He looked at the ground where strange things had fallen everywhere, picked up one, and only felt a sharp pain in his palm.
"Gougou, this is called a chestnut." Nanzhi said as she placed a spiky ball on the ground and knocked it with the back of the knife. A few smooth chestnuts rolled out. "They're sweet when eaten raw, crunchy when fresh, and soft and chewy when cooked. They can be used as grain."
Gougou blinked his eyes. He had eaten this shiny little fruit before. Last year, Grandpa Li Zheng gave him a few, and they were tastier than sweet potatoes.
Now knowing these could be eaten, Gougou quickly started to pick the spiky balls from the ground, which made Nanzhi feel a bit heartbroken.
"Gougou, my dear, let mother crack the spiky balls, and you pick up the chestnuts, okay?"
Gougou paused as if pondering whether this would be quicker, and after a few seconds, he nodded his head: "Okay."
The area was filled with wild chestnut trees on a large scale. Nanzhi's heart blossomed with joy upon seeing them. Though wild chestnuts were smaller, they suited their current situation much better than grass mushrooms.
Chestnuts could be a staple food and could also be stored for a long time.
The mother and son silently picked chestnuts until the sun was about to set, and only then did Nanzhi stop her movements.
After cracking a few spiky balls and prying the chestnuts shells open with a firewood knife, she and Gougou each ate some to fill their stomachs before sitting down to rest.
Looking at the more than thirty taels of chestnuts in the basket, Nanzhi also dug up some grass mushrooms to cover on top. After thinking it over, she still decided to spread some dry branches on the very top.
Only after ensuring the chestnuts were well hidden did she lead Gougou down the mountain.
The two who had been busy all afternoon walked slower on their way home, particularly Nanzhi with a basket weighing over forty taels on her back, feeling a burning pain on her shoulders.
The original body was too thin, and the ropes being pressed against the bones had probably already rubbed the skin raw.
By the time the mother and son returned to the village, it had already grown fairly dark, and they had not encountered many people along the way.
It was only when they were near home that they ran into Ms. Wu.
Seeing the mother and son with their baskets, Ms. Wu looked suspicious. The baskets seemed rather heavy; she wondered what was inside.
As they passed by her, Nanzhi didn't acknowledge her, just led Gougou home, acting as if she had seen nothing at all.
"Pah, I thought it was something special. Just a bit of grass mushrooms and so sneakily hidden. Who would want that." Watching Nanzhi and Gougou walk away, Ms. Wu spit quietly to herself.
She had thought they found something valuable, but it turned out to be just some wretched grass mushrooms, hidden away so carefully with tree branches.
She snorted contemptuously before turning to go back into her yard.
Once inside the gate, Nanzhi quickly locked the door and then carefully, with Gougou, entered the room.
She had no intention of keeping the chestnuts in the kitchen; she would feel more at ease hiding them in the room.
Seeing the thirty-some taels of chestnuts spread out on the floor made Gougou's mouth stretch to his ears. With so many, his mother wouldn't faint anymore.
Only when she heard Gougou's stomach growling did Nanzhi snap back to reality, realizing it was time to cook.
Cooking meant boiling a couple of sweet potatoes and making a cold salad with grass mushrooms.
After instructing Gougou to stay in the room, Nanzhi grabbed a handful of chestnuts before heading to the kitchen.
Only two smaller sweet potatoes were left, and she was afraid Gougou wouldn't be full.
After boiling both the sweet potatoes and the chestnuts, Nanzhi also boiled a bowl of cleaned grass mushrooms. She drained the water, sprinkled a bit of salt and soybean oil, and stirred well to make the dish.
She also wanted to eat a steaming hot stir-fried dish, but now there was only a small amount of oil left in the bowl at home.
With chestnuts and cold mixed grandma ding, Gougou was even happier than he had been at noon; maybe it was because his body hadn't tasted anything else for so long that the slightly salty grandma ding made Nanzhi extremely satisfied.
After having dinner, mother and son each drank a bowl of sweet water boiled with sweet potatoes before washing up and going to bed.
Early the next morning, Nanzhi took Gougou out. She needed to gather more chestnuts while she could.
There were many wild chestnut trees on the mountain, and she and Gougou certainly couldn't consume them all; it would be better to tell Li Zheng so the other villagers could also have some for storage.
However, she had to make sure she and Gougou had enough first.
Since they were going into the mountains, Nanzhi let Gougou wear his dirty clothes from the day before.
It was still early, and they didn't feel too hot as they walked, but by the time they reached the chestnut trees, they were both sweating profusely again.
Nanzhi wiped the sweat off Gougou's face and sighed.
The weather was really hot now; it was somewhat better in the mountains, shaded by trees. She feared that if they didn't wipe off the sweat once they were back, they would be able to scrub off balls of dirt from their skin.
She too wanted to bathe, but the water output of the well at home had long been incomparable to before, and even the small river outside the village had dropped significantly in level because it was diverted for irrigation.
Last night, she had resisted the urge to bathe.
Feeling the stickiness around her neck now, she felt somewhat on the verge of collapse.
But compared with cleanliness, staying alive was more important; after spacing out for a while, she resumed the mechanical action of pounding spiky balls.
Gougou continued to obediently gather chestnuts, occasionally chatting with Nanzhi about what he dreamed the night before or what he had just seen. Watching Gougou's non-stop chatter, an idea suddenly flashed through Nanzhi's mind.
She felt like she knew why something had seemed off to her yesterday.
Thinking this, she tentatively touched the mud on the ground. It was not as dry as the soil on the western side of the village; it was slightly moist instead.
Compared with the outer parts of East Mountain, this soil was clearly more moist.
Many of the trees on West Mountain had been scorched to the point of looking half-dead. When she went into the mountains yesterday, she felt that the trees on the east were growing more vigorously, and while the difference wasn't significant on the periphery, further inside the vegetation was noticeably more abundant.
Could there be a water source nearby?
With this guess, Nanzhi's heart thumped wildly, as if it was about to leap out.
However, she didn't speak up, continuing to beat the spiky balls. The weather hadn't turned hot yet, so after filling up with chestnuts, she planned to take Gougou to look for water.
As her mind dwelt on this matter, Nanzhi's movements unconsciously sped up. In less than two hours, she had packed the basket full, leaving just enough space for grass mushrooms.
After placing the basket under the tree, Nanzhi prepared to take Gougou around to look. Maybe her luck would turn around, and they would find water.
After wandering around for a long time, Nanzhi found nothing but some purslane.
Looking at the wild greens in her hand, Nanzhi sighed inwardly. Purslane was cool in nature, and Gougou definitely couldn't eat it now. She probably couldn't eat much with her current health condition, and purslane would require a lot of garlic paste to prepare as a cold dish. Thinking of how even weeds didn't grow in the tiny vegetable garden at home, a sour feeling rose in Nanzhi's stomach.
She patted the dust off herself and was about to call Gougou to leave when she saw him, buttocks in the air, digging in the ground.
"Gougou, what are you digging for?" Nanzhi asked.
Gougou, with black soil clinging to his little hands, shouted while holding a mushroom, "Mom, there are mushrooms here."
Mushrooms?
Nanzhi's head filled with question marks. How could there be mushrooms growing here after a drought lasting more than half a year?
When she stepped forward and took the mushroom from Gougou's hand, Nanzhi blinked. Was this grass mushrooms?
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