After lunch, the sky, which had cooled off for half a day after the rain, returned to its usual state.
It was as if the heavy downpour had released all the pent-up heat of summer, and the scorching sun now burned the skin painfully.
The weather was so stifling that after a meal, farmers needed to take a midday rest for the time it took an incense stick to burn, just to ensure they had energy for the afternoon.
Lu Lingbi felt drowsy after lunch.
She stood for a while at the breezy spot under the eaves to help her digestion before planning to return to her room for a nap, so as not to suffer from indigestion.
Xu Duoyan was washing dishes in front of the stove.
She noticed that the pig heart and lungs in the basin on the stove were left uneaten, and today, Cao Wen had even bought another two jin of pork with both fat and lean.
With such hot weather, if the meat wasn’t dealt with soon, it would surely spoil.
“We should’ve made some meat for lunch, so it wouldn’t pile up.”
“How many wealthy families do you see feasting at midday?”
Cao Wen chuckled.
That was true—most ordinary households only had two meals a day, and usually, after everyone finished their work in the evening, they’d have a proper meal together.
“Well, then tonight we should at least cook something.”
Cao Wen pulled out the pig lungs and said, “This stuff won’t keep for long at home. Let’s make pig lung soup tonight. As for the pork, I’ll salt and smoke it. We can eat it whenever we want.”
Cured meat cost even more than fresh meat.
Besides the price of the meat, you needed a lot of salt for curing, and ordinary families couldn’t afford to fuss with such things.
This wasn’t her own home, and naturally, people could do as they pleased.
Still, seeing that Cao Wen wasn’t bad at heart, Xu Duoyan, unable to watch him waste resources, kindly reminded him: “Next time, only buy meat when you’re ready to eat it. Otherwise, if you cure it and hang it by the stove, it might attract unwanted attention.”
Cao Wen nodded obediently.
“Alright. So, it’s settled—we’ll have pig lung soup tonight?”
“I only know how to make plain porridge, not pig lung soup.”
With that, Xu Duoyan wiped her hands on her waist and returned to the Tangwu.
“…I really didn’t mean to say your porridge isn’t good.”
Seeing that she ignored him completely, Cao Wen pursed his lips.
Then he turned and called out, “Auntie~”
“We’re having meat again tonight?”
Lu Lingbi looked at the pig lungs Cao Wen was holding and couldn’t help but be surprised at how well they were living.
“If we don’t eat the pig lungs soon, they’ll spoil. Curing them would waste salt too.”
Lu Lingbi smiled helplessly and gently said, “I saw two radishes by the door. Let’s stew the pig lungs with them tonight, alright?”
“That couldn’t be better! Auntie, make sure to rest well at noon, so you can start dinner early tonight.”
Watching Cao Wen eagerly escort his mother inside, Xu Duoyan rolled her eyes as she put down the bedding she was shaking out.
At least he’d found someone he could act spoiled with.
She hadn’t planned to talk to him, but when he came back wearing a straw hat under the eaves, her brow furrowed. “You’re going out?”
“Yeah, now’s a good time—everyone’s home for the midday rest. I’m going to buy a rooster.”
“You’re not going up the Mountain today?”
Cao Wen replied, “I’ll go after I buy the chicken.”
Xu Duoyan nodded, “Go ahead. When you get back, I’ll go up the Mountain with you.”
Cao Wen raised an eyebrow, and seeing how neatly Xu Duoyan had tidied his bedding, he grinned.
“Alright. But…”
He shamelessly pointed to his own room, just on the other side of the wall.
Xu Duoyan pursed her lips.
What a sly guy, but she didn’t refuse.
Cao Wen, seeing how agreeable she was today, moved closer.
“Why are you so eager to go up the Mountain?”
“I’m a divorced woman with an old mother to care for. Of course I need to save up some money.”
Xu Duoyan made no effort to hide her intention to save money.
Cao Wen cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Did you ever think of going to the city to find a job? Why only think about foraging up the Mountain with me?”
Xu Duoyan sensed something off in his words.
She turned around and saw Cao Wen smiling sheepishly, his lips almost stretching to his ears.
Recalling her earlier overthinking, she replied irritably, gesturing: “Let’s not even talk about how a mute like me wouldn’t be able to find work. Even a cook in an eatery only makes three to five hundred wen a month, and the boss is always trying to shortchange you. How could I ever save up any money?”
“Oh.”
Cao Wen responded gloomily.
But then he perked up.
“Alright, from now on, whenever I go up the Mountain, I’ll call you along. Whatever we find, whoever finds it gets to sell it and keep the money. How about that?”
Xu Duoyan saw how quickly he changed moods, but it was indeed a good arrangement.
Her eyes flickered, and she nodded.
Cao Wen grinned.
“Good, it’s settled then. I’ll head out now.”
Xu Duoyan watched him leave before resuming her chores.
The newly cleaned bed still smelled a bit musty.
Xu Duoyan heated some water and wiped down the couch in Cao Wen’s room as well.
After it dried, she spread dry rice straw and topped it with a bamboo mat.
Once the bed was made, the room finally looked like a proper bedroom.
It was small, but having a quiet corner to shelter from wind and rain was already a blessing.
Feeling content, she decided to take advantage of the sunshine to air out the new bedding.
Just as she stepped outside with it, Cao Wen came running back.
A big-tailed rooster was tossed into the yard ahead of him.
“Grab your little basket—I found something good!”
Xu Duoyan raised her eyebrows.
She was surprised that there was anything good to be found in this weather, but she quickly hung the bedding on the bamboo pole and went to get the basket as instructed.
Outside, Cao Wen grabbed a sickle and put a straw hat on her head.
Before she could even check if the new rooster was any good, he pulled her out through the fence.
They ran to a patch of wild grass.
After a few steps, Xu Duoyan’s sharp eyes spotted more than a dozen cream-white little umbrellas under the grass by the dirt mound, overlapping at various heights and about the size of a child’s palm.
Mushrooms.
She recognized them as excellent Mountain mushrooms.
With so many at once, these must be Santajun.
Their flavor and appearance were much like Jizongjun.
Whether stewed with chicken or used in soup, just a little would make the broth especially delicious.
The Qing Family Master loved these wild delicacies and would send people to the Market every year to buy them during mushroom season.
The price for these mushrooms was high, but that was only part of it.
They were rare, and as soon as they appeared at the town Market, people would fight to buy them at even higher prices.
Xu Duoyan quickly set down the basket and carefully parted the grass around the mushrooms.
Since Cao Wen had the sickle, she found a stick to use.
The two of them crouched down and pried up the mushrooms together.
Mushrooms liked moist environments, and since it had rained yesterday, these must have just sprouted.
However, having broken through the soil, they quickly opened up in the sun.
It would have been even better if they hadn’t opened yet, but finding them at all was already a stroke of luck.
It was probably because everyone was busy with their own fields after the rain that no one noticed.
They carefully dug up all the mushrooms without breaking any stems.
There were twelve in total.
Xu Duoyan picked some bracken to wrap the mushrooms in before placing them in the basket.
She had bought Mountain mushrooms for the Qian Family twice before.
An old farmer who sold mushrooms once boasted that Santajun grew in three clusters, and only the lucky ones could find them all.
The old farmer proudly said he had done so before.
Seeing such good mushrooms today, untouched by bugs, she couldn’t help but hope to find the other two clusters.
They searched the sun-drenched ground for a long while, sweat quickly soaking their backs.
Xu Duoyan was just thinking how luck like this was rare when she spotted a white cap peeking from beneath a pumpkin leaf in the wild grass.
“There’s more here!”
Xu Duoyan turned to see Cao Wen already three zhang away, standing at the edge of a field ridge.
She was surprised that another cluster had grown so far away, but had no time to go over.
She nodded to him and turned to part the pumpkin leaves.
Sure enough, there was another cluster.
With the large leaves shading them from the sun, the caps hadn’t opened much and still kept their triangular shape.
These were much more tender than the previous ones, but there were only half as many.
Xu Duoyan, delighted, dug them all up.
“There were only two by the field ridge.”
Cao Wen returned to find Xu Duoyan had dug up six more.
She came over to look.
The two mushrooms Cao Wen had found were thicker than the earlier ones, likely because the soil was harder, so the stems grew flatter.
But that didn’t change the fact that the two mushrooms were large.
“These are Jizongjun.”
“I thought so. The color’s deeper than Santajun, and there are fewer of them.”
Xu Duoyan agreed.
It seemed they weren’t lucky enough to find the third cluster, but what they had was already great.
“After a drought followed by heavy rain, there should be lots of good things in the Mountain.”
Cao Wen flashed his canine teeth.
“Maybe we can gather a batch of mushrooms to sell at the Market.”
Xu Duoyan also had high hopes for the Mountain and urged him to take the Santajun back first.
The two of them immediately headed for the Mountain.
After a half day and night of rain, the Mountain was in worse shape than the lowlands.
On the way up, fallen branches littered the path.
Some had been snapped by strong winds, others split by lightning.
Cao Wen walked ahead, clearing branches from the road.
“Looks like no one’s been up the Mountain yet.”
Xu Duoyan agreed, helping to clear the path as well.
With so many broken branches, they’d have plenty of Firewood to gather once it was dry.
The rain wasn’t entirely useless after all.
Once they climbed into the forest, tall trees grew densely, and rainwater still dripped from the overlapping leaves above.
Stepping on dead leaves, they found them still soaking wet.
The forest was still damp, filled with the scent of rain and decaying leaves.
In such a humid environment, many mushrooms had indeed sprouted.
Cao Wen stepped on a few red-capped, white-stemmed mushrooms, crushing them. “All the pretty but useless kind.”
Xu Duoyan didn’t complain, just quietly carried her basket off on her own.
The outer Mountain was peaceful, so there was no need to stick together.
She moved freely and soon spotted a slanted Tongzi Tree.
The trunk, as thick as a waist, must have been struck by lightning long ago, half fallen to the ground and the other end caught in an old tree’s branches.
Thanks to the rain, the trunk was covered with clusters of Wood Ear Fungus.
Xu Duoyan picked all she could reach, but there were still plenty higher up.
She sighed lightly and looked to Cao Wen in the distance.
“There’s a good crop of Wood Ear Fungus on this Tongzi Tree.”
Summoned, Cao Wen ran over and stretched his long arms, squeezing the thick, fleshy fungus a few extra times.
The Mountain Wood Ear Fungus grew quickly after soaking up the rain, swelling up big and soft, feeling just like an ear in both shape and touch.
Xu Duoyan saw how playful he was, taking forever to pick even one, and she had to hold the basket up for him.
She couldn’t help but lament that she’d gone hungry too often and hadn’t grown tall—she was actually shorter than someone younger than herself.
“There’s more up there, but I can’t reach.”
Cao Wen tilted his chin, eyeing the other end of the Tongzi Tree stuck in the branches, a bit regretful.
Xu Duoyan put down the basket.
“I’m lighter, I’ll climb up to pick them.”
Cao Wen quickly stood guard below.
“Be careful, the trunk is slippery. I’ll hold onto you.”
The trunk was thick, making it easy to climb, and Xu Duoyan was light.
But as she climbed higher, she clearly felt the trunk sway, and there was a faint cracking sound.
She glanced at the branches wedging the trunk, thinking it was just friction, and didn’t pay much attention, quickly reaching to pick the Wood Ear Fungus.
But after picking just two, there was a sharp crack.
Xu Duoyan suddenly felt herself suspended in midair, and with two dull thuds as the trunk broke and fell, she tumbled down as well.
For a moment, Xu Duoyan felt like she’d bitten into something.
Falling face-first onto the Mountain slope, it was no surprise that her face hit the ground.
But although her vision went black, she realized with a muffled groan that she hadn’t landed in mud or grass.
When she opened her eyes, she met a pair of complicated eyes.
Cao Wen had tightly wrapped his arms around Xu Duoyan’s waist, the two of them pressed together almost seamlessly.
The impact was great.
Although Cao Wen leaned back, his strong waist steadied them both, so neither of them crashed to the ground.
Holding her, he gently set Xu Duoyan on her feet and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Are you alright?”
Xu Duoyan snapped back to herself and realized she was still pressed against Cao Wen.
She hurriedly broke free from his arms.
Instinctively, she touched the high collar covering her neck.
Finding nothing amiss, she relaxed a bit.
Looking up at Cao Wen’s concerned face, she saw that the skin near his chin was not only scraped but also faintly bleeding.
She held her breath, her ears flushing red as if boiled shrimp.
Under her gaze, Cao Wen also felt the burning pain on his chin.
Though it was just a minor scrape…
Ahem, it really was unexpected.
For a moment, his mind had almost gone blank.
But blank or not, to be honest, he realized—how should he put it…
He’d known Xu Duoyan was thin, but he hadn’t expected her to be this thin.
The air seemed to freeze as they stared at each other.
Cao Wen coughed awkwardly, pointing aside.
“You, you stay here. I’ll go gather the rest of the Wood Ear Fungus.”
With that, he quickly slipped away.
The half-rotted trunk, unable to bear the weight, had snapped into several pieces, making the Wood Ear Fungus much easier to pick now.
Xu Duoyan watched him run off, even overshooting where the wood had fallen, her mind wandering all over the place.
She couldn’t help but cover her face, stifling a groan.
Why did she even have a mouth?
If she had to have one, why grow teeth too!
After gathering the Wood Ear Fungus, the two of them tacitly went off in different directions to look for more Shanhuo.
The outer Mountain was peaceful, but even after the rain, there wasn’t much to collect.
Aside from the Wood Ear Fungus, Xu Duoyan gathered plenty of mint leaves and some miscellaneous Shanhuo.
All afternoon, the only sound was the occasional smack—mosquitoes were everywhere after the rain, and Cao Wen kept hopping around, slapping at them, his noises echoing far and wide.
Xu Duoyan was used to dressing in thick layers.
In the Mountain, it wasn’t just comfortable, it also kept the mosquitoes away.
With summer here, mosquitoes were everywhere, especially at night.
Without a mosquito net, it was hard to get a good night’s sleep.
Watching Cao Wen swat at mosquitoes, Xu Duoyan was a bit surprised.
She’d thought his skin was thick enough not to care—he hadn’t made a sound about mosquitoes when he slept on the couch before.
Time flew in the Mountain, and as the forest dimmed, they realized they hadn’t gathered much today.
Perhaps you couldn’t expect every foraging trip to be fruitful, or maybe both of them were a bit distracted this afternoon.
In any case, the haul was disappointing.
“We’ll have to go deeper into the Mountain next time. There’s just not enough here.”
Cao Wen had only found a few Shanlan, and some common Shanyao.
Not wanting to waste the trip, he also chopped a load of Firewood to fill his basket.
On the way home, both of them were quiet.
By the time they got home, it wasn’t yet dark.
Even outside the yard, they could already smell meat cooking—a rare scent in Caojia’ao, making passersby swallow their saliva.
Just from the smell, Cao Wen could imagine the pig lungs boiling away in the pot.
The aroma made his not-so-hungry stomach suddenly remember it was time to eat.
“You’re back?”
Lu Lingbi heard them and came out, smiling as she saw them return together.
“I was worried dinner was too early, but it’s just right.”
Cao Wen dumped the Firewood in the yard and scooped cold water from the vat by the back eaves to wash his hands.
“We came back early just for dinner.”
Then he pulled out a big basket from the well, revealing today’s haul of Mountain mushrooms.
He proudly took out the two Jizongjun.
Xu Duoyan finally spoke up.
“We’re eating these tonight too?”
Cao Wen said, “Auntie is great at stewing dishes. I’ll give her the Jizongjun to make a fresh soup. The rest we’ll save for the Market tomorrow.”
With that, he dashed into the kitchen.
“There are Jizongjun?”
“We just picked them in the field today, very fresh. Auntie, your soup smells so good, even wild pig lung doesn’t taste gamey. You’ll definitely do the Jizongjun justice—use them for a fresh soup, please.”
Lu Lingbi kindly took them.
“Alright~ I’ll wash them with leaves, so I won’t damage the mushrooms.”
Cao Wen grabbed the kitchen knife.
“I’ll cut the radish, then.”
Lu Lingbi smiled and nodded, then called out, “A’Yan, come watch the fire, will you? Mother’s hands are full.”
Xu Duoyan, who was airing out the Wood Ear Fungus, shook her head slightly.
It seemed that no matter where she went, she was fated to tend the fire.