Knowing Song Wei was going to the mountains to find mushrooms and chop firewood, a group of children clamored to go with her.
The children of Ping'an Brigade weren't in school; schools had been closed due to the major disturbances of the past few years.
These children were at an active age, and without school, they spent their days running around in groups, much to the annoyance of their parents.
Song Wei didn't refuse their request to come along.
However, they couldn't go into the mountains.
"I know where there are mushrooms, Sister Song, I'll take you."
These little guys ran around everywhere every day and knew many good places that even adults didn't know about.
Led by the mischievous children, Song Wei, holding Heidan's hand in one hand and a little girl's hand in the other, headed up the mountain.
Heidan was very excited, constantly stealing glances at Song Wei along the way.
"Sister Song, do my dad and mom really love me? How do you know?"
The little guy was clearly very curious and eager about his parents, but what good things could the Lin family possibly say to him?
Song Wei nodded: "I was just talking to Aunt Wang and the others about your parents today. Like I said, your mother was a little weak when she was pregnant with you.
Your father went to the mountains to gather herbs so that you and your mother could be healthy. Your mother also worked very hard to give birth to you. And your brother joined the army so he could better protect you."
As for the fact that his mother's health was affected by the Lin family, she decided not to mention it yet, lest she instill hatred in the child. He was too young to take revenge; in the end, he would only suffer.
Black Egg's eyes were red: "Thank you, Sister Song."
When Song Wei led the children up the mountain, it wasn't just an adult taking care of children; it was more like a leader of a bunch of unruly kids leading a group of unruly children—she was even more unruly than the children themselves.
At this moment, they were upstream of the village's main river.
“My mom said we can’t go into the river,”
Song Wei said, pulling up her trouser leg. “But there are fish in there! I can’t just watch them swim right past me without catching them. Your parents tell you not to go into the river, but I’m an adult, I can do it.”
She then warned them, “Don’t come in! Just watch me catch the fish.”
With a splash, she jumped into the water, nimbly swimming and quickly catching a fish and tossing it ashore.
The children on the bank cheered excitedly.
“Sister Song, over there! There’s a really big one!”
“Sister Song, it ran past your feet!”
“Sister Song…”
The kids watched, wishing they could catch the fish themselves.
One of the braver ones couldn’t resist and jumped in, but Song Wei spotted him, grabbed him by the arm, threw him ashore, and spanked him.
The little boy’s face immediately turned a dark red.
"Why did you spank me!"
"Because you were disobedient, and you get punished for being disobedient."
"But you can't spank me. A man's butt is like a tiger's butt—you can't touch it."
Song Wei: "I can touch a tiger's butt all the time."
"I don't believe you, you're lying."
She said slowly, "Fine, don't believe me then. There aren't any tigers here anyway."
She wrung out some water from her wet clothes, shook herself, and stood in the sun.
"How many fish have we caught? Is it enough for us?"
"More than enough, Sister Song, you're amazing! Even my dad can't catch this many fish."
"How are we going to eat them?"
Song Wei: "Grill them."
She only knew how to grill; anything else was too complicated for her.
"Does anyone have ginger or scallions?"
"I have some. I'll go down the mountain to get them."
The village wasn't too far away; the kids could make it in about half an hour round trip. This gave her plenty of time to prepare the fish. The rest, which she didn't need for the moment, were temporarily kept in a small pond.
"Bring some chili peppers."
She'd brought salt too.
After preparing the fish, the task of grilling them was left to Blackie and a greedy little guy.
"Watch the fire, and clear away all the dry grass and leaves around here."
"We know, we've grilled a lot of things in the mountains before."
These children, despite their young age, had been taught from a young age not to play in the water and about the precautions for starting fires in the mountains.
They always dug a pit in the ground to start a fire, which they covered with mud when they left.
Song Wei left a few children to grill the fish while she took the others to explore the surrounding area.
"Sister Song, I know where there's a beehive, want to go?"
A dark-skinned boy jumped out with a grin.
Song Wei raised an eyebrow at him: "Then why didn't you go and do it yourself?"
"I got stung, it hurt so much, and when I got home my mom chased me all over the yard with a feather duster. My dad didn't have time to help me."
So he still hadn't given up. "
Seeing how miserable you are, I'll go with you.
" "Let's go, let's go..."
Honey, she couldn't even remember what that sweet tasted like.
But bees were a bit troublesome, swarming and stinging, it wasn't something you could handle with just strength.
"I saw my dad raid a beehive, you have to smoke it out, but it's too high for me to climb."
"I think you can do it, Sister Song!"
The little guy was quite good at flattering, but Song Wei really could.
As long as there was a way to deal with it, that was fine.
They walked along, breaking off branches and firewood, finally mixing dry grass with the fresh branches and bundling it into a ball. Song Wei hung it around her waist, hugged the tree with both hands, and climbed up like a rocket.
The children below looked on with admiration.
"Wow... Sister Song climbs trees so fast!"
"My mom lied to me, saying those educated youth couldn't do anything, but Sister Song is clearly amazing."
She wasn't far from the beehives anymore. The tree was very tall; she was currently over ten meters above the ground.
She looked up at the large, semi-circular section hanging on the tree—that was a beehive with honey.
The round, ball-shaped ones hanging on the tree didn't have much honey, and those bees could really sting you.
There were three large sections of beehives hanging on this tree.
Climbing a little higher, the buzzing sound near the beehives became very loud.
She found a foothold, leaned against the trunk, and lit a tightly bound smoke stick with a match.
Thick smoke rose, making the bees near the beehives fly around restlessly; some were even knocked unconscious and fell off the tree.
Some bees still flew towards her, but Song Wei reacted quickly, sweeping them away with a branch.
She was multitasking, trying to stay upright, smoke out the bees, and swat away the bees attacking her.
But she handled it with ease.
When she was almost done, Song Wei lay down on the thick branch with the honeycomb hanging on it, took out her machete, and cut off a portion.
After cutting off a piece the size of a basketball, she found a place to put it, licking the sticky honey off her fingers.
The sweet taste was simply delightful!
Song Wei wasn't greedy; she cut off a small part of another honeycomb and then stopped.
Using long, thin palm leaves she had prepared beforehand, she strung them together and carried them in her hand. She glanced down, then jumped down with a show of skill, grabbing a thick branch below with one arm amidst the children's gasps, before swinging her body and leaping towards her next target.