Old Mrs. Xu stepped out of the house holding her precious granddaughter and walked toward the corner where the Black Mountain Goat and her kid had settled after returning to Lao Xu Jia, full and content.
Xiao Tianbao no longer needed milk, and the Black Mountain Goat’s task was complete. She should have returned to her herd with her kid.
But because Xiao Tianbao couldn’t bear to part with the baa-baa sheep, the Black Mountain Goat and her son remained at the Xu household.
The little tiger followed behind the two. Seeing its master reaching toward the kid, its gaze immediately radiated the intimidating pressure of a carnivorous predator.
Though not yet fully grown and lacking the fierceness of its father, the little tiger was still a terrifying presence in the eyes of the young goat.
The kid, its four slender legs trembling like a sieve, slowly knelt on the ground. The height of its head was just right for Xu Tianbao, who was riding on the little tiger’s back, to reach.
Hmm, well-behaved!
The little tiger standing beside Old Mrs. Xu twitched its ears, very satisfied with the kid’s performance, then lightly tapped the tip of its tail against Old Mrs. Xu’s arm.
Hurry up and put my master on my back!
However, Old Mrs. Xu, though reminded, pretended not to understand the little tiger’s meaning.
Huh? What does this mean? Humans really can’t understand a little tiger’s thoughts!
The tacit understanding cultivated over more than half a year of being together vanished in an instant.
The taps against Old Mrs. Xu’s arm grew heavier. Seeing that she still hadn’t moved, the little tiger grew a bit anxious and stood up on its hind legs, lunging toward her.
You’ve been holding her for so long—it’s my turn to carry her for a while!
Even though the little tiger didn’t use much force, Old Mrs. Xu’s frail frame couldn’t withstand the impact.
Fearing the little tiger might actually knock Old Mrs. Xu over, Xiao Tianbao immediately stretched out her small hand.
Just as the little tiger’s front paws were about to touch Old Mrs. Xu, the tips of its ears were suddenly grabbed by a chubby little hand.
“Stop!”
A single word, like a seal, froze the little tiger completely in place.
Squatting on the ground with its two front paws raised, the little tiger looked just like a maneki-neko at that moment—even its expression was similarly silly.
Of course, in the end, at Xiao Tianbao’s strong insistence, she moved from Old Mrs. Xu’s arms onto the little tiger’s back.
Just as Xiao Tianbao was secretly relieved that her quick thinking had successfully used the baa-baa sheep and the little tiger to divert Old Mrs. Xu’s attention, Xu Lao Nian’er and his two sons arrived deep in the mountain forest.
Along the way, Xu Lao Nian’er led Xu Dazhu and Xu Er Zhu straight toward the direction Xiao Tianbao had indicated without hesitation.
He had absolute faith in his little granddaughter’s guidance.
However, though they had seen plenty of green leaves along the way, few were edible.
The few edible plants they did find had already been dug up by others.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Xu Dazhu continued forward, his eyes scanning the roadside, feeling as if he might spot edible wild vegetables at any moment.
“Dad, there’s a patch over here, but someone’s already dug it all up.”
Xu Er Zhu’s voice came from nearby, but it wasn’t good news either.
Catching his breath, Xu Lao Nian’er glanced at the sun in the sky.
“Let’s go deeper in.”
The direction his precious granddaughter pointed out couldn’t be wrong. If they hadn’t found anything yet, it must mean they hadn’t reached the right spot.
Driven by their blind trust in Xiao Tianbao, the father and his two sons ventured deeper into the forest for another half-hour.
Then, a cliff covered with withered branches and vines appeared before them.
Clearly, there was no path ahead, and the three still had no harvest.
Sitting on a flat rock, even Xu Lao Nian’er began to feel somewhat disoriented.
But he didn’t doubt the guidance his precious granddaughter had given him; he suspected they had taken the wrong direction.
Seeing his father sitting silently for a long time, Xu Dazhu wanted to persuade Xu Lao Nian’er to head back down the mountain to the grove where they usually foraged for wild vegetables.
Just as he stood up to speak, a rustling sound came from beside him.
Then, a sharp pain shot through his calf, as if something had slammed hard into it.
Looking down, he saw a gray rabbit lying stiffly on its back in front of him, its four paws trembling slightly.
Clearly, the thing that had just crashed into his leg was this rabbit.
And the rabbit had knocked itself unconscious in the process.
At that moment, Xu Dazhu felt no joy at stumbling upon a rabbit, only relief.
Fortunately, he had turned his body upon hearing the sound; otherwise, the rabbit would have hit his recently healed leg.
Given the force with which the rabbit had knocked itself out, if it had struck his previously injured leg, it would likely have crippled it again.
While Xu Dazhu was preoccupied with the pain in his leg, Xu Er Zhu and Xu Lao Nian’er were startled.
The sound of the rabbit crashing into Xu Dazhu had been incredibly loud.
Worried about Xu Dazhu’s leg, Xu Lao Nian’er hurried over to check on him.
“Da Zhu, is your leg alright?”
Xu Dazhu stomped the leg the rabbit had hit a couple of times and replied to his father, “The initial sharp pain has passed, and now it’s a bit numb. It should be fine.”
Seeing that his son was truly unharmed, Xu Lao Nian’er relaxed.
Bending down, Xu Lao Nian’er had just picked up the rabbit at Xu Dazhu’s feet when he heard Xu Er Zhu calling out to them.
Placing the rabbit into the Back Basket, Xu Lao Nian’er and Xu Dazhu quickly made their way toward Xu Er Zhu.
When they reached Xu Er Zhu’s location and saw the scene before them, they were also stunned.
“Good heavens! It’s actually a valley, and there are so many Ci Nen Ya sprouts!”
Xu Dazhu stared wide-eyed at the lush, tender, and plump Ci Nen Ya sprouts sprouting before him.
Even Xu Lao Nian’er was so shocked that his jaw dropped, and he murmured, “Heavens, there are so many of them!”
Seeing the astonished expressions on his father and elder brother’s faces, Xu Er Zhu chuckled.
It seemed his earlier shock, which had caused him to drop his chopping knife on his foot, wasn’t so strange after all.
The exhaustion from the climb vanished instantly at the sight of these Ci Nen Ya sprouts. The three of them immediately strapped on their Back Baskets and began harvesting.
The newly sprouted Ci Nen Ya were at their most succulent. Xu Dazhu plucked one in front of him and couldn’t resist weighing it in his hand.
The heavy feel of it made him grin from ear to ear, and he couldn’t help but show it to his father.
“Dad, look how plump this one is! I can hold a whole one in one hand!”
With that, Xu Dazhu tossed the wild vegetable into the Back Basket on his back and picked another one, which was just as tender and plump as the last.
You have to understand, Xu Dazhu’s hands were those of a grown man—nothing like Xiao Tianbao’s chubby little hands that couldn’t even grip an egg properly. This alone showed just how plump and tender those prickly ash shoots were.
Taking a moment to glance up at Xu Dazhu, Xu Lao Nian’er chuckled and reached out to snap off a shoot in front of him—one even larger than the one Xu Dazhu had picked.
Without pausing for a break, the three of them filled all three back baskets in the time it takes to burn two sticks of incense.
There was no more room to gather additional shoots, so Xu Lao Nian’er and his two sons set the baskets down to rest. All three baskets were piled high, yet they had only harvested about half of the available prickly ash shoots—many still remained on the trees.
Looking at the lush, untouched green shoots, Xu Er Zhu felt a pang of reluctance.
These shoots were at their peak flavor right now. If they waited until tomorrow to come back, the shoots might have unfurled and grown tough.
What if they took off their clothes and used them to carry more?