Hearing Gu Shiyi’s call, the three dogs immediately ran over excitedly. They surrounded Gu Shiyi, wagging their tails happily.
Gu Shiyi smiled and patted their fluffy heads, then led them toward the courtyard gate.
Xiao Hua seemed to understand her words. It ran ahead impatiently and stood at the gate waiting.
It kept wagging its tail while barking “wang wang wang,” as if urging Gu Shiyi to open the door quickly.
Gu Shiyi laughed and opened the courtyard gate. The three dogs rushed out like arrows released from a bow, running freely across the open grassy land.
They chased each other and played, full of joy.
Watching their lively and adorable behavior, Gu Shiyi also felt much more relaxed and happy.
Following behind them, she searched the grassland to see if there were any edible wild vegetables.
When she reached the pool, she saw a patch of wild water celery. However, some of it was already old, so she picked the tender tips and put them into her basket.
She then used a knife to cut through all the water celery, hoping this would allow fresh shoots to grow again.
“Wang wang wang…” Da Hui barked as it ran toward her. As soon as it arrived, it bit onto her clothes, signaling her to follow it.
“Da Hui, did you find something?” Gu Shiyi asked while stroking its head.
“Wang wang wang…”
“Alright, I’ll follow you,” Gu Shiyi said, and went along with Da Hui.
“Wang wang wang…”
When Gu Shiyi arrived, the three dogs were gathered together. Ah Hua was using its paws to dig continuously at the ground, though it was unclear what it was digging for.
Curious, Gu Shiyi moved closer to take a look.
When she saw what was on the ground, she couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise, “These are potatoes!”
Ah Hua was digging up a nest of potatoes, and several had already broken through the soil, their skins faintly green.
Excited, Gu Shiyi said to the two dogs, “Ah Hui, Ah Hua, move aside. I’ll dig these potatoes.”
After saying that, she quickly took out a hoe from her space and carefully dug out the entire cluster of potatoes.
There were quite a number in this one cluster—about a dozen or so.
However, the potatoes were not very large. The biggest was only about the size of a duck egg, and most of them had green skins.
Gu Shiyi knew that green-skinned potatoes contain toxins and cannot be eaten.
Although these potatoes could not be eaten, they could be used for planting!
She wondered how long it would take for them to mature if planted in her space.
Gu Shiyi continued searching the grass with the dogs, hoping to find more potato clusters.
Not far away, she discovered several more clusters of potatoes.
Happily, she dug them all up, and before long, her basket was half full.
Just as she was about to continue searching, her stomach suddenly growled “gurgle gurgle,” reminding her that it was time to eat breakfast.
Gu Shiyi smiled helplessly and had no choice but to temporarily stop looking for potatoes and return to the courtyard to prepare breakfast.
In the morning, she decided to simply cook a bowl of dough-drop soup using white flour.
After eating her fill, she took the dogs and left the sinkhole. Her goal was clear—to gather the hawthorns.
Of course, if she could also find some mushrooms, that would be even better, as she really liked eating them.
The hawthorn trees grew on the slopes near the sinkhole.
Soon, she picked two full large baskets of hawthorns. The fruits were big and red, making one’s mouth water just looking at them.
After finishing the hawthorns, she led the dogs toward the left side of the cave.
As she walked, she carefully observed the ground, not missing any place that might have mushrooms.
Hard work paid off. Soon, she found some edible mushrooms and without hesitation picked them and put them into her basket.
At this time of year, there were not many mushrooms in the mountains. She walked a long distance before barely collecting half a basket.
Being able to gather this much was already quite good. This was only because it was deep in the mountains where no one collected them. If it were in the village’s back hills, finding even a few mushrooms would already count as good luck.
Along the way, Gu Shiyi was like a curious child, constantly searching the grass.
Suddenly, the sound of clear flowing water reached her ears.
She looked up in the direction of the sound and saw a wide river directly ahead. The water was crystal clear to the bottom, shimmering brightly under the sunlight.
She quickly walked to the riverbank and looked down, then couldn’t help but exclaim with delight, “Haha, there are fish! So many fish!”
In the river, plump fish were swimming leisurely, seemingly unaware of any danger approaching.
People here disliked the fishy smell, so they generally did not catch these fish for food.
Because of this, the fish in this river were abundant and swam freely without restraint.
Haha, the entire river’s fish are mine!
Gu Shiyi looked at the fish excitedly.
She already liked eating fish, and these wild fish looked fresh and delicious—they would surely taste very good.
However, she had not brought any fishing tools. What should she do?
While she was thinking hard, she remembered that she had placed her basket in her space before leaving.
Gu Shiyi quickly took off her shoes and jumped lightly into the river.
Her attention was drawn to the fish swimming in the water, and she thought to herself, “There are so many fish here—even if I only catch one or two, it would be enough for a meal.”
She carefully walked to the middle of the river, then took the basket from behind her.
Observing the fish in the water, she saw a group gathered together and without hesitation used the basket to scoop them up.
The fish seemed to sense her intention and scattered in all directions, startled by her sudden movement.
Gu Shiyi quickly lifted the basket. Water flowed out through the gaps at the bottom.
Once the water had completely drained, three plump fish were revealed inside, along with some small fish and shrimp, all flopping about in apparent protest at their situation.
“Haha, dogs, I caught fish!” Gu Shiyi shouted excitedly, her face beaming with pride.
The basin she used for washing vegetables yesterday was still in her space. Gu Shiyi quickly took it out, filled it with some water, and then poured the fish into it to keep them alive.
Watching the fish swim happily in the basin made Gu Shiyi extremely delighted.
Next, she repeated the same method, continuing to use the basket in other parts of the river to catch fish.
Each time, she successfully caught various fish and shrimp of different sizes and types.
“Xiao Hua, the basin is already full. I still want to catch more—what should I do?” Gu Shiyi said somewhat helplessly as she looked at Xiao Hua sitting on the shore watching her.