She hadn’t yet had her fill of catching fish, but the basin was already full, and there were still several lively big fish in the basket.
Forget it. Next time, she must bring a large water vat to store in her space, so she could catch fish to her heart’s content!
Gu Shiyi walked ashore, wiped the water off her feet on her pants, then put on her shoes and socks.
“Ah Hui, Ah Hua, we’re going home!”
Only Xiao Hua was sitting on the shore. The two big dogs had long since run off without a trace.
“Xiao Hua, I don’t know where your parents ran off to play.”
Gu Shiyi picked Xiao Hua up and gently stroked its soft fur.
Standing by the river, Gu Shiyi finally began to take in the scenery around her.
A gentle breeze brushed against her hair, bringing a faint coolness.
The river water was clear to the bottom, sparkling with ripples. In the distance, the mountains rose and fell in continuous layers, blending beautifully with the blue sky and white clouds.
Just as she was immersed in the beautiful scenery, her eyes caught sight of a dry tree trunk not far away.
That trunk was covered with a layer of brown substance. From a distance, its shape looked somewhat unusual, drawing her attention.
Curious, Gu Shiyi walked closer to take a look.
As she approached, she gradually saw what the brown object was—it turned out to be shiitake mushrooms!
These mushrooms were growing on the tree trunk, each one round and plump, like brown gemstones.
Excited, Gu Shiyi ran over and discovered many fallen dead logs nearby. Some were covered in shiitake mushrooms, while others were covered in wood ear fungus—there were so many that it was surprising.
Gu Shiyi felt secretly delighted. She knew that mountain resources were most abundant in spring, but she hadn’t expected autumn to also offer such a rich harvest of wild goods.
Just as she was about to store these logs into her space, she realized the space was too small to hold so many logs.
She felt a bit frustrated, but soon accepted it.
Squatting down, she began picking the mushrooms, only taking the larger shiitake mushrooms and wood ear fungus, leaving the smaller ones on the logs so they could continue growing.
That way, in a few days, she could come back and harvest another batch of fresh mushrooms.
“Xiao Hua, why haven’t your parents come back yet?”
After finishing picking the mushrooms and wood ear fungus from the dead logs, she looked around, but the two big dogs were still nowhere to be seen.
Feeling a bit worried, Gu Shiyi picked up Xiao Hua and sat down on the grass by the riverbank, quietly waiting.
“Huuff… huuff…” Suddenly, a faint panting sound reached her ears.
Her heart tightened. She quickly held Xiao Hua close and swiftly hid inside her space.
From within the space, Gu Shiyi nervously observed what was happening outside.
She saw Ah Hui and Ah Hua running quickly toward her, each carrying a wild chicken in their mouths.
“So they went hunting,” Gu Shiyi sighed in relief. She came out of her space, her face lighting up with a joyful smile.
“Ah Hui, Ah Hua, you’re amazing! You caught wild chickens again!” she said as she quickly walked over to praise them.
The dogs seemed to understand her words. They happily wagged their tails, dropped the wild chickens at her feet, and barked nonstop at her.
“Woof woof woof…”
“Could there be something else?” Gu Shiyi asked curiously.
“Woof woof woof!” Ah Hui barked a few more times, as if responding.
“I’ll go take a look with you,” Gu Shiyi said, putting the two wild chickens into her space before following the dogs deeper into the forest.
After walking for a while, the two dogs stopped, lying on the ground and staring intently at something ahead.
Huh!
Gu Shiyi looked closely and saw a pile of bloody wild chickens and rabbits. The scene was somewhat hard to look at.
Her eyes widened in shock, completely stunned by what she saw.
“Haha, Ah Hui, Ah Hua, you’re really incredible! How many are there?” Gu Shiyi exclaimed in amazement.
Although Ah Hui was a hunting dog and had accompanied her father into the mountains to hunt before, it had never performed this well.
Could it be that being with a partner made it stronger at hunting? Or that teamwork made the work easier, and with Ah Hua’s help, Ah Hui’s hunting ability improved?
She examined the wild chickens and rabbits carefully and found that every wild chicken had its head bitten off, clearly dead beyond doubt.
The rabbits were also lifeless, obviously completely dead.
The scene was quite bloody, and Gu Shiyi couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy.
Still, with so many wild chickens and rabbits, she couldn’t let them go to waste.
So, she forced herself to endure the discomfort and collected them one by one into her space.
After counting, there were five wild chickens and six wild rabbits in total.
“You did great. Let’s go back and make something delicious for you. But Ah Hui, Ah Hua, next time don’t bite them so brutally—it’s a bit too bloody.”
After storing the game, Gu Shiyi didn’t forget to remind the two dogs.
She originally planned to head home directly with them, but unexpectedly, Ah Hui barked again.
“Woof woof woof.”
“Still more?” Gu Shiyi asked in confusion.
“Woof woof woof.” Ah Hui continued barking while walking ahead.
“Alright then.” Seeing this, Gu Shiyi had no choice but to follow them further.
“Woof woof woof!”
After walking deeper inside, Ah Hui stopped again, barking excitedly. Then it used its fluffy large paws to dig through the grass.
Seeing this, Gu Shiyi became curious and walked over to push aside the grass. Inside, she found a nest of wild chicken eggs!
“Wow, wild chicken eggs!” Gu Shiyi exclaimed in delight. Carefully, she picked them up one by one and counted, “One, two, three… wow, there are fifteen of them!”
She examined the eggs and found none were broken. When she shook them gently, there was no sound, meaning they were all fresh.
“Haha, today is really my lucky day!” Gu Shiyi said happily. “You dogs are just too amazing!”
She stood up, clapped her hands, and said to Ah Hui, “That should be all, right? We can go home now!”
This trip had truly been a rewarding one.
“With these dogs around, we’ll never have to worry about meat in the future!”
Gu Shiyi felt pleased, though she knew she couldn’t rely solely on meat. She would still need to go down the mountain to buy grain.
Having food at home brings peace of mind.
In addition, she planned to buy some seeds to grow vegetables and fruits, so she could become self-sufficient.
Living deep in the mountains without going out would still allow her to have enough to eat and drink.
With the dogs around, Gu Shiyi wasn’t worried about getting lost in the mountains at all.
As long as she followed Ah Hui, she would never go the wrong way.