Gu Shiyi couldn’t help but wonder—how did such a large patch of grapes grow here?
Clearly, no one had been tending them, yet they had still grown so lush and abundant. It was truly amazing!
In contrast, some people worked hard planting vegetables and fruits but still couldn’t get them to grow well. Yet here, in a place no one paid attention to, such a vast spread of grapes had grown. It really matched the saying:
“Flowers planted with care may not bloom, but willows left unattended grow into shade.”
Gu Shiyi felt a deep sense of gratitude toward nature, thankful for its generous gift.
“Mmm, they’re pretty sweet.” Gu Shiyi happily picked a grape, casually wiped it on her clothes, and eagerly popped it into her mouth.
“Clean or not, you won’t get sick from eating it!” she muttered to herself, seemingly quite satisfied with her carefree way of eating.
Although the grapes were a bit small and the skins slightly thick, they were wild-grown after all. For something like this, the taste was already quite good.
Gu Shiyi cheerfully took out a pair of scissors, cut bunch after bunch of grapes, and without hesitation stored them into her space.
Fortunately, there was a rack inside the space; otherwise, she really wouldn’t know where to put so many grapes.
“Space,” Gu Shiyi complained inwardly, “can you please get a little bigger? How can I make you bigger? Give me a hint, will you?”
As she picked the grapes, she kept thinking to herself.
Right now, the space was simply too small—completely insufficient!
Some grapes were hanging too high for her to reach.
But with a quick turn of her mind, she immediately came up with an idea—she took out a stool from her space, stepped on it, and was just able to reach the grapes up high.
Before long, every compartment of the bamboo rack was filled to the brim with grapes.
With no other choice, Gu Shiyi had to place the grapes directly on the ground.
She tidied up the space a bit, moved a few rabbits into the corner, and prepared to clean the blood stains on the ground.
But before she could even start cleaning, the blood stains on the ground suddenly vanished, leaving no trace behind.
“Wow, the space even has a purification function!” Gu Shiyi exclaimed in surprise.
After a whole afternoon of picking, Gu Shiyi was exhausted and slumped onto a stool, her arms aching.
“Xiao Hua, your parents are missing again,” Gu Shiyi said to the little yellow dog lying on the ground.
She looked up at the grapes that were still unpicked. “Sigh, there are just too many grapes.”
She had only picked about half of them in the afternoon, but she was simply too tired to continue today.
“Ah Hei, Ah Hua, come home,” Gu Shiyi called toward the bamboo grove.
Throughout the afternoon, she hadn’t seen the two big dogs anywhere and had no idea where they had gone to play.
“Woof woof woof.” Soon, Ah Hei’s voice came from the bamboo grove.
Hearing this, Gu Shiyi stored her things into her space and walked toward the grove.
“These two must have found something again.”
When she reached the dogs, she was suddenly startled by the scene before her.
“You two spent the whole afternoon catching this?”
On the ground lay a pile of furry bamboo rats, so many that Gu Shiyi was stunned.
She couldn’t help but feel a wave of fear, goosebumps rising all over her body.
She had never eaten bamboo rat meat, let alone processed them—she didn’t even dare to handle them.
“Ah Hei, Ah Hua, I don’t eat these, and I don’t dare to deal with them. Can we just forget about them?” Gu Shiyi said to the two dogs with a troubled expression.
She had no idea how the two dogs managed to catch all these bamboo rats, especially since their bodies weren’t stained with much blood.
“Woof woof woof…” The two dogs clearly disapproved of her decision. They crouched slightly and kept barking, as if protesting.
After all, they had spent the entire afternoon catching these bamboo rats—how could they just give up so easily?
“Alright, alright! Stop barking! I’ll make you some delicious chicken for dinner, okay? We won’t eat these bamboo rats. Be good and come home with me.” Gu Shiyi negotiated with the two dogs.
However, the dogs remained unmoved, continuing to bark in place, clearly unwilling to leave.
Seeing their stubbornness, Gu Shiyi knew that if she didn’t take the bamboo rats back, they wouldn’t give up.
“Alright, alright, I surrender! I’ll take these bamboo rats back first.” Gu Shiyi sighed helplessly and gave in.
She bent down and picked up the bamboo rats one by one, placing them into her space.
Because there were quite a lot, she didn’t count them carefully, but roughly estimated there were over twenty.
Each of the bamboo rats was quite plump, some even larger than rabbits.
“Now can we go home?” Gu Shiyi finished collecting them all and glared at the two dogs in annoyance.
“Huh? Isn’t this bamboo fungus?” Gu Shiyi suddenly spotted a mushroom growing out of the dead leaves, her eyes lighting up. She quickly crouched down and carefully picked it up.
Upon closer inspection, it was indeed bamboo fungus, but this one had already begun to rot.
“What a pity,” Gu Shiyi couldn’t help but sigh.
She had originally hoped to find bamboo fungus to make a delicious bamboo fungus chicken soup.
“Since there are rotten ones, there must be good ones too.” Gu Shiyi didn’t give up and decided to search the bamboo grove further.
So she began moving through the grove, carefully searching every corner.
However, things didn’t go as she wished. Despite her thorough search, every piece of bamboo fungus she found was rotten without exception.
It seemed she had arrived too late.
While Gu Shiyi failed to find any bamboo fungus, the two dogs managed to catch a few more bamboo rats in the grove.
Gu Shiyi took the dogs home. At noon, there were still plenty of leftovers and chicken soup.
These were enough to fill both her and the dogs’ stomachs.
Too lazy to cook anything else, she reheated the leftovers and chicken soup, then enjoyed a simple dinner together with the dogs.
The three dogs and one person ate with great appetite, finishing all the leftover food in no time.
Gu Shiyi let out a satisfied burp, then boiled a pot of water on the stove, preparing to take a bath.
After bathing, she felt much more relaxed all over.
Entering her space, she noticed that the chili peppers had started turning red, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of anticipation.
Judging by the time, these chilies should soon be fully ripe.
She happily picked a large handful of green chilies, planning to save them for stir-frying with meat another day.
When Gu Shiyi saw the pile of bamboo rats, a chill ran through her heart, making her feel slightly creeped out.
To avoid seeing them any longer, she quickly left the space and found a somewhat damaged backpack outside.