This was a secret between Lin Xiaopu and Zhou Ye.
In the family, only Lin Xiaopu knew that Zhou Ye’s appetite was extremely, extremely large, and that he would wake up from hunger every day before dawn. It was fine when autumn arrived, as there were plenty of wild fruits and roots in the mountains to stave off hunger, but the transition between spring and summer was the most difficult time for Zhou Ye to endure.
At the thought of this, Lin Xiaopu felt immense guilt. If only she were as strong as Wang Yingen from the village; then the money saved on her medicine could buy quite a bit of coarse grain. Brother Ah Ye wouldn’t have to go hungry every day like he did now, and Big Sister could eat white rice every now and then.
After thinking about various things, the dejected Lin Xiaopu secretly hugged Lin Shu, who was beside her. Slowly, the corners of her mouth curved up again.
She had a sister again. It was wonderful.
Big Sister smelled fragrant and felt soft to hug; she liked it…
When Lin Shu woke up the next day, the men of the house were already gone.
The scent of medicinal herbs permeated the courtyard. He Guixiang had finished brewing the medicine and brought a small bowl of dark, blackened liquid to Lin Xiaopu. Lin Shu thought it looked incredibly bitter, but Lin Xiaopu drank it down in a few gulps without changing her expression. If it hadn’t been for the way her little face crumpled into a ball after drinking, Lin Shu would have thought it was chicken soup instead of medicinal broth.
Lin Shu knew how to make maltose. Before the apocalypse, she had intended to return to her hometown in the countryside and become a mountain food blogger. Unfortunately, she hadn’t had time to put that into action before the world ended. These days, grain was precious, and maltose required a lot of wheat to produce just a little bit of sugar. For now, she wouldn’t touch the grain. She wondered if there were raisin trees or Cherokee roses in the mountains; these two types of wild fruits could also be used to make sugar, though even if she found them, they couldn’t be harvested until after the first frost.
“Mother, where are Father and Brother Ah Ye?” Lin Shu looked left and right, but the men were nowhere to be seen.
“Your father went to town to look for work, and your Brother Ah Ye went into the deep mountains early this morning,” He Guixiang said. Since both men were going out, she had gotten up to cook before the rooster even crowed. Zhou Ye was headed to the mountains and the head of the house to town, and both needed to carry dry rations. She had used coarse flour to make several wild onion flatbreads for them to eat on the road.
Hearing the words “deep mountains,” Lin Shu’s eyes lit up. “Mother, I want to go to the deep mountains too. Is it still in time to catch up with Brother Ah Ye?”
He Guixiang was scared out of her wits. “You can’t go, you can’t go! Your Brother Ah Ye has the skill to survive in the mountains; if he can’t make it back, he can even spend a night inside, but it won’t do for anyone else.”
Fearing that Lin Shu might run off to the deep mountains on a whim, He Guixiang rambled on, telling various stories. She spoke of a year when someone went to the deep mountains to pick mushrooms, accidentally wandered too far, and nearly got lost and never returned. She mentioned someone else who broke a leg in the deep mountains, and the entire village had to be mobilized to find them. There was even someone who went into the mountains and never came out again, supposedly eaten by wild beasts.
Lin Shu quickly put her mind at ease. “Don’t worry, Mother, I won’t go.”
In the apocalypse, she possessed a monstrous strength; a single pebble thrown could knock out or even kill a mutated wild chicken or duck. Now she lacked that strength and was just like an ordinary person, so she certainly wouldn’t be reckless enough to charge into the mountains alone to gather food. Even if she did enter the mountains, she wouldn’t go deep.
“If you want to go to the mountains, go to the one behind our house. Although this back mountain can’t compare to the deep forest three li away, it’s not small either, and it has everything. The villagers have stepped on every inch of the back mountain; there are no wild beasts, at most some insects and snakes. Just avoid them and you’ll be fine; it’s not dangerous.”
“I’ll listen to Mother. Little sister and I will go have a look at the back mountain in a bit,” Lin Shu said.
Hearing this, Lin Xiaopu ran to Lin Shu’s side and grabbed her hand, her face full of anticipation.
He Guixiang looked hesitant. “Xiaopu, she…”
Seeing her hesitation, Lin Shu cut her off. “Mother doesn’t want little sister to go with me?”
“Your sister’s constitution is weak. When she was small, she had a minor illness every three days and a major one every five; she caused me no end of worry. She’s only now getting a bit better after years of careful nursing.”
Lin Xiaopu withdrew her hand from Lin Shu’s and lowered her head, her sensible nature making one’s heart ache. “Mother, I won’t go out then.”
Lin Shu rubbed her head and asked He Guixiang, “Mother, when was the last time you took Xiaopu to see a doctor?”
He Guixiang said, “It must have been three years ago, when the doctor first prescribed the medicine.”
Lin Shu was shocked. “It’s been three years? The medicine was prescribed during the first visit and you haven’t been back since? What is Xiaopu’s medicine for?”
He Guixiang replied, “It’s medicine to treat her physical weakness. The doctor said she needs to take it continuously, at least until she’s ten years old.”
“Back then, she nearly lost her life.” He Guixiang’s voice choked up slightly as she remembered the past.
This child had been weak since coming out of her womb. When other children in the village got sick, they could be cured by herbs recommended by the village elders, but not her; she had to go to the clinic in town to get medicine. Three years ago, after the family split, there were many chores, causing her to temporarily neglect Xiaopu. The child, fearing she would cause trouble for the family, endured it without speaking. By the time Ah Yao discovered it, the girl was burning up so badly she was nearly delirious. The head of the house hurriedly carried her on his back to find a doctor in town. Even after the doctor gave her medicine, the fever wouldn’t break; he said if it didn’t go down by nightfall, they should prepare for the funeral.
That time truly broke He Guixiang’s heart. Fortunately, the heavens showed mercy and let the child pull through, but she had been terrified by that experience.
Hearing the doctor say there was a prescription that could improve Xiaopu’s constitution, but that it needed to be taken for several years—at least until she was ten—He Guixiang discussed it with her husband, grit her teeth, and made the decision.
She had been taking that medicine for three years now. She followed the old doctor’s orders and never missed a dose.
“Don’t cry, Mother, it’s all in the past. Xiaopu is doing well now. But Mother, every time you go to the doctor to get medicine, why don’t you take Xiaopu along so the doctor can check her?”
“Her constitution is weak, why would I take her? Our Tianshui Village is sixteen li away from Jingxi Town; it takes over an hour, even two, to walk there. Besides, once you’ve seen the doctor once, you don’t need to see him again; the medicine we get every time is the same. I’ll take her to see that old doctor next year when she turns ten.”
Lin Xiaopu listened in silence, her lips slightly pursed.
“Mother, how about this? Next time you go to get medicine from the town doctor, I’ll go with you and we’ll take Xiaopu along. I feel that Xiaopu is much better now, and the prescription should be adjusted accordingly.”
If Lin Shu were to speak her mind, Xiaopu didn’t really have any major issues anymore. This kind of tonic medicine isn’t better the longer you take it; once it reaches a certain stage, taking it further has no effect. It would be better to use medicinal food to slowly regulate her body. As long as her nutrition kept up and she got more exercise, her body would naturally grow strong. But she couldn’t say this directly, lest her mother misunderstand and think she didn’t want to spend money on her sister.
He Guixiang only hesitated for a moment before agreeing. “You know a lot, so Mother will listen to you.”
Lin Shu continued, “I’ll take Xiaopu and walk slowly; it won’t tire her out. Don’t worry, Mother.”
Lin Xiaopu caught Lin Shu’s eye and immediately followed up with a promise: “Mother, if I get tired, I’ll definitely tell Big Sister.”
“I really can’t do anything with you two. Go then, and stay close to your sister. Take a few extra flatbreads with you to eat if you get hungry. You must be back before dusk.”
Lin Xiaopu was overjoyed. Carrying a small bamboo basket and a bamboo back-basket respectively, she and Lin Shu went hand-in-hand toward the back mountain.
Watching their departing figures, He Guixiang felt both happy and a bit sad for some reason.
Once they were far away, He Guixiang didn’t stay idle. It was currently the season for harvesting hemp. Every household had cut their hemp, and once they finished their other chores, they began the task of spinning it into thread. It sounded simple, but the process was very tedious. Even though there wasn’t much hemp at home, it was enough to keep He Guixiang busy for a while.
The back mountain of Tianshui Village was even more abundant in resources than Lin Shu had imagined.
After walking for only a short while, she saw no fewer than five types of edible wild vegetables. Wild amaranth, wild spinach, shepherd’s purse, malan, toon, aralia, jersey cudweed… although some had already grown old and weren’t as tasty, pinching the tender leaves still made for a delicious meal.
She even saw Guanyinchai!
Guanyinchai could be used to make leaf jelly, which tasted divine. After the Dragon Boat Festival, the weather was getting hotter and hotter, making it the perfect season for eating jelly.
The chaste trees spread across the mountains were also a treasure.
Don’t be fooled by how common they were; this plant was a source of natural green lye. Alkaline zongzi made with chaste tree ash water were especially fragrant. Once the chaste tree seeds matured, they could be harvested to make pillows; anyone with headaches or insomnia could sleep peacefully until dawn.
It just so happened that her return had missed the Dragon Boat Festival. Lin Shu felt a bit of regret that she hadn’t been able to eat zongzi and was craving them intensely. She would ask her mother later if there was any sticky rice left in the house; she wanted to make alkaline zongzi!